A dull ticking filled the room as a wall clock counted off the seconds as they passed. At the same time, Starlight's irritation slowly grew under the forced smiles of her captures. Shining and Cadence stiffly poured her a cup of tea as they struggled to find the words needed to get the answers they wanted.
"So," Starlight frowned, crossing her hooves. "Any reason why you two are holding me ransom in my living room."
"What ever do you mean?" Cadence asked, setting the teapot down on the table between them.
Starlight glowered at the Princess and Prince sitting across from her as she pointed at the two guards taking point at her front door.
"Oh, you know," Shining chuckled, waving Starlight's point away with a hoof. "Protocol and all that. Right Cadence?"
"Right," Cadence smiled. "You know, High Royal headaches and all that."
"I can only imagine," Starlight said flatly.
It's not like I spent ten years working next to one or anything.
The two sat in awkward silence, the sounds of sipping occasionally breaking the tension. It was clear to Starlight that the royal pair was struggling to find their words. At the same time, the Unicorn mare felt her own patience start to slip away by the second. If what Sunburst and Onyx told her was anything to go by, she could make a pretty good guess what this was all about.
"Nice weather today," Shining said, risking a glance out the window.
"Yeah, Maker forbid we get any snow around here," Starlight monotoned.
Both royals laughed awkwardly at that, gaze shifting back to their cups.
The ticking of the wall clock became the only thing of any authentic stimulation to Starlight as she used it to count off the seconds it would take for her captures to find some other topic they could use to beat around the bush.
Fifteen...sixteen...seventeen...eighteen...nineteen...twenty...
"So," Cadence started. "How have things been?"
Huh, twenty seconds. I think that's a new record.
"Not too bad," she shrugged. "Had to help my coltfriend find his second wind after his boss ran him ragged last week. Other then that? Nothing to really talk about."
Shining raised a brow at that as he turned to look at his wife. Cadence gave him an awkward chuckle that summoned an understanding nod from the stallion. They shifted their attention back to Starlight and were about to say something, only to pause as Starlight put up a hoof.
"What do you want to know?"
The finality in her tone made the two High Royals gulp.
"Are we that obvious?" Cadence asked, blushing sheepishly like a foal caught with her hoof in the cookie jar.
"A blind pony could see through you two," she sighed, bringing a hoof to her forehead to massage away the start of a migraine. "Now can we get to the point already? I haven't been getting much sleep lately and coffee can only do so much for a mare."
"How come you haven't been sleeping?" Shining asked, genuine concern entering his tone for the first time since the start of this meeting.
Starlight leveled a sharp glare at him and a chill shot down his spine.
"Anyway," Starlight growled. "You have questions and I have answers. Let's get this over with so I can take a nap before I get put in the dungeons for strangling somepony."
Shining and Cadence chuckled at that only for it to pitter out nervously in the face of Starlight's glare.
"Right," Cadence sighed. "Well, a name would be a good place to start."
Shining nodded in agreement.
"It would," she grimaced, taking a sip of her tea. "Too bad I can't tell you that."
Cadence gawked at her while Shining let out an irritated groan before slamming his head into the table.
"W-Why not?" Cadence sputtered.
"Because Flurry trusts me and I don't want to ruin that," Starlight sighed as she took a sip of tea.
"Well, what about where he lives?" Cadence offered.
"No idea," she frowned. "I never got a straight answer on that."
"He's at least around Flurry's age, right?" Shining groaned, face still planted firmly into the table.
"Oh defiantly," she chuckled, dropping a sugar cube into her tea. "Can't believe you had to ask that."
"My spell could tell that much, dear," Cadence smiled, rolling her eyes.
"Spell?" Starlight asked, raising a brow. "That wouldn't happen to be your Mirror Scrying Spell, would it?"
Cadence gulped, then with trepidation said, "M-Maybe?"
Starlight groaned as she once again had to rub away another headache.
"Really Cadence?"
"What?! I was curious!" she floundered, only to grimace into her cup of tea as she added, "It didn't matter anyway. The spell wouldn't show me who she's seeing."
"Lucky," the Unicorn snorted.
"What?!" both royals exclaimed, Shining finally finding the strength to pull his face away from the mare's kitchen table.
"Cadence, the last time you used that spell was when Sunburst and I started dating. You almost killed our relationship before it could even get started."
Cadence let out a nervous giggle before saying, "Well, your relationship was moving too slowly. I thought the two of you could use a little nudge is all."
"Most ponies don't start talking about weddings and foals on the first date," she deadpanned.
"Anyway," Shining sighed, earning the attention of the two mares. "Is there anything you can tell us about all of this? I don't want my daughter getting hurt and not knowing anything makes me antsy."
The Princess of Love nodded as she stared at the Unicorn, a look of desperation starting to form on both of their faces.
Starlight sighed, then said, "She's in a really confusing place right now. She's never had a real, honest to Maker crush before and its got her in a real tailspin. Right now, she needs time to figure things out and somepony she can trust to talk things out with."
"Hence the long nights I'd assume," Shining said, taking a sip of his drink.
Starlight nodded.
"Its also why I can't tell you guys certain things. She's in a really scary place right now and the last thing she needs are her helicopter parents hovering over her shoulder right now."
They both cringed at that as past memories of the last time they let their protective urges take over. That, and the consequences of said urges.
Shining let out a defeated sigh, then said, "Fair enough. So long as she's talking to somepony we can trust at the same time, I can deal with it. Just make sure that if something does come up you tell us right away."
"Of course," Starlight smiled, the tension from before melting off of her.
"Thank you," Cadence smiled.
"No problem," she giggled as she took a sip of her tea.
***
Flurry giggled at the face Alto made as he read a passage from a book of ponytales she brought out loud.
"Why would they go into a house made of candy?" he asked, staring at the page in awe-inspired confusion. "Didn't they think that was too convenient?"
"I guess not," she smiled. "They are kind of young in the story."
Alto hummed in agreement as he stared at the illustration of two foals entering a candy house. As he did, Flurry took pride in how far he had come with his lessons. True, she was a little disappointed that he took to them like a life-or-death battle, but she was still happy with the results. In a couple of weeks, he managed to move onto second-grade Equish and was on the verge of moving even further up in skill level. Until then, she was having a blast introducing him to countless fables and folktales that she was exposed to when she was little.
"I still think they should've known better," he sighed as he turned a page. "Then they wouldn't have had to contend with the Griffin Witch."
"But then there'd be no story," Flurry smirked.
"Yes there would," he frowned. "It would be one were they didn't get almost eaten by a Griffin."
Flurry blinked at him.
"I...never thought of it like that," she frowned, staring at the ground in thought. "What would've happened if they didn't go in the house?"
"They wouldn't get captured by the witch?" Alto offered, raising a brow.
"Besides that," she giggled, rolling her eyes.
Alto stared at the book as he tried to solve the riddle his friend gave him.
"Perhaps they would find more food deeper in the forest," he said, staring at the tall oaks surrounding the foals. "If places like the mountains surrounding The Shining Place has food sources, surely a forest would have some if they looked hard enough."
"Maybe," Flurry smiled. "But I don't think hungry foals would pass up a chance to eat a house made of cake if it was just sitting there."
Alto remembered the muffins Flurry brought with her once and quickly understood the foal's predicament.
"If cake is like muffins, then I understand," he said solemnly.
The seriousness in his tone brought Flurry to tears with laughter as she rolled onto her side. Alto leaned away from her, eyes wide with shock as he watched her ride out her laughing fit. As he did, he couldn't help but marvel at how pretty her smile was or how nice her laugh sounded. It shocked him how something so simple could make him happy. It was like her smile was sunlight, warm and unbelievably bright every time he saw it.
Flurry's laughter slowly ebed out as she rolled herself onto her belly.
"Y-You're a weirdo," she giggled, wiping a tear out of her eye. "You know that?"
"No, I'm a colt," he said, raising a brow.
Flurry instantly fell into another fit of giggles at that, her friend's wonder trading places with confusion as he stared at her.
Such a strange pony, he mused with a faint smile.
A smile that quickly turned into a look of panic as Flurry rolled into his spring half a foot away.
"Flurry!" he exclaimed, jumping to his hooves.
Seconds later, the Alicorn breached the water's surface, coughing and sputtering as she tried to orient herself.
"I-I'm okay," she coughed.
Alto let out a relieved sigh then moved to the spring's coast to help his friend out of the water. When he did, he paused as he got a better look at her. Until now, Flurry had always made sure to keep her mane out of the water. She claimed it was always a mess to deal with when it got wet. A small stream of mist puffed out of him as he took in his friend's new look. The slight curl of her mane that rounded her ears had straitened into a messy curtain that covered the top half of her neck while the one that kept her bangs out of her eyes failed to do their job. Her left eye was hidden behind a purple and light-blue mat that glistened brilliantly in the cave's refracted light. It wasn't just her mane, as her coat and feathers also shined with a small aurora under the light. A shade of blue colored his scaled face as his heart hammered in his chest. He stiffly reached a hoof out to help her. His heartbeat doubled when she grabbed it as she pulled herself out of the water.
"Aw man,"she groaned, looking herself over.
Alto snapped out of his trance at that then placed a hoof onto Flurry's barrel.
"Wait," he murmured.
Slowly, he channeled a bit of his magic into the water surrounding Flurry and went to work. A faint hissing filled the air as steam started to waft off of the Alicorn, but the dull heat from the vanishing water was nothing compared to the blush on her cheeks. She could feel his magic wrapping around her through the water as it did its master's bidding. It was like the world's greatest magically charged blanket, soothing and warm, but not suffocatingly so. The warm tingle of it as it ridded her fur and feathers of water sent a small shiver down her spine that had little to do with temperature as it moved across her body. Flurry's face burned brighter as she struggled to keep her thoughts from drifting to places she wasn't ready for yet.
Keep it together Flurry, she thought, a dull whine slipping past her lips.
"Are you okay?" he asked, concern heavy in his voice.
"Y-Yeah," Flurry stammered, offering him a nervous smile. "I'm just not used to drying off like this."
"Am I hurting you?"
"N-No! It just feels...weird."
"I see," he smiled, relieved. "Just wait a little longer. I'm almost done."
"Right," she sighed, closing her eyes as she let herself enjoy the gentle warmth of Alto's magic.
For a moment, the two stood in silence as their minds wandered. For Flurry, it was her growing feelings for the cave-dwelling colt at her side. For Alto, it was the sudden turn his life had taken recently. A month ago he never would've believed that he would befriend a pony, let alone three of them. They were so kind to him and treated him like one of their own almost immediately. It went against everything his mother taught him. That ponies were horrible monsters that would kill him on sight if they had the chance. The way she met her end strongly reinforced that belief in him for much of his young life. That is, until the day Flurry stumbled across his home. While he wasn't willing to completely disregard his mother's teachings, he was willing to accept that not all ponies were dangerous. One beautiful Alicorn filly in particular as he marveled at how Flurry's coat and feathers glistened in the light as they dried. A small smile spread across his muzzle as he admired his friend, more specifically how peaceful she looked as his spell did its work.
"There," he smiled as he pulled his hoof away from her now dry barrel.
"Thanks," she smiled.
A faint shade of blue blossomed on Alto's muzzle as he stared at her, an unfamiliar wave of nervousness washing over him as he tried to think of what to do next. He caught a glimpse of the book they had forgotten about a few feet away.
"Right," he mumbled, trotting towards the abandoned tome. "Back to lessons then."
Flurry was taken aback by the sudden shift, but then frowned and let out an irritated sigh as she followed him.
Colts!
"Right, where were we?" she grumbled as she took a seat by the book.
"I believe it was right here," he said, pointing at a part of the page.
With that, they went back to reading lessons for the duration of the day, though now things were a little different. They would often find themselves sneaking glances at each other only to look back at the book when they thought they were about to be caught. Small blushes of red and blue would pop up when certain thoughts wandered into their heads, Flurry's being more detailed while Alto's filled him with both confusion and awe.
When it was time to pack up for the day, both foals struggled to put their materials away. Neither of them wanted the day to end, but both knew that it had to be done. Flurry's resistance to the cold had its limits and the caves got dangerously close to freezing at night. Plus, Flurry knew that if she stayed that her father would send the entire Crystal Guard out to find her. It happened the first time she snuck out to Ruby and Sapphire's house when she was ten and she wouldn't put it past him to do it again.
"W-Well," she stammered, loaded saddlebags strapped to her barrel as she faced her friend. "See you tomorrow."
"See you tomorrow," he smiled. "Goodnight Flurry."
"Goodnight Alto."
With that, she turned towards the cave exit only to stop at the last second as a series of faint coughs caught her attention.
"Are you okay?" she asked, turning back to face him.
"Y-Yes," he frowned, clearing his throat. "Don't worry, it's nothing."
"Okay," she said, not completely convinced. "Well... see you tomorrow."
"Yes," he smiled, rubbing his throat. "See you tomorrow."
***
"He really said that?" Starlight asked, smiling over her teacup.
"Yeah," Flurry giggled from her seat on her God-mother's couch.
"Colts," Starlight sighed, refilling Flurry's cup.
"I know, right?"
Both ponies shared a laugh at that, though were careful to not be too loud. The last thing they wanted to do was wake Sunburst at two in the morning. Especially in regards to what they were talking about at the moment. Granted, Flurry's parents had agreed to stay out of their daughter's business and let Starlight handle it, but there was always the chance they could relapse. While she trusted her coltfriend, she knew how insistent the two Hight Royals could be and the less he knew about his God-Daughter's situation the better. For everypony's sakes considering what happened to him and Onyx a couple weeks ago.
"I've got to say Flurry, this Alto sounds like quite the colt," Starlight smirked. "Think I'll ever get the chance to meet him?"
"M-Maybe," she stammered, frowning into her teacup. "He still doesn't trust ponies that much yet. I'll have to ask him tomorrow."
"Fair enough," she sighed. "We can't really rush these kind of things. Speaking of, how are you holding up?"
"B-Better," she said, a shy smile and blush decorating her muzzle. "I mean, now I'm not freaking out as much when I get home and my dreams are more...normal then they were before."
"Good to hear," she smiled, stifling a yawn behind a hoof. "Brings back memories of when Sunburst and I started dating."
"You had weird dreams too?"
"Dreams. Thoughts. You name it, I had it. Trust me Flurry, nopony grows out of what you're going through. Even Onyx's been there when he met Gold."
"Onyx and Lieutenant Gold are dating?" Flurry asked, eyes wide with shock.
"Dating? Flurry, they've been married for ten years now," Starlight chuckled. "You didn't know?"
Flurry shook her head.
"I haven't seen them together all that often and Onyx doesn't have a ring on his horn."
"Not surprising," Starlight mused, taking a sip from her cup. "They're major workaholics and Onyx is very traditional."
"What do you mean?"
"In The Empire, married couples have glyphs tattooed around their Cutie Marks. They are meant to symbolize the strong bonds between the two ponies and the love they share. It's an ancient custom that has fallen out of favor in the more modern parts of Equestria."
"But I never saw any glyphs around Onyx's Cutie Marks," Flurry stated, head tilted in confusion.
"He often keeps them hidden with a spell. As for Gold, have you ever seen her without her cloak?"
"Good point," she nodded. "But why keep it hidden?"
"Who knows?" Starlight sighed. "They never give me a straight answer when I ask them. My best guess is privacy, but its not really our business in the end."
"I guess," Flurry sighed. "But still, it's pretty crazy to think that they're together."
"Agreed," Starlight yawned. "But I think we should call it a night now. I'm about a step away from falling asleep here and you've got a test with Sunburst in the morning."
"Don't remind me," she groaned as she set her half-finished cup onto the table. "But yeah, it is getting kinda late, isn't it? Goodnight Starlight."
"Goodnight Flurry," she smiled.
With a small flash of light, the young Alicorn teleported back to her room in the castle while Starlight levitated the used kitchenware into the kitchen sink. A faint smile graced her muzzle as she ran the cups under water to be cleaned properly when the sun came up.
Looks like things are going to get a little more interesting around here.
***
Flurry groaned as she staggered through the tunnel leading to the main chamber of Alto's home. The test her God-father gave her wasn't particularly difficult, but it was tedious to the extreme. The idea was to teach her extremely fine magic manipulation by having her weave a single thread into the eyes of one-hundred needles in a single telekinetic sweep. Apparently, the idea came from both her Aunt and her Honorary Aunt Rarity when they visited a few months ago. While a small part of her liked the added challenge, a larger part of her wanted to strangle the two ponies for giving him the idea. She was just glad he decided against including a time limit like he wanted to originally. Otherwise there would've been some very colorful echoes running through the castle in her Great Aunt's signature voice.
At least now I can relax, she thought bitterly as she entered the main chamber.
"Alright Alto," she smiled. "Let's see what you think of Snow White and the Seven-"
Her smile died when she saw the colt lying on the ground, visibly wheezing at the chamber's heart. Her heart stopped and blood turned to ice in her veins as she ran towards him. When she made it to his side, panic started to grab her in a stranglehold as she got a better look at the colt's condition. His scales glistened with sweat as his breath came out in ragged wheezes. A dark-blue blush colored his cheeks and forehead as hacking coughs burst past his muzzle in small fits were he laid. He seemed so weak, so helpless.
"A-Alto?" she stammered, voice nothing more then a shivering squeak as she stared at him.
Tired, glassy eyes opened and scanned their surroundings, a thick haze dulling their normally sharp emerald green shine. When they locked onto her, she felt her heart break a little more.
"F-Flurry?" he asked, voice weak and gravely. "I-Is that you?"
"Yeah," she smiled, tears starting to fall as she took one of his hooves with one of her own. "I-I'm here."
"G-Good," he wheezed. "I thought it was...another hallucination. W-What's today's.....lesson?"
Her tears fell harder as she placed a hoof on his sweltering cheek and said, "Don't worry about it. Lessons are canceled today."
"N-*cough cough* No! Reading is...is..."
Before he could continue, his eyes slowly drifted shut as his fever sapped away what little strength he had to spare. Flurry's heart finally shattered when they closed completely and he fell into a gasping sleep. Her mind whirled as she struggled to think of a way to help. She could go get some of the Star Berries from Alto's grove, but she didn't know the way off of the top of her head. If she got lost, there was no telling how long it would take her to find her way back. She could try to heal him, but her knowledge of Medical Magic was extremely limited. She could try to teleport them, but she had never learned how to teleport others and just one wrong move could easily make things worse for him. Panic turned into despair as all hope for her friend seemed to dwindle away. Then, with a heavy heart, she channeled magic into her horn for a spell she never thought she would have to cast.
I'm so sorry Alto.
"AUNTY TWILIGHT!!! PLEASE HELP!!!"
For a second, nothing happened, but then a massive surge of power filled the cave as another pony teleported into it. Like Flurry, she was an Alicorn only just a head shorter then the Princess of Love that birthed the frantic Princess. Her coat was a dark shade of lavender with a similar colored stripe running through her flowing mane and tail along with a streak of magenta. Her purple eyes frantically scanned the room for her niece, only to widen in shock at what she saw lying at the filly's hooves.
"Flurry, what-"
"No time!" she cried, tears poring down her cheeks as she stared at her shocked aunt. "He's sick! Please aunt Twilight! He needs help!"
Shaking off her shock, the older Alicorn nodded and with a flash of magic the three of them were gone.