Was Dawn fashionable enough? Was her crown on correct this time? Probably not since her father moved it into place on the way to the foyer. Today, Dawn was going to show her mom around Psera. It was so exciting she was already making a list of attractions in her head while walking next to her reunited parents through the third floor office halls. Mom was clearly still paranoid of Tarsafani since she would quickly scan something when no one was looking. Under the picture frames, the columns, everywhere.
When a magical beam passed in front of his face, Madun sighed and nudged Twilight. "Sweetheart, there are no runes in the castle."
"Then I need to start laying some down," she bit back. Jeez, was she in the mood.
Dawn walked close and nuzzled her mother to get her attention, "Mom, you have got to give her a chance."
"I'm looking out for your safety, sweetheart," Twilight softly informed her. "None of you may believe me now, but I know what I'm feeling. I've been to Zebrica and yes, not all of them are bad. But just like a noble of Psera and Equestria, they want the big things. But unlike our lands, if they are denied that, they take it. I do not trust Tarsafani because she is from one of those lands and I feel a bad vibe. I'm giving her a chance, but I'm also watching her. Very closely. I feel a manipulation."
Dawn sighed and rolled her eyes. She would allow mom her extremely paranoid fun. Maybe she was still traumatized from being in a mess of Hallucinations for all those years. They would leave it be for now. Especially since they were nearing the exit of the third floor for the first floor.
A loud clamour could already be heard resounding off the halls below. Reaching Twilight's ears and leaving a feeling in her heart she didn't realize she needed. The sound of the castle. A busy castle. A castle of ponies that actually looked forward to her return. A sense of normality. The rush of home.
They had a destination for the chariots waiting outside in the front. Why in the front, Twilight honestly didn't care. She was just glad they actually missed her. And based off those ear ringing cheers when they walked out into first floor's view, she was far from wrong.
Twilight had to fold her ears down to lower the decibels ringing her own eardrums. But did smile that elegant smile and waved gently to all the different colored Pserateps cheering in the foyer towards her and her family. A lot of camera flashes and greetings from behind the security line.
But Dawn did not like this. There were just too many ponies. So she tried to avoid being spotted by turning around and walking to the back. Hopefully there would be no words on the networks about that.
Twilight had noticed that Dawn had disappeared, but paid it little to no attention. She more than likely couldn't handle crowds. It wasn't her thing, and that was okay.
King Madun leaned in and whispered in her ear, "Are you ready to go? We have a lot to show you."
Twilight quickly nodded and ceased her waving before the Guard started the move for the aisle the Elite Guards had successfully formed to keep back the citizens. They had to move fast just to keep up with their schedule, or else Twilight would have to keep shaking hooves and giving hugs. One of the many things that IHT could say about Twilight was that she cared for each and every last one of these ponies out there. And for the mass of Pserateps waiting beyond these doors that they just walked through cheering loud and proud.
Twilight slowed to wave and surprisingly blow kisses to the ponies bowing behind the lines to the Royal Family of Psera. To the colorful ponies overseas. Queen Tarsafani was nowhere to be seen and that put Twilight on edge. It wasn't that she didn't trust Tarsafani. But she was very cautious of her intentions. For a Queen to come to another country instead of representative, let alone a another associate, was odd. Even she visited Equestria with Gardeen and—bless her soul—Secretary Manny about Foreign Affairs when they were trading in the past.
A bit of red in the bottom right corner of her eye made Twilight glance down to her daughter waving. She was still shy, but was still saying hi. It made Twilight smile more. But she didn't make any sudden movements in her direction. Well... She probably had to. Where were they going first?
Twilight leaned down to her level and asked, "So where are we going first?"
Dawn stopped waving and faced her to answer, "Well I wanted to take you to the movies, but there's much more for you to see. So... I'll let someone else decide."
What? No way. Twilight shook her head and replied, "Think of where I'd want to go."
"The library in RayRay it is then."
A library in Rayray?! Rayray has no libraries! Twilight quickly followed her daughter to the chariots parked at the bottom of the stairs. Of course with a few much more subtle waves before she and the rest for their entourage were off into the air.
While the Fire Family were enjoying each other with Gardeen by their side, IHT seemed to be enjoying the ride. Novo chose to sit next to Celestia during the movement. Their chariots were a solid reflective steel. With enough room for six ponies each. She felt along the seats inside and whispered, "This is pretty amazing."
Celestia could empathize. Her eyes felt up the red velvet seats with envy. She hummed and stated, "Yes, Psera lives in luxury. Although I hear Rayray is home to the most luxurious of luxuries."
"You seem to know their cities," Novo commented. She stopped feeling the seats and focused a smile on Celestia. "How big does this country go?"
Cadance poked her head in from behind with Flurry Heart and Luna to answer, "Much bigger than Equestria. We haven't traveled the entire continent as of yet. From as far as I can remember, the most we've actually ever been to was Cop, Lavender and uhh... What was that city... The one they had their wedding?"
Luna answered, "Eventa."
"Yes, Eventa. I loved Eventa. It was really beautiful. They also have cities on clouds. As a matter of fact, we're coming up on one right now." Cadance pointed ahead into the sky above the green grass lands. At the giant cloud that would have been mistaken for a storm cloud if it were gray. But no, it was entirely white and spanned for miles ahead of them. On the top of the cloud were skyscrapers and more buildings they could barely see. But stuck out because of the colors.
IHT was entirely speechless. That was a huge cloud they were coming up on. So big it was like Mount Aris on its own. But held no escalation in height past the surface they were going to be flying under.
A growing roar on their right ripped their attention away from that to two Pserateps speeding past their chariot a few yards away towards that same destination. Soaring straight for that cloud. One of them made a snap sound that reached their ears. Soaring faster than the speed of sound. Twilight didn't know how much she missed that sound. She would always hear it whenever she was out and about. When she and Madun were taking Dawn out to the park when she was three or four, those snaps would always make her cry. After awhile she got used to them though.
When they flew under Psera Skies Northwest, Twilight looked down to Dawn's quiet form and asked, "So how is school?"
Dawn didn't like talking about school that much. It wasn't because she didn't like it. As a matter of fact, she looked forward to going because it was the only place where she could actually be around ponies who saw her as normal. Outside of it, everyone was all Princess this and Alicorn-Pseratep that. The reason why she didn't like talking about school was because she felt singled out. But she did answer, "It's okay, I guess."
"What school do you go to?"
Dawn sighed and answered less than enthusiastically, "A High School in Cop." Twilight's shifting let her know she was slightly suspicious at her tone. "I'm sorry, mom. I just don't like talking about school that much."
Ah, teenagers. Twilight switched it up and asked, "Well what about friends?"
That seemed to cheer her up. Dawn smiled and brushed her signature red braid out from in front of her lively violet eyes. "I only have two, but it's cool. Dark Dust and Kia."
"Oh, you grew up with Dark Dust!" Twilight squealed. She would've bounced up and down in her seat if she could. But decided to stuff down her pride and explain, "I remember when you two first met. You were at an amusement park in a bunch of plastic balls. And you two were playing, it was so cute. Now... Who is Kia?"
Their "Second Daughter" Gardeen poked in and commented, "Those two have a really complicated relationship."
Twilight smoldered her eyes a bit and focused on Dawn. "How complicated?"
Dawn rubbed the back of her neck and answered, "Our relationship is sort of... Aggressive?"
Twilight would have responded, but what could she honestly have said? She just slid it to the side until she saw it for herself with a nod of her head and answer of, "Okay." Then focused on the world around her.
They were still going strong under Psera Skies when she heard something. Or maybe she didn't. Or did. Hallucination maybe? Her environment turned dark while fire turned the sky red. High winds with the smell of flames reached her. Smoke, flames, a burning Equestria.
Twilight shook her head and closed her eyes to get rid of that ringing noise in her ears overshadowing the winds. The screams of all of the infected ponies listening to Maheera's commands shooting at her. The maneuvers she had to do to stay alive. At heights as high as this.
"Twilight. . . Twilight, are you okay?"
"Queen Arcadia?" Twilight opened her quivering eyes and trained them to the left on one of the two captains escorting their group soaring next to their chariot. Specifically on her side. He urgently asked with a comm block raised to his mouth, "Are you alright? Do we need to make an emergency landing?"
Twilight shook her head and answered tiredly, "No, no, I'll be fine. Just . . . Just a few flashbacks, I'll be okay."
The guard shared a look with King Madun. He only nodded for reassurance and told him to remain close. So they saluted and went back to where they were before. Once he was out of hearing range though, Madun leaned over Dawn from the back and asked, "Are you sure you're okay, Twilight?"
Twilight sighed and took a deep breath. Then shook her head. "No," she admitted. "Fighting Maheera was . . . Pretty traumatic. The fight left it's mental scars."
Madun shared a look with Gardeen for a quick second. Then turned back to Twilight, "I think you need more rest, Twilight. You don't need to be pushing yourself to see the world like this, you can do it from indoors."
Twilight was resilient. She shook her head and stated, "I can still go on, Madun. It's just a few flashbacks."
"And flashbacks have triggers. What if we break a sound barrier? It would sound like one of the many explosions on Equestria. I don't want you having a crisis in mid flight. And I'm absolutely sure no one else would want you to either."
Twilight couldn't argue with that. What sealed the deal was when another group of ponies roared past and she ended up yelping for maybe half a second at the suddenness. Madun shook his head and said, "Yeah, we're turning this thing around. Guard!" The captain from before floated back over to listen in. "We need to head back to the castle. Queen Arcadia is having mental trauma. Keep it slow, peaceful, and silent. Nothing too fast. And maybe get a medic to this chariot."
"Yes, sir." When he floated back to direct orders, Madun carefully pulled Twilight in and tucked her underneath his chin. He could feel her temperature rising. This was not just from flashbacks.
While that was happening up ahead, Luna was literally poking Celestia around from behind in a playful banter. Trying to get her to move in on Novo. Celestia was really trying to ignore it. But the constant poking from her horn was annoying. She sighed and said over her shoulder, "I will poke your burn, Luna." Luna pulled back and blew Celestia a raspberry. It was all in good fun.
Novo hummed ahead to the air and asked, "So where are we going again?"
Without turning around from her view of the Mountain Range, Cadance answered, "Rayray. North."
"Well we seem to be turning around to the West." They focused on their movement and noticed that Novo was right. They were slowly turning around at a very wide angle to the left. Soft and slow, and nearly unnoticeable.
Celestia hummed and tried to figure it out before a Guard popped over to them with a briefing. "Change of plans, we're heading back to the castle. The Queen seems to be suffering from rising stress levels so we have to cancel the day's activities."
They all moved their surprised sights up to the Golden chariot holding the Fire family. Madun had a wing wrapped around Twilight and was holding her head underneath his neck in a protective embrace. A guard hovering above holding a bunch of equipment had something coiled connected to her that they couldn't see.
Celestia immediately asked, "Is she okay? What's wrong?"
"I'm not at liberty to say, ma'am," he replied. Then lowered back into his position from before. Cadance kept her eyes on the family up ahead. They couldn't find out any information right now. But they definitely would when they landed.
~✶~
Twilight was sweating. Her heart rate was speeding. Everything was over. She was home, she was out of those hallucinations. Then why did it feel like she was still in it?
Madun had made Dawn float to the back with Gardeen so he could sit up in the front with her mother. She needed security and a supportive pony to lean on. Twilight looked up to Madun and quickly whispered, "Everything's on fire. We have to get out of the fire."
Possibly a panic attack, Madun thought. He pecked Twilight's sweaty forehead and whispered, "Everything's okay, Twilight. There's no fire." He focused on the water bottle pushed his way by the medic. He grabbed it and used his teeth to pluck off the top. It was offered to Twilight by rubbing it against her lips. Since her eyes were closed. "Here, drink," he whispered. She obeyed and nearly devoured the entire volume.
Her temperature was burning. Thankfully, they just flew over the mountain range and were lowering for the Castle at a gracious but rushed speed miles up ahead. "Is there a medical ready?" He asked.
Gardeen nodded from behind and answered, "A full team is on standby. They'll move in when we land."
The team of Chariots looped around the castle and began to lower like a slow roller coaster in Las Pegasus. Shining Armor didn't realize how big this castle was until they circled it. They saw its length, the wide width, and all of the fun stuff in the back that definitely belonged to Dawn. Then they circled back around to the front with a much lower elevation and landed softly inside the gate for the castle. There were already two white pods at the landing point with flashing yellow lights.
After the chariots rolled to a stop, four Pserateps wearing white suits rushed up from the pods to the Royal Chariot pushing a long stretcher to Madun. He kissed Twilight's cheek and whispered, "We're back home, Twily. We're going to get you settled in, okay?"
She didn't answer, but her breathing was heavy. Fresh Dawn opened the door on Twilight's side so the guards could go in and start pulling her out. She was heavy thanks to her wing length but they did manage to get her out and onto the stretcher.
Shining Armor and the rest of them jumped out onto the hot concrete after their doors were opened and rushed over to Madun while the medics gained control of Twilight's flaring temperatures. "What happened, what's going on?" He asked.
Without taking his eyes off Twilight, Madun answered, "She seems to be having mental fatigue, increased temperature at over one hundred degrees, and a rising pulse. She was also complaining about flashbacks. It was really sudden."
The medics at Twilight's side grabbed the stretcher she was still on and started carrying her urgently up the stairs. Albeit careful. No jostling. The rest of the party was quick behind her and by her side when they ran through the doors. "Step aside, let's move, let's move!!" The Guard shouted. They rushed her to the elevator and pressed the button with a tight and secure perimeter around Twilight.
Princess Celestia looked down at her with worry. She looked to be sleeping a fever. Her fur was matted down with sweat. But according to Madun, there was much more going on.
Madun turned to Fresh Dawn and ordered, "You go and find your friends. If I know Kia, she's lurking around this castle somewhere."
Dawn's face turned from worry to confusion. This was when mom needed them the most! And Dad didn't want her here?! "What?" She asked. "But what about mom?"
"She'll be fine, she has the best doctors around her right now. You just go and do your thing okay? Go." Dawn was reluctant. She didn't want to leave her mother alone during this point when she needed her family. But dad always had his reasons. So she did turn around and trot away towards wherever she wanted to go with reluctance. Dad was right that Kia was around here somewhere.
When she left and the elevator opened, Twilight was quickly rushed in with Shining Armor and Cadance. The others decided to stay back like usual and leave this to her blood family. Once the doors were shut, Madun explained, "Dawn doesn't need to see what I think is going on."
Well Madun was a pretty smart pony. Cadance looked up from Twilight to him and asked, "What do you think is going on?"
"Withdrawal. Twilight spent ten years inside of a mass of purple substance that kept her alive. She didn't have any air, she didn't have any movement. That stuff may have sustained her life, but her body grew used to it. Now that she's out, she's trying to adapt to the real world. But she rushed in too fast so now . . . "
Madun looked down to Twilight right when she cracked her eyes open, and the elevator doors parted. "Well hey there, sweetheart," he greeted. "How you feelin'?"
Twilight blinked up to him and groaned in a whisper, "I think I might be traumatized."
"I think so too, sweetie. But we'll fix this okay?"
Well there was definitely no tour today, unfortunately for Dawn. But that was okay, mom's health came first. So now here she was walking the halls with her pets. Sky Blue perched herself on Dawn's back while Juniper was running in and out between her legs. These two were definitely something else.
Since there was no tour and Dawn had no plans, may as well spend them on the park outside until mom was okay. The Guards stationed on the way there casted strange glances to the stuffed animals following along on her tail. But didn't pay them too much mind. Magic was rarely seen in action on Psera anymore ever since Queen Arcadia went MIA, but her daughter had her small fair of it every now and then.
Dawn pushed the doors open to her park and ordered to Sky Blue, "Don't fly off too far, okay?"
"I'm not going anywhere."
"Gah!" Dawn jumped at the weird voice in her ear and swiveled to the right to face... Kia.
Kia casted her yellow eyes down to the stuffed puppy pawing at her hooves and asked, "New Therapeutic pet?"
Dawn got her wits back and petted the top of Juniper's head. "No, and she's a friend. And since we're alone, you and I have to talk." Dawn walked away to the steps of her park and onto the Slide Skating grounds with Kia on her tail. Sky Blue took this moment to go for a flight with Juniper barking up to her. That left them with great privacy.
Dawn walked behind one of the large ramps and grabbed her board and helmet. A blue one reading "Fire" in Old Pseratopian custom made to protect not only her head but her horn as well.
Dawn plopped the helmet on her head and stated, "You've been acting really strange lately. I want to know what's bugging you."
Oh. They were about to have this conversation. That's just great. Kia wanted to leave that behind her. It was just a silly phase. Had to be. Kia nervously laughed and asked, "Bugging me? What are you talking about?"
Dawn clipped on the helmet and rolled past Kia towards the ramps with a roll of her eyes. "You're not good at lying, Kia," she stated. "As a matter of fact, you rarely lie because that's your thing. So what's bugging you?" Dawn turned around and flipped her braid out of her face. A move that captivated Kia. A lot.
She froze up and just stared at Dawn who in turn stared back. It was a strange contest with no apparent end. "Uhh . . . Kia? You okay?" Dawn waved a hoof in front of her face and successfully broke the trance.
She shook her head and answered, "Dawn, I . . ." She sighed and closed her eyes in shame. A move that alerted her listener.
She got off the board and walked closer with an expression of worry. "Hey, what's wrong?"
"Dawn, I . . . Feel strange around you."
Dawn nodded and sat down. "What do you mean 'strange?'"
Kia sighed and answered quickly, "I know we've been friends for awhile . . ."
"More like frenemies," Dawn joked. She stood up and made her way back to her board a few feet away.
"And that's just it," Kia explained further. She followed Dawn and asked, "What if I didn't want to be frenemies? That was when we were in elementary school, we should have been moved on by this point in time now."
Dawn laughed and rolled around on her board in a wide circle. "We are, silly! Frenemies is just what I call us because that's how we started off, I know we're friends by this point."
Well that was a step in the right direction. Kia kept her eyes on Dawn while she rode circles around her. "Well that's good, but . . ." Kia took a deep breath and almost blurted it out. "Dawn, I lo—"
"There you are!" Kia and Dawn—still on her board—swiveled their sights towards the glass doors to the castle that Flurry Heart appeared from. She trotted eagerly down the stairs towards Dawn. "I've been looking for you."
Dawn and Kia looked at each other before she stopped in front of Dawn. The air seemed tense around them. Did she interrupt something? Kia smiled at Dawn and quickly came up with an excuse. She wasn't ready yet. "Go. See what's up with your mom."
Dawn looked between her and Flurry Heart. Whatever was bothering Kia was enough to allow her multiple escape excuses. She would get her to sit down and talk about it. But right now . . .
Dawn sighed and walked with Flurry Heart for the doors with Kia's eyes burning on her tail. She would tell her before it was too late. Like she could feel it would be.