//------------------------------//
// Chapter Five: Second Scolding 
// Story: Heart of Magic 
// by TheCrimsonDM 
//------------------------------//




Heart of Magic Chapter Five



Heart of Magic

Chapter Five: Second Scolding


The first ray of dawn slipped through the cracks of the blinds and landed across Twilight's face. Her nose twitched and she scrunched up her face trying to block out the light, but it was to no avail. Next she tried rolling over only to find her face land into something soft, and warm. It smelled faintly of flowers and morning dew. A tingling sensation ebbed out from the warm furry thing. Slowly Twilight opened her eye and saw deep blue fur in front of her. Pushing herself up on her leg she saw Luna's sleeping form next to her. 

"Luna?" Twilight asked in surprise. It had been a long time since she got to wake up next to this beautiful mare. The slight pain in her head threatened to kill the moment, but Twilight was strong enough to lie down and push the pain away. Nopony took away her time with Luna, not even herself.

"T-Twilight," Luna's voice barely whispered.

Looking up revealed that Luna's eyes were still closed, but with her face scrunched up she looked to be in pain. "Luna, shh. I'm here."

"Don't die. Please, don't die." Luna's legs moved and her body tightened. 

Twilight wrapped her leg around Luna, pulled herself up to head level and whispered into Luna's ear. "I'll never die, I'll always be here for you."

Slowly Luna's body began to relax and a weak smile grew over Luna's lips. For a long time Twilight lay there, pushing the pain in her head away and enjoying the quiet comfort of her sleeping mare. Eventually she realized she would need to move, to get into action, to function again. It took awhile just to recall what had happened yesterday. She vaguely remembered breaking into a meeting with Celestia and Luna, learning about Lemon Heart's death, and then trying to get a meeting set up while also drowning her pain in a half dozen bottles of whiskey. After the third bottle everything became black.

With Lemon Hearts dead and the knowledge that the Alicorn Empire was strong enough to cause some severe damage to them, any sense of security or safety was taken out of the equation. The longer Twilight lay here, thinking about this, the more she felt her skin itching. She couldn't sit here and do nothing; she had to mobilize, to make a plan, to do something. It looked like it was time for the Elements of Harmony to go on another adventure, and once again Twilight would hope that this would be the last one. 

Once upon a time Celestia had told her that because of her friends Equestria was safer than it had ever been before. Twilight was quick to call her out on her BS and point out that ever since the Elements of Harmony had returned increasingly dangerous threats had appeared in the world. As if some universal balance was being met, threats that not only took control of Equestria time and time again, but a few that threatened the entire world or multiverse appeared. Memories of that world Twilight discovered, the one that had been completely destroyed and turned to ash flashed back into her mind. From what she'd learned, there was something out there, something still on its way, something that would make every threat Twilight ever fought put together look like a level one rat monster. 

That was it, Twilight couldn't lay here anymore. She pushed herself out of bed and as quietly as she could and retreated to her desk. There was a cup of black coffee still sitting on the table next to a collection of notes. Twilight took a seat on her desk chair, and took a sip of the cup of coffee. It was stale, and tasted only vaguely of cinnamon and whiskey. She looked around to find a half empty bottle of Celestia's Hellfire Whiskey under the table and poured a bit of it into the coffee. With another sip she smiled. Perfect.

Hours slipped by and the morning light shifted and changed into the bright light of noon. Her little room was dark, but she had adjusted to the darkness so it was of little concern. The pages of paper lying before her on her desk were collections of every bit of information she had obtained. Every clue she could think of. Everything that may even be coincidentally connected. There just wasn't enough information to form any real plans.

The sound of hooves clopping up the stairs made Twilight glance back. From the staircase leading down to the first floor Applejack appeared. She looked around and her nose scrunched up. "Twi, not only is it darker than a bull’s backside in here, it reeks like one too."

Twilight grumbled to herself for a moment before replying, "I'm not turning any lights on yet. Luna needs her rest."

Applejack looked up to the loft where Twilight's bed was. "You two can fit on that bed?"

Twilight rolled her eyes. "You ask that every single time, and every single time I reply, it's more cozy on a smaller bed."

Applejack made her way to Twilight and smiled down at her. There were a couple of wrinkles on her aged face, not to mention a few gray hairs at the base of her mane. Twilight glanced back to the small mirror on her desk. She herself was already shaped much more like Luna and Celestia, a long muzzle, neck, and giant in size compared to her friends, but she was also just as young as she was the day she first became an alicorn. As time passed it became increasingly clear to her, which friends she was going to leave behind, and which ones might remain a bit longer. Just how did Celestia really deal with immortality, despite her begging, she'd never revealed the secret to her.

"Twi? You okay? You got that look again."

Twilight shook her head. "I'm fine. Just trying to fix this-" she caught herself when she realized that nopony knew about the attack yet. It was a state secret, and although she could reveal it to Applejack, and would have to at some point, she wasn't sure if it was time to just yet. "I'm working on something for Celestia."

"Does that include drinking, because you reek."

Twilight glared at her. "I do not." Just in case she smelled her leg pit. The fact that Twilight had to swallow her own vomit was probably a sign that she was not as clean as she needed to be. "I'll... clean up in a minute."

Applejack stomped her hoof quietly, probably a favor to Luna. "Not this time, yer gonna put whatever catastrophe yer working on down fer a minute and shower now. Ah ain't gonna let you live like that."

Twilight laughed nervously. "Catastrophe? What are you talking about?"

"Twi, I've known ya for most of my life, Ah ain't gonna pretend like Ah can't tell when something big is going on. Soon yer gonna call a meeting of all of us, and we're gonna go on some new adventure, and we're all gonna fight some monster with the power of friendship, and yer gonna come home and drink yerself to sleep."

Twilight blinked. "You don't know I'll do the last part."

Applejack put a hoof on Twilight's shoulder and squeezed. "Come on, Twi. Ain't Ah yer second in command? Ah should know how this here barn dance works by now."

Twilight looked back to her mirror. Her fur was sticking out in weird ways due to the sweat. Yeah it was time to take a shower. Reluctantly Twilight nodded and through a headache she and Applejack headed to the bathroom. She felt like a foal but it was clear that Applejack wasn't going to let Twilight off the hook until she was sure she was clean. Hopefully she wouldn't complain about the drinking again too.


***



Trixie paced back and forth in the living room. On the couch in front of her sat her daughter Amber, who was still towering over her even while sitting. This was something Trixie wasn't quite sure of what she should do about. On one hoof her daughter was most certainly grounded for breaking the rules, on the other hoof she couldn't help but to admire how not only did Amber manage to sneak out completely without arousing her suspicion, but sacrificed it all to keep Twilight from hitting the floor and hurting herself. Maud was upset as well, but Trixie wasn't going to make Maud be the bad mom right now, especially considering Amber wouldn't listen to her.

"So," Trixie finally began. "If you were in my place, and your child ran out in the middle of the night, and snuck in onto a secret meeting of royalty, what would you do to punish her?"

Amber smiled. "I'd let her off the hook for being such a kind mare to save her mentor."

Trixie rolled her eyes. "You don't really expect me to let you off that easy, do you?"

Amber looked down at the floor and pawed at the couch beneath her. "Not really."

"Good, at least you have some sense."

"This is so dumb, I'm getting punished for something I wouldn't have if I didn't save Twilight."

If anypony could understand how that must have felt, it was Trixie. Undue punishments were something she was fairly familiar with from her past. Still now it was her time to be the bad mom. "I already agreed to Fluttershy's idea for punishment."

"Oh come on!" Amber complained. "I know she said it was dealing with 'monsters' but let's face it, to her a slightly upset bunny rabbit could be a monster."

A small smile grew over Trixie's lips. "Well you know as well as I do that you won't be fighting anything with Fluttershy. But, that doesn't mean you won't have fun or learn something. Hey, maybe she'll take you on an adventure?"

Amber glared at her. "Oh yeah, the great adventure of feeding fish to her otters or helping her bear friend get honey out of a tree. My heart can barely take it."

"That's the spirit," Trixie replied. "Now you still need to learn a lesson from me though... so I'm revoking your privilege to go hang out with friends for a week."

Amber's eyes widened. "What? No! You can't do that."

There it was, with a simple sentence Trixie managed to figure out that Amber was indeed up to something mischievous, and it was likely on a timetable too. "Actually, I can, and I just did."

Amber grumbled under her breath but didn't argue further. For a moment Trixie was surprised at this. She fully expected another hour of arguments from Amber, but instead Amber choose the silent treatment while staring past her. Well at least it was a victory. The way Amber was staring right through her was a bit concerning though, was this a new rebellious move? To act as if Trixie wasn't there? This felt worse than being yelled at...

A single hoof clop behind her made Trixie swivel around to see both Maud, and Valiant Heart standing there. Maud was tall, not nearly as tall as Amber was, but still tall for a mare. Whereas Valiant Heart was short, shorter than most full grown mares, and had brown fur with a reddish-brown mane that covered half her face hiding what Trixie knew was an off colored eye. Val was probably the strangest earth pony Trixie had ever met, and knowing Pinkie Pie that was saying something, but she was her daughter and no amount of weirdness would change how much Trixie loved her.

Val nodded and offered a small smile. Maud by comparison spoke volumes when she said, "Lulu, Amber, we'll be leaving soon."

It still hurt to know that Maud was leaving again. The trips became less frequent with age, but being pulled away from her love was still painful. "We'll be here waiting for you two to come home."

Amber was off the couch and by Trixie's side in seconds. "Oh, so you're leaving mom, again."

Trixie looked up at Amber. "Honey, she's just going on a business trip. It's her job to-"

"To leave us behind, yeah I know."

Maud's body stiffened, and even though she didn't let it show on her face, Trixie could see and feel how much that comment got to her. For a moment Maud was silent, but then she started to speak, "Maybe I should stay and-"

Trixie interrupted her. "No you don't. This is your dream job, and I know how much you love going on your little rock hunts. You also are doing a lot of good for Equestria. So don't you dare let a seventeen year old filly tell you what to do."

Maud's smile was worth everything in the world to Trixie. "Thank you."

Val shook her head. "Sis."

Amber's face screwed up as if she was processing too many emotions at once from that one spoken word. She settled on grumpy and looked at the floor beneath her. "Whatever."

Trixie asked, "How long do you two plan to be gone this time?"

Maud replied, "We're expecting two weeks, but I hope we can get this done sooner."

Trixie offered a smile to her. "Don't you worry about coming home early for us. You two just enjoy your time together." She changed her view to Val. "And you better keep Maud safe, you hear me."

Val rolled her eye, but the smile she offered spoke volumes of how proud she was to be relied on as a full grown adult. Then again Valiant Heart had proven her abilities on more than enough occasions for Trixie to fully trust the little hero to keep everypony safe, including herself. The next few minutes were spent helping Maud and Val get their bags to the wagon out front. It was Trixie's old stage wagon, now fully converted to a traveling home. Some of the old paint still remained on the side though the only words left was Trixie's name. The thing needed touched up on, but since Trixie retired from show business, she just didn't feel the need to. Still it served Maud well.

Watching those two leave always left a pit of pain in Trixie's heart, but seeing Maud and Valiant go out on their adventures was also one of the best things she'd ever seen. There was a brush of cold air next to Trixie and she felt somewhat more at ease. Under her breathe she whispered, "And you better keep both of them safe too, Boulder Dash."