Chapter 7: Visit to Canterlot
(Joshua's Point of View)
These last few weeks have been eventful. Especially this last week when Mommy got three events to do in one week. Must've been hard for her to watch over me and Nyx, along with doing princess duties.
One night, Nyx and I were sleeping in bed, but we were gently shaken awake. I woke up and saw Mommy standing next to our bed. I then asked, "Mommy? What's going on?"
"Sorry to wake you, but we're going to have to go back to Canterlot for something I now regret," she said. "I'll explain while we get there."
Nyx and I started to get out of bed and followed Mommy to the front door. Spike was there waiting for us. Mommy then used her magic to levitate us, and we all went to Canterlot. We then went into a tower of some kind. Inside, was a huge library.
"What is this place?" I asked.
"We've never been here before," Nyx said.
"This is where I lived before I moved into the library in Ponyville," Mommy said. "My old home." We all looked around. It was a mess. "Well, I thought we cleaned up before we left this place." Mommy then walked over to a book stand where there was one book covered in dust. She then blew the dust off of that book. "Look! It's Predictions and Prophecies! And it's still open to the Elements of Harmony!"
I then walked over to the book, and took a look at it. I heard Spike say, "And here's that present I was gonna give Moon Dancer!" I looked over at Spike and saw him holding an old teddy bear. Then he tossed it aside and said, "Huh. Guess she won't be needing that." He then looked down and said, "Hey, look! The rest of it's still here."
I went back to reading that book when I heard Mommy said, "How could I have let this happen?"
"Come on, Twilight," said Spike. "Princess Celestia gave you an assignment. Nopony could blame you for that."
"But look at the way I left[ this place," said Mommy. "It's a total mess! Just like how I left my friendships." I heard a window being squeaked. "I've got to make it up tooo... uh..."
"Oh!" I heard Spike say. "Uh, Minuette, Twinkleshine, Lemon Hearts, Lyra Heartstrings and Moon Dancer."
"Yeah. Them," Mommy said.
"I thought Minuette was the town dentist in Ponyville," I said to them. "And isn't Lyra in Ponyville as well?"
"He has a point, Twilight," Nyx said.
"Huh," Mommy said. "Weird. Guess I was so busy in Ponyville, I didn't even notice."
I then widened my eyes at what I saw. "Mommy? Have you seen all of the predictions in this book?"
"No, why?" she asked.
"Look at this page," I said. Mommy did and saw that I was in there. Both as human and as a pony.
"That's weird," Mommy said. "Let's see... Wait what? Nyx, too?"
"Wait, you don't think M.C. and Mutt are in there, too, do you?" I asked.
"Let's see," Mommy said. "Discord's escape, the changeling invasion, the return of the Crystal Empire, the Everfree Forest spreading, Lord Tirek attacking. Oh, here they are. M.C. and Mutt. Weird."
"Who wrote this book?" I asked.
"I don't know," said Mommy. "Guess we'll have to talk to Celestia about this. Now, c'mon, let's get you kids a little more sleep before we head out."
I nodded, and then Nyx and I headed for the bed upstairs. Mommy arrived towards the bed and got in with us. We hugged each other in bed. We all fell asleep later.
We woke up around 8 o'clock this morning. We were about to head out, but there was a knocking on the door. Spike walked over to the door, and we were surprised to see who was at the door.
"M.C.? Mutt?" Spike asked. "What are you two doing here?"
"How did you get here?" Mommy asked. "There's no early train from Ponyville to Canterlot. Plus, the train here would take two and a half hours.
"Super speed," M.C. said, crossing his arms. "I'm surprised Mutt didn't lose his hat we got him a long, long time ago."
"What's going on?" Mutt asked. "Why'd you leave early this morning?"
"Well," said Mommy, rubbing the back of her head. "I came here to Canterlot to amend fences with some of my old friends, but two of them aren't even here. Lyra and Minuette."
"Minuette?" M.C. asked. "Oh, she's here in Canterlot. She wanted to catch up with some old friends as well. Lucky break, huh?"
"Yes!" Mommy said. "Wait a minute, how did you know about that?"
"She told me that when I took Mutt to a dentist appointment last week," M.C. said. "Although, she was a little confused on Mutt's silver filling."
"Silver filling?" Mommy asked.
"He had a little too much Halloween candy," M.C. said. "You know how that is."
"Too much candy is bad for your teeth," said Mommy. "Joshua told me about Halloween before you guys got here."
"Oh, good," M.C. said.
"So, where to, Mommy?" I asked.
"Oh, right," Mommy said. "First, we'll get some breakfast, and then we'll start heading to Minuette. M.C., you know where she is?"
"Yeah," M.C. said. "I do." He then looked over at a book under a chair. "But first, you might want to turn in that library book that you left here years ago."
"WHAT?!" Mommy said in shock. She then ran over to the book under the chair, and saw that it was indeed a library book that she didn't return. "Oh, boy..."
Mommy definitely had a tough day. Three of Mommy's friends were okay with her leaving Canterlot, but one of her old friends, Moon Dancer, was angry at her for not coming to her birthday party on the day before Princess Luna, as Nightmare Moon, came back.
It was getting harder and harder for Moon Dancer to forgive Mommy. She then left. Mommy then sighed and tried to go reason with her. Spike and Nyx followed. Mutt and I were about to follow, but we stopped to look at M.C. He was looking towards one table.
"What's up, M.C.?" Mutt asked.
"I got a weird feeling that we're being followed," M.C. responded. He then looked at us and said, "Do you have that feeling?"
We then looked over at the table M.C. was looking at and saw that the mare who was sitting there was gone, and the chair she was sitting in was wobbling, proving that the mare who was sitting there ran off.
"That was weird," I said. M.C. then walked up to the chair, and started smelling it. I was confused at what he was doing.
"What... are you doing?" Minuette asked walking up to him.
"Picking up the recent scent," M.C. said. "I'm able to remember a scent easily. Hmm. Whoever this pony was, it smells like she has a grudge."
"Who would have a grudge against Mommy?" I asked.
"Don't know," said M.C.
"Maybe it's a recent villain your mom faced," Mutt said to me. "No way Sombra would be behind this."
"Nope," said M.C. "This scent is female. Sombra is clearly a dude, and he was turned to stone, and I buried him deep underground in the Frozen North."
"By the way, I've been meaning to ask," I said. "How were you able to walk around the cold without freezing?"
"I was trained to survive all of the planet's natural elements," M.C. said. "I've been baked, boiled, frozen, submerged, and covered in cement. I passed all with flying colors."
"Do you think we should tell Twilight?" Mutt asked.
"Perhaps we should wait until this problem Twilight has to handle is done," said M.C. "C'mon. Let's go catch up with her."
Then the rest of us headed off.
The next day, Mommy went back to Ponyville to bring Pinkie here to recreate the party that Twilight missed and tried making up with Moon Dancer. But, it didn't exactly work out in the beginning. Moon Dancer wasn't okay at first, but she was able to forgive Mommy for not showing up to her birthday party that one day.
We were all having some cake and were having some fun times.
"That was an emotional day," said Mutt.
"Yeah," said Nyx. "Things have been going up and down, but luckily, it'll be better from now on."
"You can count on it," said Mommy. We all raised our drinks and tapped them together.
"I've seen a lot of emotional issues back in my time," M.C. said, "but I've never seen one solved that fast."
"Guess that is how things are now, Mikey," I said, smirking. Then I regretted it, when he got a devious look on his face. He then smiled.
"Hey, Sparkles," M.C. said to Mommy. "Is Joshua still... ticklish."
I then started running in fear, and hearing Mommy said, "Does that answer your question?" I could then hear M.C. laughing, and he used his super speed and tackled me. He then started tickling me like crazy. I couldn't help but laughing. It was too much for me. That's what I get for calling M.C. Mikey."
On the train back to Ponyville, M.C. told Mommy and Pinkie what happened at the restaurant the other night. They were surprised to know that somepony was spying on us.
"Are you sure?" Mommy asked. "She could've just been a fan of me. You know how much I'm famous."
"I know," said M.C., "but it's true. Specifically, I think that mare was following you."
"Well, did you get a good look at this pony?" Pinkie asked. We all looked at Pinkie with confusion. She then said, "What? I can be serious sometimes."
"Well, from the look of her hooves, her coat was a very light purple, and her mane was dark purple with light blue highlights," said M.C. "And I saw her mark, just barely. It was like a glimmer of some kind."
"Light purple coat," Mommy said, with worry rising.
"Purple mane with light blue highlights," Pinkie said in the same tone.
"Glimmer like mark," said Twilight. Her eyes were wide and her pupils shrinking.
"Starlight Glimmer!" the two of them said in unison.
"Who's Starlight Glimmer?" I asked.
"She's a pony who forced an entire village of ponies to give up their Cutie Marks, making them think that Cutie Marks are bad," said Pinkie.
"She tried to make us stay and tried to be one of them," said Mommy. "She failed."
"That's not right," said Nyx. "Nopony should be able to tell you what you can or can't do."
"I agree," said M.C. "But there's one thing she hasn't accounted on."
"And that is?" Spike asked.
"The mark and your talent doesn't make you who you are," M.C. said. "It's what you choose to do with it. Like me. I make my own destiny."
"Ooh," said Twilight. "Now that's a good lesson. Nyx, maybe you should tell your friends about what M.C. just said."
"Good idea," Nyx said. "I just hope this Starlight doesn't take my talent away."
"We won't let that happen," said M.C. "No matter what."
We all looked out the window, hoping that the worst was behind us.