Chapter Nine
It was very early in the day, but after many hours of preparation and hard work, the moment was finally here. The opening of the School of International Culture and Friendship was an event that had drawn the attention of many from around Equestria and the world, and there were a great number of visitors in attendance to witness its official opening ceremonies.
Twilight, however, seemed to be slightly less than happy for some reason with Spike looking at her as she prepared to open the doors for the first time.
"What's wrong?" the young dragon asked, fixing his bowtie for the last time. "Aren't you happy?"
"Of course I am Spike," she said, turning to face him. "More than you can possibly imagine, it is just I don't know how much the students will actually get done with all the attention to them today or the fact they will be first students here and be constantly followed by everyone that doesn't want this school to succeed." Pacing, she said, "And I didn't even think about how they, my students, would react to that. If they will be fine with it; I know that Ocellus is still very shy and I don't want to put unwanted stress on her."
"That's one of the reasons you wanted Discord heading up security here, isn't it," Spike said. "To deal with the nosier troublemakers."
Twilight nodded.
"Well, I'm sure everything will work out," Spike said. "Everyone and everything has a few hiccups here and there, but I know that in the end, it'll all work out." He then placed a hand on her side. "Besides, I can't see anyone trying anything after you ask them not to bother the students."
"Not that they're defenseless themselves," Twilight said as she levitated her crown onto her head. "Gallus, Yona and Sandbar all have their physical abilities, Smolder has her fire, Ocellus and Silverstream have their shapeshifting… they're all more than capable of protecting themselves."
"And that restraining order against Spoiled Rich doesn't hurt either," Spike joked.
"No, it doesn't," Twilight agreed. The other mare had not been pleased when her daughter and Silver Spoon had chosen to transfer to Twilight's school in an effort to get out from under Spoiled's influence, but Filthy Rich had fully supported the move when Diamond had admitted why she wanted to go. He'd also fully supported Twilight's actions after Spoiled had barged in on a meeting between the headmare and some other parents so she could try and get Diamond's enrollment revoked. Under those circumstances, even Mayor Mare had felt Twilight was completely justified in labeling Spoiled a "disruptive presence" and legally forbidding her from coming onto the school's grounds again, along with the Golden Oaks Library and several other key places (Filthy himself, of course, was still welcome). Spoiled had protested, of course, until the official court rulings were shown to her, proving that this was all very much legal and that she wasn't the first parent to get banned from a school's grounds for bad behavior. She was still trying to get those orders revoked, but it was starting to dawn on her it would be very costly to continue to pursue it in court.
"At any rate, we'd better get going," Spike said. "It's time."
Twilight nodded, took a couple of deep breaths, and headed outside, Spike trotting right behind her.
Students, political representatives, press and civilians alike had gathered in the courtyard, all eagerly awaiting the big moment. Still concentrating on her breathing, Twilight stepped up to the podium she'd set up.
"Welcome, everyone," she said, "to the official opening of the School of International Culture and Friendship.
"During my year traveling around the world and learning about other peoples, I came to realize how little we tended to know about the races outside our borders. And in time, I began to envision a school dedicated to sharing knowledge of the cultures of the world, and the bonds of friendship that can exist between all races. A school that would be open to everycreature, regardless of tribe or species. To ensure that we never forget the ties that bind our nations together, and spread these teachings to all." She paused again, and looked out at the crowd, who all seemed rather enthralled by her words. Smiling, she continued.
"Now, that school is a reality, and I am so glad to see that so many people have come to learn. And it is my great honor, as headmare of this school, to ask my students to please report to your teachers… because class is officially in session!"
Cheers erupted across the crowd as they parted to allow a slew of students approach the doors. In front of the pack were the young six friends, each of them waving as best as they could. Ocellus was still looking nervous but she seemed to be drawing confidence from her friends around her. Behind them were several ponies, but there were a pair of wolves, three minotaurs, a hooffull of griffons and hippogriffs, a centaur and gargoyle pair, yaks, changelings, Abyssinians, diamond dogs, ahuizotls, harpies and many, many more species. There was even a lone zebra, who was looking around in awe, with a buffalo walking beside them. Twilight could also see Little Strongheart, who'd escorted the youngster to Ponyville, in the crowd with a proud expression on her face.
When the last of the students had entered and the majority of the crowd had dispersed, Twilight started to head into her school, intending to return to her office for the day, when she heard a set of footsteps behind her, and turned to see some familiar, smiling faces.
"You've done well here, your Grace," Swift-Pad said as he and Maxilla stood together.
Twilight smiled back. "Thank you, Swift-Pad," she said. "But really, without you and your teachings, I don't know if I'd have ever gotten this far and this soon."
"Maybe not this soon, but eventually," Maxilla said, leaning in to nuzzle her face. "You are a clever girl, and this idea would have eventually come to you."
Twilight nuzzled her back. "Still, I owe you both so much for all the help and inspiration you gave me," she said. "I can never thank you enough for everything."
"Your use of this knowledge to achieve as much as you have is thanks enough," Swift-Pad said. "But I will always treasure our friendship."
Twilight smiled again. "So will I," she said. "Always."
"Also, we have a bit of a secondary agenda," Maxilla said, shifting on her paws, looking at Swift-Pad who grabbed her paw. "It is a rather important question we would like to ask you."
"Ask away," Twilight said, looking at the two.
"We would like you to be our future pups' godmother," Swift-Pad said.
Twilight's jaw dropped in delighted surprise, and then she beamed. "Of course!" she said, pulling the two into a hug. "I would be honoured to be your pups' godmother. When are you expecting?"
"Well, we aren't quite yet," Maxilla admitted. "But we're aiming for next spring."
"And we do hope when we do have our pups we might be able to enroll them here," Swift-Pad said, removing his glasses to clean them. "As youths, we grow up very fast; they should be of schooling age by the time next fall's session begins."
"Well, hopefully we'll have room for them to try and apply for their position in my school," Twilight said. "Friend or not, I cannot give preferential placement for anyone."
"If we start running out of room, we can always expand over the summer," Spike said from her side. "You made sure to include space for more buildings when you bought the land for the school."
Twilight blushed. "Right…" She shook her head. "But still, I can't do that."
"Why not?" Spike asked.
"Because her Grace would be accused of playing favourites and put her actions into question as a result if she did so," Swift-Pad said as he put his glasses back on after he had cleaned them. Twilight noticed that they were not the same pair he had got in Ponyville last year, which hopefully meant he was taking his eyesight more seriously or that Maxilla was not letting him get away with not taking proper care of himself.
"Not if the total number of applicants went up," Spike said. "I've checked the reports, and we've already got about… half as many students as we have now, wanting to apply for next year, and that's only going to go up."
"Still, it just takes one action like that for all those that oppose this school to use it against her, Spike," Maxilla said, rubbing his head soothingly.
Twilight nodded at her son. "Maxilla's right," she said. "But, there's nothing that says I can't receive an application and set it aside for future consideration. And I will absolutely do that, once your pups are old enough," she said to the wolf couple.
"That's all we ask for," Swift-Pad said with a smile. "That and if the worst should happen, you will look after them."
"If the need comes up, I will," Twilight promised. "Count on it."
It was late in the afternoon in Canterlot when the two Princesses were finally both awake and sharing a meal. Celestia was overjoyed to see her sister again, even more so to see her happy with her husband; someone who would tend to her needs in ways Celestia could never do and would be able to do so for many long years to come. But still, Celestia had to admit something was off with Luna's behaviour of late.
While she could spend several hours trying to figure out what the matter was, she could take a page out of Velvet's book and try to be direct.
"Luna," she said, placing a fork down and staring at the couple who were taking turns feeding each other. "May I ask you something?"
"I think you just did, Celly," Pharynx quipped with Celestia rolling her eyes.
"Please, Luna and I were around before that joke was old," she chided him, though she was still smiling. "But to the point of the matter; is everything okay Luna? You seem to be acting different than normal and I am curious to know if everything is okay or not."
Both of them shared conspicuous looks with each other before Luna grabbed Pharynx's hoof and squeezed it, then looked back at Celestia. "Please sister, prepare yourself for we have very important news to share with you."
"How serious is this?" Celestia asked, pushing herself upright.
"Very serious." Luna smiled. "But also very happy."
"Tell me."
Luna's smile grew even wider. "Tell me, Celly, how do you feel about becoming an aunt… again?"
"Luna, I am well aware of Cadance's upcoming foal," Celestia said with a frown.
Luna shook her head. "I said aunt, not great-aunt."
Celestia's eyes grew wide, and she looked at her sister's stomach. "You're…"
"About to make you an aunt and my brother an uncle, yes," Pharynx confirmed.
Celestia's face broke out into a massive smile. "Congratulations," she whispered before she leaped towards the two and pulled them into a tight embrace, the table vanishing in her lunge. "I'm so happy for you both," she said, nuzzling her sister with tears of joy running down her face before nuzzling her brother in-law. "And I am honoured to be the first to know."
"That was the plan," Luna said, breaking out of the hold to give her husband a glare. "Though some loose lips kinda ruined that."
"It was you who told them the news," Pharynx reminded her with a tiny frown. "Hormones, remember?"
Luna looked embarrassed. "Er… yes."
Looking between them, Celestia sighed. "May I presume Twilight and her friends are the ones you are speaking of?"
Luna nodded. "We stopped in when they were having dinner last night, before Twilight's school opened this morning, and I may have let more slip than I intended."
Celestia nodded. "That's all right then," she said. "Twilight is family, after all." She looked at them. "Does anyone else know?"
Luna shook her head. "Just the doctor who confirmed it," she said. "As I said, you were intended to be the first."
"And my brother is next," Pharynx said. "I think he'll be relieved more than anything."
"How is that?" Celestia asked curiously.
"Well, seeing as how he just barely managed to… erm…" Pharynx coughed into a hoof. "He beat me to it, by a day or so. We kinda celebrated the news, and that's when it happened, according to the doc."
Celestia arched an eyebrow. "You don't say."
Luna blushed. "King Thorax and Lady Metanotum's news made us so happy…" she said, brushing her legs together. "Especially as it meant we did not have to worry about complications in inheritance anymore."
Celestia nodded, smiling. "At any rate, I am very happy for you both," she said. "When do you plan to make the official public announcement?"
"Not until after we've told the rest of our family, and the other Queens," Luna said. "It is only appropriate that they be informed privately."
"Of course." Celestia said, still smiling from ear to ear.
"You still want to squeal and celebrate, don't you?" Luna teased with Celestia nodding her head. "Go right ahead then; I know you are looking forwards to the day my foal is born so you can spoil them rotten."
"Well, I wouldn't put it quite that way…" Celestia said. "Now if you'll pardon me while I have a strange interlude."
Then as Luna and Pharynx watched in amusement, she let out a loud giggle and began hopping around the room. "Yesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyes, yeeees!"
While Gallus was young enough that he still did not really want to go to school and would rather enjoy his time with his five best friends, he had to admit that these lessons were actually making sense. Along with the basics to assess where they stood in their education, they also spent time learning about other races' cultures and about the different aspects of friendship that Headmare Twilight and her friends had learned over the years since she moved to Ponyville.
He thought it would be more corny and less stuff he could use in the real world but he was wrong; it made sense the way these teachers said it and explained things. And even some of the cornier parts… weren't half bad, he had to admit to himself.
It was after about a week's worth of classes that something came up though. During one of the lessons, he had to ask Eager-Learner, one of his wolf classmates, if what their teacher was saying was true. "Wait, you guys really don't accept apologies?"
"If we do not believe that apology to be sincere, then no, we do not," Eager-Learner said. "And we only apologize if we are sure we won't repeat the mistake being apologized for and thus can be trusted not to do so again."
"Huh."
"Yona no get it," the yak said. "What if you break plate at home; you don't apologize?"
"If it was a genuine accident beyond our control and we can't guarantee that we wouldn't have a repeat at some point, then no, we probably wouldn't," Eager-Learner said with a shrug, looking at his sister Wise-Questioner. "Say, if we were holding it and then dropped and broke it because a big noise from somewhere startled us while we were holding it, they wouldn't get upset over that and wouldn't need an apology."
"Huh," Gallus repeated. "That's… definitely a different way of looking at it."
Another lesson, a few days later, saw them learning about the kingdom of the centaurs and gargoyles, who had not always lived together.
"So how did both of you come to share a kingdom?" Sandbar asked early on. "I mean… you're so different."
The gargoyle, a mister Caplan, at the front of the class looked rather prim. "The answer to your question, young colt, goes back to the earliest ages. According to our history, the centaurs were not always centaurs; they in fact originated from a crossbreeding of a small herd of ponies who migrated from Saddle Arabia with an unknown, ape-like race, which has regrettably ceased to exist. It is said this crossbreeding was enabled by magical springs that existed in the area, and by the time the last of the original two groups had bred themselves out of existence, the springs themselves had ceased to be magical, their power absorbed by the new race they had given birth to. They did not know this aspect of the truth at the time, however." He paused for a moment, his eyes sweeping over the class, before continuing.
"Centuries passed," he said, "The centaurs migrated from their old homeland, passing from territory to territory. They even spent some time in the Minos Islands, according to the minotaurs themselves, before moving on. Finally, they discovered Laronda, the land where the gargoyles lived. As they had come in peace, Queen Herron welcomed them, and the two species intermingled as friends. Eventually, a centaur male and a gargoyle female fell in love, and married. They were quite surprised when they discovered that they were expecting, and even more when the child was found to be a purebred centaur, with no visible traits of the mother. Then another couple who had married gave birth to a purebred gargoyle, who lacked any physical traits of his centaur parent. The couple later produced a second child, and like the first mixed coupling, was a centaur with no gargoyle traits. Intrigued by this, the Queen asked permission to do a study of the centaurs' magic, which they agreed to, and so their ability to interbreed with other races without diluting the bloodlines of either was discovered. While some feared for the future of the gargoyles if the centaurs remained among them, Queen Herron was not among them. She declared that the centaurs had come to their land in search of a home, and they would not be expelled for any reason."
"So what happened then?" another student asked.
Mr. Caplan peered out at them. "Soon after, Queen Herron's own child married a centaur, and when Queen Herron stepped down, that centaur became King. Since that day, the royal family of Laronda has been a mix of gargoyles and centaurs, with neither taking precedence over the other when the new generation takes the throne. And except for a rare time or two, their land has been a peaceful one, a living example of harmony between two or more peoples - a union that long predates the unification of the pony tribes, I might add." He arched an eyebrow. "Princess Twilight herself found this aspect of our history to be quite fascinating when she visited, and was most delighted to hear of such a harmonious society, as I recall."
"What about those other times, Mr. Caplan?" Diamond Tiara asked. "Those less peaceful times?"
Caplan nodded. "Well, the most well-known time was when one of our most infamous royals also became one of our most infamous criminals. Prince Tirek, now Tirek the Terrible, was driven by greed to the point where he attempted to seize control of Equestria's magic, which was later found to be for the purposes of overthrowing his own father and taking the jade throne by force. Luckily for all, his plans were thwarted by his brother, working in concert with your own land’s Starswirl the Bearded. The disgraced Prince was subsequently imprisoned in Tartarus, and his brother ascended the throne as King Scorpan the Just when their father passed soon afterward." He bowed his head. "King Vorak was a great leader, and his wife Queen Haydon and his nation still mourn him."
"How did he try to take over?" a young pegasus filly asked, causing everyone to turn and face her.
"I'm sorry, miss…" Caplan said, peering at the filly.
"Cozy Glow, sir," she answered.
"I'm sorry, miss Glow, but I cannot say," Caplan replied. "We do not like to speak of the fallen Prince's methods, only that they were condemned by everyone in our nation, and outlawed even before he came to use them. Now, if we may go on..."
The filly seemed disappointed in this, and Yona frowned. Something bugging yak about this girl, she thought. Glancing around to the side, she saw that she wasn't the only one; another of her classmates had a worried expression on their face.
Yona will talk to that one later, she decided. Pink crown filly has good head on her shoulders.
A few days after that class, there was a gentle knocking on a door to Twilight's office, and then a voice came from the other side. "Princess?"
Twilight looked up from her paperwork, recognizing the voice. "Come in," she said.
The door opened slowly, and then Diamond Tiara passed through, shutting it behind her. "Um... can I talk to you about something?"
Twilight smiled. "That's one of the reasons I'm here," she said. "Sit."
As her student did, Twilight looked at her. "Now, what can I do for you?"
Diamond Tiara looked uncomfortable. "Um... Princess... I know we're here to learn about friendship, and the differences between ponies and different races, but..."
"But?" Twilight asked.
"Well... there's one of my classmates, and honestly..." Diamond Tiara looked up at her. "I don't think I can be friends with her, because she freaks me out!"
Twilight arched an eyebrow. As Spike had predicted, there'd been a few hiccups between some of the students, personality conflicts more than anything, that led them to come to her for guidance. But Diamond Tiara was not one of those who'd had a problem of that kind until now, and besides that, this phrasing was a new one on her. "Anything in particular?" she asked.
"Well..." Diamond trailed off, and Twilight waited. Finally, the filly looked up. "Ever since we met, there was just something about her that kind of gave me the creeps," she admitted. "And I’m not the only one who feels that way. I didn't know what it was, but every time I came around her, I just got this sense of... wrongness, and it worried me, but then I started paying closer attention to her so I could figure it out. I didn't want to say anything before I knew exactly what was bothering me about her."
Twilight frowned, summoned a quill and paper, and began writing. When she'd finished, she looked at her student. "Go on."
Diamond looked down. "Well... she reminded me of how I used to be, but a lot sneakier - she says stuff to people that sounds friendly at first, but it's really set up to make them doubt themselves. And... there's the way she pretends to be nice to others, but she's really just doing it so they'll to do things for her..." She looked even more uncomfortable. "Princess, I'm sorry, but... I don't know what else I can tell you."
Twilight nodded slowly. She might not be Applejack, but she could feel the conviction in Diamond's voice. "I believe you," she said. "And I'll look into this. What's your classmate's name?"
"Cozy Glow," Diamond Tiara told her. "She's a pegasus, and she's got a chess piece for a Cutie Mark."
"Thank you." Summoning another paper, Twilight wrote something down, before looking up at the filly. "Was there anything else you needed to talk to me about? Classes going well?"
Diamond nodded, looking happier. "Yeah, except for her, I'm... I'm having fun."
Twilight smiled, and then hoofed over the hall pass she'd written out. "Good," she said. "And here, so you don't get in trouble for being late to your next class."
Diamond accepted it and smiled shyly. "Thank you."
When she had gone, Twilight sighed. If this Cozy Glow was truly a toxic influence among her students, then handling her was going to take a very delicate touch.
Diamond Tiara breathed a sigh of relief as she headed into her next class, hoofed the pass over to their teacher, and then took a seat. At Yona's curious look, she gave her a smile and nodded. The yak girl smiled back, before turning her attention back to the lesson.
When class had been dismissed, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon followed Gallus's group back to where the six usually hung out.
"How did it go?" Smolder asked.
Diamond looked around. "I told her the truth," she said. "How that… girl creeped me and some others out, and about some of her behavior. "
"Good." Gallus looked at them. "Say, you girls wanna hang out with us?"
Silver Spoon nodded. "Sure!"
"Great!" Silverstream was suddenly in their faces. "What do you want to do first?"
The two fillies exchanged looks, then smiled. "What do you want to do?" Diamond asked.
"Well…"
It was a typical day in the Crystal Empire - the sun was shining, the Crystal ponies were going about their usual business… and Cadance's expression was so bright that if it were night instead, Luna would be wondering what was daring to try and compete with her moon.
"Motherly hormones suit you well," Aria said with a smirk on her face, the siren floating alongside her. "Any new cravings?"
"Not in a couple of days," Cadance told her. "And you know, even if I wasn't expecting, that last combination would actually be pretty good?"
"Cady, you asked for cucumber and banana slices mixed with cold rice and bleu cheese dressing," Aria told her. "In what dimension is that an edible combination for anyone besides a pregnant mare?"
Cadance pouted. "It's good for replenishing electrolytes," she said.
"If you say so." Aria didn't look convinced.
"She isn't lying, trust me," Shining said with a spring in his step. "I can tell the difference. And actually, I liked it too."
Aria shook her head. "You ponies are strange. And this is me - the siren whose sister will eat anything if it's served in a taco shell - talking."
"I still think those anchovy, sour cream and steak sauce tacos you were craving last month were de-lish!" Sonata called from where she was floating across the hall, prompting a giggle from Cadance and a shared look of disgust from Aria and Shining Armor.
"Speaking of cravings, has Luna been having any?" Aria asked. The news that there were two alicorn Princesses who were expecting had taken a lot of people by surprise when the official announcement was made, but Aria wasn't one of them - she'd been more surprised it hadn't happened sooner.
"Mostly sugar water," Cadance told her. "Nothing near what I've been having."
"Wonder if it has to do with the baby being half changeling," Aria said, tapping her chin as she floated alongside them.
"Might be," Shining Armor said. "Pharynx and I talked about this, and he said that changelings mostly need lots of love energy when they're developing. And our little cousin's getting plenty of that from both their parents, and Celestia."
"Mm." Aria nodded before looking at Cadance. “How goes the windigo watch? Any changes in them?”
“Still dormant,” Cadance told her. “Aunt Luna did a deeper scan on their minds the last time she went there, and she says it’s like they’re all in some type of interrupted sleep loop, cycling from stage 4 to REM and back again, without ever going any higher."
"Deep sleep and dream sleep?" Sonata asked curiously as she drifted closer, prompting a surprised look from Aria, and a returning shrug from Sonata. “What? I read.”
Cadance smiled. “Well, you’re absolutely right. They’re in the deepest part of the sleep cycle, where you recharge, but instead of going back up the cycle, they gets shunted back into REM and the cycle starts all over again."
“If Princess Luna is capable of ‘scanning their minds’,” Sonata said, making air quotes with her fins. “Why doesn’t she just try to wake up the least lethal ones around?”
“She did try,” Shining Armor said. “But something was protecting them. We’re not sure what, but whatever it is, it told her to ‘mind your own business’. She pulled out as a precaution, and while she can still feel their minds, she hasn’t tried waking them since then.”
“Mind her own business?” Aria asked, raising an eyebrow.
"We're paraphrasing," Cadence said. "It was more along the lines of something vastly more powerful giving her the clear indication that she isn't to interfere. Considering who could have possibly the power to hold an entire race in a dream loop against Luna and Pharynx, the odds are that they are very high up in the ranks." She sighed, shaking her head. "They will probably try again when they have more people trained in dream magic to support them, though it will be some time unfortunately."
“What Power could possibly be able to keep anyone dormant when the Lord of Nightmares and Lady of Dreams are both active and trying to wake them up?” Aria asked. “And why?”
Cadance and Shining Armor exchanged glances. “We don’t know,” Cadance finally said. “But Aunt Luna thinks that whomever is responsible, they’re waiting to let the windigos out of their dormant state until they’re all recovered from whatever put them in that state in the first place.”
“And we have a few theories to who it could be and what put them in that state in the first place,” Shining said. “We could be lucky that it was a byproduct of the Fires of Friendship, which was just Harmony in the past, so that means we would just need the girls to come by to use their Powers to rainbow them out.”
“And if we’re not lucky?” Sonata asked.
“It could be one of the big eight that is doing this; Death, War, Famine, Pestilence… or their Opposites: Life, Peace, Prosperity, and Health,” Cadance said with a grimace. “Among their fellow Powers, they’re known as the Four Apocalypses and the Four Creations, respectively. They operate on levels that we do not fully understand and they tend to remain distant from the rest of us. There isn’t much we can do to oppose them but there is a lot of damage any of them can do to us if we anger them somehow.”
“We’re hoping that if it’s one of them, it’s Health who’s doing it,” Shining Armor said. “That is, if we’re right and the windigos are being kept dormant until they can fully recover their minds. It feels like Health’s kind of thing.”
“Maybe Aria can help?” Sonata offered, with her sister giving her a glare. “I mean, we all know windigos nom on hatred; maybe they just need some negativity to give them that jumpstart?”
Cadance considered. “Maybe,” she said. “It might work. But if it’s one of the Four Apocalypses or the Four Creations, another attempt at interfering might have severe consequences.”
“Or it could be them waiting for me to do something,” Aria said, licking her lips. “I can at least offer to help and see if they take it, right?”
Cadance smiled. “Yes, you could,” she said. “If you’re sure.”
“Absolutely not but I am willing to try,” Aria said, holding her head high. “I mean, what would be the point of being who I am now if I didn’t try to use my new powers to help others?”
“And, sirens and windigos don’t exactly get along, or didn’t used to,” Sonata added. “So maybe her just being around them would give them an extra jolt of negativity.”
Aria sighed. “There’s that too.”
The pony couple smiled. “Well, if you’re willing, we can give it a try,” Cadance said. “But I think we’d better wait until Aunt Luna and Prince Pharynx can accompany you. Just to be on the safe side.”
Aria nodded, then drifted away with Sonata, leaving the two royals to exchange glances.
“You really think this is a good idea?” Shining Armor asked. “I mean, she’s had her new powers less than a year. What if it turns out to be Peace who’s doing this and not Health; you know how touchy they can get.”
Cadance nodded. “We won’t know unless they give it a try,” she said, nuzzling his neck. “Besides, Aria is right. She was chosen to be the Lady of Hatred and regardless of old rivalries, the windigos would follow her instinctively just because of that in their current state. She has the greatest possibility to actually help them besides Aunt Luna and Prince Pharynx waking them up so the professionals can take over.”
Shining Armor nodded. “All right then. Here’s hoping.”
As the two walked down the corridors, if they’d been listening a little more carefully, they’d have heard a slight twinkling in the air.