//------------------------------// // Hopes // Story: Twilight's Reign // by James Pwyll //------------------------------// "You adopted a kid?!" Rainbow blurted out. Twilight, after taking a sip of her tea, rolled her eyes. "No, Rainbow, I did not adopt her. I simply decreed that she'd be living with me here in the palace and that she would be my ward...and also that I'd be responsible for her upbringing...and education...and general care..." She cleared her throat slightly. "Alright, maybe I did adopt her." Her friends all did their best to hold back the snickers they were clearly feeling, but in the end it fell to Rarity to reach out and pat her on the shoulder. "Well, that filly couldn't be in better hooves, my friend." Her smile faded. "But it is a shame that she had to come to you in such circumstances." Twilight nodded solemnly. "It is. But I've accepted her into my life, and I will endeavour to do whatever I can for her. I can't guarantee what kind of a life she'll lead...but I hope I can give her a good one." Pinkie, having finished her prior giggle, smiled widely. "Sure thing! If you can run a whole country full of wacky magical antics, you can take care of one filly." She took a sip of her own tea, then suddenly looked to her royal colleague with uncharacteristic seriousness. "Just be warned, if you look after two baby ponies, you'll soon be driven to points of stress and near-madness the likes of which you couldn't even fathom." Everypony blinked to her, with Spike leaning in and giving Twilight a quick whisper. "I think she's having Cake flashbacks again." Twilight smiled to him, then looked to her friends as a whole. "As grateful as I am to hear your advice, I'm much more interested to hear how you've all been getting along out there since we last got together. I could really use a break from all the other duties I've been enacting lately." She glanced to the side. "No offence to Moondancer, but let's just say she got way too excited when I put her in charge of archiving all those new magical artefacts." A look of amusement came to her. "But, to be fair, I'd have likely reacted the same way in her place." Applejack tipped her hat. "Well, Sugar Belle finally moved into Sweet Apple Acres." Twilight's face lit up. "Really? Was it hard getting all her stuff over from the village?" Applejack waved her off. "Nah! With me an' the family helpin' out, we got it sorted out in no time flat. An' hey, she's even started settin' up a new stall ta sell her stuff right there in Ponyville." Twilight sighed. "I really must get around to trying some of her baking when I visit you all over there." Pinkie quickly zipped to her side, bringing her voice to a hushed tone. "Let's just say she's way better at muffins than she used to be!" Everypony laughed again to that, and when the laughs died down, Rainbow, after setting her teacup aside, leaned on the table they were all sitting around before looking slyly to her friends. "Well, I probably don't need to tell you all that things are pretty awesome over at the Wonderbolts. I mean, hey, it's the Wonderbolts. When are they not awesome?" Pinkie, had she the fingers for it, would have likely started counting them off. "Well, there was the time their most famous member tried framing you for a crime you didn't commit, or the time their leader praised Lightning Dust even though she nearly hurt us all in a tornado, or..." Rainbow, blushing, looked away. "Well...yeah, besides that?" After enduring a look of amusement from her friends, she got back on track. "Anyway, things have been going well. Thanks to Twilight we're all over the place now, and my squad are doing pretty great if I do say so myself," she said with no small amount of smugness. Fluttershy smiled to her. "I'm glad Vapor and Sky are doing well out there." Rainbow nodded, then looked left and right, as if worried some other pony might come in and overhear them. "Also, and you didn't hear this from me, but I'm kinda getting the feeling that there's a little something-something happening with those two when I'm not around, if you catch my drift." Rarity gasped. "Oh my! How positively scandalous!" Then, her eyes sparkled as brightly as the gems she so adored. "I simply must start taking measurements of them both! One never knows when one will be called upon to make something fabulous for...shall we say, certain aisles?" she said with a wink. Twilight rolled here eyes before again looking to her. "And speaking of fashion, how are things going on your end, Rarity?" The fashionista beamed with pride. "Oh, they couldn't be better. Sales in Manehattan and Canterlot have been going through the roof since your coronation, Twilight. Anypony who was anypony was there, and when they saw that dress of yours, well, my name suddenly started floating around a bit more than usual." Fluttershy looked to her with concern. "Um, you haven't been asked to make hundreds of copies of that dress, have you?" Rarity gave a firm shake of her head. "Thankfully, no. And fear not, I learned my lesson from last time on that count." Then a look of interest came to the famed dressmaker. "Though that does bring us neatly onto your little corner of the world, darling. For I couldn't help but notice that Discord had been spending rather a lot of time over at your sanctuary." Fluttershy responded to that with a look of joy. "Oh, he's been so helpful over there lately. I asked him to assist me in bringing injured animals from places I can't get to because of how far away they are, and he's risen to the occasion. The sanctuary has never been busier. And we're getting in animals I'd only ever heard of!" Applejack chuckled. "Oh yeah? Ah reckon Angel's gonna be mighty jealous then." Fluttershy kept her smile. "No, we're actually talking and spending more time together than ever before. Things have really been good between us since...well...the incident." Rainbow shivered. "Wow, how did you of all ponies manage to make that word sound intimidating?" Pinkie grinned widely. "This is Fluttershy we're talking about! If she can stare down a dragon, she can do anything!" Fluttershy, naturally, blushed to a compliment like that, but then suddenly realised who it was who had said that to her. "Oh! I meant to ask, Pinkie. Is it true you and Cheese have been working together on some new party-planning?" Pinkie happily clapped her hooves together. "You betcha! Us working together is going to make the most super-spectacular-awesomest and most amazing party anypony has ever seen! Seriously, we've been working nonstop since he showed up in town a few days ago." Twilight smiled right back to her. "I'm glad to hear it. You two have always shared such a passion for this, so consider me pretty excited to see what you'll come up with." Pinkie leaned back into her chair. "Oh, you and I both have something to be excited about. Cheese hinted that he was going to bring over a 'very special box' for me when we have dinner together tomorrow, so don't be surprised if I end up squealing a bit more than usual when I get that early birthday present he's obviously planning to give to me." Her friends, seeing her start to down her remaining tea like a thing possessed, all looked to one another, half shocked but mostly just amused and silently agreeing to keep what they suspected a secret, lest it spoil that which the stallion in question clearly had in mind. Clearing her throat, Applejack decided to change the subject. "So...um...ah hear Starlight's doin' pretty well over at the school. The kids there are pretty happy from what ah hear." Twilight, as always, was happy to hear news of her school. "That's good to know, AJ. I have every confidence that Starlight will be able to handle that place as well as I did. Maybe even better, since she has her closest friends to help her." Fluttershy smiled to the thought of the school. "Well, if there's one thing that school was always meant to teach, it's that things are always better when you work with your friends." Rainbow cackled. "Heck yeah! I mean look at us! Alone we'd have had some pretty awesome lives, but together? Together we took on the world and made it better than it ever could have been!" Rarity nodded. "Indeed, darling. I shudder to think just how dull our lives might have been if we'd never known one another." Twilight grimaced. "Trust me, I've seen the worlds when that didn't happen. It wasn't good." "That's putting it mildly," Spike mumbled. Applejack reached over, placing her hoof upon Twilight's. "Well, what we know is that Ponyville, Equestria, an' shoot, even the whole world is better fer us bein' together. An' it never woulda happened without the two o' ya comin' ta Ponyville all those years ago." Twilight resumed her smile, seeing the affection her friends were giving both her and Spike. It was a moment that, as always, led to the seven of them all coming together in a group hug, with the nearby guards all turning, understanding that this was a private moment for the gathered friends. After a while, Twilight sighed, looking to each and every one of the ponies and dragon who mattered so much to her. "When I took on the crown, I wondered if the seven of us would be enough. But now?" Her smile widened as a single tear developed in her eye. "Now...I know there was nothing at all to worry about."