House of Sun

by Riossumari


Old fears

It was bright and beautiful Canterlot day, Twilight was walking through the castle alongside Sunset the two ponies discussing a spell book they’d been studying from the restricted section of the castle study. The two walked through the hall when a guard approached the two mares with a bit of urgency to his pace.
“Excuse Ms. Shimmer, Ms. Twilight, I don’t want to disturb the two of you but there’s a matter that needs your attention. Twilight and Sunset looked at one another and then Twilight answered with a smile,
“It’s no trouble at all, what do you need soldier?” she asked.
The guard nodded and was quick to explain, “There’s a messenger here with a letter that needs to be delivered, but its for Princess Celestia so only a member of the royal family is allowed to receive it.” Twilight nodded and looked at Sunset with a smile,
“That’s alright, Twilight and I can take care of this. Were both part of the Royal family so we can take the letter and give it to Princess Celestia.” Sunset said. The guard smiled happily at them and guided them to the room where the messenger was waiting. He saluted and opened the door and the two mares walked inside eager to help out. Twilight walked a few steps ahead of Sunset her head held high and eyes closed with a smile, this was a matter for the royal family so she had to try and look the part a little.
“Hello there I am Twilight Sparkle, Princess Celestia’s daughter and this is my cousin Sunset Shimmer. I was told that you had a letter for my mother, Princess Celestia.” she said confidently.
“Yes, I do! I came straight from Gryffonstone, though usually Princess Luna or Celestia receives these letters.” the messenger answered. Twilight’s heart practically stopped she opened her eyes and looked ahead to see a happy gray griffon girl standing in the center of the room a satchel with mail in it slung across her side.
“I’m Gabby by the way, it’s nice to meet others members of the royal family.” she said as she approached the two offering the scroll to the two. As Gabby got closer Twilight quickly retreated her breaths getting shorter and faster, Sunset turned and looked at Twilight and she noticed the look of fear in her eyes. Gabby was a little puzzled by Twilight’s reaction and tried to get closer though.
“Ms. Twilight? Is something wrong?” Gabby asked as she got closer. Bad memories began to rise to the surface of Twilight’s mind, the feeling of her hooves and mouth bound, the darkness of a closed room, the fear of never seeing her family again. Sunset tried to warn Gabby not to get closer but it was too late, once she was close enough to hand Twilight the letter the purple mare shrieked at the top of her lungs. Gabby stumbled back surprised by her reaction, Twilight backed up to the wall and clutched her head screaming at Gabby to stay away.
“What? What did I do? I’m sorry Twilight.” she muttered a second later the doors to the room on both sides burst open, on one end a trio of guards the other Celestia and Spike. Celestia looked around the room and the moment she saw Twilight and Gabby she pieced the situation together quickly,
“It’s alright, I can take care of this! Go back to your posts at once!” Celestia commanded the guards, Celestia rushed over and hugged Twilight tight to try and comfort her. Spike and Sunset taking Gabby out of the room and away from Twilight before things got worse. Celestia held Twilight tight and tried to comfort her, to make her calm down.
“Its okay now, its okay Twilight. No creature is going to hurt you I promise.” Celestia whispered to her. Twilight pressed her face into Celestia’s shoulder, she tried to compose herself but it wasn’t easy right now.
“I’m sorry...I...I know she wasn’t gonna do anything bad...but, I just remembered some bad things is all…” Twilight sobbed. Celestia held her close gently stroking the back of her head to soothe her.
“I know Twilight, I know. It’s not easy getting over bad memories, I know that believe me.” Celestia replied.




Sunset closed the doors behind her as they guided Gabby out of the room, she was so confused right now.
“I don’t understand, what did I do wrong? I wasn’t being mean I promise.” Gabby explained to Spike.
“I know that and so does Twilight, its just...she had a bad experience with some griffons when she was a filly. I guess she never really got over it, its not your fault Gabby.” he explained. Sunset walked over and stood next to Spike,
“You two know each other?” she asked. Spike nodded in response, he and Gabby both smiling after.
“Yeah, Mom’s been trying to build relations with some of the other creatures in Equestria. So she’s been sending letters to Gryffonstone, Gabby’s been the one bringing the letters back and forth. She spends time with me and Sweetie Belle a lot while she’s here.” Spike said. Sunset looked at Spike with a bit of a sly grin and couldn’t help but tease him,
“Sweetie doesn’t get jealous? Aren’t you a bold one Spike.” Spike gave Sunset a bit of angry scowl while Gabby tilted her head puzzled.
“Gabby’s my friend, and so is Sweetie. Don’t poke fun at us Sunset!” he snapped. Gabby reached into her mail bag and gave Sunset the scroll she was supposed to deliver, Sunset tucked it into her saddlebag.
“I’m really sorry I scared Twilight...Is there any way I can apologize to her? I don’t want her to be scared of me, or any griffons, were not all bad.” Gabby said. Sunset scratched the back of her head nervously in response to Gabby’s question,
“I don’t know Gabby, getting over something like this isn’t really easy. Back when it happened Twilight really shut down, I know that she doesn’t want you to think she hates you or anything but it might take some time to get over this fear of hers.” Sunset answered. Gabby nodded in response, she understood what Sunset was trying to tell her and she wasn’t about to try and press the matter further.
“Well then...I guess I’ll just wait outside this time. I don’t want to scare any pony more than I have, just let Princess Celestia know that I’m still in Canterlot for me okay Spike?” she asked with a bright smile. Spike nodded a moment later Gabby turned and left the castle to wait for the return letter she was to deliver.




Gabby sat in the castle courtyard, she was upset that Twilight was afraid of her now she only wanted to be friends but not if it meant scaring her. Gabby sat folding a piece of paper into a star shape, making little bits of origami as she waited for some pony to bring her Celestia’s letter.
“Hey Gabby, are you doing okay?” she turned to see Spike walk over and sit next to her.
“Oh yeah! I’m fine, I was just making paper stars while I waited for Celestia’s letter is all. Just trying to make time pass, you know?” she answered. Spike could tell that she was upset and he wanted to help Gabby but wasn’t sure how they could fix this.
“Do you wanna try talking to Twilight again? Maybe if I’m there it’ll make things better this time?” he asked. Gabby shook her head though as she kept folding pieces of paper from her bag into stars,
“I don’t think that’s gonna really help Spike, I wanna be friends but I don’t know how I can talk to her without scaring her.” Gabby replied. Spike sat and thought for a moment and then came up with an idea,
“What if you wrote letters to each other? That way you two can talk but not have to be close enough to scare her.” Spike said with a smile. Gabby thought for a moment,
“That’s not a bad idea, but it don’t think it’ll really stop her from being afraid of seeing me Spike. We need to think of something better than that...” Gabby answered. Spike sat and thought for a moment, he was racking his brain trying to think of a solution to this problem. Then he looked down and saw the paper stars Gabby was making on the ground and his lit up with a smile.
“That’s it! Gabby I’ve got an idea!”




About two hours had passed since Twilight last saw Gabby, she was sitting in the study reading as usual. She managed to calm down but she also felt bad about what had happened with Gabby earlier. As she read through the book in front of her suddenly a paper airplane floated into the room landing on the table in front of Twilight. She looked at it puzzled for a second, she picked it up and unfolded it to find a message was written on it.

“Hi Twilight! I’m sorry that I scared you earlier, I just wanted to be friends is all. I thought this might be a good way for us to talk. Is that okay?”




~Gabby~




Twilight looked around the room and saw the nearby open window, she walked over and looked outside. Across the way on the castle roof she could see Gabby and Spike watching anxiously the two of them waving back. Twilight rolled her eyes and chuckled at the sight of the two of them, she walked away from the window a second later.
“Do you think it worked?” Gabby asked nervously, before Spike could answer Twilight came back to the window and threw a paper airplane of her own across the way back to Gabby and Spike.

“Hello Gabby, I’m sorry about how I reacted earlier. This was an interesting idea you had to talk to each other. Did Spike help you come up with it?”




~Twilight~




Gabby showed the message to Spike and squealed with delight,
“She wrote back! Your idea worked Spike!” Gabby picked Spike up hugging him happily and then set him back down.
“See? You two can do this to talk, and the more Twilight gets used to you the closer the two of you can talk to each other now. And maybe she’ll get used to every griffon she meets this way.” Spike said. Gabby wasn’t listening though already working on a reply to Twilight’s letter, she quickly folded it into a paper plane and threw to Twilight was waiting by the window now.
“This is so much fun! I’m so happy she’s answering me!” Gabby cheered.




Twilight unfolded Gabby’s next letter and read it over as she did she heard the door to the study open, she looked up to see Sunset walk into the room.
“Hey Twi, I just wanted to come and check up on you. Everything okay?” she asked. Twilight started to write her next reply to Gabby while answering Sunset,
“Yeah actually, Gabby and Spike came up with an interesting idea for us to talk in fact.” Twilight replied. Sunset walked over and watched as Twilight’s paper plane flew over to Gabby and Spike. “Oh, this is a good way for you two to talk. Look at you now, making friends left and right, who knows that might be your title one day. Princess of friendship, Twilight Sparkle.” Sunset teased. Twilight looked back at Sunset then the two laughed, a second later another paper plane flew over.
“I don’t think I need a title really, I’m just happy the way things are right now.” she answered. Twilight wrote a response to Gabby and then threw it back with a smile. Sunset gave Twilight a gentle nudge to get her attention,
“Hey, I was thinking...Princess Celestia and Princess Luna have been working nonstop for as long as we known them. What do you say we talk to Cadence and Shining and get all of us together for a vacation?”