//------------------------------// // Chapter 15: The Press Briefing. // Story: I am my own OC // by KittyrinnAiko //------------------------------// “Princess Cadance?” Velvet asked as she approached. By this time several of the maids had returned and weren’t quite sure what to make of the four of us. Cadance was covered in dust, and we were all laughing. “What’s going on?” “I’m sorry,” I say as I do my best to regain my composure. “My little Moonie sploded the top of the canopy and Cadance got cought in the fallout.” “Moonie? Sploded?” Velvet asked confused. “Philomena helped. There was about a hoof thick layer of dust on top of the canopy.” I explain. “Moonie come here.” The little mini Nightmare Moon popped out of the door and landed on my back followed by Philomena teleporting into the room and flying about in circles chirruping happily. “Mrs Sparkle, Moonie,” I say in way of introduction. “She’s a very sophisticated bit of spell work. And no one has cleaned the dust off the top of my bed since before I last slept in it over a thousand years ago by the looks of it.” “Sploded?!” One of the maids gasped. “Dust everywhere,” I announced. “ Let's just hope there aren’t any other dust-covered canopies for those two.” Lofty offered. “Moonie, no more bouncing on dust-covered canopies,” I order. “And that goes for you too, you silly Philly.” Sunset scolded Philomena. She’d a big smile on her face though. “I am curious, why is it we never saw her before coming to Canterlot?” Lofty asked. “Right off hoof I’d say she was broken. That and she was powered from my magic and I just didn’t have enough magic for her to power up,” I offered. “Aside from the apparent bodyguard feature, and built-in prank subroutine, we’d never have gotten the front door open without her.” “Ah, makes sense,” Lofty said. “Mrs Sparkle, is there something we can do for you?” “We are almost ready for the briefing, and Princess Celestia is waiting.” “Great,” Cadance said as the cold realization that she was likely going to appear before the press covered in dust. “Just picture the fit Mr Heritage is going to have when he sees that room.” Sunset offered as she got up off the floor. It was all I could do not to start laughing again as I headed for the front door. “Perhaps Princess Celestia knows a good cleaning spell?” Lofty suggested hoping to reassure Cadance as the others followed after me. “Hang on, where’s every pony going?” Velvet asked. “To use the front door,” Sunset replied with a big smile. “That little monster of mine is the key to the front door,” I inform her as the five of us make our way through the room. “Hang on, Mrs Sparkle…” I direct her eyes to the painting of Luna, myself, and my brother. “The colt in the picture, does he remind you of anyone?” “If you must ask he reminds me of my husband.” Twilight Velvet offered. “I spotted the resemblance some time ago, why? It’s not like you’ve… you’re doing it again, aren’t you?” “Just a hunch, but I think it’d do Mom and myself a lot of good if we knew what had become of the colt in the painting.” Luna looked back and forth at us. “You know, you two kind of look-alike too.” Luna offered while looking at Mrs Sparkle and myself. “You don’t suppose their families are descended from Nachtlicht?” “You think?” Velvet asked astonished. “Not like it’s not a possibility, though, I'd think such speculation might best be kept quiet,” I offered, and then prompt the exodus out the front door as Mrs Sparkle nodded her agreement. From there it was down a corridor that looked out over Canterlot, down a hall, and then down several flights of grand staircases that ended at the far end of the entry hall. On our left the old Audience hall and the small chamber we first waited in, and on our right, arched passages into a new Grand Audience Hall with large stained glass windows the hall having been built out from the keep on top of a massive outcropping of rock. The far end of the entryway was loaded with ponies streaming into the Grand Audience hall and security was tight. I couldn't resist peeking into the grand hall. The place looked like it was nearly at capacity already. Some ponies saw me and looked on curiously. I decide to back out and see if we can’t find Princess Celestia. “Princess Nova?” Velvet called. “There you are. Come on, we need to get every pony a little more presentable.” I take a glance back at the growing crowd. The ponies closest to the door are whispering excitedly now. Well, the cat, or in this case, the alicorn, was about to be let out of the bag. I dutifully follow along with Velvet, the others joining us as she takes us back behind the grand staircase via a large door to another hallway that leads to a number of rooms of various sizes. We ducked into what looked like a large dining hall, presumably for state functions. “Cadance, whatever has become of you?” Celestia asked stunned. “It was kind of partly my fault.” I offer. “Though technically it’s because the housekeepers are kind of two dimensional in their cleaning methods.” Princess Celestia was giving me a strained look. “There was a thick layer of dust on top of the canopy of my old bed, and when I went up to see if there was anything up there Moonie decided to do a cannonball dive into the dust. Philomena joined her and chaos ensued.” “So how is it you and the others aren’t covered in dust?” Princess Celestia asked. “We made a dash for it and accidentally locked her in when we closed the doors to prevent the cloud of dust from spreading beyond the room.” Lofty offered. “Well, I can’t let her take all the blame. I’m the one who closed the door.” I was pretty sure that was my doing, but then again there are two doors, and she was probably helping. “I see.” Princess Celestia replied. “Nova, was there anything up there besides dust?” “A bunch of my toys.” Princess Celestia’s frown quickly changed to a smile. “You don’t say. Now, why do you think they are up there of all places?” “Why do you think that canopy has such heavy reinforcements, or have you forgotten how I used to climb the walls and get into everything?” No, when it came right down to it, I’d say she barely even knew I existed. Princess Celestia was far too wrapped up in being the Ruler of Equestria. Never mind that she was supposed to be a co-ruler. “Nova’s energy levels were the original reason for my double.” Luna offered. “She was always a hoof full. It was never supposed to drain her though.” Celestia’s smile faded with the realization of just how much she had neglected her sister. “Cadance, come here, and I’ll use a spell to clean you up a bit,” Celestia said in beckoning Cadance over to her. Ya, between Luna and myself we’d hit a nerve. Suddenly Cadance was a floof ball. A clean floof ball but a floof ball none the less. “She’s so fluffy!” I shout, bounce over, and give her a hug. Floof! And now I’m a floof ball. Celestia just face-hoofed. “Fox goes floof!” I shout and begin pronking about the room. “You two look silly,” Sunset said with a grin. I stop my pronking and look at her with an evil predatory look. “You will be assimilated,” I inform her as a big grin forms on my face. “Resistance is futile,” Cadance adds as she starts stalking Sunset. Sunset, turns to run, a look of horror on her face, only to find I’ve teleported to cut off her avenue of escape. I think I know how I’m doing that now. Princess Celestia walked into the Grand Hall, the chatter quiets till there is not but the gentle murmur of the breathing of all those gathered. Four floofy fillies follow her shyly. Ms Holiday was somewhere in the back. A smile spread across her face at the sight of the fillies. She’d only come to inquire about Lofty and Nova, but as soon as she’d shown the special identification she’d been given right after yesterday’s lunch, they let her right in. Now here she was, at the back of a capacity crowd of Canterlot’s elites and members of the press as she waited to hear Princess Celestia's reason for this morning’s late sunrise. “Mares and Gentle colts. Lords and Ladies.” Celestia said moments after taking center stage. “I’ve no doubt you are all wondering why sunrise was so late.” A number of ponies nodded, but few said anything loud enough for her to hear. For a brief moment Celestia contemplated telling them she’d slept in, or forgot to set her alarm. “My daughter was trapped in an enchanted mirror some time ago and last night I attempted to retrieve her only to get trapped myself,” Celestia announced all in one breath. Granted that it was an abridged version, but that was the gist of it. Sunset gave her a curious look on realizing Celestia had left off where she’d come back and Celestia had chased her back through the mirror only to be trapped once more. Of course, the implications were that Nova was correct, the mirror truly was a trap, and the three days available every thirty moons was just so the maker would have a little time to explore. Those assembled all repeated the word daughter in a sort of hushed whisper. Granted the trapped part was bad, but she had obviously been freed sometime this morning. Celestia had a daughter. Celestia had been despoiled and the daughter had nearly been the ruin of all Equestria. “The two ponies who were able to effect a rescue were my nieces Princess Cadenza and Princess Nova.” The announcement of yet another princess, a princess that the majority of the ponies gathered knew nothing about, had the effect of scratching a record over a loudspeaker. Quite a few ponies did a double-take, some did triple takes, and a few even did the fabled quadruple take. Which was actually fairly subdued when compared to the time Celestia had introduced Cadance and ponies actually did the quintuple take. Granted they still had it in their heads that Celestia herself made a pony an alicorn, and weren’t quite sure if getting a pony out of a trap warranted such an honor even if it was Celestia. After all, if a filly could do it surely an adult could do it better. “First let me introduce, make that reintroduce to you my daughter Sunset Shimmer,” Celestia announced. Sunset stepped forward and curtsied to the polite clapping of hooves. She had a huge smile on her face and when she looked up to Celestia she was beaming. This despite getting floofified earlier. For any pony who didn’t know her, she was absolutely the most adorable unicorn filly ever. For those who did know her, they decided to wait and see if her behavior got better or worse. The worst part is it meant some stallion had despoiled their Princess. Nor was it likely to matter that she’d been a willing partner. As for the other princesses, they didn’t count and were just pretenders. “Of course you all know Princess Cadenza.” Celestia continued. “Princess Nova somehow managed to open the trap of the mirror, and Princess Cadenza managed to hold it open while Princess Nova went in at great risk to herself to bring Sunset and myself out again. - And for those who’ve heard a rumor that I was looking for a certain filly, she’s the filly I was looking for having gotten word that she might have been freed from an enchantment that kept her in a state of limbo.” No pony needed to know about anything else at this point. “Nova, would you like to introduce yourself?” Nova stepped forward, curtsied, spread her wings, lit up her horn, and … Pap! Pap! Suddenly Nova was high in the air over the royal platform Celestia and the others were standing on. With wings spread wide, she drifted back down ever so gently. As her silver shoes touched down she folded up her wings about halfway and bowed. “I’m going to assume you figured out how to control that teleport of yours,” Celestia said with a big smile. The gathered ponies just sat there dumbfounded. “So, um what’s she do?” Asked a reporter who’d managed to make it to the front. “Here it comes,” Luna whispered. “Have a care what you say.” “Inspire.” Nova offered with a smile and a wink. “Don’t ask anything more of me just yet, I’m only a little over a thousand years old.” On hearing Nova’s quip Holiday found herself stricken with a case of the giggles. “Only a little over a thousand years old she says.” At this point members of the press and a number of nobles alike all started asking questions. To be honest it was a bit like a feeding frenzy of sharks. Holiday didn’t like the look on Nova’s face as questions came one on top of another. Quite a few were traps of their own, and very mean spirited. She got up and made her way back out to the entry hall. “Hi, Nova looks like she’s getting really fidgety, I think all this may be too much for her.” Holiday said of the guards. “I mean Princess Nova. I’m Miss Holiday.” “She’s alright, you can let her through,” one of the guards say. “Mm, thank you,” Holiday replied and made her way past the checkpoint into the hall where she spotted Lofty at the far end anxiously watching. “Lofty?” Holiday called softly as she made her way down the hall. “Lofty?” Lofty was concentrating on Nova. Her ears twitched a couple of times as Holiday called until she finally registered that some pony was calling her. “Holiday?” “Lofty, I think she’s had enough,” Holiday called as she approached. “You think so too.” Lofty confirmed. “Her ears have gone all the way down and back and she’s pressing up to Princess Luna. She’s scared.” “Luna doesn’t look much better. I’m getting them out of there.” Lofty stated and marched right out to where Nova was. She dropped down next to her, cupped her wing over Nova, scooped her to her side, stood back up, motioned for Luna to follow, and walked out again with Luna hot on her heels. Nova’s legs vanished up into Lofty’s wing as they went. By this time Cadance was beginning to have had enough as well. As if it wasn’t bad enough the last time she had to get up in front of a group of ponies like this. She was also worried about Nova, so she turned, looked up to Princess Celestia who smiled reassuringly, and then followed after Lofty and Luna. Sunset sidestepped a little closer to Celestia until she had pressed up against her as she was unwilling to retreat. To her delight and relief, she found herself being scooped up in the same manner as Nova had been. The sound of all the ponies talking at once was being muffled by Celestia’s wing. Sunset pulled up her legs, snuggled in, and as it had been a long time since she’d had any sleep, she slowly drifted off heedless of the incessant chatter in the room. “No! I’m not telling you who the father is, and if I do tell you it will be after I’ve talked with him.” Celestia scolded her tone now quite harsh. “Yes, in retrospect I should have sent some pony else, and no, no pony else had been able to open the trap once we were inside. It has something to do with the fillies harmonizing their unique powers. No, I did not make Nova an alicorn. She became an alicorn over a thousand years ago when she involved herself in the fight between myself and Nightmare Moon. Nightmare Moon took her mother, who is my sister Luna. Yes I know Luna doesn’t look like she’s old enough, she regressed in age when we freed her from the Night Mare.”