It hadn't been long before Twilight had said goodbye to her friends in Ponyville and after Celestia had retrieved Luna from her resting place atop somepony's house they departed the small town, intent on resting at the palace before trying again tomorrow to locate Cozy's newly discovered clone.
A cool wind blew past her as Twilight made her way back to the Palace and hopefully to a calming afternoon after all the mayhem she'd gone through today. All of that... for nothing, Twilight thought to herself as she and Spike flapped their wings side by side in unison as they made their way far away from the disaster that was Ponyville.
Looking below them at the green countryside they were flying over she let out a tiny sigh of frustration. Why did nothing work out today? Was it a curse or something? Just this morning she had been forced to release Chrysalis of all villains, because of her injuries she sustained from the riot in Canterlot. I still need to see her before bedtime, she concluded, after all Chrysalis was her prisoner now so she had to make sure she was alright... and that she hadn't done anything nefarious in her absence.
Ugh, why couldn't it have been Cozy, She thought with disdain, as wrong as it was having Cozy injured instead of Chrysalis would've worked out better for literally everypony involved. She could have cared for her while she was recovering and tried to talk some sense into her until she'd reformed, which with Cozy being a child would've been highly more possible than a fully grown evil doer. But of course now she was stuck with Chrysalis instead, who was intent on staying purely evil no matter what Twilight did. Everywhere Chrysalis went she was causing some new kind of havoc without there ever really being a need for it, other than for power of course... then again with Cozy separating her mind into halves Twilight wondered if she too would've been just as stead fast in her evil ways as Chrysalis was...
Twilight stopped her mental onslaught with a shake of her head and glanced behind her at Celestia, who was keeping up with them quite well considering the fact that she had an unconscious Luna nestled between her giant flapping white wings. I'm glad that at least went off without a hitch, Twilight thought as she eyed her long time mentor and the younger sibling she was carrying, then not seeing a problem she swiveled her head around and spotted the white and gold Royal Palace coming up to meet them off in the distance, with it's mere sight washing away some of her increasing stress she'd accumulated back in Ponyville.
Never had she been so glad to be back here, she didn't exactly plan on revisiting the small town again until things had cooled down there for a while, especially since most of them were still furious over her investigation she'd done there that had managed to place some of their own children in royal custody. It all felt so unreal, as if everything she did somehow was having some kind of bad side affect without her ever really intending any harm. When she did go back to Ponyville though hopefully everything will have settled down to where they weren't yelling at her, rioting, or giving her nasty looks; and when they had the Mimic Cozy in custody Twilight was sure she could get things going smoothly again. All I have to do is find it...
Coming up to the palace and touching down on the tiled steps Twilight stood back and watched the others land, with her making sure none of them had any problems, especially Luna. The last thing she needed was a wounded Luna and a wounded Chrysalis. The mere thought of having them both fighting constantly for weeks was almost enough for her to grab Luna in a shield of magic right then and there on the spot to make sure that possibility was entirely prevented.
Watching Spike land easily and Celestia gently settle on the stone steps with her sleeping sister Twilight glanced over to the horizon and decided that it was probably a good time to start lowering the sun a bit. Retrieving her sun and moon medallion with a quick poof of magic she expertly winded the sun down into an afternoon position in the sky. Doing so turned the sky from a deep blue to a variety of orange and reds but not yet dark, just right. Seeing her expertly work the medallion caused Celestia to shoot her an approving smirk as Twilight led them all the way up the palace steps and up to the entrance of the massive castle.
Once there they found a stunned looking pair of armored guards who gawked at the sight of Celestia and Luna before hurriedly opening the palace doors for them, I bet they weren't expecting the former princesses to be back so soon. Trotting into the safety and comfort of the palace she relaxed her shoulders and slumped slightly, feeling at ease thanks to the marble walls surrounding the four of them from the outside world. Forget doing anything else, after Chrysalis I'll find a nice book to read and then nap my day away, Twilight thought tiredly as she debated on whether to read a book from Grogar's treasure trove or to find a simple relaxing book on physics. Oh why can't everything in life be like physics, I'd have so many fewer problems...
"Twilight, I'm going to go find a room for Luna... and probably myself before I fall over. However if something should arise and you need any assistance do not hesitate to come find me, alright." Celestia stated tiredly with Twilight giving her a quick nod of acknowledgement before the much larger Alicorn trotted down one of the palace hallways, with Luna letting out a slight snore on her back as both sisters departed to find somewhere quiet to rest. Well at least I'll have the royal sisters here if something comes up...
Twilight turned her attention back to her last companion who was still standing firmly by her side. "Spike can you go find Captain Evander for me and bring him to the Throne Room?" Twilight asked wanting to send some unicorn reinforcements to relieve the Pegasie she'd ordered to patrol Ponyville.
"Sure thing Twilight." Spike answered and headed down the hallway opposite from the one Celestia and Luna had disappeared into. Twilight didn't know Evander personally but he was said by Luna to be one of their best captains of the royal guard. I hope she's right, I need all the help I can get...
After watching Spike leave down the Palace's corridors, Twilight trotted over to a conveniently placed water stand near the wall of the palace and quickly filled up a small cup of water up to the brim before downing the cool liquid in a few large gulps, with a few stray droplets sliding over her chin and down her throat instead of her mouth; creating a tingling sensation that ran down and hid behind her golden chest guard. Wow she needed that drink, she had been walking for so long hunting the creature that it still amazed her that she was still standing upright at all. Mustering her strength she turned and headed towards the throne room to get all of her artifacts and books so she could square them away somewhere for later.
Hmm... I'll probably put them in the tower where my room's being built, Twilight thought since after the attack from the villains most of the Castle was still undergoing repairs that would still need some time to fix, but the non-book do-hickies she'd just gotten from Discord should be safe there until she could find a more proper place to store them. However before she could approach the throne room to open it's giant massive doors one of her two stationary guards standing by the room trotted up to her.
"You're highness a few visitors came by to speak with you while you were gone." the guard explained with a usual stern unflinching face empty of all emotion.
"Ugh, are they still here?" Twilight asked hoping that whoever it was had been sent home or better yet had given up and left willingly instead of hanging about the palace to complicate her already horrible day.
"Only one you're grace, although she did bring two of her own guards with her she's apparently the only pony here with any business for you. Oh and you're parents also came by earlier to see you and I believe a mare by the name of Moon Dancer, but Mrs. Spector sent them all home about an hour before you arrived." the guard stated.
My parents!?, Twilight hadn't even considered that her parents would come by, but unlike Ponyville they were only a few streets down from the Palace itself so it made sense that they would want to come by to check on her if they'd heard about Chrysalis. Moon Dancer was also likely wanting an explanation to make sure everything was alright but who was this Mrs. Spector and how in Celestia's name did she send her parents and one of her friends home? Twilight was going to be angry if some privileged thinking mare had been bossing... wait that name... Spector. Twilight remembered, that was the name on her letter that she'd gotten from Derpy not to long ago, only that had been Mr. Spector. Hmm... maybe his wife had come by instead of him, but then again why did she come!? Why wouldn't Mr. Spector just come to the palace himself if he wanted a meeting by tomorrow so badly.
"How exactly did she send them all home?" Twilight asked fuming and narrowing her eyes on the poor guard who's ears fell back in sudden fear.
Catching her rising anger the guard's voice dropped slightly, "Oh, she sounded quite kind to them you're grace. Last I saw they were even all laughing together about something..."
Twilight reared her head back in surprise. Laughing? Maybe she was wrong then. Maybe this Mrs. Spector had simply just calmed them down or something? She felt a little guilty now, she had immediately assumed that one of her own subjects was acting out of turn without anything to go on but an assumption. Wow I'm losing it, I need to calm down...
"Thank you for telling me. Um... where is Mrs. Spector? Is she still here?" Twilight asked as the guard visibly relaxed under his gleaming armor and pointed a hoof back towards the Throne Room.
"She's been waiting in there for you for at least the past hour your highness." he stated before he gave her a slight bow and turned around to reasserted himself into his guard position by the large front doors of the Throne Room.
Twilight put on her best smile, intent on trying to thank the mare for deescalating the situation before sending her home. It felt like such a shame since her guest had been waiting here for so long but she didn't have any strength left for any more debates. If Lord Spector wanted to talk with her so badly he would have to come by the Palace himself tomorrow instead of sending his wife of all ponies.
Twilight turned the nob to the Throne Room doors with her magic and pulled them open, only to let out a gasp soon afterwards as her eyes fell on two silver plated guards staring her down at the entrance, with a light blue mare beyond them who bore a striking resemblance to Cozy Glow with pink curly hair done up in the back by a golden ribbon and soft golden eyes. The worst part though is she was staring at the exact same mural of the stoned villains that Twilight had put up only a few days prior after her coronation.
Twilight was stunned and found her hooves unable to move as the mare broke her eyes away from the painting and shot her a warm smile as her piercing golden gaze fell on her.
"I um..." Twilight got out but didn't know what else to say as she waited for an outburst from Mrs. Spector, expecting any moment now for a grizzly debate over petrifying her small child and all the craziness that went along with it...
But to her surprise her guest took a simple step towards her and the mare's face turned from one of happiness upon seeing her to one of compassionate concern as she asked, "Are you alright dear?" Twilight for her part didn't know how to respond to the question as she stayed glued in place. Why was this happening!? I mean now of all times!? Did Rarity find her and send her here!? Or was this...
"Can you give me a second?" Twilight asked with her mind racing out of control as she closed the Throne Room doors and took in a deep breath. Then she teleporting one of her soft white bedroom pillows into her hooves and screaming as loud as she could into it, "Mmmmmmmmmmmmmhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!". Sadly her out pour of emotion startled the guards at either side of the Throne Room doors, with both of them turning to her with startled expressions as they both dropped into a fighting stance by instinct. Ignoring them Twilight continued until her fluffy pillow had absorbed the last bit of her muffled screaming and her lungs were entirely empty. After letting it all out she teleported her bedroom pillow away and tried to composed herself as best she could as she checked to make sure her crown was still firmly in place with a slightly trembling hoof. Alright I can do this... I can do this....
After all It wasn't exactly a fact yet, at least not without checking for further confirmation from this Mrs. Spector, but with all things considered it wasn't looking too good. If what Rosie had said was true then this pony possibly didn't even care about Cozy Glow, heck Mrs. Spector might not even want to argue over the filly for all she knew; but if Twilight was wrong and Mrs. Spector had recently had a change of heart then Twilight was in for it. She was the Princess of Equestria for sure but she knew any parent that even slightly loved their child wouldn't care about her crown or her title, they would be furious regardless of the implications. Taking a deep breath she put on another forced smile and reopened the Throne Room doors, where she found Mrs. Spector and both of her silver plated guards still in place, the mare was even giving her a concerned look of both pity and worry. She must have heard me screaming...
"Sorry about that." Twilight said sheepishly and quickly rubbed the back of her head out of instinct from her embarrassment, then without caring she left the throne room doors wide open behind her instead of shutting them. Mrs. Spector on the other hoof caught Twilight's attempt to hold things together and said, "Oh it's quite alright dear." before she quickly drew a soft smile and motioned with a wave of her hoof for Twilight to come over and join her in the throne room. Not wanting to keep her guest any longer Twilight trotted past the two silver guards staring at her and came up to Mrs. Spector, where she was immediately hit with the sweet smell of Strawberries coming off of the cutsie looking mare. Then upon further inspection she noticed a similar patch of light blue freckles decorating both of the mare's cheeks, similar to Cozy's. They look so alike... it's like seeing Cozy Glow all grown up.
A twinge of guilt hit Twilight as she realized that Cozy would never reach her full age whilst being turned to stone... another oversight that Twilight was going to rectify if she could somehow figure out how to reform her wayward student. Cozy probably hadn't even hit puberty yet...
"Actually I was just looking at you're latest mural." Mrs. Spector said as they both turned their gaze to the glass window to see all three of the stone faces of her defeated foes. It was even more on display now as the late afternoon sunlight shined through it, illuminating the portrait in a dance of vibrant colors.
"It's quite an achievement to defeat three villains all at once don't you think? I bet they'll be adding you and you're friends to a history book soon." her guest whispered encouragingly to her before Twilight broke her eyes away from the glass panel and did a double take on the relaxed mare standing next to her.
She's not bringing Cozy up at all... maybe she isn't actually related, Twilight thought with a glimmer of hope that this was a completely different mare from Cozy's mother and that she hadn't come here to chew her ear off over stoning what was potentially her long lost filly. In fact the more time that passed without incident the more she hoped this was all just a convenience of appearances between the two... at least that was until Twilight took a step back and caught a glimpse at the mare's cutie mark.
A gold Queen Chess Piece baring a striking resemblance to Cozy's own cutie mark stared back at her from the mare's flank, almost as if it was taunting her. Oh no..., Twilight thought as Mrs. Spector turned to her, probably wondering what Twilight was so interested in as the blue mare glanced behind them to see what all the fuss was about. Twilight couldn't take much more as she narrowed her eyes at Mrs. Spector and decided to address the mare directly with a calm yet firm voice, "You wouldn't happen to be related to Cozy Glow would you?"
Mrs. Spector seemed confused by the question as she raised an eyebrow and stood there motionless for a few moments before finally asking, "Who..."
Twilight's eyes widened, she sounded dumbstruck, like she'd never even heard of the tiny super villain before. "Cozy Glow..." Twilight explained as she indicated the stoned filly in the glass mural with a point of her hoof. Mrs. Spector looked between the painting of Cozy's frightened face and Twilight before her eyes shot open.
"Wait, the Demon Filly? No, I've never seen her before. Hmph* I couldn't even think of being related to such a destructive brat and that's not even counting the fact that she almost got rid of all of my magic." Mrs. Spector stated, clearly offended by the mere thought of being blood related to Cozy Glow, let alone being her mother.
"It's just you're... you kind of look like her. I mean with all the curls and... well... the cutie mark." Twilight stated as she indicated the mare's flank with a point of her purple eyes.
Mrs. Spector glanced at her rump in confusion and then back up to Twilight before realization dawned and she put a hoof to her mouth and giggled, "Giggle* I got my cutie mark in a chess game your highness. I don't know how or why that would make me a relative of what's her name."
Twilight lowered her hoof. Maybe she was wrong, it's not like every mare with curls had to be connected to Cozy Glow right... but it just felt like she was speaking with a grown up version of her for some reason. Even her voice sounded similar, with that same sappy sweetness in every word. Twilight wondered if she was going mad, maybe she was just jumping to conclusions after all...
Mrs. Spector put a soft and comforting hoof on Twilight's shoulder, "Your highness I'm sure you're just stressed out alright. Believe me I get it, that's actually why I came here."
"What?" Twilight whispered with a startled look as Mrs. Spector withdrew her hoof.
"My husband and I have heard quite a bit of bad news lately and I wanted to offer you my help to see if I could make things a little easier for you around here. What with the Villain you're dealing with and all that." Mrs. Spector proposed sweetly.
Oh so that's why she was here, she was probably just concerned about Chrysalis's release like the rest of the Canterlot nobles were. "Thank you for the offer but I don't really think that's necessary. Chrysalis is fine where she is and I can assure you she's not going to be doing anything nefarious for quite some time now." Twilight answered robotically, having memorized the entire speech from when she was answering all the ponies from earlier that day who wanted to know about Chrysalis.
Hearing this Mrs. Spector's smile turned into a sly grin, "Oh pshh* not that silly. I was actually talking about this Mimic of yours that's running around."
Twilight's eyes shrunk to pinpricks when the mare said Mimic. "H-how do you know about that?" Twilight asked with a raised volume of panic in her voice, almost shouting in the middle of her own throne room. Who would tell one of the nobles about that!? Twilight thought in dismay as she wondered which pony had gone behind her back and betrayed her. Especially in so short a time too, it hadn't even been that long since Twilight herself had been told about the creature.
"Now please don't take this the wrong way your highness but my sources wouldn't exactly be my sources anymore if I just gave away who they were." Mrs. Spector explained with a playful pout, as if she was speaking with a toddler; which unbenounced to her was upsetting Twilight quite thoroughly. In fact Twilight was even considering locking the sweet smelling mare up until she told her exactly who had betrayed her... but in the mare's defense she clearly hadn't told anypony else about the Mimic yet, otherwise there'd be a riot or something.
However that didn't mean her citizens weren't going to find out, and when they did oh boy were things going to be getting worse. Twilight's head was spinning as she tried to think of all headlines that would be coming out by tomorrow morning. Ponyville Under Siege, Mimic On the Lose, or no Princess Twilight's Rein of Terror Continues, yep that was it right there for sure, oh she was done for and she hadn't even been ruling for a week yet. This had to be the worst couple of days in her entire life... Twilight stumbled slightly as her vision swayed, her mind running through all the possible scenarios until she saw stars and her eyes danced around in circles...
"Oh my... Princess sit down." Mrs. Spector commanded hastily as she wrapped a hoof around Twilight and pulled her down to the red carpet, with both of them sitting down next to each other in the middle of the throne room. Twilight took in a series of deep breaths as her vison of the shifting throne room started to level itself out, the only sound that was heard otherwise was the soft running of water from the throne rooms fountains. Talk about Twilighting...
"Just calm down okay. I won't tell anypony about it Princess I swear... Look I know you don't know me but I actually did just come here so I could help you get things back under control around here. I mean if that's alright..." Mrs. Spector explained tenderly as she waited on the red carpet beside Twilight. Well she seems nice, Twilight thought but then again so did Cozy Glow and we all know how that turned out. Still at this point Twilight was too desperate not to accept any help coming her way, even if that help was coming from a stranger she didn't know she could trust...
"Sigh* Let's say I did want some help, what could you possibly do about any of this?" Twilight asked hopefully as she watched Mrs. Spector get up off of the red carpet of the throne room and hold out a helping hoof to her.
"Well I don't know about you but I believe actions speak louder than words Princess, so if you'll just come with me, I'll show you how I can be of service instead." Mrs. Spector said with a large smile that sent a chill down Twilight's spine as an image of Cozy's smiling face flashed in her mind. Shaking the bad memory away, Twilight took the unicorn's soft hoof and climbed back up on all fours, having finally calmed down enough to regain her balance.
Twilight stared into Mrs. Spector's soft gold eyes as she debated over whether to trust a mare with spies in her own castle. But then again ponies did gossip... If Mrs. Spector was just trying to help then she could at least indulge the mare this one time before making up her mind on whether to lock her up or not...
Just then Spike emerged from the castle hallways with Captain Evander who had a grey mustache and slight wrinkles under his eyes to show his seasoned age. Although all it took was one look at Mrs. Spector before Spike's face turned from tired wiriness over the long day to one of complete horror upon reaching the doorway. Captain Evander for his part eyed Mrs. Spector's silver plated guards that were stationed at the door as if he knew them... well maybe he did since Celestia said they were fully trained royal guards who had traded away their loyalty over to the Spectors.
Before Twilight had time to explain the situation to Spike she heard Mrs. Spector say "Awww." as her horn came to life with a golden whirl of magic and a gold aura lifted Spike into the air before bringing him over to the blue mare, who quickly grabbed him in a firm hug.
"I've never seen a baby dragon before... Oh he's so cute." Mrs. Spector exclaimed as she ruffled his green hair and held him like one would a small child, causing him to blush uncontrollably as he eyed the curly haired pony.
"Twilight who is this?" Spike whispered over to her in distress as he was being held aloft in the blue unicorn mare's hooves like an infant.
"Oh! he talks too." Mrs. Spector said as she did a double take on the dragon in her hooves with widened eyes before putting her hooves under his arms carefully and lowering him down. Spike looked about ready to rethink his life as he landed on the marble floor of the Throne Room, the caring treatment he was being subject to clearly making him feel uncomfortable.
"Spike this is Mrs. Spector." Twilight introduced as the mare gave them both a quick bow of her head and ran her hoof through Spike's green hair playfully, probably about ready to start cueing at him. You'd think she works at a nursery or something...
Unsure of why he was suddenly being babied Spike nervously walked backwards over to Twilight's side, while never taking his eyes off of the happily beaming unicorn, "Twi are you seeing what I'm seeing?"
As she suspected Spike had caught the same similarities to Cozy Glow that she had gotten from Mrs. Spector, in fact it was kind of hard not too with the way the blue unicorn looked. She was almost about ready to ask for a DNA test but stopped, knowing that it would be highly rude to a pony she'd just met... especially if Mrs. Spector wasn't actually related to Cozy.
Instead Twilight leaned down and whispered into Spike's ear, "I'm not sure yet, it could just be a coincidence." though she still held a hard suspicion that the prissy pony in front of her was lying through her teeth for some reason. Call it a hunch but she didn't exactly trust ponies with curls anymore...
Spike seemed to visibly relax a bit though as Captain Evander trotted up to her and stood at attention with a formal salute in the middle of the throne room, "Yes your highness, you wanted me."
"Yes. I need you to round up a unicorn battalion and relieve Flash Magnus's guards in Ponyville." Twilight Commanded, " Oh and just remember if you see any signs of Cozy Glow's clone I want to be informed about it immediately, don't and I repeat don't try to apprehend her yourselves."
"As you command your grace." Captain Evander answered as he bowed his head to her respectively and departed out of the throne room past the silent silver guards. Well that was one less problem she had to deal with, now despite the longshot Twilight was going to see if this Mrs. Spector could pull a miracle out of nowhere like she was suggesting and get rid of another one.
However she had forgotten one tiny little thing. "Um... Twilight should you have said that in front of her?" Spike asked pointing a claw to Mrs. Spector who stared at him with amused eyes, probably thinking he was to small for their grown up talk or something.
"It's okay Spike she already knows somehow... Although I'm probably going to have to fire somepony when I found out who told her about it." Twilight stated in slight anger as she made a mental note to have complete secrecy the next time she wanted a private conversation with somepony.
"Wait, What!?" Spike stated with shock as Mrs. Spector put a hoof over her mouth and stifled another Giggle*. To her surprise Mrs. Spector didn't seem bothered by her threat in the slightest, either she was good at poker or she didn't really care if the pony who had told her lost their job or not.
"Now don't you worry about a widdle thing Spikey. I'm just here to give you two a little helping hoof so we can get things going smoothly again." Mrs. Spector stated as she trotted to the front doors of the throne room before looking back over her shoulder at them with a friendly smile.
"Anyway if you'll please just come with me Princess, we'll see if I'm able to brighten up you're day a little bit. After all I'm sure you of all ponies know we don't have too long before it get's dark out." the mare stated rationally as Twilight and Spike shared a glance with each other before following the curly haired mare out of the throne room with the two silver clad guards picking up the rear behind them. Leaving the throne room they all made their way towards the palace entrance, although seeing Twilight and Spike leave with the silver escort, one of her gold clad guards at the palace entrance decided to cut them off.
"You're highness would you like me t-" The guard tried to ask before Mrs. Spector held up a hoof, silencing him in mid speech.
"I assure you that won't be necessary. The Princess of Friendship will be perfectly fine in my care." Mrs. Spector stated sternly as she expertly levitated the stunned guard to the side and out of their way with a gust of gold magic.
Twilight felt like telling her not to pony handle her guards ever again but the way Mrs. Spector had done it seemed more out of reason for the situation instead of out of malice for the pony in her way, and so Twilight followed along in silence with Spike walking closely beside her just in case something was amiss.
Coming to the palace entrance Twilight felt the afternoon summer heat return, something she was hoping to avoid until tomorrow but if this noble had a plan it was better to find out what it was to see if she could somehow benifite her rapidly deteriorating situation. As they trotted Mrs. Spector hummed what Twilight could only guess was a lullaby as she lead them out of the palace entrance and down the many steps that would lead them to the large stone platform in front of the palace next to Canterlot City. When they reached the large vacant stone platform that Twilight had landed on only minutes earlier with Celestia and Luna their trot ground down to a halt as Mrs. Spector trotted towards the platform's edge instead of the city and glanced down over the cliff at the town of Ponyville off in the distance. The blue mare seemed deep in thought without any worry of the drop of in front of her, much to Twilight's surprise.
"You're highness I don't suppose you'd be so kind as to tell me how you're trip to Ponyville went?" Mrs. Spector asked as she leaned over the railing to get a closer look at the small town.
Twilight didn't answer, she still wasn't sure how the citizens of Canterlot would deal with what had gone on in the quiet little town. For all she knew the next riot could be over her leadership if they found out...
Mrs. Spector caught Twilight's hesitation and glanced over at her with for the first time since Twilight had meet her an upset glare from her golden eyes, "You're highness you do know I'm trying to help you right? I'm really going to need all the information you have so I can do that."
Twilight felt like telling her that it was a bad idea but it wasn't unreasonable to tell her everything, since she knew so much already. After all Twilight would want to know everything about the situation too if she were the curly haired mare in this instance. "I... sigh* we searched Ponyville today and although we turned everything upside down we still couldn't find anything. We even rounded up all the Pegasus fillies we could find and covered the entire town in a detection spell but... the Mimic still got away anyway..." Twilight lamented as she glanced at the floor in shame, feeling as if she was being scolded for keeping it a secret. A silence fell over the tiny group until Mrs. Spector trotted over to her and put a hoof gingerly under her chin before lifting her head up to look her in the eyes, only this time Mrs. Spector's expression conveyed only sympathy instead of annoyance.
"Hmm... That wasn't a bad strategy Princess... I dare say it even makes sense... but that's not exactly what you should be doing if you want any real results." Mrs. Spector said before pulling her soft hoof away from Twilight's face and turning towards the City of Canterlot; trotting away from them and quite obviously wanting them to follow. Twilight stood there perplexed, Real results? she thought before she snapped out of it and followed the blue mare towards the city with Spike and the guards following behind her as they all caught up with Mrs. Spector.
"Wait, what do you mean if I want any real results? Do you have a way to find it?" Twilight asked hoping for a way to locate the Mimic as Mrs. Spector glanced back at her with an amused smirk on her face.
"I do actually but first I need to take you somewhere, come along just follow me." Mrs. Spector instructed as she led them into the stone streets of Canterlot City. There Twilight trotted cautiously, unsure of what top expect from the city's folk but to her relief nothing happened, well besides the occasional bow a passing pony would respectively make to her as they passed by. While making her way down the road with her guide Twilight Glanced at the refined buildings on each side of the street and all the ponies around her going about their everyday lives; seeing this she suddenly felt... unnerved. It was a little too jarring to see everything completely normal here after what had transpired in Ponyville, almost as if today hadn't happened and everypony here was as carefree as they all looked.
However that fantasy all came to an abrupt ended as a very familiar pony that she had been talking to earlier, Peppermint Bliss, caught sight of them from a conversation she was having with a couple of mares across the street at a local café. Apparently still upset and with an angry scowl on her face Peppermint trotted over to stand in their way in the road; blocking their path down the stone street. Oh no...
"So you can't answer a simple question from me in your throne room but you have enough time to take a nice relaxing stroll? You do know how long I waited in that line right?" Peppermint asked as she narrowed her angry eyes right on the Princess of Friendship.
"I... well I..." Twilight stammered as she tried to find the words to convey her sorrow at how she'd managed to upset all of her subjects without anything to show for it. Then out of nowhere Mrs. Spector put herself between both of them and came to her rescue.
"We're actually dealing with a serious situation right now dear." Mrs. Spector stated kindly in Twilight's defense as she shot a disarming smile towards the upset Peppermint Bliss, who despite her anger at being dismissed without reason was completely stunned by the blue unicorn's interjection.
Twilight looked to Mrs. Spector in complete shock as the unicorn immediately took all the angry attention right then and there for herself with Peppermint turning her angry expression on the light blue colored mare instead of her. Twilight wanted so desperately to say something to quell the tension that was unfolding but stopped as she saw the smile Mrs. Spector had intensify and never leave her lips.
"As a matter of fact our poor Princess here has been basically pulling her hair out for us all day, just trying her hardest to fix all of the craziness happening lately." Mrs. Spector explained with Peppermint's angry face turning into shock as her eyes widened and she shot Twilight a much more sympathetic look of sorrow.
"Oh! Well then I... I'm really sorry Princess Twilight, that was uncalled for." Peppermint stated sadly as she lowered her head away in shame before trotting back over to her friends, next to the café she had been at. Twilight watched her go and glanced over at Spike who's eyes had widened in surprise just like hers probably were. Who is this pony!? She's handling this way better than I am, Twilight thought and glanced towards Mrs. Spector, who radiated confidence as she stood tall in the afternoon sun.
"Come along dear, I told you I won't let anything happen to you while you're with me. That includes anypony that want's to get a piece of you for some insane reason." Mrs. Spector said to comfort her. Twilight blinked in confusion, not expecting the series of events that had just played out before her. Well I'm not arguing...
"Is that a promise?" Twilight whispered.
"Oh you'd be surprised what a good reputation could do for you around here." Mrs. Spector said as she lead them down another two streets with angry ponies not daring to cross Mrs. Spector to get to her and kinder ponies bowing politely in her way. Twilight started to feel something strange, it took a while before she realized that she actually feeling safer for some reason, now that Mrs. Spector was escorting her. You know she'd make a great guard pony, Twilight thought following behind Mrs. Spector like she was a shield. Despite some nasty glares shot her way they eventually came to the Canterlot Press building where every paper was officially printed and distributed to all of Canterlot's citizens. The building itself was much like the rest though with white walls and gold outlining.
"In here." Mrs. Spector instructed as she levitated the door open for them with a flurry of gold magic and the three of them entered, while the silver plated guards that had been following them stayed outside to guard the only entrance in. Glancing around Twilight noticed a variety of different ponies at various machines, all of whom were quickly getting everything set up for the next day. Past them in the far back of the building was a large light grey stallion with a chiseled black mustache and slick back hair. He seemed busy at work behind his large oak desk that was covered with papers and a mug that read Top News.
"Um... maybe I'm just dense but how in Equestria is going to the press supposed to help make things any better?" Twilight whispered behind her guide as Mrs. Spector held up a hoof for her to patiently wait and trotted up to what appeared to be the pony in charge at his work station.
"Hi Maxwell." Mrs. Spector said nonchalantly as she approached his office quarters. By how she was speaking Twilight guessed that the two had a previous business history, possibly even a long friendship.
"Mrs. Spector, what brings you all the way down here?" The desk sitting stallion said with a gruff voice and a grin.
"Oh you know just a little attention I've been needing the populace to take notice off. You know something that doesn't involve our dearest Princess here." Mrs. Spector stated sweetly as she indicated Twilight with a nod of her curly head and invaded his personal space as she came around the side of his desk to lean over his shoulder as she gazed at what he had been working on.
"Oh and how well does this attention pay?" the desk pony asked sitting back in his chair and crossing his hooves.
"Hmm... how about the usual, plus a little extra just because I like you." Mrs. Spector said as she took it one step further and hopped up to take a seat on his desk with her pink curly tail covering up most of his office work. Then to Twilight's shock she started admiring her hooves like she owned the place as she glanced down at the now chuckling stallion.
"Haha Alright deal, you minks. So, what do you want me to send out instead?" the desk pony asked as he crossed something out on a slip of paper he was writing on with a pen.
"Well let's see... Oh we are having fine weather this summer aren't we?" Mrs. Spector gleefully suggested as she levitated the paper the stallion had been writing on up into the air with her magic before letting it float over to land into her open hooves. Quickly scanning it Mrs. Spector's eyes widened in surprise.
"Oh Princess, over here, come take a look at this." Mrs. Spector said stroking Twilight's curiosity at what the newspony had been up too before they'd come in. Twilight trotted up to the desk and looking over at the paper in the unicorn's hooves before reading what appeared to be tomorrows headline with a red line crossed strait through it.
"What!? Chrysalis Freed by Princess, Who's next Lord Tirek? But this is.. I didn't even..." Twilight was flabbergasted with her mouth wide open as she put a worried hoof to one of her temples, from the sounds of things she was about to have a very stressful week. There'd probably even be a line as big as the Palace itself for her by tomorrow morning...
"Giggle* Don't worry about it." Mrs. Spector said noticing Twilight's dismay as she ripped the paper up in front of Twilight's face and let the shredded bits fall down to the floor in a cascade of little white fragments. Then Mrs. Spector's horn ignited as she teleported what Twilight could only estimate to be about two hundred bits onto the stallions desk, causing him to smile greedily.
"You know hehe* she's right Princess I wouldn't worry about it that much... well at least for tomorrow anyways." the newspony agreed with as shrug as he quickly pulled all the shiny gold bits into an open drawer in his desk. While he was distracted Mrs. Spector grabbed his pen and quickly drew a smiley face on one of the other white parchments scattered across his desk, before tossing the pen casually aside.
"It's always a pleasure Maxwell. Don't you go retiring on me now, you know how much I like doing business with you." Mrs. Spector stated happily as she hopped down from his desk and lead the dumfounded Twilight back over to Spike who was also stunned by the event that had just played out before them.
"Did you just change the newspaper with a bribe?" Twilight finally asked, stunned that anypony could just walk in and do such a thing in the middle of Canterlot. Twilight's mind whirled as she tried to come up with a law forbidding such an action... but came up short without a single Equestrian law coming to mind.
Mrs. Spector just shrugged, "Whaaaaat it's not illegal to sell news and besides I just bought you an entire day to make things better without anypony in Canterlot being the wiser."
"But you... I mean..." Twilight was lost, this mare's plan didn't have a bad consequence like hers did. Why didn't she think of this, it's not like she was taking cameras down or demanding the media's silence. Mrs. Spector had just done the opposite in fact, she'd actively given them something else to put in the paper, bits or not it wasn't illegal in any way shape or form.
"Giggle* now for my next trick I'll show you how to maximize you're effectiveness. Come on Princess I've got some more tips to show you before we're done for the day." Mrs. Spector said cheerily as she led Spike and Twilight out of the small establishment and back onto the streets of Canterlot with a tiny prance in her trotting. Entering the street again they trotted until they found a tiny section of road away from everypony else, where hopefully they were out of earshot.
"So since we're away from any prying ears... I'd like to explain why you're only going to need a single day to right the ship, so to speak." Mrs. Spector said with Twilight and Spike listening intently.
"You see, come tomorrow morning you're going to make an announcement and tell all the citizens of Canterlot everything you know about Queen what's her face and all of her little injuries from that riot." Mrs. Spector instructed. Wait, what!?
"I can't do that it's bad enough right now as it is." Twilight objected.
"And it's going to be getting a lot worse if you don't do something about it. Besides wouldn't it be so much better if their very own Princess told them about the situation instead of them just finding it all out somehow? Hmm..." Mrs. Spector asked with a smirk and a raised eyebrow.
Twilight put a hoof to her chin in contemplation. It would indeed be better coming from her, maybe she just had to be a little more open with them, then they might trust her a little more. Hiding it wasn't working that was for sure... Twilight gave Mrs. Spector a firm nod of agreement, which seemed to enlarge the mare's already decent grin.
"Excellent, and I suppose you haven't told the other Changelings about her yet either, have you?" Mrs. Spector asked.
Twilight shook her head no. The thought of informing them had occurred to her earlier but she had wanted to let things settle down a little first before informing King Thorax that his well... his former ruler was currently free from her stone prison. The last thing she needed was a Changeling invasion...
"Oh... well that's too bad, I wouldn't want to be them when they figure out you've had their Queen freed from her statue all this time, especially without even the decency of telling them about it." Mrs. Spector said causing Twilight's anxiety to skyrocket. Catching this Mrs. Spector trotted up closely to her so Spike and the guards couldn't hear and whispered, "Trust me Princess you need to tell them as soon as possible, otherwise they could find out from somepony else and please believe me when I say I don't want a repeat of what happened at Mi Amora Cadenza's wedding."
Wait Is she threatening me, Twilight thought, wondering if Mrs. Spector herself would reveal what she had been up too behind Thorax's back but immediately ruled it out. Whether the blue mare had an ulterior motive or not Mrs. Spector did go out of her way to help with tomorrow's newspaper and she'd even come to Twilight's defense in the streets with Peppermint, it wasn't to far of a stretch to assume she was just trying to help her here too. Especially with a potential threat from some very upset changelings...
"Okay you make a fair point... I'll write King Thorax and let him know what's been going on." Twilight relented, giving in to Mrs. Spector's advice.
"You won't regret it Princess... Oh that reminds me, before I forget again; you do want to catch that tiny little problem of yours on the run don't you?" Mrs. Spector asked.
It took a moment for Twilight to realize she was talking about the Mimic. "Well yes, of course I do." Twilight said glancing around them just to make sure no pony was listening.
"Weeeeeeell... how much do you want it?" Mrs. Spector asked with a gleeful eyeroll as Twilight tried to decipher what she was implying. Does she mean she want's a favor or...
Suddenly Mrs. Spector put her hoof around Twilight's shoulder as if they were long lost friends, "You see Princess the best way to find what you want is to have everypony around you helping you look for it, right..."
Twilight cocked an eyebrow, "Well yes, if everypony was helping me look then that would make things a lot easier, but I can't just tell them what's out there otherwise..."
Mrs. Spector put a hoof to Twilight's mouth, silencing her in midsentence. "Shhhhh shh shh shh... Tell me Princess, have you ever heard of a wanted poster?" Mrs. Spector asked as her horn came to life with a swirl of golden light and she teleported a picture of Cozy Glow up in front of them; with the option entering Twilight's mind and exploded like a firework.
Twilight took the picture in her hooves gingerly and stared down at the curly haired Pegasus filly in it. Oh why didn't she think of that earlier, of course that could work. She didn't need to tell anypony anything, all she had to do was print off a few dozen pictures and spread them around, somepony was sure to see the Mimic eventually. And the best part was she didn't even need a reason for the search, the Mimic was a literal copy of the arch villain Cozy Glow, ponies would gladly assume the Pegasus was guilty without even needing an explanation.
Twilight drew a large smile at the idea, an act that Mrs. Spector took notice of immediately as she whispered into her ear, "See all you have to do is offer them something they won't refuse and just like that poof they'll do whatever you need them too." Well she wasn't wrong, the wanted poster was a sure fire way to get everypony to help her look for the Mimic. Now all she had to do was arrange a ransom high enough to catch everypony's attention and get the posters up, although she had to be sure to demand information only, like a picture or something; otherwise somepony was bound get hurt if they tried actually apprehending the filly look alike. You know this might actually work...
"You know this is actually a great idea. Now all I'd have to do is put up a ransom." Twilight stated happily but stopped and pulled her ears back against her head as Mrs. Spector started to slowly circle around her like a shark.
"Hold up Princess, let's not get ahead of ourselves here. A Mimic like the one you're after is certainly dangerous isn't it? I mean it's not like ponies can just travel to the Palace in a day from Manehatten to tell you that they've seen it... No, you're going to need hooves in the area, I know this may sound a little extreme but I'd suggest sending guards out to each of the neighboring cities to make sure to minimize the creature's damage." Mrs. Spector suggested coming to a halt in front of her. Twilight's ears shot back up in realization, as she put a hoof to her chin, thinking it over. That would help if a situation arose... I'd have to allow them to carry weapons of course but with there being only me and my friends to search an entire kingdom... No she's right, I'd definitely need more help with this...
"That... also makes sense." Twilight agreed with Mrs. Spector giving her a friendly wink.
"Game, set, match." Mrs. Spector cheered before they both heard a growl coming from Spike's belly, and in sync they both turned to lay her eyes on the apparently hungry dragon.
"Sorry, we kind of missed super." Spike said with crossed arms over his stomach, all the while under Mrs. Spector's amused golden gaze as he kicked the ground bashfully.
"Oh that won't do. In fact I could have a bite myself after all the trotting we've done so far." Mrs. Spector stated with a gleeful pout down towards Spike before turning back to face Twilight. Oh if she only knew how long I've been trotting like this...
"I don't suppose you'd enjoy getting something to eat with me your highness? My treat in fact." Mrs. Spector offered as she waved a light blue hoof in the direction of all of the fine diners still open to the hungry ponies of Canterlot.
"Well I suppose we could, let see... oh where do you wanna go Spike?" Twilight asked her loyal companion as she tucked the photo of Cozy under her right wing. Spike's been bending over backwards for her all day as it was, he probably was starving. Just then her own stomach rumbled at the mere thought of food and she quickly felt her cheeks warm, which earned an amused smirk from Mrs. Spector.
"Hmm... what about Joe's doughnuts? I mean it was really good the last time we were there." Spike suggested with a snap of his claws. Twilight nodded, that sounded great actually; especially since she'd not been back there since her friends and her had shared their victory meal shortly before her coronation.
"That sounds like a great idea." Mrs. Spector said with a forced smile as Twilight led the five of them towards the doughnut shop.
As they were walking towards the diner they unfortunately passed by the royal garden. Twilight glanced into the green maze of bushes and variously sized coloms, until her eyes spotted the villain's statue; still in the open with her stationed guards still surrounding it. At least their both safe, Twilight thought before she eyed Cozy atop Lord Tirek's shrunken frame and felt her stomach slightly turn. Here they all were about ready to go have lunch and Cozy was still stuck in stone, possibly begging for a simple taste of water...
"Don't think about it dear, they did a lot of bad things to a lot of good ponies." Mrs. Spector counseled as she gave Twilight a firm pat on the shoulder for comfort as they all trotted.
"I know, but to be completely honest with you I didn't exactly give them a second chance like I should have... especially Cozy, she was actually my star student once and I just let Celestia ship her away... Sigh* It didn't seem so bad at the time but... looking back it was definitely a mistake on my part. There was no way Cozy was getting any better in Tartarus, I should have done something..." Twilight said confiding in the unicorn who glanced at her with sorrowful eyes.
"Wow you really have had it rough lately haven't you?" Mrs. Spector asked. Twilight shook her head yes and glanced at the villain's statue one last time before it was obstructed by several green bushes in the gardens.
"Chin up Princess, every now and then you'll make a mistake but you just have to keep on going until things get better." Mrs. Spector said trying her best to be supportive. Twilight shouldn't have needed that but something about hearing the words come from somepony else's mouth seemed to make her feel better, encourage her even. Yeah I can still fix this, Twilight thought and shot Mrs. Spector a smirk of her own before raising her head up as they walked, finally feeling a stray bit of hope that things would get better; she even enjoyed the slight breeze blowing her hair in her eyes.
"Atta girl." Mrs. Spector stated, congratulating her for her newfound vigor to keep going forward with a hopeful conviction.
They walked some more down the streets of Canterlot but this time Twilight was intent on defending herself instead of letting somepony else handle it like Mrs. Spector had earlier. However much to her surprise most of the ponies passing either bowed or moved out of her way, Twilight wanted to chawk it up to how she was confidently trotting along but knew they probably were just avoiding a scene so late in the day.
Upon reaching Doughnut Joe's they found the small outdoor restaurant to be empty of other ponies, probably due to the late afternoon time of day. Seeing this Mrs. Spector pointed to either side of the outdoor diner with both of her silver plated guards leaving them before taking up positions at their new stations. I wonder how much they pay those guys, Twilight thought as she trotted up to the counter to order her food, with the tall yellowish-orange pony known as Donut Joe patiently waiting for them with a smile on his face. Once before him at the counter she waited for her two companions, with both of them coming over to the side to wait their turn; so she could order first.
"Hmm... we'll have two plates of six doughnuts please." Twilight said indicating herself and Spike with a point of her hoof.
"Do you want sprinkles on that your highness?" Doughnut Joe asked politely as he pulled two plates out to fetch their orders.
"Mm-hm." Twilight confirmed with a friendly smile, seeing that she was finished Mrs. Spector trotted up right next to her to place her own order.
"I'll just have a strawberry one please, no sprinkles." Mrs. Spector stated sweetly with Donut joe giving her a firm nod as he hoofed Twilight her and Spikes doughnuts on a couple of disposable paper plates, with Twilight immediately picking them up in a ball of purple magic.
Seeing no reason to wait around for Mrs. Spector's order to come up, Twilight selected the round table she and her friends had eaten at before her coronation and quickly hopped into an open chair. Spike sat in the chair right beside her despite the many other optional chairs spaciously away from her. He usually did, much like Twilight he'd rather be close to his friends, something she found heartwarming. Once situated she dug her teeth into her first doughnut and let the sweet flavor dance over her taste buds before swallowing the pastry. Glancing back at Doughnut Joe's food stand she saw Mr. Spector get done paying for their meals and trot over to join them in a vacant seat one chair away from Twilight.
Getting done with the first of her six doughnuts and picking up another to devour, she noticed Mrs. Spector out of the corner of her eye levitate a plastic Knife and fork into the air as she expertly started cutting her one and only doughnut into tiny sectioned off pieces. Never in her life had Twilight seen that happen before, but despite her curiosity at why Mrs. Spector preferred it that way she didn't say anything, especially since Mrs. Spector had not only paid for their food but also because she had gone out of her way to help them all afternoon... which reminded her.
"Mrs. Spector I'm just curious. What are you getting out of helping me like this?" Twilight asked as a slight suspicion started to seep into her mind about whether this pony had a secret agenda she was keeping under wraps. After all Cozy Glow had spent the better part of a year getting to be Twilight's assistant before betraying her... but this pony had easily turned into something of her advisor within the span of only a couple of hours... was there more there or was she just over thinking it?
"I thought I told you already, I just wanted to help..." Mrs. Spector said casually with a shrug before seemingly remembering something as her eyes grew wider, "Oh but if you would do me one tiny curtesy, It would most certainly brighten up my day your highness." Ah there it was, so she did want something after all...
"What is it?" Twilight asked wondering what a pony like Mrs. Spector had to gain from her besides a better social standing. Heck she probably just wanted a confirmed invitation to the Gala or something if Twilight had to guess...
"Well you did get my precious husband's letter didn't you?" Mrs. Spector asked as she levitated a tiny piece of her doughnut into her mouth and chewed it slowly.
Twilight looked down at her plate as she remembered the dread of being called into a session of court over her decisions so far. But alas avoiding the subject would only be rude to the mare who'd helped her set up a game plan for tomorrow, "I did. He wants a session in the Palace tomorrow, right?"
Mrs. Spector nodded her head, "That's right. Oh but don't worry about a thing, I've already talked with him extensively about it; in fact that's the last thing I remember I did today before I came by the palace to see you. Hmm... what did he say exactly... oh something about setting things strait with you." Hearing this Twilight gulped hard in fear and kept her eyes glued to her doughnuts, trying all the while to keep things calm and diplomatic, despite her rising concern.
"That sounds great and all but... its just I don't know if right now's such a good time. I mean I'm dealing with Chrysalis and hunting the you know what, sigh* I just don't want any more problems until I can fix a few of them; you know?" Twilight explained, trying to be as friendly about rejecting the meeting as possible before turning to find Mrs. Spector in a deep puzzlement by her words.
"I can assure you my husband means well. He wants what you want your grace, a safer Equestria, you know one without villains running amuck and buildings burning down to the ground around us." Mrs. Spector explained in her husbandsa defense with a friendly wave of her hoof. Twilight relaxed at her words, if that was true then her husband Mr. Spector may just be trying to help like his wife apparently was. For all she knew canceling the meeting might actually make things worse instead of better...
"Well in that case I suppose having a meeting wouldn't be exactly the end of the world, if he is actually trying to help like you say he is." Twilight yielded as Mrs. Specter beamed happily and quickly clapped her hooves with joy.
"You won't regret it Princess. You actually already met him at the Gala a few years ago, although that was way before you were a real princess, Oh no offense... it's just that as far as I've heard you only had a little castle-tree-thing at that point; that is... if I'm not mistaken." Mrs. Spector stated as she placed another sliced doughnut piece into her mouth. Watching Mrs. Spector eat suddenly reminded her, Twilight had only eaten one doughnut so far and glancing beside her she shockingly noticed Spike was already through his third as his fangs chomped away at the delectables in front of him.
"You're not, and sorry but I actually can't recall everypony I meet back then. I mean so many ponies go to the Gala, it kind of just blurs together after a while." Twilight explained as she took a large bite from a doughnut and got chocolate all over her cheek by accident. The mess didn't go unnoticed by Mrs. Spector as she effortlessly summoned up a napkin in her magic and whipped the mess of off Twilight's face without even giving the princess a warning first.
Twilight thought about saying something about personal space but Mrs. Spector didn't even seem to notice her uncomfort at having some random pony she'd just met wipe her mouth for her like a child. Then it clicked, that wasn't just considerate behavior, that was motherly and the fact that it had been instinctual was hitting the thought home.
"Soooo... do you have any kids?" Twilight asked, watching the noble's reaction as Mrs. Spector stopped eating and shot her a surprised look with slightly widened eyes. Before long though Mrs. Spector regained her cool and brought her expression back to normal.
"Actually yes I do... I have a baby, well she's not actually a baby anymore but well you know what I mean. she's about ten now. Why?" Mrs. Spector asked nonchalantly back to Twilight as she placed another morsel of her strawberry doughnut into her mouth; leaving it almost completely eaten. So she is a mom even if she's not Cozy's...
"Oh no particular reason, you just give off a motherly vibe that's all." Twilight deflected as her curiosity over Mrs. Spector's filly took center stage in her mind, "So what's your daughter like?"
Mrs. Spector swallowed the last of her doughnut, a task that Twilight would have taken care of in seconds. "Well thanks to her tutors she's the smartest filly that attends her class in school. I dare say she's even smarter than the more advanced students in the grades above her." Mrs. Spector stated proudly.
"Really, that sounds great. Which school does she go too?" Twilight asked hoping to change the subject in a more carefree direction, feeling as if she'd been too aggressive with Mrs. Spector over her having an ulterior motive for some reason.
"Actually since you're taking over for Celestia at the school for gifted unicorns, I'd say she goes to your school now." Mrs. Spector explained as Twilight gagged and tried not to choke on her next doughnut she just bit into. My student, Twilight thought, that was right though she was taking over for Celestia when the next semester came around after the summer break but she had so much on her mind right now that she just didn't have enough time to think about it that much...
"I haven't even gotten a chance to meet all of my new students yet." Twilight lamented, and it was a shame too. Each one of those students were the best and brightest that Equestria had to offer. she envisioned them all in her head sitting at their desks, all of them bright eyed and bushy tailed, completely ready to start learning more about the wonders of magic from her.
"You really should meet with them dear, their all wonderful, well except for mine... on her bad days..." Mrs. Spector said somberly as her cheery expression turned sad and she tapped her empty plate with her fork depressingly. Twilight wondered how a pony could go from happy to depressed so fast, whatever this girl of hers was having trouble with must be getting to her mother as well...
"She has bad days?" Twilight asked as Spike got done with his last doughnut and Twilight levitated one of her remaining three over to him. Which he gratefully accepted and immediately bit into without a word to either of them.
"Only for the past couple of years. I mean usually she's studious and takes all of her learning material seriously. In fact sometimes I can't even get her head out of a book and trust me I've tried, Giggle*." Mrs. Spector explained with a small smirk as she stared off into space, probably thinking of distant memories of her child. So this girl like's books too huh, well we're probably both going to get along just fine when I meet her...
"She sounds like me actually, well before I moved all the way to Ponyville." Twilight said as she continued their small talk. For some reason talking about something as simple as kids actually relieved her, it was a far cry from hunting monsters and stopping riots. "I used to read nonstop, in fact I still do when I can find the time."
"Oh, well it sounds like you two would be two peas in a pod; if you ever want to meet her you just let me know okay." Mrs. Spector offered with a hopeful smile that seemed to melt all of Twilight's remaining misgivings about her. All of this was making her feel worse for comparing her to Cozy Glow, yes she had curly hair but that didn't mean anything at all in hind sight and the thought of helping one of Twilight's newest students with what could potentially be a friendship problem actually excited her.
"I could probably find some time, I am the Princess of Friendship after all, so maybe I can even help with some of the problems you say she's been having." Twilight said while using her hooves to quote the word problems. "What's her name anyway?"
"Oh it's Luster Dawn." Mrs. Spector stated proudly as if the name was meant to be known by everypony, everywhere.
"Luster Dawn? Hmm... I like it, real sun sety, it's definitely a unique name that's for sure." Twilight said as she lost the rest of her apatite and slid her plate over to Spike, who despite having a bulging belly was still brave enough to go for his eighth and ninth doughnut.
"Well my husband insisted on it. He usually finds a way to get what he wants, even if he has to go to the ends of Equestria to get it Giggle*." Mrs. Spector stated as her gold eyes lit up and she put a hoof up into the air to get Twilight's attention. "Say you haven't ever played chess before have you?"
"I actually have played a few games before but I'm not a-" Twilight didn't get to finish as her ears flew back in shock when a black and white chessboard was studently teleported to the table between her and Mrs. Spector. What was even more disturbing is it landed with all the chess pieces still in place on the checkered board.
"Want to play a quick game with me? You know, while we're here?" Mrs. Spector said with playful yet hungry eyes, as if playing the board game was her favorite thing to do in the entire world. Heck for all Twilight knew it was, especially with her cutie mark being a chess piece. I probably shouldn't but...
"Your on." Twilight exclaimed as she drew a grin of her own and her wings shot up, excited by the challenge.
"Good, I'm sure since you've played before you already know that white moves first." Mrs. Spector said as she moved her white pawn from in front of her king to two spaces forward with her golden magic.
Twilight went to move her pieces but froze as she noticed that all the pawns looked like royal guards and the white king and queen pieces were shaped like Celestia and Luna, while her own black king and queen was herself as the king with Cadence as her queen. the rooks and other pieces were either great wizards she'd heard of or her friends, even including Starlight! Maybe it's a royal chess set or something, Twilight supposed and with her purple magic she moved a black pawn up in front of Mrs. Spector's white one to counter it.
"I'm betting on her." Spike said out of nowhere as Twilight turned to find him done with the last of the doughnuts and his head laying atop his crossed arms on the table he was sitting at as he watched their game.
"Dawwww, thanks Spiky." Mrs. Spector said shooting him a happy grin, which to Twilight's shock got Spike to redden a little on the cheeks.
"Spike you traitor." Twilight shot back playfully as Spike did his best shrug from his resting position at the table.
"Meh, she's way to confident Twi. It's probably a good idea not to go betting any bits on this." Spike suggested much to her dismay as his reasoning hurt her confidence in herself.
"Hey! I have a chance." Twilight said in her defense as Mrs. Spector watched them go back in forth with her head resting on a hoof casually until they were done.
"No he's right." Mrs. Spector said gleefully as she moved her queen diagonally with her magic to the far left of Twilight view on the board. The queen already? I would say she's probably inexperienced but I know that's not true... hmm, no she's definitely doing something...
"You're underestimating me." Twilight stated sassily as she surveyed the battle ground of the chess board. Alright she's in attack mode with her queen piece so she's probably just coaxing me out, I have to do something she won't expect, something an experienced player wouldn't know what to do about..., Twilight thought and drew her magic on the chess piece of herself, (her king piece) before gingerly sliding it forward a space to hopefully surprise Mrs. Spector and hopefully change up the game a little bit.
"Bwahahahahahah!" Mrs. Spector shouted to the sky with glee and quickly wiped a happy tear that was coming out of her eye. Twilight was stunned by the sudden laughter as she scanned the checkered board in fear of missing something but before she had time to react Mrs. Spector's horn came to life with a gold aura as she moved her queen right on top of Twilight's pawn. Having secured the first kill Mrs. Spector's Queen stared Twilight's King piece down, with nowhere left to run it was all over...
"Shucks Princess. A three move Checkmate, I didn't think you'd actually want to lose to me that badly." Mrs. Spector cheered, with Twilight dropping her head to the table with a loud bang* causing Spike to get up and slowly come to her side to try and console her after losing so easily. That fast!?
"There there Twilight, at least you had fun while it lasted, right?" Spike asked nervously while still trying to comfort her on probably the easiest loss in the history of chess. Twilight brought her gaze up on the table and stared at her defeat resting on the board game. How hadn't she seen that, it's not like she hadn't ever played before. Next time I play chess it's going to be against Shinny, he always loses...
"Hahahaha... Princess is everything alright?" Mrs. Spector asked still giggling at the easy three move checkmate she'd just won before her magic took control of her Queen piece and knocked the King piece that looked like The Princess of Friendship over. Twilight just sat there until her better nature came back around and she sat up strait in her chair and put her hoof out to Mrs. Spector.
"Good game. I can't tell if you're too good at this or if I'm just too horrible." Twilight stated with a forced smile. Mrs. Spector stopped her giggling with a hoof to her mouth before hoofbumping Twilight on their match, even though it had only lasted three moves.
"Don't be sad Princess I'll play you again some other time, you know when you've had a bit more practice." Mrs. Spector cheered but in a friendly way as to not upset her, then with ease she teleported the game away, probably back to where she lived if Twilight had to guess. They sat there for a while at their table to let their stomachs settle, namely Spikes but before long he was quite ready to head out of the small outdoor diner.
"Hmm... it's getting late and I still have to get back to my mansion before sundown, Don't worry though I'll walk you two home first, okay." Mrs. Spector said as she glanced up at the sky. Hearing this Spike and Twilight got up from their seats and threw their used garbage away, Spike even politely took Mrs. Spector's for her, earning him a head pat from the prissy pony. Afterwards they both followed Mrs. Spector and her guards out of the Diner and back down the streets towards the Royal Palace.
While they walked Twilight glanced at the picture of Cozy she still had under her wing and then back to Mrs. Spector with her pink curly hair and chess piece cutie mark. There's no way, Twilight thought, if Mrs. Spector was actually related to Cozy Glow then it didn't show, in fact the only bad outcome Twilight could see from the pony leading her home was that she was just pretending to be helpful like Cozy was but even that was flawed. After all what would be the point in buttering her up? Mrs. Spector appeared to be rich, while also living in a mansion no less, and she even had her own personal guard to boot. All of that without any of the responsibilities of being the ruler of an entire country.
"Mrs. Spector." Twilight said getting the prissy unicorns attention as they neared the Palace's large stone platform where they would have to reclimb the stairs up to the Palace.
"Hmm?" Mrs. Spector asked with a hum as she glanced over at the spectacular horizon which was filled with a cascade of reds, yellows, and oranges as the sun hung close to the mountains yonder.
"I just wanted to apologize, you really have helped me a lot so far and If I'm being completely honest with you all I've done is suspect you of having some kind of a secret agenda or something." Twilight stated somberly with Mrs. Spector averting her golden eyes away from the horizon and locking them squarely onto Twilight as she drew a friendly grin.
"Trust me Princess being wary of who you can trust is the smartest thing you've done since you moved back to Canterlot." Mrs. Spector said with an eyeroll with Twilight taking it all as a complement instead of as a knock on her leadership skills. Yeah I need to be careful right now, especially since I don't know which ponies I can trust...
"Well you got me doughnuts so you're okay in my book." Spike said patting his slightly bulged stomach and walking up beside Mrs. Spector instead of Twilight. Well I guess we both made a new friend...
"Awww, thanks Spiky." Mrs. Spector said leaning down and planting a tiny kiss on Spike's forehead, causing him to blush uncontrollably by the sudden show of affection. Twilight snickered at his red face as they all climbed the steps up to the Royal Palace. Oh I better get him before he develops a crush on her like the one he has on Rarity...
Speaking of which where was she? Twilight hadn't expected her back immediately but the fashionista was always punctual and rarely waited to get something done. Oh I'm sure she's fine, Twilight thought, Rarity was reliable, she'd learn everything she could and be back in no time; all Twilight had to do was wait.
"Well this is where we'll depart I'm afraid." Mrs. Spector stated as they reached the top of the stairs with the palace looming over them.
"I really can't thank you enough for all your help." Twilight said wishing she could actually employ the rich pony that had just taken her around the town, feed her, and given her a game plan for hunting down the Mimic Cozy. All of which with only the request to still have her husbands meeting tomorrow. Talk about commitment...
"It wasn't really a problem your highness, in fact I was looking forward to meeting you for quite some time now." Mrs. Spector said giving Twilight a curtsy as her two silver guards bowed their heads to Twilight in unison.
"Tehe* It was nice to meet you too Mrs. Spector. For all I know you probably just saved me another riot tomorrow, thank you." Twilight said sincerely and not without meaning every word of it, without Mrs. Spector's intervention things would've undoubtedly gotten worse before they got better.
"Well so long as you're more open with you're citizens and your allies I believe you'll be just fine from now on your grace... Oh but you are definitely going to have that meeting tomorrow right?" Mrs. Spector asked with beamingly hopeful eyes.
"Of course." Twilight confirmed and was soon grabbed around the waist as Mrs. Spector shot forward and wrapped her in a soft hug. Twilight wasn't expecting that as she got a strait whiff of Mrs. Spector's strawberry perfume, with the mare being surprisingly soft and warm to the touch. I guess she uses powder or something...
"Trust me Princess after tomorrow things'll get better, you'll see." Mrs. Spector whispered next to her ear before she pulled away from Twilight and started trotting away with her guards, only to halt in place at the base of the first step.
Mrs. Spector turned and gave Twilight one last friendly smile as she teleported a slip of paper out of nowhere and flew it all the way back into Twilight's now open hoof, "Oh do come by my mansion if you ever need anything dear, remember you'll always have friends here in Canterlot that'll lend you a helping hoof." And with that Mrs. Spector left them there as she descended back down the stone steps towards Canterlot City with her two guards in tow right behind her. Twilight glanced down at what Mrs. Spector had given her to find the mare's address and a tiny map drawn on it for her convenience just in case she had trouble finding it. Twilight and Spike shared a glance of wiriness as they both headed for the front doors to the Palace.
"Sooo what do you wanna do now Spike?" Twilight asked since her schedule was still clear for the day.
Spike shrugged, "I don't know, I guess relax or something until bedtime... why did you have something in mind?" Twilight put a hoof to her chin in thought, wondering what to do before sundown.
"Well we could move those artifacts to the tower and see what Grogar was so interested in when he was still around." Twilight suggested, wondering if she could find a private journal of his or maybe even something that would help them with the Mimic wondering around the countryside. "Oh and I also need to get to work on that wanted poster Mrs. Spector was taking about."
"Yay, I get to deal with some more books and a curly haired demon." Spike said jokingly with a friendly eye roll.
"Oh come on Spike I have to get the throne room empty before bedtime... otherwise somepony's going to wonder why I have a small library I'm sitting on instead of my actual throne tomorrow." Twilight pleaded to the stuffed dragon.
"Hmph... okay fine but after that we're taking it easy, deal?" Spike asked as the door guards opened the palace doors for them. You know I was just about to say the same thing...
"Deal." Twilight said happily as they entered back into the safety of the Palace. However before she and Spike could make their way to the throne room a heavy breathing guard came running up to her. Twilight groaned and tried her best not to teleport the guard away so she wouldn't have to deal with whatever problem he had for her but unfortunately she stood firm, waiting for the inevitable.
"Ugh... what is it now?" Twilight said depressingly, hoping that whatever it was he wanted to tell her wasn't too serious as the guard took of his helmet and looked her in the eyes.
"Your grace you said to come get you if the Prisoner did anything she shouldn't, well... she's getting out of bed to use the rest room and I can't get her to stay put until you're there to help her." The guard stated as Twilight facehooved with Spike raising an eyebrow at how Chrysalis needed help doing something so simple as using the toilet.
"Of course she isn't going to wait." Twilight said as she turned to Spike and hoofed him the photo of Cozy Glow from under her wing, "Don't come with me alright Spike, I need to handle this myself."
"Got it. I'll just meet you in the throne room when you're done." Spike stated glancing down at the curly haired foal in the picture before he started walking away from her in the direction of the throne room.
Twilight summoned up all of her remaining energy from her long day and sprinted down the hallway past the guard as she made her way through the large palace at a break neck pace to get to Chrysalis. Intent on getting there as fast as possible before Chrysalis managed to hurt herself.
Although now out of breath she quickly came to the entrance to the Castle's Dungen, once there she lit her horn which illuminated the dark staircase in a purple light and trotted down the steps into the dark hallway that would lead her to the prison cells. But before she could get there she heard a "Whhhhhhhhsssssshhh." as she heard Chrysalis's toilet flush. Ugh, really...
Twilight reached the bottom of the cells with the sun's orange afternoon light shinning through Chrysalis's tiny cell window, causing the small dwelling to shine orangish in an afternoon hue. There she saw Chrysalis from beyond the bars as she was slowly moving herself back to the bed with tiny little baby steps.
Twilight wanted to yell at her for not asking for her help first but seeing her barley being able to walk got Twilight to reconsider as she pushed her slight anger down and chose to use a much more rational and calmer tone on the changeling. "I told you to wait for me so I could help you with that." Twilight said sternly.
Chrysalis simply turned and shot daggers at her with grey eyes as she stopped her small journey back to bed to finally recognize Twilight's existence. "I already told you I don't need any of your help. Now get out and scram before I destroy you."
After her threat Chrysalis went back to ignoring her as she continued on her tiny path back to bed, but after all the problems Twilight had gone through today she wasn't having it. First the Riot, then the Mimic, and now even Chrysalis wanted to put her health at risk? All for what, pride? Twilight couldn't afford for Chrysalis to get hurt and go through another agonizing surgery, not right now and certainly not after she'd just started getting things back under control.
Twilight retrieved the key to Chrysalis's cell that she'd hidden within her golden chest compartment and slid it into the cell's door. However before she could pull it open she saw Chrysalis's ears twitch slightly at the slight sounds the key was making in the keyhole. Wow that's some hearing, I barely even made a sound...
"I told you to leave." Chrysalis demanded coldly.
"Bite me." Twilight shot back as she undid the door and swung it open with a loud screech.
"Keep tempting me and I just might." Chrysalis stated threateningly as she finally made it back to the bed. Then the large Changeling turned around and reared her flank up on the soft mattress as she slowly sat down safely. Twilight watched her from the doorway not knowing what she should do. Well maybe she can do it, Twilight thought as she watched Chrysalis move her hoof back on the bed for leverage. But out of nowhere Chrysalis's grey eyes shot open and clamored shut again in pain as she moved her cast slightly by accident, causing her face to contort in agony. "Ow!" Chrysalis yelped and hissed soon afterwards like a snake. "Hhhsssssssssss."
Oh no, Twilight thought as she swiftly closed the door to the cell and made her way over to Chrysalis's side, wanting to inspect her hoof. Once she got over to help her however Chrysalis used her right hoof to hit her and knock her away, but surprisingly the large holed limb had very little force behind it as it barley managed to nudge her an inch backwards from The damaged Changeling Queen.
"Stay... away..." Chrysalis whispered in a sad and broken voice, too small for any vicious monster to ever make. Twilight was taken aback by the sheer hopelessness emanating from her defeated foe. As much as she didn't like Chrysalis this made her feel weird... sad even.
"At least let me help you get back into bed before you kill yourself." Twilight pleaded as Chrysalis seemed to ponder Twilight's offer for a moment before her hateful glare returned and she stated coldly, "No. Come near me and I'll rip your lungs out..."
Twilight's ears flattened backwards, she knew the threat wasn't a possibility in Chrysalis's current state but the fact that Chrysalis had decided to refuse help even with a broken shoulder was nothing short of insanity. Why won't she just let me help her?
Twilight just stood there, waiting to see if Chrysalis would fall or hurt herself as the Changeling Queen drew her pink bed sheets to the side with a slightly trembling hoof and slowly pulled her body up as she reasserted herself back on top of the comfy mattress. Then without help from Twilight she pulled the covers haphazardly over half of her large frame and laid down defiantly.
Twilight let out a sigh of relief and noticed the guard she'd posted to watch her prisoner had returned to watch Chrysalis as he settled himself back into his watchful position from beyond the cell's bars. I really should relieve him, he's been down here with her for literally all day...
Twilight couldn't do something like that, whatever oaths the guard had taken he was apparently dead set on fulfilling them, probably even if Twilight made this a permeant position for the time being. It would be helpful to have a guard who had already proven himself to be a trusted watchful eye for her prisoner but the question was should she really do that to him...
"You." Chrysalis commanded, interrupting her train of thought as Twilight's eyes widened and she quickly came over to the changeling's bedside.
"Make yourself useful and bring me something to read..." Chrysalis demanded with disdain, as if asking any other way would have hurt her somehow.
Twilight for her part was just stunned that Chrysalis had actually asked for something besides her head. A thought slowly entered Twilight's mind, maybe Chrysalis was uncomfortable with needing somepony's help but ordering them around seemed to be alright with her, I have to use that somehow. Regardless, at least Chrysalis could read her way to recovery while she was stuck in here. She didn't know how lucky she was, Twilight was thinking about breaking her shoulder too if it meant she could skip out on the next possible riot...
Trotting over to the books she'd placed in Chrysalis's cell Twilight scanned the titles but was suddenly aware at how dark the room had gotten without the sunlight shinning through the window overhead to illuminate the small room, she was definitely going to have to get Chrysalis a light in here, maybe even a lamp for her to read with. This'll make her happy, Twilight thought as she picked up a book on the conquests and Histories of the Changelings, with the book in hoof she quickly trotted back over to the wounded Chrysalis and held the book up for her to read.
Chrysalis squinted her eyes and read the title before groaning and looking away. "Pass"
Wait, What!? Twilight's eyes widened in shock as the book on Changeling invasions was rejected, even though it was literally full of changeling victories. But then it came to her, maybe Chrysalis didn't want to relive any histories over a successful changeling war when Chrysalis's own war had ended so badly for her. Stupid, Twilight thought and felt worse now, for all she knew Chrysalis thought she was trying to rub in her defeat or something.
Twilight trotted back over to the tiny bookshelf by the far wall and quickly returned the book in it's proper place before pulling another one out on the Griffon's Civil Wars. Hopefully this one works, it was after all a book on non-Changelings in a three hundred year old conflict so maybe it would appease her moody prisoner.
Bringing the book over to the wounded Changeling Twilight laid the book gently down beside her, seeing this Chrysalis grabbed the book in her good hoof before raising it up to her eyes and reading the title. Then to Twilight's shock she tossed the book right off of the bed, with it landing with a thud* on the stone floor of the cell beside her. "Ugh... Next..." Chrysalis said as she glared up at the ceiling in unamusement.
Twilight's eye twitched as she levitated the book up off of the ground with her magic before dusting it of with a hoof and placing it back on the shelf with the others. Okay forget hurting her feelings, maybe she's just messing with me or something... Wait if she is I'm definitely putting her on a diet of stale bread and water... that'll teach her to mess with me...
Twilight quickly pulled a book from random, not caring which one it was as she stomped her way over to Chrysalis and planted the book down by the changeling.
Chrysalis pulled the book up before her eyes grew wide and she shouted, "Is this all the same genre!?"
"Wait, What!? You don't like war books!?" Twilight asked completely dumbfounded as Chrysalis glanced away from her towards the stone wall beside her bed.
Twilight ran a hoof down her face in despair, "Well then what do you like to read?"
"Romance of course..." Chrysalis whispered, never looking Twilight in the eyes.
What ensued was a long moment of silence before the guard outside of the cell broke his no talking guard routine and started snickering uncontrollably, "Snicker* What is it like reading a menu or something? Bwahahahah!" Twilight could tell that the act itself wasn't meant as anything but friendly jesting... even if the guard had gotten slightly carried away.
Although the more she thought about it the more she herself found the joke somewhat funny. "Pffff* Hahahahaha." Twilight let out in the small cell as she eventually gave in to the comedy with her laughter joining in with the guard's, much to the disdain of Chrysalis who had a resigned dead look in her eyes by all of the hysteria surrounding her. Twilight put a hoof over her chuckling mouth as she imagined changelings lining up to buy romance novels like they were candy, the mental image itself didn't help as she continued to laugh until both she and the guard had quelled their initial glee. Seeing that they were both finished and guessing that this as an opportune moment to speak Chrysalis decided to chime in on their fun.
"You idiots, changeling's hunt for love of course I-" Chrysalis shouted but didn't get done lashing out at them as she slightly got up from her resting position due to her rising anger, Then without warning she quickly jerked in pain.
"Aaaagh!?" Chrysalis shouted loudly, which caused Twilight's cheery expression to vanish instantly by the outcry. She expected Chrysalis to continue yelling at them because of the sudden pain she must be feeling, or even to curse their names to the heavens for laughing at her kind's romantic cravings but instead of either of those Chrysalis just sat there as her dead grey eyes suddenly breamed with glimmering tears. What the...
Twilight stood completely still in shock, with her mouth hanging open in surprise as Chrysalis quickly turned her head away from them towards the wall and hid her face with her only good front hoof. But alas that didn't stop Twilight from hearing her sniffle away in agony. How stupid could I be, Twilight hadn't even been thinking about upsetting Chrysalis to the point where she might hurt herself, instead she had gladly laughed at her despite knowing she was a completely fragile mess whilst in her current condition. What was worse was Twilight despite not being on good terms with Chrysalis had basically just tried to bully her without even realizing it, and all while she was recovering too... some Princess of Friendship she turned out to be...
"Chrysalis I..." Twilight held her hoof out to the hurting Changeling, wanting to help her somehow but stopped dead in her tracks due the hopelessness of the situation. What could she say after causing that!? It wasn't like Chrysalis had ever wanted to hear her out or listen to anything she had to say but Twilight had to do something, otherwise she'd feel guilty about it for the rest of her life. Finding an idea come to mind Twilight stood back and shot a soft detection spell at the changeling, with the blast of purple magic harmlessly hitting Chrysalis in her temple. Afterwards Twilight could see the bone structure of the Changeling as the spell displayed Chrysalis's skeleton, despite the blankets she was under. It kind of looked like a living X-ray to her as Twilight saw the fractured shoulder still in place from Dr. Horseman's surgery.
Whew, at least she didn't cause any permeant damage, Twilight thought as the spell slowly faded away. Glancing over past the cells bars Twilight found that Chrysalis's guard had uncharacteristically taken off his helmet at the sight of the pain Chrysalis was in, apparently feeling guilty himself for the way they'd just treated her. You know most ponies just saw the guards with their unmoving faces and assumed that they were too hard for such an emotional thing as regret but Twilight knew better, her guards were ponies first and foremost and they wouldn't be too keen on causing a creature to wallow in pain. Even if that creature was Queen Chrysalis...
Twilight returned her gaze to her now slightly sniffling prisoner to see Chrysalis's breathing slowly begin to work itself back under control, although Twilight was sure she'd never forget those sobs, especially because they were ones she never expected to hear. Twilight hadn't wanted this... even seeing her turned to stone was better than what she was witnessing right now.
"Chrysalis?" Twilight asked putting a tender hoof on the large changeling's one good shoulder.
At the touch Chrysalis instantly pulled her hoof down from her face and turned her head to glare daggers right through Twilight. An event that was more unnerving do to the two dry tear streaks decorating Chrysalis's black cheeks.
"What? Do you feel better now, hmm? Isn't that why you came down here!?" Chrysalis asked angerly.
"No. Chrysalis I'm really really sorry, I shouldn't have laughed at you like that when you were hurt, especially over which book you wanted to read." Twilight answered as she teleported her personal handkerchief out of her room and into her hoof before holding it out to the changeling.
Chrysalis immediately snatched the white cloth away from her and wiped her face off. With Twilight just watching in silence until Chrysalis had gotten done wiping both of her cheeks. Twilight waited for another onslaught of insults afterwards or even more death threats but to her surprise Chrysalis held the handkerchief back out to her without a word.
"Keep it." Twilight said somberly as Chrysalis turned to look at her and for a brief second Twilight saw the surprise on Chrysalis's face from the generosity she had just been shown before a dark scowl took over and the changeling inched her way back down into her bed with the handkerchief grasped firmly in her hoof.
"Do um... do you still want that book or well... novel?" Twilight asked, hovering slightly towards the cell door as she expected a firm no from Chrysalis after the way she had just been treated.
"Only if you're going to get it without making me wait any longer." Chrysalis demanded coldly as she glared up angerly at the ceiling.
The second Chrysalis had said yes Twilight's heart skipped a beat. Hurrying to find something to make up for what she'd just done to Chrysalis, Twilight surrounded herself in purple magic and swiftly transported herself into the castle's large library, which was illuminated by a variety of candles placed about it here and there. After teleporting into the vacant area she quickly ran over to the romance section and started grabbing books at random. Gathering a good ten novels Twilight teleported back into Chrysalis's cell with her peace offering in a firm stack on her hoof. Chrysalis for her part looked at the collection of novels in Twilight's hoof with a raised eyebrow, probably not expecting so many.
"Is this enough?" Twilight asked hoping that she could make Chrysalis feel better after what she'd just gone through. Instead of giving Twilight an answer Chrysalis sighed and laid the handkerchief on her bed before she held out her good hoof for the novels. Seeing this Twilight quickly hoofed over the stack she'd just collected.
Chrysalis placed her new reading material next to her on the bed and casually picked up the first one to read the title. Twilight held her breath hoping that the changeling didn't decide to toss the book aside like she did all the others she'd already given her. Thankfully though Chrysalis brought the book closer as if she was pleased. Whew, I'm glad that worked out, Twilight thought before she noticed Chrysalis bring the novel up to her nostrils and inhale deeply as she took a long good whiff of it.
"This'll do. Don't expect them back until I'm done with them." Chrysalis stated matter of factly.
"Wait, why did you just smell it like that?" Twilight asked with a small hopeful smile, wondering if Chrysalis liked the old library smell like she did when she would always read an old library book. No that was impossible wasn't it? Chrysalis and her couldn't possibly have anything in common... could they?
"Ugh, if you must know it's because a pony's strong emotions can linger on an item like this." Chrysalis explained as she opened the book up to the first page and started scrolling through it casually.
"Strong emotions... Wait you can't get any love from these books can you?" Twilight asked fearfully as she mentally kicked herself in the head for not considering if Chrysalis was just trying to find a way to gain more power and escape. Especially with books, that would be the cruelest irony for Twilight if the books would somehow allow Chrysalis to wreck some more havoc on the outside world. Talk about killer literature...
"Oh that would be sooooooo awful wouldn't it? Especially since you were the one who gave me these." Chrysalis said taunting her as Twilight readied her horn with a burst of magic so she could pull the books away from the agitated changeling. Seeing what she was about to do Chrysalis groaned in frustration.
"Of course I can't gain any magic from them you fool. If I could I would have just raided a library instead of hunting down Grogar's bell with those two imbeciles." Chrysalis stated as she flipped the page she was currently on to the next one. Twilight relaxed and let her magic fizzle out as Chrysalis continued reading.
Well that wasn't so bad, but then again she was just taking Chrysalis's word for it, for all she knew Chrysalis was just waiting until she left before breaking out and destroying everypony. Though there was still the problem of her broken shoulder so it was probably a safe bet to assume that if Chrysalis did do something to escape it would probably would be far into the future...
Despite that Twilight still had the slight urge to keep the books away from her, if for no other reason than she could possibly use them somehow but all that disappeared as she saw Chrysalis just peacefully reading away without bothering anypony. Now she was feeling worse for even thinking about it, for all she knew she might have just taken away the only thing Chrysalis seemed to be enjoying out of the entire castle. Well besides the Palace food, which also reminded her...
"So how did her cup cakes go?" Twilight asked turning to the royal guard on the other side of the prison bars.
"It went fine your grace but I don't think the maid you sent in here wants to ever do it again. Your prisoner... I mean Chrysalis here kept on sniffing her for some weird reason." the guard answered only for Chrysalis to stop reading and glare at him with a slight growl.
"No, the girl you sent in was an adequate servant, I want her to be back in here the next time I require food." Chrysalis demanded with a glance to Twilight. Twilight didn't want to say no especially after she'd just gotten Chrysalis to settle down and start reading, but sending the maid back to the changeling would be nothing short of cruel if Chrysalis was harassing her.
"I don't want to bust your bubble Chrysalis but I only had that maid feed you today because I wasn't here. But if it makes you feel any better I'll be back in here first thing in the morning to get you whatever you want." Twilight explained with a big smile and batted her eyelashes to the laying changeling, only for Chrysalis to grit her fangs angerly in her direction.
"Oh how comforting to know I have the Princess of Friendship tending to my every need." Chrysalis said sarcastically as she rolled her eyes. As much as Twilight felt like just ignoring her, she decided to meet Chrysalis's sarcasm to see if she could somehow get a different kind of reaction out of her.
"Awww that's so special Chrysalis, I love you too." Twilight said playfully as if she was speaking with a close friend. Chrysalis turned to her and raised an eyebrow.
"You're not going to stop until I kill you, are you?" Chrysalis said but to Twilight's surprise the threat seemed less threatening and more like something Chrysalis would casually say to somepony. Interesting...
Twilight shook her head no gleefully and started to leave before she upset Chrysalis again but before she could get out of the cell Chrysalis glanced at her pink blanket she was halfway under.
"Wait you pest that reminds me, where is my new blanket?" Chrysalis asked narrowing her eyes and growling in her direction.
"Oh shoot, I completely forgot about that." Twilight said pinching her brow with a hoof in disdain. "Ugh, just sit tight and give me a minute okay, I'll be right back."
"And you'd better not forget about the pillows either." Chrysalis said dismissively as she turned her full attention back to the romance novel she was reading.
Twilight again teleported, only this time it was to a random palace bedroom that was used for guests when the stayed at the palace. She glanced around at the rooms bed but to her dismay the covers were a soft green instead of the dark red Chrysalis had requested earlier. And so without the blanket that she needed in sight Twilight teleported to the next room hoping for better luck where to her shock she found a sleeping Celestia... snuggled under a firm dark red blanket with her head buried into the headpillow.
"Oh come on, really..." Twilight whispered to herself as she teleported into a few more rooms. Each time taking the pillow off of the front of the bed with her before she left to continue her search. After about four more rooms she finally found a blanket matching Chrysalis's preference with patterns decorating the crimson red as gold lain on the blankets outline.
"Thank Celestia." Twilight said gratefully as she levitated the blanket over to her and placed it on top of the pillows she was currently holding; having found what she needed Twilight quickly teleported all of the supplies back into Chrysalis's stone cell. Seeing the bright flash of the teleporting spell Chrysalis's eyes shot open but quickly returned to normal as Twilight deposited the pillows onto the floor around her and held up the blanket for Chrysalis to inspect.
"What about this one?" Twilight asked, hoping that she didn't have to go on another scavenger hunt through the palace.
Chrysalis's eyes scanned the blanket for a moment before she finally accepted, "It'll do. Now get this infernal thing off of me before I choke you to death with it."
I'm going to take that as a yes, Twilight thought inwardly as she levitated the pink blanket off of Chrysalis's large body and tossed it to the floor at the head of Chrysalis's hospital bed. Then with her full attention Twilight levitated the red blanket up into the air and let it drop softly on Chrysalis, who only squinted slightly as the blanket landed on her casted hoof.
"There." Twilight said but noticed the covers had fallen right over the books Chrysalis had just received. Meh, at least they'll be warm, Twilight concluded, besides it wasn't like they were too much of a hinderance under there, she doubted they'd make it all the way to the other side of Chrysalis where her damaged hoof was. Twilight smiled at her completed task but to her dismay Chrysalis shot her an angry glare, "And the pillows you moron."
Twilight looked at the fluffy white pillows at her hooves, which were still laying on the floor where she'd dropped them and slightly chuckled at getting ahead of herself. "Right." Twilight said and started picking up the pillows one by one before fluffing them up with her magic and laying them gently in a line on the bed right up against the wall; which kind've made the bed look more like a large couch for some reason. Well I bet it's cozy up there regardless, she thought and once her task was all done she walked around the bed to survey her handiwork; finding it to her satisfaction Twilight went back over to Chrysalis to see if her fragile foe needed anything else before she left to rejoin Spike.
"Well, will it work?" Twilight asked wanting to get back to the throne room and square Grogar's relics away, then she was off to make those wanted posters Mrs. Spector had suggested before finally making it to bed.
Chrysalis looked around the room a bit before her magicless eyes finally landing on the spot beside the head of her bed, "I need a nightstand, make sure you bring me one if you insist on coming back here to torture me with you're presence." Twilight nodded at the demand, despite the insult since it sounded quite useful for her wounded foe. With one of those Chrysalis would have a place to put her reading material instead of it just laying on her bed beneath the blanket. Besides that bed's getting pretty full...
"Alright I'll get one in here first thing in the morning. So if it's all the same to you I have some things I need to take care of before sundown. Goodnight Chrysalis." Twilight said tiredly with a yawn before drawing her magic around her body to teleport out of the room.
"Wait." Chrysalis demanded with a raised hoof. Sighing Twilight cancelled her magic and stared towards Chrysalis in confusion. Doesn't she have enough things yet?
"Sigh* what is it now Chrysalis?" Twilight asked wondering if this was how parents felt about dealing with their foals.
"Get me some Glowstones in here." Chrysalis said causing Twilight to raise an eyebrow. Glowstones? Then suddenly it all came flooding back to her that Changeling's didn't have lamps where they came from, no instead they had glowing stones that varied in different colors to illuminate their surroundings. Some of which she'd even seen in Ocellus's room at the School of Friendship from her time as Headmare.
"Ugh, how am I supposed to get those?" Twilight asked about ready to give up.
A few moments passed as Chrysalis put her good hoof to her chin in deep concentration, "Hmm... As much as it pains me to suggest it you could always send a letter to that traitor of mine Thorax. I bet that bee brained amature has all of the Glowstones strung up all over the hive like a Hearts Warming tree by now or something."
"Wait you want me to ask Thorax for some glowing rocks? Ugh, can't I just bring you a lamp or something?" Twilight pleaded dropping to her knees by the bed and latching onto the side with her head dropping to the soft mattress.
Chrysalis closed her eyes and stuck her nose up in the air defiantly. "Absolutely not, Glowstones are far superior to the pony junk you idiots keep using." Chrysalis said before she glanced back over at Twilight who's head was still resting for a minute on the side of her mattress, "And get off of my bed before I gouge your eyes out." Twilight leaned off of the bed with her hooves up in the air defensively and a scowl of her own on her face. I just needed a minute you blowhard...
"Fine I was going to write King Thorax anyway." Twilight said pouting and crossing her hooves whilst in her sitting position on the floor. Hearing this got Chrysalis to lower her book down on her bed and intensify her glare on Twilight, her eyes full of a newfound anger.
"Oh I'm sorry did he raise an entire hive of three hundred and forty two changelings?" Chrysalis whispered with a death glare that would have destroyed Twilight instantly if it could have caused any real physical damage.
Twilight's ears dropped back not just because she'd brought Thorax's title into the conversation without thinking of the implications it would have but also because of the rising anger of Chrysalis and how it might make her hurt herself again by accident. Not wanting to make things any worse Twilight relented, "No, I'm pretty sure he didn't."
Hearing this Chrysalis brought her book back up and flipped another page as she continued reading, "And don't you forget it. I don't want you to even dare call him King again in my presence."
"Alright fine I won't... sigh* if there's noth-" Twilight tried to say.
"Go, and don't come back until you can do something useful." Chrysalis commanded, clearly wanting Twilight finally gone.
Twilight got up off of the floor and readied her horn again so she could leave but before she did she turned to the guard stationed outside the cell. "I'll be sending somepony to relieve you soon alright." Twilight said kindly with the guard giving her a firm nod of acknowledgement.
And with that Twilight's magic surrounded her as she teleported out of the cell to gather up Grogar's relics and square them away in the tower before making the wanted posters. Afterwards she planned on writing out the letters she'd need to send for both her allies to be in the know about her new prisoner and apparently also for Chrysalis to get her glowing rocks... That's going to be quite an interesting letter to Thorax...
"Oh hello ma'am, would you like to try our newest line of fragrances" a well dressed business pony asked in a tux and red tie, all the while holding up a spray bottle of blue perfume to Rarity as she trotted down the far off streets of Canterlot.
"Oh, thank you darling but I'm needed elsewhere." Rarity said to the fine stallion but kept on trotting past him as she made her way to Rosie's address. It had taken a while and some directions from some kind Canterlot citizens but she was finally here, in the housing district where most of the less well-off ponies usually stayed in the capital since they couldn't afford a mansion or a larger abode. Ten Forty Pinewood Lane... almost there... ten twenty two... ten twenty three, Rarity thought scanning the numbers on the two story houses she was trotting by.
Alright remember, to do this fashionably I have to start with simple pleasantries and then work her into revealing more, Rarity thought as she squared the slip of paper Twilight had given her away into her coat pocket and adjusting her large grey hat atop her head so it would cover her eyes somewhat. Despite her reservations on helping reform the filly who had tried to destroy both her and her friends Rarity was intent on getting what Twilight needed from this Rosie even if she thought it was a complete waste of her time. I don't know why I'm doing this Twilight but it had better be worth it...
Rarity walked with her reddish brown coat billowing in the soft breeze behind her as she counted the numbers on the fine Canterlot homes until she came to her destination. Finally reaching it she stopped at the front of the house and looked the establishment up and down, finding it about as peaceful a place to live as one could hope for; with four nice well trimmed shrubs next to the house's walkway in a cone shape. There wasn't much else though, with there being a significant lack of a front yard, instead the house seemed to almost connect to the street itself as it's steps met the sidewalk Rarity was currently standing on. Glancing around Rarity noted the full absence of anypony on the street with her, probably due to the fact that it was getting later and most of them probably wanted to turn in for the night.
Hmm... this is it I suppose, Rarity thought as she brought her imagination to life and replaced the colors around her from green on the ground, the whites of Rosie's house, and even the red orange afternoon sky to a cascade of blacks and whites so she could get in character with her alter ego. After all it wasn't everyday that she could go under cover for a secret assignment like this. Clearing her throat Detective Rarity trotted up the small steps of the house to it's tiny porch and knocked on the front door a few times. "Knock* knock* knock*. "
Detective Rarity stepped back, waiting for the colorless door to open up so her investigation could truly begin but instead she heard a soft barking from inside the house with a pony shouting, "Hold on I'm coming..."
Oh no, a dog... well no matter, I've dealt with plenty of pets thanks to Fluttershy, I should be just fine, besides I bet it's a tiny show dog or something, Rarity thought to herself as she readied for the pony behind the door to answer so she could ask about Cozy Glow and be on her way, dog or not. After another minute of waiting the door swung gently opened to reveal an apparently slept in unicorn mare, who despite them being well into the afternoon was still in a white nightgown with tiny pink fuzzy slippers on her hooves; aside from that the light grey mare had uncouth bedraggled red hair that made Rarity want to immediately start combing her down. Well maybe she just got into bed early, Rarity thought watching Rosie quickly rub her blue eyes to get the sleepies out of them.
"Um, yes?" Rosie asked with a German Shepard sitting patiently right behind her, definitely a guard dog if Rarity had to guess. Although the mare herself seemed startled as her eyes landed on Rarity's detective attire, probably not expecting a fully dressed pony so late in the afternoon, especially one that dressed in such a large overcoat. Rarity for her part glanced the mare up and down, looking for any family resemblance that could tie her to miss Cozy Glow. Hmm... red hair, light-grey fur, and with blue eyes, Wait maybe that red hair could be responsible for Cozy's evil red eyes... and the blue could be a trait for cozy's hair color...
For all she knew the mare before her could actually be related to Cozy Glow, Rarity wondered if she was standing at Cozy's home, speaking with the degenerates very mother. Not wanting to keep her informant long she asked, "Hello darling, you wouldn't happen to be a miss Rosie by any chance would you?" to the mare politely but in her firm no nonsense voice so she could appear as professionally as possible.
"Well yes I am but.... what's all of this about exactly?" Rosie said getting slightly worried by her sudden visitor, as she slightly leaned back into her doorway, probably getting ready to slam it closed. No, not good I have to dial it back, Rarity thought not wanting to frighten her only lead away.
"Oh nothing about you darling, I assure you you're not in any trouble... I was actually sent here on an important mission from Princess Twilight herself to see if you knew anything about a miss Cozy Glow." Rarity explained but was suddenly surprised to see Rosie's expression go from slight worry to complete anger as Rosie's eyes narrowed threateningly in her direction.
"Who are you?" Rosie asked coldly as she started to close her door slightly. Rarity's eyes widened at how she had suddenly triggered the mare so easily, though this reaction only furthered her suspicion that she was actually talking with Cozy's mother. Oh drat she had to act fast if she was going to get that information she needed.
"Oh wait darling, I just wanted to ask you a few questions." Rarity pleaded, finally breaking her façade to get the mare to see reason. After all if she didn't get anywhere with this then Twilight would be left with nothing for the juvenile delinquent. Although Instead of replying Rosie interestingly leaned forward to get a closer look at her from underneath her grey sunhat. Seeing more of her visitor Rosie's eyes widened but never relented the anger they were shooting Rarity's way, in fact the anger seemed to double on the mare's face as she grit her teeth slightly.
"You wouldn't happen to be the element of Generosity would you?" Rosie asked angrily with a death glare that stared right through Rarity.
"Well yes... I um-" Rarity stammered before the door slammed closed in front of her, with the wind blowing Rarity's hair to the side as it was propelled outward by the door; her hat flying off of her head to land on the stone concrete behind her.
Rarity stood there suddenly realizing just how distraught Rosie probably was if Cozy was indeed her little filly, but didn't she want to plead her daughters case? The least she could do is tell them why Cozy was so evil. Not willing to walk away now since she was so close Rarity grasped the door in her magic and gave it a tug to open it but unfortunately it was completely locked from the inside. She tried again in vain, only this time it got a response from the pony she needed to talk too...
"Go away." Rosie said from behind the door and quite close to it if Rarity's ears were hearing the mare correctly. "Don't you have something better to do other than badger me? Huh...haven't you all done enough already!?"
Sensing the distress in Rosie's words made Rarity's heart ache, Cozy was a brat of course but judging from the way Rosie was acting Rarity could guess she genuinely found what they had done to Cozy Glow absolutely revolting. What was worse was Rosie could literally trot into the royal gardens at any point in her day and see her filly solidified in her stone prison...
"Wait!? Do you have any idea how long it took me to get here. I mean all of the direction's, all of the trotting it's taken me, and now you're not even going to hear me out!?" Rarity shouted desperately as her horn came to life with it's blue aura and she magicked the door's lock open from the other side of the wall.
"Wait what are you-!?" Rosie said in surprise and let out a gasp of shock as Rarity pulled the door open, which caused Rosie to come tumbling down on her steps in a tangled heap since she had apparently been up against the door like Rarity had suspected. Rosie's eyes were going wild as she tried to pull herself to her hooves from within her night gown, gaining a sense of calm back and feeling immediately bad over all of this, Rarity came forward to the white unicorn and was about to help her up but before she could try to give her a helping hoof she heard a large growl as Rosie's canine rushed forward out of the open doorway and slammed into her.
"Oaf*" Rarity grunted as the dogs momentum hit her in the chest and knocked the wind out of her. Rarity's vision went in a circle as she was shoved down the steps to the house and landed on her back; with her head colliding with the stone walkway from underneath her. Rarity heard a "thud*" as her skull bounced of off the side walk and before she knew it Rosie's large snarling canine was on top of her as it growled with it's fangs barred menacingly down at her. Rarity would have thought she was tuff enough after saving the world on multiple occasions to rip the dog off with a flurry of her magic or even to bat the mut away with her hooves but to her own shock all she did was freeze in terror and cower beneath the dog with scared eyes; just hoping to Celestia that she didn't anger the dog any further so it wouldn't bite into her savagely. "Good doggie, good doggie." Rarity whispered fearfully and to the dogs credit all it did was pin her down to the sidewalk with it's forelegs right around hers; cutting of any means of escape as it pinned her down.
"Sharlet!?" Rarity haphazardly heard Rosie shout as the white unicorn came to her rescue and tried to pry the large canine off. Unfortunately however the dog was intent on trapping it's enemy as it fought against Rosie's hooves so it could continue pining Rarity to the ground. Those teeth, Rarity thought as she envisioned the white incisors biting into her.
"Golly Sharlet get off of her!?" Rosie said grasping her dog around it's neck and inching it off of Rarity. But that wasn't what was startling Rarity now, no it was what Rosie had just said that was sending chills down her spine as she imagined Cozy saying the exact same word, Golly.
Eventually with enough tugging and pulling Rosie wrestled her mut away and quickly came to Rarity's side to make sure she wasn't to badly hurt. Rarity on the other hoof was still in shock from the ordeal that had just played out before her and although she was trying to regain control of herself, the blow to her head was making her all woozy as she stared up at Rosie's worried face from right above her, her head throbbing from the dogs attack. To her surprise Rarity glanced over slowly and saw Rosie's dog now sitting silently in the background by the now wide open doorway to the house.
"Um... you're not hurt are you?" Rarity heard Rosie whispered down to her. What happened next happened with Rarity just complying as Rosie pulled her up by her shoulders into a sitting position, with Rosie's hoof behind her back to keep her from falling backwards. By Princess Celestia's sunrise...
"I-I think I need to lay down." Rarity said putting a hoof to her head shakily, seeing this Rosie's worried look intensified down on the shocked unicorn before her. A moment later and letting out a quick sigh of frustration Rosie activated her horn, with it coming to life in a blue aura of magic a lot similar to Rarity's as she levitated the detective and her hat up into the air in a bubble of blue magic; then with careful care she trotted up to her canine and ushered the dog inside the doorway before bringing Rarity into her two story house.
The rest was a blur, what Rarity does recall however was Rosie shutting the front door to her house with a click* as she locked the door in place, while the large dog slyly walked over to an arm chair in the living room and hopped into it. Rarity watching all the while in silence as the dog circled a few times in the chair before settling down and getting comfy; it's head resting on one of the hoof rests as if it deserved it somehow after it had nearly sent her to the emergency room.
Rarity herself was taking everything all in slowly without much action at all, still feeling the effect's of her high adrenaline coursing through her body as her heart raced uncontrollably out of control. Turning her head slowly Rarity quickly found out that she had been gently placed on a large green sofa in the middle of a well orderly looking living room, with a nice looking window letting light pour into the room to illuminate it. It took a good second but she soon realized that she was laying down on her side with her backhooves touching one of the sofa's small pillows at the far armrest; with her back resting on the sofa's soft backrest. Turning her head again she also noticed a fireplace next to the door and a well organized bookshelf that was filled to the brim with novels.
Then to her shock she heard a sizzling sound and jolted slightly in her place on the couch but soon came to realize the sound was that of rushing water, probably coming from a faucet somewhere behind her in a kitchen or something. Realizing that she wasn't in any immediate danger Rarity pulled her hoof up to her face that was pressed against the sofa's soft cushions; where as she suspected she saw it trembling. I... I have to calm down...
After a minute of laying still and regaining a bit of her composure Rarity heard Rosie come back into the living room and with care she gingerly help move her into a sitting position on the sofa. After she was upright again Rosie sat down next to her and let Rarity lean on her, with her head now in a somewhat upwards position Rosie brought a cold icepack to land on Rarity's head, almost making Rarity yelp due to a sudden pain emanating from her skull. "My head-" Rarity whispered and was about to ask if there was a bump back there but before she could Rosie brought a small cup of tea floating up to Rarity's face in a blue aura of magic.
Despite the generosity she was being shown Rarity noticed Rosie's blue eyes watching her intently; but after a moment she soon realized that the unicorn's eyes were relaying only concern for her instead of mistrust. Seeing the change in Rosie's demeanor Rarity gratefully took the cup she was offered into her hooves and brought the glass up to her mouth before taking a comforting sip, letting the ice cold beverage drain down her throat; soothing her.
"Thank you darling." Rarity said as she brought the glass down to her lap in her hooves before turning her blue gaze on the mare currently sitting right next to her.
"You're welcome... and I know this may sound sudden after what just happened but... why didn't you just leave?" Rosie asked calmly with Rarity looking down at her tea in her hooves, deep in contemplation.
"I told my friend that I would help her and given the current bad luck lately I just... wanted to help-" Rarity said as she felt Rosie tense up on the couch beside her. "-even if that meant helping Cozy Glow."
"What? are you insane... all you and your friends ever did was throw her in Tartarus and turn her to stone." Rosie said, her voice turning cold, "What do you even mean by trying to help her. NOPONY EVER TRIED TO HELP HER!" Rosie shouted angerly with Rarity glancing up slowly to see Rosie's pain filled blue eyes that despite being concerned earlier were now filled with nothing more than malice and unbridled rage as they stared hatefully down at her. Between the way Rosie was shouting in Cozy's defense and the way she had said Cozy's infamous word earlier, Rarity was sure she had nailed down exactly who this Rosie character was. My word she probably just wants her filly back...
"What if I told you it didn't have to end that way darling." Rarity whispered with Rosie's hatred immediately vanishing as the mares face reared back in shock with her ears going down on her bedraggled head.
"W-what do you mean?" Rosie asked desperately as she immediately pulled her dangling back hooves up and got all the way up on the sofa before suddenly grabbing Rarity by the shoulders frantically. Yep as expected she's desperate to help her baby any way she can, Rarity thought deciding that now was as good a time as any to break Twilight's plan to Rosie.
"Princess Twilight is.... considering freeing her." Rarity answered with Rosie pulling her hooves up over her mouth as her eyes breamed with tears.
"...But I'm afraid It'll be a lot harder for that to happen without your help." Rarity said as Rosie's hooves dropped just enough for her to see the mare open her mouth, slightly gasping for air. Suddenly Rosie snapped out of her initial shock as she closed her eyes and nodded her head yes vigorously, "I'll do it. Whatever you want to know. sob* Please just... she's a good filly, she just needs some help."
Rarity listened to the mares pleas and suddenly started to doubt her own perception of the curly haired menace. Although that didn't stop her from blurting out, "I don't mean to sound too harsh darling, really I don't but... Cozy is far from anything good, in fact I dare say she's the worst pony I've ever had the unfortunate pleasure of meeting." Hearing this caused Rosie to go silent and looked away in sadness before slowly getting up from her position on the sofa; leaving Rarity leaning against the sofa's back rest alone. Then with her eyes towards the ground Rosie trotted over to the living room window with it's blue curtains draped to the side to let the afternoon sun shine through, illuminating Rosie's white coat and night gown in an array of reds and oranges.
Rosie simply stared out the window at the clouds beyond in silence until she whispered, "Well you didn't know the girl I did before she went to Twilight's school..."
(Three and a half Years Earlier)
Rosie trotted down the well orderly hallways of the Spector's mansion with the intent to tidy up a bit before she got the twins ready for their history lesson for the day. Ah how their history lessons seemed to get longer and more advanced as they got older. She longed for the day when all they needed was a warm bottle of milk and an afternoon nap... back when all they did was giggle at her.
Shaking the baby images away Rosie noticed two of the manor's silver clad guards trotting ahead of her in her direction, not wanting to halt their routine Rosie politely sidestepped to let the bulking ponies continue on their usual patrol, which they did as they passed by her without a single turn of their heads. Staying out of their way was something that Rosie had learned to do years ago before the girls were born, since the guards were always on patrol down the mansions corridors. They're good pawns though and I mean literally. they even have absurd looking pawn medals on their armor for crying out loud!?
With a slight shake of her head she continued trotting to her destination down the well decorated hallway, as she did so she glanced out of one of the many windows overlooking the city of Canterlot, with the sun high in the sky like this she could see all of the buildings and restaurants off in the distance. Close yet so far, Rosie thought wishing that the manor wouldn't seem so far away from the rest of the city. It always felt secluded here, like all of Equestria was a world away and this was the only way they could view it... from the windows.
It wasn't bad for her of course because she was free to go home after the twins were safely tucked into bed but the girls themselves... that was a different story entirely. As far as she could remember they had never even seen another child in their entire lives, well except for their books of course but those couldn't come over to play with them or get an invite to a tea party. In fact that was an event reserved for her it seemed like, as she recalled all the times the twins had insisted on her to come and sit in their tiny chairs while she drank from a cup the size of a shot glass with them. The little dresses they always put on for their tea parties were cute though, they seemed to have more outfits than they had hairs on their curly heads but what was the point if they never went out in those dresses? I mean they can't be sheltered forever, it's not healthy...
Rosie sighed under her breath and continued to the girls room but to her surprise she noticed a tiny set of light pink hooves hiding behind one of the window's large curtains. Seeing this brought a smile to her face as she instantly could tell that it was Cozy instead of Luster by the exact color of pink the hooves were. Well I guess she found something she could win at after all, Rosie thought as she recalled all the times Luster had shown her slightly younger little sister up with her impressive set of magical skills at her disposal.
Although as much as she wanted to leave her angel to play with her sister, Rosie knew that Mr. and Mrs. Spector wouldn't tolerate them missing one of their lessons over a simple game of hide and go seek. And so with no other alternative Rosie decided to intervein... but that didn't mean she couldn't be friendly about it. Rosie trotted slowly along so Cozy wouldn't suspect anything with how she was trotting, if she was lucky she could still surprise the young foal before taking her back to her room to get started at her schoolwork with her sister.
Rosie let a smile slip on her face as she crossed by the unsuspecting foal. As she did so she heard the tiniest of sighs behind the curtain before she grabbed the fabric with her magic and pulled it back instantly causing Cozy's eyes to go wide with shock as she gasped by the sudden reveal of her hiding place.
"Pick-a-boo." Rosie said with glee as she stood over the foal and rendered the curly haired filly speechless.
But to her shock Cozy wasn't alone behind the curtain, no instead Rosie's eyes fell on what the tiny little six year old was holding... a tiny upside down white teacup on a tiny white saucer. Rosie cocked an eyebrow, What in Celestia's name is she doing under there with tea, she wondered before an awful suspicion entered her mind about what exactly was hiding under that tea cup.
"Cozy what's under there?" Rosie asked curiously as the filly lowered her curly baby blue head down towards the ground.
"Oh well um... It's nothing." Cozy lied unimpressively with a tiny sheepish smile as Rosie immediately saw through the young girl's deception.
Rosie stared down at her with silent glee, realizing that she was absolutely terrible at fibbing. Well at least she isn't trying to lie to her parents, they'd have me whip her for sure, Rosie thought remembering the last time the twins had broken a vase in the mansion by accident and had been subjected to ten whips each for misbehaving. Although whipping children to discipline them wasn't an issue for Rosie, she just wished their parents would do it instead of ordering her to handle it instead...
"Sigh* Cozy Dizannah Glow, are you lying to me?" Rosie asked with a pout already knowing the answer before sitting down on her rear and crossing her hooves over her maid uniform, showing off how displeased she was at their broken trust with each other.
Seeing her nanny's displeasure Cozy averted her ruby eyes and looked around the area to keep from meeting Rosie's own suspicious gaze, "Well it's just It's really not that impo-"
"Cozy If you don't tell me the truth then I'm going to have to take that tea cup away from you." Rosie stated sternly, cutting the foal off and igniting her horn with a swirl of blue aura, all in a show of authority to her young charge.
Having nothing else she could do Cozy hung her head somberly in defeat with her ears back and whispered, "It's a cricket."
"A What!?" Rosie shouted before snapping her hooves over her mouth, realizing that the guards would come running if they knew something was wrong. Shoot I hope nopony heard that, Rosie thought before turning around to see two guards trotting down the hallway in their direction. Oh Golly why was I so loud, Rosie thought, knowing that it was her job to keep the mansion clean and the existence of an outside critter so close to the twins would be immediately blamed on her regardless of where it had come from.
"Is there a problem here?" one of the silver guards asked them with Rosie placing herself between Cozy and the two guards to hopefully hid the tea cup that Cozy was holding onto out of their line of sight.
"No it's nothing, just a silly joke little miss Cozy here just told me." Rosie lied with a forced smile, hoping that the two guards were dumb enough to buy the poorly concocted fib she'd just made on the spot.
"Aaaaaalllllright then, if you say so." one of the guards stated with a raised eyebrow but to Rosie's immediate relief the two hired soldiers took their leave of them and proceeded back to their original guarding positions a few rooms down the hallway.
"Whew." Rosie let out before turning her gaze back on the teacup holding filly, "Cozy why didn't you come get me immediately so I could deal with that... thing you've got."
Cozy looked away, an act Rosie knew all to well, which indicated to her that the filly was struggling with something. "You would've killed him." Cozy whispered, averting her eyes so she didn't have to see if Rosie was angry with her.
But why would she... Oh no, Rosie thought coming to the realization that the young foal at her hooves was actually trying to save the tiny creature's life. It almost made her want to say Awwww at how noble Cozy was being but the idea of sparing an invading critter was too much of a mental block for her to get past... especially since Cozy was right, she wanted to crush that little pest before it made a mess somewhere in the mansion and got her into trouble. Although the more she saw Cozy holding the tea cup so closely to her chest in order to protect it the more Rosie came to realize that there was no way in Tartarus she could knowingly pry that tea cup away from the filly and do what she so desperately wanted to do to the little insect.
"Sigh* Baby you know those things don't belong in here, right?" Rosie asked down to the filly as she pinched her brow in disdain. Hearing her Cozy snapped her tiny head up to meet Rosie's gaze, since she hadn't demanded the teacup to be hoofed over immediately, in fact if Rosie had to guess the filly was probably searching for a way to convince her to spare the creature's life... not that Cozy had to try that hard anymore. Curse my soft heart...
"Well Um... can't we just put him outside?" Cozy suggested and did the thing Rosie hated the most as Cozy looked up at her with sad yet hopeful eyes, probably preying that she would relent and agree with her idea. Oh Celestia only knew how much she wanted to say no and crush it, but of course once she started glancing into the fillies soft ruby red eyes she was immediately drained of any fight she had left to finish the creature off so it didn't somehow come back and make her life worse with her employers.
"Ugh* give him here, I'll do it." Rosie said going for the tea cup with her hooves, but to her surprise Cozy pulled the cup closer to her tiny pink chest and shielded it with her tiny wings; all in an effort to keep it out of Rosie's grasp.
"H-how do I know you will?" Cozy asked fearfully, dead set on saving the bug even if it got her into trouble.
"Well you can come with me if you want to, okay." Rosie said softly knowing that Cozy didn't do well under intense pressure and she was more likely to double down then relent if she was pushed to far. Although the filly hesitated Cozy finally withdrew her tiny pink wings from around the tea cup and released the saucer, with Rosie taking Cozy's prized possession far into the air above the foals head in a bubble of blue magic. You know I didn't sign up for this, Rosie thought as she floated the teacup into an open hoof and started leading the way to the mansion's front door with Cozy trailing closely behind her so they could both dispose of the six legged hopping monstrosity she was holding.
Coming to the mansion's staircase so they could head down to the first floor, Rosie did what she normally did as she picked Cozy up in a magical bubble for easier transport; with the foal floating on her back in the tiny blue encasement she was now in. She had tried letting the twins get down the stairs before obviously but they had always wound up exhausted by the climb down and then the climb back up again, so instead she had deduced that carrying them in her magic was the best alternative; well at least until they got a little older then she was letting them handle it themselves.
As usual Cozy let herself be lifted into the air without an argument as she was enveloped in Rosie's aura despite her progress with her flying. And oh the flying, Rosie had insisted on getting a Pegasus employed to teach the young foal the basics but alas it seemed her employers were stead fast in their pursuit to have no non-unicorns at the mansion... even if it was for their own daughter's sake, bucking monsters. Instead they had given her a few flight manuals to teach Cozy with instead, which helped of course but besides telling her what to do and learning how to preen a Pegasus's wings (Yeah never thought I'd need that skill in my life) Rosie could do little more than watch. What Cozy really needed was a real Pegasus around to show her the ropes, heck any Pegasus would do, Rosie herself had a few friends she could invite over if only the Spectors would allow it...
Rosie mentally sighed as she recalled the first time Cozy had seen a fully grown Pegasus's wings in her flight manuals, oh the look on the girls face as she sat there stunned beyond belief. It wasn't her fault though, as of yet she's never actually seen another Pegasus before. What was worse then that though was when she'd randomly caught Cozy desperately trying to levitate her bear emerald despite not actually having a horn of her own, now that was sad, she still remembered trying to explain that there wasn't something wrong with her and that she had just been born differently but... she knew it still bothered the foal immensely. She could only imagine Cozy's discomfort at her misfortune, she probably feels handicapped if Rosie had to guess, almost like she was blind and everypony else could see...
Rosie took another step but realized she was at the bottom of the stairs with her hoof not going down as far as she was intending. Golly I should pay more attention to what I'm doing, Rosie thought as she shook her head slightly at her carelessness and then turned to Cozy who was still swaying in her magical bubble up in the air. She let her filly down gently and dispersed the magic holding her in place; seeing her mobility return Cozy smiled brightly and trotted along as she followed Rosie toward the front exit to the mansion. However before they made it to the door Mr. Spector rounded a corner in his fancy looking black suit and after spotting them he came over to see what they were doing on the ground level instead of the second floor, where the twin's room was.
"Rosie shouldn't you be upstairs with the twins?" Mr. Spector asked as his red eyes briefly glanced at Cozy as she stood as strait as she could and put on her best smile for her father. Oh blast...
"Yes well you see sir I was umm... taking Cozy outside for some air." Rosie fibbed as she watched Mr. Spector lean slightly back and cock an eyebrow.
"Really? Whatever for?" Mr. Spector asked, probably confused at why Rosie hadn't just opened up a window or something for the small Pegasie.
Rosie had to think quick, but remembering Cozy's flight lessons gave her an idea, "Well I did some reading and it appears that Pegasie can't stay cooped up all the time inside otherwise they'll get all antsy and start trotting in place, so instead I thought it was a good idea to take Cozy outside the front door, but um just to the front of course so she could stretch her wings a little bit before I started teaching her..." Rosie stated and mentally crossed her hooves for the okay from her boss, but to her misfortune Mr. Spector didn't seem at all convinced by her lie as his gaze turned to what Rosie was holding.
"And what's under there exactly?" Mr. Spector calmly asked as he indicated the upside down tea cup and as if on cue the cricket made it's well known chirping noise "Cricket*", causing Mr. Spector's eyes to widen slightly in surprise. Darn she could have said it was dirty or something if he hadn't noticed, but now...
"I-It's an insect my lord." Rosie said lowering her head slightly as Mr. Spector's gaze hardened with a swift understanding of the situation before him, "But If I could just toss it out-"
"Nonsense I'll handle this, give it here." Mr. Spector stated sternly as his horn suddenly blazed with red magic and he took the tea cup out of Rosie's hoof without warning. Then without another word he turned away from them with the tiny bug being held hostage as he started trotting away towards the rest room.
"N-" Cozy almost screamed but anticipating the filly's distress Rosie activated her own horn and quickly shut the girls mouth with a makeshift muzzle of blue magic. Seeing the creature in peril Cozy started to rush forward after her father but anticipating this Rosie grabbed Cozy around her waist and pulled the filly to her own chest as Mr. Spector disappeared through the bathroom door. Cozy struggled but Rosie held her firm, intent on not letting Cozy get into trouble so she wouldn't have to add an insult to injury and spank her.
What happened next definitely didn't help the poor filly for as Rosie had suspected they soon heard the sound of a flushing toilet; signifying the end of the poor creature's life as it was swept away to slowly drown to death.
Rosie didn't much care for the critter but glancing down at the crying filly suddenly clinging to her chest in despair was definitely breaking her heart. Not wanting Mr. Spector to see Cozy's sadness over the now deceased bug Rosie dissipated the makeshift muzzle on Cozy's mouth and withdrew a handkerchief from her maid uniform before quickly wiping the tiny girls eyes clean. Once she was done Cozy had a destroyed look of silent anguish on her face with red circles around her eyes from where she had been crying.
But whether Mr. Spector really didn't notice or didn't care he soon reemerged with the tea cup sitting firmly upwards on the tiny saucer as he trotted back over to them.
"Here, and don't be to long outside, Luster still needs another magic lesson before bed." Mr. Spector stated dismissively as he hoofed over the empty tea cup to Rosie and trotted past them up the winding staircase; not even acknowledging Cozy's existence...
(Present Day)
Well that went well, Curly thought with a smirk as she trotted up her mansion's stone walkway with her two silver guards following behind her. At least it was nice out, the summer day was winding down and the warm air outside had cooled considerably; though that didn't matter much to curly. She didn't much care for outdoor experiences and right now the only thing she was concerned with was to inform her husband of how her trip to see their newest Princess had went.
And oh what a success indeed, Curly had expected her appearance would cause some sort misgivings to Princess Twilight, since that little pest with wings had kept curling her hair long after they'd gotten rid of her, but thankfully Twilight hadn't pushed the issue otherwise she might have had to try an alternative course of action to set their plan into motion. She'd even overlooked my cutie mark, didn't she know the Queen piece was the most dangerous piece in the entire game? Well if today's any indication she'll never figure that out until it's too late...
Well it doesn't matter anymore anyway I got what I wanted, Curly thought to herself as she climbed the stone steps to the mansion's front door and as with the usual routine they had their maid Brisenya opened the front door for her. The light tan mare they had employed had silver hair that was pinned back in a pony tail and she also had her maid outfit firmly in place without a single lace out of place; Curly especially liked her little black slippers since she could hear the maid's hoofsteps whenever she was trotting throughout the mansion. Though Curly had debated for some time on adding a few more bows to the mare's attire for a little bit of extra cuteness...
"Oh greetings mistress, was you're trip productive?" Brisenya asked politely, probably wondering why she'd gone out at all since she rarely went to public events, let alone a simple stroll through the city of Canterlot. Oh if only she knew...
"Fairly but believe me I don't intend on making it an average part of my day." Curly said sweetly, not that she had to keep up her charade with the petite mare before her, since the maid had seen first hoof how displeased she could get when she was angry. Exiting the outside world Curly stepped into the mansion and took in a deep inhale of the lavender smell coming from inside. Home at last, Curly thought with satisfaction before turning to her guard escourt that was entering in behind her.
"You two are dismissed, go back to where you were and return to you're duties." Curly commanded dismissively with a wave of her hoof and watched the two silver plated guards following her leave her company and trot back to their respective guard positions inside the mansion. Loyal pawns indeed...
"Where's my husband?" Curly asked turning back to the maid, who was just getting done closing the front door.
"He's in his study my lady." Brisenya answered before politely bowing her head to leave. Yes that was probably wise, who knew what her little filly Luster could be getting up to without Brisenya there to watch her. Especially since she had just ungrounded her little princess earlier this morning since her punishment for misbehaving was up. You know she really wasn't lying to Twilight when she said Luster was having a few bad days...
Huffing at her daughters lack of reason and this uncouth rebellious faze she was in Curly ascended the manor's tall winding staircase, going all the way up to the top floor where the study was located. It wasn't hard to get to it either since the study was the largest part of the entire mansion, with it's rows upon rows of books and scrolls that would even give the Canterlot library a run for it's money. The Study itself was dome shaped with a second story to house more bookshelves and a large circular window at the very top to view the stars with, other than that it had several smaller windows scattered around it for an added open appeal. Not that anypony could see them since the smaller windows were facing their back yard, which itself was a small garden with a variety of well trimmed shrubs and tiny statues; though nopony had ever really seen it other than their family members and their hired staff.
So many books... how does he read them all, Curly thought to herself since she had never really indulged the small library like her husband did, oh don't get her wrong she loved learning more about the wonders of magic so she could make herself more powerful but what was the point in a transfiguration spell when you could literally afford anything you ever wanted? Now her husband on the other hoof he was something else, Curly had never seen a pony read so much in all her life until she'd met Skyshown and oh how he loved collecting every last bit of ancient knowledge, something Curly thought he actually enjoyed more than anything else he'd ever been invested in before...
Coming to the study's doors Curly magicked them open with a quick grab of her golden magic. Once the doors squeaked open Curly saw what she'd expected to find as her husband was sitting in his favorite reading chair on the far side of the giant makeshift library. Squinting she could see that his magic was aglow as well since he often created orbs of red magical lights to help him read, not that he had to try that hard since the study was well lit to the point of almost being blindingly eye hurting, and there was also a fire going right in front of him in their far back fireplace. But still Curly could just make out the slowly moving spheres of light that were dancing around his dark purple mane, like a bunch of fireflies caught in a jar.
Not wanting to wait to gloat over her success with Twilight, Curly trotted through the library and went to the only other chair around her husband; something he'd placed there for her convenience since she routinely would find him in here reading away and would want to join him. The chair he'd gotten her was a crimson red one that reminded her of his eyes, his on the other hoof was a dark blue; creating somewhat of a balance of color between them with a small coffee table perched between the two throne-like chairs to house their reading material. But instead of harboring any literature it now housed a set of wine glasses and a bottle of red wine for them to consume, he'd probably gotten Brisenya to get that for them from their wine cellar. Glancing around Curly noted the late afternoon sky in the background through the windows, signaling to her anyway an end to her productively long day. Realizing this was the perfect time for some victory wine Curly trotted up to her seat with her husband glancing over at her before suddenly grinning at her arrival.
"Nice to see you to dear." Curly said cheerfully before hopping into her armchair and crossing her back hooves over one of the hoof rests, while she leaned her side on the back of the seat instead of sitting in it properly.
"Salutations dear, so... how did your afternoon stroll go?" Skyshown Spector asked as he read one of his many spellbooks.
"Ugh* you wouldn't believe what I had to do to get the Princess to like me. First I had to hold this baby dragon that was following her around all day, who might I add was way to overweight for me to hold, then I had to convince the Princess to believe that I wasn't Cozy's mother, oh and get this I even had to eat a doughnut, I mean a real disgustingly fatty doughnut instead of all of the nice simple meals they serve at all of the regular diners in Canterlot. Ugh* the mere thought of eating that thing is even making me wossie..." Curly said grabbing her sides in a tight embrace to keep herself from hurling, "Gah* I haven't felt this sick since I was pregnant."
"Oh don't be so overly dramatic, you should be fine dear." Skyshown said not paying her much attention. Which was getting on her nerves, tilting her head Curly read the title of what he was reading, it was in Old Ponish of course so that gave her a good hint that it was ancient arkaic magic related. Hmm... Histories of Grogar's monsters....
"Let me guess you're reading about that Mimic Twilight's hunting?" Curly asked wanting to break his intense reading, which it did as he held the book away from his face and locked his ruby eyes on her.
"As a matter of fact I am. It's quite fascinating really, I had no idea there was a creature that was able to suck the magic out of the living beings around it." Skyshown answered and was that admiration she was picking up from him?
"Well I would be more interested if it wasn't an exact copy of Cozy. I mean how many children do I have now? Three? Four? Ugh* if Luster ever clones herself just bring me the one that'll listen to me and you can keep the rest." Curly jested with an eyeroll, causing her husband to chuckle with glee.
"Ha* as tempting as that is it's got me thinking, if Cozy split herself in half and the aggressive half was turned to stone then wouldn't the other half be kinder? Docile even?" Skyshown stated with a mischievous smirk and a raised eyebrow. Hearing this got Curly to envision the clone with all it's power and all it's potential just out there somewhere, ripe for the taking. Hmm... would she be a rook or a knight? Ugh no what am I thinking she'd be way to much trouble to find. Better just to leave her to Twilight....
"It can't be that powerful, I mean how can it even use any of that magic that it's collected? Wouldn't it need a horn for that or something?" Curly asked, doubting the usefulness of the knockoff doppelganger that was the Mimic Cozy Glow.
"Well if this ancient text is correct then any Mimic can use their magic, it just depends on whether or not they really want to bring it out. Hmm... even so let's assume the worst and say it can't really use any of it's power just yet, I'm almost absolutely certain that with enough time and effort I can figure out how to unlock it but only if I had access to the creature." Skyshown answered and showed off a picture in his book to her of a treasure chest with sharp fangs protruding from it's insides.
"And what about how it drains magic?" Curly asked raising an eyebrow, "I mean I don't know about you dear but I actually like my magic and just so we're absolutely clear with each other come Tartarus or high water I'm keeping it."
"Well true I don't exactly have a way to counteract that dilemma, but I'm thinking that the creature needs to have some kind of a magical property to help it with it's consumption, If I'm right a well placed suppression ring may actually cut the creature off entirely; rendering it harmless." Skyshown explained as he elaborated on the creature. However it didn't much matter to Curly, sure Luster's magical power was finite and the Mimic could just keep draining away to horde as much as it wanted but she still had a large doubt in the back of her head that they could actually control the little beast.
"Look dearest I know what you're thinking and No, we already have Luster, we don't need a crazed power absorbing Cozy Glow instead." Curly stated in Luster's defense, true their filly hadn't been as obedient as she'd used to be but she was still set up to meet with Princess Twilight, any deviations to the plan now could put all of their work in jeopardy. Which reminded her...
"Ugh, Speaking of Cozy why couldn't those rioters have just aimed a little higher and lobbed her head off. Then I wouldn't have to worry about her getting in the way and almost ruining any of our plans anymore; I could just bury this whole ordeal and be done with it." Curly stated, envisioning a boulder crashing through the villain's statue and rendering it nothing more than a mound of gravel. Oh the stress release...
"Be that as it may, if you didn't have any success with Princess Twilight it may be time to look for another way to get into the Princess's inner circle, this creature Cozy created for example could be quite useful if we can get it under control." Skyshown proposed, opting to switch their current chess piece for another more obedient one. Not likely, Curly thought; call it motherly love or even disdain for a clone of Cozy Glow but Curly still thought Luster was the far better choice here... all they had to do was rein her in.
"Hmp* I'd not get too ahead of myself if I were you dear, I've already gotten Princess Twilight to agree to meet with Luster; so sorry but I'd take a rain check on that Mimic of yours." Curly boasted gleefully as she celebrated her victory over getting their daughter some one on one time with Equestria's princess. All the while watching her husband as he absorbed all of the new information without even a flicker of his eyes to give off anything Curly could read.
"And she didn't find out who you were?" Skyshown asked opening back up his ancient book and nonchalantly flipping it to the next page. Stupid book...
"Oh I think she suspected at first but a little helpful push here and there and she was basically following me around Canterlot like she was my newest little puppy, leash and all." Curly explained with a playful pout before leaning back in her armchair and quickly pulling one of the two wine glass off of the coffee table with her magic, sending it up into the air above her head; once above her she started twirling it around in a swirling dance of golden magic for her amusement. You know I think Twilight would fit a cute little doggy collar quite nicely once this is all over, lets see maybe baby blue? No Pink definitely pink, It'll go great with that streak in her hair...
"And was this push you're referring too thanks to the riot you orcastrated or the Mimic I told you about?" Skyshown asked referring to the riot over the statue that Curly had started and the Mimic story he'd gotten from one of the Palace guards who'd overheard Twilight's conversation with the former Princess Luna. If Curly had to guess he was probably wondering if she was trying to steal some of his credit for her success. Poor him, Curly really hadn't done that much to be honest and what she did do she'd done to gauge Twilight's reaction so she could better outwit her more easily. Hmm I guess I found a use for Cozy after all...
"Oh definitely the riot and although I'd like to take full credit for it all I really did was pay a few ponies to spread the word around and start some rabble, everything else was Canterlot's finest doing what they do best... running around like chickens with their heads cut off." Curly answered with a wide smile and drew her hoof over her neck to demonstrate their headlessness, then she picked up the wine bottle off of the table with her magic and poured herself some red wine into her floating glass above her head.
"Well you should have at least-" Skyshown started to say but stopped as they both heard the doorway to their study open. Sighing at the rude interruption Curly leaned back over the side of her armchair and saw their maid Brisenya trotting into the study frantically. Glancing back at her husband Curly saw him move to get up and deal with their interruption but before he could Curly decided to see about it herself instead...
"Don't worry I'll deal with it." Curly stated, stopping him in his tracks from getting up and setting her glass of wine and the wine bottle back on the coffee table. Curly then hopped out of her seat and approached Brisenya, with both of them meeting in the middle of the large room.
"Yes, what is it?" Curly asked unamused by the sudden interruption over her victory with playing Twilight Sparkle like a fiddle.
Hearing her annoyed tone Brisenya rubbed her hoof with one of her black slippers and lowered her head slightly in fear, "Well it's Luster My Lady, she's well... she's gone. I think she broke out again."
"What!?" Curly shouted with her voice echoing in the large room, causing Brisenya to take a step back away from her. Curly closed her eyes and took in a deep breath, while also pinching her brow in distress. This was bad, if Luster started trouble it could ruin everything she'd just done with buttering up Princess Twilight. Why can't that girl just stop, Curly thought knowing how emotional Luster had gotten over hearing about what had happened to Cozy. Stupid Foal's going to get thrown in Tartarus if she keeps this up...
Collecting herself Curly stared her maid down with a newfound anger, "You had one primary job you fool. All you had to do was watch one child, One! What? was that to much for you?"
Brisenya started to slightly tremble in fear by Curly's sudden rage, "Well It's just Luster seemed so calm and docile when I left her... I-I didn't think leaving a guard with her was-"
"Oh do you hear that Dear? She thinks, couldn't you tell." Curly said sarcastically back to her husband who was watching the whole ordeal play out from his seat with a blank pokerface.
"Well I mean she-she can levitate herself ma'am. I... how am I supposed to stop her from getting out, superglue the windows shut?" The maid pleaded defensively.
Curly turned back to the mare with her ears back and grit her teeth in anger, "I want you to take ten guards and head out into the streets of Canterlot until you find her, and let me make myself perfectly clear, don't bother coming back until you have my filly, understood!" Brisenya nodded feebly before hurriedly turning around and started heading back out of the Mansion's study to do as she was told and look for Luster. Ugh* why couldn't Brisenya be more like Rosie, that mare could do it right, she never lost Luster; it was almost tempting for her to call the former maid up to see if they could somehow work something out to get her to come back to the mansion... but of course Curly knew better; there was no way Rosie would come back after they'd gotten rid of that blue haired little pest, she was always way too attached to her...
"Hmph*" Curly huffed as she trotted back to her seat and hopped back into it the same way she did the first time with her legs perched up on an armrest and her side leaning into the chairs back; her tail also branched out in curls as it haphazardly leaning over the side of her chair to dangle over the edge. Soon afterwards she heard the study's doors close behind her as their maid departed to round up some of their silver plated guards and head out into the city of Canterlot to find their little lost princess.
"Ugh* as you were saying." Curly said picking back up her wine glass and taking a small sip to calm her nerves, the sweet taste didn't go unpunished since as she expected it sent her cheeks into a warm glow as she blushed uncontrollably. That usually happened when she had something she desperately wanted in her mouth, Curly guessed it was genetic or something since her own mother had the same problem. After her tastebuds were satisfied and her cheeks cooled she let the glass float in midair until she required it again.
"Well I was saying, you should have sent somepony else to meet with Princess Twilight; for all we know she may still have doubts about you." Skyshown stated cautiously before activating his red magic and picking up his own wine glass to float in the air as he placed it beneath the bottle Curly still had suspended up above her; clearly wanting her to pour him some.
"Oh please who would I have sent? The maid, or no even better I could have sent that assassin of yours to chat with her instead, now that I would've liked to see." Curly answered as she poured her husband a good serving of red wine, while also thinking of the silent serial killer they had staying in their mansion in case they ever had to send her to... take care of somepony. Although they'd never actually used her skills in Canterlot before, now that the royal sisters had retired and that tramp of a princess had taken over they might just go ahead and end a few obstacles in their way, she guessed she'd just have to wait and see...
"No, I don't think Whisper would have preferred that, she's never been one for a conversation but I could still have gotten somepony else to go instead of you." Skyshown stated before bringing his own glass up to his lips so he could drink some wine with her.
Awww he's being so protective, Curly thought with a grin, but little did her partner know just how much of a success her late afternoon stroll had actually been, "Oh don't be like that sweetheart, I can handle myself. Heck I even got our dearest Princess to agree to your meeting tomorrow."
To her immediate glee that seemed to do it as Skyshown closed his book shut and put it away on the coffee table, then he put his full attention on her; just the way she liked it, "Really? Well congratulations, I was wondering if I'd have to go and convince her to do that myself tomorrow."
"Don't mention it and as far as getting somepony else involved to do the sweet talking, let me just give you a little piece of advice... you should never send a pawn to do a Queen's job."
