As I began to read the latest letter from my sister dear, Lulu, I smiled.
Tia!
Okay, maybe you were right when you said I was overreacting. I had some time to think, and perhaps I wasn't as perfect as I thought I was when it came to diplomacy. I suppose that's why you were the one that had stayed behind whilst I lead the armies.
Anyways, that spell you sent worked wonders with the twins! I really should look for more modern spells when I get back. Your "How to rule" sessions you keep giving me
hathhas left me very little time to... adapt for lack of a better word.After all, just because I'm asleep while I'm dream walking doesn't mean it lets my mind rest. And yes, I know you always say to get plenty of sleep, don't worry, I make sure to get at least four hours of sleep a night.
Anyways, I really must be going, the chariot from Canterlot has just arrived. The pegasi are taking a well-deserved break as we switch them out. Actually, I'm curious why they aren't wasn't in Baltimare already. It seems prudent a city such as Baltimare should have some kind of carrier service for just an occasion. No mind, we can discuss that upon our arrival.
We shall see you within a few hours.
With love, Luna
Knock Knock
"Come in," I called aloud.
As the gold plated, oversize doors opened, a lavender mare came in. She looked around, admiring my study, which wasn't oversize like much of the castle rooms. A desk to the left, a fireplace to the right surrounded those giant comfy bean bags complete with a soft rug and a viewing balcony.
From the desk, I waited for Twilight to speak.
"Celestia, I've been looking all over for you!"
"Apologies, I rescheduled recently, so I was elsewhere. Mostly here though. Though, I must ask why you here. Shouldn't you be at ponyville?"
"Oh, I wanted to come early a day to make sure everything s ready for when Luna and the others arrive. And yes, I made sure to say goodbye to my friends before I left."
"No matter, they're arriving in a few hours."
...
...
...
"Twilight, if you burn my study on top of my tea room, I'm cutting you off of your research pension for an entire month. Though, you do have permission to hyperventilate your self unconscious."
Twilight's loud gasp of air probably scared away a few birds on the balcony before my magic shut her mouth.
"Not literally," I deadpanned.
She blinked as I poured her some hot tea and passed it over while releasing my hold upon her mouth. She hastily got it and began chugging it. It was emptied with a few gulps and slammed back down onto my desk as she took one last audible breath.
"You said that they would arrive tomorrow," she half-sternly replied, unable to fully muster a glare.
"I did," I matter-of-factly said.
"B-but they're arriving in a few hours!" she yelled.
"That they are," I sipped my tea, then began staring at Twilight again.
"B-but!" she sputtered, trying to think, "you lied!"
I nodded, "Ahuh..."
"But why!"
Twilight was starting to hyperventilate again, but I made sure to put a hoof on her chest, "Twilight breathe."
She did as instructed as I waited before continuing, "Twilight, as a princess, you will find unexpected things will happen. You cannot expect everything to happen on schedule. Thing out of your control will happen. Think of this as... a test. You must remain calm."
"But why now? Princes- Celestia, this is important. What if something went wrong? What if I came late or-or what if-"
"Twilight, trust me, even if you came late, it would hardly be a problem."
Twilight hung her head as she realized she was overthinking again. I got off my comfy chair and began towards her and dropped a wing around her, "Everything is fine Twilight, now come, we have to get ready for their arrival-"
I stopped and back away from Twilight with a wing over my nose as I smelt the sweat, "Annd you are getting a bath, you are coming with me."
I levitated my young peer as I began out to the hallway walking upon the marble flooring. Of course, Twilight resited, but it was futile,
"What?! No, let me goooo! I'm fine; all I did was fly all the way here from ponyville!" she whined.
"You know, it's been years since Cadence and I bathed you. I believe the last time was when you were still a filly."
"What! I'm a mare now!"
"Twilight, you're an alicorn now, and you have the rest of your life to spend with Cadence, Luna, and I. You better get used to it and quickly, at least before Luna tries to start a prank war."
She groaned and still tried to break free, but she began to struggle tenfold after my next comment, "You know, Cadence arrived earlier this morning from the crystal empire, mayhaps we should go get her too? Wouldn't it be fun to see your sister-in-law and former foal sitter?"
POV: Star
...
...
...
"Luna, answer me this, is Canterlot a big-giant-castle-city-half-hazardly-slammed-on-a-mountain-whilst-hanging-over-where-it-could-fall-and-do-major-harm-to-the-small-village-below-it??"
"Ye- wait, what?"
Luna was in the middle of a conversation with Eclipse.
"Luna, please tell me I'm the only one seeing a city built in a potentially dangerous position?"
"Nope, I see it too," added Mark.
My brother's gaze meant with mine as we spook meaning through our eyes before we turned to Luna, "Luna, tell me that we're both just seeing it."
Luna looked down onto us before replying, "You know, I asked Tia the same thing. The answer I got was magic."
I looked at Mark, "I'm taking that as written permission to panic."
"As am I."
"I-" Luna tried to say before she switched to a different line of questioning, "pardon-?"
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-"
Luna had used a bubble of silence to prevent the pegasi flying us from going deaf and then took ten minutes assuring us that everything was fine and the magic involved was maintained, highly classified, and kept safe. The actual intricacies were kept secured, contained, and protected all within her and her sister's head.
It took another remaining fifteen minutes of questioning until my brother and I were satisfied with just the entire 'city-on-the-side-of-a-mountain-thing.'
After those fifteen minutes, the chariot had begun making its final approach into a hanger bay built into the side of the mountain under the castle. While that alone had some questions, I just threw them into the ask-it-later pile.
Luna had shown us to a temporary room when we had landed while she went to find her sister. Mark and I, unfortunately, didn't get time to tour the castle. So we sat at the table conveniently placed where we sat. Of course, Mark planted the table with his face.
"She left us," I stated aloud.
"alone," Mark added.
"with nothing to do," I finished.
While Mark wallowed in his boredom, I looked around the room once more. I saw the same thing when we arrived. Upon entering, to the right is a large bathroom, while ahead is the bedroom. Even further on, nearly the entire wall was a window. To the right of that window was another massive bed, and a table to the left side. It was that table in which Mark and I sat.
I turned my head to look at the window right behind me and began to look out across the land. 'I'll admit, it's nice... but I'd still give it all up to go home...'
"Hey, Mark," I called.
"Hmm?" he half-heartedly groaned back.
"If we could go back home, would you go?"
I heard him lift his head from the indefinite head plant he placed himself into. I continued to look out the view, watching the clouds pass.
"Well, I did tell you I would always stay with you. So what would you do?"
...
"If... if I had to choose, then, of course, I would want to go back..." I paused in a moment of silence as new thoughts entered my mind, "but... we have unfinished business, don't we?"
"I suppose we do," Mark answered back, as I heard him slump back on the tablet.
...
'The lands here are quite beautiful, aren't they...?'
Knock Knock
The new sounds caused me to look back. The bathroom kept the door out of view, but I still called out, "Come in!"
The door opened as Eclipse came around the corner, "Oh, here you two are! Ever since I spoke with Luna, I had a hard time tracing my way back here."
"Hey, Eclipse, whatcha doing here?"
"What? I can't visit my friends?"
I giggled just a tiny bit as Eclipse came forward, still smiling, "Well, of course, you can, but why would you visit us? Don't you have other places you'd rather be?"
"True..." she held a hoof to her chin with a toothy smile, "buuut, ever since I've been reassigned to you, I thought I might as well get to know you. After all, I'll be with you a lot for the foreseeable future."
I rolled my eyes as Mark just listened in.
"Actually, since you here, tell me you have something to do. Luna left us here with nothing to do."
With a smirk, Eclipse flicked her mane, and out came a deck of cards, 'Which she total grabbed mid-air before it fell to the ground.'
"Mark, you in?" I asked.
"Suure," he lazily slurred.
I got the pack of cards Eclipse had and dropped it on Mark's head, "Stop lazing around."
"But I'm soooo bored," he whined.
"Then play a game with us," I retorted, "yeesh, it not that hard to do, is it?"
As I opened the pack of cards, Eclipse came in and sat down at the table with us, "So, what are we playing?"
"Well, actually, I remember an old game we could try," Mark said.
Eclipse seems interested while I was deep in thought, vaguely remembering something like that.
"In short," he said, "it's a game where two players got a stack of cards faces down. Both players would draw a card, and the card with the higher rank would take both cards and add them to the bottom of their stack. The winner is the player that gets all the cards."
"And if the drawn cards are the same rank?" I questioned.
"Then it's war," he shrugged, "the players would draw three cards each and combine it all. Highest total takes all. But, as I said, this was a two-player game, so we'll probably have to improvise as we go."
"Perhaps..." I turned to Eclipse, "What do ya think?"
"Well, I think it's worth a try."
"Great!" I cheered, "now, let's iron out some of the mechanics..."
An Hour Later
"Eight..."
"Eight as well,"
"King." lazily called Eclipse.
"And that game goes to... ugh, Eclipse... again. Four times in a row... Like that time in blackjack..." Mark groaned as he recounted the past games with Eclipse.
"This is ridiculous," I called to no one tossing my cards on the table and pouting.
"Agreed," Mark nodded.
Knock Knock
"Come in!" called an overly happy Eclipse.
I expected Luna to be the one coming in, but instead, it was one of those plain white guards.
"Princess Celestia sends a summons for you."
"Well, it's about time..." Mark replied, dropping the cards he had all over the table.
Mark, Eclipse, and I were led out to another door, different from many other hallways and doorways. For one, we had to go up a ton, and when I say a ton, I mean tons of stairs. I wouldn't be surprised if this were one of the two towers that I saw raised above the castle.
And then, once we finally reached the top, it was a sizeable gold-trimmed door with two guards wielding giant halberds that loomed over us. The guard leading us knocked, and after peaking his head in to speak with whoever was inside, he backed out a moment later.
The door opened as he backed out the way for us. Eclipse was the first to move. I soon followed after. Inside the room, I noticed four ponies. Three of them quite tall but still varying, and one was just the average size of an adult. Eclipse was in the way, so it took a moment to get a better view.
Once she stopped, I moved passed Eclipse to see blue. 'Yes, saw blue.'
Luna and come done and scooped Mark and me into a hug. It was... awkward, to say the least.
"Heh heh," I said a bit nervously, "heey Luna."
Luna finally backed off after a few moments, "Ah, Star, Mark, allow me to introduce you to my sister, Princess Celestia, my niece, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, and Princess Twilight Sparkle."
Luna pointed each one of them out. Princess Celestia, I had to crane my neck up to see her face to face, Mi Amore Cadenza I only had to crane my neck to see mildly, and Twilight Sparkle was for all intense and purposes, normal.
My first thought of Celestia was she was the very image of the sun. Comparing her with Luna, they're almost like yin and yang. Mi Amore brought the word love to mind. Twilight Sparkle... Well, she was normal... Except she was an alicorn.
"It's so good to meet you both finally," Celestia said benevolently.
I tilted my head down a few degrees in acknowledgment, "Pleasure is ours, Princess-"
"Please," Celestia cut off, "call me Celestia. I'm sure everypony here would like to get to know you beyond titles and names."
I wasn't expecting that right off the bat, but I suppose the situation is unusual from what I have gathered. I nodded to her and turned to the next pony, Mi Amore Cadenza, who was standing just as gracefully as Celestia.
"And please, call me Cadence," she pointed to herself.
"Of course, Cadence," I nodded.
"And this is my sister-in-law, Twilight," she said, pulling in the lavender pony.
Twilight just smiled nervously with a small wave.
I nodded once more and smiled, "It's nice to meet you all."
"As it is us to meet you, but before we begin, how would you three like some lunch? I imagine, after a long flight, you would be hungry."
"I appreciate the offer, but I already ate when we arrived," Eclipse spook.
"I see, and you two?"
I looked at Mark, who shrugged his answer to my unsaid question. I turned back to Celestia, "Lunch sounds lovely right now."
"Great, then we can head to the dining room."
'Great, we have to go all the way down and back...'
Five Minutes Later
The walk to the dining room was done in relative silence. It was as awkward as you think. Nothing but silence all the way there. When we did reach the dining room, Celestia had led my brother and me to a seat. The table wasn't one of those giant rectangular tables. With how the castle decore was, I was expecting it to be grander.
In all, the table was rectangular but can fit maybe ten people—four on each of the long sides, one on the thin side, though there weren't any chairs at the narrow sides, so just eight people.
Mark and I sat at the edge of the tablet, opposite of the princesses. Eclipse had to go elsewhere, so it was just Mark and me against the four princesses. Some maids had some and taken our orders already, so now we were all waiting in silence. That was until Celestia broke the silence.
"So, I don't think we quite finished our introductions in full. I'm princesses Celestia, ruler of Equestria, along with my sister, Princess Luna."
It was Cadence who spooks next, "And I'm Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, of course just call me Cadence. Celestia and Luna are my aunts, and I rule the crystal empire to the north."
And last of all, "I'm Twilight Sparkle, I'm new to being a princess..."
Cadence wrap a wing around Twilight after that rather meek response, "Oh Twilight, don't sell yourself short; I'm sure you'll do great."
Once the Princesses were done with the more formal introductions, I reciprocated in kind.
"I'm Starla Tempus, " I pointed to Mark, "and this is my brother, Mark Tempus."
Mark did a small nod when I pointed to him, ' Least he's not planting his face in the table,' I thought.
I suppose the princesses were expecting more, but telling more would be... too telling. Besides, they probably already have some information from Mythic's letter.
...
The silence continued until Celestia cleared her throat, "I see. I'll be blatant here; we were hoping to discuss some topics that you may not be comfortable with."
' Strait to the point, eh?' I thought with a small frown. Mark had a similar expression, but he was a little more withdrawn from the conversation.
"I, see..." I hesitated to speak but eventually spook the rest of my mind, "however, there are some things... we'd rather not devel into."
"That is understandable, but please know that from what Luna has said, somethings we'll have to know whether you like it or not," she spoke gently.
'Was that a threat...? Or was she truly... hmm...' My thoughts slowly stopped and came together once more as I took in the situation. I simply nodded, not speaking further allowing them to continue.
"Okay, but first, Mark, I notice you haven't spoken much at all, is something wrong?"
"Well, sometimes I prefer just to let Star do all the talking," he said thoughtfully.
"Mark... Isn't much of a social person," I answered.
"I see, then I'm sorry, but the most pressing question is for you, Mark," Celestia replied, pulling out a folder, "back during the events of the pirate take over, several guards reported of you throwing an object towards the pirate ship. A minute later, the ship violently exploded, killing the pirates but ultimately saving the guards and the rest of the crew."
Celestia looked up to Mark, who's head had begun to hang halfway through. I wrapped a wing around him in a hug. Oddly, my wing began to itch, and I was quite irritated, but I tried my best to ignore it. Once Celestia was sure Mark was still listening, she continued.
"Reportedly from one of the guards sent to guard you while Lieutenant Eclipse leads the assault and retake of the ship, for the duration of the assault on the pirates you were deep in spell work before you... erm," Celestia had stopped for a moment before she cleared her throat before continuing, "excuse me, ahem, before you teleported to the ship in which the battle was most prevalent before tossing the object."
Once Celestia was done, she looked up to Mark, "Is there anything wrong so far?"
After Mark shook his head, Celestia continued, "Okay then, the question is, where did you learn such magic, and how did you do it."
Mark stayed silent as I rubbed his back with a wing. The question itself was understandable, but what it did was the problem. Mark had killed. Human, pirate, or not, they were sapient. I knew that this would be something on his mind for a long time whether or not I could help him.
"Mark, please-"
"I think he just needs a moment to come to terms with it, " I cut Celestia off harshly.
Celestia didn't say anything for a moment as she thought about what I said before understanding, "I-... I'm sorry I was... insensitive..."
Mark took his time before he brought his head back up with one final breath, "It's fine.."
"The spell was a runic array I used," as he spoke, Twilight Sparkle, who had been silently listening, began to write notes, "I didn't learn it. Well, not it particularly. The spell array first created a strong barrier, and it was within the barrier that most of the intricacies were. It required water, and being at sea made it all the easier to get. First, It took the water and separated the particles into its most basic components, hydrogen and oxygen."
I turned from Mark to the princesses for a moment. Celestia and Luna were both watching us with wrapped attention. Cadence was looking sympathetically to Mark, and Twilight looked lost in her notes. My curiosity satisfied, I turned back to Mark.
"I knew a stun spell, which I altered and was easily able to incorporate it into the array, which is how I separated the hydrogen from the oxygen. Once they were separated, it was quite simple to ignite the hydrogen. All that was needed was for the hydrogen and oxygen to mix, and a spark later, it would explode."
Mark had finished the basics of the spell array, but even though I didn't entirely pay attention in science class, I knew that an explosion of the size I saw couldn't have been just the hydrogen. I had asked him privately a while ago, to which I was correct when he said there was more to it.
"That alone while would produce an explosion, but I also had the barrier shrink rapidly compressing the oxygen and hydrogen. It wouldn't be long before the reaction began to explode rapidly and the barrier was destroyed, so I had the runic array itself also detonate along with the explosive reaction."
"Creating the basic hydrogen explosion was the easy part; most of the array was just adding to the power in small ways. And... That's how I created it."
"I see..." Celestia held a thinking expression, "and... where who taught you what you needed to create the array."
Mark's head hung a bit more, "Mostly school... I got some miscellaneous information from books I read. I learned to create the array and the spells needed from the books Mythic had around."
The answer seemed to surprise Celestia and left her a bit speechless, a reaction shared with Twilight.
"You... learned it in school?"
"I think," I answered, "that that we should move onto a different topic..."
I could feel Mark shaking just the tiniest bit from my wing on his back. We talk, yes, but we don't usually talk too deeply about things like that. Better to just accept and move on... Or, in our case, only to ignore it until it's forgotten...
Celestia took the hint and changed the topic, "I-... Yes, thank you for cooperating. That was the only pressing matter, and the rest should be easier to get through. But I suppose we could use a break, yes? Our lunch has just about arrived."
From the corner of my eye, I saw a maid come in pushing a cart. I nudged Mark and nodded to the food as the bright lemon coated unicorn used her magic and placed our foods in front of us. A plate of spaghetti for Mark and me. Mark and I thanked the maid before she continued placing our food.
An interesting thing about ponies, we're herbivores. Which doesn't sound as bad when all the food you eat taste ten times better.
' And yes, we're having spaghetti for lunch, don't question us. Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner doesn't exist for Mark and me; we eat what we want when we want. Well, I do; Mark doesn't cook and gets whatever I make.'
Celestia and Luna are getting salads, Cadence--'Wha!? Is she getting cereal? At lunch?' I nearly let out a laugh when I saw but managed to keep it to a smile as my eyes suddenly found anything except Cadence far more interesting. My eyes fell on Twilight as she got her... 'Noddles... Twilight got noodles...'
In hindsight, I shouldn't be surprised at what foods could be made for herbivores.
I forced my mind into a blank slate to stop myself from overthinking about other things. Once that was done, I went to enjoy my lunch, which was quite good. The rest of the time, we all ate mostly in silence.
A maid, a different one, had come to collect the empty plates as we all began to finish. Twilight was the first of us to finish, followed by Luna, me, Cadence, Mark, and finally Celestia. Once the last of the maids was finished and hauling the dishware away, our conversations began once again.
Mark seemed to have either regained his composure or, at the very least, put on a facade. 'I'll have to speak with him privately later.'
"Ahem," coughed Celestia, "well, I suppose now is as better a time to continue as any other."
"Verily," agreed Luna.
I nodded once more.
"Well," Celestia continued looking at the folder she had once more pulled out, "I suppose right now the only thing left discussing is... well, your future."
"Our, oh, yes Luna did say something about that..."
"Yes, she did," added Celestia, "well... What do you two want?"
"Um, what?" I questioned.
'Oh, right, Luna did say something about us being adopted into the royal family... We haven't really...'
"We can't force you to do anything," said Celestia.
"But we can make certain offers for you," finished Luna.
"Oh, yeah... Luna said something about us being... adopted?"
"Well... that's an option..." replied Celestia.
"And... other options include...?" I raised a brow, trying to milk out our options.
"Well, in terms of living arrangement, to be honest, there is much besides staying in Canterlot. If you need something, you need but ask of us."
As I sat in thought, I thought it odd that they're giving us such a variety of choices; after all, when we talked with Luna, it seemed like they already had something preplanned.
I looked around. To my right, Mark sat with wrapped attention, and ahead Princess Celestia, Luna, Cadence, and Twilight sat in wait. While Cadence and Twilight haven't spoken too much, I had an odd feeling I'd get to know them.
Anyway, I took one last deep breath. Mark and I have spoken about this a few times before, and so far, Mark is gung-ho on following whatever I do, so if I made a mistake, it would affect both of us.
"And the preferable option?"
Celestia and Luna shared a look before Cadence actually spoke up for them, "Well, preferably, it would be best if you stayed here with us. You two being alicorns... would make things difficult if we weren't around. Personally, I would love to spend time with you two; unfortunately, I spend most of my time at the Crystal Empire."
"Yes," Celestia continued, "the preferable option would before you to say with us to make it easy for all of us. The adoption is not as much tradition, but for your protection."
Luna spoke up soon after Celestia, "If news of alicorns popping up were to spread, then they would be targets of malicious personal and groups. An ascension is incredibly rare, and it takes time for a month's recent ascension to finish properly. This is a time an alicorn is most vulnerable and weakest. Even more so for the two of you at such a young age."
I blinked. 'Well, they certainly had this all already planned out, didn't they?' I thought I'd let my thoughts be known in this taut atmosphere. I did so with an expression slightly shocked face.
"You guys really had all that planned out, didn't you?"
A loud snort of sound came from Cadence as she held a hoof, trying to stop her laughter before she gave holding a hoof to her chess. A good minute later, of Cadence finally calming down, she looked over to Celestia and Luna, and suddenly the atmosphere that had been building up disappeared in moments, "I told you we should have just gone straight to the point."
"As did I sister, I told you they were quite perceptive." Celestia now had Cadence and Luna looking intently, staring at her and a very confused Twilight.
"Well, I wanted to let them know they had the freedom and choice to go with other options, you know?"
"Sister, when you explain the 'preferable' choice, as much as you look at it, their options are very limited."
"But still, even so, it would be best if they felt comfortable instead of feeling controlled."
"Aunty-"
I laughed, interrupting their conversation. I'll admit it was a very childish laugh, but this was just too funny. I think Mark himself was hiding a smirk. It seems I had gotten the attention of everyone. It took a moment before my laughing calmed.
"I-I'm sorry, just that was too funny," I was still trying to control my laughter.
Twilight was wearing that confused look, Celestia and Cadence look at least a little embarrassed, and Luna just used a poker face.
"I suppose that was a bit funny," said Cadence blushing.
Now that my delight was mostly gone, I took a few gulps of air I had been desperately needing before I began speaking. In the meantime, Celestia and Cadence tried to find anything else interesting.
"Heh, sorry about that."
"It's is quite fine," Luna replied, "Tia just didn't quite think that through."
"Yeah, I suppose," I said, fixing my mane that had displaced itself, "anyways Cadence and Luna were absolutely right."
They fixed their gazes onto me as they waited for an explanation, "If you're going to give me choices, and then give me a choice, I can't refuse. It kinda ruins that illusion."
"Wait... can't refuse? Does that mean...-" Cadence left the sentence incomplete for me to finish.
I gave a small chuckle, "Yes, Cadence, I suppose if that's the only choice, then we're staying."
While my outside demeanor was happy, internally, I thought of other ways this could have gone. ' They could have used my perceptiveness against me. If they hadn't made it obvious instead of relying on me to figure out on my own that it was really the only choice I had, it would have given the illusion that it was a free choice.'
In the middle of a thought, I was tackled by Cadence, and Mark was swiftly grabbed as well. We both let out a 'Oof!' as we fell to the ground.
"Do you know what that means?!" asked Cadence as she tried to squeeze the life out of us.
"Uhmm, what?" I barely got out.
"You two are both my cousins!"
I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing, but right now, I was more concerned about air. Fortunately, she got up, turning to Twilight.
"Twilight! That means you have-..." Cadence froze as she stopped deep in thought, "actually, what does that make them to you? If you're my sister-in-law..."
The answer to that question eluded me as well, but did it matter? As Cadence was thinking, it seems she noticed something off and looked down at me since she was still on top of Mark and me, "Is something wrong?"
"When was the last time you preened wings?"
The question made me blink hundredth time that day, "Preen?"
At my confused state, Cadence used her magic and pulled out my right-wing, which began to itch again, "Ow, hey that-"
My call was ignored, and she pulled out Mark's wing as well, "Ow-"
"Do... do you two not know how to preen?"
I wasn't sure if we were meant to answer that question, so I just looked up at Cadence sheepishly. Then I looked back to Celestia and Luna behind Cadence, who seemed just as surprised as I did. I used my most devastating weapon, puppy eyes.
The two princesses shared a look before they shook their heads at me! They're abandoning us! I gulped before I looked back to Cadence, who was checking the other wing on both Mark and me, for yelling, "No-no-no-no! I cannot let this stand! You two are coming with me, and we are going to fix this!"
Cadence finally got off from pining us.
"Gah!" Soon after, we found ourselves being dragged by Cadence's magic.
I held a pleading to Celestia and Luna, while Twilight, for some reason, still looked confused. Though they saw me, they smiled.
' Did I just make a mistake getting ourselves an overly doting cousin?'
POV: Celestia
"Twilight," I called, "mayhaps, you should go after them. To make sure nothing too crazy happens."
"Oh! Uh, sure."
Twilight swiftly galloped after the three as they left the dining room.
"Tia," Luna called, "you left out many important things."
"Yes, Lulu, I know."
"Tia!" Luna harshly replied, "if these problems are not healthy with swift-"
I turn to look at Luna, still sitting in her chair, "Yes, Lulu I know."
I dropped a wing over her, "They are good at hiding it, but I can see that they hide their troubles..."
"Then you know that these troubles should-"
One of my primaries was put against Luna's lips, "And how do you suppose we do that? Force them to tell us? Lulu, if they're not ready, then we'd only worsen the issues."
"And we should just sit back and wait?"
"No," I said calmly, looking through the empty halls the other left through, "we should let them get comfortable first. They need to know they're welcome, that they're not alone. Why do you think I asked Cadence to come back earlier than normal?"
"Sister, even so, that may take time. Their dreams literally leak a dark miasma I have to shield from leaking to the dreams of others."
I blinked at that one, "Can you not help them there? You are the guardian of dreams."
"Tia, that's akin to fixing the symptoms. The cause is external in the real world."
I had to pause to think of this one for a few moments, "All the more reason to let them feel welcome."
"Sister, rushing their welcome can be counter-intuitive."
I was getting tired of Luna's rebuttals, so I turned to her once and for all, "Sister, trust me. You may be the type to confront things up front, but this matter needs a delicate hoof."
Luna harrumphed, "And should you fail, I'll be watching."
"Yes, sister, I know. There are two of us, after all. It would be a shame if something happened."
"Of course, it'd be a shame, Tia. After all, they're alicorns. If anything happened to any alicorn, it'd be a shame."
"Oh, Lulu, you will see it sooner or later."