11 December 1008
Lily, Rarity had to admit, was doing a very good job. She clearly was as skilled at her job as Mayor Winter had said she was.
‘’So, darling,’’ she said as she finished signing the final document of her stack, ‘’I think we’ve had a splendid conversation, no?’’
Lily nodded. ‘’I think so too, my lady. I hope it was informative for you.’’
‘’Certainly,’’ Rarity replied. ‘’In fact…’’ she reached into her drawer, and pulled out the contract she’d written beforehoof. ‘’I know it’s quick, but I think I can safely say the job is yours, if you want it.’’
Lily stared at the contract for a long moment, then tentatively held out her hoof. ‘’May I?’’
‘’Of course.’’ Rarity slid the document over to her.
It wasn’t the most complicated of contracts Rarity had ever made; but it was very extensive, and it paid very well. Rarity had made sure of the last part.
‘’Well, it’s certainly an honour, my lady.’’
No.
‘’I accept.’’
Rarity didn’t bother to hide her relief. ‘’You don’t know how much that means to me, darling.’’
Lily blushed a little. ‘’I’m flattered, truly. I hope I can live up to the expectations.’’
‘’From what you’ve shown me today I’ve no doubt you can,’’ Rarity assured her. ‘’I’m afraid that I must ask you come with us on the train ride, however.’’
That seemed to surprise Lily. ‘’I… see.’’
‘’I know it is not ideal, darling,’’ Rarity placated, ‘’but I am afraid the trip takes precedence. If you want, you can take your niece with you. There’s plenty of room on the train.’’
‘’Sugar would like that,’’ Lily said in a musing tone. ‘’Very well,’’ she decided a couple of seconds later. ‘’I accept.’’
‘’Wonderful!’’ Rarity hoofed her a pencil, and watched anticipatingly as Lily placed the pencil on the document-
And didn’t sign.
‘’Darling, is something wrong?’’
11 December 1008
What’s taking you so long, Rarity? Rainbow wondered as she glared up at the tower.
The sound of something moving through the air entered her ears at just the right time, allowing her to narrowly avoid what would have otherwise been a very cold snowball to the muzzle.
‘’Hey! No fair! I was distracted!’’
‘’Don’t be distracted!’’ Flurry called back, before giggling with her other friends.
Rainbow narrowed her eyes. ‘’I’ll show you something distracting,’’ she muttered under her breath. She spread her wings and darted off into the sky, making sure the foals were watching her and the rainbow trail she left behind.
Then, she dove, nearly hitting the ground in the process, but of course she pulled up at the last possible moment and shot over the snow.
Now comes the fun part.
Rainbow lifted herself up as if she was braking about five metres from Flurry and her friends, conveniently right in front of a large snowpile. Then she dove into the snow, sending it flying forward.
The shrieks told her the plan had worked.
‘’Not fair!’’ Flurry complained as she brushed some snow out of her mane. ‘’We can’t do that!’’
‘’You could, if you learned it,’’ Rainbow argued as she landed next to the filly and flicked the snow off her horn with a wing. ‘’I can teach you.’’
‘’Really?’’
‘’Of course!’’ Rainbow replied. ‘’I’m a Wond-Shadowbolt, remember?’’
‘’Oh yeah!’’ Flurry’s eyes were wide and excited. ‘’But my friends wouldn’t be able to do it.’’
That was a problem Rainbow had never considered. All the people she’d knew as a filly had been pegasi too; well, except for Gilda. She’d never thought about people that couldn’t fly.
‘’Well, they can watch,’’ she said as she looked at the other fillies - and colt, of course. Couldn’t forget the colt.
‘’I guess,’’ Flurry said, but she didn’t sound very convinced. That wasn’t a problem.
‘’Right, wanna do something else?’’ Rainbow asked the group at large after a few seconds of awkward silence.
We’ve been doing this for over an hour, after all. Snowball fights are fun, but not that fun. If Rarity would just hurry up…
‘’Can we have chocolate?’’ One of the fillies - Star Glitter - asked.
‘’Chocolate!’’ the colt cheered.
‘’Sure thing.’’ Rainbow wasn’t cold, per se, but she never said no to hot chocolate during the winter. And in the Crystal Empire, winters were a lot worse than in Ponyville.
Rainbow glared at the two mares guarding the entrance to the Palace, but their steely faces revealed nothing of any amusement they might be feeling.
They got inside and into the room they’d used the day before yesterday, where Rainbow quickly ordered six mugs of hot chocolate.
‘’Commander Dash, might I ask a question?’’
‘’Only if you call me Rainbow,’’ Rainbow replied as she turned her head to face Jewel Heart. If someone said Jewel Heart was Rarity's long-lost relative, Rainbow would have believed them on the spot.
The filly swallowed. ‘’Of course, Comm- Rainbow. In any case, I wanted to ask: were you and Governess Belle present during the return of the Empire?’’
‘’Well, I wasn’t there when it actually happened,’’ Rainbow answered, ‘’but we arrived like a week later.’’
She wanted to say more, but all the foals suddenly seemed to be a little sad.
Why- Oh.
Rainbow almost cursed herself out loud. Of course that was going to bring up memories. And there really wasn’t anything she could say to make it better now.
Flurry, who was sitting on Rainbow’s left, scooted closer until she was pressing against Rainbow’s side. Instinctively Rainbow put her wing around the filly. ‘’You alright?’’ she softly asked.
‘’Yeah.’’ It didn’t look like it, but looks could be deceiving. ‘’Thanks, Rainbow.’’
‘’Of course, Flurry.’’
11 December 1008
‘’Ah’m afraid ya can’t visit her, sugarcube.’’
Sweetie frowned. ‘’Is she still under house arrest?’’
Applejack tipped her hat. ‘’That she is. But it ain’t just that. Spike comes out some days, and what he says ‘bout Twilight ain’t good.’’
‘’What do you mean?’’ Twinkle asked before Sweetie could, which was rather impressive all things considered.
Applejack shifted. ‘’Well, he says she’s acting mighty strange. She barely speaks to him, and keeps ‘erself locked up in a room or sumthin’.’’
That didn’t sound all too good, but Spike was prone to exaggeration. ‘’I’m sure everything is fine with her,’’ Sweetie said. ‘’I think she’s just processing everything that’s happened.’’
‘’Yeah,’’ Applejack agreed, but she didn’t sound too convinced. ‘’Anyway, I gotta git back to work.’’
‘’Alright. Thanks, Applejack!’’
Applejack tipped her hat. ‘’Ain’t nuthin’, sugarcube.’’
With a smile of her own, Sweetie left the farm and headed back to Ponyville proper.
‘’I won’t even try to convince you to not try this,’’ Twinkle dryly remarked as he followed behind her.
‘’Can you get me in?’’ Sweetie asked without turning around.
‘’No,’’ Twinkle replied immediately. And dammit, Sweetie had no idea if he was lying or not.
‘’Of course you can’t,’’ she muttered under her breath. ‘’You’re not good for much, are you?’’
Twinkle remained silent, and Sweetie honestly wasn’t sure if she would have rather had an answer.
‘’Anyway,’’ Sweetie continued a few seconds later, ‘’I’m gonna go back to the Boutique.’’
‘’As you wish.’’ Twinkle fell in behind her.
By the time they’d reached the Boutique, Sweetie was already contemplating what to eat. She could try to cook herself, but that would most likely end in disaster. So take-out it would most likely be.
‘’Why do you even want to enter anyway?’’
Twinkle’s question switched the tracks of her train of thought in an entirely different direction.
‘’I dunno,’’ Sweetie was finally forced to admit. ‘’Twilight’s a friend, I guess, and you check up on friends.’’
Twinkle hummed. ‘’It doesn’t sound like she wants to see her friends, though.’’
Sweetie glared at him. ‘’Sometimes people don’t always know what’s good for them.’’
Twinkle raised an eyebrow at her. ‘’Says you.’’
Damn, he’s got me there.
Instead of replying verbally, Sweetie just entered the Boutique and frowned at the darkness inside. The sun wasn’t down yet, and she hadn’t-
‘’SURPRISE!’’
Twinkle’s indignant squeak was almost lost in the chorus of voices that assaulted Sweetie’s ears, led most sincerely by Pinkie Pie, of course.
‘’Sorry it took so long!’’ Pinkie apologized as she jumped into Sweetie’s face. ‘’But I had to plan your ‘Welcome back to Ponyville for a few days Sweetie’ party and also a ‘Welcome to Ponyville Twinkle Flower’ party and also my sisters are coming for Hearthswarming and I have to help Twilight and-’’
‘’Pinkie,’’ Sweetie chuckled as she gave the other mare a hug, ‘’I get it. And this is great.’’
And it really was. A party without Pinkie Pie just wasn’t it. Something just lacked otherwise.
‘’This is a very nice party, Miss Pie,’’ Twinkle stepped up beside her. ‘’You shouldn’t have.’’
‘’Nuh-uh! Everyone new to Ponyville gets a party!’’
Twinkle looked like he wanted to argue that point, before probably remembering something and visibly giving up any attempt at resisting. It was somewhat cute, admittedly.
Sweetie squashed that thought without remorse. Twinkle was many things, but he was certainly not cute.
The party itself was as good as any Pinkie had ever organized, and before long Sweetie found herself talking with Applebloom and Scootaloo again. They had spoken often since Sweetie had arrived back in Ponyville, of course, but still it was good to see them again.
‘’You helped organize this?’’ Sweetie asked her two friends.
‘’Nah,’’ Scoots replied dismissively, ‘’Pinkie did it all by herself. She’s back to being herself again, it seems. Rough couple of months after the war ended, but she’s alright now.’’
Sweetie’s smile stilled a little, and she nodded. ‘’That’s good to hear.’’
‘’Granny’s calmed down too,’’ Applebloom said, halfway into a glass of cider already - Really? The party had been going on for all of ten minutes! ‘’She ain’t rantin’ nearly as often as she used ta.’’
‘’Still, that’s tough,’’ Sweetie remarked. ‘’Is she alright otherwise?’’
‘’Yeah,’’ Applebloom replied, ‘’as good as can be.’’
There was something to the way Applebloom spoke that made Sweetie feel like she wasn’t speaking the full truth, but she wasn’t going to darken the party with questions like that.
‘’That’s good,’’ she said. ‘’I missed you girls,’’ she added a few seconds later, before silence could descend.
‘’We missed you too,’’ Scootaloo immediately said. ‘’Ponyville isn’t the same without you.’’
‘’Thanks,’’ Sweetie said, blushing just a little. It was certainly good to be back here.
She knew, of course, that nothing would ever be the same again. That was the price of war. The question was if Scootaloo and Applebloom knew that too.
11 December 1008
Fuck it all.
Lilac cleared her throat. ‘’My lady, I’m afraid I’ve not been wholly truthful with you,’’ she admitted.
Better to do this now, she chanted at her anxiety and fears. Worst case, the Governess tortures me. I can handle that.
Ocellus would escape. Tartarus, Lilac could see at least two ways of escaping from this office, and she did have combat training; she was pretty sure she could overpower the Governess if it came to it.
The mare tilted her head. ‘’Go on, darling.’’
So far so good. ‘’Lily Merrimare is nothing but a cover name. She’s never existed.’’
In an instant, the Governess’ attitude changed. Her horn sparked alight, charged with a bolt of energy that looked a fair bit more powerful than Lilac had anticipated it being, as her eyes narrowed. ‘’Answer me truthfully,’’ she commanded with an air of authority. ‘’Are you a changeling?’’
‘’Yes.’’
Lilac dropped her disguise.
She did not receive a bolt of energy to the face, so that was a plus.
The Governess broke the silence that had fallen. ‘’Well, I’m afraid you’ve picked the wrong mare to attempt to abduct.’’
‘’I’m not here to abduct you, my lady.’’ Lilac made sure her tone was clear and measured, while still conveying she wasn’t lying. ‘’I am not here on the command of Queen Chrysalis or any other changeling. My niece and I are here as refugees.’’
That, it seemed, took the Governess by surprise. ‘’Refugees?’’ she asked.
Lilac nodded. Here’s my window. ‘’I raised too many questions about the methods of the Queen. They - the Queen’s Guard - came to the house of my once-husband and shot him and his wife. I found out, got Ocellus to me and then fled across the border.’’
That had been three weeks of Tartarus. Every ‘ling between Vesalipolis and Acornage had been searching for them, even if they didn’t know why, and Lilac had used her stack of favours as well as exhausted every one of her skills in the harrowing journey.
Not that it had gotten much better in Equestria. Once she and Ocellus had taken on their disguises, they could travel openly without anyone asking questions, for the most part; the Civil War had only just ended, after all. But Lilac had always had an active imagination, and the story she’d made up wasn’t too far from the truth, so the lies rolled off her tongue easily.
The disguise itself had been harder; not the actual disguise, but maintaining it for days on end, with the only rest being at night, when they made camp. And even then, as Ocellus slept, Lilac had kept watch, for changelings and monsters alike.
‘’And I am expected to believe this?’’ The Governess sounded impossibly doubtful, but there was that tiny sliver of belief present in her voice, and Lilac clung to it like a sailor to a lifeline in the storm.
‘’Other than Ocellus and myself, I do not have proof to verify I am speaking the truth,’’ Lilac revealed honestly. ‘’I only ask for a chance. If you don’t want to give me the job anymore that is understandable; I just want a chance.’’
The Governess looked at war with herself for a long minute, though the glow of her horn dimmed considerably, down to the level Lilac had originally been expecting it to be at. For despite all the stories about the Elements of Harmony, they had never claimed great magical skill or power on the side of Rarity Belle.
‘’Very well,’’ the Governess said. ‘’I trust you. Heavens know why, but I do. You were honest to me, and honesty is, as my friend Applejack would say, the best of virtues. While I do not fully concur-’’ she gave a small smile, ‘’I agree it is an important thing nonetheless.’’
Lilac couldn’t help it; she exhaled. YES!
The Governess stuck out her hoof. ‘’Let’s start again. I am Rarity Belle, Governess of the Lunar Crystal Empire.’’
After a moment, Lilac took the hoof and shook it. ‘’Lilac Vesalipolis. Drones use their birth hive as their last name. Only royals have actual surnames.’’
The Governess nodded understandingly. ‘’It’s a pleasure to meet you in any case, Lilac,’’ she said. ‘’And please, call me Rarity. We are going to be working together, after all.’’
Wait…
‘’I can still become your secretary?’’ Lilac asked before she could help herself.
The Governess - no, Rarity - smiled. ‘’The work hasn’t disappeared yet, darling, and I think you and I have a great many things to discuss.’’
Well, Lilac couldn’t fault the mare for that. ‘’As you wish… Rarity.’’