//------------------------------// // Chapter 10: Far from the Tree // Story: Black as Sin // by BearstarSeraph //------------------------------// Chapter 10: Far from the Tree “Are you sure we couldn’t have come back sooner?” Fluttershy asked, “Princess Celestia said 30 minutes; it’s been 45.” Twilight took the doorknob in her magic, “She said at least 30 minutes. Besides, if I said something even remotely like that, Cadence would have me in timeout way more than thirty minutes.” She opened the door, and they could still hear the water running. Including the toilet. The five walked over and Twilight opened the door, “Bulla, we’re back.” Bulla was nowhere in sight. “How is the toilet still running?” Twilight ran over. Rainbow Dash flew over and lifted the lid. Fluttershy looked in. She gasped. “She propped the flap open with a tube of toothpaste so it continued to run!” she shouted softly. “Bulla?!” Twilight ran frantically around the bathroom. She stuck her head in the linen closet, “Bulla?” She stuck her head under the shower curtains, “Bulla?” She stuck her head under the bath rug, “Bulla?” She ran out of the bathroom, “Bulla!” “Twilight let’s just calm down,” Applejack said as the rest of them walked out of the bathroom. “Calm down?” Twilight came out from under the bed, “We just lost a foreign princess!” Rainbow Dash flew over to the wardrobe and opened the doors, “She’s probably playing hide and seek somewhere enjoying us freaking out.” “Or she could just be passed out from crying somewhere,” Fluttershy said, opening the closet door. Ten minutes later… “Or she could be completely missing,” Twilight said as the five of them sat in the middle of the turned-over room. ~~***~~ “Oh, how could she have escaped? Celestia locked the door from the outside,” Twilight said, pacing a rut into the floor, “She doesn’t know magic, and it’s not like she can climb the walls.” “Oh you mean like this?” Everyone looked over and saw Pinkie Pie walking up the wall, then hang upside-down from the ceiling. “How the corn husks are you doing that?” Applejack asked. “What? You girls never seen her walk on the ceiling before?” Rainbow Dash flew up to her. “No!” Twilight shouted. “It’s easy peezy,” Pinkie said, “I figured it out foalsitting the twins. All you’re doing is picking stuff up with your hooves, except instead of a comb it’s the ceiling!” Twilight gasped and ran to the French doors to the balcony. “Oh, no no no no,” she burst out onto the balcony. She looked out onto the garden, and saw at least a hundred children running amuck. “Where did all these kids come from?” Rainbow Dash asked. Twilight flew down and was immediately greeted by shouts of “Princess Twilight!” and awe-struck children— for about 10 seconds. Twilight tried to gently push through the mob of foals all pelting her with questions that merged into incoherent screeching, but found herself thoroughly trapped. “Children!” a yellow earth pony mare with a teddy bear cutie mark began pushing through. All the children fell silent and backed away. “My apologies Princess Twilight,” the mare bowed. “What is all this? Where did all these children come from?” Twilight asked, failing at her attempt to hide her panic. “Today’s Children’s Day at the palace, your Majesty,” she said surprised. “Is that today?” Twilight stepped in place spinning in circles, “Oh no no no no no. That means there’s at least a thousand children in the palace.” “Are you all right, princess?” she asked. Twilight gets in her face, “Have you seen a little white unicorn with blue hair and no cutie mark named Bulla?!” The stunned mare took a step back, “No… I haven’t.” While Twilight started spinning again, Fluttershy flew down along with Rainbow Dash carrying Applejack. Pinkie Pie, however, was left shouting back on the balcony. “Umm,” Fluttershy said landing next to the mare, “Princess Bulla is kinda the daughter of an important foreign dignitary and she’s kinda missing.” “Oh dear…” the mare said, “I’ll tell the chaperones to keep an eye out for her and to alert the guards…” “No, not the guards!” Twilight got in her face again, “Princess Celestia can’t know how much I’ve royally screwed up!” Applejack shook her head. “Sorry, sugarcube. But there’s no hiding this one. Not with all these young’uns here.” Twilight slumped on the grass, “Ooooo, Princess Celestia is never going to trust me again…” “In my experience,” the mare began, “When a child misbehaves, there is always a motive. And the way to stop a child from repeating that behavior is to solve that motive. What does this little girl want that would require sneaking away? Did she want to explore the castle and was told no? Or did she want to come outside and play? Or…” The four looked at each other and gasped, “Her father!” Applejack took two steps towards a door before turning her head, “Come on y'all, we got a munchkin’ to corral.” ~~***~~ “And what’s this way?” The guard/tour guide sighed, frustrated. He turned around and marched through the other children to confront the white unicorn. “Look young filly, you can’t be asking ‘What’s that way’ at every hallway and interrupting the tour for everyone else.” “But I wanna know.” She gave puppy dog eyes. “No,” he said, turning around. “If you answer one more question, I promise I won’t say a peep the rest of the tour!” she said. The guard sighed, “Fine.” He turned around, “What is it?” “How do you get to the dungeons? Every castle has really cool dungeons full of amazingly awesome giant spiders and stuff like that.” The guard cocked an eyebrow. “You like spiders?” “Yeah!” she jumped up in the air, “Nightmare Night is my favorite most bestest holiday ever.” The unicorn smiled as big as she could and batted her eyelashes. The guard groaned annoyed and rolled his eyes, “Three hallways back and to the left is the guards’ section of the palace. The entrance is there. And I can assure you young lady, unlike whatever fantasies Nightmare Night has put in your head, there are no spiders. The guards work very hard to keep it clean.” The guard gave a self-satisfied smirk seeing the little filly collapse on the floor sulking. “Now as you promised, no more interruptions.” The white filly nodded slowly as she stood. The guard walked forward and continued talking as they advanced. The other children soon stopped looking at the white filly as she trotted along in the rear, hanging her head in disappointment. No one noticed her not turning the corner with them. ~~***~~ Bulla was now walking on the ceiling heading back the way she came, smiling ear to ear and her chest stuck out in pride. “Ha!” she thought, “Mommy will be so proud I’m turning into a big girl. I did it just like she does.” Bulla quickly tired and found a place in the rafters at the intersection. “This is harder than I thought…” she thought. She glanced down the hallway leading into the guards’ section. It had no rafters or any ceiling decoration. Clean and simple. “No places to hide.” With some combination of exhaustion and patience, Bulla remained in place. She saw guards come and go. Then she could barely stop herself from screaming when she saw Princess Cadence with Celestia. Seven minutes later Celestia’s scream almost knocked her from the rafters. “Owie…” she said, putting her hooves to her ears. Then she shook her head trying to stop the ringing. “What did she say?” Bulla tried to think through the headache. “Whe…re is… ?” Bulla bounded to her hooves. “Daddy’s out of his cell!” she thought. Then she slumped back down. “Eh oh… but what did Daddy do to get out of his cell…” She thought back to the goats. She started to whimper. ~~***~~ The five rushed through the halls, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy flying ahead. Twilight, however, had decided it would be faster for her to run. “Hey,” Rainbow Dash shouted down, “There’s a bunch of kids up ahead.” She zipped forward and landed in front of the group. “What are you doing? Get out of the way,” the unicorn guard ordered. “Wait! Sir guard,” Twilight shouted from behind. “Princess Twilight?” The guard bowed as the rest of the group caught up. The children quickly exploded into questions again. “Have you seen or heard anything about a white unicorn filly with blue hair and no cutie mark named Bulla?!” Twilight asked over the noise, “She’s a daughter of an important foreign dignitary and we think she has sneaked away to be with the other kids.” “No, your Majesty I haven’t.” “You mean that pony that climbed down the wall in the garden?” a blue foal asked, raising his hoof. Twilight spun around, “Yes! You know where she is?” “No, I just saw her climb down,” he said lowering his leg, “I was too far away.” “I saw her too!” a red filly said, “She was near the big doors the adults took us through to start showing us the castle.” “How long has she been missing?” the guard asked. “Forty-five minutes to an hour max,” Twilight said. “Then she would have been in one of the first tours,” the guard said unrolling a map of the palace. “Let’s see here,” he mumbled. “Ah,” he lowered the map for Twilight to see. The others gathered around. “There are four separate routes for the tours, each marked with a color. I’m the first repeat of the red line.” “So we have four locations to check?” Pinkie Pie bounced, “Easy Peezy.” “Except they are moving targets,” Twilight said loudly, “And this doesn’t tell us where they are!” “All the paths are designed to keep the groups fifteen minutes apart while covering the same ground,” the guard said, “The first group should be reaching the stained glass hallway any minute now. And all the first groups will be there in the next hour.” “The throne room? Oh…” Twilight sighed. “Princess Celestia was going to find out sooner or later,” Fluttershy comforted. “I wanted to find her before she found out!” Rainbow Dash crossed her front legs, “Well we’re not going to find her talking about it, let’s go!” She flew off leaving a rainbow trail in her wake. “It’s the other way!” Twilight shouted. A rainbow streak promptly blew everyone’s hair back racing in the opposite direction. ~~***~~ “Princess Luna,” a blue earth pony mare in black armor came into the suite. Luna was sleeping on the bed, twisted up in the covers. “Princess Luna?” she came up to the bed. Luna continued to snore. “Princess Luna!” she shouted. Not a twitch. The guard sighed and took a box from under the bed. It has a big red button… The earsplitting air horn quickly had Luna screaming and flailing on the floor. “Princess Luna,” the guard walked over to the other side of the bed, “Prince Vegeta has escaped his cell. Princess Celestia requests your assistance in his recapture.” She promptly dodged the pillow as Luna moaned in protest. It took several minutes for her brain to process the information. “Prince Vegeta is loose?!” She tried to stand but she was hopelessly tangled in the sheets. After struggling for several attempts, she groaned and lit up her horn. The sheets vanished then reappeared in a pile on the bed. Luna ran to the door, “Tell me everything you know on the way.” “The solar guard is outside,” her guard saluted. ~~***~~ “Seriously? That’s all our sister said?” Luna asked, surprised. “Yes Princess, the message was to wake you, deploy five more medics, and move the child,” Saber Rattler said, running next to her. “This doesn’t make sense. Why would Prince Vegeta try and escape in his condition? And why move Bulla? She’s in the completely opposite side of the palace. And with Princess Twilight and the Bearers.” Suddenly Luna slid to a stop. “Wait, Prince Vegeta is literally at the entrance. But he’s gone farther in. And his only concern…” Luna lit up her horn. She vanished in a burst of light. ~~***~~ Luna landed in front of Bulla’s room. She was surprised by the sound of running water coming from the partially open door. “Princess Twilight? Girls?” she said, poking her head into the room. She saw the mess. Luna ran inside screaming “Bulla?! Girls?!” She ran into the bathroom, “Why is the water running?” She turned around and checked the dressing room and walk-in closet, “Girls?” Luna burst back into the hallway. “GUARDS!” her Canterlot voice rattled windows throughout the building. Twenty soldiers quickly scrambled from their nearby posts and rushed towards Luna’s scream. “Princess,” each guard saluted as they slid to a stop on the marble floors. “Where is Princess Bulla, Twilight, and her friends?” she demanded. “I haven’t seen them,” one guard said. “They passed by me twice,” another said pointing the way she came, “Once leaving this direction, then returning, but that was a little over a half hour ago.” “Princess Celestia escorted the Bearers past me an hour and a half ago,” a guard said pointing in the opposite direction, “Then she returned without them with another guard that had just run past me a short time later.” “Do you know what the messenger wanted?” Luna asked. “No Ma’am,” he said. “And do any of you know anything about this?” Luna said, stepping aside. The guards gasped and rushed into the room. “Then you know nothing of this?” Luna said disappointed, stepping into the room after them. All the guards turned back to the center of the room from where they ran and gave a negative to Luna. Luna stood straight, “Alert the rest of the guards and tell Princess Celestia what’s happened. I’m headed to the throne room. If you find out anything, report to me immediately.” Luna vanished again. ~~***~~ Luna flashed into the throne room startling the staff. “Princess Luna? What are you doing up this time of day?” one of the guards walked up from the throne. “Princess Bulla is missing and her room ransacked,” she said, “Do you know anything about it?” “No, your Majesty,” he said, surprised. “Do you want to deploy guards?” “Already have. Do you know the location of Princess Twilight and the Bearers?” “No Ma’am,” he shook his head. “Do you know…” Suddenly the large doors opened and a group of bounding foals ran into the room followed by a clearly frazzled guard. “Princess Luna!” a foal shouted pointing. All the other children turned to look, then quickly stampeded and surrounded her and the guard. They quickly began shouting over each other. Luna raised her hoof. “One at a time, children,” she said over them, “W-eye cannot tell one voice from another when you are all talking at once.” The children quickly fell silent and all raised their right hooves like in a classroom. Luna noticed their guardian standing there wide-eyed and mouth open. She giggled, then returned to the children. “So then, let’s start with you little one,” she pointed at the foal right in front of her, “What is your question?” “What are you doing up? I thought you were the night princess,” he asked. About three-fourths of the children momentarily dropped their hooves at the question before raising them again thinking of a new one. “To tell the truth, we are looking for a little white unicorn filly named Bulla. I know there are many foals here for Children’s Day, but have any of you seen her?” “Is she Spiderpony’s daughter?” one colt wearing a Spiderpony t-shirt asked, “I saw a white pony with blue hair walk on the walls but nopony believes me.” “Where was this?” Luna asked. “Out in the garden. She came down from a window. I tried to go up to her but then the adults pushed us inside for the tour.” “That must be her,” Luna thought, “Her room overlooks the gardens.” “She is not Spiderpony’s daughter, but I would not be surprised…” A rainbow streaked into the throne room followed by a large blast of wind. It knocked several hats off the foals. “Princess Luna? What are you doing up?” Rainbow Dash said hovering above her. “Rainbow Dash. What do you know of Princess Bulla’s disappearance and her ransacked room?” Luna demanded. “We turned the room over thinking she was hiding from us,” Rainbow Dash said, “but then we found out she climbed out the window. ‘Though judging from this group of kids, she’s not in this group.” “You believe she’s hiding in the tours?” Luna asked. “Yeah a bunch of kids saw her leave with one of the first groups. With this group eliminated, that makes three more to go.” “See! I told you!” the Spiderpony colt said. He then took a deep breath and let out a long raspberry. “I take it you saw her too, huh?” Rainbow Dash crossed her front legs. “Yes ma’am,” he said proudly. The others galloped into the room. “Oh no, Princess Luna’s here,” Twilight said, “Why is Princess Luna here?” “Well at least it’s not Princess Celestia,” Fluttershy said. “Hey guys,” Rainbow Dash flew over to them, “She’s not in this group.” Luna lowered her head softly asking the children to part ways. They moved and Luna walked out of the circle. She looked at the throne room guard and nodded her head sideways. The guard understood and followed her as she trotted over to the tour guide. “Come with me,” she said softly. Then they heard a soft thunder of footsteps. The three turned around and saw the children stop in their tracks. After several rounds of Red Light, Green Light, Luna and the two guards gave up and finished the short distance to the girls. “Ok,” they overheard Twilight say, “Since she’s not with the red group, the next group to turn into the hallway will be the green.” “Forgive me, princess, but we are the green group,” the tour guard said. “What?!” Twilight says, “There’s already been two groups through here?” “These children were the first to arrive,” the throne room guard said confused, “I also thought you were the Red 1, just twenty minutes late.” “Do you think Bulla could be the reason they are late?” Fluttershy asked. “If she asked a bunch of questions she could,” Pinkie Pie said, “I remember lots of times I held up field trips by asking tons of questions like…” Applejack quickly took an apple from under her hat and shoved it into Pinkie’s mouth. “Emergency Rambling Apple,” she smiled, straightening her hat. “Do you have a map like the other guard did?” Twilight asked. The guard pulled out the map. Twilight took it in her magic. She raised her hoof up and ran it along the paper. “Ok, I know where to go,” she said, rolling it up. She gave it back to the guard. “I’m coming with you,” Luna said sternly. “Awe~!” all the children whined in unison. Luna turned around, “I’m sorry children, but like I said before, I am looking for a girl named Bulla. I am not part of this tour. But if you children behave, I may decide to attend the Children’s Party later this afternoon.” Luna could almost swear she saw halos appear above their heads as they straightened up and formed lines. “Okey Dokey Lokey!” Pinkie said, finally chewing through the apple, “Let’s go!” The group entered the hallway and Luna closed the door with her magic. “Princess Luna,” Twilight asked respectfully, “Why are you still looking for Bulla now that you know she is in no danger?” “Because Prince Vegeta has escaped his cell,” Luna said sternly. “What?!” everyone screamed. Even Fluttershy, in her own way. “Prince Vegeta’s cell was well in sight of the entrance, but he has gone farther in. W…I believe he is looking for her, thinking she is in there as well. Bringing Bulla to him will go far to defusing the situation.” “Then what are we waiting for?” Rainbow Dash revved up, only to screech to a stop shortly past the group. A new tour group had rounded the corner into the stained glass hallway. Luna’s longer legs quickly placed her a close second to Rainbow Dash in the race down the hall. The tour guard bug-eyed for a quick moment before quickly shouting, “Against the wall! Make way for the princess!” And of course, the children quickly respond by running into the center of the hallway to get a look. Luna slid to a stop as Rainbow Dash got into the guard’s face. “Is this the Red 1 group?” she demanded. “Yes, yes it is,” he said as the rest of the girls caught up. Luna walked forward, “We are looking for a white unicorn filly with blue hair and no mark.” “Yeah,” Rainbow Dash said scanning the group, “And she’s probably been pestering you with lots of questions.” “I definitely have the girl you are looking for,” he said, turning around to face the children. “All right now, step forward!” he ordered. All the children just looked at each other. “Oh no, she ain’t here,” Applejack shook her head, “Now what?” The guard glanced over the group, “That’s impossible! I’ve been counting 20 this whole time.” “Princess Bulla would not be in your number,” Luna said, “She has evaded her caretakers for nearly an hour and a half now.” “Princess…?” the guard stuttered while his face was screaming “I’m dead.” “Please,” Twilight walked forward, “You’re not in trouble. Just when was the last time you saw her?” “After pestering me with meaningless questions for nearly a half hour, she said she would stop asking questions as long as I told her where the dungeons were. She said she wanted to see the spiders like during Nightmare Night.” “And you told her how to get there?” Rainbow Dash crossed her front legs. “She didn’t run off. She just whimpered when I told her there were no spiders then followed along with the rest of the group.” He turned from the princesses to the kids, “Did any of you kids see her disappear and not tell me?” he barked. “No sir!” they all say clearly frightened. Luna stood straight, “Princess Twilight. I want you to teleport with me. I need the rest of you girls to head back towards Princess Bulla’s room and inform the guards she has been located and all is well.” She turned her head to the tour guard, “Do not fear. No punishment is heading your way.” Luna’s horn lit up and she vanished in a flash of magic. Twilight quickly followed. ~~***~~ Luna landed in front of the gate to the dungeon. “Princess,” the guards saluted. One pegasus walked forward, “The medics have already gone ahead.” Suddenly Twilight flashed into existence next to her. “Princess Twilight?” he asked as they all saluted, “Have you come to assist in the recapture of Prince Vegeta?” “Actually we’re looking for his daughter…” Twilight said. Luna’s eyes widened as she twisted her head to look behind her. “… Last we heard she was wandering towards here. Has she been seen?” “Negative, your Majesty. We have not left our posts. Perhaps if you visit the Guard… Princess Luna, where are you going?” Twilight turned and saw Luna walking back up the steps. She and the guard followed her up the corridor. Then she turned left. “Princess Luna, the guard’s station is the other way,” he said. Luna completely ignored him and continued trotting at a swift pace. Twilight had to run to catch up with the long-legged alicorn. “What is it?” “Bulla has fallen asleep. She’s close by.” “Princess Luna?” the pegasus flies up, “What about dark mage?” “His daughter is near. That will end things,” she said. “But Princess Celestia gave the order to assume the worst and act accordingly,” he said, “Do you really want to endanger a child? Or have her see… well, ‘the worst’.” Luna skid to a stop. Then vanished in a flash of light. Luna zapped into the intersection startling the passing tour. The guard stumbled on his butt, “Princess Luna? What are you doing awake?” Luna ignored him and glanced about, then looked up. They saw her take to the air and fly into the rafters. Then were surprised when she returned with a limp white unicorn foal in her magic. “Pardon us,” she said before the two vanished. Luna flashed back where she was. Twilight and the guard were looking back and forth at the next intersection. “Princess Twilight! And guard!” she called out. The two turned around and ran back towards them. Luna laid her down and began poking Bulla gently with her horn, “Time to wake up, Bulla. If you want to see your daddy.” Bulla did not move. Luna tried a little harder and louder. This time she squirmed, but only repositioned herself. Twilight could see Luna was not amused. Then she saw her take a deep breath. “Wait,” she said, grabbing the guard’s tail. He looked down at her and saw her duck, putting her hooves in her ears. Suddenly, a scream ripped through the palace. It knocked the wind out of Luna. Bulla jolted awake jumping halfway to the ceiling. The screams continued. Ones of blind terror. Getting closer and closer to the gate of the dungeon. Then the screamer entered the corridor. The voice was unmistakably a mare’s now, but despite losing the amplification of the echoing dungeon, had the strength of a large stallion’s. Celestia slid around the corner. Slipping on the marble, she slammed into the wall of the T-intersection. Celestia scrambled to her hooves and charged forward. Looking behind her as she intaked for her next scream, she plowed right into Luna — who had not so innocently stepped into her path. Luna wrapped her front legs around her sister’s neck and getting on top of her, pinned her wings. “Sister? Sister!” Luna saw in her eyes what she never thought possible, fear. Real fear. Like how many countless ponies ran in the opposite direction while the two of them charged forward over the long eons. Luna’s purple magic enveloped Celestia’s head. She stopped struggling and slumped down. But she still heard screaming. She turned and saw Twilight and the pegasus comforting Bulla. Luna looked back and saw the gate guards running around the corner shouting “Princess Celestia”. The scream had gotten the attention of the guard’s station and more were entering the hallway. Luna stepped forward. “I will care for Princess Celestia!” she said loudly, but short of her Canterlot voice, “Head into the dungeon and assist the ponies there!” The soldiers saluted and turned towards the dungeons. Luna turned and looked down at Celestia. She was crying in her sleep.