Guide You Home

by Magical Trevor


Chapter the Sixteenth

“And you talked me into this how, exactly?” Starlight asked, sighing as Rarity kept putting on and taking off various bits of clothing she had made over the course of several hours.

“Cause you bees a pushy-over!” Milky Way giggled, happily sitting on her sister’s back as she brushed her sister’s mane, following the quiet instructions of Rarity. “You dun knows how to say no!”

Turning to her left, the little filly spotted her new best friend, asking excitedly, “I can has muffen, Pinks? Is hard work using Mista Brushie-Brushies!”

“It’s Mister Brushie, dear, just one Brushie,” Rarity corrected idly, stepping back as she eyed Starlight critically. “Hmm, yes, that should do it... Though perhaps the shoes should be used for more formal events, this doesn’t look bad, but... What do you think, Milly dear?”

Using her magic, Rarity brought out a three-way mirror and set it in front of Milky Way and Starlight, leaving them both breathless. The first thing Starlight noticed was her mane. While it normally fell around and in front of her face to hide herself a bit, it was now more refined. Her bangs no did most of the hiding, which would allow a simple brush with a hoof to settle it above her eye, should she choose to. Her normally straight hair now had a slight curl at the end, making her think of an ocean wave starting to crest.

Next noticed was her precious shoes gone, a whimper barely restrained. In their place were... Well, she wanted to call them socks, but if they didn’t cover the hoof, then what were they? She had one on each leg, a brilliant light blue the same shade as her mane. The dress, if it could even be called that, looked more like a love child between a cape and a trenchcoat. It started just below her withers, covering her back, her flanks, and even a small part of her tail, flaring out and falling to the sides the further it went back. To keep it straight, the top had two leg-holes , allowing it to be tied together across her chest with a small string bow, creating a diamond shape.

“Hmm... Spread your wing, darling, I need to make sure it won’t get in the way of you flying around,” Rarity instructed, still analyzing her latest masterpiece.

Starlight complied absently, still staring at herself. Finally speaking up, she decided to ask her foal-hood friend, hoping she would be willing to tell her the truth without being prejudiced. “F-Fluttershy? What do you think?”

“O-oh, um, well,” Fluttershy murmured, wilting behind her mane a little bit. “I-I think that, um... Well, the hem could use some silver to make it not as plain, the stitching should have had twice as many if it’s expected to be worn while flying, and the material should have been from Haygyptian cotton to help keep her warm while flying at higher altitudes while keeping it light enough to fly with.” Having finished her piece, Fluttershy blinked, then hid behind her mane, mumbling, “But, um, I mean, it looks... nice.”

Starlight stared at the other pegasus, gaping for a moment, before saying, “Wow, that’s the most I’ve ever heard you say at once...”

“But what do you think, darling? I didn’t want to use Haygyptian cotton because I didn’t want to use expensive materials on a first attempt. I would, of course, be using Haygyptian cotton for the final version, but I wanted to make sure I got the right sizes down.”

“I-I don’t know,” Starlight said, pawing at the ground. “I mean, I don’t-”

Starlight was interrupted when the doors to the room opened, Princess Celestia walking in, followed by everypony else. “Ah, so there you are. Are you nearly finished, Rarity?”

“Ah, for the time being, yes, Princess,” Rarity answered with a bow, waiting a moment before standing again.

“What are you wearing, Star?” Starlight’s mother asked, deftly stopping her younger filly from running out of the room by catching her with a wing.

“Miss Rary maded Sona a pretty dress! See Mista Moony? What’cha think?”

Starlight fidgeted under the scrutiny of Moonstone’s stare, though she noticed that his eyes seemed rather blank. She glanced to her parents, though they seemed to be rather amused at Moonstone for some reason. After a moment more, he finally spoke, though nopony would have guessed the words that were about to come from his mouth.

“What’s with the clothes?”

In the silence that followed, there was a quiet clop as Digit Pi facehoofed heavily, barely restraining a moan. Starlight gaped for a moment before storming quietly to the door, stopping only briefly to deck Moonstone as hard as she could, growling, “Pervert!”

As she stormed out of the room, Rarity exclaimed, “The nerve! Saying he prefers a mare to be naked! And here I thought he was a gentlecolt!”

“Aren’t we normally naked anyway, Rares?” Applejack deadpanned, unamused.

“W-well, that’s not the point!” Rarity flustered, bouncing her coiffure with her hoof a few times.

“What... just happened?” Moonstone asked, absently holding a hoof to his face, his brain struggling to keep up with reality.

“Why is Sissy being such a meanie head to Mista Moony?” Milly asked, before turning to glare at the stallion. “Is you stupa or something? Yous supposta say she bees bootyful, not asking whai she gots clothses!”

“I... but... It was a perfectly valid question!” Moonstone protested, wilting under the glares of several mares. “Why is everypony so upset?!”

“You mean you weren’t implying that you thought my daughter looked better naked?” Serene Breeze asked, doing her best not to sound as upset as she was feeling.

“... Huh?”

Applejack frowned, walking over to stare into Moonstone’s eyes. As she stared at him, Moonstone felt more and more uncomfortable, until finally, he asked, “W-what?”

“Why did you ask why she had clothes?”

“Be... cause she hadn’t been wearing any before?” Moonstone answered, uncertain.

After another moment, Applejack smirked, trying and failing not to laugh. Turning to Digit Pi and Serene Breeze, she laughed, “Good luck teaching this one! He’s denser than Fluttershy is socially reclusive. Err, no offense, sugarcube.”

Fluttershy murmured her acceptance of the apology, her face a light pink. Moonstone looked around, ears flat against his skull. “W-what?”

After sighing, more to himself than anything, Digit Pi began to explain. “Clothes are... complicated to explain, Moonstone. When it’s something you grow up with, it’s difficult to explain what you said wrong. It... We don’t normally wear clothes, yes, but that’s why it’s ah... What I mean is, when you ask somepony to take their clothes off, it’s... suggesting that you want to... That is, well... roll in the hay.”

In the embarrassed silence that followed, a pin could have been heard dropped from a mile away. Moonstone looked around, before asking slowly, “And... what’s wrong with that?”

The mile extended all the way to Ponyville as he looked around, the others either embarrassed, outraged, or both. Everypony was silent until Milly piped up, admitting, “Milly bees confuzzled too. Rolling in hay ish fun! And it keeps the-the nasty bugses away! Whai is asking Sona to roll in hays a bad thing? She dun like to has fun?”

The facehoof was so loud, even Starlight, who was still fuming outside, heard it. As she slowly walked back, trying to make as little noise as possible, Digit Pi exclaimed, now with a hoof-mark across his face, “It’s an idium!”

“... Daddy, is not nice to call ponies idiots,” Milly pouted, crossing her forelegs as she looked up to her father with watering eyes. “Ish Milly an idiot too?”

“No, Milly, I said idiom, not idiot,” he said quickly, giving her a hug before looking to everypony else. “Look, how do you learn idioms?” He asked the rest of the room quickly, pointing to Milly. “You learn them based on when and where you hear them in society, right? Some phrases don’t have meaning until you’re older, because you don’t know it has a second meaning until someone tells you. So how would Moonstone know it, having travelled?”

Rarity was the first to recover, her reddened cheeks slowly returning to normal. “Ah, yes, well, I suppose that makes sense. So, Twilight, what all did you find out?” she continued, hoping to change the subject as smoothly as possible.

“Hmm? What? Oh, right,” the lavender unicorn replied, shaking her head to wake up. “Well, first, we-”

“And please, Darling, not to be rude, but keep it to simple Equestrian, please and thank you!” Rarity added, simpering.

After a half-hearted glare, Twilight picked up again. “First, it seems that there was an age curse placed on Moonstone, so we can assume that either it was powerful enough for Luna to miss it without magical and technical enhancements, or else Moonstone’s birthday was in the past several days. We can’t know, because Moonstone only remembers from the time he was anywhere between five and seven. Because of the curse, there’s no way of knowing exactly how much it affects Moonstone’s mind, or how easily the Nightmare can control him. Next, w-”

“Miss Sparklight? What bees age curse?” Milky Way asked, growing tired of having her raised foreleg ignored.

“An age curse is a complex curse that had great potency, but is also more easily curable before it can take effect because of the time needed,” Twilight started to lecture. “It is, in essence, a curse that doesn’t take effect until a pony comes of age, or certain conditions are met. Now, normally, removing a curse like this would be nearly impossible to remove once it has gotten to this stage, but with the Elements of Harmony, it should be relatively easy. The only negative we walk away with is, since the curse has already grown to maturity, we cannot analyze it in its entirety, so we can’t recreate it, nor can we make a perfect anti-curse.”

After a moment of silence, Milly spoke up, giggling, “You talks funny. You should, should learn how to speak normals, like me!”

“Ah-huh... anyway, after several more experiments, we discovered that the Nightmare doesn’t exactly reside in the brain so much as merges with the pony’s Ether leyline. In short, there’s nothing we can do with magic or potions to keep the Nightmare from coming, aside from those who have already been infected lending support of what the Elements of Harmony did to them, or the Elements of Harmony themselves.”

“So what are we doing, darling?” Rarity asked, absently using her magic to straighten the element around her neck.

“Well, we promised Pinkie Pie we could have the movie party, so with Princess Luna on standby to make sure that the Nightmare doesn’t take over Moonstone while we sleep, we’ll use the elements in the morning, make sure that it worked, and then we’ll be heading back home in time for dinner!”

“Wee! Ish party times! C’mon, Moony!”

Moonstone, still confused as to what rolling in the hay was ‘supposed’ to mean, allowed himself to be dragged by the small, though energetic, unicorn filly. “Hai sissy! Bai sissy!”

“Hi Lady Starlight,” Moonstone said quickly as he was dragged past the purple pegasus. “Sorry for calling you an idi-ouch! W-watch the hoof, Milly!”

Starlight blinked, watching her sister drag Moonstone along, noticing that he was having a rough time due to his cast weighing his leg down, making it harder for him to balance. “Milly, stop abusing Moonstone, that’s my job!”

“Oh. Sorry sissy!”

.o.O.o.

“Wee! A Movie Party in Canterlot, that’s a first for me!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed as she bounced along, leading the way back to the prepared party parlor. “Oh! I should totally write this down in my party diary to mark down the occasion, since I haven’t had a new party first for several weeks when we served brownies instead of muffins because we ran out somehow, and then officer Merry Wanna asked if-”

“Is she always this... energetic?” Serene asked Fluttershy.

“O-oh, um, yes, but it’s okay. You get used to it,” Fluttershy answered softly, smiling as the pink party pony kept talking energetically to Digit Pi, who was struggling to keep up with the conversation.

“... And then I said ‘Tacos? Are you crazy?! Pudding is a much better choice for’-”

“I see... Well, while I’m thinking about it, is there anything you want me to tell your mom tomorrow?”

Fluttershy looked down, scuffing a hoof as she tried to think of something to say, before settling on something simple. “I love her, and I hope she would come visit soon. Um, if she’s not too busy, that is. I wouldn’t want to impose...”

Milly, of course, was just as energetic, speaking as quickly as Pinkie Pie was. “Yay! Mobie times! Can we watch The Little Seapony? Please please please?! Ish the bestest mobie everer, aspecially when sissy sings wiv me!”

“O-oh, I don’t know about that, Milly, we’ve got guests,” Starlight said quickly, starting to imitate Fluttershy.

“So? That means more singing!” Pinkie shouted loudly, her eyes bright and her smile eerily wide. “Now come on, silly fillies! It’s time to get this party started!

“And thou wilt not wait for all of the guests to appear, Miss Diane Pie?”

“Course not, silly filly!” Pinkie giggled, poking Princess Luna on the snout. “We didn’t have to wait because I knew exactly when you were going to get here and there’s no point in wasting time if you know when somepony is supposed to show up and when a party should be started so that you can get the most-”

Pinkie Pie, oddly enough, interrupted herself, her eyes going wide as she jumped forty-two hooves into the air, gasping dramatically. “Ohmygosh! New pony!

“Hi I’m Pinkie Pie and I know you probably don’t know me but I’m the happiest most friendliest party pony in all of Equestria and I’ve never seen you before which means that I’ve never meet you before which means that we’re not friends and that’s really sad because Granny Pie said you can never have enough friends so do you wanna be my newest friend, doyadoyadoya?! Oh wait, you can’t be friends with somepony if you don’t know anything about them! Do you like muffins or cupcakes more?”

“... Yes.” The black mare had a twinkle in her eye as she answered, her green mane and tail shimmering in the twilight.

Pinkie landed, a slight frown on her face as she thought on that answer, turning to Shining Armour and Princess Cadance, who had entered alongside Luna. “Hmm...” She leaned forward into the strange mare’s personal space, but to the stranger’s credit, she only leaned backwards an inch or two, just enough so that they weren’t nuzzling, or anything socially awkward. “... That’s correct! I like you!”

“Thanks. It’s nice knowing that the elements don’t harbor any hate for me,” the black mare tittered.

“Indeed. I thought that Cadance and Captain Armour would still be harboring hatred for you over the staged invasion, but I suppose I did not give their forgiveness enough credit-”

“Wait,” Princess Cadance interrupted Luna, blinking. “Staged invasion? Invasion of what? What are you talking about?”

“Thou knows, the staged Canterlot invasion? The one where you were ‘fillynapped’?” Luna asked.

The black mare laughed nervously, slowly edging her way towards Princess Celestia, before Cadance finally snapped out of her stupor, exploding, “The Canterlot Invasion was staged?!

Princess Celestia had to restrain her giggling, having waited for this moment for months now. Putting on an overly-casual expression, she started to explain. “Well, yeah! Formal events at Canterlot are always really boring, right?”

She grinned widely, her foreleg looping around the black mare as she dragged her over, hugging her tight. “So we called up my girl Chrysalis to make things more memorable!”

Chrysalis had the decency to blush meekly. giving a small wave of her hoof.

“W-what?!” Cadance yelled, her her mane starting to fritz, her pupils shrinking. “I spent days in a dark, abandoned, underground cave!”

“Buuuut it was a memorable experience, wasn’t it?” Celestia egged on, her grin far wider than normal, the kind that said ‘Eh? Eh? Come on, you know you want to smile!’

“I-I...” Cadance began shaking, not noticing her husband’s attempts to console her. Her voice almost squeaking, she choked out, “I had to eat mice to survive!

Ignoring Fluttershy’s horrified gasp, Celestia crossed her forelegs, smiling smuggly. “I’m not hearing a ‘no’...”

“How could you?!” Twilight and Fluttershy both exclaimed, scandalized, though for different reasons.

Noticing that her niece was still in the middle of her break-down, told the rest of the group in confidence, “Don’t tell her, but the mice weren’t real. I just enchanted some fruit to look and sound like mice to help add to the experience. Clever, right?”

“So... she...” Twilight pointed at a very nervous Chrysalis, who was trying to smile casually, but was failing horribly.

“Yep! C’mon, Sally, you can change back to normal now.”

Rainbow Dash and Applejack started to charge for the changeling, but were stopped by a midnight blue field holding them in place. “Thou shouldst not react so hastily,” Luna reprimanded, throwing her sister an irritated glare afterwards. “It was entirely Celes’ idea, and ‘tis most unjust to punish Chrysalis when it was Celes who is to blame.”

Celestia blinked, before she narrowed her eyes, saying, “You can’t do that! That’s against the rules!”

“All’s fair in love and war, Celes,” Luna replied cheekily, sticking her tongue out. “Celes and I are engaged to do battle in some number of days. Wouldst thou care to join The New Lunar Republic Pranking Squad?”

“A... Prank war?” Rainbow Dash asked, trying to clarify what the lunar princess was saying. “A prank war between the princesses? HECK YEAH!”

“What do ah get if we win, and what’s gonna happen if ah’m on the losing team?” Applejack countered, narrowing her eyes.

“The other team becomes your personal servant for an entire day!” Luna cheered, enthused.

“Ah’m in!”

“Ha! Taketh that, Celes! Thy Celestial Queendom shall fall by our hoof, or die trying! Huzzah!”