//------------------------------// // Hush Now, Quiet Now // Story: The Friendship Inception // by Schrodinger's Pony //------------------------------// Chapter Six: Hush Now, Quiet Now Courage is the magic that turns dreams into reality -Aster & Richter Abend Sweetie Belle took a deep breath. “Hush now, Quiet now!! It's time to lay sleepy head!! Said, Hush now, Quiet now!! It is time to go to bed!!” She sang in front of the entire royal house of Canterlot. Princess Celestia was in tears, and she was right to be. She stood tall in front of them, on legs longer and more slender then Princess Unity’s, dressed in a Rarity original of sapphires, satin, and silk. Everypony always commented on her singing. A lot of them outright told her to stop crusading because it was obvious singing was her special talent. They treated her like she was some ignorant foal or something. Well guess what? She tried that already! She loved singing, and she wished singing was her special talent. But just because she was good at something didn’t make it the thing she was best at. Still, here she was, in front of Princess Celestia, and right now nobody could tell her what her cutie mark should or shouldn’t be, because she knew what she would be when she got it; She would be an artiste. Just like her sister. She finished her solo, and took a bow as all of Canterlot applauded. They all loved her singing. Especially Celestia! She was crying! in fact... she was crying so hard that her tears had begun to flood the auditorium with water, and after a particularly enthusiastic clap from Applebloom's big brother, it turned into a wave of water advancing straight at her from the back of the auditorium. “Oh no.” Sweetie moaned as the water engulfed her. “Rarity’s gonna have a fit…” -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sweetie Belle gasped and woke up, trying to shake off the shock of cold rainwater. She found herself in an unceremonious barrel with her ‘best friends’ smiling at her. “All right! You’re awake!” Scootaloo cheered. “And wet.” Sweetie pointed out. “We had to wake you up somehow!” Applebloom was quick to explain. “We thought you were just faking, but when we tried to wake you up after Spike didn’t believe us, we figured out you had the ACTUAL mysterious sleeping disease!” “Oh no!” Sweetie gasped. “I’ve caught the virus! What if I’m Patient Zero for some sort of sleepwalking zombie pony plague!?” “Y’all have been spending too much time with Scootaloo.” Applebloom muttered. “Nu-uh!” Scootaloo snorted. “Everypony knows that zombie ponies don’t sleepwalk. They sort of…” She mimicked the way a zombie pony would move, sort of shambling along, using her wings to steady herself on her hind hooves. “But if Zombies don’t sleepwalk, how come ponies that go to sleep have Z’s?” Sweetie Belle asked. Scootaloo pondered. “You know… you’re right… maybe…” “No!” Applebloom cut her off. “No maybes. Every time you say ‘maybe’ we end up covered in tree saps and no closer to... our… cutie mark. Sweetie Bell! Your cutie mark!” “What?” Sweetie Belle looked at her flank. It was a blank as ever. “No no!” Applebloom shook her head. “I mean when you looked up cutie marks in the library you said that unicorns often get a burst of magic relatin’ to their cutie marks! What if this was that burst of magic! What if this is some sort of fancy sleeping spell!?” “You think so?” Sweetie Belle’s eyes grew wide and she stared adoringly at her flank. “Do you know what this means!?” Scootaloo chirped excitedly. “Girls, we have to go to sleep! For Sweetie Belle!” “Woah, woah, woah!” Applebloom held up her hooves. “Wait a second. Remember when our sisters told us to tell them before we do anything big?” “Oh, come on.” Scootaloo scoffed. “We’re trying to get Cutie Marks in sleeping. What could go wrong?” “No, no, Applebloom’s right.” Sweetie Belle emerged dripping from the barrel of rainwater. “This is too big. We need an adult to witness this momentous occasion, and go tell Pinkie to prepare a party while we’re passed out from the glory of running around in circles of never-ending joy.” “But Rarity and Pinkie Pie both have the sleeping disease!” Scootaloo protested. “And so is Applejack and Rarity! And… and… adults are all useless!” “We… could… get Spike?” Sweetie Belle suggested. “He ain’t an adult.” Applebloom groused. Scootaloo beamed. “Hey, if you want an adult… how about we go get Doctor Whooves?” “Doctor who?” Sweetie Belle asked. “He’s a time-travelling alien that looks like a pony, and he’s taking a galactic vacation right here in Ponyville!” Scootaloo beamed, proud of her idea. “I’ll bet he’s got loads of ideas on dreaming cutie marks!” “I think you’ve been spending too much time around Question Mark.” Applebloom shook her head. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Shining Armor was distraught over the news of his sister. And even more distraught when he was told Dr. Pie was the one being brought in. To save her. Thankfully, he’d be going in too. And he’d have Big Mac at his side. He wanted Rainbow Dash’s brother, Soarin’, to be brought in too. But Soarin’ was serving Princess Celestia in the donkey lands down south, and wouldn’t be able to come back in time to help. So it would just be the four of them; two concerned older brothers, one Alicorn princess, and the most prolific serial murderer in all of Equestria. The odds weren’t good. He rolled Dr. Pie into the office in a state-of-the-art penitentiary class wheeled slab. He wore a muzzle, because as Shining Armor discovered his had a very strong mouth. He was strapped down as tight as the restraints could get without crushing the pony’s skeleton. And still Shining Armor was apprehensive. Big Mac and Princess Luna were already in the room, preparing to cast the spell. A crystal orb shone in the middle, as Princess Celestia looked on. “Ah, Shining Armor, you’re here.” Shining Armor bowed low, and grimaced when the voice at his side chimed in. “It’s good to see you too Princess.” Celestia looked with distaste at Dr. Pie. “Yes… I suppose so. Now, if my Sister will cast her spell…” “Actually, I do have a condition of employment!” Dr. Pie piped up, glancing meaningfully at Shining Armor. Celestia frowned at him. “He wants to be released, doesn’t he?” “No your majesty.” Shining Armor shook his head, wondering how to phrase what came next. “We both knew you wouldn’t allow it. He… wanted to ask you a question.” The silence in the room was palpable. Dr. High Hopes scribbled BAD IDEA! on his notepad. Princess Luna and Big Mac shared a look. Shining Armor watched his princess’ face intently as she studied Dr. Pie, measuring him up, mentally rehearsing all of the ‘politically correct answers’ she gave to the press, and adjusting them to answers somepony like Dr. Pie would believe, considering all of the questions he could considerably ask… Holy Celestia, she was considering it! “Your majesty, I advise against it.” Shining Armor said hastily. “And if Twilight got stuck in Limbo, you would be willing… able… to kill her?” Celestia asked. “I promise, I won’t play with her first.” Dr. Pie spoke up. “You can ask my friend Hope, my word is my bond. If one of the elements get caught in Limbo, I will set the free quickly and painlessly. If the Princess answers my question.” He smiled. “I hope you don’t think me uncouth for this Princess. But as you can imagine, one does not get leverage on royalty many times in a lifetime, and it’s best to capitalize on the experience when it happens.” Shining Armor was even more on edge, but at least he was reassured about Twilight. As Dr. Hope hastily scribbled, Pie’s word was his bond. He’d interacted with him enough times to know that. But just because he wouldn’t ‘play with’ Twily, didn’t mean he wouldn’t hurt the Princess. Celestia nodded. “Ask your question.” She said, Dr. Pie seemed to relish the moment. Then he asked his question. “Tell me Princess; your student has been in danger before, has she not? You sent her to deal with Nightmare Moon, and then Discord. After dealing with two angry unleashed gods… why are you so terrified at the prospect of her facing an ordinary unicorn?” Shining Armor knew that the blank poker face Celestia put on meant that the question had stunned her. He was fairly certain Luna and Pie knew it as well. “Many have wondered about your connection with your prized student.” Dr. Pie smiled. “Not that I believe for a moment she’s secretly your daughter or lover. If you do see her those ways, you have a pretty poor way of showing it. You seem to trust her with your kingdom, but closer inspection reveals that you’ve used and manipulated her at every turn, weaving a web of lies. I’ve talked to my niece Pinkie. I can almost understand not telling her the fate of the world depended on her friendship the night Nightmare returned. She may have started immediately holding auditions for friendship, ensuring the Elements went to those with the passing grades. But why would she be afraid to tell you the fate of your pet? Why would she panic at the thought of reporting to you late? Why does she fear you? And why, why now, do you fear for her life when she has toppled gods?” Shining Armor stood stoically, even though he was reeling inside. He’d often asked himself the same question, but he wasn’t about to let Celestia give an answer if it meant giving in to this madstallion. “Your majesty…” “Oh hush Captain.” Celestia stood regally and stared down Dr. Pie. “That was four questions, but I’ll answer your original one. When Twilight first became my apprentice, she had difficulty controlling her magic. Once or twice, there were accidents that left her or somepony else grievously injured. She managed to control herself with more ease when I promised her I would always be there for her. And I always have been. When I couldn’t be there to help her defeat my sister, I allowed the Elements to be passed on to protect her. When Discrod trapped me, I sent her letters. I will go to Tatarus for her, as she has done once for me. And now, when somepony like you is threatening her, I will send only the best to be with her.” “I’m flattered.” Dr. Pie nodded gratefully. “You are not one of my best.” Princess Celestia came as close to snarling as a princess could. “If all goes according to the plan, you will not even see her, and if you become force to… use your skills, she will not see you and it will be quick and painless, are we clear?” Dr. Pie nodded his head politely. “Of course your majesty. Do try to understand, I really am a good pony, provided I’m not hunting you, and I mean neither of you any harm. In fact, if I may… perhaps the reason she’s so scared of you is because you’re constantly smothering her so. I realize the element of Loyalty takes her vows seriously, but perhaps if you were to let her deal with the next threat to Equestria by herself, and let her know you trust her instead of just sending her in danger’s direction and planning things so she would come ahead without telling her, your relationship could be much improved –” Celestia stared at Dr. Pie, as shining Armor quickly engaged the mask’s muffler. Even Armor had to admit it was good advice, but there was no way he was letting him get any foothold on the princess. “Your majesty, don’t listen to a word he says. Let’s just do this, and quickly.” Princess Celestia closed her mouth, and nodded. She gave Luna the okay, and the other Princess began to weave her spell, her horn glowing a soft blue… -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Shining Armor crawled out of the surf of a vast sandy beach. The waves crashed behind them, and an endless wall of fog stretched in front of them. “Limbo.” Princess Celestia declared, wringing out her mane. “Mind yourselves. We are going up.” She looked around. “… Pie! Doctor Pie!” “I’m here.” The Doctor said. He emerged from the fog. On his hat was a fedora, and he wore a tattered red and green sweater. On one of his hooves, an imitation of a dragon’s claws rested; the five precisely sharpened claws ‘clacking’ on the ground as he trotted around. “And I’ll be here for years while you sort things out.” He laughed a throaty laugh, embracing his freedom. “What’s with the clothes?” Big Mac asked. “Those are what he wears when he hunts.” Shining Armor explained, feeling sick. “’Hunt’ is not exactly the right word for what I do.” Dr. Pie said. Somewhere in the fog, a mare screamed. “But I do intend to keep myself busy between solving your problems.” Dr. Pie retreated, the flash of pearly white teeth the last thing that the trio saw as he disappeared into the mist. “Ta!” Shining Armor shivered. Princess Luna rested a comforting wing on him. “Mind yourself.” She repeated. “We’re going up.” -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Alone in the Library, Spike kept up monitoring his friends. He’d brought up every single thing from Twilight’s lab that looked fancy and could be hooked up to a pony, especially the ones with the blinking lights and the electrodes. He’d just finished hooking up Pinkie Pie to the device Twilight tried to use to measure her Pinkie Sense, when the doors slammed open again. “Spike!” Scootaloo rushed in on her scooter, dragging the other Crusaders and an unconscious stallion on the wagon behind her. “Girls!” Spike began to scold them. “I told you, Twilight and Rarity are in serious trouble right now and I… who is that and why is he unconscious?” The stallion was an average brown, with an hourglass cutie mark, hair sticking up in all directions. Applebloom nudged him a bit. “Yeah… we were trying to find an adult, and there was this thing with apples, and a tree fell on him, somepony said he had a ‘kong cushion’ and we couldn’t take him to the hospital ‘cause the tree fell on that too… so we brought him here! Now quickly, Sweetie Belle’s gonna earn her Cutie Mark by saving Twilight an’ the others.” “What.” Before Spike could even begin to formulate an answer, Sweetie Belle’s horn began to glow the familiar blue of a familiar spell. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- “Spike could you get the door!” “Sure thing Twilight!” The Crusaders stood eagerly at the door when it opened. “Spike!” Sweetie Belle clapped. “It worked! The spell worked! And… you’re not Spike.” The colt who stood at the door was about their age. He was purple, and his mane was curly and two shades of green much like Sweetie Belle. His horn poked out over the long mane that he had to blow out of his eyes. His cutie mark was that of a book and quill with color coded tabs poking out of the pages. “What do you mean?” He asked. “Of course I’m Spike.” “Well that’s great.” The brown coated stallion staggered up to him. “I have one more question then… just one. Who am I?” -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Question Mark stuttered and stammered. He had been so sure. He had been SO! SURE! He’d heard the rumors. He knew everypony thought he was some jelly obsessed freak. But WHEN THE CONSPIRACY CAME TO LIGHT THEY WOULD THANK HIM!!! There were fives types of Jelly in this world; Strawberry, Rasberry, Peach, Apricot, and CELESTIA’S PERSONAL CONSPIRACY JELLY!!! IT TASTES LIKE PONIES AND LIES!!! But now he was in the subconscious mind of the enemy! The one pony devastating enough to claim the royalty’s attention! CELESTIA’S SECRETE WEAPON!!! IF SHE DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT THE CUPBOARDS THEN WHO WOULD!!!??? WHO WOULD!!!??? And if there was no conspiray… then… what was the point? Why had he been hiding in jelly all these years to prevent his mind from being scanned? Why had he been moving town every few years? Why had he spent seven months learning the ancient art of Shippoku (learning to see the connections between ponies, often used to sense romantic connections, but he used it to see the conspiracy. A pity Sensei declared him ‘delusional’ and kicked him out of the monastery)? Why had he ever done anything? Why? Was he really just seeing things to explain why nopony seemed to like him? Why? Was he really just latching onto any theory that would help him push other ponies away? Why? Was he… The moment of introspection was ruined when Trixie ran into him. “Mark!” She pulled him along. “This way!” “It was only then that Mark realized that there was a high-pitched battle going on behind him. “What’s happening?” Mark asked. “We’ve been betrayed!” Trixie explained, out of breath. “One of us told them we were coming! They were prepared!” Of course. OF COURSE!!! “They knew we were coming!” Question Mark exclaimed. “That’s why Twilight didn’t know about the Conspiracy! She was just pretending!” Trixie looked away. “Um… right.” "But this means…” Question Mark rounded on her. “Who is the traitor?” “Uhhhh… I don’t know!” Trixie confessed. “I’m trusting you with this because you obviously have the best investigative skills of our villainous dynamic.” Question Mark nodded. “Alright. You can count on me Trixie, I’ll weed out the traitors in our midst.” “I only said there was one…” Trixie thought a bit. “… Good thinking Mark. I’d better teleport back before they get suspicious.” And in a blinding flash she was gone. And Question Mark was filled with a new sense of purpose. The conspiracy did exist! He wasn’t crazy! He was betrayed… betrayed by one of his new allies. Well. His resolve would not weaken like that. He would stay loyal to the cause! If it was the last thing he did, HE WOULD EXPOSE THE CONSPIRACY TO ALL OF EQUESTRIA!!!”