//------------------------------// // Chapter the Seventeenth // Story: Guide You Home // by Magical Trevor //------------------------------// “No, no fighting, ish time for mobies!” Milky Way exclaimed, stomping a diminutive hoof on the ground. “Just cause you’s a pretty princess pony dun mean you gets to be a meanie head! We came here for a mobie, and if you dun wanna mobie, den you can go be meanies elsewhere!” “I am so confused,” Moonstone sighed to himself, sitting down wearily. “What happened that’s got everypony so... crazy?” Chrysalis snuck away from Celestia, sitting down nearby. “Well, I kidnapped Cay, impersonated her, and all in all, helped make her wedding day complete chaos...” As Starlight and Moonstone looked at her, though, her face broke out into an impish grin. “It was fun, though! Nopony ever gets to be evil without getting in huge trouble, right? Well I got to be evil, and not get in trouble at all!” “Wait, what was your name again?” Moonstone asked suddenly, his eyes widening. “Chrysalis, but everyone calls me-” While there were still several conversations going on, everypony paused when they heard the resounding smack from Moonstone’s good hoof hitting Chrysalis in a backslap. “That’s from Cocoon!” “Moonstone, stop it this-” Celestia was interrupted when Chrysalis interjected, “Wait, Cocoon? How do you know her?!” She rubbed her face with a hoof absently, even though the pain had already faded. “Long story short, I saved Pupa from some slavers, so she took me to her hive so they could reward me. Didn’t learn much about ponies, but-” “D-did they have a message for me?” Chrysalis asked excitedly. “Yeah, lemme make sure I say it exactly how they said it, though...” Moonstone frowned in deep thought, his eyes clouding over for a moment before beginning the message. “You moron! What were you thinking?!” “W-what kind of message is that?! I just wanted to go see the world, and that’s what-” “You left without saying goodbye?! Not even so much as a letter or anything? Pupa was worried sick for months, no thanks to you! You knew she looked up to you, so why did you leave without telling her?” Chrysalis opened her mouth to answer, but Moonstone kept talking. “No, don’t even try to give us that ‘but she’d want to go with me’ crap! You know that mother had more than enough safety spells placed on Pupa’s room that she wouldn’t have been able to get out if she tried to follow you! You have no excuse, young changeling! Be glad it’s me giving the message, and not our mother, or you’d never hear the end of it! Now you get your fat, scaly butt to the nearest post office and write us a frelling letter! Dren,” Moonstone cursed, glaring at Chrysalis. “Of all the sisters in the world, we had to get the moron with lust for adventure...” Everypony in the room stared at Moonstone, blinking as they tried to comprehend the conversation. Crysalis blinked again, but was cut off as Moonstone snuck in, “P.S, Pupa says she loves you very, very much, even if you’re a stinky plot-face, and get back here already so she can show you her new tricks. Love, Cocoon and Pupa.” After several second of silence, Celestia asked softly, “You have sisters and you never told me?” “I-I... W-well... I had to protect them,” she said softly, looking down. “Just because you took a shine to me didn’t mean you’d like my family as well, and wouldn’t...” “Come on, Sally, you know me better than that,” Celestia said sadly, disappointed. “I know that now,” Chrysalis snapped, not quite meeting Celestia’s gaze. “But I couldn’t tell you once I found out, because then you’d be disappointed in me for not trusting you before, and then this would happen, and I didn’t want it to happen, so I never said anything...” “Ah’m more lost than an Apple at a Banana family reunion,” Applejack confessed, closing her eyes tightly as she massaged her head in an attempt to encourage her brain to work faster. “Well, you’re doing better than the egg-head family is,” Rainbow Dash smirked, looking at Twilight, Shining Armour and his wife. The lavender mare was frozen where she sat, her eyes glazed over. She blinked robotically, hardly- “Are you guys kidding? This is super-duper-ultra-special-awesome-amazingness!” Pinkie Pie shouted suddenly, pulling all of the ponies, plus one changeling, into a massive group hug, snapping everyone out of their stupors. “Now we can have a ‘Woo-hoo, changelings aren’t really bad guys and we can be friends now!’ party, and they can tell us all about how to change shapes and colors, and we can teach them all about how not to be such meanie heads and crashing parties and stuff, and it’s going to be super duper huper levels of FUN! Quick, Dashie, I need a pinata STAT!” Milly, being the smallest of the group, slid out of Pinkie’s grasp, objecting. “No! No pine a toss, ish time for mobie! Stop ignoring mobie time!” “We agree,” Luna interjected, sitting her royal tush on a large throw pillow, laying down into a comfortable position. “We came to relax, not converse about Sally’s family.” “Well that’s a bit blunt,” Digit muttered to his wife. “So will my hoof to your head if you don’t watch what you say in front of the princesses and their guests,” his wife hissed through her smile, grateful that nopony had heard her husband. Celestia noticed Shining Armor helping Cadance out of the room, who, frankly, looked as if she were having a breakdown similar to Twilight when late. “Yayifications!” Milly cheered, ignorant of the couple leaving as she practically turned into a mini-tornado as she started pushing and shoving ponies to different seats, while forcing them away from several other cushions, protesting, “No, those bees for Sissy, you dun get to sit there!” “Has she been taking lessons from Pinkie Pie or something?” Dash asked over her shoulder as the filly moved at speeds that shouldn’t have been possible. “Well of course, silly filly!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed, grinning widely. “I told her, ‘Just listen to your aunt Pinkie, and I’ll show ya things you ain’t ever seen!’ She was really excited, so then we-” “Pop-py-corns! Pop-py-corns!” Milly started to chant excitedly, her eyes growing wide as the watched the bags of popcorn begin to cook. “Oh! I love this game!” Pinkie clapped her hooves excitedly as she watched next to the unicorn filly. “Do you ever try to guess how many popcorn kernels will pop and how many won’t?” “Well duh,” Milly said with all the tact of an anvil. “Who doesn’t?!” “Oo! I guess 16 won’t pop!” Pinkie said, watching her bag eagerly. “I fink that eleventeen bees my number!” Milly countered, now determined. “You’re both wrong,” Starlight said calmly, watching a third bag with a bored look on her face. “It’s nine.” “Neigh, tis only six, We art most certain!” Luna guessed, teleporting in front of a fourth microwave, wishing to learn more about what games ‘modern’ ponies played. “Can I play too?” Chrysalis asked, wandering over. Milly’s eyes widened as she had a horrible, dangerous thought... “Miss pretty princess Woona? Can I bees on the-the ‘Public thingy?” “You mean The New Lunar Republic? Art thou certain?” “Yush! Now, Miss Sally? Yous can make youself look like anypony, right?” .o.O.o. “Yayifications! The poppycorns has been doubleded!” the two Milky Way’s voices echoed at the top of their lungs, running back to Princess Celestia, both grinning impishly. “See? Bet’cha can’t guess which one a us is the real Milly!” Celestia blinked, looking at the two fillies in front of her, before smiling wryly. “Oh really? Because I seem to remember I promised Sally a certain something would happen if I ever caught her imitating one of my little ponies without my permission...” “What did she promises?” the Milly on the left whispered to the one on the right. “I dunno, I was gonna askify the same thing!” the second Milly hissed back, confused. “Ha! Gotcha, Sally!” Celestia exclaimed, pouncing on the second Milly, pulling her close. “Now, the spell...” “Hey! Wat you bees doing to Sally? Put her down, you big meanie!” the first Milly shouted, beating her hooves against the solar princess. “Woona’s gonna beat you up if you don’t put down Miss Sally!” Celestia’s horn glowed a bright yellow, flashing over the Milly in her arms, revealing... “Wait, what?” Both of the Milky Ways collapsed, giggling helplessly as Princess Luna sang, ~You just got praaa-aaanked!~ “But... how did...” Celestia blinked, before allowing a smile to grow once more. “Very clever, Sally. Did you and Milky Way have time to plan that or something?” “Yush! We bees super duper luper smart!” the ‘first’ Milly exclaimed, smiling happily. “She has an incredibly quick mind,” Chrysalis admitted, changing into a black alicorn mare a bit smaller than Celestia. “She would have made an amazing changeling queen one day, if she were a changeling.” Milly gasped, asking quickly, “I can bees a princess one day?!” “Little one, didst thou not wish to watch a movie?” Luna asked, attempting to save her sister from the hyperactive filly. “What movie art thou going to pick for us to enjoy?” Milly, still being a young filly with the attention span of a newt, was easily diverted onto the new topic, rushing off to grab one of the movies from inside her parent’s saddle-bags. “Ha! Take that, Celes! Thou now owest us a favour, and We hath already struck the Queendom an early blow! Huzzah!” Luna taunted her sister, nimbly dodging the half-hearted swipe her sister swung at her. As Chrysalis settled down next to Celestia, the latter grumbled, “You’re in trouble, missy.” “Oh? But I thought you liked making your little ponies happy,” the changeling shot back, grinning. “I know you love a good prank, Tia, but you have to learn how to accept being pranked as well.” Celestia muttered darkly as the lights dimmed, followed by Moonstone’s questioning of said darkening, before getting shushed by several ponies. Moonstone had been forced to sit, by Milky Way, next to Starlight on her injured side, as Milly burrowed her way into her sister’s wing, wrapping it tightly around herself like a blanket. After several tense seconds, Moonstone started to stammer an apology about the clothes, only for Starlight to reply, “It’s fine, forget it.” As Moonstone was about to speak again, he jumped when a projector started whirring, the movie starting to show on one of the large stone walls. As the movie began, a large lion head appeared, roaring ferociously. The lion was promptly silenced in the resounding explosion brought on by Moonstone’s magic blasting the stone behind, cursing, “What in Tartarus is a lion doing here?! Get back!” Luckily, with Celestia in charge of the remote via her magic, the movie was instantaneously paused as half of the room burst into laughter at Moonstone’s response to the movie before it even began properly, the other half shying away from him as his magic was still fully charged, ready to shoot more raw magic at the lion. “Erm, We think perhaps it might be wise to spend a few minutes explaining what a movie is and how they work,” Luna suggested awkwardly, fixing the scorch mark on the stone with a wave of her magic. .o.O.o. After an explanation that mostly went over Moonstone’s head, if his expression was anything to go by, and a promise from said stallion not to use his magic anymore so long as the princesses were there as well, the movie proper was able to start. Milly joined in the opening number’s song enthusiastically. Starlight’s ear twitched as her sister did her best, though off-key notes made Starlight cringe ever so slightly. Moonstone watched with a quizzical expression, but tried to relax, despite the ponies on the screen being larger than life. Starlight fidgeted where she lay, noting Moonstone’s expressions, unsure of what to do. With a sigh, she scooted over a little closer so she could whisper explanations to him as to what everything was, and what it was used for. Right away, she had to explain what Hoofywood was, and why everypony was dressed strangely. As the first real song started to play, Fluttershy’s wings buzzed slightly as she exclaimed softly, “I like this one!” Moonstone’s ear twitched in time to the music as he watched the butter-colored pegasus clop her hooves on the floor quietly as she sang along with the song, noting that Milky Way was also singing along. After a moment of thought, he whispered to Starlight, inquiring, “Is it normal to sing along? Am I supposed-” “Only if you already know the words,” Starlight interrupted him quietly, too caught up in the music to realize that her head was bobbing along. Moonstone fell silent as he watched the two dancing stallions somehow managing to play the violin at the same time, stunned. ‘Is that even possible? Nopony else seems to be saying anything, so maybe it is...’ As the movie progressed, everypony began to relax, and Celestia even allowed them to pause the movie on occasion to explain something to Moonstone, as well as let everypony stay stocked on refreshments. Ironically, a musical about how the movie industry changed from silent to ‘talkies’ was possibly one of the best movies that could have been shown to Moonstone first, as it, to an extent, showed how and why movies were made. However, it did bring up some rather... awkward questions. “So they were ‘wrestling’ behind the couch?” Moonstone questioned, eyes furrowed. “Y-yeah,” Starlight said, failing to hide her growing blush. “And it’s... normal for mares and stallions to wrestle? Why did they hide it behind the couch, then?” “It’s... normal when you’re married, sure,” Digit amended, trying to save his daughter some embarrassment. “... But they weren’t married. It was a stuffed pony thing,” Moonstone deadpanned, so confused. The other mares were red in the face, from embarrassment or from trying not to laugh, it was hard to tell. Starlight’s face was getting darker and darker, her voice reduced to Fluttershy levels of quiet and stuttering. “They bees stupid,” Milly declared firmly, reminding everypony that there was a filly in their midst, and should be more careful what they said or explained. “Anypony can, can wrestle wiv anypony! See? You just tries to be the one on the-the very tippy top, and you win!” “A-anyway,” Starlight said quickly, her face still ablaze with a furious blush. “It’s time for you to pick the last movie before bed time, Milly.” “But ~Sissy~, I isn’t tireded yet! I can watch moar mobies!” the little filly protested, using her puppy eyes futilely. “Well tough,” came the heartless reply. “We can watch more later, but for tonight, only one more.” ~Awww...~ Milly made her way slowly to her parents’ saddlebags to pick out a second movie, ruffling through them for a moment, before lighting up excitedly. “Yush! We’s gonna watch dis one!” “The Little Seapony?” Moonstone read haltingly, trying to remember his lessons from earlier. “Yush! It’s the-the bestest mobie ever!” Milly exclaimed with wide eyes, stretching her forelegs to show just how awesome the movie was. Moonstone blinked, and then shattered the poor filly’s mind with his statement. “That’s not what a Sea Pony looks like, though...” “Wh-what?” “It doesn’t... A Sea Pony doesn’t have all of... that,” the stallion waved vaguely at the cover-art. “They-” “You’ve seen a Sea Pony before?!” half of the room exclaimed, getting up eagerly. “... Hasn’t everypony?” “But... they’re just a myth,” Twilight tried to reason out, struggling to understand. “They’re just legends, nothing more! Besides, they only supposedly appeared to virg... Ohhhhh...” Twilight blinked, her face slowly turning maroon. “A-anyway...” “They only appear to what?” Moonstone inquired, his head tilting to the side. “Movie!” Starlight exclaimed, her face also turning a more delicate shade of pink. “If we don’t get started soon, then Milly won’t be able to watch all of it before she has to go to bed!” “What?! No, not teh beds!” the little filly gasped, nearly breaking the movie as she tried to set a new record for inserting and starting a movie. “We gots ta watch mobie! All of you shushify! Ish singing times!” The little filly bounced up and down eagerly as the lights were dimmed once more, the movie showing several different companies that helped create the cinematic, before several seagulls appeared from the darkness, a cloudy sky appearing behind them. Music began to play, several unseen stallions joining in song moments later. Moonstone watched in rapt attention as a fish a stallion was holding slipped overboard, swam as fast as it could towards the ocean floor, then heaved a sigh of relief as it realised it was safe. The movie continued, though with fewer questions from Moonstone as the previous movie had. As the camera zoomed in on a lonely undersea cavern, the title’s name-sake laying on a rock, depressed, as her fish-friend tried to cheer her up. As the music in the movie began to play for the main character to sing, Moonstone was startled when Starlight began to sing. He had noticed her singing earlier, but she had always been so soft he didn’t really notice. Now she was singing normally, though she wasn’t really paying attention to the movie, as she was playing with Milky Way. One by one, everypony abandoned the screen in favour of watching and listening Starlight as she played with Milly, singing along to the movie, completely oblivious to her crowd. As the song ended, however, and she stopped playing with her sister, she looked up. ”Meep!” Starlight proceeded to hide behind Moonstone, as he was the nearest large obstacle between herself and the rest of the ponies with their judgmental stares and opinions. “Well... I guess we know why her name is Sonata now,” Rarity commented, blinking. “I know, right?” Pinkie Pie exclaimed, her eyes wide as she started bouncing around, waving her forelegs wildly as she gestured. “I mean first I was all like ‘Starlight. That must mean she’s really good at seeing in the dark, right?’ And then I was all ‘No, that doesn’t make much sense,’ and then I reminded myself that we don’t have cents, because we’ve been using bits for forever now, so that joke is so old by now, and then I started to wonder how old she was, because I need to start planning her birthday party already, since we don’t know when her last one was, and we can’t just wait until next year, because that’s a long time to wait for a birthday party! And then-” “Idea!” Rarity sang, grinning as she stood up and trot over to Starlight. “When I was making your new outfit, you objected, saying that you didn’t have enough bits, yes? While I still stand by my word that it’s a gift, would you think about coming down to Ponyville to give my sister a singing lesson or two? She has great promise, but her, *ahem* volume control leaves much to be desired at times.” Starlight blinked, trying to process what had been said to her. “You... wait... Huh? You want me to give your sister singing lessons? Wouldn’t she be better off learning from a professional? I’m just... I’m not very good! I doubt I could teach her much, if anything, honestly.” “Oh pish-tosh,” Rarity said dismissively, waving her hoof around. “I’m sure that you at least know the basics, and some beginner music terms, yes? Even teaching her what the notes are called would be a great help, and put her in a better position once she is ready for professional tutoring. Please? I’m not asking for a yes or no right now, I’d just like you to think about it. If it’s too much to ask, then I’m sorry for putting you on the spot like this.” “O-okay...” As Starlight’s blush began to diminish, Celestia cleared her throat, waving the remote around. “Now that everypony is done gawking at the impromptu solo... Shall I continue?” Chrysalis bopped Celestia on the head, chiding, “Don’t be rude!” When Celestia turned to the black mare, unamused, Chrysalis promptly turned into Celestia, and put on a pair of glasses she appeared to pull out of nowhere. “You wouldn’t hit yourself while wearing glasses, would you?” Celestia blinked, frowned in thought for just a second, before grinning. Summoning a pair of reading glasses from her desk, she put them on, and then proceeded to bop Sally right back, sticking her tongue out impishly. Sally, now with broken glasses, frowned as the movie began to play, sulking, “Well played...” .o.O.o. “She has to get him to kiss her, and she can’t speak? How is she supposed to do that?” Moonstone questioned quietly, musing to himself. “Oh! I know! Does she write it out?” he asked eagerly, proud of himself for having figured out such a simple solution to the problem. “Ah course not, Moony!” Milly chided, shaking her head at the uneducated stallion. “She liveded under the waters her whole long life! How she know how to write an stuffs? Now shushify, the bestest song is coming up!” Pinkie Pie gasped, her eyes shining as she turned to her friends with a mischievous smile. Whispering quietly, she quickly explained her plan. “I, um, I don’t know, Pinkie. Don’t you think that might be a little, well, intrusive and assuming?” Fluttershy mumbled, rubbing one foreleg against another. “Don’t be ridiculous, Darling, it’s a brilliant, romantic idea!” Rarity sighed, her eyes sparkling. “I... guess I can go along with that, sure,” Twilight agreed softly, taking a quick drink of water. “Ah’m game.” “Okie Doki Poki! Just follow my lead, girls! We can do this!” Pinkie Pie said with conviction, her eyes burning brightly. Moonstone watched as the boat with the now non-sea pony and her love interest floated down the river, the sea pony’s seneschal lamented to himself that time for the kiss was running out, before he had an idea. He swam over to some turtles, starting to sing. ~Percussion~ Moonstone’s ear twitched, as he heard Pinkie Pie singing along, though instead of turtles, crickets, and reeds, she was ordering her different friends to the tasks. Moonstone blinked as the premier pink party pony from Ponyville began to pipe along, hopping near Moonstone, Starlight, and Milly, her eyelids lowered suggestively as she sang along. While Moonstone tried to process what was going on, Starlight was slowly piecing everything together, her eyes growing wider as her blush deepened. When she heard her father’s bass singing along behind her, her face turned completely red as she buried her muzzle under her forelegs, only to be dragged back out by Milly, who didn’t understand what was going on, and wanted her to sing as well. Celestia, Luna, and Sally all looked at each other, then back to the element, and then back to the heavily blushing Starlight and oblivious Moonstone. Luna looked back to her sister and grinned maliciously. Celestia cut her off quickly, lecturing, “No, no meddling in their personal lives!” As Luna opened her mouth again, Celestia added, “And no dragging or telling Cadance about this, either!” Luna pouted for a moment, before she realized one tiny little loop hole. Just because she couldn’t tell or drag Cadance into this personally, that didn’t mean that Cadance wouldn’t see it for herself and do something about it. So all I have to do is get Cadance to be around them enough, and she’ll do it on her own! Huzzah! Sally smiled to herself, singing along with the elements as she plotted a scheme, and schemed a plot. Moonstone looked back and forth between the movie, the singing mares, and the madly blushing Starlight, trying to piece everything together. It was a slow process, but pieces were slowly coming together in the right order. Moonstone could practically see the answer dancing just out of reach. He slowly reached forward, metaphorically speaking, his hoof just about to grasp the answer. CRASH Several windows shattered instantly from the force of wind rushing against them, showering Moonstone’s hastily erected barrier. While everypony else shakily standing up, looking to the princesses for direction, Moonstone rushed outside, his magic charged. Everypony else joined him a moment later, as he didn’t know which direction to head first. “Twilight, make sure the Elements of Harmony are ready for use,” Celestia ordered, leading the way towards the garden. “I don’t want to jump to conclusions, but that magic felt like-” “I command you to follow my orders! That was our deal!” a crazed voice yelled from around the corner. “Ah ah ah, Lord Delirious Mynd, I said I would think about it,” a jovial voice replied, continuing, “and after thinking about it for all of one second, I highly doubt that killing somepony will put me back in Celestia’s good graces. I might be Chaotic, but stupid or reckless are not adjectives I would care much to associate myself with.” “Discord?!” “Ah, speak of the Angel, and she appears! Hello, Celestia, did you miss me?”