“Oh hi, you make some friends?” Cadence said when Twilight entered her tower with Dash and Fluttershy in tow. The mare had been playing around with Spike. Apparently she was looking for him in a game of hide and seek.
“I did, they’ll be staying here until a big storm passes so they can get picked up. Where’s Spike?” Twilight replied.
“I have no idea. He is incredibly good at hiding and I promised him no magic...” Cadence said, looking around the room again.
“Oh Spiiiiike~” Twilight called, shaking one of the bags of gems. A book halfway up the shelf suddenly popped out of its place, which was probably thirty feet in the air, and the baby dragon in question crawled out of the space and carefully climbed down. Both Cadence and Twilight freaked out and ran below him in case he fell.
“Spike! What are you doing so high up?! You could have gotten hurt!” Twilight exclaimed, Cadence saying something similar.
“It’s alright, my claws wouldn’t let me fall! Oh, by the way, I found this in that secret compartment.” Spike said, picking up the book was was knocked off the shelf. Her attention now on the book, Spike’s dangerous action was forgiven... for now.
“‘Elements of Harmony and the Mare in the Moon’?” She read the title. Spike shrugged and looked hungrily at the bag of gems. Twilight sighed and pulled a small sapphire and a topaz from it and levitated them to him.
“Oh you are just so adorable!” Fluttershy exclaimed, appearing next to him and nearly tackling him in a hug.
“Um... who are you?” Spike asked before shoving the topaz in his gullet.
“Oh! I-I’m s-sorry... I don’t know what came over me...” Fluttershy said, quickly letting go of him and backing away.
“Spike, this is Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy. I think you heard what I told Cadence, right?” Twilight said. The dragon nodded and finished the topaz. Instead of wharfing the Sapphire down, he started sucking on it like a lollipop.
“Well unless you have a bunch of beds sitting in a closet, I’m guessing we’re going to have to figure something out for them.” Cadence said.
“We can worry about that later, if push comes to shove we can just sleep on these chairs.” Dash said, plopping down on a large bean bag-like chair that the observatory room they were in was littered with.
“We can probably drag two of them into the bedroom, since the observatory is technically public.” Twilight said.
“That’ll work. I could just take your bed and they can share the spare if you decide to sleep in Celestia’s bed again.” Cadence said. Twilight thought for a moment. It was actually a pretty good idea.
“I don’t think she’d mind that one bit.” Twilight said with a giggle.
“Whoa seriously? I mean, I know she’s totally adopting you... but you guys are that close already?” Dash asked.
“You should see them together. Celestia acts like she’s Twilight’s age.” Cadence said.
“We saw... um... a bit of that...” Fluttershy said. It was then that Twilight picked up Spike and the book he gave her and sat down in one of the chairs with Spike in her lap.
“It was awesome! She let us meet Spitfire and Celestia at the same time! You’re awesome, Twi!... … Twi?” Dash started, but looked at the unicorn to see her so encroached in the book it would be almost impossible to get her attention. Spike was reading it too, but he still had his gem to keep half of his attention.
“She gets like that sometimes... Hmm... You guys are going to have to tell me two things. FIrst, how did you guys meet? And second, why is she wearing those and you better hope to Celestia they’re clip-ons.” Cadence said, finally noticing the four silver rings.
---
As the evening rolled in, and Twilight had managed to extricate herself from the book, there was suddenly a frantic knocking on the door. Cadence was teaching Dash and Fluttershy how to properly preen their wings, as Fluttershy was an Orphan and Dash’s dad had never been able to, so Twilight opened it.
“It is true?!” A mass exclamation sounded the second it opened. Standing there was a great number of nobles. In front of a group was a noble she had never seen before, but heard of from Celestia. Her ‘Nephew’, Blueblood. He seemed to only barely be in his teens years, but his presence alone was enough to give Twilight a headache.
“Is... what true?” Twilight asked.
“Is it true that the Princess is adopting you?” One of the nobles asked. Twilight was confused.
“Um... yes... what’s the big deal?” Twilight replied. Blueblood scoffed.
“You are but of minor ancestry! Somepony as unimportant as you doesn’t deserve to be in this family!” He exclaimed. Twilight actually facehooved. He was only Celestia’s nephew in title, as a favor to his more kind father.
“One thing I miss about Stalliongrad, there’s no such thing as nobility there...” Cadence said lowly as she appeared next to Twilight. Dash and Fluttershy, the latter just barely, appeared on either side of her.
“Twilight’s not some nopony! She’s awesome!” Dash exclaimed.
“Oh, and she brought in more peasants.” Blueblood said, rolling his eyes. “‘Tis a shame that this palace is reduced to such a state as to let such common riff-raff in.” He continued. It was around this point where the other nobles behind him started giving him uneasy looks. It seemed that they thought he was going a bit too far.
“Hey, not only is most of the palace open for public, this tower is one of the few parts that is completely public- save for the living area. They have express permission from Celestia herself. If I recall, it was her idea no?” Cadence said, turning to the two who nodded. Blueblood just made a dismissive noise and stepped in. The four gave him room, albeit with a bit of hesitation, since it was really public and they couldn’t stop him without good reason.
“Hm... At least you keep this place relatively up to standards.” He said, looking around. He ignored Spike, who was napping on one of the chairs, and noticed all of the magic books scattered about the tables. “Oh right, you are her student in magic as well. My auntie is much too soft sometimes, I think it’s time somepony with real noble blood teach you a few things.” He continued, turning back towards her. Cadence burst out laughing, but Twilight narrowed her eyes.
He just slandered Celestia, maybe just a little bit but he did it.
“You’re on.” Twilight said lowly. She was NOT going to let some pompous moron talk about her mom like that.
“Twilight?” Cadence started. Twilight looked over and Cadence winked. “Teach HIM a lesson.” She finished. Twilight smiled at her and then turned towards Blueblood. He was about twice her size, but when he started gathering magic in his horn it was extremely weak. At least compared to what she was used to.
“Shall we make it an official duel, then?” He asked. The other nobles had peeked in and were now about ready to start yelling at him.
“Whatever you want. Just don’t destroy anything.” Twilight agreed. They faced off for a little bit, Twilight not even bothering to gather up energy. Dash decided she wanted to be the one who started it.
“Begin!” The pegasus exclaimed and with that Blueblood started.
Twilight had to admit, the noble may be a moron, but he was good at making it look like he had no real power. He still broadcasted exactly what he was going to do.
Blueblood charged at her, his horn suddenly engulfed in a torrent of greyish blue magic. Twilight felt herself leave the ground. He flung her across the room with a great feat of magical strength. Instead of smashing into, and possibly through, the observatory’s wall of windows, the filly landed on the wall lightly. She stood up, even though she was still on the window, and started walking down it.
Without a word, she opened up one of the larger windows and Blueblood felt himself in the same situation Twilight did. She didn’t let him go, though, and simply hung him out the window. He was yelling and flailing and begging for her to stop. With a small flash, she appeared on the outside of the window and brought him closer.
“Do you concede?” She asked.
“YES YES YES YES YES!” He exclaimed in response. With another flash the two appeared on the floor. Twilight was much more composed and didn’t seem to be even breathing hard after the use of such strong magic as gravity manipulation and teleporting two ponies at once.
“If the books I’ve read are correct, the winner of an official noble’s duel gets one unquestionable favor from the loser.” Twilight said. Blueblood shakily got to his feet and nodded at her with a glare.
“I... will not back down...” He said. Well, at least he had SOME semblance of honor.
“It’s simple, then. All I want you to do is to never slander Princess Celestia again. If you do, not only would you lose any dignity you have, I’d have to ACTUALLY throw you out of a window.” Twilight explained. Blueblood nodded and quickly scurried away.
“Alright, seriously Twi. You get more awesome every time something happens.” Dash said. Cadence was still busy laughing and the other nobles followed Blueblood.
“Oh... Oh man. That was priceless. I’ve got the strangest feeling that Celestia announced your adoption in today’s day court.” Cadence said when she finally got over her laughing fit.
“Oh, what made you think that?” Celestia asked as she appeared in the doorway. Dash and Fluttershy made to get up from their seats to bow, but Celestia just shook her head at them and they stopped themselves.
“I saw the whole thing, by the way. While I normally wouldn’t condone dueling, my ‘nephew’ can be quite a hooffull.” She continued. She walked over and hugged the Filly, who hugged back without hesitation, but from when she pulled away to look at her. Twilight smiled sheepishly, Celestia noticed the earrings. She sighed and chuckled lightly.
“I suppose you’re going to want real ones, aren’t you?” She asked.
“Well...” Twilight started and never finished, looking off to the side.
“When you’re older, perhaps... Well, I think definitely when you’re older. I have to admit, they suit you rather well.” Celestia said. Dash let out a huge sigh of relief.
“Oh thank Celestia... er... you... We convinced her to get them and if you would have been upset with them or mad we would have felt so bad.” The cyan filly breathed. Celestia chuckled and turned to the two pegasus fillies.
“One of the first errands I ran was getting into contact with the Edinspur guard via magic messages. Rainbow Dash, your father knows where to pick you and Fluttershy up now. The last message had instructions specifically for you, Rainbow.” Celestia said. Dash looked at the Princess curiously. Twilight and Cadence both noticed the playful grin on her face.
“‘Treat Twilight as you would a sister and respect Celestia like you would me. They’re kind enough to let you stay with them even though they just met you so if I hear anything negative at all I’ll have your flank mounted in the flight academy barracks.’ While I believe it’d be very hard to offend either of us, I’d avoid the nobles. Don’t leave the tower without Cadence, Twilight or I with you or somepony might try and throw you out.” Celestia recited and explained. Dash flushed up at the message, unconsciously sinking further into the chair.
“The only thing I’m worried about is what we could do for two or three days... Cadence, Spike and I can just sit and read to pass the time. Dash, I doubt you’d even be able to sit still long enough to read a book.” Twilight said.
“You got that right! I need somewhere to practice my flight routines!” Dash exclaimed.
“Your father did ask for something else, but there’s a condition to it that involves you, Twilight.” Celestia said.
“Oh?” Twilight said. Celestia nodded and walked towards the window. She pointed out a building on the palace grounds with a large field attached to it. The three fillies walked over and looked. Cadence peeked over Twilight’s shoulder and bore a look of surprise.
“Do you know what that is?” She asked. Fluttershy and Dash shook her heads but Twilight answered.
“That’s the royal guard training barracks right? And that’s the training field.” She answered.
“Close enough. That’s not for all royal guards, more of the elite of the royal guard. Sometimes they bring foals from scattered academies to go through a few days of various training. Your father asked me to put you through the pegasus regiment, Rainbow. He suggested that you take the medical regiment, Fluttershy. Apparently you help fix up Rainbow when she crashes at the flight academy.” Celestia explained.
“He really asked that? And you’ll let us do it?! That is so awesome!” Dash exclaimed. nearly bouncing on her hooves.
“I pulled a few strings for the two of you. As for you Twilight, It’s going to be a regular thing. I don’t exactly want you to become a guard or anything of the sort, but you’re my daughter and you’re entitled to both the good and the bad of the position. The bad being rather sinister, I don’t want you relying solely on getting help should anything happen when I am not there.” Celestia continued to explain. She had a very serious tone and her expression was unwavering.
“So you want me to know how to defend myself?” Twilight asked.
“Both physically and magically. Now, I know this is sudden, but I had been thinking about it ever since seeing the border cities again. You can’t stay in Canterlot your whole life. I had planned to wait until you were older to start you on self defense training, but your fight with Blueblood made up my mind about that.” Celestia replied.
“I was wondering if seeing how dangerous those cities were would have any effects on you here.” Cadence said.
“Huh?” Dash asked.
“She just got back from the peace talks with the Griffons, remember?” Twilight asked the cyan filly. Apparently she forgot the entire reason the event that caused their meeting even happened.
“Oh... Right...” She said, rubbing the back of her head.
“Well, anyways, we can talk about it more tomorrow when it’ll actually start. For now, though, I need a power nap if I’m going to survive the night court. I’ll join you for dinner and be back at the normal time. My chambers are open for you, Twilight, should you wish a repeat of last night. I haven’t slept that well in ages.” Celestia said.
“I’ll take you up on that. It makes sleeping arrangements much easier.” Twilight said with a grin. Now that the Princess mentioned it, Twilight could see the exhaustion in her eyes. Celestia grinned and turned to leave.
“Oh, and miss Fluttershy? The gardens are especially peaceful all day, the animals in the day are easily frightened but the nocturnal ones are quite friendly. And Miss Dash, the field down there isn’t exclusive to the elite guard. Use it whenever you like to practice.” She said before leaving. Dash looked like she was about to go into another awesome induced silence, but surprised them with a simple “Coooool!”. Fluttershy said nothing, but instead looked out to where you could barely see the edge of said gardens.
“Elite Guard, eh? Shining told me your parents were part of that, but he decided on the path of a normal guard. Felt he could do more generally that way.” Cadence said. Twilight looked at her and was about to say something, but Dash cut her off.
“I’ve only heard rumors about them at the flight academy. One of the ponies three classes up got chosen to go see what it was all about and they didn’t come to the academy for a month afterwards. It’s supposed to be super tough.” Dash said.
“Well they have to be trained very well. From what I’ve read, they’re like the first ponies that are called on when things get really bad. I didn’t know that my parents were elite guards, I only knew they were guard captains.” Twilight said.
“He found a few records of them, apparently. It was recently, so he didn’t know much when I left for here and he was all busy with helping Celestia out.” Cadence said. Twilight nodded and looked at the other two fillies, who were still looking out the wall of window panes.
“I never thought you’d make friends so quickly, and you already seem like you’ve been friends for weeks.” Cadence said, changing the subject when she noticed Twilight looking at the two.
“Gee, thanks.” Twilight said, rolling her eyes in a joking way. Cadence giggled at that and nudged her with a hoof.
“It’s just that, at least according to Celestia, you were pretty reclusive before.” Cadence said.
“Well she did seem kind of like Fluttershy here when we first met. It kind of went away after a bit though.” Dash said, entering the conversation with the yellow pegasus in tow.
“Well... you guys were so nice...” Twilight started.
“Either way, it’s a good thing. Friendship is magic, as Celestia likes to say a lot. And it’s very true. Now, I need to stretch my legs a little bit. I trust you three and Spike will be fine without me until dinner?” Cadence asked.
“We’ll figure something out to pass the time.” Twilight assured her. The mare smiled and left as well.
“So I was thinking, since this is supposed to be a slumber party...” Dash started. Twilight ,remembering a book she read about common happenings at slumber parties, knew exactly where this was going as the cyan filly eyes the area of the tower full of cushions and pillows.
“Pillow fight of epic proportions?” Twilight asked.
“Pillow fight of epic proportions.” Dash agreed. Fluttershy suddenly had a feeling that ‘of epic proportions’ was going to be an understatement.