~~~~~Ponyville, The Next Day~~~~~
"I had expected visitors from Canterlot. I hadn't expected visitors of such esteem." Mused Baron Siegfried, as he peered across the table at his two luncheon guests. "Nor had I expected that our Queen would decide to contact me so directly. Or is this about our little... tussle the other day?" He continued on, his smooth and unaccented Equestrian conveying his amusement. Not that this situation was amusing - but it was always his policy to show humor in the face of difficulty. The presence of the newly minted Queen's companions being quite the serious difficulty, given that they could easily derail all of his carefully assembled plans.
The one called Applejack gave him a sardonic look. Unsurprisingly, she was the one that worried him the most - her reputation as a teller-of-truths preceded her. "We're not here t'cause you any trouble, Baron." she said - her voice thick with that Apple Family accent. Two thousand years and they still all talk like that. He thought, still slightly amused. "We're just here t'get the town nice 'n calm so we don't git some kinda revolution brewin." She continued, looking earnest as she said that. Unsurprising, as this was her home town - no matter where her loyalties laid these days, this would always be her home.
The pink one piped up next - the one called Pinkie Pie, unsurprisingly enough. "Which is why we came to you! You've got quite the reputation for knowing what's going on." Her voice was sly but had an undercurrent of... something. Like barely restrained energy and cheeriness, or perhaps it was more accurate to say channeled energy and cheeriness. "I mean, I haven't been in town for almost two whole weeks and who knows what's changed in that time!" That same energy was starting to bubble up to the surface - it was quite fascinating for the Baron to watch the sleek and sexy embodiment of Passion slowly uncoil into a curly-frizz maned ball of manic energy. It seems some things, even Dissonance cannot change.
So the baron held up a hoof, and sighed expressively. "Yes, yes. I do know a great deal about what is going on currently in town." He frowned slightly, deciding it was best to put on a show for these ponies. "Like how I know certain prominent members of the local community are plotting against the newly minted citizens of Equestria. Like how I also know how their leader has an agenda of his own." He leaned back in his chair, reveling in the surprised looks on the faces of his new companions. "Like how I know that the one called Trixie was recalled to Canterlot to avoid having the stink of 'Official' action riling up the peasantry." He continued with a slow smile on his face, pleased that his ability to gather intelligence had not been exceeded even in this modern day and age.
The Baron folded his hooves together and leaned across the cafè table. "Events are quickly moving beyond the ability to control them externally. There will be a confrontation, and soon, between those who support the changes and those who do not. Nothing you or I can do will stop that." He kept his voice pitched low, and tried to inject as much intensity as he could into his words. Much now depended on him. "What can be done is to limit the scale of that confrontation. Some force of Chaos is attempting to create great conflict here, it must therefore be our duty to limit that conflict - preferably without getting ourselves killed in the process." He grinned wolfishly, and was pleased to see that they were appreciably concerned at the state of things. Good. They ought to be, given what's going on right now.
Applejack spoke up a moment later, her voice firm and determined. "Alright. You seem t' have a handle on what's goin' on here." Her voice was - surprisingly - calm and collected. "Ah think you need t' tell us who all these ponies are, and what yer plan is to keep this from gettin' outta hoof." Pinkie Pie nodded enthusiastically in agreement, and the Baron smiled slowly. Good. All was proceeding much better than had been anticipated - now he had confederates, and with the favor of fortune, by the end of all of this he would finally have the one thing he had been denied over the countless centuries.
"Yes. I think I ought to tell you everything." The baron mused, with a slow and fanged smile. "Let us begin with our opposition. I think you'll be surprised to discover who he actually is."
~~~~~~~~~~
"A Festival? Huh. Not a bad idea from Mayor Tightplot." Cloud Chaser eyeballed Ditzy dubiously for a moment. "She hasn't been replaced by a changeling or something, has she?" she asked, trying to keep the hope out of her voice. Not that she'd wish any harm on Cheerilee - but Mayor Mare really needed to be replaced in Cloud Chaser's humble opine. That filly had made Chaser's job way, way harder than it needed to be with her insistence on the power of bureaucracy over the weather team's scheduling.
Ditzy gave Chaser a stern sort of look. "Of course not. Silly." Ditzy proclaimed in her motherly-disapproving voice, which always made Chaser shuffle her hooves and look away. How on earth did Ditzy do that? "No, this was Tia and Cheery's idea - that's what Cheery told me anyway." She continued briskly, carefully sorting out the mail into its appropriate saddlebags. Some days, Cloud Chaser wished she had Ditzy's job - and then she remembered that Ditzy almost never got serious time off like she did. "Besides, why should it matter who came up with the idea? I think it's fantastic!" She proclaimed, with a bright and broad smile.
It was a smile that Chaser had to grin back at in response. "True. I never turn down a chance to party for several days in a row." she admitted, taking a long and languid stretch before fixing Ditzy with a beady eye. "Didn't you get ordered to rest for a while?" she said in her own disapproving tones. She works too bucking hard. Chaser thought moodily. She makes me feel like a slacker with how hard she works - I mean, she just got into a major fight protecting her daughter! Who it ought to be noted, seemed to have taken the scary situation in stride - in fact, she was still on her own little personal crusade to get to know every single new pony in town.
Most amusingly, she was also giving names to anything that didn't have a proper one in her eyes. The term 'bugpony' was fast becoming one of the most well regarded turns of phrase since Pinkie Pie coined the term 'Scrumdiddlyumptious'. Even the thestrals - notorious for hating the term 'batpony' - were coming to accept it with a weary humor from the little filly and anyone she came into contact with. Ditzy blushed and turned her head away. "Well... yeah, but I'd feel weird taking an un-planned vacation. So I'm gonna save my time for the festival week! And me an' Dinky are gonna spend the whole week together!" She said that phrase with such boundless enthusiasm that Chaser felt - not for the first time - a little jealous of the mother and daughter who loved one another so very much. If only my own family was like that. Chaser sighed silently.
Still - this was no time for sad-faces. "Aright - well... Don't push yourself, Ditzy." She admonished, ruffling the other mare's mane with her hoof. "I've got to get up there and figure out how we're going to plan for a whole week of good weather with this little advance notice." Chaser gave her best put-upon smile, and Ditzy smiled understandingly in return. "And... " Chaser hesitated and then decided... just to go for it. "If you'd like some advice about Tia, I'll be happy t'help." She quietly offered - and had to grin at the sudden bright red blush in Ditzy's cheeks. "You deserve a very special somepony." She whispered softly to Ditzy. "So don't think you don't, Ditty." She insisted, giving Ditzy a fierce hug before swooping out of the window.
Now, what in Equestria was she going to do about that big rainstorm she had to reschedule. Tomorrow, maybe?
~~~~~~~~~~~
"Word is spreading quickly." Bon Bon remarked, as the jangling bell signified the egress of their latest customer. Lyra nodded her head in agreement as she plucked a quiet and pastoral tune out of her harp. Apparently, Bon Bon had wanted an answer because she kept on speaking, "I mean - It's not that I don't appreciate the possibilities of a festival. Goodness knows the town could use a chance to decompress, but still. Doesn't this seem to be in poor taste?" Bon Bon continued, fiddling with a spoon in her hooves as she leaned on the counter of her shop.
Bon Bon often fiddled with random objects when she was worried, but didn't want to say so. Lyra wondered sometimes how Bons managed to live with so many complicated behaviors in her head. "I don't think so. It's pretty obvious the Mayor's trying to defuse the tension the old fashioned way." Lyra said quietly, catching on to a melody that she liked and building upon it. Hmm, I ought to write this one down. It was a thought she'd often had - but rarely followed up on. Her style of music was less about formal structure and more about what sounded good to her. "Booze, good food, and plenty of entertainment. I hear there's a big group of bugponies who are going to put on a performance of some kind of music." Which sounded pretty dang awesome to Lyra, as she always appreciated hearing entirely new forms of music.
Bon Bon seemed less than enthused about the prospect herself, but she was never one for novel forms of music. Bon Bon sighed expressively, absentmindedly wiping down an already spotless counter. "I guess I'm just worried." Bon Bon mused, while Lyra carefully tried to tease a relaxing bit of music out of her harp. She didn't need to ask who or what Bon Bon was worried about - since it had been pretty obvious to Lyra right from the getgo. It's a good thing I'm not the jealous type, or I might start getting huffy at her. Lyra thought with a soft chuckle. Bon Bon half glared at her. "She's just.... she needs our help, that's all! She's our friend now, in case you haven't noticed." Bon Bon huffed out, her voice full of frustration.
Lyra kept chuckling though, plucking out a soothing song for a little bit, while waiting for Bon Bon to cool down. Really - she stresses out so much. Lyra sighed internally, wishing she had a solution for that beyond her usual strategy of kissing Bon Bon until she gave in and then... other stuff. Not that she minded that strategy, but that probably wouldn't be appropriate in the shop. So for a few minutes at least - she focused on playing soothing, calming music. Bon Bon half glared at her for the first thirty seconds - then sighed and gave up the glare in favor of walking around the counter and dropping into one of the chairs next to Lyra.
There they sat for a good ten minutes, with Bon Bon eventually leaning into Lyra's shoulder and closing her eyes with a gentle exhale of breath. "Better." said Lyra, with a slow smile as she continued to pluck away at the tune. "You really do get overwrought, beloved. You need to slow down and calm yourself." Lyra chuckled gently, setting her harp aside to stroke Bon Bon's mane lovingly. "Things will work out. They always have," she soothed quietly, holding the most important pony in her life close to her.
Bon Bon nodded and took a deep breath and exhaled it. "We need to stay close to her, Lyra. I don't know why but... I just... I think it's important we stay close to her." She shook her head fiercely and Lyra nodded slowly. Unicorn magic was obvious - so was Pegasus magic. But Earth Pony magic was a whole other thing - Lyra had never really bought into the idea that it was all about growing things. She was pretty sure - and one day, she intended to prove it - that it had more to do with the ability to sense things far better than the other two tribes. Most of the time that had to do with soil and water and plants. But sometimes there were ponies like Pinkie Pie, who could sense danger or other strange events through their own odd magical connection to the world.
"Yeah, Bons. I think you're right." Lyra said softly, looking out the window.
A storm was coming that had nothing to do with the weather.
~~~~~~~~~
Tia hoofed through the pages of the book in front of her, and then nodded firmly. "Here it is - Advanced transfiguration, with a permanency kicker..." She paused for a moment. "Why in the blazes did Twilight have this book already on loan from the Canterlot library?" she wondered aloud, and Spike shrugged at her helplessly. Have to ask her about that later. "Anyway, here's the spell for a male pony." She paused, scratching at her chin for a moment. "Going to need to make a few adjustments to ensure a Unicorn result, but that's not too big of a problem."
Spike tilted his head at her as she perused the spell. Not nearly as difficult as I remember it being. I actually should only need a few things I can find around Ponyville... "Yes. I'll be able to set this up and have it ready in time for the festival kickoff next week." She grinned broadly at him. "Given that Twilight and her friends will be invited to attend, you ought to be perfectly ready by the time they arrive." Tia nodded firmly, confident in her ability to cast this spell at least. Spike looked absolutely thrilled at the prospect, bouncing up and down in his chair with enthusiasm. "Just remember - you're not haring off to Canterlot until I've gotten more fully settled in here." She admonished him, hoping that he hadn't forgotten that little detail.
Spike snorted and grinned. "I'd better stick around - you have no idea how to run this library yet! Twilight would kill me if this place stayed as out of sorts as it was when I got here." He grinned toothily, then hopped off his chair. "Alright - what do you need me to do?" Tia blinked at him at that statement... and then recalled he had been the personal assistant to one of the most experimental Unicorns in the history of Equestria. Of course he'd be used to setting up spell components and the like.
That put a big grin on her face, and she flipped through a few more pages. "I'm going to need a pound of fresh beeswax, two cups of honey from the same hive the beeswax came from, four horseshoes, some pegasus feathers and a bottle of spirits-of-wine." She grabbed a little bag of bits from next to the door and tossed it to Spike. "That should cover it - we're going to need more things, but that's the start." Spike gave her a quick salute and ran off out the door, prompting Tia to softly laugh. He's so cute when he's excited. She thought with a smile, then sat down next to the desk - laying her head down upon the flat surface.
Tia exhaled softly, wondering why the last few days had felt like such a marathon. Is this what it had been like for Twilight, that first week in Ponyville so long ago? Is this what it is like to live amidst normal ponies? Crisis, resolution, brief periods of rest, and repeat? True, none of the crisis' so far had been on level with some of the things she'd dealt with as Princess. But there was a far greater feeling of immediacy to the problems here, a far greater sense of danger. Mortality...
Yes. That was perhaps the problem - with all of her power sealed away, far beyond her ability to reach it even in extremis... was she now effectively mortal? Or would her death merely be phoenix-like, her divine spark consuming her mortal body to reform her Alicorn one? She did not know - and in truth, it scared her. But it did not scare her nearly as much... as the thought of leaving her new friends. Or even worse - being unable to protect them because her power could not be touched.
Tia felt the wetness streak down her cheeks, and lifted a hoof to touch them, and marvel. What a laugh, Celestia. What a joke - the mighty Sun's Glory, driven to tears - and for what? A few ponies you barely knew mere days ago? How Luna would mock you now. But hadn't that been the same way for Twilight? How she had come into a city, a place she had never been to before in her entire life and met 5 ponies who changed her world forever. They had not merely become her friends, they had become as close to her as family.
Tia was not so jaded as to believe such an event could not happen again. Indeed, perhaps it had to happen again - a balancing of the world for more than a thousand years of interference by one Princess Celestia. Dissonance had claimed its champion - but the one who had called herself the Champion of Harmony now lay humbled - powerless to oppose the forces that even now closed in on the small town that was her new home - and the ponies who lived here, all unknowing of the truth. A truth she had vehemently denied so often, so repeatedly, that even she had come to believe it a falsehood. But if she was to be honest with herself, if she was to truly protect the ones she loved... she had to admit to that truth.
And the truth was... that Celestia had been wrong.
She had been wrong about Luna, about Twilight, about Starshine and Sombra and so many, many other things. She had been wrong about Victoria, and about Siegfried. She had been wrong about her kingdom, her purpose, and herself. She had been wrong about Dissonance, and wrong about Harmony. She had been wrong so very, very much. And all of that wrongness had cost her so very, very dearly.
She had failed Luna so long ago - so certain, so righteous in her pride and surety of purpose. For so long, she had held hatred in her heart. She knew that now - that the same hatred that had cost her the love of her sister had also cost her one of her greatest students - and one of her most cherished friends. That same hatred would cost her the love of the one pony who had been there with her - time and again, down through the ages. For he was of Dissonance - and that could not be accepted. So much had been lost because of her decisions - both conscious... and unconscious. She doubted that those she had long cared for would ever forgive her sins, much less those who cared little for her in the first place.
And Today... Today, at long last, she had been exposed to the direct results of a single casual and offhoofed decision. One she had not even thought twice about. She had long thought herself a good, just and righteous ruler. But now she could no longer make that claim with the Honesty that harmony demanded of her. She had now to admit that she had been blinded by the brilliance of the sun that shone from her eyes. That the light of Harmony had grown too strong inside of her mind, filling her ears with the words of safety, light and warmth for all. If only she had listened to her heart instead.
If only she had listened to it, when she'd looked down upon her greatest of daughters.
Tears flowed freely from Tia's eyes now - as she recalled that moment. Twilight. Tia... no - Celestia thought with a bleak heart. I failed you worst of all. She had allowed political expediency to cloud her judgment - had allowed despair to ensnare her reasoning, and worst of all - had failed to listen to her heart when she'd looked down upon that little purple foal. She had thought, in that beautiful moment, of keeping her. That beautiful smile she'd worn that had only grown moreso as the years had passed - it had nearly enchanted Celestia completely. She wished now that it had. Celestia stared blankly into the middle distance as the tears flowed down her cheeks. There was no going back into the past, no changing history. Starswirl had proven that rather definitively. There was nothing she could now do about it except try and make amends.
And yet for the life of her, as Celestia sat there in the silence of her library - she could not help but imagine a scene where a young filly named Twilight Sunbeam lay in her hooves as they read the story about Mr. Smarty Pants and the Not So Smart Idea. The sun shone down warmly upon her violet mane, and a soft laughter echoed off the walls. She could imagine the smell of two fresh bowls of oatmeal for Sunday morning breakfast, and the soaring feelings pride in her chest as Twilight cast her first spell. Celestia pulled her hooves over her eyes and sobbed quietly as her traitorous mind envisioned scene after pastoral scene of being a good mother to Cadence and Twilight.
Celestia knew in time, that the tears would stop. That her heart would not ache quite so much, and that she would return to the task of making a young dragon's fondest dreams come true. She knew that she would smile when she next saw her friends, and laugh and joke along with them. But now, she could no longer ignore the mistakes of her past. She could no longer believe herself wiser than others, for now she would forever carry that reminder of what that belief had cost her.
But for this moment, at least, she cried. And wondered.
What If?
~~~~~~~?????~~~~~~
The door slammed shut behind the messenger, who bowed deeply to the pony who sat enrobed in his cloak before standing and speaking softly. "All is in readiness, M'lor. Th' bagmen from Manehatten will be showin' up by th' end of t' week." He reported quietly, his voice muffled by the scarf pulled tightly over his muzzle. "An' we'll be 'avin the boomers at th' same time."
The stallion sitting behind the desk nodded brusquely. "Good. Inform Mr. Wink that he is to gather some like-minded fellows who aren't averse to earning some heavy bits for light work." His eye glinted in the candlelight. "And then inform Mr. Ivy that we're going to have need of his... wares... as soon as he can provide them. I shall be paying double if he can have them ready within the next three days."
The scarfed pony bowed again and shuffled back out of the door. The stallion carefully dipped the quill into the inkwell and scratched out the message onto the sheet of paper, carefully lifting the drying sand and giving it a quick shake over the document. He raised his voice quietly. "Miss Inkwell." He remarked - and a prim and proper looking mare poked her head in to the room. "Do you have the documents ready?" She nodded once - as businesslike as he was - and he smiled. "Good." He picked up the document from his desk, carefully rolling it. "Send them, along with this, to our friends in Canterlot. I want everything to be as legal-looking as we can make it."
He smiled slightly as she took the scroll away, leaning back with a happy grin. Everything was going quite well - they were even making it easier for him with this stupid little party of theirs. Who knows? They might even thank me when all of this is over. he thought with a grin and a tug at his chin. After all - I'll have killed those foolish little Chaos worshipers, the 'evil' Dissonance creatures and 'saved' the town from certain destruction at the hooves of a mad goddess.
What could possibly go wrong?