//------------------------------// // Chapter Nine // Story: Her Mother's Daughter // by Nadake //------------------------------// Soft, harsh whispers dragged Twilight slowly through the foggy divide between sleeping and waking. Like a line about her waist, the arguing voices dragged her through the molasses, until slowly they came into focus. She couldn’t make out their words, precisely, but she knew the ponies speaking regardless. She had only heard Cadance and Princess Celestia angry a few times, but both mares had scared her enough to make the memory an indelible one. The young unicorn tried to open her eyes, to look around herself and find the irate mares. Perhaps she could calm them down, before the Princess hurt Cadance’s feelings, or the pink mare offended the monarch enough to merit punishment. Not that Twilight ever thought, rationally, that Cadance would rouse the Sun Queen’s ire that much, but rationality was rather late to return to her as she woke. There were several more words, sharp with their finality, and a growl from Cadance. Then there were sharp clicks on the marble floor, and the library door slammed shut. Cadance grunted, and Twilight heard the thunk of a hoof driven into the thick wood of a door, followed by several more. As the mare let out a huff of utter aggravation, Twilight had a nasty thought. Could it be… was she the cause of their fight? She thought she had heard a word shaped like her name, but there was no way to tell if it had been or not. The tone of Cadance’s voice she had gritted out the Twilight-shaped word though, that was enough to send the hoofmaiden into a panic. She surged to her hoofs. And promptly fell face first into the floor. Still unsteady form her recent slumber, Twilight’s legs had gotten tangled together when one caught on a roll of the plush pillow, and sent her sprawling. The mare grunted in pain, and tears filled her eyes as she rubbed her aching cranium. The pain did have two positive side effects though. It sent Twilight’s mind rocketing out of the remnants of the haze of her dreams, and it also made an annoyed pink face appear around the side of one of the shelves. “Are you alright, Little One?” Cadance asked, annoyance no longer making her eyes flash. The bright blue orbs were wide with worry, and she rushed over despite Twilight’s nod. “How long have you been up?” “Long enough,” Twilight groaned, submitting herself to Cadance’s soft, but insistent, touch. She yelped as Cadance’s hoof brushed the growing egg on her head. “Ow. Light, that stings. I heard you arguing with somepony. I think it was Princess Celestia.” “It was, and we were.” Cadance said sharply, and again her kind eyes flashed with anger. Then they shifted to Twilight again, and the pink mare smiled. “I asked her to let you sleep in a little this morning. She was wondering where you were, since you hadn’t shown up in her chambers yet. I told her that I kept you up last night, and got her to agree to let you wake on your own.” “Guess that was a little pointless then, since I’m up now.” Twilight chuckled, though the laugh was interrupted by a yawn. “Oh, I’m so sorry.” “Don’t worry about it. Anyway, she wanted me to tell you that you could go get something to eat, then report to Court. I think,” Cadance paused, but she seemed to decide something. “I think you should go back to our rooms. I’ll have somepony bring some food up, but I’m sure that Pip is worried sick about you.” “Oh!” Twilight blanched. She had completely forgotten about the little page she had rescued from Blueblood, and she just knew that he had stayed up all night, waiting for her. In all the excitement, she hadn’t spared the little colt a single thought. “Oh.” She repeated herself, but this time, her voice was small, and flat. Thinking about last night brought back all kinds of things, from the startled look on the face of every noble, to the silent petrification she had felt when Luna had asked her hoof in marry. There was no way that she could help but to remember the jolt of fear when she thought of never seeing Cadance, her sister, her… her mother, ever again. She remembered the way she had fled the Council room, leaving it stunned by her screaming fury at being forced to choose. She couldn’t have her life anymore, no matter what she chose. If she accepted Luna’s proposal, which she had, though nopony but Cadance knew yet, then she would be whisked away to Selene, leaving her friends, her family, and her home. But if she stayed, it would be little better. Now everypony knew that she had connections to the rulers of both nations, and they would be after her like timberwolves. And, as she had reluctantly concluded last night, there was no better, but many worse, choices for the position. She wouldn’t try to steal Selene’s throne, she didn’t want it. But almost every other mare, and especially the stallions, would like nothing better than to become the sole ruler of a nation. “Cadance?” She asked, seeing the many scenes from the night before flicker past in her mind. The one thing that kept returning, no matter how often she shoved it aside, was the gnawing fear that maybe, just maybe, Cadance was upset with her. “You will write to me, won’t you?” For and moment, the older mare’s face was blank, a mask of perfect confusion, and Twilight’s heart took up residence in her hooves. Her shoulders went limp, and the scribe, now a Princess, seemed to collapse in upon herself. Then her heart shot back up into her throat, and bgan pounding as memory made Cadance beam. “Of course, my little star, of course I will write. I will write every day if you want. I promised, after all.” And just like that, just as it had the last night, Twilight felt the burden of her decision lift from her shoulders. There were still worries plaguing the mare, and there would be no end of obsticles in her path, but her heart was a thousand times lighter now. She could meet the challenges, and surpass them, as long as she still had Cadance. As long as she still had her, at least in writing, Twilight felt like she could take on the world. “Now, you need to get going, Princess Celestia said she wants you with her as soon as you finish eating.” Twilight nodded, and, on impulse, threw herself around Cadance’s neck. The larger mare hadn’t expected the sudden attack, and the air was knocked out of her with a woosh as she fell to the floor. With her hooves tight around the strong, long neck, Twilight toppled over as well, both mares giggling. “I love you, Cadance.” “I love you too, Sweetheart.” Twilight blushed a little, but it was a pleased one, not a flush of annoyance at being treated like she were a foal. Still, the light kiss Cadance pressed to her cheek, warm and friendly, make her face flame with blood, and Twilight returned the kiss, nuzzling the pink neck for a moment. Then, with obvious reluctance, she stood, and slipped out into the hallway. The hall leading to the Library was a very small, eternally empty passageway. There were not even statues adorning the plain marble hallway, the only break in the monotonously pale walkway was the odd torch ensconced here and there high on the walls. These were almost unique in the Heart, since they were real, burning torches, not magically enchanted ones. Black soot stained the pristine marble behind them, and Twilight paused. Would there be anything like that in Selene? They were a country of the Night, of artistry, not industry. She had know doubt that whatever the nocturnal equivalent to the Heart was, that it would be opulently adorned, but would it be lit? The thought made Twilight shiver. She could bear the darkness, barely, but it left her pale and trembling, sheened in a cold sweat to do so. Would the Princess mind if Twilight took the small, enchanted candle with her? It had been a gift, after all. Resolving to ask her when there was a moment, Twilight shook herself from her reverie. This was no time to be nostalgic, now she needed to eat, and get to the Throne room before Spark Note’s hoof gave out from writing. The scribe was only Twilight’s replacement after all, and today was going to be busy. “Pip?” Twilight called, nudging the door open. She wasn’t using her magic, she didn’t want to hum to wake the colt if he were sleeping. Her soft voice might have been a thunderclap though, because it sent the colt rocketing to his feet. Since Pip had been very deeply asleep on the sofa, and he was a good bit shorter than the mares it had been made for, he followed Twilight’s earlier example, and plopped face first into the stone floor. “Pip! Are you okay?” Feeling queer, Twilight rushed over to the colt, gently holding him steady as he sat back. His round, chocolate brown eyes glistened as he fought back tears, blinking at the three Twilights before him. Pip shuddered, and rubbed his head. “Blast and buggerin’ damnation!” “What?” Twilight asked, confused by the colt’s sudden accent. The matter of her never having heard the little earth pony curse aside, it sounded like he had said ‘Ast n burin mnation’. “Are you okay?” Another stream of words that Twilight could only assume to be some bizarre form of Equic flowed from Pip’s lips. Unsure of how to react, or what the little colt was saying, Twilight began to rub his back slowly, rocking the little pony slightly as he cradled his skull. After a minute or so of half-muttered oaths, silent tears, and what Twilight knew from experience would be blinding agony, Pip calmed down. Calmed down enough to catch the tail end of his last string of expletives anyway, look to Twilight, and blush a furious crimson. “Begging your pardon, Miss Sparkle!” He yelped, springing to his feet. For a moment, the colt swayed alarmingly with the sudden change in position. Then he righted himself, stared intently at the left Twilight, there were only two now, and bowed. “Um, I’m over here Pip.” Twilight began, trying not to laugh as her assistant reoriented. “And you are more than forgiven, for whatever you think you’ve done.” “But Miss, I used… I said words that are not appropriate to be said in the presence of a lady.” Pip blushed a little more, and Twilight idly wondered if any blood was reaching his brain. “Oh, will you be wanting breakfast ma’am? Or a hot bath? I stayed up all last night tending one, so you could have it at a moment’s notice. I… I am sorry I fell asleep Miss Sparkle, doubtless it will have cooled by now. But I can warm it up for you if you like?” “That sounds wonderful,” Twilight began, and raised her voice a little as Pip turned to carry out his duties. “But I haven’t got that much time this morning. I overslept, and I’m just going to eat before I head down to Court. And when I’m gone,” Her tone brooked no resistance. “You are going to lie your little rump down and take a nap, understood?” “Yes, Miss Sparkle.” Pip said, looking at the floor. The marble was buffed to a glossy polish, and Twilight smiled as the colt looked at himself in its shining surface. Twilight watched the colt yawn, though Pip did try to hide it, and she took a step closer, lowering her voice. “How about you go to my room and sleep? It has to be more comfortable than the sofa,” Twilight tossed her head at the thing. It was old and worn, with barely anything left of the original fabric, almost all of the seat overrun by books. When Twilight’s personal library grew too large for her room, some of her older, or less revisited books began the journey to the couch. How, by the Light, had he been able to sleep there in the first place? “I couldn’t!” He gasped, looking away from his reflection in horror. “To take your bed, Miss Sparkle? No, no no no. That would be uncommonly rude of me, I could never put you out of your own bed!” “Pip,” Twilight called over her small friend’s panic. “Pip, you aren’t putting me out of anything. I’m offering it to you while I am working with the Princess, so that you can get a decent sleep. Actually,” Twilight amended herself, seeing Pip open his mouth to protest again. “I’m not offering. I am ordering. Now, in bed, now.” Pip still seemed inclined to argue, but Twilight smiled sweetly at him, and the colt felt a gentle smack on his rump, propelling him down the hallway towards Twilight’s bedroom. Bowing before the inevitable, Pip let his head hang on his neck as he trudged along the short hall. There was a soft rap on the door though, and the colt perked up at once. “Please, allow me to an-“ “Bed. Now.” Twilight cut across him, walking to the door. She gave the colt her best, and only, admonishing glare. Weak though the look was, it sent Pip scurrying all the way to her room. As he turned though, Twilight noticed something. “Wait, Pip.” “Miss Twilight?” The colt asked, turning at once. “You look…” Twilight paused, trying to think how to word it delicately. Light, she would need the practice if she was going to throw herself into the political arena. “Are you eating well?” Pipsqueak blushed, looking down. “Well enough.” He muttered “Pip.” Twilight glared again, honesty fire blazing in her eyes. “As soon as you finish your nap, I want you to go straight to the kitchens. Ask the Colonel, he’s the sheep yelling all the time, ask him to make you something. Tell him I asked him to do it, if you have to, but please, you need to eat more. You’re barely more than skin and bones.” The colt swallowed hard, but nodded his head. There was another knock from right next to Twilight, and the mare jumped. Seizing the moment, Pip scurried into her room, shutting the door behind him. Twilight waited for the click of the latch before opening the front door. “Hello, how may I-“ “Ah, thought it’d be you, lass.” A stout voice ignored her, and a covered platter pushed her aside as it floated into the room. Beneath the silver dish, still speaking, the Colonel’s small, fluffy tail could be seen twitching back and forth in time with the slight bounce of his step. “Now where in Celestia’s great white ti- ah, there it is.” The laden sheep shuffled through the room, depositing his burden on the sofa Pip had been sleeping on. He glanced over his shoulder and winked at Twilight, flipping the domed lid off of the tray with a flourish. A salad, garnished with bright red tomatoes and several white and purple slivers of onions, sat beside a smaller bowl, which held a single, enormous green apple. “One of our suppliers gave me that,” He said, nodding his head towards the apple. “Grand old mare, told me to give it to somepony special. Figgered yer it.” “Thank you,” Twilight blushed as the Colonel winked again, a rakish grin affixed comically to his round white face. “Everything looks delicious.” “Aye, it damn well better be. Need te feed ya up before ya leave now, don’t we lassie?” “You heard about that?” The sheep snorted, a very eloquent, if not polite, sound. “The bloody town heard about it, Twilight. Moment they left the room, the whole flock of the loons scattered. Whined about it to everypony they met, I expect.” “Oh Light!” Twilight groaned, rolling her eyes. “Today is going to be horrible. I guarantee you, there will be nothing but complaints all day.” The Colonel laughed, and edged past her to the doorway. Before he left though, he looked over his shoulder. “Today’ll be hell for ya. But stick it out girl, I know ya can, and ya should. If,” He continued, and the lighthearted mirth faded. His voice softened, and his small, beady black eyes narrowed in seriousness. “If ya think she’s worth it.” “Wait!” Twilight shouted, and the ram paused, sticking his head back through the cracked door. “I, its about Pip, I-“ “Aye, I heard ya fine. I’ll make him somethin’, never fret your bonnie head, lass. Light,” He chuckled, slipping back again. “He stays long enough, I might just teach him to cook for himself.” “I would like to lodge a formal complaint, Princess.” High Lady Snowdrop said, walking slowly to the front of the crowd. Everypony moved aside as the mare approached, nopony willing to stand in the way of her warpath. As she paced closer and closer to the raised dais where Princess Celestia presided over the Court, her icy gaze flicked from side to side. With each glance, lords and ladies alike looked away, cowed by the Grey Lady’s fury. “A complaint on behalf of all rational parties.” Twilight winced, but dutifully jotted down the notation of the mare’s words. She knew that, for all intents and purposes, she wasn’t in the room with the noble ponies. For all the notice that she was mean to attract, she might as well simply be a desk placed discreetly behind the dais. Today though, today she had never felt their oppressive glares lift. As each stallion came forward to bemoan Princess Luna rejecting them, she caught them looking at her, with dark anger flashing in their eyes. When the Grey Lady’s ice white eyes flicked to her though, Twilight saw no anger there. There was calculation, as cold and hard as frost, and there was a sly amusement there as well, but no anger. Snowdrop caught Twilight’s gaze, and quirked an eyebrow. Then, as the mare quirked an eyebrow, she turned away from Twilight with a private smile, staring respectfully over Celestia’s shoulder. “As you are aware, as your will was forged into this law, it is beyond all question that a ponies right to marry whomever they choose, regardless of circumstance, is never to be infringed?” Her words came out with the softest of inflections. Again, there was a brief flash of something in those cool eyes, and her lips twitched upwards. “Moreover, it is the sole decision of the proposed to accept, or decline as their own spirit wills. One may not solicit or govern the choices of another ‘With regards to whomsoever any mare or stallion chooses to bind his or her life, no imposition of the state, nor of family, shall be enforced, save when such claims are examined, and deemed adequate.’” The quotation, from the Codex of Helian Law, made Twilight stop scribbling for a moment. She looked up, brows knitted in confusion, and stared at the mare. There were only a few copies of The Codex, and those were both valuable, and almost solely in the charge of the Heart. Five out of the seven known transcriptions of the original, and the original tome itself, all rested on stands scattered throughout the Library. Twilight would never expect the elegant, terrifying Lady of the North to be perusing the ancient books in the Heart’s battered library. Which meant that Twilight had either been laboring, like everypony, under a very incorrect impression of the mare, or she owned one of the two copies still unaccounted for. Celestia’s eyes narrowed, but the mare didn’t call the noble out. Instead, the sharp horn dipped as the Princess nodded, allowing the mare to continue. “What I think that many of my… peers,” The mare’s face was calm, but the disdain she felt for the nobility was perfectly clear in her voice. “Seem to have forgotten, is that they have no say in the matter. It is upon Twilight, and only upon her, that the decision lies. Should she accept the offer of marriage, then there is nothing that anypony here can do about it, unless…” She trailed off, and a wicked grin flashed across her features. “They claim to have some knowledge that would make the marriage invalid for some reason. Such a claim would, of course, be investigated thoroughly, and the penalty for false accusations are… severe.” “Now now!” Lord Rumrunner yelped. “There is no need for such talk. Nopony here is making any accusations, we only wished to, to determine the wishes of the young… lady.” The last word came out from between gritted teeth, the only break in his pompous demeanor. Rumrunner, a stoutly built earthpony, had been one of the most active in his attempts to woo Princess Luna into marriage, and had not taken her rejection of him lightly. At the moment, with his chest puffed out with self-importance, Twilight thought he looked like nothing so much as a large barrel of the rum he made his living on. His words had almost as much of an effect on the crowd as Lady Snowdrop’s had though. While the Grey Lady’s speech had cowed the nobles into order once again, Rumrunners words had the opposite effect. Now, the stilled crowd began to stir again, milling about as they murmured to each other in agreement. They were swiftly convincing themselves that yes, all they had ever wanted was to know what Twilight thought about the marriage. They would never want to imply any illegitimacy on the decision of the Princess, nor cast any aspersions on the wedding to be. Under the cover of ending forward to check her notes, Twilight rolled her eyes. As though any of them were something besides greedy, self-important, self-centered mules. There were the odd exceptions, where a noble was truly an embodiment of their title. In the recent years, there had been several nobles who had acquitted themselves, well, nobly in battle, serving to protect their troops, and fighting side by side with them. There were, admittedly few, even some who made it their honest duty to see to the needs of the ponies living within their borders, feeding the hungry, and caring for the destitute. This gaggle, barring Lady North, were not among the true nobles of Helios. “Yes, let us hear what you think, Miss Sparkle.” One pony called out, and was greeted by shouts of ascent. “Do you wish to marry the Princess?” Oh well. Here was the cliff, it was time, to jump. Twilight smirked to herself as she carefully noted the stallion’s words, before wiping her face clean, and turning it to the crowd. “I think, that if Princess Luna believes I am an acceptable choice, then I have no reason to disbelieve her. She is much older than anypony here, saving Princess Celestia,” Twilight bowed her head to the mare seated near her, who smiled warmly back. “And whatever her reasons for her choice, it is not my place to question them.” “So you won’t answer.” Snowdrop muttered, and Twilight’s eyes fell on the mare. For an instant, the High Lady met her gaze, and the unicorn saw true amusement flicker through the white eyes. It warmed the frigid mare’s face, as did the minute smile that played across her lips for a moment, turning her from a pretty ice sculpture into something beautiful. Then the mare controlled herself again, and raised her voice. “Thank you Miss Sparkle. Princess.” The lady ducked her head in thanks, and Princess Celestia inclined her own in return. Lavender eyes sparkled as they watched the noble turn and walk slowly back into the crowd that she had, Twilight realized, just tamed. Now, there was nothing that they could say against the marriage, not without fearing that their words could be taken as an attack on the match, something that Helian Law took a very dim view of. Twilight smiled again, and turned back to her little desk, scribbling down her own words.