HUMAN in Equestria: A Conversion Bureau Story

by Chatoyance


16. The Six New Mornings: Ghosts And Flowers, Part Two

The Conversion Bureau

HUMAN

in Equestria
By Chatoyance

16. The Six New Mornings: Ghosts And Flowers, Part Two

Lime Sherbet is used with the permission by the superb author Gabriel LaVedier, from the excellent Dames Of The Tea Table, which you should read because it is wonderful.
Special thanks to my spouse Aedina for her assistance with historically accurate Elizabethan speech.




Morning Star walked slowly away from Hyssop Garden and joined her young friends.

"How is she doing?" Crimson Beauty tried not to stare at the nervous, worried pegasus.

"She just wants to be alone. I thought maybe she would be more willing to talk with a filly, you know?" Morning Star sighed.

Shinden kicked one hoof with the other. "Yeah, my mom and Swift's dad both struck out. And I think Crim and Plantain's mom bother her somehow. Same with Morning's dads."

"I think her issue is adoption. I believe Hyssop is worried that Oliver won't accept her for some reason. Rather like how your mother felt afraid." Crimson looked away from Shinden to his mother. Peridot was chatting with the rest of the parents - Hwinym, Windshear and Spindrift, and her own mother, Banana. All of the parents stood together, except for one. Hyssop Garden stood alone, down the hallway, staring off into space.

Hyssop had started the day in good spirits. She had brought a very nice, very pink set of filly saddlebags, a very cute pink-and white hat, and also an adorable stuffed diamond dog toy. The diamond dog toy had a pink bow tied around its neck. Oliver had adored the Sachs family house servant. Hyssop had done everything and anything she could think of to show her child that she loved and wanted her.

But something was wrong.

The revivification process had been going on now for over an hour. Both princesses appeared locked in some desperate effort. Twisting ribbons of thaumatic force streamed from the twin diarchs to swirl in complex patterns around both Oliver and Isla. The head maid of the castle, Lime Sherbet, had seemed concerned when she came by to see the new ponies. The process had never taken this long before. Lime had reassured everypony that the princesses would take care of whatever was going on, and that everything would be alright, but...

Something, was clearly wrong.

"I wish we could help her somehow." Swiftwind's ears drooped low as he glanced again at Oliver's mother, Hyssop. She seemed like a statue herself, just staring at the wall, but there was no way for her to fully hide how she was feeling. Her ears were pulled flat against her poll, and her wings twitched as if unable to find a comfortable place to remain folded.

Swiftwind turned his head away, and noticed Crimson and Plantain's mom approaching.

"Hyssop. I know. It just breaks my heart. But she just plain doesn't want to talk." Banana Acres bent her head and nuzzled her fillies. Crimson and Plantain pressed their heads and necks close to her, and finally snugged their bodies in on either side as well. Everypony felt worried about whatever was going on.

"Ms. Acres? Has there been any word from Isla's dad?" Morning Star stared at the flickering, pulsing glow emanating from the Waiting Room. Nopony dared to even go close to the door, now.

Banana gave her two daughters another comforting snuggle and raised her head. "No, dear. I'm sorry. Isla's father is completely refusing to respond. I just don't understand these humans one bit!" Banana Acres gave a little soft stomp of frustration with her forehoof. Everypony was speaking in quiet tones, and trying not to make noise for fear of distracting the princesses.

"Luigi Draghi was always a prideful and stubborn man." Peridot Cabochon bent over her son, Shinden, and gave him a lick on the poll to tidy a rebelliously upright strand of mane. "But even I am shocked. After all these years, Drahgi's heart hasn't softened one bit." The rest of the adults had joined Banana and Peridot, forming one large group of parents and foals.

"How long has it been now?" Hwinym braced his legs as his son, Swiftwind, pressed into him. Since becoming a pony, none of the former human children had changed more than Swiftwind. As Asher, he had been angry and rude. As a unicorn, Swiftwind had shown himself to be remarkably sensitive and gentle. He adored his father.

"Ah! Let me see..." Spindrift drew a pocket watch out of his fancy tweed gentlesire's jacket. "Ith thin athout, thait, I thant thee ith thotherly..."

"Let me help, love." Windshear took the watch with just a hint of a kiss from his husband's mouth and held it for him to read the time.

Spindrift briefly nuzzled their daughter, Morning Star - she had pressed herself close, for comfort - and then studied the watch in Windshear's teeth. "Oh. Goodness. It's been almost an hour and a half now."

"I'm afraid!" Morning Star buried her muzzle into Spindrift's immaculate tweed.

Windshear carefully placed the closed watch back in his husband's pocket, and drew close in a three-way pony hug. "The princesses are... well, they're the princesses, Star. I'm certain everything will all be alright, whatever happens."

Crimson Beauty raised her head from the soft, warm, chestnut coat of her mother, Banana. She tried to smile for her sister, to cheer her, but Plantain was staring down the hallway. Crimson followed her gaze, as did the rest of the fillies, colts, sires and mares clustered together.

Hyssop Garden was softly crying.

She had not moved from where she had been standing. Beside her, on the polished marble, were her gifts for her future daughter. A tear ran down her cheek and spattered in the floor.

The group began to move toward Hyssop, unable to let her be alone any longer.

At that very moment, Hyssop Garden was briefly covered in a shimmer of golden light. Instantly, like a marionette with its strings cut, Hyssop crashed to the floor and flopped over. Her muzzle was open, and her tongue lolled past her teeth onto the marble. Her eyes were open, staring at nothing.

Windshear and Spindrift were there in an instant. "She's not breathing! Spin! Get a unicorn, now!"

Peridot Cabochon stood over Hyssop's body. "Give me room! I AM a unicorn!"

"She knows what she's doing. She designs medical tools." Hwinym began forcing the crowd of shocked ponies to back up, and make space.

Peridot closed her eyes and focused her magic. Her horn began to glow, the glow echoed on the fallen body of Oliver's mother. The telekinetic glow ran up and down Hyssop Garden, pausing to close her eyes, and gently place her drying tongue back in her mouth. Then Peridot shut down her hornfield and opened her eyes.

"Hwin, Shear, Spin? Get the foals out of here. Take them to that gallery on the other side of the Waiting Room. Now!" Peridot's eyes flashed, and the three stallions began ushering sobbing ponies away from the scene. "Acres?"

Banana Acres stood across the body of Hyssop, trembling. "Is she?"

"Very. Not even a trace of her Couplement inside. She's... gone. I can't find any reason for this to have happened. Her heart was fine. Her lungs were fine. No blood clots, no anything. No reason. None at all. None... at all." Peridot was beginning to lose her scientific detachment. During the past year, she had gotten to know Hyssop. The two had begun regularly meeting for lunch. Peridot had helped her shop for the saddlebags for little Oliver.

A tear fell from her eye, despite all of her efforts to be the proper attending unicorn on site. "Oh... sweet Luna..."

Banana Acres moved around the body and hugged Peridot with her neck.

The chamber was large and round, like a great dome, like three quarters of a bubble. It appeared, in the dim light, to be made of some dark and gray crystal.

Taking up almost all of the floor was a great, circular dais with many concentric steps. In the center of the uppermost plateau stood a very elaborate chair, almost a throne. It faced a vast holoscreen, large as half of the dome, through which the lost earth of the past could be seen. The view into the screen was strange, a first person sort of viewpoint, as though seeing through the eyes of a child. A small hand gripped a bannister as tiny feet went up a staircase.

Behind the throne, the back of the dome had been sealed off by a pile of junk. No... not junk, chairs. Theater chairs. Dozens and dozens of theater chairs had been dumped in a great pile against the flat wall that was the back of the partial dome. A small window in that back wall let three holoprojector beams through. In the corner, where the wall met the curve of the chamber, a tiny, doorless fort of plascrete blocks had been built. It had a single, tiny opening. It resembled some ancient solitary torture cell from earth's bloody and violent history.

Hyssop Garden blinked. She felt strange. One moment, she had been standing, crying, in the hallway outside the Waiting Room. Her little filly should have been alive by now, saved by the princesses. But something had gone wrong. She had stood and waited for well over an hour. She worried that her little Oliver would not choose to live. Then, while she was deep in her thoughts, she had suddenly felt as if she were falling. Now... she was here.

Wherever here was.

"We do beg thee grant us pardon for thine precipitous discorporation, good mare of Equestria! Thy beloved offspring teeters even now upon the very precipice of vile oblivion, and we beseech thee of thy most needful aide."

Hyssop's eyes found focus on the face of princess Luna, the diarch of the night. Instantly, Hyssop bent her forelegs in a pony bow, overwhelmed by royal presence. "Princess! I... I don't understand. How did I get here? What is this... wait! You said my offspring was in some kind of danger? Oliver? Oliver is in danger?"

"Your filly calls herself 'Peony', Hyssop. She is indeed in grave danger. I know this is very strange, and very difficult for you, but we have called you here to try to save your daughter." Celestia filled Hyssop's view now, her mane a softly glowing light in the dim chamber.

In addition to the two princesses, Hyssop became aware of a third individual, a small, snow-white pegasus filly with an equally white mane. "P....Peony?" Hyssop moved to try to touch her daughter.

"I'm Isla! Wow! You're a pony!" Isla had been expecting the human form of Peony's mother.

"Isla? I... yes. I became a pony early on, to prepare a home for Oliver when she... when... 'Peony'..."

Hyssop shook her head, trying to clear it.

"...for when my Peony was brought back. I wanted her to have a proper pony home to..." Hyssop began to feel less stunned, less disoriented, and more herself. She looked more carefully at little Isla-the-pegasus, and then at the two princesses. Then she looked around the strange room. There was no sign of any other ponies... or little human children, either.

"Where's Oliver... I mean Peony? What is going on?" Hyssop felt confused and afraid for her child. She had no idea what was going on, but she understood one thing clearly - her filly was in some sort of trouble. Peony was apparently missing, because she wasn't anywhere around, and this made Hyssop feel even more confused and upset.

Celestia bent down to look into Hyssop's troubled eyes. "This place we are in - it is a representation of your daughter's mind, of the seat of her consciousness. Literally." Celestia nodded at the elaborate chair on the dais. "It is currently a bit of a mess..." The princess gestured with a hoof toward the pile of chairs and the little cell of blocks "...because your child is deeply conflicted. She is afraid, Hyssop. She is consumed with fear and shame."

Hyssop looked past Celestia to the interior of the strange dome, trying to make sense of everything. "Fear? Shame? Why? I love her! I accept her completely! I got her nice saddlebags, and I've done her room in pink - that's her favorite color you know, and..."

"I am certain of your devotion to little Peony. But she herself seems to feel... otherwise. I believe she is terrified that she will never be accepted or loved fully. It is my understanding that this was an issue on your world, that those born with rare circumstances concerning sex and gender were often targets of scorn?"

Hyssop pulled back from the princess, her muzzle open. "I never! I've been nothing but supportive of Oliver... Peony! It never mattered to me what she was or wasn't as long as she was happy!"

Celestia raised her head, staring at the vast screen that covered half of the chamber. Hyssop followed her silent gaze.

Hyssop saw the human face she once had worn fill the view. It looked strange to her now, almost unreal. Her human lips seemed to kiss something just above the screen, before looking down on the camera. "Boys will be boys, I suppose." Hyssop startled at the sound of her old human voice, from her old human mouth.

"But I'm not!" The voice was weak but adamant. "I'm not a boy!" It was Oliver's voice, when he was very young. Peony's voice. Peony.

"Shhh... shhh..." Hyssop saw her human face even closer now. Her old self seemed to be checking the camera, studying it. "Did you hit your head, sweety? Of course you're a boy, you're mommy's little man, and everything is going to be okay!"

The screen suddenly went dark. Then, after a few seconds, the vast holoscreen brightened again. The movie now seemed to be following a first-person walk down a long hallway. Hyssop recognized the location - it was from many years ago, when she and... Peony... had lived in Spain. Peony would have been about five or so.

"This sequence replays, over and over. Peony goes to your bedroom, apparently trying to express some aspect of human mareness in order to comfort herself. She cries, then runs downstairs when she hears you come home. She falls, and hurts herself, and then the exchange that you just witnessed occurs."

Hyssop felt herself being nuzzled, only then realizing the tears on her cheeks. It was Luna, standing close to her, as Celestia continued.

"Foals are very vulnerable and aware of every small thing, because life is new to them. The most unthinking of messages can have enormous impact. As a foal grows, she is influenced by everything in her life as she tries, constantly, to seek approval from those around her." Celestia stopped and nuzzled Hyssop too, for a moment.

"I know you meant nothing intentionally unkind by your words. That said, your filly has seized upon this one event as a symbol for what one of my ambassadors described as 'A culture of denigration and ridicule of any deviation from an entirely imaginary norm.' From what I have been told, it is likely that your child endured a lifelong attack upon their identity and self worth from the the culture you both lived in. She only knows that she is afraid of rejection, and that she is ashamed of existing at all."

Hyssop fell to her foreknees, crying. "What can I do? Tell me what to do!" Her tears became wails, because the full import of the situation had broken through. Her filly was dying, out there, in the real world, and the reason her daughter was dying was because she had given up all hope of being loved.

Hyssop wept, the wracking sobs echoing in the chamber. Isla tried to move to comfort her, but princess Luna held the little pegasus back with the silver grasp of her hornfield. Both Celestia and Luna withdrew, into the shadows under the screen, taking Isla with them.

"Mommy?" The voice was faint. It came from somewhere near the chair, near the center of the dome.

Hyssop, alone on the steps near the chair, cried out. "Peony?" Hyssop's tears intensified at the eerie feeling she was speaking to the ghost of her already dead daughter.

"Mommy! Please! You're crying! Why are you crying?" A vague shape began to form on the seat of the chair.

Hyssop couldn't see now, the tears filling her eyes. Why wouldn't the princess tell her what to do? Where had they both gone? She found herself choking on her own sobs, and gasped for breath.

"Mommy! Don't be sad!" The shadow in the chair instantly took on color and solidity. A little human girl bolted from the chair and wrapped her arms around the bawling pony on the steps. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! It's me, isn't it? you're crying because of me! I'm sorry mommy, please don't cry, don't cry, I'll be good, I promise, I promise I'll be good, just don't cry, just don't cry..."

Hyssop pressed herself into her daughter's arms and chest, sobbing harder at the warmth, at the pressure, at the fact that her child was finally there. "Peony! No... I'm sorry, I'm the one that is sorry, Peony... I want you to come home. I want you to come home right now!"

The little girl squeezed tighter. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry... I'll be whatever you want me to be, just don't cry anymore, please stop crying!" The shape of the little girl began to waver, and alter, the colors fading, the Tudor dress changing into a drab suit. The body began to expand and grow fatter and less delicate. "Please don't cry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry..."

The change startled Hyssop, who pulled away slightly, her hooves on the shoulders of her child. "No! Stop that!"

"Mommy?" The shifting, altering shape was poised, halfway between forms.

"Peony... I just want you to be happy!" Hyssop sniffed, her eyes still dripping. "If you want to be my filly, then be my filly. Don't be something just because... because you think you have to please me. It doesn't please me, Peony. I just want you to be you, whatever that is..."

The mutable child slowly began to fade back towards her female appearance. "But... but you said... and all the kids... and mister Astor and 'those damn faggots' and what happened to missus Walton's nephew and..."

"Shhh.... shhh... that's all in the past. That's all earth stuff, and the earth is gone." Hyssop slowly ran the bend of her pastern down her daughter's human forearm. "Just forget all that. I want you to be who you want to be. The princess tells me that your name is 'Peony' now. Is that true?"

The shape in Hyssop's forelegs quavered, and lowered it's undefined head. The answer was barely audible. "Yes."

Hyssop smiled through her tears. "T-That's a very pretty name. I like it very much."

A blurred, hopeful smile began to focus into a clear and sharp grin. "Really?"

"Very much. If I had a little filly, I would name her 'Peony', and take her home and be proud of her every day. I miss my little Peony very much. Would you come home and be my pretty little Peony?"

The little girl in the Tudor dress buried herself in her mother's embrace. The tears now came from her, as she wept out a short lifetime of quiet, private grief and suffering.

"Will you come home with me? Will you be my little filly?" Hyssop wrapped her wings around her daughter, embracing her with all but hind legs.

"I..." the voice was breathless and still crying. "I... can really be a girl?"

"A girl pony, but yes. Yes, yes, my little Peony. Come home with me and be my little girl."

Suddenly, Peony jerked in Hyssop's embrace, and raised herself. She stared into her mother's eyes. "The other kids! All the other ponies too! They'll all hate me! They'll hurt me!" Peony became slightly transparent, and Hyssop felt her daughter slipping away.

"No! That's not true!" Isla galloped free of Luna's fading hornfield. In three leaps she had made the top of the dais, and unable to stop smashed into Hyssop and Peony. Legs and arms and hooves and feet tangled together. "I like you better! I already told you that! I'm not a liar! I said you were pretty and everything!"

It took a bit of time for the three to right themselves. Isla was still mad. "You listen to me, Peony! If any pony even tried to say something bad to you, why... I'd buck 'em right in the roadapples!"

The absurdity of this brought Hyssop to laughter. Peony, seeing her mother finally not crying, began to laugh too. "The what?"

"Roadapples. I heard that somewhere. I don't know what it is, but I'd kick'em for you!" Isla had managed to stand, and she puffed out her chest and set her hooves firmly, as if she were ready to face down anything. "Besides, this is Equestria, Peony. Nopony is gonna say anything bad because ponies don't do that."

"It's true, little Peony." The three looked up to see Celestia and Luna standing over them. "All the things that you feared on earth do not exist here. If any pony came to me and wanted to be a filly - or a colt - my sister and I would gladly change them, and nopony would ever be anything but happy for their happiness. You will be welcomed and accepted, Peony, I promise."

The princess of the night took a step forward. "Thou shalt be loved and cherished, little filly, by mother and friend alike, and thou needs fear no pony in all of Equestria. We do give thee our royal promise on this, that thy life as filly and mare shall be as that of any other. Come thou then, and do give us in return thy pledge to live as our beloved little pony!"

Peony looked from Luna to the face of her mother, to Isla, to Celestia and then back to Luna. "Can I be a pegasus like my mommy?"

Luna nodded.

"Can I be pink?"

Luna rolled her eyes slightly, but nodded.

"With really soft pink hair and pink eyes and pink wings and be pretty like Isla?"

Celestia tried to hide her smile at her sister's restraint.

"Verily, little filly, if pink thou dost wish to be, then we pledge our troth that pink thou shalt become. Thy pinkness is most truly assured!"

"Okay." Peony turned to her mother and snuggled between her forelegs.

Peony nibbled at the clover pudding. She had tried many things already, and all were good, and all had been filling. She hadn't much room left, but Crimson had said the clover pudding was too good to miss. After a taste, Peony slightly regretted eating so much of the rose petal cake.

She had indeed turned out pink. Her coat was a delicate and shimmery pink. Her mane and tail were much lighter, almost a milky, pearlescent pink. Her eyes were hot pink, bright and shining like gems. Peony had spent some time just staring at herself in the gallery mirror, flaring out her wings and giggling, until her mom and Isla had told her to sit down. The head of the castle maids, Lime, had brought food for everypony. Peony realized she felt very hungry. The scary day was drawing to a close. Everypony was finally relaxed now, enjoying themselves and each other.

An hour previously, the room had not been so jolly. Back when the princesses had first entered the gallery, all the pony families had looked up and stared with wide eyes, fearing the worst. But then Isla had trotted through the door, between the princesses, and everypony's spirits had been raised. It took a little coaxing, but when Peony finally entered the room, all the stallions and mares and colts and fillies swarmed around, crying with joy. Both children had been saved!

At first, Peony had been nervous and shy. But, with enough 'ooh's and 'awwws', she was soon trotting merrily about, her wings flapping with excitement to be alive in the world. The overwhelming, and nearly fatal shame and fear that had so scarred the former human child had been conquered by one of Equestria's most astonishing sorceries. The cure had been the unstoppable power of truly absolute, truly unconditional acceptance. No monster of shame, no creature of fear, could win against such genuine affection. Fear and grief and worry had been turned to joyfulness in the room.

That joy had turned to shock and confusion when Hyssop Garden followed shortly behind her daughter - everypony had been convinced that she had been dead! Celestia calmly explained that yes, Hyssop had been dead, but only for a little while, and only just a little bit. Certainly nothing that couldn't be fixed. Hyssop, or at least her spirit, had been needed... elsewhere... in order to help save her daughter. Celestia had maintained control of her... ghost... the entire time, so there had been no risk of Hyssop being tempted by any greater vistas. The princess apologized for upsetting anyone, there had just been no time to explain things.

Very little of this bizarre explanation of events was understood by anypony, but that was okay. Everypony was just glad to have Hyssop back alive, and to have everything be alright.

After that, Celestia and Luna had excused themselves, leaving Lime Sherbet and her staff in charge of the situation. In no time at all, the reunion had become a banquet, with food served on rolling trays and every pony enjoying delicious treats from the royal kitchens. Lime was used to transformations now, and newfoals were always hungry after becoming ponies, and besides... all ponies enjoyed tasty treats during celebrations!

The two last children of the Masada Six had survived, despite a bit of a scare, and that was something worth celebrating.

Hyssop smiled, watching her little Peony happily savoring a small bowl of clover pudding, her big pink eyes shut tight to concentrate on the flavor. Her new filly looked so cute enjoying the treat that Hyssop almost felt like crying again. Finally, she tore herself away from watching her precious filly, and turned to another precious pony.

"Isla... I wonder if... if you would like to come live with Peony and me? Peony adores you, and... you two get along so well... and, if you would let me..." Hyssop looked down, unable to make eye contact for long. "...I know you're disappointed about your father and..." Hyssop swallowed and looked back up "If you want, you can be Peony's sister. I would be happy to be your mommy. If you want me to be."

The little snow-white pegasus licked banana frosting off of her face. Apparently the royal kitchens did not lack for desserts. "You'd have to give me a name. A flower name. Because we're a flower family." The filly looked thoughtful for a moment. Then impatient. "So name me!"

Hyssop tried to work through this sudden data-dump of child-logic. Oh! Hyssop Garden. Peony. Flowers. 'All Garden children should be named for flowers'... that was her reasoning. Okay... what name? A white flower, because Isla was white with a white mane? A favorite flower? It was hard to come up with a name on the spot. Hyssop felt like this was some kind of a test. Maybe, in Isla's young mind, it was.

"Tulip. Because Tulips represent a declaration of love. I want you to feel loved, and to have a happy home where you can be a happy filly." Hyssop looked over at Peony. "And also have a sister who clearly cares for you very, very much." 'Enough to sacrifice her own life' was what Hyssop thought after her words. The profundity of Peony's selfless act had been on Hyssop's mind for years now.

"Peony Garden, Tulip Garden, and Mommy Garden." The little pegasus flapped a wing, sending a small burst of air at Peony. Peony startled from her pudding trance and looked about, finally focusing on the source of the wind. "We're sisters now."

Peony smiled. "For real?" Pink eyes focused on Hyssop.

"For real." Hyssop smiled back.

"Oh... and my name is 'Tulip' now. Don't forget it! Tulip." Tulip took another bite of her banana and creme dish.

Peony looked from her mom to her new sister and back. "We're all pegasuses. Pegasisuses. You know what I mean."

"Mnn-hmm. I guess we are." Hyssop stretched her wings and folded them. "Birds of a feather."

"We should live in a cloud house." Peony grinned at her new sister. "And fly together in the sky!"

"I don't know how to fly." Tulip's ears fell.

"We could go to school. No more dumb tutors. Ponies to play with." Peony turned to Hyssop "Mom! Tulip doesn't know how to fly. I think you should find a way to get her into school. And me too. We both need to go to school so we can learn to fly good."

"I could teach you." Hyssop sat up tall. She felt proud.

"That's okay. We'd prefer school, right Tulip?" Peony gave a quick nod.

"Right. With lots of other foals to play with." Tulip nodded back.

"And a nice teacher who is... nice." Peony licked at a bit of clover pudding stuck to her muzzle.

"Oh! I'll need saddlebags too. Like yours. Only green." Tulip studied Peony's attempts to get the pudding. "Left. No, other left. Yeah. You got it."

"For books! They'll probably have books. About flying and stuff." Peony turned to Hyssop. "Tulip needs saddlebags too. Like the ones you got me? Only green. Oh, and we want to live in a cloud house someday, okay?"

Hyssop Garden stared at her two daughters. Already they were tag-teaming her. She laughed. "I'll see what I can do."

"She's a good mom, huh?" Peony yawned, filled with contentment... and a lot of tasty treats.

Tulip yawned as well. "I'm tired."

Hyssop shook her head. The day had been a day of wonders and terrors. Her daughter had almost died. She, herself, actually had died, and then been... brought back... by the princesses. She'd been inside her filly's head, along with Tulip, who had just become her second daughter. Yet the two of them... it was like Peony and Tulip had always been sisters. It was as if all the scary, strange events of the day had only been some silly, harmless nightmare. Equestria truly was magical. It certainly had plenty of arcane beams of thaumaturgical force, but the real magic wasn't showy at all.

The real magic of Equestria was in the heart.

"Miss Lime?" Hyssop caught the attention of the kind chief maid. "Could you tell us where our rooms are? My daughters are getting sleepy. Actually, so am I."

Lime Sherbet, always on top of things, didn't even blink. "I've arranged for a very nice little suite for you and your fillies. Follow me, Ms. Garden." In actuality, Lime had two rooms prepared, one for three, and one for only two. She was glad her happiest guess of possible outcomes had come true.

If there was one thing Lime liked, it was happy endings.