//------------------------------// // 17. Trains, Strains and Explosive Pops - Part Two // Story: Letters From a Little Princess Monster // by Georg //------------------------------// Letters From a Little Princess Monster Trains, Strains and Explosive Pops The sweltering heat of the Everfree Forest sent long trickles of sweat down the inside of Sergeant Chives’ mottled armor, making the sensation of the two heavy magic suppression donuts strapped to his sides feel much like wet bags of concrete smushing up against him with every step. They had been following Princess Cadence and Prince Consort Shining Armor through a narrow forest trail for several hours now with no sign of the monster and no sign of a break. His first encounter with the creature had been several months ago, and if not for the few minutes of stark terror and the giant glassy crater of devastation left behind then, it would have been easy to dismiss their trips into the trackless forest since as some sort of cruel hazing ritual. He had just stepped over a rock with his eyes tracking to the left when it happened. An iridescent flying insect with multiple body parts had caught his attention, glittering a spectrum of colors as it flew by. Before he turned his eyes back to the path, a small flicker of purple in the deep green forest nailed his hooves to the ground. It was only for a few moments that he was captured in that piercing gaze from the scarred and tortured face before Monster vanished into the forest like a ghost, but the image still could bring him wide awake in the middle of the night with a muffled scream. * * * Chives felt naked. Even while wrapped in his Royal Guard armor, standing on the train platform within sight of a few dozen other ponies all wearing far less than him, he still could feel a chill breeze blow through the thin steel and evaporate the sudden film of sweat that had suddenly covered his body. The heavily-enchanted mottled armor that he had worn so many times into the forest was safely sitting on a shelf in Canterlot, miles away, as well as the two heavy magic suppression donuts that he had cursed so many times on their long slogs through the Everfree. There were many dangers he had faced in his years as a Royal Guard, but he had never pictured himself wishing for an entire regiment of reinforcements to face off against one small unicorn filly with mournful eyes. But even his ongoing panic was abruptly interrupted by a loud pop from off to one side, and then what seemed like every firework in Ponyville began screaming and roaring off into the sky. He stumbled as he tried to look both ways at once, feeling a crushing pain around one leg that triggered a certain disconnect in his panic. Training kicked in despite the weirdness of the situation, or perhaps because of it. The blossoms of red and blue were fairly pretty, and distracting as all heck, particularly when one would whizz down the train platform and explode fairly close, which caused him to wince in pain. It took effort to look around the train platform for any possible assassin taking advantage of their inattention in order to attack Prince Blueblood, but it seemed the residents of the little town were either watching the light show with awe, or ignoring it as if the explosions were routine. He took the time while the fireworks banged and popped to revise his opinions on the little filly, who seemed so much smaller and much different up close. There was something going on that was definitely above his pay grade, or perhaps several somethings that would require a few quiet words to the Prince Consort when they returned to Canterlot. But until then, he had a job to do. After one last scan of the area as his duty commanded, he turned his attention to calming down the little filly, her trembling body wrapped around one armored foreleg and with her nose buried in his neck. It is extremely difficult to be afraid of a monster who is clutching frantically to your leg and whimpering in tears. * * * Prince Blueblood came striding out onto the train station platform, giving a brief annoyed glance at the fireworks show the locals were putting on for his arrival. Their timing was atrocious, starting before he even made an appearance, without a brass band of any sort, and not nearly enough fireworks for a proper display, but then again, he had not scheduled this trip so perhaps that was as good as this plebeian little village could scrape together on short notice. With a disparaging snort, he sent the rest of his servants to procure a suite at the local hotel before striding over to his auntie’s two guards, who seemed to be playing with some of the local ragamuffins. “You there! The photographer. Direct me to the library at once. I have business with Beatrix Lulumoon.” The little pegasus aiming the camera at the sun-drenched village ignored him, of all the gall, but Blueblood did get a response. There was a small unicorn filly who had been the victim of some sort of horrible painting incident wrapped rather firmly around Sergeant Chives’ foreleg, and she looked up with a blubbering sniff and a curious expression. “Beatrix?” Blueblood bent down and looked at the little mottled filly’s tear-smeared face while trying not to frown at her untidy appearance. She blinked back tears and looked back, dividing her attention between him and the few pops and sizzles of leftover fireworks detonating. “She’s at the library. It’s a big building full of books. You know what books are, don’t you?” Both of her little ears folded back and the terrified glances she was casting at the few popping fireworks remnants turned into an intense glare at him, with a cute little squint that was supposed to be intimidating. “Yes.” “Well, direct me there at once. I haven’t got all day, you know.” “Go ahead, Twilight,” said Featherweight, who had not moved from his camera viewfinder. “I’m doing a timed exposure. We’ll meet you over there.” * * * Blueblood trotted through the little town with his nose properly held up in the air, following the little filly with his two clanking guards trailing behind. There was something he was missing in the situation, and that missing puzzle piece itched at the back of his mind, but Trixie could be counted on for at least this one bit of information. At least with a little bourbon. * * * Monster obediently stood outside the library with the two guards, waiting for Mister Prince Blueblood to come back outside. He had been very insistent about having a private conversation with Trixie, and the two guards had settled into a stoic position at either side of the library door to prevent any interruptions, but something still bothered Monster about one of them. She eyed the earth pony, feeling the touch of the spirits of earth on his metal-wrapped hooves, but realization did not dawn until she stuck her nose into his mane again and gave a deep sniff. She sat back on her haunches and looked up at him. There should have been some fear in her liver, but she could only see the terrified soldier in mottled armor deep within the hostile forest, and think of how she had hurt him. “I’m sorry.” Monster sniffed. “I’m sorry for scaring you so much in the forest. And for throwing rocks at you. I didn’t mean to hurt you.” The earth pony guard blinked a few times, then got down on one knee to wipe away her tear with an armored hoof. “Apology accepted. And on behalf of all of the ponies in our task force, I’d like to apologize to you.” “Why?” Monster reached out and gently tapped his armor with one hoof. “I was a bad pony. I hurt other ponies. I hurt you. You protect ponies.” “Well, yes, but…” The guard trailed off and a small smile began to make its way onto his face. “I tell you what, let’s try this again.” He stuck out a hoof. “Hello, my name is Sergeant Chives and this handsome lug to my side is Specialist Stanchion. What’s your name?” “Y-you can just accept me like that? But I killed. I’m a murderer.” The big guard shook his head. “Nopony in the task force was seriously injured while we were trying to catch you, other than Specialist Beeswax, and it was his own fault for hitting that bee’s nest with a stick. He may have been friendly with normal bees, but your forest bees pack a wallop.” The jocular smile on the guard’s face slowly melted away as the expected joke fell flat, but before he could go farther, the other guard knelt beside him. “Twilight Sparkle, the race of changelings owe you gratitude beyond measure. The invasion of Canterlot could have cost the lives of hundreds of ponies and changelings alike. When you were captured, you had every right to use every tool at your disposal to escape, even to the destruction of our hive. Had you not thinned our ranks, the love of our new Queen could never have broken us of our cursed hunger, and we would still be a slave to our baser instincts, monsters preying on the ponies that Sergeant Chives here is pledged to protect. As am I. You were the one who saved us, and you should never feel guilt for that victory.” Her voice was very small in the morning air. “I almost killed you all.” “But you didn’t.” The disguised changeling picked up Monster’s hoof and held it to his warm breastplate. “I felt your confusion and anger when you confronted Queen Chrysalis; all of us did. Our lives were yours to take, and for just a moment, I was glad. I had become a monster, stealing what I could not be given and plotting to destroy the ones who I had pledged myself to protect. You took those chains away, and had it taken the sacrifice of all of us to save even a few from that fate, I would have given my life willingly for that goal.” They talked for a while in front of the library while the busy townponies went about their business in the distance around them. The big guards were very good listeners, and she found herself talking about things that had bothered her ever since Luna had been freed. They assured her the new princess was adapting well to rejoining her sister as a ruler over Equestria, making the castle staff scurry around like the occupants of a shaken firefly lantern while catching up on her current events. But they could not answer if she had gained any new friends other than relating a funny story about one silly pony who had kissed her and begged for her hoof in marriage. It seemed the life of a Princess was a lonely one, with few ponies able to maintain a close relationship with one who held such power over them, although Stanchion seemed very proud of Cadence and just a little resentful of Shining Armor. He reassured Monster that her brother already knew about what she had done, and was nearly a basket case with badly concealed worry about her. She would have asked more about her family except for the abrupt exit of Mister Prince Blueblood from the library, trailing smoke from his tail as he sprinted for the distant town fountain. While the guards galloped after their charge, Monster slipped into the library where Trixie was holding a bottle in her magic and glaring at her departing guest. She shifted the bottle from side to side while muttering, eventually sitting it back down on the table with a growled, “It would probably just break on his thick head and set the rest of him on fire. Hello, Menace. What are you doing here this morning?” “Hello.” Monster fidgeted in place. Obviously Trixie was not in a mood to allow her into the library, but there were so many books calling to be read while waiting for the rest of her friends to show up. “Could I please…” “What? Come in? Make breakfast? Get an autograph?” Trixie yawned and turned around to plod into the library, the unopened bottle trailing along in her wake. “Come on in while you’re deciding. I’ll make coffee. Do you have any idea what that racket was that woke me up this morning?” * * * The last crate had just finished smoldering by the time Comet Tails emerged from his safe bunker of boxes and crates at the train station freight platform. Cold Front was nowhere to be seen, but knowing her luck, she had probably landed in a box full of ice cream when the fireworks had begun to explode. He picked through the glowing remnants of the fireworks shipment with a scowl and a sudden yank back of his hoof as it found a particularly hot coal. “Hey, Tails. Does this mean we can go back to Canterlot? I don’t think we’re needed to supervise the fireworks now.” Cold Front casually strolled out of the train, the pair of somewhat squishy ice cream cones dripping in her magic being held in front of her as she detoured around a few still smoldering fireworks fragments. “The dining car freezer is going out and they were giving away their ice cream. Good luck, eh?” “Wonderful luck, CF.” He took the offered ice cream cone in his own magic and gave it a despondent lick. Sitting in the middle of a burnt shipment of fireworks with ice cream beat the heck out of just sitting in the middle of a burnt shipment of fireworks, but it took a second and a third lick to cheer him up enough to continue. “We’ll just have to go back and get replacements out of the warehouse. Hey! You there! Yes, you. Come here for a minute, please?” Comet Tails scribbled on a note for a minute while floating a few bits over to the little unicorn filly, who looked around the smoking railroad freight dock with an unmistakably guilty expression. From the patterns of smoke on her pristine white coat, she had been extremely close to the launch site when the fireworks went up, and from the way she kept looking at him, she obviously expected some sort of accusation. Finally as he got near the bottom of the note, she exploded with a sentence that had apparently been building up inside her under immense pressure. “I’msorryforlightingyourfireworksIonlywantedtolookatthemandmyhornmadesparksandtheywentoffandI’msorryandIpromiseitwon’thappenagainsandwhydidyougivemetwobits?” “Because I want you to run a note over to Princess Celestia’s student, Trixie. Don’t sweat setting the fireworks off by accident.” He paused and pointed to the silvery comet adorning his own smoky coat. “It’s how I got my cutie mark, after all.” Comet Tails folded the piece of paper up and passed it over to the blank-flanked filly, who grasped it in her mouth instead of her magic and scurried off. “Well, that’s it for today,” said Cold Front, popping the last of the ice cream cone into her mouth and chewing happily. “Back to civilization in plenty of time for me to finish work and play with my coltfriend tonight.” “Yeah. I suppose.” Comet Tails kicked a piece of fireworks debris and frowned. “I really wanted to meet The Great and Powerful Trixie, though. Maybe tomorrow when we bring up a fresh batch.” The two unicorns went back into the train, leaving behind an entire freight platform covered with boxes, crates, and shipping containers, and on every one of them, a sign. Property of the Great and Powerful Trixie