“You alright, Missus Sparkle?” Peachbottom asked, concerned about the unicorn beside her that had stopped in her tracks three times already.
“I’m fine, thank you.” Twilight replied quickly.
As with most quick replies, this couldn’t be further from the truth. Twilight was not fine at all. If anything, she could be described as the exact opposite of ‘fine’.
The thought of facing…him again made her sick to her stomach. Even someone who looked like him. The idiot brother that had ruined everything. The one who couldn’t be bothered to tell her he was engaged to her foalsitter. The one who let Celestia and Cadence died. The one who took over the Changeling Hive and took over Equestria, while repeatedly bawling that HE was the one who’d been hurt the most. The mere idea that she would have to act like his sister again…
Twilight shook her head clear, doing the breathing exercise once she was sure Peachbottom wasn’t looking. This wasn’t that brother. He might’ve still been the oaf that neglected to mention his engagement until the last minute, but he wasn’t that…thing. She could do this. She just had to smile, say hello, let Shining give her a noogie or whatever it was brothers would do to their sisters. Maybe not even that. Just pass Peachbottom onto him and ask him to show her around.
She knew that she’d have to deal with him…with Shining Armor sooner or later. He wasn’t going to go away. In time, maybe she wouldn’t be so uncomfortable with the notion of speaking to him. Right now, she had to focus almost all of her attention on not showing how uncomfortable she was. In time, it wouldn’t require a conscious effort on her part just to look casual.
She just prayed to Celestia that nothing would go wrong.
Surprisingly, it seemed like Celestia had answered her prayers…just not in the way Twilight had expected.
As they approached the Crystal Stadium, Twilight had her head down, rehearsing to herself what she’d say to Shining Armor when she faced him. “Okay, hey brother…no, hey Shining Armor…no no no, that’s a little too casual…Your majesty? Buck that, I’m his sister. Were that it not so…huhh, hey Shiny, can you take care of this…er, can you show Ms. Peachbottom around the stadium? She’ll be filling in for Mrs. Harshwhinny as the Games Inspector…can you do your sister a favor? Oh, Celestia give me strength.”
Then Peachbottom had spoken up. “Holy Hallelujah, issat Princess Celestia?” she said in a mortified gasp.
Twilight almost snorted with dismissal. The idea of Princess Celestia just BEING at the Crystal Stadium before the games had even started was absurd. Beyond absurd, it was downright ludicrous. Why would someone like Princess Celestia do that? Peachbottom must have been playing some country prank on her.
But then she heard her voice. Her melodious, beautiful voice, the voice she had not heard in years. “Twilight Sparkle! What a pleasant surprise.”
Twilight’s head snapped up like a spring to see Princess Celestia standing there, smiling. She gaped in shock. This was the last thing she’d expected! What was she doing here and now?!? Princess Celestia, the ruler of all Equestria, the most amazing, regal, radiant, wonderful pony in the world, the pony she would burn Equestria twice over for, was right here, right in front of her, smiling down upon her like the benevolent god she was.
She hadn’t expected this! Not this soon! Not now! She didn’t have any time to rehearse, to prepare, to figure out what in Tartartus she was going to say to her! What was she supposed to do? To say?! This was too soon! Too sudden!
She just stammered nervously for a second, eventually dropping to her knees. “P-P-P-Princess Celestia! Wh-whuh-what are you doing here?!”
Celestia just laughed melodiously. “Oh, Twilight, relax. I thought we were hoping for a casual get-together in the Crystal Empire?” she joked before explaining. “I arrived earlier than I expected, so I decided to check up on Shining Armor before I met up with you and Cadence.”
Twilight slowly regained her composure. “B-b-but WHY?! I mean…I-I-I mean I’m giving the Games Inspector a tour of the Crystal Empire right now, and I didn’t…!”
“The games inspector?” Celestia glanced at the quivering Peachbottom with slight confusion. “This isn’t Ms. Harshwhinny.”
“N-n-n-n-n-no, I-I-I-I-I-I’m Muh-muh-muh-muh- Miss Puh-puh-Peachbottom…” The mare stammered, shaking like a leaf.
Twilight decided to interject before she completely embarrassed the both of them. “Ms. Harshwhinny took sick at the last minute, so she’s her replacement…”
As she said this, however, she noticed something. Just behind Celestia, Shining Armor, the stallion she had NOT been looking forward to seeing again, was coming out of the stadium, speaking with a brown mare with a trophy cutie mark…
Miss Harshwhinny. The games inspector.
Celestia turned around to see the two, who were in the middle of a conversation regarding the stadium’s viability. When she saw Harshwhinny, her eyebrow raised in interest. “She does not appear sick to me.”
And just then, Harshwhinny turned to see Peachbottom, Twilight Sparkle, and Princess Celestia, all in the same place at the same time, looking at her. One with surprised terror, one with confused intrique, and another with growing rage. Her jaw dropped and the color drained from her face. “Oh dear…”
“YOU LIED TO ME!” Twilight suddenly spun around and roared at the hapless Peachbottom. Her eyes were pinpricks quivering with fury, her mane looked like it had burst into flames, and her teeth were grinding together and making a sound like nails on a chalkboard. It was enough to put Peachbottom in fear for her life.
The mare tried to back away in panic, but Twilight jumped onto her like a Timberwolf and pinned her down. “YOU MADE ME LOOK LIKE AN IDIOT IN FRONT OF THE PRINCESS! NOPONY MAKES ME LOOK STUPID!”
Suddenly Harshwhinny and Shining Armor were next to Twilight, trying to pull her off Peachbottom. “NO! Don’t hurt her!”Harshwhinny begged.
“Twiley, calm down!” Shining demanded.
“GET YOUR HOOVES OFF ME!” Twilight snarled, sending out a magic blast that knocked all three of them away. She started skulking back towards Peachbottom, murder in her eyes…
”Twilight Sparkle!”
Celestia’s voice snapped Twilight out of her rage immediately, and she spun around to see a less-than-pleased Celestia glaring at her. Twilight wilted under her mentor’s gaze, shrinking back like a frightened animal. Celestia towered over her, clearly biting back anger.
“I am very disappointed, Twilight. I thought you were better than this. Losing your temper and lashing out like this is absolutely disgraceful. You should be ashamed.” She said flatly.
“Buh…but she…” Twilight stammered, her justifications dying on her tongue under her teacher’s glare.
“No buts, Twilight. Whatever has happened, it doesn’t justify threatening Ms Peachbottom like that or lashing out against your brother and Mrs. Harshwhinny. Now please stand aside, so I can get a better understanding of this situation. And think about what you’ve done.”
Twilight reluctantly stepped away, trying not to end up next to Shining Armor, who was nursing a bruise on his face and looking at Twilight strangely. Twilight turned her face away in shame and frustration. She had upset Celestia, and after she had been waiting for this for so long…
Now that Twilight had been taken care of, Celestia turned her attention to Peachbottom and Harshwhinny, who were standing side-by-side and looking up at their sovereign with frightened awe. “Now…I would like an explanation.”
Peachbottom spoke up immediately, stepping between Celestia and Harshwhinny. “I did it! It was me!” she confessed. “I took Harshwhinny credentitals and stuff and I imponated her so I could get a free tour! And free food! A-and a trip to the palace! And the Crystal Palace Rotundas!”
Harshwhinny promptly shoved Peachbottom out of the way and stepped forward. “NO! It was my idea! I was sick of all the platitudes and nonsense I kept being handed out – guided tours of fancy restaurants and castles that meant nothing for the Games, and wouldn’t let me do my job, so I made Peachbottom take my credentials and impersonate me so I wouldn’t get dragged along! This is my fault, not hers!”
Celestia just raised her eyebrow, in contemplation or simply amusement.
Peachbottom got back up and stepped back between her ruler and her friend. “But it was MY plan! I talked her into it! It’s my fault! I’m the one who gave your apprentice the runaround!”
Harshwhinny stepped back in front. “No! It was my plan! I had to beg and threaten Peachbottom to get her to do it! I should’ve taken responsibility and done my job!”
“No! It’s my fault!” Peachbottom jumped between them once again. “I told her to be spontaneous!”
Harshwhinny tried to push Peachbottom behind her. “And I told her she was helping me by doing this!”
Now Peachbottom was in front. “I did it for Roduntas!”
Harshwhinny. “I did it for a HAMBURGER!”
Peachbottom tried to get between them again, only to bump Celestia in the chest with her nose. The two of them immediately backed away from the Princess’ eyes, fearfully awaiting their sovereign’s words, gripping each other in a tight, comforting hug.
Twilight smirked inwardly. <i>There. They confessed. They made an idiot out of me, your prize student. Made me look bad. This was their fault. Tell them.</i>
Shining noticed her smirk and shivered. It felt vindictive, angry, bitter. Was his sister always like that?
Silence hung in the air for a minute as everypony awaited Celestia’s judgement. Everything around them seemed to freeze, like an explosion was imminent. And then Celestia did something that nopony expected.
She laughed.
A soft, melodious, gentle chuckle. The laugh of someone who was quite amused by how things had turned out. Harshwhinny and Peachbottom blinked, relaxing only a little with the assurance that they wouldn’t be sent to the moon. Twilight’s jaw dropped. She thinks this is FUNNY?!
“Oh my little ponies,” Celestia soothed the two ponies at her feet. “You don’t have to worry. I don’t see criminals before me, just two friends trying to help each other. Contrary to what Twilight might have implied, I don’t think any real harm was done today.”
Twilight gasped, completely flabbergasted. “B…But…she wasted my time…the bill…”
“It will be covered, I assure you.” Celestia replied. “And if I’d considered ‘wasted time’ a felony, I would’ve taken action against every recreational activity in Equestria. I don’t think that’s necessary.”
Now fully relaxed, Peachbottom glanced at Harshwhinny. “Phew-wee. Thank goodness fer that, huh, Harshy?”
Harshwhinny still wasn’t too relaxed herself. She could still feel Twilight’s anger from where she sat. “Er…y-yeah…did you enjoy the meal?”
“Not really. You were right about gourmet food being overrated.”
Celestia actually nodded in agreement. “I know what you mean.” She remarked before looking at Harshwhinny. “Though if you felt that way, perhaps it would have been better to just say so?”
Harshwhinny blushed. “Well…um, everypony has these expectations of me and…I guess I have to keep some credibility…I did try to tell the last few cities that I would’ve been happy with Hayburgers, but they just acted like I insulted them.”
Celestia sighed. “I’ll look into that. But let’s not dwell on this for long. I’ve visited Princess Cadence, and she is ready for the inspectors. She’ll be meeting you at the Crystal Palace.”
Peachbottom blinked. “Inspectors?”
“Why not?” Celestia asked playfully. “Harshwhinny seems to think the viewpoint of normal folk is important for the Games. And you did volunteer for the job, didn’t you, Mrs. Peachbottom?”
Peachbottom just blushed and nodded. “Ahehe…yeah, I reckon I did, your Mahesjy. I mean, your Majesty!” She finally stood back up and motioned Harshwhinny to do the same. “C’mon Harshy!”
Harshwhinny stood still for a second, still processing what just happened. Eventually, she just smiled and got back up. “Th-thank you, your majesty.” She nodded before trotting along with Peachbottom to finish up the tour.
Now that everything with the two was settled, Celestia turned back to Twilight, concern in her eyes. “Is something wrong, Twilight? I’ve seen you stressed out, but never this…angry.”
Twilight forced her face to change into a smile. “I’m….I just…it’s been…really…frustrating today. Listen…I need to go find Rarity and Rainbow Dash. Could we discuss this over tea? Please?” she pleaded.
Celestia looked at Twilight for a moment before nodding. “Of course, Twilight.”
Thanking Celestia, Twilight turned around and started running back to the spa. Shining shouted ‘Hey, sis!” after her, but she apparently didn’t hear him. She just kept running away.
Once she was out of sight, Shining turned to Celestia. “Something’s wrong.”
“I am aware.” Celestia mused. “But I cannot put my hoof on what it is.”
“Maybe it’s…no, it can’t be.” Shining shook his head. “They’re all dead.”
“That is true.” Celestia admitted. “Maybe it is just stress, but I’ve never seen Twilight react like that to anything, and she’s been through far worse than a switcheroo gambit…hopefully, I can find out more when we speak later. Hopefully, it’s nothing to worry about.”
Shining Armor nodded in agreement, but he doubted that it would be ‘nothing to worry about’. A stressed Twilight was one thing – he’d seen the damage she could do when she was under too much stress. But an angry Twillight was something else entirely...
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Elsewhere…
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Applejack stared up at the ceiling lights of her hospital room. Well, she only guessed there were lights. More than one, that is. She only saw one big one. One big, blurry light. Maybe she could ask the Dr. Tenderhooves or Stiches just how many lights there actually were. Maybe it will be a different number than last time. Maybe they actually moved her or her room. Hopefully.
The medicine that dulled her vision also dulled her constant pain. It wasn’t overwhelming pain, or horrible pain, not like some of the other ponies in the other rooms suffering from terrible, debilitating illness or injury, but it was…always there. Never ended.
She knew why it never ended.
The cuts that Twilight Sparkle had inflicted when Applejack called her out on her attack simply wouldn’t heal. Twilight had used some sort of enchantment on her blades that kept them from healing. They just kept bleeding and bleeding and the stitches did almost nothing and the bandages got soaked and they had to hook her up to an IV and put her in a magic barrier to keep her wounds from getting infected and had to constantly give her medication that her feel sleepy and all she could think about was how badly she was doing and...
Applejack groaned. This was getting unbearable. It wasn’t enough for Twilight to just try to kill her. She had to make sure that if her life was saved, she’d never actually have her life back. This hospital bed felt like a prison. No wonder the Changeling King didn’t prosecute her. He didn’t have to.
Her mind went back to that day…
“TWILIGHT! WHAT IN THE NAME OF CELESTIA DID YOU DO!”
“We weren’t accomplishing anything, Applejack! Nothing was working! I couldn’t sit around and let those insects ruin everything! They were brainwashing everypony! I had to do SOMETHING!”
“What are ya talking about?! We’ve done plenty! And now yer gonna wreck it all! And you nearly killed our friend!”
“NO! She’s not our friend anymore! Don’t you get it?! Nothing’s been fixed, because we haven’t used enough force! We can’t – “
“Yer outta yer mind, Twilight! Ah stood by you, through thick and thin, but this is too far!”
“’Too far?’ Are you getting cold hooves, Applejack? We knew the stakes when we agreed to stand against the Changeling King! You said it yourself, we had to work hard if we were gonna make things better!”
“BUT THIS WASN’T WHAT I MEANT AT ALL!”
“Then what did you mean, huh?! Did you mean to just bend over to what the King wants once he pretends to listen to us?! To just forget Celestia even existed?”
“Do yah honestly believe Celestia would’ve wanted you to do this?”
And then there was pain.
At least five unicorn specialists had tried to undo the spell, but apparently it was ‘magic-locked’ or something. Twilight’s personal touch. The only pony would could undo this hex was Twilight herself, with her ‘personal magical signature’. Did she hope to have Applejack come back to her, on her hooves and knees, pleading to be fixed, offering to join her once again? Go back to being terrorists, if only she could walk again?
Fat chance of that happening, Applejack though to herself. After something like <i>this</i>, there was no way in Tartarus she would ever come back to Twilight’s. No matter how long she’d stay here, staring at the ceiling, bleeding out and having blood pumped back in, waiting for the nurse to change her bandages, waiting for Apple Bloom to come back from school so she could at least keep her company, she would NEVER beg for Twilight’s help.
Even if it meant staying here for the rest of her life…