//------------------------------// // Sequel Segue // Story: Becoming One With the Night // by Spacecowboy //------------------------------// Silence was the dominating force amongst the group of ponies currently sitting at a large table inside Surgarcube Corner, each one thinking heavily about the recent revelation regarding Twilight. A plate of assorted sweets rested on the table before them, yet was barely touched. “So…” Shining Armor shattered the silence, picking through the sweets with his magic. “This sucks.” Not finding anything that caught his interest, he sighed and slumped in his chair, quickly glancing at his parents. “It does explain a few things, though.” Cadance leaned into his side, nibbling on a blueberry muffin. “What exactly does it explain, Shining? I knew Twilight was special, but I didn’t expect anything quite this… out there,” she quietly replied, everypony’s full attention now on them. “Well, I mean, just look at what she’s done… who else has a surge as a filly and animates an entire aisle of dairy products?” Velvet and Crescent shared a chuckle at the memory; after all they were the ones who had replaced everything once the surge had passed. “I mean, I’m pretty powerful, but I think the most I ever managed to do was knock a few things down. There’s a bunch of other things that add up, but I’ve never really thought on them before.” Velvet nodded after taking a sip of hot cocoa, setting the mug back down on the table as she quietly cleared her throat. “Yes, Shining, you’re right. It tore us up inside to not be able to tell her about it, and it was really bad that it came out under such circumstances, but,” Velvet turned to face Shining, “you all understand, right? We had no other choice in the matter, the geas ensured that.” Slowly, everypony at the table nodded their understanding, although some were slower than others. “I remember Twilight talking about geas one day while I was fitting her for a dress,” Rarity interjected, noticing how slow some of the ponies had been to understand. “From what she had talked about, Velvet and Crescent had their hooves thoroughly tied, the magic wouldn’t even permit them to think about telling the truth to anypony, not even to another who knew it,” she turned to face them, “am I correct?” Crescent spoke before Velvet could reply. “That you are, Rarity. There was one time, right after the Princess decided to teach Twilight herself. We thought Twilight deserved to know the truth, and that we loved her no matter what, but we couldn’t even pick up a quill nor open our mouths. I think Velvet tried some very creative things as well, but nothing worked. For some reason, Celestia didn’t want her to know, and there was just nothing we could do.” He sighed, resting the tip of his chin on the table. “That almost sounds like a Pinkie Promise!” Pinkie exclaimed quietly, bouncing slightly in her seat as she inhaled a cupcake. “I mean, with Pinkie Promises you could tell somepony about it, and then face the consequences, but it sounds like that geas thing means you can never tell anypony ever!” She scrunched her eyes in thought, before a light bulb appeared over her head for a brief moment. “Oh, I should try and work a geas into my Pinkie Promises!” “No!” Multiple voices exclaimed. Everypony froze for a few moments before erupting into laughter. Pinkie looked around at everypony with a confused expression on her face. Applejack patted Pinkie on the shoulder, a light grin on her face. “Oh, thanks for being Pinkie, Pinkie. Ah think we all needed a good solid laugh. But don’t go and try to make a geas part of your promise, okay? Ah think it’s just fine as is. “Ah do think we’re missing one important thing though,” Applejack continued, her smile slipping into a more serious expression. “No matter what, we’re all gonna be here for Twi. Not a single darn thing has changed Ah’d say, and we’re gonna make sure to remind her about that.” She punctuated the end of her words with a soft clop of her hoof on the table’s surface, hammering home her point. “Pft, as if anything Twilight does would change who she is… an egghead!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed, snickering slightly with a wide, smug grin plastered on her face. Her expression was quickly wiped away as Applejack roughly wrapped a hoof around her neck and began to muss her mane with a hoof. Dash struggled to free herself amidst the growing chuckles and laughter, finally wrenching free after a couple of seconds. She noticed Applejack’s steely gaze boring a hole straight through her. “Uh, what I mean is that no matter what happens to Twilight, she’s still my friend?” Shining laughed, the earlier dark mood forgotten at this point as they all enjoyed the company of one another. “Twilight’s real lucky to have friends like you all. I’m really glad you are around to offer your support for, well, awhile.” “T-thank you, that means a lot.” Fluttershy softly muttered with a demure smile on her face. “Twilight has been a really good friend to us all, it’s the least that we could do…” she trailed off, her eyes gazing into the distance for a moment, “I have no clue how long it’ll take but… I’ll be there for her like she was for all of us.” “I couldn’t have put it more eloquently myself, Shy,” Rarity smiled, daintily nibbling on a roll as she asked Cup Cake for a glass of tea. “Even though Twilight has put us into some interesting situations, I believe the girls will agree with me when I say we could not ask for a better pony to be our friend.” Dash snorted in agreement, noisily slurping at the remains of her drink. “That’s crazy though. Who would’ve thought the Princess was her mom, huh? Kind of wrong to not say a word over almost twenty years too, I mean, come on! She was like, right there the whole time. That’s kind of creepy really, if you think about it.” Velvet loudly cleared her throat, gaining everypony’s attention. “While the timing was amazingly poor, I’d ask you all to keep from saying anything negative about Princess Celestia, okay?” she paused a moment, before uttering in a drawn out tone, “Please?” Everypony except Crescent incredulously stared at her request. He simply rested his hoof underneath Velvet’s chin and moved it for a quick and chaste kiss. “What my wife meant to say is that although the Princess might have been in the wrong, without her, well… we wouldn’t have another child.” He paused a moment, a somber thought coming to mind causing him to mutter under his breath. “I just hope she remembers that she’s our child, no matter what, as well.” “I’m just sure that everypony will be just a-okay!” Pinkie interjected, pulling out decks of cards and assorted board games. “Let’s turn those frowns upside down!” Everypony chuckled as Pinkie began to divvy up the entertainment. Everypony put their concerns in the back of their minds for the moment and dove into the games. After the third game of Clue, countless games of Go Fish, and other various games, Cup Cake came and interrupted them all. “Sorry, everypony, but we’ve got to close up.” Applejack looked up through the windows, surprised at how late it was. “Ah didn’t notice how late it got!” A stray thought entered her mind as she turned towards Cup Cake. “Why didn’t Ah see any other ponies stop by this whole time?” The rest of them muttered their assent, curious as to the lack of customers to the typically busy shop. “Well, my dear and I saw just how down you all looked when Pinkie entered the shop; we figured something pretty bad had happened. It was the least we could do for Pinkie and her friends.” Carrot Cake replied, coming up behind his wife as they began to clean up. “It looks like everypony is doing much better now, we’re both glad to see that.” “Thank you very much, both of you.” Cadance quietly replied, a beaming smile on her face. She turned towards the rest of the group, the day’s weariness finally beginning to show as she let out a large yawn. “I believe it’s time we all called it a night… we can meet back up tomorrow to figure out how to best support Twi, yes?” “Yuperooni! I’ll get a party together tomorrow for Twilight for sure! There’s no way it won’t work!” A collective round of chuckles sounded out as Pinkie literally bounced out of her chair. “Thanks a lot, Mr. and Mrs. Cake! You two really are the best!” Pinkie bounced over and threw her hooves around both ponies. “Well, that looks like our cue to leave, Shiny.” Cadance yawned again, turning to briefly face Applejack. “Can we meet at your farm tomorrow morning? I’ve been dying to try some of the famed Apple family goods… please?” Applejack let out a peal of laughter at the alicorn’s pleading face, chuckling as she nodded. “Sure thing, Ah’ll just get Applebloom to help me cook in the morning. Matter of fact, all of y’all are more than welcome to come over for breakfast in the morning, what do y’all say?” Everypony nodded in assent as even more began yawning. With quiet goodnights, everypony gathered dispersed into the chilly night air, until tomorrow. Story Continued in the Sequel Here!