Twilight headed out the doors of her room at a swift trot, mentally going over her supplies for the sixth time in the last hour.
Maps, food, bits, climbing gear, winter gear, summer gear, should I have brought the spring gear? Those wide hats never really fit my horn correctly though…
Twilight continued her list, avidly trying to keep her mind off of yesterday’s meeting and the events that followed.
"Twilight? What happened?" Spike had uttered out, clenching and unclenching his paws nervously at the wailing ball of purple on the bed that he had been trying to talk to the last few minutes.
Twilight barely heard the sound of a door opening and closing, her head buried under a pillow. Images of staring out across Ponyville and watching it rot away kept running through her mind as Spike talked to somepony in the background. Twilight saw Sugarcube Corner being replaced to make a new showroom for Davenport's sofa's.
A door opened and closed briefly. Seconds later, someone large approached the bed Twilight was holed up in.
However, Twilight was too lost in her own pain. She saw Rarity's Boutique becoming dilapidated and finally torn down to make way for the inventory space Quills and Sofa needed. Oh, Twilight just knew it'd be her fault too! Why did she need so many quills that Davenport had to expand the business like that!? Why had she not ordered them from Canterlot instead of giving Davenport more than enough bits to take her friends old homes!?
Twilight's thoughts were interrupted by a rather large weight settling onto the bed and pressing lightly against her. Seconds later, a white muzzle poked under Twilight's pillow, blowing warm air on Twilight's cheek before gently nuzzling her.
After Twilight had finally calmed down a little, she had stayed up half the night talking with Celestia. She wasn't sure when, but at some point between the crying and talking, she had fallen asleep. Either through luck, or the graces of a certain Alicorn of dreams, Twilight had awoke hours later, undisturbed by a single nightmare. That morning, after she had blearily wiped sleep from her eyes, she had looked over the bed, and, more importantly, at the warm, white wing still wrapped around her, Twilight couldn't even begin to explain how immensely grateful she had been when she realized that Celestia had stayed with her the entire night.
“I promise you, Twilight.” Celestia had said to her that morning. “That Luna, Cadence, and myself will always be here for you. Whenever you need to talk you only need ask and I will give you all the time you need.”
“Twilight!”
Twilight had then tried to broach the subject about her friends, but Celestia rebuffed her as gently as she could, saying, “While not all of them have the same family dilemmas as Applejack or Rarity, only you were trained and prepared for what it means to be an Alicorn. Luna and I cannot risk the creation of Alicorns that might be led astray; one's that haven’t shown themselves to be capable leaders in Equestria’s time of need. Your friends have all shown themselves to be wonderful ponies several times over, but only you have the qualities of an Alicorn in you, Twilight.”.
“Twilight!”
Afterwards they spoke a little more as Twilight prepared for her first solo mission. Celestia eventually said her goodbyes as she was already late for the sun court, leaving Twilight to think through everything she had learned over the last day.
Maybe Celestia is right about my friends, but couldn’t I try to teach them to become leaders? I don’t feel half as capable as Celestia thinks I am, and even less so knowing my friends one day won’t be there with me. It couldn't hurt to run some tests after this, right? There has to be books on being a good leader in the castle. But, which one of them should I ask first? Twilight started to compile a list of her friends pros and cons when…
“TWILIGHT SPARKLE!!”
“GAH!” Twilight screamed at the bellowing voice whose sheer force alone had violently whipped her hair behind her head. Twilight promptly lost her balance and fell onto her back, finding herself staring up at an extremely irritated and tired looking Princess Luna.
“We have been calling to you for the last five minutes! Just what cause do you have to ignore us like this!?”
Twilight’s ears lowered as she scrambled back to her hooves and brushed some dust off of her coat “I’m so sorry Luna. I just have a lot on my mind right now, and I guess I tuned everything else out.”
Luna grumbled a bit but nodded her assent. “We understand the last few days have not been easy on you, Twilight. Forgive us if we are acting irritated, we have delayed our sleep to make sure to say goodbye when you left and to give you this…” Luna levitated a small emerald earring over to Twilight which shimmered in the sunlight.
Twilight smiled at Luna’s gift, but raised her eyebrows questioningly “Thank you Luna, it’s very pretty, but why was it so important for you to give this to me now?”
Luna loudly yawned and then blinked her eyes wearily at Twilight “Oh, yes. The earring will hide your wings from sight. We use such trinkets to disguise ourselves when we do not wish for attention. Luckily, you are still of normal height for a pony so this is all you need to blend in. Your investigation will be quite hampered if word of your arrival is heard of every time you step into a town.”
“Well, that makes a lot of sense actually, I didn’t think of a disguise. But Luna?” Luna was busy rubbing her hoof over her mane to massage away a headache. She stared tiredly at Twilight and motioned for her to proceed. “Maybe you forgot, but…I don’t have an ear piercing…”
Luna rolled her eyes at Twilight and growled a bit, causing Twilight to wish she hadn’t pointed out the flaw in Luna’s plan when she was so irritable. “Right, right, hold still then.”
Wait…what…?
POP!
“AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!”
Twilight squirmed on her seat in the train, doing her best to keep her hooves away from her throbbing ear.
“I can’t believe she did that! Is she crazy!? I’m never going near her again in the morning.”
Twilight mumbled out irritated words about Luna as she checked the compass Discord provided her. The arrow was still pointing South East.
“Ok, according to my books, one of the easiest places to hide is in plain sight. The only major city South East of Canterlot looks to be Baltimare. I’ll just ride the train there and have the compass lead me to where this thief is hiding. Since they should still be suffering from the artifact, It shouldn’t be too difficult to catch them. Then, I’ll ask some of the cities guards to help me escort them back to Canterlot; just as soon as I take this stupid earring out.” Twilight groaned a little in pain and massaged her still throbbing ear.
And then Luna can do whatever she needs to, though if she’s willing to do something like this to me I’m not feeling particularly good on what she’s going to do to somepony she doesn’t like.
Fluttershy placed the latest ice pack on Trixie’s head, causing the vaguely conscious mare to sigh in relief.
“Y-you have the great and p-powerful Trixie’s thanks, Buttershy.”
“Oh. I’m happy to help a friend of Discord’s. Though, um, my name is Fluttershy.” Fluttershy waved her hooves with a slightly guilty look in Trixie’s direction. “B-but if you want you can keep calling me that.”
“Thanks, Buttershy…”
“…I’m not actually okay with it you know…”
Trixie coughed a few times and weakly looked over to the Pegasus by the door of the bedroom. “What was that, Buttershy?”
“Nothing Trixie, I’m just going to go check on Discord. Call me if you need anything.” Fluttershy mumbled a bit to herself as she walked out the door. Her wings twitched with suppressed irritation as Trixie quickly called out to her.
“All right Buttershy, Trixie will see you in a bit.”
Is she doing that on purpose? No, don’t think like that Fluttershy, she’s sick and confused. When she’s better, you’ll just correct her.
Trixie snickered a little to herself but came up short as pain bolted through her body again. Closing her eyes, she tried to concentrate on the humorous feeling of teasing Fluttershy while she waited out the spasms.
“Discord?”
“What is it, my little Buttershy?”
Fluttershy’s wings flared in annoyance as she stared at Discord while he relaxed on the couch downstairs and grinned at her. “Not to sound mean, but I still have the cod-liver oil you know. I won’t use it on Trixie, but you’re not sick mister.”
Discord laughed nervously and nodded. “All right Fluttershy, I’d rather not have a repeat of last month’s little misunderstanding. What can dear old Discord do for you?”
Fluttershy kept an eyebrow raised at Discord while he smiled back at her apprehensively. When Fluttershy started to see sweat run down Discord’s face, she let up her stare and trotted over to sit on the sofa opposite of Discord.
“I’m worried about Trixie; she’s been in pain for the last three days now no matter what medicine I give her. And her sickness doesn’t seem to be getting any better. She’s just lingering; half the time I check on her she is gritting her teeth no matter what pain relievers I give her. That’s not normal Discord. I think she needs to go to a hospital.”
Discord’s limbs and head fell to the floor and rolled their way over to Fluttershy, reassembling next to her on the couch. Discord placed a gentle paw on Fluttershy’s shoulder and gave her his best ‘I’m going to convince you I’m right’ face.
“Oh Fluttershy, you are doing a fine job of taking care of Trixie. I assure you that no pony else would be able to keep her as comfortable as you have considering the…stomach bug poor little Trixie has.”
“But how do you know that, Discord? A doctor could do tests to find out what is wrong; you even made me promise not to ask Zecora for help, and surely she could think of something I haven’t tried yet that might help Trixie.” Fluttershy looked at Discord, teary eyed with her lip quivering in a quiet pout.
Discord’s paw grasped at his heart as he stared at Fluttershy, his face coming to within inches of hers. ”You…are...too…fucking adorable.”
Fluttershy blushed and hid behind her mane, looking away from Discord. He heard a small reproving mumble from her.
“…language…” She said in a tone Discord knew far too well. It meant she was happy with his words, but felt she had to be disapproving in some way anyways.
Discord rolled his eyes and looked the shy pegasus over. “Fluttershy, I’m older than Celestia. Swearing isn’t that big of a deal. I already promised you I would stop swearing around foals, despite how funny the faces their parents make are. Let me have this.”
“…Okay, but not too often, all right? And what about Trixie?”
Discord used a paw to direct Fluttershy’s gaze back towards his face. “Look my dear, Trixie isn’t liked in Ponyville. Just the stress of getting her to the hospital might make her worse. Plus, this happens to be a magical malady. I swear to you that within a week Trixie will be right as rain and ready for you to shove as much cod-liver oil down her throat as it takes for her to remember your name.”
Fluttershy gave a small grin at Discord’s words. “Okay, but if she isn’t by next week then we are bringing her to the hospital, or at least having a doctor come here to look at her.”
“If by some odd chance I’m wrong on this, then fine. We’ll get a doctor, Zecora, Granny Smith, and a priest in here to argue cures with each other. We’ll make a day out of it.”
Poke Poke Poke.
Trixie grumbled as she came back to the pain filled world of the living and ushered up the strength to roll over to get an idea of what fool was assaulting her. Opening a tired eye, she spotted Discord towering over her with his usual irritating grin.
“Hello there, oh Great and Grouchy Trixie. Sorry to spoil your little nap, but I’m just here to say goodbye for a few days.”
Trixie did her best to sit-up in alarm, but her muscles started to immediately spasm and forced her back down. “Gah! W-what do you mean? Tr-Trixie thought you were staying here to keep her safe?”
Discord shook his head. “I am leaving to keep you safe actually. The Alicorn duo sent one of their smarter goons out to find you. I’m going to make sure they stay occupied while you get over your little stomach flu.”
He pointed to the beryl amulet around Trixie’s neck. “Just keep that on and you should be fine for now. Luna’s not the only one who knows how to play with dreams.”
Discord then walked over and opened the bedroom window. He gave Trixie a quick wave as he stepped out of it and began to flap his ridiculously little wings. “Now, you be good and listen to whatever Flutter-butter says. And remember my warning on magical surges.” Discord looked over to Trixie, giving her a devious smirk that sent chills down her already overly tensed spine. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a goon to mess with.”
“Well now what do I do?”
Twilight was irritated beyond belief. Three days on a train to Baltimare, only to find out the compass wasn’t directly aimed at the large city. Instead, it had slowly swiveled south, pointing her into the Hayseed swamps.
“Hmm...Maybe I can get a ferry across Horseshoe Bay then? It would save a lot of time instead of going through the swamp to wherever this unicorn is hiding. Not to mention I’ll be able to easily see if they are hiding in the small towns along the coast.”
Twilight walked through Baltimare, having to pause for, and push against large groups of ponies going back and forth throughout the bustling city. Having lived in Canterlot, she was used to large crowds, and wasn’t too perturbed by this. What she was not used to however, was all the debris around the city.
Large, broken piles of wood were strewn haphazardly among the streets as cleaning crews worked to remove them. Looking up at some of the buildings, Twilight could only stare uncomprehendingly at the various lances protruding from the sides of some skyscrapers and the ponies trying to dislodge them.
Twilight ducked into a bakery and trotted up to the counter. A young brown Pegasus with a pie for a cutie mark was manning the front at the minute. The stallion gave her a small nod as she approached. “Good Afternoon miss, what can I get you?”
“Actually, I’m sort of new in town and was hoping you could tell me directions to the port? I need to catch a ferry over to the other side of Horseshoe Bay.”
The stallion, Eclair Steve according to his name tag, shook his head at Twilight. “I’m sorry miss, but the ferries are kind of...all over the city at the moment. From what I heard, and saw when I was looking for cover; all of the ferries in the bay sprouted wings and lances and just started jousting each other throughout the city. Did a lot of damage that’s still being cleaned up too. Weirdest thing I’ve ever seen, but I made some money on the betting pool that sprung up while it was happening.”
Twilight knew she shouldn’t, but out of morbid curiosity she had to ask. “ ...What happened to the ferry who won?”
“Oh, it just flew away actually, not really sure where it flew off to.”
“All right. Then what about-”
“A chariot?” He quickly interrupted. “From what I hear, those lined up on their own down at the harbor shortly after the ferry’s took off. Then they all dived into the water and no one’s seen them since.”
“...Thank you for your time.”
Twilight stepped out of the bakery, her mind jumbled by random thoughts. This sounds like Discord, but he gave me the compass! Why would he interfere if he’s supposed to be helping me with this?
Twilight sighed and worked her way to the outskirts of the city.
“Well...only one thing to do now…”
“Ugh!” Twilight cried out in irritation as the swamp boot on her forehoof got stuck in the bog again. She was perhaps a little too happy every time she heard a zap come from her bug repellent spell. It was less of a ‘repellent’ spell and more of a ‘Die you damn mosquito’s, die!’ spell. But Fluttershy wasn’t here to complain, and Twilight had no thoughts of telling her about the multiple little lives she was taking a twisted pleasure in ending.
“Just another-Guh-few miles of this and-Urk!-It’ll get a lot drier. You can do this Twilight, you’re a princess now! What’s a little mud? Rarity bathes in this weekly at the spa. A few more miles and it will be smooth trotting from there.”
“Buttershy! Buuuuutterrrsssssshhhyyyy!”
As the door to Trixie’s temporary room opened, an irritated looking Fluttershy walked in. Fluttershy however, did try her best to keep any irritation out of her voice in front of her sick patient.
“What is it this time, Trixie? You’re not feeling hungry again, are you?”
Trixie nodded slightly “It’s not her fault! Trixie usually eats like a dainty, majestic, bird!”
Fluttershy quietly sighed. “Well…I guess it is a good sign that you are so hungry. It means your body is starting to repair itself. I’ll go make you something while you rest okay? Have you been sleeping any better lately?”
Trixie turned away from Fluttershy, and pretended to be interested in something on the wall. “Trixie is … still having some issues with that.”
Fluttershy shook her head and gave Trixie a stern look despite knowing she wouldn’t see it. “I know you’re having bad dreams, but you need your rest. Would it help if I asked a friend to make sure you slept better?”
“Wha-no! Trixie already told you she doesn’t want anypony in Ponyville knowing she is here!”
Fluttershy smiled assuredly at her. “Then it’ll be fine, Trixie. The pony I’m going to ask isn’t from Ponyville.”
Trixie felt her body tighten up to mind-numbingly painful levels while her stomach screamed at her for sustenance. Shaking from head to hoof, she looked at Fluttershy. “Do. Not. Tell. Princess. Luna!”
Fluttershy’s eyes grew wide at the pain and fear in Trixie’s face. “T-Trixie! She’s not like that anymore! We got rid of Nightmare Moon! Princess Luna is a very nice Alicorn now, I’m sure she’d be happy to help-“
“NO! No No No No No!” Trixie was forced to lie back on the bed and stop speaking as pain overtook her shaking form.
Holding off her own panic attack, Fluttershy started backing away from Trixie’s bed. “Okay, okay! Calm down, I won’t tell Luna! J-just try to relax, I’ll, I'll go get you some food, and then try to massage out those cramps. J-just wait right here!” Without waiting for a response, Fluttershy ran from the room, wanting to get back as soon as she could to help Trixie.
Later that night found Trixie trying to keep her eyes open, but it was clearly a losing battle.
“No … not again … stupid Discord …”
I don’t want those dreams again, not of her. Not again …
Every time the sun dipped, Trixie would start to think about Luna. From Luna skinning her and using her as another experiment, to turning her to a statue aware of its surroundings for all eternity. Trixie’s dreams were much worse though.
Trixie gave one last groan of resistance before her eyelids closed, and her nightmare began again.
Four nights. Four nights we have wasted searching for hints of this foal’s dreams. Surely by now they would have dreamed something about their theft of our property, but we have felt nothing of it.
Luna sighed as she flew through the dreamscape, deciding to heed the request dear Fluttershy sent her that day through Spike.
While I wish not to tread into the dreams of those unwilling, if what Fluttershy sent was true, this sick mare could use a good night’s rest. Especially if this pony truly bears such a family name.
Lulamoon. Luna thought back to the past on that. An old house who served us well before our … transgression. Just one more thing we have to regret about those dark days, as our actions doomed us to a thousand years on the moon, and our followers to be persecuted. It is good to hear that at least one line that once followed us still exists, albeit in such a diminished form.
Sensing the dreamscape of the distressed mare, Luna swept down to get a look at the nightmare that was reportedly causing so many issues. The dream world Luna flew into was of a night filled with the sight of her moon in its full glory, though far larger than normal. She stepped onto the dew-covered grass and looked around, noticing the quiet sounds of crickets from all around her. Gazing upon a large pond, Luna could make out a blanket and a squirming figure on top of it on the opposite side. Cautiously, she stepped forward, walking upon the top of the water quietly as she approached the other side of the lake. She gave out a loud gasp when she was close enough to make out what was occurring.
“No…” Trixie squirmed in her sleep, grunting in annoyance and distress. “Get … get off of me …”
“Huh…” Was all Luna could say at the sight of herself making out with the azure unicorn. “Well…it appears that at least one aspect of the Lulamoon family hasn’t changed in a thousand years…”
Luna considered taking her doppelganger’s place. It has been awhile since our last dream dalliance, but if this is her first pleasant dream in days, then it would be best for us to leave it be. Knowing the Lulamoons, there’ll be other chances.
Luna quietly flew away, making one last pass over the dreamscape.
“G-get your tongue off of me…” Trixie groused as the sheets became tangled over her form from her struggling. “You F-fucking…psychotic…moon…bitch.”
Throughout the night Trixie struggled against the dream, while the beryl amulet around her neck glowed a dark red.
Twilight gasped for breath as she scrambled up the ridge, only to peer down into a large pond of brown water. She was trapped!
As she was about to turn around from the cliff face, she felt a forceful kick to her flank. With a yelp, she fell over the edge.
“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-“Her cry was cut off with a large splash as she hit the muddy water. A few seconds later, her head resurfaced and she gasped for air. Remembering her swimming lessons as a filly, Twilight slowly kicked her way to the pond’s edge, the saddlebags weighing her down drastically due to being waterlogged.
Twilight finally made it to land and turned around, flopping onto her stomach. She looked up at the cliff as she gulped in fresh air. Upon the ridge was a family of boars, grunting out what sounded like laughter as they looked down at her drenched and muddy state.
“Don’t- pant- even THINK that I’m not going to tell Fluttershy about this! You boars are in so much trouble!”
The boars simply snorted and grunted out laughter for a few more seconds before walking out of her sight.
“That’s right! Walk away! If I had wings I’d….If…I…wings….” Twilight looked back at her long forgotten invisible appendages and gave them a flap. She then face-hoofed and let out a loud groan at her own stupidity. After giving out an irritated sigh, Twilight turned around and spotted the distant lights of a small settlement perhaps a half mile off.
“… Okay, I’m done with this for today. I’ll just fly where I need to tomorrow when I’m away from this town…like I should have been doing all day.”
Mumbling to herself, Twilight started her short trip to the town as dusk settled around the swamp.
“Trixie! Calm down and tell me what’s wrong!”
Trixie ignored Fluttershy’s cries and proceeded to hold onto her horn with both hooves. Trixie's horn felt like it was on fire, and she was doing her best to hold down the panic rising inside her head. She could feel magic pouring out of her body and spiraling up her head, but was unable to control or turn it away like she normally could. Giving a loud cry, Trixie aimed her horn away from Fluttershy and shot out a beam of dark magenta energy. The beam hit a writing desk, quickly causing it to start glowing a magenta aura.
“Ugh…my head…” Trixie tried to massage her horn but it was practically smoking and painful to touch. Her eyes came up abruptly to look at the desk as it suddenly started to buck like a buffalo, throwing papers and ink quills everywhere. Trixie used the blanket as a shield, though Fluttershy wasn’t so lucky. An ink well went soaring through the air and hit Fluttershy’s back, causing the black liquid to stain across her fur and feathers.
“Just look at what you’ve done!”
Trixie peeked out from behind the covers at the strange tone she never heard the pegasus use before. Fluttershy was staring intensely enough at the desk that her pupils had turned to two tiny pinpricks. The desk was standing there in mid buck, frozen by whatever Fluttershy was doing to it with her eyes. Slowly, the desk’s two upraised legs slowly came down and the entire thing slumped to the floor shaking.
“I try very hard to keep this room and you clean. I dust and wash you every week. I make sure not to leave any crumpled paper on you, and this is how you repay me?” Fluttershy pointed to her ink-covered wings. Fluttershy then pointed over to the corner the desk had originally been in. “Now I want you to stand over there and think about what you’ve done! And don’t move from that spot until I say so!” The desk quickly got to its legs and ran over to the corner, becoming still as stone afterwards.
“Umm…butter-I mean…Fluttershy?”
Fluttershy looked over to Trixie and her demeanor instantly shifted. Her eyes went back to normal and she quickly trotted over to Trixie. “Oh, I’m so sorry Trixie. Are you hurt? Did he hit you with anything?”
“N-no Fluttershy, Trixie is just fine thank you. Though her horn feels like it’s on fire.”
Fluttershy gently put a hoof to Trixie’s horn and quickly withdrew it, wincing from the heat. “Let me get you a bucket of ice water. After that will you be okay alone for a little? I’m going to need Aloe and Lotus to get this ink out of my feathers.”
Trixie nodded appreciatively. “That’s fine, Trixie is kind of tired after that. U-umm, she's sorry about your desk.”
Fluttershy shook her head and smiled. “It’s okay Trixie. This happens a lot more than you’d think around here. And it wasn’t your fault that somepony-“ Fluttershy looked over at the desk, causing it’s legs to quiver a bit in shame, “-couldn’t manage being alive for three seconds without acting up.”
Twilight walked out of the inn, stretching a little and ready to start her investigation again.
Let’s see…the compass is still pointing south. What else is south of here?
Smiling, Twilight approached a dark red pony at a flower stand with what looked to be a black Lotus as a cutie mark. The same flower was placed in her long green mane and Twilight could see some were also among the flowers being sold.
“Umm…excuse me miss..?”
The earth pony smiled at Twilight. “Ha’bis’cus luck ma’am. Wha’ can ah do foh ya?”
Luck? Maybe she is related to Rose Luck.”I’m sorry to bother you, but I’m new to Gettysherd, and need to know if there is anything south of here? Is there another town maybe?”
Hibiscus brought a hoof up and tapped it to her head for a second before her teal eyes lit up. “Wehll, the’re is tha’ lumi’ nose cave thang. But’s’ best ta nawt go to if’n ya can. S’posed ta be no good.”
“Lumi-nose? Luminous cave? Is it dangerous?”
“kin’a. Ya see, tha cave’s called tha’ caus’ ov’ all the thangs innit being all glowy like. Flowah’s, the lil bugs, da rocks, som’ o’ da mold…”
Twilight quickly shook her hooves in Hibiscus’s direction to get her to stop. “Okay, I get it! But why is the cave thought to be a bad place?”
Hibiscus looked at Twilight as if she was an idiot. “It taint nat’ oral o' course! All them glowy thangs ‘n’ one spot like tha’? No de’cent erff pony’d think of going near somethang so wrong! But...ya aint a erff pony, now are ya?”
Twilight’s ears lowered at the way Hibiscus’s words almost ended in a growl, and how her eyes seemed to narrow at Twilight.
“Umm…right…so I’ll just…be on my way then. Thanks for the help.”
“Yeah…you go’ n do that.”
Twilight made her way down the dirt street and after the encounter with Hibiscus she became a lot more aware of the barely hidden glares many of the earth ponies sent her way as she went past them. A few long minutes later and she was headed out of Gettysherd’s southern exit.
“I miss Ponyville…”
“Oh my.”
Trixie was shooting a slightly guilty look towards Angel’s direction as she held a pack of ice on her horn. A sizzling sound was clearly audible throughout the room.
“Sorry about your little pet, he startled Trixie and it just … happened …”
Despite the guilty look, Angel was very aware of the amusement in the azure intruder’s eyes, and started pantomiming a very detailed description of what he thought of her.
“Angel! That’s not nice! She said she was sorry. And she didn’t hurt you…she just made you more … unique …”
Angel huffed and glared at Fluttershy, pointing a paw at his now plaid fur.
“It’ll be fine Angel, Discord should be back in a day or two and he’ll fix all of this. Now why don’t you go outside and play with the desk for a while? He’s been having trouble making friends. Outside of Mr. Beaverton, I mean.”
Sighing, Angel sent Trixie one more death glare before hopping off.
Twilight set herself down a few feet from the Luminous cave, sweaty from the long flight. She took a few deep breathes before looking to her compass. The compass was pointing directly into the inky depths of the cavern in front of her.
“Finally!” Twilight coursed magic through her horn and body, much in the same way somepony would stretch a muscle before exercising. “Okay, magic ready.” Twilight levitated the regalia Rarity had made for her upon her coronation out of her saddlebag and put it on, hoping a shock and awe tactic would end the coming confrontation peacefully. “Gold horseshoes, check! Necklace, check! Removal of real earring...OOOWWWW!!....check. Fake earrings-“Screw you Luna!”-check! Big crown thingy, check!” After giving herself a once over with a small mirror, and placing the saddlebags near the cave entrance; Twilight entered the Luminous cavern.