So there I was, sitting in a cellar and talking with a changeling called Vex while princess Luna, assorted members of the Element Bearers and a human child were preparing dinner upstairs... in my store and home. Had I read my horoscope for that month it probably would have said something close to 'Changes are comming towards you' or some similar less disturbing statement. All in all, a very vexing situation.
I'm going to ignore the terrible pun in that last sentence.
"Alright, you can stay for the moment," I tried my best to imagine a reasonable way to deal with this, "but..."
"But?" Vex tilted his head with a mixture of worry and hope.
"But..." I thought for a moment, trying not to think of the horrible things that my decision could invoke. "Alright, alright," I finally sighed, "look, we'll figure this out in the morning. I need to get back up there before they come looking for me." Vex nodded in agreement. "There are some blankets and sheets in that crate over there," I pointed at one of the big boxes, "do me a favor and don't eat my stock until we figure out how to do this?"
Vex grinned sheepishly. "Yeah... sorry about that, again... and for the whole other stuff, too."
In hindsight, I'm not even completely sure what it was that made me agree to actually help him. Maybe it was the fact that I had personally met the charming queen of the changelings myself just recently, or maybe it was because he was actually the first to apologize for turning my life upside down even if he was unlikely to be the cause of the entire drama taking over?
I shook my head and pushed the thought away, no sense in debating it with myself at this point.
"I'll see you in the morning," I sighed and picked up the chairs, the spoons and forks in the pockets of my apron clinking softy as I made my way towards the stairs.
"See you tomorrow!" Vex waved after me with a happy smile, "You're not going to regret this!"
Oh, how I wished he didn't say that.
Once I reached the ground floor again I set down the chairs for a moment to push the cellar door shut, turning around again only to feel another surge of panic run through me.
Twilight Sparkle had arrived; standing in my store, watching me quietly and seemingly frozen in place.
And what do you say to someone you have been trying to avoid only to find yourself in an awkward moment of silence with? Well, the shortest and simplest thing that comes to mind, of course.
"Hi," I slowly mouthed, still slightly bent over the chairs and paused in the process of picking them up; my position putting me strangely close to her eye level.
I'm not sure how I had expected our first encounter to be, in all honesty I had simply been trying to ignore the fact that it would occur at some point or the other. What I had definitely not expected, was her response.
"Hi?" Twilight seemed surprised at my greeting, then furrowed an eyebrow, "That's what you have to say? Hi?!"
"Uhm..." I blinked with confusion, wondering what had her upset her. "Yes?"
Twilight Sparkle huffed and quickly started to walk towards me. "Do you have any idea how much.." he clenched her mouth shut as she stood before me, seemingly tempted to punt my chest with a hoof as he eyebrows worked furiously. "We spent a day in jail because of you!"
"Actually.. that was-"
"Can you imagine what it was like to tell the Princess we got arrested for assault on an officer?!" she almost wailed.
"No, but.." I stammered with a dumbfounded expression only to be cut off again as she continued.
"And then, when we finally think things are going to be nice you get kidnapped by changelings! Poor Silver Blossom was so upset!"
"Now, hold on. That wasn't actually something I int-"
"Not to mention how worried I was when you got hit with my... my..." her expression suddenly fell, all energy leaving her sudden outburst as she quickly switched to a sheepish smile. "Eh heh... uhm... never mind!" she beamed a smile at me. "You're back, you're healthy and everything is going perfectly! Perfectly healthy and fine!"
"Uhuh..." I gave her a long stare and tried to put together the things she had just said. "So.. uh.. I kinda have to get these into the kitchen," I held up the chairs to emphasize. "For.. dinner?"
Twilight raised an eyebrow. "Well... what's stopping you?"
I blinked at her, a bit dumbfounded. "Uh.. not much, actually," I started to raise the chairs, but then simply could not help myself and set them down again. "You're not going to shower me with questions? I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm far from complaining here, but..."
Twilight interrupted me with a small sigh and a roll of her eyes. "Did the girls tell you that?"
"Well, uhm.. I-"
"Don't worry," she interrupted me again. "I'm not going to shower you with questions on our first meeting, I don't do that any more." I felt a small wave of relief wash over me. Had the stars answered my prayers? Twilight smiled sweetly. "I'm going to wait until after dinner," she smiled even wider and opened a saddlebag to reveal more ink and paper than needed to write a phonebook. "This is going to be such a nice evening! I even brought jars in case I need samples!"
And there went the stars, and kicked me in the nads.