Starfire
As I stood in the elevator looking out at the city I wondered if I was the only pony in Ponyville that wasn't hung over. Surprisingly, Pinkie herself wasn't all that into alcohol, but whenever she threw a massive street party for whatever reason, someone showed up with a few bottles of vodka.
I guessed Spike would be fine, he avoided the stuff like the plauge. I'd seen him drunk precisely once, and then it had been an accident involving a river and a leaky distillery. He wasn't an angry drunk or anything, but his sheer size made him have a tendency to do things like take naps against 5000 year old trees and get forced to write hundreds of apology letters to botanical preservation societies (it was an interesting weekend).
As for me... I didn't like my inhibitions lowered.
The elevator door opened with a ding and I walked my precious cargo into the penthouse entry way. I was told that the apple building used to be a farmhouse a long time ago. Orchard Park was right next to it so I suppose it made sense.
Her decor always had this warm, homy aesthetic to it, lots of wood paneling and plush furniture... Though I could have sworn the couch was new.
Derrick was sitting on the old one holding an icepack to his head.
I quirked an eyebrow. "You okay?"
"I'm good..." he said, wobbling slightly.
I levitated his coffee over to him and he snagged it immediately, thankfully having the presence of mind to lean his head back (AJ was surprisingly protective of that couch).
He sighed, enraptured. "You are a goddess."
"I try." I put the rest on the coffee table and sat down on the new sofa.
Derrick threw out a claw. "Wait! Don't-"
My special forces reflexes stopped me just inches away from putting my plot on the offending furniture. Which was a damn good thing because with a puff of magic it turned right back into a snoring Chell.
I blinked. "Why was she a couch?"
Derrick groaned. "After 6 beers, she decided that she needed to hide from Princess Twilight, so she turned herself into a couch... I didn't even know she could do inanimate stuff, but apparently it's a thing."
Well I could have thought of a few life threatening circumstances where that would have been useful to know. I floated a coffee cup over to her nose. "Wakey wakey Chell, It's made with love."
" 'Snot true..." she mumbled. "I know what love tastesh shlike..."
I sighed. There was nothing for it. I closed my eyes and dug into my memory.
#
A Little Girl From Long Ago
"Are you strapped in?" Aunt Chell asked.
I wiggled in the saddle. "For the fifth time, yes!"
She smiled. "Okay then, hold on tight!"
That said, she lept off the cliff.
The wind buffeted against me and I kept my eyes shut tight. It was scary, really scary. I'd flown on uncle Spike before, but that was different. He was so big and steady that you barely noticed you were moving. Riding Chell was like being on a roller-coaster. Every turn was tight, every swoop made my stomach flip... I gripped to the saddle as tight as I could and wondered what had possessed me to ask for this.
Then we... I don't want to say we stopped. It was more like the feeling changed from hurtling through the air to bobbing gently up and down.
"Shh..." came Chell's voice, soft as whisper. I stopped whimpering. I hadn't even noticed I'd started.
Chell laughed. "You're doing just fine sweetling. Do you fancy a look?"
Slowly I pried my eyes open and blinked away the haze. The air was moist and a rushing sound filled my ears. I turned my head towards it... and then I saw it.
It was unlike anything I'd ever seen before, a solid wall of glistening water cascading down the mountainside. It rippled and burbled as it fell, so much more alive than the sterile, perfect fountains in the streets of Canterlot.
I lifted myself up and reached out a hoof. I swear I could feel tickling droplets on my fur.
"C-can we get closer?" I found myself asking.
Aunt Chell smiled. "Just a little."
#
Starfire
Chell blinked awake. She got right to her hooves and gave me a big, chitinous hug.
"Oh Star, you really didn't have to do that..."
I snorted and gave her a pat on the back. "It's no big deal."
She leaned back slightly and looked me with those big, motherly eyes. "Sometimes you act so grown up I forget how young you are."
"Uh.... I'm 23." I said.
"Exactly." she replied.
Derrick cleared his throat. "Uh, not to interrupt, but now that we're all conscious could we maybe talk about the situation here?"
I turned to him and tilted my head. "Something new on our dance card?"
He fidgeted. "No... Well, Bjorn Hammerhooves is rumored to be starting up his old runs again, but the local PD seem to have that one covered."
I nodded. There was a small chance we'd get called in, but if two-bit opium smugglers were all that were on our radar it was dang quiet day.
The griffon continued. "I mean, what are we going to do about our new friend?"
Chell pulled up a cushion and sat down. "Well last I saw, she seemed to be doing as well as could be expecte- Dear, is that a paperclip in your feathers?"
I blinked. I hadn't noticed before, but there was a small, red coated paperclip stuck near the tip of Derrick's head. It was tiny, but once you saw it, it really stood out.
Derrick looked away, embarrassed. "It's... something future Twilight mentioned. I'm holding onto it for now."
Chell nodded. "Fair enough. I have to say that encounter, though very odd is quite encouraging don't you think? We appear destined to become close friends with this new princess."
"Ughhh..." I groaned. I really, really hated the idea destiny. It got thrown around way to frickin' much in the Elements of Harmony. Call me old fashioned, but I liked the idea of free will.
"Even if that's the case," Derrick continued, "We still have no idea how that's going to happen and... honestly we're kind of the third wheel right now."
I blinked. "Huh?"
"I think what he means to say," Chell interjected, "Is that we are somewhat excluded from Twilight's social circle. The poor girl is clearly seriously traumatized, and that is not a state in which one is at their most outgoing. At the same time, her old friends are desperate to comfort her, and thrilled to have her back, so their focus is locked on her rather tightly."
I didn't buy it. "You can't seriously be suggesting that AJ, Pinkie and the rest are going to bail on their friends just because an old one came back."
Chell shook her head, finally levitating over her coffee. "Of course not, at least not in the long run. Its just that things are going to be a bit awkward for a while. And we're going to have to put up with a few... inconveniences." The changeling glanced at the stairs to the roof.
Derrick looked concerned. "Chell you've got to know Spike isn't ditching you. It's his mother for pity's sake."
Chell sighed. "I know... it would just be nice to be with him. It was a very stressful day yesterday."
I shrugged and took a slug of coffee. "Look on the bright side, we finally took out Slice, and we've got a new alicorn princess with a pretty wicked horn laser hanging around."
Derrick nodded. "True that... Hey guys, speaking of bright sides. Now that Twilight's here does that mean we can actually use the jewelery?"
I hadn't really thought about it. "I guess Celestia will organize a field trip for us pretty soon. Speaking of which has she woken up yet?"
Chell's eyes flashed for a moment, and I felt the tingle of her senses reaching out. "Not yet, they're still..." Her eyes widened, "Oh my..."