Melody's Surprise and Aura's Trial
It had been two days since the revelation of where Rose and come from and as she roused from her slumber next the mare known as Melody Show she started to feel burning shoot through her that caused her to roll off the bed. Melody and Rose were wearing a bio-monitor similar to the one that Aura and Aurora wore. The shooting pain forced Melody awake as well and without thinking she summoned her bracelet and once again to the guise of Radiance. She noticed Rose wreathing in pain on the floor and, fearing the worst, moved her to an open space in the room and formed a high walled fountain around the filly. The sound of the pain addling filly woke Aura and Aurora.
“What's happening to her?” asked Aura when she saw the filly wreathing in the high walled fountain that Radiance had created.
“Hwer stwaybilizing wagent is roo low wtoo mwaintwain her,” said Aurora with folded ears and a sad voice, “she's bwecoming what shwe's mweant twoo bwee now.”
“But will she still be her, or a puddle of goo?” asked Radiance, “I just found out she's effectively my daughter, I don't want to lose her already.”
“I can only go off incomplete statistical data that Aurora's been able to collect,” said Aura, “but with all the information at my hooves on this I can't say, her calculations on when the stabilizing agent would be almost completely out of Rose's system were pretty close.”
For a few seconds Rose looked like she was entirely a dark green goo then a large portion of if fell away to reveal a seven month old unicorn filly with Rose's color scheme.
“Woes? Wiz thwat thoo?” said Aurora rubbing her eyes with her hooves.
“Of course wit's mwee,” said Rose Adamant, she paused and moved her jaw around a bit before saying, “Wiz that mwy voice, what hwappened to mwee?”
“You purged all the genetics your body was attempting to remove, what's left is a seven month old unicorn filly,” said Aura with smi le, “you really do take after her.”
“Speaking of which,” said Radiance as she removed the fountain and gathered all the goo in a constructed ornate bottle, “Aura, I'll need you to go and get something a little more permanent for this and take to one of your labs for analysis.”
“Agreed,” said Aura, “I'll take Aurora with me, you have some 'educating' to give Rose, I just hope we don't encounter anymore complications.”
“With our recent luck we'll encounter plenty more of those before the end of the day,” said Melody, “be safe.”
“No promises, no guarantees, just an assurance I'll do my best,” said Aura as she slipped Aurora onto her back between her wings.
“I know,” said Melody, “good luck.”
“You too,” said Aura as she trotted out of the room with Aurora on her back.
*********************************************
Half an hour later Aura and Aurora were walking out of a store with a considerable number of vials, jars and bottles in four different bags, Aurora only had one of them while Aura had the other three. It was on their way back to the trolley station that they both heard a female refined aristocratic voice that Aura knew all to well say, “and here I thought we taught her better. And she has foal with her, I hope that she has a good explanation and not some convoluted excuse.” Aura's eyes went wide and she turned toward the voice to see an aging unicorn mare with a dark green coat and morning orange mane in an exquisite travel dress and fancy sun hat standing next to a sea blue unicorn stallion with a sea green mane in an explorers uniform and pith helmet standing next to a fancy six pony carriage drawn by four pegasi in dark blue uniforms with a greenish gold armor chest piece emblazoned with a sword and sun shaped shield.
Aura gulped and said, “hello mother, greetings father, I'll get in the carriage now, the filly is with me and I'll try to explain it the best I can.”
“I wouldn't expect anything less,” said her father in a refined warm tone, “we already sent a servant to collect your belongings from your hotel, we'll be having this discussion somewhere a bit more private.” Aura just nodded as she walked towards the carriage.
The ride to the estate her parents held in the city was a somber quiet, so much so that Aura and Aurora hugged on to each other for comfort. The actions of their daughter did not go unnoticed by the unicorn pair. Aura and Aurora remained quiet until well after they were in an extravagant dining hall and the servants had left the four ponies to ruminate on the most recent events. Conversation finally began when the travel case that secretly held Aura's outfit and Aurora's former bracer was placed on the table by an unseen unicorn servant and sound of the servants leaving prompted a new conversation.
“Well,” said her, “at least you've been personally successful, we would have assisted your company during that near crash debacle twelve years ago, but you wouldn't have had any of that. Why did you have to be as stubborn as me?”
“I wanted to see how far I could go on my own,” said Aura, “and I also have a few things to tell you,” she flicked the rollers and waved her hooves in the light before pulling out the Matter-Horn horn and Guardian bracer, these artifacts have been of more use to the populace than you could probably know.
Her father eyed her before saying, “you found some extra artifacts and have been letting museums borrow them for a short time?”
“No,” said Aura, “I've been using the horn to keep ponies safe,” she paused for an uneasy three seconds before saying, “as the... Masked Matter-Horn.”
Her parents looked at her for a moment before her mother said, “but her color scheme doesn't match yours.” Instead of saying anything Aura just slipped on her outfit in front of them and everypony in the room saw her change to Matter-Horn's color scheme.
She then removed the mask and returned to her original color scheme before saying, “I like to be careful, but it didn't help much after all, my arch nemesis almost discovered what I really look like. She cloned me and the filly next to me is the result, just learning of her existence set off my maternal instincts. She was physically older when I met her and she was using the bracer's power to help ponies. Dad could you take a look at the artifacts and tell me what they are, you're the foremost expert on this sort of thing.”
Her mother just blinked with a blank face while her father floated the bracer and horn over for close inspection before saying, “it'll be a few hours, I suggest you catch up with your mother, it's been over twelve years since we last spoke with you,” with that he left the room.
“How old is she, really?” asked her mother after an uneasy silence.
“Four months,” said Aura, “but the sample used to make her was taken from me four years ago.”
Aurora's ears drooped and she said, “Why won't we able to gwoe old, Why'll stop bweeing...” she was cut off by a hug from Aura and started sobbing into the mare's fur.
“I'll admit magic was always my forte,” said her mother, “I don't know much about the science stuff you seem to have talent for.”
“A clone can't live past the age of the donor at the time of donation,” said Aura as she stroked the filly's mane, “when she reaches the age I was four years ago she won't be able to go further. Right now she's nothing more than genetic double of me, the only that's truly hers is her mind and relationships.”
“I think I can help with that,” said her mom, “after all I don't want my granddaughter feeling like she's on her way to the gallows her entire life. We'll need a little bit of all of us for it to work, the ritual is time consuming and will take a few days to execute.”
“Yes well those vials, jars and bottles were for collecting something of great importance,” said Aura, “Radiance can't hold it forever, she's really Melody by the way.”
“That girl always did have certain flair,” said her mother, before turning to Aurora and saying, “you can call me grandma Lost Spell, what's your name.”
“I was MHC-007 before all this, them whem I met mwommy she dwecided twoo cwall mwee Aurora Flame.”
“Melody chose a good name for her,” said Lost Spell, “I'll have your purchases sent to her right away. Now then how long have you both been playing 'people's champion'?”
“I've been at for ten years now,” said Aura, “she was at for three months before she reverted to what you see before you. Her speech capabilities also reverted to those of foal her age, she can barely walk and I'm afraid to go anywhere without her.”
“You're doing fine so far Aura,” said her mother, “how long has she been in your care?”
“Just a few days, she can eat solid foods just fine, but anymore than a few slices of pizza will be a little much for her. It doesn't help that her entire diet before meeting me was designed to keep her energy levels low.”
“That's horrible,” said her mother with fright.
“That's super villains,” said Aura, “immoral, unethical, and just plain mean. I was fortunate to encounter her when I did and...”
“You had the Horn of Ray Rouser the Great and didn't bother to tell me,” came her father's voice as he entered the room.
“I didn't know what I had, it was in an old stone statue, and apparently won't leave me alone.”
“How do you mean?” inquired her mother with piqued interest.
“The horn won't stand to be more than thirty feet from me, dad, you lab was about twenty-five feet out during our conversation. If I try to go further than that the horn teleports to a point near me.”
“Then it's not Ray Rouser's,” said her father with disappointment, “I was so hoping that... what! hidden in a stone statue and mystically linked,” he rushed back into the study area.
“I see dad's the same as ever, if that stallion isn't examining something of the distant past he's oblivious to almost anything! How did you manage to have me with him anyway?”
“A secret that I'll share after we've assured my granddaughter can have a life that is truly her own,” replied her mother with a smirk.
“I was expecting... more from you,” stated Aura, “why aren't you, well... being you?”
“Took you a while to catch on,” said her mother in a cold voice that made Aura shiver and clutch her chest tightly, Aurora was curling up into a ball for her sense of self-preservation. “This is a test for Aura, not you sweetheart,” said Aura's mother to the huddled filly.
“Why don't cware abwout that,” said Aurora in a soft, timid, shy voice, “as far why'm concerned she's mommy, and foals mwy wage need twoo stway kwose to mommy.”
“Well,” came Aura's father's voice from the other room, “looks like she passed the first part of her test, Aura that horn is older than anything I've seen to date.”
“Not now, honey,” said Lost Spell, “Aura still needs to complete her first part of the test, then the fun can begin.”
“Mother,” said Aura with an aggravated voice, “your tests always have a straightforward answers with a much more subtle application, let's just get it over with so that I can actually try to be a mother for more than a couple of days.”
“And, you passed,” said her mother.
“That was more subtle that usual,” said Aura with a note of surprise, “the last time you 'tested' me was when my company was at a teetering point.”
“Exactly, you answered the way I wanted you too,” said her mother, “this time around your test was to identify my method, after all I expect you to do the same with your foals. So, what's the official excuse going to be?”
“Nothing major,” said Aura, “just a lot of jargon stating that somepony didn't decomission an RnD facility I own and decided it would be cute to clone me as test only to leave the facility unattended. It's close enough to the truth, after all Dark-Mare cloned here.”
“Wee other cwones were fwailurez,” said Aurora, “Why was the fwirst swuccess, and shwee dwecided why was why-ability after wonly a fwew months, why'm omly fwour months old.”
“How does she know her age?” asked Aura's mom.
“The bracer,” said Aura, “when she used it to transform into the Guardians that form gave her access to information that she normally wouldn't.”
“Why had twoo fwocus on the kowledge during weturning twoo mwyself twoo kweep wit,” said Aurora with flat ears.
“The Guardian Bracer,” breathed Aura's mother, “that's supposed to be a legend, you've actually worn it? However the details of those abilities was unknown.”
“Dad has it with my horn,” said Aura, “it's rare that you know something about an artifact before dad.”
“It was part of my studies, it's said a single wearer becomes two very powerful protectors.”
“She called herself the Guardians of Insightful Truths and Guardian of Veiled secrets,” said Aura, “One had light based abilities and always spoke in rhyme while the other spoke with every other sentence some kind of innuendo and had shadow based abilities.”
Lost Spell looked at the filly before saying to her, “when it came off did it say anything?”
“Why'll bwee waiting fwour the white time to bwond again. Mwhy woo ask?”
“Because my studies stated the artifact would always stay bound to an individual as long as they lived, the successors were not as predictable as one would think, that and it was next impossible to remove. Looks like reversing the physical age to foal-hood does a nice job of getting it off their foreleg, if my mother was here for this she...”
“Would be trying to corrupt your granddaughter,” Aura finished for her mother, “that mare was a borderline super villain, and you know it. It's a minor miracle I ended up the way I did.”
Lost Spell exploded into laughter, still giggling and chuckling through her words she said, “I suppose mom would come off that way, she had the nickname 'the horned villainess' when she was around your age. She comes off as a villain, but she's more of hero than you know.”
“Wait a minute,” said Aura, “my mother would never... grandmother, you set all of this up. You even made facimilies of my parents, they probably are still in Neighyork wondering about the mysterious dead stallion and mare that's in intensive care.”
“You know it,” said Lost Spell seeming to melt into an elderly unicorn with Aura's same coat colors with an dark orange mane and tail. “It's me, Forgotten Rite,” said the newly transformed mare, “and I'm very much looking forward to the ritual giving your daughter her own life. Don't look at me like that, I've known you've been playing superhero for the past seven years. But to think you were one of the most well known heroes on Maretropolis, that brings back memories.”
“What are you on about?” snarled Aura Mane, “I would never entrust Aurora Flame to you or my parents, even if there was a spell or ritual to free her from the fate of every clone in existence.”
“Your tools are out of reach at the moment,” said Forgotten Rite, “They're in spell that holds them in place until we finish our business. You may not believe me, but Maretropolis had another team of super ponies that were quite famous before your group made itself known, that was during my generation. I was on that team, my alias back then was Silver Star.”
“Wait, I read about her after I assumed my mantle,” said Aura, “she was pony with the power to command metal without showing in magic whatsoever despite being a unicorn.”
“Yes, well,” said Forgotten, “we all retired after the last of our nemeses ceased to be a threat, I hung up my costume and met your grandfather, your mother seems to have inherited my magical sense, but you got all the heroic qualities, as did your daughter since she's basically a little you right now.”
“Why'm scwared,” said Aurora, “I don't know what to do without some kind of guidance, why hwave mwoe...”
“Real intuition,” finished Forgotten Rite, “you became reliant on the bracer's power before you could develop it. That will be rectified in you upbringing. I was too hooves off with my granddaughter, your mother and I will share the load in your upbringing. You both need to know about the heroes that came before you. Aura, your almost as bad as your daughter.”
“Well she's basically a copy of me, a lot of the current genetics theories hypothesize that a sizable portion of our personality traits come from our biology rather than upbringing. Of course the Nature versus Nurture debate has been going on for a few decades now.”
“And you just proved my point without intentionally agreeing with me,” said Lost Rite, “your new training starts now, hers starts on her birthday a few years from now.”
____________________________________________
At roughly the same time Melody and Rose were staring at the goo that had slipped off the now unicorn filly and was now in series of jars and beakers. “Okay,” said Melody, “we don't touch the stuff until we get it back to a proper lab, this sort of thing is Aura and Sliding volunteer to deal with.”
“Woo's swiding?” inquired Rose.
“She's a friend and teammate,” said Melody, “she's really smart, but she doesn't always show it. She and Trembling are making in Maretropolis, mostly keeping an eye out for trouble. Now how about you and I put this stuff in a safe cold storage area then go and do things like nothing bad is going to happen.”
“War bwinging war thwingie jus' when cwase, white?”
“Yeah, it's annoying, but part of the job,” said Melody with a serious face.
After making sure she had everything Melody used her natural magic to tickle Rose for a few minutes, causing the filly to laugh in her cute sounding foalish voice. After the tickle onslaught Melody picked up Rose onto her back and made her way out the door, just before the filly started to clutch her chest like it was in pain and started go into small spasms on the floor, fearing the worst (which was worse than most considering her mostly nightly occupation) she lifted the filly into the air and made for the bed when suddenly said filly went limp her magic just before her brown coat turned to a vibrant yellow along with her mane and tail taking a slightly pinkish undertone.
After placing the filly on the nearest bed Melody was went over to the Rose and nudged her hoof with her muzzle, the filly stirred and opened her eyes (which thankfully hadn't changed their color as well). “Before you ask,” said Melody, “your coloration just changed, your coat is a bit closer my color and your mane now has a slightly pink undertone.”
“Woo mow watt that means?” said the filly as she looked over at Melody.
“Yes,” said Melody, “it will be harder for the ponies that claim to be responsible for your 'birth' to find you now. Besides, you're much cuter now. You might have an exceptional mind, it's still developing. Although I'm surprised you are still going through some additional changes, hopefully the change you just experienced will be the last.”
“Why'm squared, mommy,” said Rose, “Why am Why slow scared?”
“I don't know,” said Melody as she pulled the filly into an embrace, “but it feels nice when you call me 'mommy', I was always scared I would never have foals, what with the dedication to my career and other... duties. What I want to know is why I was chosen as your primary contribution, your files didn't say.”
“Well, wh...”
“What did the military intend for you?” finisned the unicorn mare, “you were supposed to be an infilitrator for gathering intelligence and sabataging systems when nes...,” the mares went wide at a sudden realization, “I've always been called highly attractive, I believe the expression they used during my school days was 'looks and brains'. I was nowhere near Aura in the brains department and, to tell the truth, I always tried to downplay my appearance. No matter what stallions keep saying how much I physically attract them, it was cute for a while, but now it's just annoying. They were trying to create an infiltrator so attractive she could get access to anywhere she wants or needs, with the intelligence to adapt to situation on the fly. I've found I'm quite good at that second part over my time as a super powered heroine, but I'm also a very willful mare. A trait you seem to have inherited, you put the training they forced on to you as a method for helping ponies.”
Rose's ears drooped and her head hung before she said, “hwow much wuf mwy wife wuz pwanned out? Did way wintend fwore mwe twoo drew wall mwy hweroics.”
“No,” said Melody as she pulled the foal closer, “you were supposed to be a good little obedient soldier. Your strong willfulness was an unintended property, the ponies you thought were your parents were given three months to get your willfulness under control or they would clean all evidence of its existence. You were potentially expendable from the get go to them. They were trying to make the perfect squad of specialists. The oldest among you is called Alpha-01, codenamed Alpha. You were the third in their series, the first time you said what you thought was your name that became your codename. You have an older brother called B-R-34-K3R, codenamed Breaker, he's a brute pure and simple. You my dear were always meant to be a refined individual, and that is something I will be thankful for, it'll make our bonding moments more easy,” she slipped on her bracelet and was once more in her outfit, using her magic and the bracelet in perfect sync she placed the jars and beakers filled with the sludge that had fallen from Rose into the fridge and plastered almost every section of the fridge with do not open signs, taking the 'Do Not Disturb' sign and hanging it on the outside of the door with prim nod before closing the door (all from a location hidden from the hall outside) she turned to Rose and said, “let's go find our friends, Aura's luggage has special signal that it's always broadcasting and I happen to know the the tracking modifications needed to trace the signal.” With a smile from the filly Radiance generated a fashionable carpet between the two and floated them out while closing and locking the balcony behind them.
****************************
A half hour Radiance and Rose were entering a fancy old mansion, the one Aura and Aurora happened to be in, only to hear Aura shouting, “GRANDMA YOU CAN NOT BE SERIOUS? MY PARENTS KEEP SAYING THAT I WILL NEVER BE ABLE TO ACHIEVE YOUR POSTION IN ANYTHING, AND YOU ARE JUST... GIVING ME YOUR POSITION IN ONE OF OUR NATION'S MOST ILLUSTRIOUS AND SECRETIVE POSTION... ALONG WITH AURORA AND MY FRIENDS, MOST OF WHOM YOU HAVE NEVER MET.”
“Are we done yelling,” came the voice of an elderly refined mare, “you're little outburst scared your 'daughter', whom ironically went closer to the source of her distress. By the way, your friend is here, a full fifteen minutes later than anticipated, I thought they'd be here in time here my full proposal.”
“Witch lasted a fwull fwortween...” started Aurora.
“minutes,” finished Aura, “We don't want your ceremony, need your deal and certainly don't require your aid.”
“I beg to differ,” said Lost Rite as she came into view to the new arrival, “you require all I just offered, I like how your figured out how to keep the horn from following you great distances by the way.”
“Don't go changing the subject,” said Aura with disdain, “even if you were a great super pony heroine from a long time ago it still doesn't explain why none of your children tried at the life. My aunts and uncles all turned their noses up a the very thought of leaving their comforts to help others.”
“Yes, well I suppose it was my fault for raising them almost exclusively in high society, tell me what would have her do,” she gestured to filly clinging tightly to Aura, “knowing that she won't make it to the age you are now, will your still be around when her lifespan suddenly ends and be their to cry at her funeral with a hollow statements about how she was 'cut down before her time' or will the the lives you've been leading catch up to you only for her to cry at your funeral before her lifespan ends. The ritual I'm proposing could give her a real life of her own.”
“What's my guarantee it won't blow up in our faces and somehow bring an end to her?” shot back Aura with anger and concern.
“The ritual requires at least 3 ponies that are close genetic relatives to be properly executed,” said Lost Rite, “it will transfer pieces us into her and change her into something that can live her own life without any problems. I've kept news of what you've been up to from your parents for the past six years,” said Lost Rite, “but I think its time you come out to them for real, they'll be ecstatic about having a granddaughter.”
“Another pegasus,” said Aura, “another pony for the gossip columns talk about embarrassing lineages and how the greatest magical minds of their generation have nopony to officially train. I didn't mind them so much, but I saw how they hurt my parents... wait did you say my friend is here,” the pegasus turned her head to see Radiance and Rose before giving a sheepish smile and beconning the two over, “Melody, Rose, meet my Grandmother, Lost Rite. She put on a show of being my parents until almost an hour ago. Alright grandma you've planned a lot of this out so I'm just going to ask one question, what trial do I have to undergo to officially get your assistance?”
“You've been living it dear,” said Lost Rite with a smile, “your 'trial' was that of the great concern you should, and you passed it a while ago, I just wanted to mess with you a bit.”
“In other words my 'trial' was just spending time with you and not trotting out,” said Aura, “that's not like you at all grandmother, usually the trials your pose are so elaborate that you might well hope you have superpowers to complete them.
“I want you to take my place in the organization Aura, my dear,” said Lost Rite, “my entire old super team makes up, and I want yours to do the same, we're getting ready to completely disappear from what we've been doing the past forty-seven years, but we need individuals to fill the spot. We would have stepped down for your parents had they gone into the life, but alas such things didn't come to to pass. Rather than more super villains making themselves known the criminal element died down to only a few hooffuls of rank amateurs with inflated egos, that is until fifteen years ago.”
“When the first recorded super villain of our time appeared,” said Aura quickly catching on, “but that villain was brought to hoof by normal ponies... after they had found a way to exhaust him, then things died down again until a few months before the first recorded members of the Power Ponies stepped in, but that was almost a full two years before the Masked Matter-Horn made her debut.”
“And seemingly over night managed to organize the rest of the super pony community of Maretropolis into the group that was named by the papers rather than itself,” said Lost Rite, “you, my dear, were the linchpin that made the group possible. Without realizing it you managed bring together a bunch of solo act heroes and make them a stable team, further more you already have the seeds to the next generation of super ponies at your hooves. Aurora and Rose will be excellent protectors once they've matured enough. You can't deny it, just like the horn chose you the bracer chose her.”
“The difference is that when she activates bracer she's duo and not some rank solo act.”
“That's only because she uses the knowledge available to her provided in the Guardian Forms,” said Lost Rite, “and she was growing far to dependent on it when she reverted to what she is now, a fortuitous event that is allowing you to teach her how to trust in the resources she has within her and not readily available in the knowledge she would have as the Guardians. Aurora is filled with self doubt and thus heavily relied on the abilities the bracer provided.”
“She knows?” asked Radiance with surprise.
“She's known for years, she's probably figured which pony's behind each to the masks already, she's been a little scary that way, and this is just her being polite.
“Oh, well this is going to get interesting,” said Radiance as she returned to form of Melody Show.
“imweed,” said the foal Rose Adamant.
“Woes, wiz matt woo?” came Aurora's voice when she noticed the other filly, “what hwappened twoo woo?”
“It looked like the darling still had some last minute changes to go through,” said Melody.
“She looks like she really could be your daughter,” said Aura, “your appearances are so similar now that it's a little disconcerting. What are you going to tell your family, last I checked you weren't entirely forthcoming about all your...activities.”
“I'll have you know I've shared my secret with my sister,” said Melody, “she's got a few extra special talents of her own these days.”
“Ah yes, Mare-tallia in Neighyork,” said Lost Rite, “if memory serves right her ability is assume an exterior that is any metal and control magnetic forces,” ending it all with a smirk.
Melody's eyes shot up in surprise before she sputtered a bit, “How do you know all that?”
“You have similar bone structures,” said Lost Rite with a smirk, “and when one becomes a superpower hero in the family you are almost guaranteed to find others in the family. My cousins were in the life as well, they retired after almost ten years at it while I kept going until I couldn't find anymore super powered villains to remove after almost three years of vigilance. Look at the two of you, most of the dangerous super villains are locked away now, you're finding yourselves playing mother to unexpected children and you are starting feel like the masks are finally getting in the way of living your lives. Most of those mean only one thing.”
“We're getting to the point we contemplate, or actually do, retire from the life,” said Aura, “you're right, I was going to give it another year then hang up the mask for good, but then I found out about her and all my plans suddenly didn't seem to matter anymore, my maternal instincts just 'clicked on', and the thing is I'm actually feeling like I want more foals in my life.”
Lost Rite smiled and said, “I'll help in raising her best I can, she deserves more than one super pony in her life.”
“Um about that,” said Aura nervously.
“There's a unicorn stallion she worked with in Trottingdale a few years back,” said Melody, “he's also in the life, the two have been corresponding with some of the cutest love letters I've ever seen.”
“Um, you haven't seen the last three he sent,” said Aura nervously, “they were rather...steamy.”
“Well, is he single?” said Lost Rite.
“He had a fillyfriend when we met, he never said if they parted ways or how far their relationship has gone, I don't want to do anything that could potentially be awkward around around another mare.”
“Once you get yourself a stallion you're in a committed relationship with that stops being an issue,” said Lost Rite with a nostalgic sigh, “in fact some mares actually look forward to those sorts of things once they're in a committed relationship.”
“Grandma!” said Aura Mane, “don't talk of such things before foals, who know how their sense of romance will develop now.”
“I wouldn't worry,” said Lost Rite while gesturing to a pair of sleeping fillies, “they fell asleep just before your friend mentioned a possible stallion n your life. I'll contact your parent s and see about making arrangements for the ceremony, don't worry it will be done miles from this city.”
“The sooner we're back in Maretropolis with them the better, the team is going to be surprised.” The magical artifacts were levitated back into her hidden compartment.”
“Aura,” said Melody Show, “we left the samples in an impromptu cold storage, we should retrieve them soon as possible.”
“We're approaching pressing for time,” said Aura, “I'll make some calls and have a very capable pony handle it, especially since it looks like all our luggage is already here,” Melody looked around and noticed her friend to be right, before the unicorn mare could say anything Aura said, “grandma's scary good like that. And if she's serious about helping raise Aurora then the filly might pick up on how to do similar things.”
“That is actually quite terrifying,” said Melody, “Make the call.”
Aura went over to her outfit and hit the hidden communication switch again before saying, “Matter-Horn to Fillysecond. We have some sludge to analyze, it's been placed in an impromptu cold storage unit, and I have the key to your access,” the pegasus held out her room key to nopony in particular a few second later a pink and white blur passed by and the key was missing, “and done,” said the pegaus mare with smile after switching off her communication unit.
Just before the mare could take a step you found a note next her stating they were already checked out along Melody stating her room key was missing.
three hours later the four ponies were in the private car that the two mares had taken the town with assurances the two would not have to ever return to that place.