//------------------------------//
// Princesses and Frenemies 
// Story: In The Twahlaht Of Her Youth 
// by TwahlahtSporkle 
//------------------------------//

In The Twahlaht Of Her Youth Ch. 2


"...And then SHE said that no, I didn't understand, and then I said, of course I understand, silly, but you can't fit that many eggs in a chicken!" Pinkie Pie punctuated the end of her strange, rambling tale with a giggle.

Twahlaht had understood every word Pinkie had used, but she could not make sense of any single complete sentence, let alone the story as a whole. Still, she managed a weak smile. "That's a funny story."

"Isn't it?" bubbled the bright pink earth pony, radiating manic good cheer.

"It really is. Thank you for taking the time to tell it to me," said Twahlaht gravely. After only a week in her new quarters at Canterlot castle, she had been surprised to find that she'd actually made two friends-- Twilight Sparkle and Pinkie Pie. Since neither of them had known her when she was still getting used to the full strength of her magic (and waking more mornings than not under a blanket of cottage cheese rather than feathers), neither of them had ever developed the instinctive survival trait of avoiding her; and she was pleased to find that, in the absence of any disastrous transformations, both the good-natured young mares seemed to have taken to her easily.

Even better, she had on three occasions had the opportunity to spend time with Luna. It was silly to place such value on time spent with the Princess-- this was not her Luna, as she was well aware; there was a pleasant, friendly air to their socialization, but not the easygoing rapport of a mentor and student who'd known each other for years, and Luna's demeanor and habit of speaking in Old Equestrian was that of royalty recently returned from banishment, rather than that of someone who'd been in power for countless years-- but Twah still felt an irrational comfort being around her. Princess Luna had become, for all intents and purposes, Twah's security blanket, and the young mare felt fortunate that the Princess seemed to realize this and be tolerant of it.

All in all, she was really rather enjoying her time in this strange new world. She was meeting new people, and they all seemed to like her. It was an odd, but not at all unwelcome, sensation. Even Celestia was a remarkably pleasant person, and seemed oddly pleased to have Twah around. Her only regrets were her toy collection and her poor little chameleon. She knew her Luna would take care of Charlie, but she missed him. She only hoped Luna wouldn't think she had run away intentionally.

Twah sighed with mingled contentment and worry and lay back in the grass as Pinkie started another story around a mouthful of cookie. She and Pinkie were having a tea party in Twah's clearing in the woods. She went there almost every day, dreading and hoping for the portal to have returned. From what Twilight and Luna had worked out, the portal had probably been caused by Twilight slightly muddling a time-travel spell; but neither of them could exactly figure out what (if anything) Twi had done wrong, in order to recreate the mistake.

Fortunately, Twah was almost never alone on these outings. Once, Twilight had come with her; she had come to study the area in the hopes of finding clues, but her company was nonetheless warm and welcome. On three other occasions (including today), Pinkie Pie had accompanied her. Twahlaht had been pleased to learn that Pinkie, who had taken time off from her job as a baker in Ponyville in order to help Twah acclimate, shared her own sense of fun and play, one of the few qualities Twilight seemed to lack. Between the two of them, she had really begun to feel like she could fit in in this world-- for the long haul, should that prove necessary.

Twah studied the pattern of light shining through the trees and sat up with another sigh. "We'd probably better be getting back to the castle," she said, when Pinkie paused for breath. "It's nearly dinner time."

"Okee dokee loki!" Pinkie replied promptly, and the girls began packing up their belongings.

"Pinkie?" Twah said rather shyly, as she put the cups into the picnic basket.

"That's me!" Pinkie replied sunnily, carefully folding the blanket.

"Thanks. Really. For... for being my friend."

*****

Later, the three young mares sat around in Twah's room. Twilight had arranged herself, seemingly unconsciously, at the desk as usual; Pinkie and Twah took up spots on the bed, with Pinkie relaxing against the wall and Twahlaht stretched out on her stomach. Spike, Twilight's dragon (whom Twahlaht sometimes found kind of obnoxious-- young kids had never really been her thing, even when she'd been one), was in the corner of the room, playing with a set of toys that seemed to include miniatures of himself and a white unicorn, occasionally making them "kiss" in between epic battles with dragons and changelings and some weird creature that seemed to be a conglomeration of about fifty other creatures[1].

Dinner had been filling-- and boring, as it often was when the "grown-ups" were around. The conversation rarely devolved into silly territory around the Princesses and the purple unicorn stallion that seemed to follow Luna around a lot of the time[2]. Still, that was the expectation, and it was a comfortable one, one to which Twah had been accustomed for many years. Grown-ups were boring. Luckily, she now had friends, so she knew she'd at least get to have fun when mealtime was done.

"I can't stay here forever, you guys," Twah announced mournfully. "I mean, I may be staying in this world forever, who knows, but I can't keep living in the castle. I don't have any excuse for being here. I'm not working or studying, or even really being studied, anymore, and it feels weird being here. Like I'm taking advantage of the Princesses."

"Don't be silly," admonished Pinkie. "If Celestia didn't want you here-- well, you just wouldn't be!"

"True," said Twilight thoughfully, "but I also see what Twah is saying. I mean, would you feel very good about living at Sugarcube Corner if you weren't working for the Cakes or paying rent?"

"Oh, I'd never do that!" Pinkie exclaimed, shocked. "I'd rather go back to the farm!" Then she clapped her hooves over her mouth as she realized what she'd said. "I fee wut oo mean," she said, muffled.

"That does make me wonder, though," Twahlaht said slowly. "Why exactly does Celestia want me around? I mean, I mentioned something yesterday about maybe moving out and finding a job, and she practically tripped over herself telling me I didn't need to worry about that."

"That is a little weird," admitted Twilight. "No offense, Twah, but I really can't see any way in which you've made yourself indispensible to the Princess. We've learned most of what we might need to know about your magic and your world, and we're fairly satisfied that the portal has a mundane, non-malign origin-- at any rate, we're satisfied that you didn't have anything to do with it. So it doesn't really make sense that Celestia wouldn't want you to go out and find a useful purpose for your life. Maybe you just misunderstood her."

In spite of herself, Twah was a little hurt. "I most certainly did not misunderstand her. I said, 'I'm thinking about going out and looking for work," and she said, 'You've only just settled in, you mustn't strain yourself worrying about those things just yet.'"

"Okay, okay," snapped Twilight. "So you didn't misunderstand her. I just don't see any other reasonable explanation for it."

Pinkie had been growing increasingly stiff as the tension rose between the two unicorns. Finally, she burst out, "Well, it doesn't seem like that big a deal, we can worry about it tomorrow, let's go down to the kitchen and make cupcakes okay?" When no one answered immediately, she repeated, "Okay?"

After one last sullen glare at Twilight, Twahlaht turned to Pinkie with a poor effort  at a smile. "That's probably a good idea, Pinkie." Twilight nodded reluctantly, and Twah heard Spike, who she just now realized had gone quiet, sigh with relief.

Pinkie Pie literally bounced off the bed, and the unicorns followed her example with a bit more poise. Spike got up, brushing toys out of his lap (but still clutching the baby dragon and white unicorn miniatures), and the four of them trooped down to the kitchen to settle their differences over baked goods.

*****

As the three of them lay in Twah's oversized bed that night (as they had done from the first night, despite there being plenty of other rooms in the castle-- Twilight was apparently a big fan of slumber parties), Twah stared at the ceiling, lost in thought. She assumed the other girls were asleep, so she nearly jumped out of her skin when, from her left, Twilight whispered her name softly.

"What?" she replied, just as softly, after taking a moment to be sure she wasn't about to die of a heart attack.

"I'm... I'm really sorry about the things I said earlier. I mean, about saying I didn't see why the Princess wants you around. That was really mean of me, and I'm really sorry I hurt your feelings." A brief pause, and then, "I... guess I was just jealous. The Princess was my private tutor before I moved to Ponyville, and we've always been so close, it just made me feel bad to think about you being here... in my room, in my old life, you know? So I guess I was jealous-- I guess I still am-- but it isn't fair of me to take that out on you."

Twahlaht considered these things for a moment. How would she have felt, in Twilight's place? In point of fact, even if she had not abruptly left her own world, she would have been in Twilight's shoes before much longer anyways. Nothing left to be taught, too grown-up to stay under her mentor's wing any longer, she would soon have been expected to leave the nest and make something out of herself. Probably a restauranteur rather than a librarian... but that wasn't relevant to the situation at hand. How would she feel if, say, Twilight fell out of the sky and moved into the home of which Twah felt so fiercely territorial? How would it feel, thinking of Twilight playing with her toys, lunching with Luna... and finally, being told to stay as long as she liked?

She turned onto her side to face Twilight, and murmured, "That makes a lot of sense. I'm sorry too-- I shouldn't have gotten so mad. I've just never really had friends before, so I didn't really know how to react. The only positive social interaction I've ever had has been with Luna, and of course we never had real fights about anything."

"What would a Princess have to argue with a regular pony about, anyways?" asked Pinkie from behind her, and all three of them started giggling at the thought.

"You're just too royal!" said Twilight gruffly.

"You didn't bow to the proper degree when greeting me," Pinkie replied in a lofty tone. Twah laughed helplessly until tears formed in her eyes, and her laughter doubled when she heard Spike, down on the floor, groaning, turning over, and pulling his pillow over his head. 

When they had all calmed down, Twilight gave Twah a tentative smile. "Still friends?"

"Always," smiled Twah, and gave her friend a big hug. "Now let's get to sleep. I have big plans for tomorrow!"

*****

When the sun peeped around the side of the mountain in the morning, Twahlaht was already up, pacing around the carpet, chewing her lip, and thinking.

The other two girls woke up minutes later, and Twah looked at them seriously. She'd hardly slept, what with all the ideas she had percolating in her mind. "Come on, you guys. Let's get down to breakfast."

"But Spike isn't up yet," Twilight pointed out. 

"Let him sleep. We'll bring something back for him," Twah assured her. She had a nauseating mix of confidence and nervousness moiling about in her gut, and she wanted to get this over with. Not having the baby dragon-- whose table manners were something of a distraction-- there could only make this easier.

The three of them walked down to the dining hall. Seated, as usual, at the end of the long mahogany table were Celestia and Luna. The Sun Princess looked up from their lively conversation with some surprise. "You three are up very early this morning. Is anything wrong?"

Twahlaht took her usual place next to Luna, as Twilight sat on the other side of Celestia. Pinkie sat beside Twah and started serving herself some stewed honeysuckles.

"Not exactly," Twah began. She paused, took a breath, organized her thoughts, and continued. "Your Highness, in, uh, absence of any further developments-- um-- regarding getting me back home?" Celestia just watched her, a small, curious smile on her face. Twah steeled herself and continued. "I think it's time for me to go find a job and a new place to live."

She had hardly finished her sentence before the smile had left Celestia's face. The Princess waved a hoof nonchalantly and said, "Nonsense! You hardly know anything about this world yet. You really must stay and get your bearings."

Twah politely let her finish, then continued relentlessly. Soonest begun, soonest done, Luna had always said whenever Twahlaht tried to put off an unpleasant task. She remembered this with a pang as she said, "Begging your pardon, Your Highness, but thanks to Twilight, Pinkie, Luna, and yourself, I know nearly as much about this world as I know about my own, and secluding myself here in the palace won't help me learn more. I feel useless, helpless, and uncomfortable staying here any longer. Barring a direct order, I'm intent on doing this-- but I need to know something: why are you so insistent on me staying here?"

Twilight looked... well, "very surprised" would be the nicest way of putting it. Pinkie was gulping down some milk, seemingly oblivious of her surroundings, but her ears were pricked curiously. Luna was resting her chin on one hoof, a smile on her face that was almost a smirk, watching the proceedings with a kindly twinkle in her eyes. "We didst warn thee that this would be likely to happen sooner rather than later, sister," she murmured, as Celestia stared, dumbfounded, at Twahlaht.

As for Twah, she felt a stomach-churning fear at confronting the alicorn she had but recently known as the Mare in the Moon, but she didn't let it show on her face. She just stared pointedly, a determined expression on her face, and allowed Celestia time to prepare a response. After all, she'd had all night to think about the various ways this could go (several of which ended in a trip to the dungeon in chains-- no amount of kind treatment would ever cure the morbid, gleeful little proto-equine rattling its cage in the back of her mind); whereas Celestia had just heard about this now. It only seemed fair to give her a moment to chew things over. She had her suspicions as to what Celestia would say, and if she was right, it wouldn't be anything easy for a Princess to admit.

Finally, the snowy alicorn's face softened. "You are correct to question me. I've been very selfish, haven't I?" She sighed, and looked at Twilight with a small smile. "I am sure you know, Twahlaht, that until recently, I had my favorite student here with me, every day-- much the way I have you here now, and had hoped to have you indefinitely. I miss her very, very much, and I suppose having you-- so similar to her in looks-- here has helped me feel less lonely for the days when she lived here."  Twilight blushed and smiled crookedly, clearly pleased, as Celestia put her hoof on Twi's shoulder and turned her gaze to Twahlaht. "Still, as I say, I have been wrong and selfish. You are an adult, and you must be free to do as you see fit. It is healthy, right, and good for you to want to build a real life here in our world, rather than wasting away here at my whim."

Luna nodded agreeably, and added, "We shall give-- or wouldst thou prefer us to lend?-- thee some bits, with which thee may purchase a combination storefront and home. Thou art at an excessive disadvantage starting out in, not just a strange land, but a strange world, with no money and no roots; we wish to see this imbalance corrected, and thou mayst pay us back, or not, as thou seest fit and necessary."

Twah grinned foolishly and gratefully. "Thank you, Princess Luna," she gushed. "I'll, I'll happily take that loan, or gift or whatever it is. Oh, I'm very excited, thank you both so much!" She got up and hugged one Princess with each arm, laying her cheek against each of theirs by turns. Celestia seemed startled at first, but then both princesses laughed gaily and hugged her back.

"You really are a horse of a different color, Twahlaht Sporkle," said Celestia in amusement as Twah somewhat sheepishly retook her seat. "I can't wait to see what happens to you next. I really think you're going to turn Equestria on its ear."

"I hope so, Your Highness," said Twah earnestly. She simply couldn't wait to start her new life. This world was starting to really feel like home.

She smiled around the table at all those gathered, who were all smiling back at her. "Do you know, you're all my very best friends?" Her smile broadened as they all burst into warm, loving laughter.

This was going to be the best week ever.




[1]See Spike's Figures, http://www.fimfiction.net/story/23135/
[2]See Princesses and Stepladders, http://www.fimfiction.net/story/18515/