“And that’s where we currently stand. We should be off in a day or so.” Somber wrapped up to his captive audience. Big Mac was listening intently for anything suspicious and the Crusaders were in awe of his tale of royalty and banishment. Fluttershy was also intent in hearing how Somber saw his predicament so as to know just where his problems were. When the creaking of the cart could be heard, Big Mac stood to see what Rarity had to say about Somber Tones. When she simply unhitched the cart and kept moving, he saw it wasn’t time to interrupt the train and instead directed Rarity to the storage barrels.
The remaining five saw Applejack approaching and awaited the coming storm. Somber and Fluttershy waited wearily while the CMC fidgeted as they awaited their proper beratement. Applejack looked tiredly to the three fillies and sighed.
“You three still look dusty, go wash up ‘fore Granny sees ya.” She shooed the three away, which they were more than happy to oblige. Somber waited patiently as Applejack seemed to appraise him. With a quick glance to see Fluttershy looking back curiously, she sighed. “Quite a predicament yer in ain’t it?” Applejack smiled, but Somber knew a guarded smile, and he knew she was holding her tongue on something.
“I would say I am quite a unique situation right now, yes.” Somber returned the smile in kind.
“And if this is yer first time here, then Ah’m sure we won’t disappoint ya with a meal.” Applejack’s smile gained some pride as she turned to lead the two to the barn.
“I’ve actually been wondering about that.” Somber said as he caught up to walk alongside AJ. “Is it really okay for us to drop in like this? Feeding three more ponies out of the blue usually isn’t that easy.”
Applejack could only chuckle. “It’s a thing of Granny’s, she always seems to know how much to make fer a meal. Don’t ask me how, but there was a time Apple Bloom, Mac, and Ah had our friends over at the same time and we still had leftovers. She might complain about seatin’, but she’ll still happily dish you a plate or three.” It didn’t seem to gain him any ground, but he wasn’t losing any either. Somber felt he could only wait out what Applejack had to say.
They made their way into the barn in short order where a long table was laid out with assortments of bread, cheese, and cut vegetables with a bowl of apples seeming to be placed between every other platter. With a nudge and a nod from Applejack, Somber eyed a wash basin filled about halfway with clear water. Somber raised a quizitive eye to Applejack who rolled hers in response.
“Granny’s picky, even if ya haven’t been workin, it’s polite to wash before a meal.”
Giving it moment of thought, Somber reasoned that cleaning any sort of dirt reduced sickness, though it made more sense to him in the halls of the palace than a barn, but who was he to argue. He went over to the basin to clean up as Applejack pulled Fluttershy to one side.
“Rarity told me pretty much everythin’, is he really ok?” Applejack whispered, not that Rarity wasn’t a good judge on character, but she had been known to be a bit hardheaded on her decisions. Fluttershy was much more likely for her opinion to change.
“I don’t mind him really. By all accounts he seems to be taking this quite well.”
“Yeah, well, maybe a bit too well.” Applejack glanced over to Somber as he was shaking his hooves dry. “If you notice anythin’, you tell me, all right Sugarcube?”
“Uh, sure.” Fluttershy squeaked out hesitantly, not really wanting to think about such a lost pony doing anything dangerous. Applejack gave a curt nod in affirmation as she made her way over to the basin to wash her own hooves. Big Mac and Rarity came into the dining area in silence, having stored the excess apples and washing up in the rinsing bowl. Spotting Somber looking over the spread, Rarity headed to him.
“Is there something wrong Somber?”
“Hm? Oh, nothing at all really, I’m just a bit surprised at all of the apples.”
Rarity chuckled. “Well this is an apple farm dear.”
“I know that, but to have this many apples for themselves, it just seems… I don’t know, selfish somehow.”
“Selfish?” Rarity looked at Somber in surprise.
“Aw, don’t worry yer head over it.” Applejack said, shaking out her hooves. “There’s more than plenty to sell off, squeeze, and store. Heck, what Rarity brought back will probably be goin into waste slop we have so much.”
Applejack missed Somber’s look of pure shock as she chuckled a little and went into the house proper. Eyeing the apples with a bit more suspicion, Somber began to wonder about the qualities of these apples if they were so easily bred and thrown away.
“Now don’t you start judgin’ ‘till you try ‘em.” Big Mac warned, making Somber jump a little from how close he had seemed to have gotten without so much as a rustle of the hay about the floor.
“But how can you have so many without there being something wrong?” Somber asked aloud without thinking about who he was talking to.
“It’s a big farm, and an old farm.” Big Mac’s voice gained an edge.
“What I’m sure Somber means is how you keep such quality with such a big farm, right Somber?” Rarity cut in, foreseeing a not too pleasant future for Somber without her.
“Wha-? Yes! Yes, the Empire never has enough soil for this quality of produce. Just what’s here could feed three families, maybe four.” Somber backed up Rarity’s assertion, just now noticing his own blunder. With that explanation, Big Mac gave a slight huff and took his place on the bench at the table, Fluttershy closely following him. “Sorry for that, thank you.” Somber whispered.
“I’m sure you meant no harm.” Rarity smiled, taking her own seat across from Fluttershy and squarely between two apple bowls and in front of a vegetable platter. Somber sat to her right, decidedly not sitting across from Big Mac.
“But who would the waste slop be for?” Somber asked.
“We keep a few pigs at a time that we raise and sell off to griffins and the sort.” Big Mac spoke up, making Fluttershy glance behind to look at Somber and Rarity.
“Ah.” Somber acknowledged as he took a particular interest in the wood knots in the table. He figured that the griffins would still be around, as they had been one of the Empire’s biggest allies and foes many times through the ages. Now they seemed to be allies again, but he would have to see how long that had been going on to see when the next turn would be.
With a minute of uncomfortable silence between the four, the three fillies bounded in with Applejack in tow. Sweetie took up her sister’s left as the other two sat beside Fluttershy, and Applejack sitting to Somber’s right.
“So after the fritters, what do you two wanna do next?” Apple Bloom asked her friends.
“I think we need to make better plans for the barrel and try it again, seeing as we didn’t do it all.” Scootaloo replied.
“How about you three get those baskets back to the barn so we can take ‘em apart?” Applejack suggested, but Somber knew the tone of an order in the form of a question.
“Yeah, we could do that too.” Scootaloo looked over to the cheese platter, either not noticing the tone or avoiding it, Somber couldn’t tell.
“Th’ fritters are coolin an’ should be done for desert.” An old, frail voice announced behind Somber, making him turn to see the old mare walking towards the head of the table near Big Mac. Somber was actually surprised to see the mare walking with how wobbly she seemed to be on her hooves. He had heard she was old, but this seemed to defy some sort of inherent logic.
“Mmm?” Granny Smith gave an inquisitive noise as she saw Somber. “And who’s this fella?”
“Granny, this is Somber Tones, the guest I told you we had.” Applejack sighed as though she had already explained this three times before.
“He’s the one that got Scootaloo out of the barrel.” Sweetie Bell piped up.
“She was waa?” Granny looked to be in utter surprise that Scootaloo had been stuck in a barrel, making Sweetie sigh in frustration as she was going to explain what happened again, but Granny Smith just chuckled. “I know, I know, but you sure look different from other stallions ‘round here.” Somber was a bit surprised as she suddenly began addressing him.
“Well, I’m-I’m not from around here, ma’am.”
“Sure shows, nopony calls me ‘ma’am’ no more. Granny Smith ‘ll do just fine.” Granny Smith chuckled as Somber still looked to be in utter shock. “Now no more jabbin, let’s start eatin’.” Granny Smith announced as she took a seat at the head of the table next to Applejack and Scootaloo.
There was a regular clamor as the fillies started grabbing everything they wanted at once, as the older ponies waited and reached around the three, plates quickly becoming full with sandwiches and apples, Applejack and Big Mac quickly began peeling their apples and any handed to them by the smaller ones. Somber seemed to be the last one picking his meal as the others already began eating.
Applejack reported that the fourth orchard was cleared out and that the fifth seemed to be coming in with enough time to harvest before they needed to start preserving apples to Granny Smith, while Fluttershy was attempting to find out how the market seemed to be today from Big Mac so she could get anything she needed. Unfortunately between her natural volume and the setting, she wasn’t getting anywhere fast. The crusaders seemed to have deemed their next activity in demolition to be an excellent avenue to explore, and Rarity was eyeing Somber with anticipation as he held an apple in his hooves as she nibbled at her salad.
It had been the only one he had grabbed, and it had been the last thing as well.
“Well?” Rarity finally asked.
“Well what?” Somber asked, slightly startled.
“Aren’t you going to eat it?” Rarity giggled at how this could possibly going over his head. “It’s not poisoned, I assure you that.”
“Oh, you never know, I could have picked just the wrong one with my luck.” Somber gave Rarity a friendly grin as he bit into the skin of the apple.
…
And the world seemed to stand still to Somber. He could still see Applejack assuring they could get one more orchard in, he could see Fluttershy finally get Big Mac’s attention, he could see the crusaders drawing up a schedule, and he could definitely see Rarity’s waiting smile.
But all of his external senses seemed to have amassed on his tongue and chin as the apple’s juice hit each simultaneously. He had eaten since he had woken up, he had had many fruit before, he had even had apples before, but this wasn’t anything like an apple he knew. The juice itself seemed like a rush of energy and a solid substance as it both filled and cooled his stomach, even before swallowing. Taking what felt to be a herculean effort, Somber chewed the bit of apple he had taken, and swallowed with a sad might. When he finally let out a satisfactory sigh, he wasn’t numb to the world around him anymore, but it was still silent.
Glancing about, Somber saw that all of the ponies present were staring at him, and he couldn’t find why. None of them had blinked when he reached with his hooves and not his magic, and they had all seemed content with their own conversations. He wasn’t aware of why they were staring until Rarity spoke up.
“Are you all right Somber? You’re crying.” She said with deep concern.
Somber wiped his left hoof under his eye and indeed found his fur to be wet. He tried to respond but was surprised to find his throat was quite dry. After another quick swallow he answered.
“I-I’m fine. It’s just a really good apple.” Somber tried to smile but found the corners of his mouth to be quite strained.
“Ah know they’re good, but I’ve never seen anypony cry over ‘em.” Apple Bloom stated bluntly.
“Shh.” Granny Smith and Applejack shushed the young Apple simultaneously.
“I mean it, it’s delicious.” Somber’s voice was coming back to him. He looked dubiously down at his apple bite and began wondering if every bite would be like that.
“Maybe the slop’ll be missin the extra apples. I’ll see if I can find a spare sack for ya after lunch.” Applejack said as she popped a few cucumber slices into her mouth.
“Oh, don’t. I don’t have any way of paying for them. Any currency I would have is-“
“Sonny, that reaction right there is what every Apple dreams of seein.” Granny Smith cut Somber off, lazily twirling her fork at him. “That’s plenty payment enough. Now keep eatin, yer plate’s not gonna clear itself.”
“But I-“
“Up!”
Somber sighed. “Thank you ma’am.”
“Better.” Granny Smith smiled as poked a few leafs of lettuce. Somber began nibbling slowly away at the apple, while being peripherally aware of Granny Smith and Applejack whispering.
“So they really don’t have apples like this in the Crystal Empire?” Apple Bloom inquired after Somber had finished the apple. Somber sadly chuckled.
“Not the last time I checked. When I was there, we had to barter for near all of our produce. The only widely successful garden there was the royal greenhouse, which was tended by the best gardeners. Well-“ Somber held up the apple core. “-The best of their time.” That got a giggle out of the filly and a rolling of eyes from Scootaloo. As Scootaloo seemed to say something, her eyes went wide and ears pricked up.
“Did anypony feel that?” Somber immediately snapped into full on threat assessment, quickly scanning for any disturbed scenery or unusual sound. Nothing seemed to have moved and he hadn’t heard anything, but others seemed to have their own reactions.
“Her cloud musta drifted overhead.” Applejack sighed heavily as she got up and headed back into the main house. “I’ll make sure she doesn’t sneak any tastes.” Somber glanced about, getting nods of acknowledgement from the Apples, hopping anticipation from Scootaloo, and, oddly, rigidity from Fluttershy and Rarity.
“Should I know what’s going on?” Somber asked the table.
“Rainbow Dash is coming!” Scootaloo answered barely below shouting.
“Rainbow Dash?”
“She’s only the fastest, coolest, and most awesomest pony there is!” Scootaloo answered again, sounding baffled that Somber didn’t possibly know her idol.
`
“I don’t feel like awesomest is a real word.” Somber said doubtfully.
“It is too a word!”
Before Somber could start to correct the filly on proper verbage, his ears twitched to a new voice from the house.
“I told you, I wasn’t gonna eat all of them.” The new pony whined.
“Yeah, you woulda just eaten most of ‘em.”
“Half of one, at most.” The new voice huffed.
“Not half of one plate Dash!” Applejack berated as she walked in with two wafting plates of apple fritters on her back.
“I was not gonna eat half a plate.” A prismatic pegasus rebutted as she entered the dining area.
“And you were already reachin for it!” Applejack turned to face Dash while sliding the fritters off of her back onto the table.
“I was not!”
“EHEM!” Big Mac interrupted the fight, garnering a glare from both ponies. Big Mac eyed towards the rest of the dining table, making Applejack’s cheeks flush and Rainbow Dash to awkwardly cough and look away. As she was looking anywhere that wasn’t Big Mac or Granny Smith, she locked eyes with the intrigued Somber.
“Somethin the matter?” Rainbow asked brashly.
“How did you get so many colors?” Somber asked aloud, almost completely unware that he had voiced his question. This made Rainbow Dash bustle with pride as she puffed her chest out.
“It’s 100% natural. You gotta spot me in the sky somehow, right?” Rainbow Dash made her way around to Somber, eyeing him up and down as she approached. He, in turn, kept his look of amazement. “And who might you be?”
“This is Somber! He got me out of the barrel!” Scootaloo was all too happy to inform. Rainbow raised an eye at Scootaloo’s answer, as there was obviously a story she was missing out on.
“Well then, Somber, you new to town?” Somber sighed deeply and looked to the table, but was cut off before he even began talking. “I’ll take that as a ‘yes’. What’cha in town for?”
“That’s actually quite a bit of a story.” Rarity cut in. “And far to long for right now.”
“Suffice to say I’m here for a short time before making my way to the Crystal Empire.” Somber gave a very abridged version of his tale.
“The Crystal Empire, huh? That’s cool.” Rainbow Dash said near dismissively as she rounded the table and nudged Scootaloo over so she could fit on the end of the bench. “Can I please have at least one fritter?” She turned her attention to Applejack who was patiently blowing over the fritters.
“You don’t got a plate to serve.” Applejack said without looking away from the fritters.
“I’ll just use the serving plate then.”
“Rainbow.” Applejack said warningly, only shifting her eyes to look at Rainbow Dash with a glare.
“Oh, let the dear have a fritter Applejack.” Rarity sighed, getting a bit tired of her friends bickering. “If Granny Smith’s portions live up to snuff, there should be plenty.”
Applejack mumbled a little as she took the closest plate, Big Mac’s, and served him a fritter. In response, he deftly took Fluttershy’s now empty plate and handed it over to his sister. A fritter was moved over, and Big Mac put the plate back before Fluttershy could even utter a weak protest, instead being replaced with an equally small “Thank you.” As the plates were handed around, Somber addressed Rarity.
“So what did Applejack mean when she said her cloud drifted over?”
“Oh, Rainbow Dash likes to take midafternoon naps after a morning shift, usually keeping a small cloud for herself from work. She’s a lead on keeping Ponyville’s weather stable.”
“Huh.” Somber said in contemplation as his plate was handed back to him, the fritter being fitted around some cheese he hadn’t finished yet. As he tried to think back to the Crystal Empire, he recalled that pegasi weren’t all that common in the capital. One of the more mundane royal tasks was keeping the sky clear after all, so they weren’t needed all that much, and they rarely seemed to become crafts-ponies. The only real interaction he had had with a pegasus was his sister, and even then she really didn’t seem to do all that much different from an earth pony. Besides fly that was. He had always been a bit envious about that.
“What does she do with the cloud?” Somber asked Rarity.
“Sleep on it, duh.” Rainbow cut in. “What backwater place did you grow up in that didn’t have pegasi?” There was a sharp intake of breath from everybody around the table. “And I’m completely missing something on a touchy subject, got it.” Rainbow quickly clamped up as she furiously nibbled on her fritter.
“Somber, I’m sure Rainbow didn’t-“ Rarity began to apologize.
“Mean anything by it, I know.” Somber chuckled. Somber took the chance to bite into his sweet as everypony seemed to be on edge, savoring the apple preserve in the fritter.
“So about that barrel you were stuck in.” Rainbow Dash said with the least amount of subtlety. “How’d you get stuck squirt?”
“Oh! Uh, yeah! So, we were thinking of getting our cutie marks in barrel riding today and went to see if Applejack had any we could use…” Scootaloo went off on explaining the CMC’s transgressions that day. Everypony else seemed to have the same mindset as Somber and quietly ate their apple fritters.
When Rainbow Dash noticed Rarity had finished hers, Dash quickly popped hers into her mouth, chewed, and swallowed in a speed that made Somber swore he would have to recessitate her.
“Well, it’s good to hear you got out of that all right squirt, but it looks like I need to talk to somepony.” Rainbow Dash ruffled Scootaloo’s mane before hopping off the bench and headed back into the house proper. Applejack, Fluttershy, and Rarity all shortly followed, baffling the remainder of the group on how coordinated the four could possibly be.
“Um, so, is there anywhere to wash these?” Somber asked as the house door shut with a bit more force than necessary.
“Eeyup.” Big Mac confirmed. “’Course the place is inside, and that seems to need some privacy right now. Girls, mind cleanin the table? Somber, let’s go get that barrel of their’s while we wait.”
“O-ok.” Somber said as he eyed the house door. He had never particularly liked to be left out of a conversation that was about him, which seemed this most certainly was, but he also knew to respect privacy. So he quickly trotted after Big Mac when he noticed the stallion hadn’t waited, and prayed that everything was going to be all right.
As the four mares walked into the living room of the Apple’s house, Rainbow Dash made her way to the couch and unceremoniously plopped herself down. “All right, so who’s got that long story?”
Both Applejack and Flutteshy’s eyes differed to Rarity, who softly cleared her throat. “Spike and I found him in the Diamond Dog mines passed out, and when he properly came to, told us that he was the prince of the Crystal Empire, which Twilight confirmed with a… reading.” Rarity still flushed a little at the last part.
Rainbow Dash blinked slowly. “That’s it? That’s nothing!”
“Maybe if you bothered with some details sugarcube?” Applejack nudged Rarity to continue.
“Oh, well, there have been more than a few inconsistencies of when and how he got here, and Twilight has also confirmed that something has tampered with his memory to make him think Cadence and Shining Armor are his younger siblings.”
“Ok, a bit more interesting, so what do we do?” Rainbow Dash asked, sitting up with her wings flapping a bit, ready for action.
“Yeah, we didn’t really get to that point.” Applejack walked over to Rainbow Dash’s side. “What are we going to do?”
“Twilight’s more than likely talking to her siblings right now about it, and I was tasked with telling the rest of you.” Rarity stated. When no further explanation came, all of the wind seemed to fall out of Rainbow Dash’s sails.
“That’s it? Telling us? Not finding who made the rewrites or going to the mines? Just talking?”
“Whoa, who said anything’ about goin’ to those mines?” Applejack’s previous concerns rose. “Those Dogs are a danger and we ain’t takin’ one step near the place.”
“Really now, Applejack. Those assumptions-“
“And you’re not off the hook missy.” Applejack’s gaze darted to Rarity. “How could you go there without tellin’ any of us? At least Spike was there last time to tell us what happened!”
“I think you’re skipping over something.” Fluttershy put out weakly. Applejack’s face became softer as she looked to Fluttershy, as Rarity’s became a questioning one. “I think this is why she didn’t tell us, but if the Diamond Dogs were really all that bad, would they have bothered coming to find somepony for help?”
Both Rainbow Dash and Applejack were confused by her statement, but it made Rarity facehoof.
“Oh, details, details, thank you Fluttershy. Yes, Spike and I were on our way to the mines when Rover came running about having found Somber in the cavern.”
“Ah still don’t appreciate you thinkin’ you had to keep it a secret.” Applejack huffed.
“And I can see now that my rationalizing was a rather self-defeating cycle.” Rarity admitted.
“Great, good, that’s all settled, but what are we gonna do?!” Rainbow Dash asked as she dangled upside-down on the couch. “I’m getting bored from all of this yammerin.”
“Weelll…” Rarity began to think. “He has seemed really interested in learning, and pegasi seemed to be a rare thing in the Empire, so maybe you two could keep him busy while I check in with Twilight?” Rarity asked Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy.
“Eh, teachin’s really not my thing.” Rainbow Dash said dismissively.
“Well, he did seem interested in your job.” Fluttershy pointed out. “You could probably tell him about your day and could keep him busy the rest of the day.”
“Or you could help me an’ Big Mac with our afternoon chores.” Applejack suggested.
“The Wonder Bolts would be a great topic!” Rainbow Dash perked up as she righted herself and dashed out of the room.
“Oh, that might be a bit much!” Fluttershy called out as she quickly followed. Rarity was left blinking from the sudden gust passing by her and Applejack chuckling.
“Ya better get goin’ sugarcube. No tellin’ how long the poor sucker’s gonna last at this rate.”
“R-Right.” Rarity nodded as she hoped she was doing the right thing with leaving Somber to Rainbow Dash’s Wonder Bolt’s rant. She was soon out the front door and on the path back to the Golden Oaks Library.
Somber and Big Mac had managed to successfully roll the makeshift barrel of the Crusaders from the treehouse to the main barn with only minimal stops to put the loose boards from the open end back inside the hollow for transport. In that time, Somber and Big Mac hadn’t said a word aside from ‘stop’ and ‘go’ to pick up a loose board.
This gave Somber some time to think. What sort of plans had Twilight made to get them to the Crystal Empire? Who was ‘them’ going to be? How were they going to prepare for the journey? When was the soonest he’d be back to familiar lands? And why did he want to be back so badly? Most of these were answered with ‘be patient’, but that had never been one of his strong suits.
When they had managed to tip the barrel upright once again, a rainbow blur blew past him, making Somber quickly spin around to see what happened, only to see Rainbow Dash up in the air scanning the orchard.
“So did you discuss what to do with the barrel?” Fluttershy asked from behind, making Somber spin yet again. He had to close his eyes and shake his head to reorientate himself.
“Uh, no, but Big Mac seems to know what he wants to do.” Somber nodded to Big Mac shuffling through a toolbox. “What happened in the house for that?” Somber nodded up to the still searching Dash.
“Oh, we, well, we… uh…” Fluttershy couldn’t quite think of a way to say ‘stall’ in a polite fashion.
“Caught me up to speed.” Rainbow Dash informed as she landed aside Fluttershy. She had spotted Somber at the barn door with Fluttershy after his question. “So you’ve really never seen a pegasus before?” Rainbow gave an inquisitive eye.
“Well, not to say I haven’t, but you seem to work in a capacity… beyond what I’m used to.”
“Can’t blame ya, didn’t see to many pegasi when I was up there last time to be honest.”
“Wait, you’ve been there?” Somber asked, a bit in shock and a bit in excitement.
“Well, yeah. We all have. Twilight got a call to stop Sombra and bam, we’re up there in a flash.”
“You can time travel as well?” Somber cocked his head to the side.
“What? No, we took a-“
“Dash, you’re confusing him.” Fluttershy stopped her prismatic friend before this could become a giant mess. “When the Empire came out of suspension, King Sombra was a specter that haunted the outskirts after Prince Shining Armor put up a barrier around the city.” She explained.
“So, you went and stopped him, how?” Somber asked.
“Eh, Spike and Twilight could tell you better. Suffice to say they found the Crystal Heart and triggered it, making all the dark stuff go away.” Rainbow Dash waved dismissively. “But enough with the history lessons, what you really want to know is how a pegasus in Ponyville spends her day, isn’t it?”
Taking from the phrasing, Somber gave a restrained smile. “And would you be a prime example by chance?”
“You betcha! Now, the first thing you gotta know, is that I’m the fastest. No contest. Second, I’m chief weather pony, so if you need to know how next week’s gonna look, I’m your mare.Third-“
Twilight was not a happy mare at the moment. The first reason had been Pinkie Pie igniting a party cannon in the main room of the library under the logic of “Where else would the new guy know to go?”, and had preemptively closed the library.
The second reason was the news the guard brought back after Cadence had asked for it. Hearing the door jingle, Twilight sighed.
“It’ll at least be nice to see you two when we’re up there.” She smiled warily to the mirror holding her brother and sister-in-law’s image.
“And we’ll make sure to get the time into the guards schedule so we can see you.” Shining Armor promised.
“Be safe Twilight.” Cadence offered.
“You know I will.”
“And I’ve got the backup list to prove it.” Spike pipped up, holding the scroll that was twice as long as he was tall over his head. It made the three chuckle with the lighthearted sendoff. Breathing deeply and letting the spell go, the mirror faded back into a reflection of Twilight’s bedroom.
“Let’s go see who it is Spike.” Twilight sighed. She hoped it was just Pinkie Pie so that she could just come back upstairs and nap before having to deal with all of this, but she knew it wasn’t when she smelled fresh cake coming from the kitchen. Spike rolled up the scroll and put it on the mirror stand and quickly followed.
There was a mutual reaction of surprise when they saw Rarity standing in the library, grimacing at the mishmash of colors the streamers left against the light brown sheen of the wall. Twilight quickly glanced to a clock and saw it was only 1:37.
“Rarity, what’s going on? Where’s Somber?” Twilight asked as she hurriedly descended the stairs with Spike in quick tow.
“He’s back at Sweet Apple Acres and socializing, don’t worry.” Rarity tried to give a calming smile. “I see Pinkie’s already started. Any planned time for it to be done?”
“4:58!” Pinkie Pie called from the kitchen before a concussive sound of bottles falling over was heard. “Uh… Make that 5:17!”
“I don’t even wanna know.” Twilight shook her head. “But you said Sweet Apple Acres? How’d AJ react to Somber?”
“Well, she’s very guarded, but that’s to be expected. Dash also dropped in by desert, and she’s currently keeping him busy with the everyday pegaus.”
“And the mines?” Twilight raised an eyebrow in accusatory questioning.
“They all know now.” Rarity glanced aside, not wanting to meet Twilight’s critical eye. “But enough about me, how was the family conversation?”
“It was… very informative.” Twilight said, this time her turn to look away. “Turns out the royal line of the Empire was very well documented.”
This confused Rarity. “If it’s documented, why is there a problem?”
“Because after Sharla Mane died, everypony handed in their records on who had whose foals. It was still a very cloak and dagger court. The accounts conflict often and they could only be straightened out by counts for and against a claim.”
“And…” Rarity prompted.
“Not one of the accounts has a Somber Tones.”