I expected the shadow to be one or more ponies hovering above me. I totally didn't expect it to be Celestia's wing extended over my tiny body. I didn't even realize she was there, until she spoke up.
"What. Do you think. You are doing."
Let me tell you, angry Celestia is scary Celestia. I looked up from my cowering position, but could only see the feathers of her extended wing.
"Y-your highness-" the lead guard stammered.
"Silence!" she hissed. "I will personally deal with you later."
I could hear the guard ponies gulp audibly. I was playing with the thought of crawling out of my position when something weird happened. At the moment I couldn't even tell what happened, but all of a sudden, I was at a complete loss. Disoriented. I felt sick in my stomach and the world was spinning. Celestia tugged her wing back to her side and HOLY SHIT, where was I?
Not on the streets anymore, that much was obvious. The room was gorgeous, to put it simply. At least I think it was. Probably? I’m not really sure, everything was a blur. I could make out a lot of shiny things, but that was it.
"Ooooh, everything is Sparkly."
"Oh dear. First time teleportation sickness," I heard Celestia say.
I turned my head towards her and saw three heads looking back down at me. I slumped to the side, ignoring the nausea to the best of my abilities. The princess bent down to my level to nuzzle me gently as she wrapped me up within her legs.
"Are you alright, my little pony?"
"No~" I leaned against Celestia out of sheer nausea, exhaustion and fear. More tears came out of my eyes.
The princess gently rubbed my back, cooing into my ear. "Shh, shh. It's alright. Nopony is going to hurt you anymore."
"Twilight?" I asked, getting really tired all of a sudden. "Is...Twilight okay?"
"Your sister is alright. Don't worry. I'll bring you back to your family."
I nuzzled deeper into Celestia's fur. Any other time I would find this embarrassing; at the time, I needed every bit of comfort I could get. Man, that came out cheesy- arrgh, stupid feather at it again. I need to fix the spell.
We remained like this for an eternity. Eternity being, until I fell asleep. Running until I was out of breath, getting forcefully shoved away by multiple ponies and then the amount of magic I used that day, which was a lot for a filly, finally took a pole on me.
Celestia put me into a bed, her own bed I might add, before I was out like a candle.
I must have woken up and fallen asleep three times. I could have gotten up every time I woke up, but this bed! It was worth going through Tartarus just to be able to sleep in there. It was the fourth time that I couldn’t fall back asleep, because I could hear voices in the seeming distance, when actually they were only next room.
I twisted and turned a little bit around, but eventually I couldn’t take it anymore. Besides, it felt like I had slept for over a decade. My body aches from lying still for so long; but when I did finally made my way out of the bed, it ached because I was moving. Can you say bipolar? Yes, my body is seemingly bipolar. Equestria is a weird place to live in. I love it.
After falling out of the bed and lying on the carpet for a few seconds, before getting myself together. Slowly, since I was still getting used to having four legs, I got up and shook myself like a dog. Looking around, it didn’t take me long to recognize the room I was in, even though I barely saw it on the show. This was Celestia’s private study. I always thought she had an extra room that acted as her sleeping chambers. Did I remember it wrong?
But it didn’t matter anyway. The chase I recently went through was obviously still on my mind, but knowing that Princess Celestia brought me here...it somehow eased my mind. I didn’t get it either, I mean it wasn’t like we had any kind of strong emotional connection after personally knowing each other for what? A few days? And how much time did we spent together? A couple of hours? It really bothered me, but it wasn’t the priority thought on my mind right at that moment.
As fast as my body allowed, I made my way towards the door. The voices growing louder with each step. The soft carpet muffled my own steps, so nopony on the other side could hear me.
“-reason I am not further demoting you and your fellow guards is because I believe in second chances and that your worries might have had the slightest trace of legitimacy.” That voice belonged to Celestia, no doubt about that.
“B-but, your highness-”
“Enough!” Celestia almost shouted at the guard from earlier. I recognized his voice.
“While you might have had some small justification in apprehending Twivine initially, you had neither right nor reason to put a magic suppressor on Twilight! Do you have any idea how traumatizing that can be for a young filly?! Her parents are demanding that I have you, and everypony else involved, receive a dishonorable discharge! They've even spoken of taking legal actions against each individual guard! What were you thinking? Chasing a small filly through the streets of Canterlot? Throwing stun spells every direction in the middle of a busy market street?!"
Celestia’s voice got louder at the end. For a moment I expected the royal Canterlot voice to pop up.
"Thousands of bits will be needed to repair the city from this little rampage of yours, not to mention the restitution for the merchants whose livelihoods you damaged! And the property damage is far from the worst thing you accomplished! No. My Guard. The very guards that are to protect the citizens of this country, put those very ponies into danger. Sixteen ponies were injured in your chase. Six of them are serious. What were you thinking?"
“But, she’s n-n-not an adult yet...”
“Ahh, yes,” Celestia’s voice got really quiet here. You know the tone. The one that says ‘you think you’re clever do you– think again’ without actually saying it. “You refer to the clause I added to all the laws that require a pony to reach their majority before being granted the authority of their inherited title. Did you not know that Cadance, as an alicorn princess, earned her title by her own merit rather than inheriting? As there are only two alicorn princesses in the land, I expect you to be capable of remembering us. So if Cadance tells you that Twivine is not dangerous, you leave the little filly alone. If ANY alicorn princess tells you to do something, you do it! If a three year old alicorn filly tells you to baker her a cake, then you drop what you are doing, you go to the kitchens, and you bake her a CAKE!”
I was like: Wow. Did she really just said that? Wait, does that mean Celestia is technically ruling with an iron hoof? Oh Faust, I knew it. THE CAKE IS A LIE!
I don’t know if Celestia realized how dumb what she just said was. If she did, she ignored it.
“You’re dismissed, Private! I suggest you think about your actions while you’re suspended from duty.”
“Princess.” It sounded only half hearted. He probably saluted or something. Heck, I’m surprised he could even speak. That was brutal. Two seconds later, the sounds of hoofsteps could be heard on the other side of the door.
Faster than I would have thought, the door opened, with Princess Celestia on the other side. She looked frustrated to say the least, judging from her expression. It was interesting to see her without her “mask” for once, although as soon as she noticed that I was awake she put it back on.
“Twivine! You’re awake.”
She quickly bent down on my level and wrapped her wings around me. “Are you feeling better?”
“Mhm.” I couldn’t bring any words out right then.
“Oh sweetie, don’t worry. Those ponies won’t do anything to you anymore, I promise.”
I figured. You just...wait, you called him Private and threatened to demote him even further. How’s that supposed to work? The only thing under Private is Recruit. Even I know that.
“Is there anything I can bring to you? Maybe you want a treat?”
“Uh...where is the bathroom?”
About ten minutes later, Princess Celestia was talking to a female guard. There are way more of them around than was originally shown in the show. Given the gender ratio, this is not surprising at all.
“I need a list of everypony that might fit into the role as the new guard captain.”
“At once princess. Is there anything else?” the guard asked.
“Yes, how are negotiations with the thestrals getting along?”
To this the mare in armor looked disappointed. “Not good, your highness. Preconceptions on both sides are slowing things down significantly.”
“It looks like it was a mistake to- oh. Please excuse me, Lieutenant. I need to take care of our little guest. Come to my chambers in two hours, from now on. Dismissed, Lieutenant.”
“Princess.” the Lieutenant saluted. She looked at me for a second before walking away.
I crept up to Celestia, staying close to her legs. I was fighting the instinct to hide myself between them. You need to remember when reading these words: While I may sound calm, in all actuality I was scared. The events from earlier were still slowly sinking in, you know? It’s hard to explain so long afterwards.
“So Twivine. Do you want something to eat, maybe?” she asked me.
“No, thanks.” I replied, which was a straight up lie. I could easily go for something to eat, I just wasn’t in the mood to eat.
“If you say so. But remember: if you need anything, just tell me.”
“...Princess? Am I not in trouble?”
The alicorn’s head flinched back in surprise. “Why would you be in trouble, my little pony?”
“Because I attacked those guards and … I am the reason other ponies got hurt.” I replied, after some thinking. Seriously, as soon as I heard that others got actually hurt and needed to be treated in the hospital, although she never said that, I just felt bad. I wanted to bring up this issue immediately after the Princess discovered me, but didn’t came to bring it up at that point.
To no one’s surprise, the princess refuted my claims. She just pulled me in for another hug and gently stroked her wing along my back.
“Shh, it’s not your fault that you lost control. Don’t worry. I will teach you on how to control your magic. So, don’t feel bad anymore, okay?”
“Mhm.” Was my muffled reply from under her coat.
I could have snuggled with her for days, let me tell you. Sadly we didn’t even come close to it, because a hoofmaiden made herself known, by clearing her throat. We broke up immediately, upon hearing it.
“Excuse me, princess. Princess Cadance just arrived with the filly’s family. They’re waiting for you two at the lobby.”
“Ah, thank you Blue Clover. We’ll be on our way immediately. I hope you’ll enjoy your vacation.”
“Thank you, princess.” The maid bowed and was on her merry way.
“Now then, let’s get you back to your family. They’re eagerly waiting for you.”
“Umm…”
“Yes?”
“Why didn’t you bring me back to my home?” I asked, curious about why I ended up in the palace. By the way, it’s then that something in my brain finally clicked and I thought.
Oh my fucking Faust! I’m inside the palace of Canterlot!
“Ahaha. I wasn’t really thinking. On hindsight, I should have teleported us back to your home. I’m sorry.”
“SIS!” A purple blur rocketed into me, knocking me to the ground. I think my eyes even rolled in a cartoony way, because my vision was suddenly doubled. It was like looking at two TVs at the same time, with pictures rolling into different directions.
When my eyes came to a hold, I finally saw a teary eyed Twilight. She was pinning me down with her tiny hooves.
“T-Twilight? What’s wrong?”
“Twivine!” she cried out and wrapped her forelegs around my head. My fur was quickly soaked by her warm tears.
“I-I was so scared! I...I couldn’t feel my magic. And then...those ponies…”
More didn’t come out. She started to fully cry into my shoulder and it was up to me to comfort her. And don’t get me wrong, I really felt for her and was getting really mad at those guards. Still, I couldn’t help but look up a little helplessly at my parents, Shining Armor and Cadance. Spike was also there, sitting in a foal carrier, which hung down from Velvet’s neck.
Nightlight came around and took both of us into his forelegs.
“Shh, it’s alright sweetie. Everything is going to be alright,” he cooed.
“But what if….what if…” Her crying got even worse. I tried to calm her down myself by stroking her back, but it wasn’t really working.
I could hear the sounds of a baby through Nightlight’s fur. A few seconds later, Spike flew down, covered in a light purple aura. The tiny dragon was giggling, until he saw Twilight.
“Ahhh!” He stretched his arms out and reached out to her.
Velvet brought him to her, to which Twilight quickly grabbed the dragon with one of her forelegs and then pressed the reptile against both me and her. I don’t know how smart babies are here in Equestria, thinking about the cake twins right now. What he did was smiling at Twilight, grabbing her with his claws. It looked like he wanted to comfort her or make her stop crying. But it also just might have been him wanting to be close to his mother, some kind of instinct working here.
Whatever it was, I believe he wanted to comfort her. Also, at the point I realized how much ponies liked to cuddle The past couple of days I cuddled a lot, mostly with Twilight and now I was doing it again. If only the reasoning for it wouldn’t have been that stupid incident.
After ten minutes, which Velvet used to talk to the princess, Celestia I mean, she announced that we were going home. When we got out, I noticed the sun had almost set to start the night. By the time we got home, Celestia had raised Luna’s moon already with the dark goddess staring down at the planet.
Inside my stomach couldn’t take it anymore. My grumbling could be easily translated into: “Hey you fuckers! Fuel’s empty! Gimme some meat down here!”
I blushed a little when everyone looked at me. Well except for Spike. The little guy had fallen asleep on the way. How he didn’t wake up from the really loud growl, well I soon learned that he’s a heavy sleeper.
“Oh, you didn’t had anything to eat for the evening, did you?” asked Velvet.
I wordlessly shook my head.
“Night, can you bring Twilight and Spike to bed? I think for once we can make an exception, and let Twivine have something to eat this late.”
“Of course hon. Come on, Twilight.”
However my sister violently shook her head.
“I...I wanna stay with” she yawned “my sister.”
I looked to her a little confused. Twilight Velvet and Nightlight looked at each other worried and confused.
“Don’t worry Twily,” Shining Armor ruffled her mane a little. “I’ll stay with you, at least until Vi comes upstairs. Alright?”
Twilight blinked a little sleepy, before nodding. “‘kay.”
She began walking towards the stairs, our big brother supporting her all the way.
“Now then Twivine. How does a fruit salad sound?”
My stomach grumbled once again.
“Yeah. I have to agree with Joanne.”
By the way, my right hand’s name is lefty.