I yawned, the book from Princess Luna closing softly; I finally finished it. Just in time for a nice little nap too. I trotted softly into my room, careful not to wake Spike as I slipped under the overly large and heavy quilts. It was probably around three AM by now, so I should be able to get at least three or four hours of sleep before Princess–y duties called. Maybe I could find the time during court tomorrow to reread the book Luna sent me.
Burp
My head popped off my pillow as I watched the emerald fire circle into the air above Spike's bed, twirling and spinning as it transformed into a letter. I caught it with my magic before it could fall and wake the poor, over–worked assistant of mine up. A letter? This late at night? I unfurled it, glancing it over.
Dear Princess Twiligh–
Burp
I looked over at Spike again, another letter puffing up and sparking from the flames. I caught it too, bringing it over and sitting it beside me as I shifted into a proper sitting position. I fidgeted with my tail, trying to get it and everything else comfy before continuing the first one.
Dear Princess Twilight,
I read the letter you sent and if I just stay at home for the rest of my life everything will be fine right? My mommies and daddies always tell me that I never ever have to leave here, that if I stay here with my brothers and sisters that everything will be great. Can your family be your friends? Because I feel like my family is all the friends I'll ever need.
But maybe... Princess Twilight, will you be my friend?
Sunny Skies
I sat the letter down, having brought a hoof up, scratching my head. She has... Multiple mothers and fathers? It might be a bunch of typos, it is rather late. But several times in a row seems a bit of a stretch. I glance at the next letter, my magic already opening it as I sigh in confusion.
Dear Princess Twilight,
Oh my sweet Celestia! My last letter caught on fire when I wrote it and just flew away! Was that it being sent to you or did I mess up? Is the paper you sent actually alive and I offended it when I accidentally sat on it?!
Help!
Sunny Skies
Oh that poor filly, I remember when I first used Spike to send and receive letters, I was always paranoid he was actually burning them up. I look over to Spike, chewing my lower lip as I considered my options. Option one: Go to sleep and write her in the morning. But that might really worry her, not to mention she might start sending several letters, enough to give Spike a tummy ache tomorrow. Option two: Just wake Spike up and send her a short letter.
Option two seemed a lot less painful in the long run.
Dear Sunny Skies,
Don't worry, that's how the letters are supposed to act. The pages are laced with charms and magic that mark the sender's location—also tracking it if they move—before coming here and being belched out by my assistant, Spike. I sent them to you in the hopes that it'd reduce the time between our correspondences, and I'm glad you thought to use them when writing your letter this time.
However, I'd like to request you not write me letters using these pages at night. While I'm usually awake, Spike isn't. And seeing as we're using him to talk right now... It's kinda rude to do when he's supposed to be sleeping. Speaking of which, shouldn't you be in bed young filly? It's rather late. But that's not to say I don't understand. As you can imagine, my childhood and my adulthood has been spent suffering from insomnia, so I can't fault you for that if that is the case.
Regardless, of course I'll be your friend, Sunny Skies. I mean, it's in my occupational title after all. What kind of Princess of Friendship would I be if I didn't try to be everypony's friend, right? But please, it's late. Let us continue this conversation in the morning, okay?
Your friend,
Princess Twilight
I rolled and bound the letter in purple silk, pinning one of the gold medallions Princess Celestia had my cutie mark inscribed onto on the silk. "Spike?" I called out into the darkness the light from my horn couldn't reveal. "Spiiike?"
"Huh...?" Oh good. I wouldn't need to resort to drastic measures to wake him up. "Twilight?" He yawned before puffing a poof of fire into a bedside lantern he kept. "Something wrong?" He held it up, glancing around the room cautiously.
"Nothing's wrong, Spike. I just need you to send a letter for me." I said, hoofing him both my letter and the one from Sunny. "This one has the magic signature you need to follow." I tapped Sunny's with my hoof.
"It's not going to Celestia?" He raised an eyebrow, then tapped his chin. "And... When did we get this letter? I don't remember receiving it."
"Tonight, you slept through it." He took both from me. "And thank you, Spike. You're my number one assistant for a reason beyond being a sweetheart." I patted him on the head, ruffling his spines a little.
"No problem, Twi." He studied Sunny's letter before puffing fire on mine, sending it on it's way. "There."
"Thank you, Spike. Now lets get some shut eye." I say, giving him a smile, my horn lighting the room when he blew his lantern out. "Again, I'm sorry about waking you up." I took the letter and placed it on the nightstand as I laid down, quickly falling asleep.
«♦»
"Aaaand pancakes!" I yawned as a plate of pancakes thunked on the table in front of me.
I regarded the sugary, syrup covered flattened lumps of bread. "Thank you, Spike." I finally said, scratching the back of my head with my magic.
"Didn't sleep too well?" He sat across from me, eating his own—gem impregnated—pancakes. "What was that letter about anyway?"
"Do you remember that filly who sent me those other letters in the mail?" He nodded as I went on. "I sent her a notepad of enchanted paper so she could communicate with me faster." I saw him nod and I smiled in return. Then I immediately frowned. "Unless you didn't want me to!" He frowned and tilted his head, opening his mouth a little. "Oh no, oh no! Should I have asked for your permission?" I started hyperventilating. "Are you going to tell Princess Celes–By Celestia, what will child services think?!"
Before he could even lift a claw to yell at me I bolted. I had to get out of here, fast! I can't be arrested now, I was just made royalty! The newpapers would be merciless! I would have zero privacy! What if they read all my books and folded the tips of the pages as insult to (hopefully) metaphorical injury?! I skidded to a stop, turning and aiming for the library. "Twilight!" Oh no, Spike's after me! He already sent a letter to Princess Celestia and child services probably, now I'm really done for! I grabbed as many books as I could, using the shelves to barricade the door as more and more books floated up into the mass of paper above me. "Twilight, open the door! No one is after you!" Spike yelled as he banged is teeny tiny claws against the barred door.
"No! You're just trying to make it easier for the Princess to fold the tips of my books in! That is NOT a good way to bookmark a book and you know it!" I yelled as I tried to think of somewhere to hide the books.
"Wha–" He stuttered, the hits on the door pausing with his speech. "What are you even talking about?!"
"You know bucking well what I'm talking about! They're after me—I trusted you! How could you do this to me?!" Maybe under Canterlot in the cave system? I mean... I doubt the Princess would check under her own home right? But... What if that's the first place she looks?! She's a smart mare, she's probably had to punish thousands of princess wannabes in her time as ruler, she might know all their tricks! I'm doomed! "Spike I'm sorry!" I wailed, sitting down and crying. "I won't do it again!"
"Twilight calm down and let me in so we can talk about this!" Book fort! That's right, I can make a fort out of the books! I'm not doomed! Book by book I assembled the retaining wall, then the main wall, then the castle around me, each in a square formation.
"I won't let them take me alive! I'd sooner die than watch them ruin all my books!" I gasped. "Much less watch them ruin all my books and then get banished!" I'm such a horrible, horrible pony.
Burp!
I heard the noise I'd been dreading: Princess Celestia's response. "Spike, write Princess Celestia and tell her I'm sorry! Please!" I hid under my hooves, curling closer and closer to myself.
After a moment of hesitation—a moment of pure terror on my part—Spike finally responded. "Okay uh... Done! I sent her a letter saying it was a prank, Child Services aren't going to arrest you or anything like that okay?" I gasped, uncurling a little, peeking through the cracks in the books. "Everything is okay, Twilight." I shifted left and right, panning my very obscured view around the door. I stayed really quiet, almost hoping he would forget I was in here. "Twilight?" He called again, a little quieter.
I pressed my face into the crook of my foreleg, trying to suppress my ragged breathing. Not to mention drying my surprisingly damp face. "Y–Yeah. Give me a m–minute." I slowly stood up as my magic stacked the books around me in tall towers, easily knocked over or thrown as minor weapons if this turns out to be a trap after all. Worry niggled further into my mind as I sat back down. It might be a trapped—It most likely was a trap! "Sp–Spike?"
"Yeah, Twi?"
I grabbed the shelves, but didn't move them. "I'm so, so sorry. I–I didn't know—I wouldn't have–"
"It's okay Twilight, I forgive you." He sighed, just barely audible through the door and shelves.
I gulped, moving the shelves back to where they belong one by one. "I'm sorry..." I muttered under my breath as the final shelf moved away. The door cracked open and Spike peaked in cautiously.
"Twilight?" He entered slowly, his voice small and quiet. "Are you okay? Can I come over?" I looked him over, I knew he alone couldn't harm me too badly, so I nodded. As he walked over slowly I eyed the stacks of books wearily, wondering a little why I put them there. I need to organize these! But first comes Spike. He finally got near me. "Twilight, I want you to listen to me for a moment, okay?"
«♦»
There! A place for every book, every book in its place. "Thank you, Spike."
Spike wiped the sweat off his forehead and nodded. "No problem, Twilight. We needed to re–shelve this room again soon anyway, right?" I nodded. "Oh, right!" He ran out of the room, giving me the perfect excuse to raise my eyebrow.
"What's up, Spike?" I called out, following him. He ran back in with a letter in his claw.
"Here. I forgot to give you this earlier when you were all..." He trailed off, waving his claw in a circle. "You know." He handed it over, "I think it's from that filly, uh..." I scratched the back of his head. "Cloudy Pies or whatever."
"Sunny Skies." I corrected, accepting the letter and unfolding it.
Dear Princess Twilight,
Is this too early? If so, I'm sorry! But thank you so, so much for being my friend. It really means a whole big lot! Maybe one day when you visit Cloudsdale we can see each other and hang out if my moms and dads are okay with it.
Also, is Spike the little purple dragon? I've heard about him, but is he nice? And tell him I'm sorry for waking him up.
Your friend,
Sunny Skies
There it was again. "Moms" and "dads". Plural. As in more than one of each. It could be aunts and uncles and she doesn't know the term, but given her age that isn't very likely. I mean... I could just ask right? If it's a sensitive question, she could always just refuse to answer."Twilight? Everything okay?"
I folded the letter up again as I looked down at Spike, "Yes, Spike. Sunny Skies said sorry for waking you up—even though that was technically my fault—and wanted to know what you were like though, whether you were nice or not." I hummed, smiling as I looked up. "I wonder if you might want to write her a letter telling her about yourself?" Before I could even look down I heard his clawed feet tapping away down the hall to find paper and quill. Paper and quill which there were some of in this very room I might add. I shook my head as I grabbed some up, bringing it over and carefully inscribing out the letter.
Dear Sunny Skies,
No, no, the time of day you sent it is more than fine. Sorry for the late reply however, me and Spike were
My eye twitched as I thought of the correct word to use.
busy. Even if this is out of the order your last letter set, yes. Spike is indeed the purple dragon. I believe he is also sending a letter, so you can read that if you want to know more about him. Maybe you could even write to him specifically sometime.
While I'd love to visit you one day in Cloudsdale, there's something that's a tad concerning to me about your last two letters. You specfically used the phrases, "moms" and "dads". As in there are more than one in your family. Would you care to clarify that? If not, and you would rather avoid the subject, don't worry. I won't force it on you to answer. But it's just a curiosity of mine.
Your friend,
Princess Twilight
«♦»
“Paranoid? Probably. But just because you're paranoid doesn't mean there isn't an invisible demon about to eat your face.”
― Jim Butcher, Storm Front