Twilight's
✶✶✶ Odyssey
An MLP:FiM Fanfic by DemPonies
Chapter Five:
Gatherings
"Welcome, most honored roommate of the Great and Powerful Trixie!"
With those words still ringing in Twilight’s ears, she leaned back, staring with wide eyes and furrowed brows at the colorful hoops and swirls that swept up from behind the familiar-looking filly. She regarded Trixie in the same manner as the other filly’s sudden and dramatic appearance. Both were some sort of misplaced anomaly, like seeing lightning flash from a clear blue sky.
As the magically conjured sounds and colors from the fanfare died down, Trixie began to take short bows, as though she were standing before some roaring mass. “Thank you, thank you,” she said. “You’ve been a terrific audience!”
Twilight could only shake her head in disbelief while Trixie examined her with a quirked brow. “Hey! I know you!” she said, a smirk forming on her lips. “You’re that filly from the celebration—Twinkle, or something.”
“Um, Twilight,” Twilight corrected Trixie.
“No no no.” Trixie held up a hoof. “I’m Trixie, the Great and Powerful.”
It took nearly all of Twilight’s meager self-restraint not to mash her hoof against her forehead, but there was still enough left over to suppress a groan and keep her voice reasonably pleasant. “No, I mean my name is Twilight. We met at the—”
“Yes, yes, Trixie knows.” She gave a contemptuous flick of her head, causing the pointed wizard’s hat she wore to slant to one side. “You were the one who mooched off of Mom.”
“She said she didn’t want our money,” Twilight said, her eyes narrowing as her tail gave a single, sharp swish.
“Whichever. It’s not as though the Great and Powerful Trixie cares,” Trixie insisted as she began to storm off, her muzzle still held high in the air. It wasn’t long before she collided with a small, green-and-purple figure with a curious look on its face.
“Garp!” said Spike. Done exploring his new home, he’d set out to study its occupant, tilting his head to the side as he gazed up at Trixie with his large, infantile eyes.
“Why, who’s this cute little critter?” Trixie asked, smiling as she bent down to scratch Spike about the neck. He rolled onto his back, with one leg twitching fervently as she continued. “Trixie didn’t know we were allowed pets. Is he some kind of salamander?”
Twilight could only perk a brow, watching Trixie cuddle Spike the way she was. Well, she’s nice to Spike, at least. Maybe this won’t be so bad after all, she dared to hope.
“His name is Spike,” she finally replied, “and he’s actually a baby dragon.”
Trixie snorted. "Pfft! Yeah, right," she said, snickering.
Aaaand, she's back to being absolutely obnoxious again.
"Where would you get a dragon?"
“From the entrance exam,” Twilight said plainly, giving the answer no further thought.
Trixie rose like a bolt of lightning. “What?!” she shouted, causing Spike to roll to his side and scamper away. Twilight nearly fell backwards in shock herself.
What’s she… Twilight wondered, steadying herself as the the realization dawned. Oh, right. the final test. Do they… do they always make ponies try to hatch a dragon egg? Princess Guinemare said nopony had ever actually passed the final test, so… Trixie failed that test. Oh, this is perfect! She nearly tapped her hooves together in glee. Finally, some way to shut up the Great and Powerful Ego.
“From the entrance exam, of course,” Twilight repeated once she had straightened her face, a feigned sweetness to her voice. “How come such a great and powerful pony such as yourself doesn’t have one?” She barely contained a smug smirk that attempted to creep onto her lips. Trixie’s stumped expression was a thing of beauty.
Eyes wide and jaw agape, Trixie stared as though she’d just been slapped. Eventually, though, she regained her composure, grunted indignantly, and said with an excessive amount of bravado, “Trixie could have, but it was a stupid test!”
"Uh-huh," Twilight replied flatly.
“Besides,” Trixie went on, “they said Trixie passed the exam with flying colors, so what does the result of one measly test matter…?” She seemed to be addressing herself more than Twilight. Her forced bluster rang hollow as she glanced aside and began to gently rub at her foreleg.
For a moment, Twilight felt a pang of guilt, remembering her own injured pride when she thought that she had failed the exam. Maybe I went a little too far? she asked herself, but it was far too late and a bit too awkward to take her words back now.
The ensuing silence felt beleaguered, though it didn’t last any longer than a few seconds. Neither of the two fillies could manage to look each other in the eyes. Only Spike remained blissfully unaware of the tension in the air, smiling up at the both of them with his oblivious stare.
Eventually, Trixie broke the silence. “...Well, if anypony needs Trixie, she will be attending the class gathering down the hallway,” the azure filly said as she walked towards the door, still refusing to look at Twilight. “Trixie also suggests that Twibright attend, once you have seen to your belongings. It’s what all the important ponies will be doing,” she added, right before she shut the door behind her.
Twilight breathed a sigh of relief. She wasn’t even bothered by being misnamed again, or being left out of the loop.
Yet again, she thought, exasperated. Still, Trixie’s advice about attending this “gathering” gave Twilight something to do, at the very least. Her luggage had yet to arrive, so there was really nothing to do for the time being. There was just one thing she needed to take care of.
“Here, Spike!” she called, causing the little green dragon to perk up again and waddle next to her. Twilight leaned down, staring deep into his eyes to firmly graps his attention. “Now listen here,” she said. “I’m going to be away for a bit, and it is very important that you stay here while I’m gone. Do you understand?”
Spike tilted his head to the side.
Twilight intensified her gaze.
"Garp!"
"Good!" Twilight beamed and rubbed the top of his scaly head, the same way her father always did to her, before she turned around and walked towards the doorway. "There will be a yummy gemstone in it for you once I get back," she stressed before trotting out into the corridor.
Twilight stood there silently for a moment, glancing down the hallway—opposite to where she and Fancy Pants had come from—sighed, and started to trot at a brisk pace. It was the first time she had left her dragon companion alone since she had hatched him. Still, if Trixie’s reaction had been any indication, it would be for the best to keep Spike in her dormitory room.
The gentle clipping of her own hooves was Twilight’s only company as she walked the corridor. It split into a number of side passages, but it wasn’t difficult for Twilight to choose where to go. She just had to follow the buzz of excited voices.
It wasn’t long before she caught her goal in sight. At the end of her chosen corridor, there was tall set of heavy, oaken doors. They were slightly ajar, warm, faded light streaming between them into the hall. Inside, she saw more than two dozen fillies and colts, all around her own age seated in small groups on mats of colorful fabric, arranged in nearly a full circle that took up most of the room. The earlier buzzing had long since devolved into a full on cacophony.
Seated upon one of those mats was Trixie, alone, and glaring contemptuously at a small group of foals centered around a familiar looking white colt.
Rather suddenly, Twilight’s view was blocked by a looming, citrine figure with a pink ball of curls for a mane, clad in a loose-fitting gray vest. “Why, hello there!” the figure said, a mare by the sounds of it, in a warm, bubbly voice as she smiled down at Twilight.
“Um, h… hello…” Twilight replied cautiously, her brow slightly furrowed.
The mare chuckled. “Well, aren’t you just the cutest little filly,” she said with a broad smile that dimpled her cheeks. “We’re just about to get started, so why don’t you head on in and have a seat?” With the creak of aged wood, one of the doors fully opened at the behest of her magic.
At the mare’s gesture, Twilight tentatively stepped inside, unnoticed by the mass of noise that was the room’s denizens. She stood motionless for a moment, unsure of what to do with herself, before a series of claps caught her attention.
“Okay, my little ponies!” the mare from before cried out, standing beside Twilight. “Now that we’re all finally here, how about we all settle down and get this started.”
Despite—or perhaps because of—her upbeat tone, very few of the other fillies and colts seemed to take notice of her call for attention. As the moments passed, the mare’s smile grew strained and taut, before it quickly shifted back to its previous candor. With a mischievous glint in her eye, she lit her horn again, and a wave of her mint green light spread throughout the room.
The effect was immediate. Everypony fell silent—even though they continued speaking. No matter how they talked, laughed, or shouted, however, not a single whisper could be heard.
"Now, isn't this an improvement?" she asked, chipper as before. "Since you're all just listening anyway, how about you get seated and we try to get this thing going!"
With no way to protest, everypony did as instructed, albeit with a few colts and fillies mouthing silent complaints. Following suit, Twilight sat down on an empty mat, one that was as far away from Trixie as possible.
Once everypony had found a place, the mare continued. “Alright then. Since the purpose of this meeting is for us to get to know one another, I thought that we might start by introducing ourselves. I’ll go first!” She theatrically cleared her throat, closed her eyes, and put a hoof to her chest for a moment, before she burst her eyes open again and continued as if she were addressing them all for the first time. “Hello, everypony! My name is Hocus, and I’m a professor here at the Academy. I teach applied magic alongside my brother, Pocus. Most of you have probably met him already, since he’s in charge of administering all the written entrance exams.”
The collective shiver of more than two dozen students confirmed the statement.
Hocus giggled. "I know; he's got that effect on most students. But don't let it fool you! He's not so bad once you get to know him."
Twilight saw more than a few others around her exchange looks of skepticism, one she herself no doubt mirrored.
“Anyway,” Hocus went on, “I like… Manehattanite food, long walks along the beach, and sitting in front of a warm fireplace reading the latest research paper on advanced theurgy…” She had long since entered a sort of dream-like state but suddenly perked, snapping back to reality, as she remembered the task at hoof. “So! Now that you all know a little bit about me, I want you to replicate the process; tell us your name and something special about yourself.”
From her breast pocket, she magically pulled out a slightly wrinkled piece of paper and tapped it lightly with her hoof. She gave it a quick glance, her brows furrowed slightly, and said, “Let’s see… how about if B. Junior starts, since you’re first on the list?”
At this reveal, the white-coated colt from before sat at attention and began to mine something belligerent. While the finer points of his charade passed Twilight by, the overall crux of it all—gesturing towards his exaggerated mouth movements—got across just fine.
“Oops!” said Hocus sheepishly, giving off a bright flash which emanated from her horn. “I’m sorry.”
The colt in question grunted crossly and brushed aside a golden lock hanging from his flamboyantly styled mane, the marine shimmer of a fine jewel attached to the sleeves of his white frock coat flickering about. With an excessive amount of pre-adolescent voice, he soon said, “I should certainly hope so! Casting spells upon my person; do you have any idea of who I am? Who my father is?” He had tensed considerably during his tirade, sitting up straight and tall as he glared at the teacher with narrowed eyes and clenched teeth.
Meanwhile, Hocus remained unmoved, keeping her calm and pleasant demeanor. “Well, I certainly do, but I’ve also got this cheat sheet here—” She shook the piece of paper in her magic’s grasp. “—so why don’t you tell everypony else about who you are?”
He offered the rest of the group a momentary glance from the corner of his eyes before simply snorting and leaning back onto his haunches. “Well, since you have apologized and given me my rightful position at the top of your list—”
"...It's in alphabetical order..."
“—I will do as you ask.” He scoffed, a smug, lopsided grin appearing on his lips as he said, “Normally I would say that there was no point in attempting to enlighten those so far beyond hope, but… this is a place of learning. I shall do my best to educate the ignorant masses.”
Twilight frowned. Since she could not place who he was, she supposed that she was included amongst the “ignorant masses.”
“First of all, my name is not ‘Junior!’” the colt snapped, a sharp edge to his young voice. “I am Blueblood the Fortieth, ducal heir to Castle Blueblood and the White Tail; scion to an ancestral line so ancient is predates Equestria itself!” If any of the students had reacted to his little speech, he either didn’t notice or didn’t care, and he continued to prattle on without hindrance. The words had rolled easily off his tongue, as though he’d practiced them countless times before. “You would all do well to remember it, since I am so far above you in stature it would take most of you all day to count the ranks between us, provided you even could.” He put an end to his monologue by, with a whip of his mane, swinging his muzzle up into the air.
Twilight felt her jaw unhinge, staring in awe at the sheer amount of pompousness that could radiate from a single pony. Certainly, Trixie had been obnoxious, but here stood a colt that made her seem humble by comparison. It was hard for Twilight to imagine this Blueblood being related to the somewhat strange, yet still dignified noble stallion she’d met before.
Eventually, Hocus, having been at a loss for words, shattered the fragile silence that had overtaken the group. “That was a very… informative introduction,” she said in a tone suggesting she had a very different word in mind.
Blueblood, however, seemed rather satisfied with her diplomatic response, straightening up his pose and sticking his chest out as though he had done some great service to Unicornia.
Hocus proceeded to ignore him. “So—” She clasped her hooves together. “—how about we go clockwise down the circle, hm?” Not waiting for an answer, she immediately pointed a hoof towards the colt to the immediate right of Blueblood. “You look like you’re deep in thought; mind sharing with the rest of us?”
The colt in question, who had hung his head despondently throughout Blueblood’s entire introduction, suddenly snapped to attention. “Me? Umm…” he mumbled, fidgeting with his hooves. With the two of them sitting back to back, it was difficult for Twilight to imagine two colts looking any more different. While one had a coat as white as fallen snow, the other’s was so black it seemed he had crawled through a chimney. Where the first sat upright with a stilted sense of decorum, the second seemed as though he wanted nothing else than to be swallowed by the earth. “I was… wasn’t thinking about… nothing in particular.” With a forced smile, almost as an afterthought, he added, “My name is Sooty, by the way.”
Hocus returned the gesture with a somewhat warmer smile. "Well, it's nice to meet you, Sooty!" she said, prompting his drooped ears to perk up slightly.
And so it continued through the room, everypony saying their name and something special about themselves. As time passed, however, the repetition of it all began to wear on Twilight, until it all blurred together and was pushed to the inner backings of her mind. Even Trixie’s “introduction” did little to awaken Twilight’s interest as she had already been given her own private performance, with only slight variation.
The one interesting thing she did manage to pick up was that an unusual number of the students were nobles, or rather the foals of nobles. Apart from Blueblood, who was the son of a duke, there were also the progenies of marquises, counts, barons, lords, and all other manner of titles, all with important sounding names, many from places Twilight had never even heard of.
She was contemplating the meaning of this when—
"Hellooo! Life to little filly, are you there?" Somepony's muffled voice broke through her state of reverie, waving a single hoof at the edge of Twilight's field of vision.
She looked up, her eyes unfocused. “Huh?” Twilight still felt slightly dazed, as though she had just been woken in the middle of an afternoon nap.
Hocus, the proprietor of the aforementioned voice and hoof, chuckled. "I asked about your name," she said.
“Oh…” A shade of red slowly crept over Twilight’s cheeks as she noticed all the other foals staring at her. Withdrawing within her seat, she said, “Well, my name is Twilight, and… um…” She glanced hesitantly to the side, about to admit that she wasn’t anypony special, when Hocus, rather unexpectedly, spoke up on her behalf.
"Twilight?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. "Twilight Sparkle?"
“Y-yes…” she replied, shifting uncomfortably. There was only one place this conversation could go.
Hocus, however, gave a rather unexpectant sound, somewhere between a snort and a short laugh. "So, I guess I've got you to blame for Pokey's recent change in behavior then," she said, a sidelong smile on her lips. "Not that he's ever been terribly easy to deal with, but I think you acing his test the way you did tore him up a bit; so much so that he's opted to make things a little more challenging from now on."
The room suddenly seemed to teem with a sense of hostility, sweeping over Twilight like a gust of hot air. Nearly every other student was glaring at her with tilted eyebrows, an intense heat in their eyes. Even when casting her own gaze down, Twilight could still feel the collective frustration of more than two dozen foals drilling into her.
"Still, I guess congratulations are in order; nopony's ever had a perfect score before," Hocus said, the stares intensifying as she did. "We're expecting great things from you."
Not knowing how to answer, Twilight just rubbed the back of her neck, laughing nervously.
Thankfully, after a short moment of awkward silence, Hocus dropped the matter and instead shifted her attention to the next filly, allowing Twilight a much needed pause.
The rest of the introductions dragged by slowly once again. This time, however, Twilight found herself unable to drift away as she had done before, to relax and loosen the tension that had formed about her shoulders. While the stares had long since ceased, she could still feel a sense of general animosity directed towards her.
"... and that's why I'm not allowed at the zoo anymore," said a colt at the opposite side of the circle.
Hocus coughed, her face a strange combination of disgust and morbid fascination. “That was a very… interesting story, Starpoint. I had no idea magnifiers could be used like that.” Then, with a nick of her head, she turned to the group at large. “So, now that we’ve all gotten a sense of one another, I think I can safely proclaim this meeting to be a success.” She stood up, prompting some students to do the same as she stretched her back. “I think I’ll be taking off now, places to be and all that, but, please, by all means, feel free to stay here and mingle. I’ve booked this room for the entirety of the afternoon for you to enjoy.”
Twilight and the others stood and watched in silence as Hocus made for the door. The moment it shut behind her, everypony seemed to move at once, gravitating toward different centers and forming new groups, like shoals of fish. Before long, Twilight was one of the few to remain in place, standing by herself.
Well, I suppose I should give it a shot, thought Twilight, looking from group to group. I did promise Shining, after all. Taking a deep breath, she plastered on the best smile she could manage and walked up to a pair of fillies already in deep conversation. They looked a bit like miniature versions of the mannequins Twilight had seen whenever she went shopping with her parents, their muzzles in the air while still maintaining a stance of impeccable poise. A thin layer of rouge and paint colored both their cheeks and eyelids, respectively, with each having a silver pendant hanging around their neck and a plaid saddle in soft pastel loosely strapped to their backs.
"Can you believe Honey Dew said that?" one of them asked.
“I know!” the other replied. “You’d think she would have learned by now…”
“And did you see what she was wearing? Honestly, I’d rather—”
"Hi there!" Twilight chirped, prompting the two fillies to stop and turn towards her. "I'm Twilight," she introduced herself. Idiot! she immediately chastised herself, her already broad smile forcefully widening. They already knew that.
The pair looked at her for a moment, a measuring stare in their eyes. They seemed to study her with a mild to tenuous interest, like how one might look out the window on a particularly dull, rainy day. In tandem, they veered their heads back towards one another, still with the same, slightly bored expressions on their faces.
"Anyway," one said, "as I was saying..."
Instantly, Twilight’s attempt at a smile blew out, turning into a frown. She slowly walked away, her steps heavy. Perhaps if I tried to fit into a larger group? she mused, spying one such group standing in a circle. She wandered up to it and tried to edge her way in, but every time Twilight got close, somepony moved and blocked her passage. After a few more tries, during which—like some kind of collective consciousness—the circle seemed to tighten wherever she tried to get through, Twilight had had enough.
Fine! she wanted to shout as she made for the door. I know where I’m not wanted…
She left without another word or even a backwards glance. A sigh escaped her lips once she was out in the corridor, the thick, wooden door hushing the chatter from inside. She stood there for a moment, alone, thinking back on what had just happened, before she gave a loud snort.
No matter; I'm not here to make friends anyway, she thought, truthfully. Yet, something she couldn't, or wouldn't, quite put her hoof on still galled at her from the back of her neck. Rather than to analyze it further, she decided to head for her dorm before somepony else walked out the room, and she had to confront one of them again.
As it turned out, walking to the dorm was one thing, finding it another entirely. When not guided by the loud blather of a class of young foals, it proved easy to get lost in the castle's maze-like hallways. Finally, after about half an hour's worth of twists and turns, she finally found her and Trixie's room. She was just about to open the door and walk in when—
"Twilight! Twilight Sparkle!" a squeaky voice called from behind her, quickly followed by the ever increasing sound of running hooves.
Twilight turned around. “Sooty?” she asked, surprised to see the inky black and actually rather lanky colt rush up to stand before her, nearly doubling over, panting heavily with beads of sweat dripping down his face.
"Finally... I... found you..." he said in a raspy voice, trying hard to catch his breath.
Twilight scratched the back of her head. “Sooty,” she repeated, glancing briefly along the empty hallway, “what are you doing here?”
Drawing a single, deep wheeze, he said, "That filly—Trixie—told me to come get you..."
Twilight rolled her eyes. “Oh… her… Look, if she wants to put on another show, she can—”
"No!" Snooty said, shaking his head. "She said it was important—something about an emergency, and a dragon..."
“A dragon?” Twilight echoed, confused, before her eyes grew wide. She gasped.
Spike!
She forced open her dormitory’s door as though it were nothing, calling out, “Spike!”
The room was empty; nopony answered.
Twilight turned to Sooty and barked, “Where are they?”
He raised his hooves, as if to shield himself. “They’re back at the meeting room,” he croaked, “but—”
Whatever else he had to say went unsaid as Twilight immediately sprinted down the hallway.
"Hey, wait up!" she heard Sooty plead from behind her.
She didn’t, though. Her legs carried her as fast as they could back the way she came, avoiding any detours. They had already walked the path twice. They knew where they had to go.
As Twilight approached the meeting room’s large wooden doors, ajar once more, she heard the frightened shrieks of colts and fillies alike echo out from inside. Bursting through, she was greeted by a most bizarre scene.
At one end of the room stood Spike, an anxious and agitated look on his face, and at the other stood Blueblood with nearly the entirety of the class—either holding each other tightly or looking over each other’s shoulders—behind him. Between the two, all by her lonesome, stood Trixie, glaring daggers up towards the young lord.
“Why don’t you pick on somepony your own size?” she said with a growl.
Blueblood in turn had drawn himself up tightly. His mane was mussed and there was a stricken look about his eyes and lips, as though somepony had just made a less than flattering remark about his mother. “Why, that little… monster attacked me! You all saw it!” he wailed, pointing an accusatory hoof towards where Spike would be, was Trixie not in the way. The sleeve of his coat was visibly torn, the fine fabric reduced to tatters where his gemstone cufflink should have been.
Spike, meanwhile, had dipped his head low and shook uncontrollably, frightened like a pup in a thunderstorm, until he caught sight of Twilight standing by the doorway. He called out, “Garp!” as a relieved look washed over his face.
Everypony turned towards her immediately thereafter, Blueblood with fury in his eyes. "You!" he shouted, taking a few steps towards Twilight. "I've understood that you're the proprietor of this miscreant."
Twilight raised her head high. "That's right!" she said, defiantly.
"Well, not for long!" Blueblood tapped his hoof towards Twilight in an aggressive manner. "Once I've told my father about this, that little thing will be shipped off to a zoo somewhere the sun doesn't shine, you'll get kicked out of the Academy, and forget all about—Ahhhhh!" he shirked in a voice ten times his size.
From seemingly out of nowhere, Spike had vaulted through the air and latched onto the the colt’s other leg, his growls muffled by cloth.
The room nigh on exploded into chaos and confusion as Blueblood tried to leap away, panicked screams and sprinting hooves raging all around while he jumped, danced, and kicked in an attempt to shake off the small reptile that had taken hold of him. Nopony knew quite how to react. Some wailed, others barked curses, others yet shoved at one another to either get a better view or make a dash toward the door, nearly trampling one another. Eventually, Blueblood shook his leg violently enough to dislodge Spike, and he fell to his back with an audible thump against the solid stone floor.
“You little vermin!” Blueblood cried out, raising a single hoof to strike the little dragon in front of him.
Spike yelped, his eyes bulging in terror.
Time seemed to slow to a crawl as Twilight saw her dear Spike in peril, and a breath caught inside her throat. She tensed, a burning sensation coming up from within as a fiery essence spread out to every part of her body, all the way to the tips of her mane. She felt… imposing, leaner and taller, every shadow in the room growing long and daunting before her.
The warm touch of fire embraced her, and, before long, her entire being set itself ablaze. Her coat shone a brilliant, smoldering white, bright as the sun, and her eyes blazoned with the hue of red-hot iron.
“You leave him alone!” she roared, her voice seeming to reverberate off the walls like some eldritch demon from the depths of Tartarus.
Blueblood and the other students stood paralyzed for a moment, before they screamed as one collective being as loud as their little lungs could manage, galloping out the door. Only two ponies remained—Trixie and Sooty—clinging desperately to one another while shaking uncontrollably, staring in disbelief.
A moment passed, Twilight merely glaring powerfully at them… until she felt something press up against her leg. Her gaze fell there, eyes still ablaze and her face a dismal glower, to find Spike nuzzling her side.
He pressed his chin up against her smoldering coat, unaffected by the fire’s heat, with a cheerful smile on his face. Opening his tiny maw, he said, “Twi...wight...” each sound an unfamiliar, drawn-out effort on his part.
While the word was guttural, hailing from somewhere deep within his throat, it was clear enough to be unmistakable. Despite herself, Twilight could feel her rage and aggression subside as she let out a quiet gasp. All of a sudden, the flames about her body blew out like a candle in the wind. The power and magic she had summoned did not appear to do any lasting damage to her at all, other than a few singed strands of her mane and tail.
As if having suffered a blow, the world suddenly seemed spin around her. Twilight shook her head and rubbed her temples to try and find her hoofing. That’s when her eyes stumbled upon the little dragonling still standing by her side. “Spike!” she cried out, smiling, every maneuveral difficulty swiftly forgotten about. “You talked! You said my name!” Twilight lifted him up into the air, a few hooflengths before her face. “Could you do it again?” she asked, emphatically.
Spike beamed. “Twi-wight!” he said again, happy to comply.
Just as Twilight was about to let a laugh out, she spied some peculiar shape from out of the edge of her vision and her smile blew out.
As her gaze befell the two foals once more, she saw that they were no longer shaking. Still, they stared at Twilight with round eyes and their jaws unhinged. Only then did the fog permeating her mind lift, and Twilight began to comprehend what she had done, what exactly had just transpired.
“Trixie, Sooty,” she pleaded. “I am so sorr—”
“Twilight,” Trixie interrupted with a somber tone. “That… was… amazing!”
Twilight wasn't quite sure she'd heard right. "H-huh?" she stuttered. "You thought that was... amazing?"
Trixie nearly leapt off of Sooty and started to nod fervently. "That was one of the most impressive magic-stunts I've ever seen," she said. "Trixie herself couldn't have done it better!"
Even with the touch of swagger at the end, Twilight couldn’t help but smile at Trixie’s compliment. Her mirth was cut short, however, the moment she recalled why she was back in the meeting room in the first place. “Oh, yeah!” she blurted out, her eyes widening. “I’ve got to thank you, Trixie! For standing up for Spike, I mean. We really appreciate it.”
"Garp!" the little dragonling concurred.
Trixie chuckled behind a raised hoof, lifting her chin high into the air. “You’re both quite welcome,” she said. “Although Trixie certainly doesn’t need much motivation when it comes to sticking it to such pompous little brats. Really, did you hear all those condescending and ego-stroking things he said?”
Said the pot about the kettle, Twilight thought, resisting the urge to vocalize exactly that. She turned to Sooty, who’d only just then risen up and dusted himself down. “And I should thank you, too, Sooty!” Twilight said, giving the colt pause. “If you hadn’t have shown up when you did, I might not have made it in time.” And who knows what might have happened then…
He smiled awkwardly, glancing off to the side as he rubbed at the back of his neck. “Heh, don’t mention it,” he said, a light crimson showing through the dark coat around his cheeks. “Anypony would’ve done the same.”
"Yeah!" Trixie chipped in. "What else are friends for?"
Twilight jolted slightly, her eyebrows raised. "Sure," she finally said once the shock had worn off, a humored smile on her lips. "Friends..." To her own astonishment, she managed to say the word with almost no amount of sarcasm.
Her musings were interrupted by the unmistakable sound of a rumbling dragon-tummy.
"Garp!"
The small group of foals laughed as the somber atmosphere burst into a thousand bits.
"Yeah, I'm pretty starved too, Spike," Twilight said truthfully, the long sprint down the dorm and her little magic burst from before having taken a heavy toll on her blood sugar.
"I think I saw a cafeteria not far from here." Sooty tipped his head towards the doorway. "I could take you there if you'd like."
Trixie nodded earnestly, walking up to the two of them. "And we could talk magic-tricks on the way there!"
Twilight looked to each of them—Spike, Sooty, and Trixie—one at a time before she finally caved in and cracked a smile. "Sure, that sounds nice."
And so, the three foals and baby dragon left the room and its vapid ambience behind, together.
✶✶✶
For what felt like an indeterminably long time—anywhere between an hour and a lifetime—Prince Regal walked the labyrinthian halls that were Unicornia Castle. Despite his gaze being set down against the stone floor, its tiles repeating an endless pattern of squares and triangles, his hooves moved by themselves, slowly taking him to the usual meeting place. Eventually, though, he stopped short before one of the castle’s countless plain, wooden doors. He stepped through, neglecting to knock. He knew he was expected.
Regal shuddered slightly as he entered the room. It was sparsely furnished with little more than a table and a pair of chairs, each made of unvarnished mahogany. They stood before a wide, open window framed in wispy, crimson curtains. The twinkling of the stars and moon was the room’s only light.
By the table stood a single stallion, tall and light grey. His onyx mane was stricken with the grey of age and fluttered in the night breeze. “Greetings, my prince,” he said, his voice a raspy baritone. “How did your meeting with Her Highness go?”
Regal sighed, closing the door behind him. "I am afraid to say that it was a failure, Orphic." He muttered a silent curse beneath his breath, resisting his newfound urge to set something on fire. "I can't believe her," he sputtered. "It's like she refuses to listen to reason!"
Lord Orphic turned in response, his gaunt face coming into view. “A pity,” he said, calm as the mountain. “She is young, though I had hoped she would have found the wisdom to listen to sound advice.” He approached Regal, a smirk forming on his lips. “A good leader listens to his advisors.” He placed a hoof on Regal’s shoulder. “And you are wise beyond your years, my prince.”
Regal glanced aside, shaking his head. “Only because of what you have taught me, Orphic.”
The older stallion lifted his hoof, chuckling. "I don't think you are giving yourself enough recognition." A sly look on his face, he said, "You are intelligent, altruistic, and foresighted; somepony a stallion can look up to."
Regal raised his head, examining his mentor, a faint smile forming from the praise. “You think so?” he asked.
“I know so.” Orphic returned the affection for a moment before his expression suddenly turned sour. “Which, not to speak ill of those absent, I cannot say of your sister.” There was a cold sting to his words.
"What do you mean?" Regal asked, his brows furrowed.
“A true leader,” Orphic began, speaking solemnly—not just to Regal, but to some ethereal audience. “A true leader does exactly what is needed of him. A true leader does not endanger others due to trifling matters of morality.”
"Like the filly," said Regal.
Orphic smiled. "Yes," he replied. "Yes, exactly like the filly." Already, the castle had been buzzing with the rumor of this young magical prodigy that had moved into the castle. Orphic himself had heard only earlier that day and, even then, all too late. "Your sister knows she's dangerous, yet she lets her walk freely, endangering all those she's sworn to protect."
Regal found himself nodding along. A true leader, he thought.
When their father had died, Regal had been brushed aside, out of sight, as Gwyn took the mantle of monarch. For many lonely nights—lonely weeks which turned to lonely months—he watched his sister take part in the senseless dance of politics with the gentry and the populace, trying to instill her own brand of leadership, her own ethics, her own morality. She continued that dance to this very day.
Frustrated, he turned to glimpse his cutie mark—a three-arched crown. It was a respectable mark, one that signified his divine right to rule, made of gold and crusted with glistening jewels. But not platinum, he thought. Not like Sister’s.
Silently, he stalked past Orphic to the open window and gazed down towards the city below. Even from the heights of the castle, one could clearly see the candlelit homes of thousands, and a few dark silhouettes of the city’s inhabitants still moving about. A gust of chill night air flew in through the window, and Regal inhaled deeply.
"Orphic," he said, not diverting from the landscape. "If you see an injustice, don't you think mending it is the right thing to do?"
"My prince," Lord Orphic said, a light smile on his lips. "I think it is one's duty to do so."
At that, Regal breathed deep once more. His stance grew tense, his entire being braced for what he was about to say. Were I to make this choice, there would be no turning back, he thought, the very idea bringing a cold sweat to his brow. His tongue grew numb. The words died in his throat. He struggled for a time, before finally swallowing hard. “I’ll do it,” he suddenly spat out. Much to his own surprise, especially considering the mere utterance of the words aloud had his heart hammering within his chest, he somehow managed to keep his voice steady, yet he found that the words held a certain power. Simply voicing them had lifted a heavy burden from his shoulders. “I’ll do it!” he repeated, and then added, “For myself, and those below.”
Orphic’s expression remained inscrutable, and he said simply, “I know, my prince. It is in your nature.” He bowed his head slightly, a glimmer in his eye. “It would do me great honor to assist in your endeavor.”
Regal breathed out a silent sigh of relief. I knew I could count on him, he thought.
Orphic leaned closer and said, in a quiet whisper, "But we must be cunning. Do you remember what I've taught you?"
Regal nodded. "Patience."
"Exactly. We strike when we are ready, not a moment sooner."
Orphic slowly walked to the window until he stood next to Regal. "Don't you worry," he said with a smirk, looking over the landscape of Canterlot. "Our time will come."