Twilight and Aegis Flare's return to Ponyville was a return to normality for them after the long weeks in the unpredictable Everfree Forest. Yet with that return brought the lavender unicorn time to think back on all that had happened, especially the worst parts. Spike was being run ragged trying to deal with the outbursts from her nightmares, and Aegis Flare could only help delay things by taking her friend's mind off of what happened with a few projects.
The rest of their friends also tried to assist but none of them knew the horrors that they went through and neither was going to enlighten them on it either. They did help Twilight a little by distracting her as well but more often than not it just lead to her getting more irritated. At Aegis Flare's request they backed off a bit on trying to cheer the librarian up, but she only did so as she had gotten word from her aunt that a special visitor was planning on showing up on the coming holiday that could possibly help.
After the last year's event, Aegis Flare actually decided to put in some effort into her costume instead of just pulling something out of the closet. She used it as another way to distract Twilight from her memories as she got her to help with the enchanting she needed. While her idea was simple, the process in getting it to work was rather complicated so it took a lot of Twilight's extra time and left her little to think about what happened.
“Hey, wake up Scootaloo. Didn't you want to get up early so you could meet up with your friends for some kind of meeting?” The orange filly groaned as as stretched and rolled over to see her sister staring at her.
“Sis, what are you doing and my bed? And there's still a few more hours until we are supposed to meet so can't I just sleep a little longer? Why are you in my bed... any... ways...” Scootaloo's eyes widened in horror as she pulled back the blanket covering her sister to reveal only her head laying right next to her. It took a few moments for her mind to catch up with what she was seeing before she screamed and threw herself away from her sister, falling off the bed in the process.
Aegis Flare started laughing at her sister's reaction before she moved to look down at her over the edge. “What's wrong, sis? You look like you've seen a ghost. Well since you're up I'm going to 'head' on over and meet up with Pinkie and the others for an early party.”
Scootaloo bristled at her sister as she laughed at her. “What is wrong with you, sis!? That joke was just terrible and what's with scaring me before I'm even awake!?” Her sister didn't respond as she continued chuckling while leaving the house leaving Scootaloo to grumble after her and get ready for the day.
While she was walking through town Aegis Flare was getting all sorts of strange and panicked looks at her walking around as just a head. She avoided Fluttershy, but she was able to scare the others with her outfit though Twilight had some words for her when they gathered as night started to fall. “Ugh, really?! I thought you were going to use that collar you were asking me for to hide your head, not the other way around! I have enough nightmares as it is.”
The orange mare paused before looking a bit sheepish. “Sorry about that. I may have lost my head a bit when I finally could put this idea into use.”
“Looks more like an out of body experience than you losing your head. Still, not bad for a prank by an amateur.” There were a couple groans at Rainbow Dash's joke though it wasn't the worst they had heard. Twilight wasn't sure which of the two to glare at before she shook her head with a sigh.
“Let's just get going. I heard that Zecora was going to be helping out tonight with a little show for the foals. It should be interesting to see what she comes up with since she has seen so much.” Aegis Flare watched as Twilight rushes off towards the town square. The purple mare was really looking strained as she tried to take her mind off of what she went through and She just hoped that whatever her aunt had mentioned would help.
Watching the little show that Zecora put on as they followed her to the statue of Nightmare Moon, the orange mare had to admit that she really knew what she was doing. She had to wonder what would happen if the zebra joined up with Trixie for a performance sometime with how skilled they both were at their own brands of theatrics. She got a small chuckle at seeing Scootaloo's reaction to this especially with her being dressed as a ferocious wolf.
When the clouds started to swirl around and a chariot pulled by a pair of thestrals appeared many of the gathered ponies started to panic. Twilight and Aegis Flare, being the more sensible ones of the group, just looked at each other with raised eyebrows before taking off in the direction it was headed. As they arrive they watch as a figure jumps from the carriage as it passes by and soon reveals itself to be Princess Luna.
On seeing the princess, Aegis Flare realized that she must be what her aunt was talking about which made a lot of sense when she thought about it. The princess, being centuries out of date, was probably the best being to help with Twilight's nightmares since she acted as the guardian of dreams as well as having a fresher memory of the crueler times of Equestria. Her thought's were soon cut off as Princess Luna began speaking in the Royal Canterlot Voice which slammed into her unprotected ears relentlessly. While the voice was enough to shock the surrounding ponies, it was much worse for a thestral's hearing considering how much more sensitive it was.
The mare wasn't sure how long she was on the ground clutching at her ears but she was soon aware of a hoof shaking at her shoulder. Prying one of her eyes open she found both Twilight and Princess Luna looking down at her with worry written over their faces. She could see Twilight's mouth moving but all she could hear was the sound of ringing. Princess Luna looked especially worried when she saw the unicorn's red mane turn slightly redder as blood dripped out of them.
“What happened to her? She looks like she is in pain, but I don't understand; nopony else is in any agony. And where is the rest of her?” Twilight looks up at the princess with a raised eyebrow before going back to treating her friend. Lighting up her horn she scans over her friend before letting out a gasp of panic.
“Her eardrums have been completely destroyed! She always said that her ears were like a thestrals and therefor extremely sensitive but I didn't know they were this sensitive!” Luna's eyes widened at this before they darted to take in the appearance of the orange mare's ears.
The princess' other question was answered when Twilight tried to reach down to her friend's ear just to be blocked by something forcing her to remove her collar, dispelling the invisibility effect on her body and revealing her hooves clutching at her head. Examining her ear more closely the purple mare's eyes widen as she realizes an important detail. “I don't know how to fix this. A normal pony's ears would be hard enough but I don't know what makes a thestrals different.”
Feeling a hoof on her shoulder she looks up to find that princess Luna had stepped up next to her. “Twilight Sparkle, let us deal with this. It was our fault that this happened so it shall be us that fixes it.”
Leaning her head down the alicorn brought her horn near the fallen mare's ear before it lights up with a gentle blue glow. Slowly the insides of the injured mare's ear began to knit themselves together though the effect wasn't obvious from the outside. Twilight watched as her friends breathing slowly changed from the pained whimpering that it was at first to groans, until finally she went quiet while breathing deeply.
With a groan Aegis Flare brings her hooves down in front of herself again before slowly shaking her head. With the last of her tears being cleared from her eyes she looks up to see the princess offering her a hoof to help her stand. “We must apologize for injuring you like that. We did not know of your half-thestral nature and we would never have used the traditional Royal Canterlot voice had we known. Our sister failed to inform us that our favored tribe had mixed over the years with the rest of Equestria and we would never risk their ears using the voice without ensuring that they were properly protected.”
Taking the offered hoof Aegis Flare slowly rises to a standing position before trying to get her balance as a surge of weakness flows through her. “I wonder why you would even use it in a normal situation anyways, Princess Luna. I've never felt anything so painful before and it can't be much better for those with less sensitive ears. Non-traditional thestrals aren't very common, especially with how they are treated by many thestrals, but there are some around, though I don't think there are any others in Ponyville with the sensitive ears other than Fluttershy.”
Luna blinks at the calm attitude of the mare that was once writhing on the ground in pain before what was said registered for her. “Not one, but two of our saviors are half-thestrals yet our sister said nothing? She knows how we feel about our children of the night. Yet you mentioned something about odd treatment, what do you mean?”
Aegis Flare spent the next few minutes telling the princess everything that she had seen or heard on how half-breed thestrals were treated, much of it by other thestrals. The night princess frown grew as she heard how foals were abandoned or even worse just for being born the wrong tribe or even the wrong colors. As she got into the story of her own past Luna looked almost to be crying before she interrupted her tirade in a soft tone of voice instead her boisterous style. “Please stop, I can't take any more. How could my children be so... So callous? So cruel? What happened to them over the last thousand years?”
Looking towards a nearby shadow, Princess Luna stood to her full height once again though she was shaking slightly. “Lieutenant!” Out of the shadows stepped one of her thestral guards which came up to her before saluting. Glancing down at the thestral mare she turned in the direction the foals of Ponyville ran off towards. “We are going to have a long talk when we return to Canterlot, but until then you are dismissed to take care of personal matters. You will know when we require you until we return so until then your time is your own.”
The two unicorns watched as the princess walked away before turning back to look at the thestral that had just finished removing her helmet to reveal her dark pink mane that somehow went with her dark gray coat. Before they could say anything the thestral shook her head before her eyes locked onto Aegis Flare and she gave a piercing shriek and pounced her. “EEEEE! Oh look at how much you've grown since I last saw you! It's been too long since I have my nieces.”
“Grk! H-hello Auntie Noapte.” Twilight was about to help her friend but paused when she heard just who the mysterious thestral was. Looking a bit unsure if she wanted to get caught up in the exuberant reunion of family members she takes a step back to observe for a moment before making her decision.
“Now, now. I told you before to call me Auntie Nightie. Thestrali might as well be a dead language with how few know it outside of the old country and it's much easier to just use the common standard. Now where is my other little niece, she was so precious back when she was born and I can't wait to see how she has grown. Also who is your friend her- Huh? Where did she go?” Looking around the mare noticed that the purple unicorn that was once standing nearby had vanished leaving the two family members alone.
At the time the orange mare was starting to turn blue from the death grip that her aunt had put around her throat. Her aunt only finally noticed after a minute of her rapidly tapping on her leg to get her to let go and look at her sheepishly. Catching her breath, Aegis Flare looked in the direction Twilight was a moment ago just to see her retreating form heading the same way Princess Luna went. “Really Twilight? You're just going to abandon me to family like that for that little joke earlier?”
Night Wing, which was how the thestral's name translated, raised an eyebrow before looking after the retreating purple flank. “Huh, so that's one of the other Elements of Harmony? Princess Luna wanted to talk to her about Nightmares or something. The Solar Guard talked about her but I thought she would be wearing glasses from what they said. Still kinda cute though.”
With a groan the orange unicorn is reminded of her aunt's flirtatious nature as the one time she met her before she always seemed to be hitting on her mother much to her bemusement and her father's amusement. As much as her aunt complained about many of the things of the thestral country, though only privately through her letters, she still kept up the flirty nature that many of the race's nobles. “Ugh, really? You're going to do this to me now about my friends? Nothing like that is going on with us and I doubt it will no matter how cute they are. If something did we'd probably drive each other crazy and that's assuming I even have the time to even think of something like that.”
“So you think they're cute, huh?” Aegis Flare brought a hoof up to her face at her aunt's comment with a groan. “Besides there are few enough good stallions out there as it is so gathering the mares together first just makes sense. Besides, with one of the top former models you'd have stallions lining up to join. You really need to introduce me to those six sometime.”
Aegis Flare was glad no other ponies were around right now to here her aunt's comments, but they were bound to return to the area soon with the princess no longer there scaring them away. “Can we take this somewhere a bit more private? I did hear you say you had some personal business to take care of and I doubt you want that spread about.”
The thestral mare agreed and followed her niece back to her house. On entry the elder of the two looked around at the changes since she was last there and was a little impressed at what she saw, releasing a whistle. “Wow, where did the museum come from? I don't remember any of this stuff last time I was here.”
Looking up from the tea she was rapidly heating up in her magic, Aegis Flare saw her aunt looking over a display of various artifacts she picked up from ruins inside the Everfree. “It's only a small collection of things I've picked up in the Everfree. It's not like I have time for any other hobbies while taking care of myself and Scootaloo.”
Night Wing just smirked before shaking her head slightly and turning towards her niece to accept a cup of tea. “That's not what I heard about you the last year or so. Somepony has been taking longer and longer breaks from going out into the Everfree, much to the relief of her escorts. Out of you seven your guards have had more injuries and close calls than the others combined, though at least they aren't as traumatized as the ones assigned to the Bearer of Laughter.”
She had to roll her eyes at the mention of the guards as the orange mare wasn't impressed by them most of the time. “I highly doubt those so-called soldiers would even have been any help if anything did happen that one of us couldn't handle. They sure didn't do anything when a problem did happen. I will say that whoever you have following me in the Everfree recently is at least decently skilled now. I haven't had to pull a guard out of there in months.”
Her aunt rolled her eyes before getting a bit more serious. “Don't remind me. I've been having to help retrain the Solar Guard and it has been a mess. All the whining, and complaining, and slacking off; it's a wonder there hasn't been a major attack yet. They've had to start sending in high rank officers just to keep up with you seven and they still have trouble. The Night Guard would have taken over, but we're too busy training them and getting reestablished in Equestria still.”
Downing the rest of her tea, Aegis Flare sighs. “Good luck with that. I'm pretty sure a large number of the problem ponies are related to some noble or other. Between the Canterlot group and the ones and Transylmaneia I'm not sure which is worse. Anyways didn't you say you were here for something? Should you really waste time when the princess could call you back at any time?”
As if a switch was flipped, Night Wing went back into her flirtatious mode once more as she bounded over and tossed a limb around the back of her niece. “Oh but I'm just where I planned to be. It's been so long since I last saw you and little Scootaloo that I had to come check on you. I never agreed with what the rest of the family did and I promised my brother that I would keep an eye on you if something happened. I haven't done such a good job and I have a lot to catch up on. I have to make sure that my niece's friends are worthy of her you know.”
With another groan the orange unicorn tried to massage away the headache that was starting to form. “You know there is one major flaw in your little fantasy that you don't seem to realize. You know that former model you mentioned, Fluttershy? She happens to be my cousin and your niece.”
The thestral froze in place when she heard this as she stared off into nothing. The unicorn started backing away slowly as her aunt began to vibrate in place as she brought her hooves up to her ears, guessing at what was coming next. “EEEEEEE! I have another niece!? Who's her mother!? Who's her father!? Who!? WHO!?”
Smirking at being able to catch her aunt off-guard the unicorn just shakes her head sadly. “I'm not sure about her mother yet, but her father is uncle Douchebag so you can guess how that ended up since you've probably seen a picture of her.”
Night Wing's ears droop sadly as she looks rather pouty. “Aww, him? I feel sorry for the mare that had to deal with him. The rest of the family would be just as bad too.” She perks up as she gets an idea that has her bouncing in place again. “That just leaves it to me to show her that not all of the family are complete jerks. If I'm lucky I can catch little Scootaloo on the way as well.”
With that she took off out the door leaving her niece shaking her head after her. Moments later her head appeared through the door once again before it closed while giving the younger mare a sad look. “I almost forgot to tell you, there was another reason I came out here. A message came in recently but the method used to send it didn't make it through clearly. All that could be identified was the code used in sending it. It was an old code once used by the Black Guard.
Once again the thestral took off out of sight leaving the unicorn alone once again. After processing the news she staggered over to a nearby picture frame and placed her hoof next to hit as she gazed at the photo of her parents.