Chapter 8 - The Opportunity
This couldn't get any worse.
It took Twilight all she had to keep herself from galloping out of Southern Earth with her fillies in tow. This three-odd group walked side by side, Cookie's cheerful steps a harsh contrast to the tension between the purple pony in disguise and Carrot. She kept her eyes on the ground. What is he thinking? Why isn't he alerting the guards? Maybe they're already waiting back at the Cakes? I should've have just asked Cookie were the infirmary was! No, in the first place, I should have fully disguised myself...
But the stallion kept his stern silence. He even kept his replies to his overactive niece short.
"So Twilight," Cookie said with a smile, "how'd you meet my uncle?"
We fought each other back at Trote.
"We, well..." Think, Twilight, think even harder than last night! "We met back outside the market. Just now..."
She stole a glance at Carrot, but no apparent emotions surfaced on his stoic face. He merely scoffed at her words.
The silence, and Cookie's one-sided enthusiasm carried on until they reached the entrance of the refugee zone. But before they could enter, Carrot stopped Twilight in her steps with a hoof. "Cookie, why don't you head along first and meet your cousin Ginger?"
"Uncle Carrot?" The filly tilted her head.
"It's nothing. Me and this... pony, just have something to talk about alone."
"Roger that!" Cookie saluted and rushed inside, leaving the two ponies behind. And here we go.
"...You should be grateful that I helped you and your family escape that one time," Twilight said cautiously, making sure nobody around was close enough to hear it. "I wasn't one of those unicorn who raided your village."
"I can definitely see that," he scoffed, glaring at the space where her horn was supposed to be.
"And also, I'm not going to involve myself on the inevitable quarrel between the races. I just want to find a place for my two fillies."
It took him a moment to process those words, but Carrot didn't budge. "Bring them to your unicorn fantasy land, then."
"It's a lot more complicated than that. But please believe me, we really don't mean any harm."
"It takes a lot more than words to believe a unicorn."
The ponies of this era are just too infuriating! Twilight's patience was running out. She had no idea what to do anymore. Well, it was admirable he hadn't ratted her out yet for some reason. Oh, she could use that. Nice thinking, Twilight.
"Then why aren't you alerting anypony of the 'unicorn presence' yet?"
The stallion frowned. "That's—"
"Uncle Carrot! Twilight!" Cookie called out, together with her cousin Ginger. They returned from the camp with smiles plastered on their faces. "Aunt Berry's calling for the both of you!"
"...We'll continue this."
Are we just going to leave it at that?
Twilight heavily sighed. She couldn't quite understand what went on inside the stallion's head. She didn't like it, not one bit; this uncertainty was dangerous, especially for Celeste and Selene. Twilight wasn't going to let anything harm those two, not even an entire city.
"...Okay. Got it." Twilight didn't argue, for now. Once she had a good plan A, and maybe even better plan, B to Z, well— they just had to wait.
---
The Refugee Zone was a place of both loss and warmth. Ponies who had lost their villages from the unicorn raids poured into this land, their once comfortable huts replaced with makeshift tents of thin cloths. The cold of the coming winter crept on their coats, and their feeble campfires did nothing to drive it away.
Still, their eyes held the warmth of their families. They might have left their homes and their crops, but at least they had each other. Families and friends shared what little they had left, and many little fillies and colts ran around the place making friends with each other.
Along the way, Cookie's cousin Ginger kept stealing glances at Twilight, eyes filled with expectation. Every time Twilight met his eyes, he'd shy away and discuss something with Cookie in a hushed voice. Okay then...
The group finally found the Cake's relatives' tent settled near a campfire pit with a small cauldron upon it.
“Sorry I took so long." The brown stallion gave her wife Berry, a light-red coated mare, the warmest hug he could ever give. "I found Cookie on my way back.”
"Who's that with you?" Her eyes shifted to the purple pony with them, making the most innocent smile.
"...Cookie's friend," Carrot replied, looking left to the cauldron so his wife wouldn't catch his eyes.
"So you're the pony our niece has been talking about! I'm Berry Cake," she said, giving Twilight's hood a hearty shake. "Welcome to our place. It's not much, but please make yourself comfortable."
She chuckled to herself and went back to the cauldron. Next to introduce himself was Ginger.
"Oh great and powerful Twilight," he said with bravado, bowing his head as low as possible while raising both hooves up as if he was receiving some ancient tome. Twilight winced, hearing those words.
"What are you doing?" she asked.
Cookie knocked her cousin out of the strange posture. "Silly, she won't give it to you like that."
Wait, give what? She better not be talking about the ruby.
"Is it true that you passed through the Gem Front?" Berry asked with awe as she served Twilight and the others a bowl of steaming soup. "You know, Cookie here has been telling us that you escaped from their dens."
Ginger's excitement rose up, while Carrot merely kept quiet.
"I got lucky, that's all," Twilight replied, pretending to be so taken about the soup. She regretted she told Cookie about that. A small, simple lie lead only to more lies. One day, she promised herself, I'll start telling the truth like Applejack. I didn't have to be the Element of Honesty to do that, right?
"Don't be so humble about it, dearie," Berry said as she patted her back. "Most ponies use a special kind of whistle to drive those hounds away."
"Are you talking about a dog whistle?"
"Like the one over there!" Ginger pointed a hood at the watchtower, rising high above the middle area. There was a long pipe that stuck out below the top platform of the structure. She noticed several towers just like it around Southern Earth, an ancient artifact she saw back at the Canterlot Museum.
"That's amazing," Twilight whispered, once again realizing the rare opportunity to observe this ancient world beyond history books and museum displays.
"Yes it is," Cookie added, "but it has never been used since gem hounds only stay at their underground homes. I don't know why the chancellor decided to build it anyways."
Chancellor, chancellor... Twilight called back her faint recollections of earth pony leaders of the ancient days. According to the book 'Earth Ponies Before Equestria, Volume One' she read, chancellors led each of the five great earth pony settlements. There was Chancellor Bittersweet of Central Earth, leader of all the chancellors. There was Chancellor Lake Frost of Northern Earth, Chancellor Sugarcoat of Eastern Earth and Chancellor Stone Coal of Western Earth. As for Southern Earth, they had…
“Chancellor Greyhooves! He’s here!” a refugee pony shouted out.
A charcoal-coated gray-maned stallion made his entrance in the camp, along with him where caravans filled with supplies for the refugees. He walked by ponies while asking each one of them how they were. The purple pony caught sight of him before the crowd pooled around the visiting chancellor. He brought a handful of food supplies, gathered from Southern Earth's winter reserves, for everypony who has been through the raids. Beside him was a rose-coated mare, probably his secretary.
The elite guards following the chancellor distributed the goods to the approaching refugees. Ponies came out of their tents to claim some of it, while the others only went to meet Greyhooves.
"I was just wondering, since all the refugees here are receiving food for free. Why would you go to market to buy anyways?" Twilight asked Carrot, her curiosity getting the better of her.
"Those are for the ponies with absolutely nothing: no food, no money, no clothes," the stallion explained. "Our family were one of the lucky groups that were able to bring some of our things with us. Others couldn't even bring their families with them. Although the unicorns were never fair with us, this winter was just too much. Instead of being satisfied, their greed overtook them. Looking down on us, just because we don't have magic."
"That's..." Twilight collected her thoughts. She was feeling the full brunt of what couldn't be expressed in a mere Hearth's Warming Eve play. "I don't know. But I know that one day, earth ponies, unicorns and pegasi will be united in harmony. I just know it."
"That will never happen," Carrot said with a frown, "not in a thousand years."
Among the crowd lining up for the relief goods, a familiar filly joined in with a curious look on her face, only to be called out by Cookie. "Pudding!? What are you doing here? Those food are for the refugees only!"
Pudding looked around until she locked sights with her rival. "My, false accusations! I'm not here to take any of them, okay? These are low-grade stuff anyways, nothing we'd use on a Sweets recipe. But the off-chance that a rare ingredient from the winter reserves got mixed up, well..."
"What in the hay are you even talking about?" She looked at Pudding's strange ragged attire, trying to discerns whether she wore to look poor or sophisticated. "And what are you even wearing?"
"You mean this old thing?" The little filly showed off her clothing design. "I rummaged this from the trash, and thought about making it more appealing. Like it?"
Cookie slapped a hoof on her face.
"Hello there, miss." Pudding shifted her sights to Twilight, watching the strange conversation between the two. "I just wanted to say that the gem you gave me has inspired me to victory!"
"Y—You're quite welcome," Twilight replied, earning a glare from Cookie.
"Wait a bit," Ginger cut in, "you had an extra shiny but never gave it to me?"
Pudding gave a cute chuckle. "I see you're hanging out with them. Don't worry, you're still welcome if you plan on visiting our place."
"Keep dreaming, Pudding. Twilight here is staying with us and she's going to help us win for sure," Cookie said, sticking a tongue out to her rival.
Twilight had somehow got herself involved in another quarrel. But this time, she finally learned that giving gems away like stones on the ground only worsened the situation, and rarely helped them. Carrot, watching the whole thing, raised an eyebrow at Twilight; a unicorn (although disguised) got to stay at his brother's house.
"I doubt that." Pudding bid farewell to everyone with style, thinking that those few rare ingredients weren't worth the trouble of dealing with Cookie. "Until next time, smart Cookie."
Silence befell the Cake family after that weird departure.
"Wow, I also had a rivalry like that when I was a kid. I wonder where he is now." Berry turned her head to her husband with a smile.
"Yeah, you won over me every time on harvest day," he said with a rare chuckle.
"I swear I'm going to beat her in this competition. With your help, Twilight, I'm sure we can make this happen." Cookie grabbed the purple pony. "...You're not going to visit them, are you?"
"Of course not," Twilight replied. It was not a lie, for once. Twilight would have visited the Sweets for their help, if not for the fact that Carrot still held her weakness and was the greatest threat against her and her fillies.
"Mind if I talk to your friend for a bit?" The brown stallion asked Cookie, who nodded and went over to her cousin Ginger to discuss their battle plans against the Sweets.
Speaking of which. It was time for Twilight to prove her mettle.
"I want you out by dawn tomorrow," Carrot cut straight to the point.
Neither of them made any eye contact. They both looked over the bustling crowds of earth pony refugees claiming relief goods from the chancellor. From the outside, they simply looked like two ponies discussing the sad state of affairs the world has found itself — but that couldn't be further away from the truth.
Twilight furrowed her eyebrows. That's not possible. Maybe I could survive the coming winter with my magic, but Celeste and Selene won't. Although she hasn't experienced a pre-equestrian winter personally, it was probably harsh enough to justify the unicorns raiding all these earth pony villages. If she wanted a safe place for both her and the two fillies to pass the winter, then Southern Earth was their safest bet.
And to do that, she had to convince Carrot somehow. "Well, you see—"
"That is," the brown stallion continued, "something I would say to any other disguised purple unicorn if I found one. If only to repay back a debt for her allowing our family to escape."
Wait, what?
"Um..."
He turned his sights towards his niece, happily explaining her plans to Ginger, many of which involved Twilight. "Cookie is, to simply put it, a smart cookie. She's the pride of my brother, and her intuition's the sharpest among all of us. And somehow, that Cookie accepted your friendship. I don't know what she sees in you, at least she believes it's genuine. My niece is smart enough not to be friends with ponies with bad intentions."
Many emotions swirled withing Twilight's heart: happiness, guilt, but most of all, thankfulness. In the end, friendship truly was magic. Her emotions bubbled out, and she could only choke out a few words. "I—... thank you."
"Don't misunderstand. I'm not trusting you, I'm trusting Cookie. That's all. I'll won't say anything for now, and I'll allow you to stay until winter dies down. But after that, you better leave this place, friend or not."
"Yes, of course!"
Finally, Twilight and her two fillies didn't have to worry about winter.
---
Twilight helped with packing all the family's luggage in their cart, doing her best not to instinctively use magic to carry stuff around. It was winter wrap up in Ponyville all over again. But thanks to her organization skills, it took them half the time and there were even some spaces left to spare.
"Wow, Twilight, that was amazing!" Cookie praised, eyes sparkling the whole time. "Victory is ours, for sure!"
Twilight blushed at the honest complement. In an attempt to change the topic, she asked, "So they're staying at your house?"
"That's right. I already told my aunt that we have enough room for everyone to stay. And most importantly, together, our chance of winning the contest is increased!" She raised a hoof up in confidence.
Going for the exit, they passed through the ponies mobbing the caravans and the noise of the guards shouting that everyone should get in line, when Twilight bumped into the secretary. She wore a hat like Applejack's, and had a cutie mark with a symbol of a feathered ink. The secretary took a moment to stare at the purple pony's tattered cloak.
"You know, caravan's that way," she said, pointing the way where to claim their rations.
"Actually, you got it wrong. Twilight here is staying with us, the Cakes," Cookie replied for her.
"Twilight, you say?" Curiosity filled the secretary's eyes, scrutinizing the purple pony's appearance. "That's an unusual name for an earth pony, don't you think?"
"Want to hear something more surprising?" Oh no, it was Cookie and her signature smirk! "Twilight here, you know, escaped from the Gem Front!"
A zipper spell would've shut this filly up, Twilight thought. Luckily, the mare didn't believe her story, judging by the looks on her face.
"Oh really? Never though some pony would get out alive from that place," she said. "Where are you from?"
Twilight hesitated for a moment, but in the end answered, "From Trote."
"You don't look like a farm pony."
"...Why, do ponies here get judged by their names and appearances?" Twilight asked almost defensively.
"Nah, just curious." She tipped her hat at her and smiled. "Name's Ruby Quill."
Was Twilight going to continue the conversation? Yes she was. "So you're the chancellor's secretary?"
"Secretary? Nah, more like his walking schedule, personal voice-of-reason, morning head-whacker, and — most importantly of all — friend. Well, sometimes I tend to catalog every information on things outside and inside the walls."
That sure sounds like the job of a secretary, Twilight thought with a wry smile.
"Also, I'm in charge of the upcoming winter stock event, which is tomorrow. You should come, everypony's welcome."
Cookie dramatically coughed. "You're looking at one of the participants right here, missy. The great Cookie Cake will surely get the family business on top! With the help of our secret weapon, too!"
"Well then, I hope you're having fun, being part of the event and all. If you've got further question, look me up at the town hall near the market." Ruby, noticing the time she spent talking with these ponies, said her farewells. "Now if you'll excuse me, I got to notify Greyhooves about some other important matters."
She departed without much further ado.
Twilight had now a new optional objective; aside from going back, she could also visit the town hall. It was time to leave this refugee zone. Looking up at the dusk sky above her, she calculated that she still had some time to explore this historical place a bit more. Although she was worried about both Celeste and Selene, they probably wouldn't mind waiting for her a bit more. A few more hours of exploring won't lead to something terrible, whispered her curiosity.
"...You know what, you head on to the house first. I actually have one more thing to do," Twilight said to Cookie.
"And where do you think you're going?" The filly obviously rejected.
"The town hall. Don't worry, it's at the center so I won't get lost that easily."
Cookie trotted near her. "Maybe I should come with you?"
"You think I'm going to the sweets?" Twilight guessed and, if Cookie's expression had to say anything, she was right. "I won't, trust me. I need you to watch Celestia and Luna for me— something tells me they might be ruining the cake decoration as we speak."
"Huh, you're right." Cookie pondered the situation with a hoof on her chin. "I better go check on them to see if they followed all the instructions on the list."
They all finally left her, Carrot only giving her a fleeting glance before following the rest of the family. Now Twilight had the freedom to check the town hall. She had to take the opportunity.
I came, I published, I lazed.
And by Celestia's words, I will upload more frequently. Otherwise, I'll be sleeping at the moon. 
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I love it
Yay! We got an update!
!
Was worth the wait
It's ALIVE!!! Yay this has become a good day
Hol up wasnt this cancelled or something.
I'll add it back to my favourites. this time.
Keep me waiting a few years and you wont be so lucky bub
UPDATE YEAh!
Now I see why Puddinghead need Smart Cookie at her side.
IT LIVES!!!
New chapter yay. Something is going to go wrong, I just know it...
Let's hope you don't end up on the moon
I forgot is twilight an alicorn or just an unicorn,
YOU'RE ALIIIIIIIIIIVE!!!
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!
9755987
I agree, its been so long. I would think she is still a unicorn?
YEs Its Alive!!!
I want more History, Old Stuff and silly ponies. But... We need more Updates! Not 10 years in the making
9756214
"hmmmm why does my student remind me so much of mine and luna mother??"
[alicorn twilight] "that simples my little sun it cause we one in the same."
"wait what but how??"
"I went back in time, raise you became an alicorn, you remember that right, then when I left you and luna to rule I went on the first vacation I ever had for the last 2000 years"
"I see.... wait sec were all those time you punish me just to get back at what I did to you when you were a filly"
"maybe"
no it go like this
YOOOO this idea is my jam yo
*grabs popcorn*
Wellity wellity well then. A very welcome surprise, and a wonderful chapter.
9756214
Or maybe something like this...
You know, my faithful student. Your Cutie Mark is so rare that I've only seen one another in my life time.
Really, Princess?
Yes, she was my mother and, coincidentally, she was also named Twilight.
Oh, yes, I remember how horrible your grass soup was.
It was just one time! My cooking has been improved since then... wait, what?
Am I dreaming?
*tries to stick finger through palm*
It's real! One of the most interesting stories I'm tracking finally updated!
I hope this continues.
hey bit of a continuity error on your part twi asks cookie to look after selene an celestine instead of celestia and luna, as i dont belive twi has told anyone there true names yet
Wow 9 months! Yeesh I completely forgot about this fic.
9756936
Fixed.
Wasn't expecting this update, but can't say I'm disappointed either, hope to see more soon.
9756194
Unicorn
Yyyyeeesssssss. It continues! Thanks!
9757890
But seems to follow canon. Which means that the sisters should be alicorns. And the wording for Flurry is so messed up I dismiss it.
9757955
its a show, not court your suppose to take the wording of characters at face values not dig a hidden meaning behind them.
if it's normal for alicorns to be born then I would love to know what happened to the alicorn population.
don't think that I hate the idea alicorn by birth I've read your story Little Star at least 6 times now, but the idea is not canon. just because Faust said something does not make it canon unless it happens in the show
9758194
She set up the word and back story and she was clear on the sisters being born alicorns.
As to what happened. I go with Discord killing them.
Gee, man, you returned from the moon or what? I had to reread all book to understand what's going on. It was just too long ago...
So, yeah, Twilight and Co will watch you. And have the elements ready again.
As much as I'm surprised this is updated, I'm more surprised at myself for showing up and reading stuff on this site. I don't even remember how many years it's been since I watched this cartoon.
Well, I just wanted to let the author know, we are still reading just like he is still writing.
Have a nice day.
still worth my time!
I saw I read I loved
Did Cookie just change from female to male?
9850851
Fixed.
These chapters go by way too fast. Love them.