Baby Sitting

by storm the castle

In Need of Chaos

Chapter 4

Celestia and Luna were chomping away happily at the salads the chef had prepared for them at Twilights request, and Twilight herself was enjoying the quiet. Proper Intro had been absolutely right, and the girls had not even known it themselves, at least not until the food had been placed before them. When they had seen the food, they both seemed to realize they were starving, and dug in with enough gusto that Twilight and the chef took a few steps back to avoid being chewed on themselves.

Her five friends had all arrived a few minutes after Twilight and the girls. After confirming that neither party had come up with a solution, they all dejectedly sat down to join the alicorn children in their meal. The chef brought them all salads, and a cupcake each. They spent a short time filling each other in on what had transpired in their separate groups, and while her friends’ time was understandably boring, they all managed to get a kick out of Twilights time with the fillies. Rarity in particular seemed to enjoy the part about Blueblood, calling on some obscure memory from the Grand Galloping Gala a couple years previous, and Rainbow was obviously tickled that her flight lessons had proved useful to Twilight in an unexpected manner.

“So, sugar-cube, what now?” asked Applejack. “Doesn’t sound like any of us got anywhere fast, an’ ah don’t hear any ideas that might change that soon.” They all nodded assent.

“Hey, what do you mean?” shouted Rainbow Dash indignantly. “I told you, give a bunch of us pegasi some oxygen tanks, and we can just push ‘em both away from each other. Easy.” She was nodding to herself, expecting the praise sure to come, only to receive groans in response. “What?” she was obviously a bit hurt. “I think it’s a real solid idea.”

While her friends attempted to keep up her mood, while still impressing on her the importance of ‘sun hot,’ the newly appointed Captain of the Guard, Captain Stalwart, opened the door. “Princess,” he called across the room to Twilight “Your orders have been passed throughout the royal and standing guard.” He stopped at the sight of the filly’s across the room “Is- is that them?” he asked hesitantly. “Wh-what happened?”

“It’s a long story.” Twilight responded as she approached him “Has anything changed outside?” he shook his head “I didn’t think it would, but it pays to be optimistic in times like these.” She recalled with painful clarity the Want-it Need-it spell a few years earlier. That fiasco could have easily been avoided with some even thinking, and maybe some even breathing too. “You wouldn’t have any suggestions that might help the situation, would you? We’re all tapped out here.”

“Well, princess, I wouldn’t think I could think of anything you haven’t, but what about asking them to give it a try?” he gestured to the fillies “Their still the regents of the sun and moon right?” they were all shaking their heads, however. The idea had been the first discussed, and would have been viable, had they not receded so far that even their cutie marks disappeared. While the irony of a couple of millennia old blank-flanks was not lost on Pinkie or Rainbow Dash, it still left them with a serious gap of ability. “But they still had to do it the first time right? Otherwise they never would have gotten their cutie marks in the first place.”

“That is true captain, but they don’t seem to have any magic at all.” Twilight told him “I’d like to reserve that for the last option available to us.” He nodded and sighed.

“I’ll start organizing the remaining guard. I will be in the courtyard if you need me, Princess.” And on that note he turned and left the room. Only a few moments later, however, the quiet was broken.

“I don’t know what you all are so worried about.” They all looked at Celestia, who had momentarily separated herself from her meal. “He does this a lot. Just give him time to get bored with it, and he’ll fix it in time. He always does.” She went back to her salad.

“Darling,” Rarity approached her “whomever do you mean?”

“Discord!” said Luna, as if it should have been obvious from the start. “Who else could have done that? He’s always pulling mean pranks like this.” Then she too returned to her meal alongside her sister, leaving them all dumbstruck.

“CAPTAIN!!”

*****************************************************************

The Royal guard was now combing the country side for the former god of chaos, Discord, while Twilight beat her head against the preverbal wall. “How could I have forgotten about Discord?!” she yelled at herself. “He held Equestria for over a thousand years. He did it before they ever did! He did it repeatedly over a period of a few minutes, JUST TO PROVE A POINT!” And while her friends tried to console her, they were little help. She was thoroughly convinced she was the worst princess ever.

What could only have been salt on the wound, princess cadence had contacted them merely an hour later, asking if there was anything she herself could do. Twilight hadn’t even considered her help. She wasn’t nearly as old as the sisters, but there would have been a fairly good chance that she might have been taught how to move the heavenly bodies for the sake of emergencies, such as, hypothetically, a spontaneous solar eclipse. At least the two tiny alicorns had opted for a nap after their meal; Twilight wasn’t sure she could handle their antics as well as her own stress.

“Twi, darlin’, none of us thought of ‘im either.” Applejack was doing her best to ease Twilight’s pain. “For Celestia’s sake, he was one of our worst enemies not seven months ago. None of us can be blamed for not figurin’ on it right quick.” She smiled and placed a hoof around her friends shoulders, but it was quickly shrugged off.

“But I’m a princess of Equestria now! I would have been expected to think of it hours ago! Not wait for a chance comment to solve all our problems!”

“Darling,” interjected Rarity. “You’ve only been princess for three months now, no one could have expected you to think of it so quick. And besides,” she pointed out “there isn’t any guarantee he’ll help. Even after he was reformed, he hasn’t been very, shall we say, cooperative.” She had a point. Since his release, a number of severe, though inherently harmless, acts of chaos had occurred within the Equestrian borders. While they all seemed to counter some other problem, which if left alone would have become a far greater issue, they really only qualified as ‘being good’ in the loosest sense of the term.

“Don’t worry, girls.” Said Fluttershy assuringly, “I think I can get him to understand just how important this is. He really has been trying to do his best.” Her undue confidence in the draconequis was actually somewhat endearing to Twilight, if grossly misplaced in the others minds. “I think the only real problem will be making sure the girls don’t get a look at him.”

Twilight nodded. That was probably a good idea, considering they still thought it was his rule that was responsible for their current predicament. “The best we can hope for is that they stay asleep, at least until he arrives.” And, just on cue, Luna walked in, groggy but smiling, holding the small blanket Rarity had made her, which was complete with a copy of her cutie mark (or at least what it would have been, had she not reverse-aged till it disappeared.) Forget you, murphy, forget you and your stupid law.

“Hello, Auntie Twilight. How are you?” she asked. “Did mean old Discord fix the eclipse yet?”

“No, Luna he didn’t. But we’re in the middle of asking him if he’ll fix it soon.” Responded Fluttershy. “He’s been a lot nicer lately, so I think he’ll be willing.” Despite her kind assurances, Luna face showed she still thought the idea was bogus. Fluttershy decided to switch the subject. “Dear, where’s your sister? Shouldn’t she be with you?”

“No, miss Fluttershy. Tia wanted to play with some of the guards, so she followed one outside, trying to play ninja. It sounded really boring to me though.” She smiled happily, while all Twilight heard was “my tiny sister is out surrounded by innumerable sharp objects.”

“Pinkie, Fluttershy, can you stay with her?” she asked hurriedly, and they nodded their quick assent, Pinkie adoring the idea of being with the adorable filly some more. “Can the rest of you try and help me track her down?” They all agreed, and ran out the door without further delay.

Twilight took the main corridor, since she could ask the numerous guards if they had seen the mischievous filly. In only a matter of minutes, she came across a guard who had seen her following a young private out to the training grounds in the eastern end of the castle. Flying quickly but surely out the door. However, before she could get through the door, she ran into what appeared to be a multicolored flying brick.

“Hey, twinkle feathers, watch where- Twilight?” asked Rainbow Dash “I thought you were in the middle hallway.”

“I was- ugh, my head.” Twilight recovered slowly. “I was, but a guard saw her come to the training grounds this way. What about you? You were supposed to be heading back to the throne room and the doctor’s office.”

“Well, duh. I already did it, so I decided to head over here.” She puffed up proudly “I am a future Wonderbolt, so a quick dash around the castle isn’t such a big deal for me.” She tossed something Twilight’s way, and she only barely caught it with her magic. “I even picked up your crown while I was there.” And indeed the Element of Magic Tiara levitated before her. A quick puff of magic cleared the dried spit off of it, and Twilight replaced it upon her head, once again wearing her complete royal regalia. Rainbow began to hover above Twilight, preparing to push the door. “Let’s go see if we can’t find the kid, eh?” and she opened the door.

On the plus side, they managed to locate Celestia immediately, since a large group of the guards was gathered in the center of the field, apparently very enamored with a young guard-in-training and his diminutive training partner. Despite being almost four times her size, the youth appeared to be losing badly, though he was making some major mistakes that no soldier would have, leading Twilight to believe he was letting her win for a bit of fun.

“Come on boy, yer gonna let yerself get whupped by a lil’ chillin li’ that?” shouted a seasoned looking guard.

“In my defense sir, she is very fast and hard to hit!” shouted back the private with a laugh to show he was kidding. Celestia however was oblivious to the game, and pressed forward with all the speed she could muster, which was not a whole lot considering she was holding the sword in her mouth the same way a dog might hold a stick, the tip dragging comically behind her.

Twilight could tell they were just having fun, but it was still dangerous to let the diminutive monarch play with swords, so she stepped in and said “I very much hope you’re not actually trying to hit her.”

Quicker than she would have thought possible, the grisly vet shouted “Attention on deck!” and the whole courtyard dropped what they were doing and snapped up straight. The change was so sudden that even Celestia was scared enough to drop the sword in her mouth and tuck her tail between her legs in fear. After calling the ‘as you were' command to calm things down, she approached the veteran.

“Thank you for looking after her, sir. Though, I would like to know how she managed to distract my entire guard enough to cause them to completely ignore me.” She put on her sternest face, though she was really only having a bit of fun at his expense. She was just glad Celestia was unhurt. “And I don’t appreciate the sword fighting either.”

The guard was taking her very seriously however, as he snapped back to attention and hollered his answer at her “Ma’am! It were a serious cut ‘n judgment, Ma’am! Ah’ll put the whole lot’v em through the ringer for ya ta show ya our resolve, ma’am!” she shook her head, though.

“No, I don’t mind, it wasn’t such a big deal, and I’m not really mad.” She smiled and motioned for him to relax. “I was told she was following a guard in. could you point him out? I’d like to get a bit of clarification.”

“It weren’t no ‘he’ ma’am. Tha chil’ followed Silver Cut in ma’am. An’ yer wrong ‘bout it not bein’ such a big deal. You was right ta be mad, we shouldn’t’ve let ourselves get so distracted like tha’, ‘specially with this funky lookin’ sky how it is.” She decided it was good he took his job so seriously, and she didn’t want to undermine the pride he took in his work by trying to tell him it was fine. “’Ah’ll put ‘em through the ringer anyhow ma’am, jus’ ta keep ‘em sharp. An’ I’ll sen’ over Silver Cut right quick too.” And with that, he trotted off, calling the whole courtyard to running formation.

Shortly after they got started, Celestia approached Twilight, tail between her legs and her eyes in the most adorably apologetic face they could muster, and asked “Am I in trouble, miss Twilight? I wasn’t trying to be a bad girl, I promise. I just wanted to have some fun with the guards is all.” The face and cracking voice left Twilight nearly heartbroken.

“No, sweetheart. We were all just a bit worried about you, that’s all.” She told her soothingly. “In fact, I think I owe you a quick fly. Why don’t you go ask miss Rainbow Dash if she’ll give you one while I talk with miss Cut, OK?” Celestia’s mood changed immediately, and she bounded off happily towards the multicolored pony.

Soon, a lean young pegasus guard, her mane and tail a brilliant shade of silver and a pair of swinging swords for a cutie mark trotted up and fell to attention. “Princess! Private Silver Cut reporting as directed ma’am!” she called out in a gravelly voice.

“Calm down, private; I just want to know if anything happened to the filly.” Twilight assured her “She has a tendency to put things in her mouth that shouldn’t be there.”

Private Cut relaxed visibly, clearly glad to not be in some sort of trouble. “Well princess, she started following me somewhere down the hallway, and I didn’t see any harm in it so I just let her.” The private began “In fact, she was hummin’ some weird song and jumpin’ around a lot, so I figured she was just playin’ around. But when we got here at the training grounds, I told her to run on to her momma, which just made her start cryin’ real hard. Low Blow, the colt she was playin’ with earlier came over n’ told me to stop bullying her, and he took her off and offered to give her some lessons. The Sarg didn’t say nuthin’ against it, so we all just watched ‘em mess around a bit, then that’s when you came in, ma’am.” She seemed to get a bit distraught here “Should I have hauled her off to you ma’am? I didn’t recognize her, so I figured she was just a servants kid.” She started tapping herself on the forehead “Which now that I notice she’s an alicorn I guess is real stupid.” She snapped up straight “Ma’am, I know I’m new and all, and don’t have no right to be askin’ no favors of royalty, but if you’ll let this one under the carpet, I swear to be the best guard this castle has ever seen!”

Twilight was actually considering reprimanding the guard for not noticing something as odd as an unknown alicorn following her around; after all, she depended on these guards for her life, and that isn’t the kind of thing you just ignore. But the private seemed genuinely apologetic, and looked like she would do everything in her power to make good on her promise, and on the plus side no harm had been done. “Alright private, I’ll look past this one, but if you don’t become a big standout fast, we will be re-discussing this.” The private nodded and saluted once again before joining the rest of the guard in their run.

As Rainbow Dah flew overhead, the telltale squealing of an excited Celestia marking her passage, Twilight thought about how she had never given reprimand to a guard before, (though she did technically let her off the hook,) and it felt very strange to her. Maybe I’m more cut out for this than I thought? It was a novel idea, since she had always considered herself second best, but now that she thought back on it, hadn’t she been doing fairly well all day? Keeping the situation manageable by appointing a guard captain and handing out orders quickly, directing her friends through necessary tasks and even ordering Discord brought to her once she realized he could help. This was one of the first major tasks she had ever completed without a list to check off as she went, and it was a bit unnerving.

“Oh, look!” said a silky male voice behind her. “An epiphany! Even the great Twilight Sparkle can still have learning moments.”

“Ugh” Discord.

Comments

[Grey Warden]

yes!!! an update, also please tell discord is going to give luna and tia lots of sugar just before he leaves to start working on the spell to change them back. it can be like DISCORD:Well give me a few weeks and I will have the spell to change them back.
TWILIGHT: What? a few weeks?!
Discord: well sorry it will take me some time to get the spell ready to change to immortal demi gods back to normal after I took back control moving the sun and moon.
Twilight:ok point taken. but please hurry.
DIscord: yes yes i will so see you later oh and one more thing... have fun with the kids.
Twilight: what was he talking abo. she doesnt finish as she is silenced by the site in front of her with luna and tia in a pile of all sugar with luna & tia vibrating from the biggest sugar rush of all time.
Twilight: DISCORD!!!! and she can hear his laughter as she screams.
Also have discord make a comment about how since he has gone "good" his power has weakened somewhat. so hope i have helped.

[The Hero Pony]

Adopt theeeeeem.

[storm cloudburst]

2683488 shugar rush

[Thunder_Chaser_]

I don't always read stories about ponies and like them....

But when I do... I like them...