27. Evaluations, Stations, and Recommendations - Part Eight
Letters From a Little Princess Monster
Evaluations, Stations, and Recommendations - Part Eight
“Oh, very funny, Your Highness,” said Trixie, placing the papers back on the table. “Like I’d marry Green Grass. We’d kill each other inside of a week.”
Luna did not look amused.
Neither did Menace, who was staring intently at Green Grass’ father with an expression Trixie had last seen on a cat who was lurking just outside of a mouse hole.
Green Grass did look amused, but just for a moment. Said expression turned to concern as he looked at Menace, then nervousness as he looked at Luna, then pain as he tripped over the suitcase he had dropped in front of him. After scrambling over the bag, he dove on the short stack of papers and pawed through them with trembling hooves.
“She’s right.” He showed the signed wedding license to Trixie and pointed with a shaking hoof at the bottom. “We both signed it, and so did Luna. It’s official. I suppose I should welcome you to House Chrysanthemum now.”
“Well, that’s just…” Trixie paused at the thought that trickled up through several layers of indignation and aggravation, fighting its way to the surface of her mind and tugging gently on one ear.
Lady Luluamoon. Or Lady Trixie.
It did have a certain ring to it. And it did solve Greenie’s problem, although a second look at the fuming anger that was boiling up to the surface of her new father-in-law made Trixie quite happy that both Luna and Twilight were on her side in the upcoming explosion.
~ ~ ~ * ~ ~ ~
“Fraud!”
Anger streaked his vision in shades of crimson as Marteau Chandler, the fifteenth Baron of Chrysanthemum stomped up the stairs toward Trixie, using his magic to fling the fallen luggage to one side. “You two-bit stage hustler! You incompetent trollop! You planned this, didn’t you? What did my son promise you? Bits? A title? Well you can kiss that goodbye! I’m taking my son back to Canterlot and we’re getting this farce of a marriage dissolved so he can get married to a real mare.”
“Baron Chrysanthemum,” began Luna, “I can assure you—”
“Shut up!” bellowed the baron. “You’re as much a fraud as Beatrix there. I never believed this ‘Nightmare Moon’ scam Celestia tried to pull on us, not ever! She bobs the sun and moon a couple of times, sends her idiot student to podunk Ponyville with some cockatrice and minotaur story about some unspeakable evil ‘Mare of Darkness’ being purified by her idiot student and five nobody farmers, and we were all supposed to bow down and kiss your cutie mark. Any story that depends on believing that Beatrix would take a single step outside of her comfortable life that didn’t involve a bottle of cheap bourbon and some sleazy stallion is pure fantasy.”
Both Luna and Trixie had taken a step backwards while he shouted, their faces matching pictures of shattered composure. Greenie stepped forward and opened his mouth to say something, but stopped abruptly as Marteau grabbed him by the muzzle and ear with his magic.
“And you!” he snarled. “I’ve had it with you! Your mother and I sacrificed everything to protect you, and what thanks do we get? You want to run off to a Griffon aerie, of all places, to sit down at dinner and talk to them about some bloody battle that happened two centuries ago! Griffons eat ponies, you idiot, how many times do we have to tell you that? We are going back to Canterlot, you are going to get properly married, and you are going to stay there with your nice safe wife in a nice safe mansion and you are going to like it! And the next two words I hear out of your mouth had better be ‘I do,’ or there will be Tartarus to pay!”
He turned and stomped down the stairs with Green Grass stumbling along behind him, obviously unwilling to risk the loss of an ear by digging in his heels. He had almost reached the front door to the coffee shop when it slammed shut and glowed a deep violet. A quick blow from a forehoof did nothing but bounce off, and he considered ripping the door off with his magic until he felt the level of power coursing through the door, and determined that he would have better luck trying to raise the moon on his own. He whirled around, ready to shout at Princess Luna, but stopped at a most peculiar sight.
In the resulting dead silence, every other pony in the coffee shop regardless of their age had backed away from a straight line that could be drawn between him and Luna. Several had found the fire extinguishers and were holding them with an indication they would be needed rather soon, and there were at least six of them restraining some blue pony with a rainbow-streaked mane who was saying a muffled something about ‘can’t talk about Gilda that way!’
The little multicolored pony who had been huddled beside the zebra all afternoon was staring down at him from the top of the stairs, her iridescent wings spread wide and a deep purple glow coming from her horn. There was something oddly old about her eyes, even drawn into a fierce scowl and trembling along with the rest of her small body. She may have looked like a little alicorn, but he knew better, and her voice was broken and thready as a terrified child when she spoke.
“Let Greenie go.”
“Or what?” Marteau glared up the stairs and pulled his son to one side so he could see the little fake alicorn. Greenie was trembling, a sure sign that he was stressed near his breaking point. It had been wrong to let him come to Ponyville; they should have just carried out the wedding in Canterlot and let Celestia whine instead of bending over for her and Trixie’s fake monsters.
“You’re not the Monster of the Everfree,” snarled the baron. “I’ve seen that beast with my own two eyes. You’re just some hopped-up fake that Beatrice has dragged out of her bag of tricks, like a fake bouquet or a vanishing cabinet. That trick with the box and the stupid villagers was impressive, but nopony could have survived if it were real. The monster that was Twilight Sparkle is dead now, probably killed when that changeling hive exploded. All that’s left is Trixie’s smoke and illusions. Well, it won’t fool me.” He turned his fiery gaze on Luna, who was looking nearly immobile and quite inscrutable. “Open the door, princess.”
“Or what?” The question did not come from Princess Luna, but from the little fake alicorn, whose jaw had set like iron and eyes blazed white with power.
“Drop the illusion, Beatrix,” growled the baron. “Your little puppet isn’t fooling anypony.”
The little fake alicorn took one step forward, holding that pose as every pony in the coffee shop took a sharp breath. Then the white glow in her eyes slowly faded away, revealing only the soft purple that had been there before. With hesitant steps, she trotted back to the table and retrieved a single sheet of paper, taking it over to Luna. After a brief amount of whispering together, Luna motioned Trixie over, and all three of them put their heads together and conspired while the baron steamed with indignation.
“Open the bucking door!” he snapped, giving a spiteful kick at the purple magic that not only sealed it off, but extended around the walls and windows of the shop as far as he could see. “Open it up or we’ll miss our train, and I will not be responsible for the consequences.”
For some reason, that set off a wave of tense chuckling among the elderly rural ponies backed up against the walls in the coffee shop, but before he could find out why, the three mares, foal, mare, and immeasurably old, all looked up from their discussion at once. Trixie was first to step forward, with a dramatic wave of one hoof and a grim smile that was quite unlike her normal arrogant sneer.
“Dad.” She paused and raised one eyebrow. “I can call you dad, can’t I?”
The baron opened his mouth to respond and something grabbed his tongue, hauling him straight up in the air until he was dangling a few inches from the ceiling. The magic that he had wrapped around Green Grass just cut off like a switch had been thrown and a ripple of fear ran down his back, compounded by the voice of Trixie calling out, “Menace! Your study schedule has a very strict limit on any weight you lift with the levitation spell. Put him down.”
Gravity resumed its hold on his body and he crashed to the floor with a mighty thud, but the moment he scrambled to his hooves, the magical grip on his tongue resumed. His magic was still suppressed just as firmly as if a suppressor ring had been slammed down on his horn, and fear began to slowly douse the flames of anger in his chest. Across the room, a set of angry violet eyes returned his gaze, triggering the sinking feeling that he had just made a terrible, terrible mistake.
Oh, buck!
“Dad, I just wanted you to know that Princess Luna and I talked it over,” started Trixie somewhere beyond the baron’s frozen entrancement with the little alicorn, “and we decided that you weren’t being stupid. You’re just uneducated. After all, you’ve known Princess Celestia for years and haven’t done anything nearly this dumb. So we’re going to let Twilight Sparkle teach you a lesson.” At that, the little alicorn began trotting forward towards him with a single-minded determination, passing by his side and pausing in front of the door as Green Grass blocked her path.
Greenie swallowed, and lowered his head so that he could look her in the eye. “I do hope that you don’t hurt my father, Twilight.”
“I won’t hurt him,” replied the little alicorn without even a glance back at Marteau. “Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye. Ow.” A wave of relaxation seemed to sweep across the room as all of the ponies let out a breath that he didn’t realize they had been holding, some even chuckling to themselves at the monster rubbing her eye or taking the opportunity to call out for coffee refills.
It was madness, pure and simple, crazier than the contents of the asylum by far, but every one of the ponies in the coffee shop including his son took that insane promise as some sort of inviolate promise from the monster. He was still standing in stunned thought when the purple magic vanished from the door and the little alicorn stepped through.
Friday Haystings stood there in a rather perplexed pose as if he had been knocking on the door without a response, but when he saw the baron, he began to say, “Ah, there you are sir. I was—” His eyes flickered down at the little pony who had just stepped through the door, and then his attention returned in a long look that took in both her horn as well as her wings. “Ahh… Sir?”
“It’s fine, Friday,” said Green Grass. “Father is just going to take a walk with one of my students.”
A sharp jerk on his tongue made the baron stumble after the little filly, managing to cast one despairing look backwards as she picked up the pace and they started to trot.
“I’ll just exchange our tickets for something on the morning redeye, sir,” called back Friday. “It looks as if you’re going to be tied up for a while.”
* * *
For a little filly, Twilight Sparkle set a punishing pace. Baron Chrysanthemum found himself occasionally breaking into a gallop when he fell too far behind and a sharp tug on his tongue would encourage him to greater speed. The houses of Ponyville passed behind them in the darkness with the only light illuminating their path coming from the treacherous moon and stars, but as they crossed the border into the Everfree Forest, sweat began to trickle down his back. Exercise was only a small part of the perspiration, because as soon as he could feel the sensation of crossing the magical border between the safe magic of Equestria and the wild magic of the Everfree, their sensation of speed began to twitch with little flickers of movement where the surrounding forest would abruptly change with every blink. Even if he could summon up enough magical energy to cast a spell, he was hopelessly lost in moments, and the terror that was beginning to tie his guts into knots only grew as the little alicorn began to talk while running, in slow but deliberate words that contrasted with her rapid pace.
“I remember you. It wasn’t that long ago. You took the place of that tall unicorn with the little scar on his nose. I remember because when I spotted your group, I can recall wondering if I had killed him the last time S-shining Armor and C-c…” The little alicorn sniffled and slowed her killing pace to a brisk walk. “Cadence. The last time they came into the forest, I dropped part of a hill on them. I was having a very bad day. Did he die?”
The sensation of magic around his tongue vanished, and Marteau Chandler took a quick swallow before responding. “N-no. He had the flu, and I took h-his p-place.”
“Don’t be afraid. I’m not going to hurt you. I just want you to learn what happened to me. To Luna. Sometimes the thoughts get all tangled up in my brain, but I’m getting better at thinking now. I could hardly think back then. I was always in pain, and angry. Or scared. Mom helped. She saved my life, packed my burns with herbs, and sang the songs of her tribe to me. I never wanted to hurt anypony, but the forest had times where it hates everything. And then there were times when it was so beautiful that it just could not be described. Sometimes at the same time. Listen.”
She slowed her trot to a halt in a wide spot on the pathway between clumps of huge trees, with the buzz of insects in the background overlaid by the creak of frogs and rattle of crickets. Over it all floated a few beautiful notes of music like some ethereal flute, dipping and rising over the surrounding forest noises until it was joined by another, and then a third. He stood there in the silvery darkness of the forest clearing with his jaw agape, breathing in the cool air across his abused tongue.
“It’s beautiful. So peaceful.”
The little alicorn turned abruptly as her horn glowed a bright violet, and a toad-like creature floated out of a nearby bush. It was nearly as large as an adult pony’s head, with a mouthful of sharp, pointed teeth and small spindly arms that held a crooked flute. Its small pigish eyes glared red at him, and it gnashed its jagged teeth in fury, waving the flute which the baron realized in shock was made out of a fairly large bone, about the size of a pony limb. With a deep breath, it twisted to face the baron and howled in rage, snapping viciously with a little splatter of noxious saliva.
“They hunt at night in packs,” explained Twilight, giving the creature a good shake to quiet its howls and shrieks. “They won’t attack while you’re awake, but when you sleep, they surround their victim and creep closer, and closer until—”
“No!” gasped the baron, recoiling away from the bloodthirsty little beast, only to scurry back to Twilight’s side as the sounds of more flute music came out of the darkness. The little alicorn almost negligently tossed the thrashing creature out into the darkness and resumed her brisk walk, with the baron hurrying to catch up.
“There’s more in the forest. Lots more. If they tried to eat me, I destroyed them. If they left me alone, I left them alone. They learned, or at least the ones who could. Some things never learn. They’re animals. They only live to destroy and eat.”
Twilight trotted through a shallow ford, swerving to avoid several large rocks poking through the surface that the baron could have sworn moved as they passed, slitted yellow eyes watching and determining if the moving objects were worth the effort of digestion.
“For a while, I was nothing more than an animal. Thinking hurt worse than anything you can imagine, and I would flee into the forest when it got too bad. My mother had to put my food in a bowl when I came crawling back. But she still sang to me every night, even when I was roaming the forest. More often than not, I would just drive something from their den and sleep there. If it fought, I killed it. Mom’s singing both drew me and repelled me, and I would find her wrapped around me in the morning with tears still rolling down her face. Zecora is my mother, but Twilight V-v-vel…”
“Velvet,” prompted the baron. “Twilight Velvet and Night Light.”
“Yes.” Twilight slowed her pace to a walk. “When I did things that reminded me of them, drinking from a cup, eating from a plate, even reading buks… books, I could feel that fire from the day I brought down the sun on Canterlot. It burned me to ashes every time I remembered. It was so easy just to remain a beast. But she never gave up on me. Every time I would limp home with another wound from fighting, she would hold me close and stitch me up, while watering my coat with her tears. Eventually I learned to embrace the pain, letting it focus my magic. She taught me as much as I could learn about the zebra spirits, but I knew there was more. I didn’t know what it was until I found friends.
“I never had friends before, so they didn’t bring up any painful memories. They trusted me, and made me laugh, and brought me things. It was a wonderful time. I could almost forget I had been an animal.
“That’s when we met, Mister Chrysanthemum.”
“Please, call me Martin,” said the baron totally by reflex, although he blinked a few times after saying it.
Continuing as if she had not even heard him, she said, “Shiny’s shield was perfect that day, and while I was recovering from trying to teleport out of it, I almost approached. I was out in the bushes, fighting the pain until I blacked out. I only remember flashes after that, but I do remember Chives jumping on top of you, which is good. He told me that I had not hurt any of the guards too bad, and that none of them died. I’ve killed far too many.”
She continued to trot down the darkening path under the gathering clouds in silence until Marteau could not stand the quiet any more. “Did you really kill the changeling queen?”
“Yes. No. Maybe. I don’t know.” Twilight’s horn glowed brighter and a pink bubble surrounded the two of them. “I turned the whole hive into flashpaper with a crude spell and hid under Shiny’s shield.” She winced and turned away from the baron. “I can’t help it. I hate being smart. I can look back now and see how I could have doubled the power of the explosive. Even the changelings tell me I did the right thing, but I could have done things so different. Why does killing one creature make you a murderer, but killing a few thousand makes you a hero?” The pink bubble went away, and the darkness flooded back in.
He continued following the dim glow of her horn in the darkness, the only light other than the distant flicker of fireflies and foxfire of decaying vegetation. The path became rougher, sending him into more than one near stumble as they walked. Over the raucous sounds of forest animals, he could hear the faint rumble of wild thunder overhead in the thick cloud cover, a storm that would form by itself, go wherever it wanted, and fade away when it was done. He shuddered in the darkness, made only worse by Twilight’s quiet voice.
“Animals kill. Monsters kill. Princesses kill. I don’t want to kill anything.”
She stopped so abruptly that the baron almost tripped over her in the noisy darkness. There was an intensification of purple in the clearing, a soft and gentle touch on the forces of nature that made the rumbling clouds slide away and revealed a scene of breathtaking beauty under the glowing moon.
It was a curving lake of pure silver, shining molten in the light of the moon and stars. Faint v’s of moving objects under the water combined with the reflective glow of eyes both above and below the water made the baron stumble back a step. Not a single tree stood taller than his knee across a perfect circle of the clearing, making a cold trickle of sweat travel down his back.
He knew this place.
He had stood right here and faced down into that hellish valley of death and destruction to catch a glimpse of the frightened little monster who stood by his side now. The scarred earthen wounds in the forest had healed over in a soft green that covered everything within sight, the gaping pit had filled with clear water, and the tortured unicorn who had looked so broken back then snuffled a little and rubbed against his leg.
“I never could kill the forest,” she whispered. “It always grew back. Kill a cragadile and another is there the next day. Destroy a tree and a hundred sprout up. The only thing that died when I killed it was changelings. Sometimes in my dreams, I used to kill. I would pull the sun down on Canterlot and watch it burn, or kill the ponies who made my head hurt so much. Killing the changelings was like another dream. But it wasn’t.
“Everytime I hear the name Twilight Sparkle, I remember. I was standing in the crater of the hive and looking at the bodies of the changelings I killed. The name was going to be my first step back into the light. Instead, it reminds me of my darkest time. I’ll always be a monster, even after I learn how to be a Twilight. Luna and Celestia know you can’t just make old mistakes go away by forgetting them. We need to remember what we did and why we did it.”
High above them, a flock of giant bats wheeled in the moonlight, swooping and darting across the sky. Long after they were lost to sight, Twilight continued. “I lost control tonight. I don’t know why. Until I can control the monster inside, I can never allow myself to grow. It could happen again. Or worse.”
There was a low tremble to Twilight’s coat as she huddled up against him, feeling as cold as a stone. “Am I dreaming now?” she asked. “I can’t tell.”
“No,” he whispered back as the chill Everfree breeze blowing through his coat evaporated the drops of perspiration on his back. “This isn’t a dream, Twilight. Please don’t kill me.”
“I won’t hurt you,” she said, nudging Marteau until he sat down on a circle of soft grass. She climbed onto his chest and curled up, her soft tail under her head as a pillow. “Will you sing to me? I know it’s not a dream if you sing.”
“I’m… not much of a singer,” he whispered, feeling her cold body warm as she snuggled against him.
“Please? I’m so tired. It’s been a very long day.” The low tremble from the little alicorn felt so much like Green Grass when he had been a sickly little foal, in and out of the hospital so often it seemed as it had become a second home. He would curl up in this exact same way next to his father’s warm belly and beg for a story about griffons or guards in far-off places. And when he got too tired, his father would sing him gently to sleep, praying that he would wake up in the morning.
♫ Hush now, quiet now
It’s time to lay your sleepy head.
Hush now, quiet now
It’s time to go to bed ♫
The cold trembles slowed until a quiet snoring came from the little alicorn, her tiny wings twitching in her sleep and a damp spot from drool beginning to form on his chest. He just laid there in the middle of the terrifying forest, trying to breathe quietly as not to wake her up. Her little heartbeats hammered away like hummingbird wings against his ribs, a faint but slowing tickle of trust and drooling that warmed his own heart.
Those tiny wings made him think of pegasi, and the traditions of their kind that never made sense to him. When Green Grass had talked about his dreams, it always seemed like pushing a baby bird out of the nest before the feathers had grown in, while ignoring the collections of cats at the bottom of the tree. Pegasi did more than push their children out of the nest at a young age, they pushed and shoved, locking the door behind them and ignoring the frantic hammering afterwards. Unicorns and earth ponies held their children close, keeping to the herd mentality even when sending them far away to Celestia’s school. An individual separated by themselves was an aberration, a temporary hiccup in the natural order of things that only happened when a young pony was sick or injured. In college, the young of all three tribes joined together to form connections that would last many years. That is all but one young pony he remembered.
When she had first become Celestia’s student, Trixie had seemed like a broken fledgeling on her own in Canterlot, huddling close to the Princess in public while putting on a bold front to claim she was standing on her own hooves. Celestia had trusted her, put up with her tantrums, tolerated her acid tongue. While the rest of the Royals were repulsed by her lies and boasting back then, and cut her out of their herd, she seemed to have actually changed more in a few months in Ponyville than a decade in Canterlot. Perhaps even the outlandish tale of Trixie’s rescue of Princess Luna might have had a few accurate facts scattered through it. The proof was hard to ignore when it was sleeping on his chest in the middle of the terrifying Everfree Forest.
The very quiet forest.
The sound of night insects and tiny creatures which had been almost deafening during their trip had faded out so gradually that he had not noticed, leaving only the rustling of branches in the light breeze that blew over the forest clearing.
A clearing that seemed to be getting smaller.
Greenish eyes glinted in the moonlight, forming a wide circle around his position as dry branches and jagged wood formed into crude wolf forms shuffled closer. Even the faint v’s of movement in the water stopped, as if the submerged predators were anticipating leftovers from the upcoming slaughter. Oblivious to the danger, Twilight Sparkle shifted in her sleep, stretching a hoof up along his neck while smacking her lips. In return, he carefully moved a trembling foreleg to support her weight, trying to keep her from from waking.
Even in his terror, he could feel something wrong with their approach. The timber wolves should have lunged forward in an unstoppable wave of hatred and destruction to tear their two victims into pieces, but instead they crept forward in tiny steps, their brushy heads held close to the ground and their tails dragging behind. There was a certain line the wooden monstrosities seemed to be unwilling to pass, forming a solid barrier around Marteau and the little alicorn with the rustle and scratch of tall branches subdued in the cool evening air.
Under his barrel, Marteau could feel the pounding of his heart in counterpoint against a low ground-shaking tremor, as if a gigantic weight were striking the ground, over and over in the distance. It grew stronger as he waited, with a sense of impending doom so terrifying that he could barely control his bladder, until the surrounding silhouettes of timber wolves parted and a true forest giant trod ponderously through the opening. Huge timbers and tree trunks formed each massive limb and body part, a melange of ancient trees that had grown in the forest for generations until their death and subsequent rebirth in the body of the titanic beast who glared down at Marteau with poisonous green eyes even larger than their target. The gargantuan woody beast slowed, its massive limbs touching the ground almost gracefully as the huge head descended, closer and closer to the baron and the sleeping alicorn, until Marteau could almost reach out and touch the bark-covered jaw.
And a familiar object stuck almost comically onto one of the smaller sharp branches that served as the creature’s teeth.
The giant timber wolf held still for the longest time until Marteau lit his horn, and using the most exquisite care, lifted the small cloth doll up and brought it over for closer examination. It was the most ugly doll in existence, with crude stitching and mismatched button eyes, but even if it was somewhat worse for wear due to being out in the forest for the last several months, it was still dry and warm, and Twilight snuggled into it like a long-lost friend when he tucked it under her outstretched foreleg.
The massive beast lifted its head and snorted in a low tone, looking off to the sky before turning and darting away far swifter than its size would indicate. In moments, the clearing was once again empty except for Marteau and Twilight, and he almost would have believed the experience was a delusion except for the lumpy doll clutched to her chest with an intensity that boded ill for anypony foolish enough to attempt removing it.
“Good evening, Baron Chrysanthemum.” Luna’s soft voice frightened him more than all of the timber wolves in the Everfree, and he was exceedingly glad to have his nether regions over an absorptive surface when the Princess of the Night glided down and touched the ground a few paces in front of his nose. There was a sense of exuberance in the alicorn’s demeanor, from the soft flow of stars through her ebon mane to the languorous stretch of her wings she made after landing. For a few moments, she looked at him with almost a smile peeking through her tranquil expression, taking in his look of abject panic and the way Twilight was using him as a pillow. “Dids’t my little sister properly educate you this fine evening?”
“Yes, Princess Luna,” he whispered back. “I’m sorry for saying those… things.”
She raised one eyebrow. “And?”
He lowered his head and looked at the ground. “And for my disgraceful treatment of Twilight, and yourself, and my son. Oh, and Trixie. I’m sorry I doubted your familial ties to Princess Celestia. I should have believed your sister in the first place, and if I had doubts, I should have confronted her with them in private, not screaming like an idiot in the middle of a wedding party.”
This time the impish smile which was hiding behind that impassive exterior lit up Luna’s face. “That was the dumbest thing I’ve ever seen anypony survive, and I’ve watched Trixie. You are forgiven, Baron Chrysanthemum. And it appears that Twilight has forgiven you too.”
A small smile twitched up the outer corner of his lips as he watched the little alicorn squirm into a more comfortable position on his chest. “Yes. She’s a very forgiving child.” The smile vanished as he looked back up to Luna. “Greenie will never forgive me for this. We butted heads over the direction of his life ever since he came of age. He even went into a mental institution rather than abide by our… well, she was a really horrible pick for a daughter-in-law, I suppose. He’ll never want to see us again.”
The silver shoe that tucked under his chin and lifted his head was warm as sunlight, and the soft teal eyes of the princess overflowed with forgiveness as she looked into his eyes. “Never is a long time. You have held your son so tightly over the years that you have never seen what he can do on his own. Allow him to spread his wings and fly, or his heart will forever be lost to you no matter how close you keep his body.”
“B-but Princess. He’ll fall.” There was only so long he could look into those ancient eyes before Marteau’s will crumbled and he blinked, looking down at the ground while he continued. “My father was so angry when Greenie was born. The first earth pony in our family in generations. He blamed my wife, he blamed me, he threatened to disinherit the whole family, but in the end, I wore old Bluegrass down. I don’t want to lose him.”
That silver shoe under his chin lifted Mateau’s face up to look into Luna’s eyes again, and she shook her head slowly as she talked. “Do not fear your son’s rejection. He knows we can be angry at our children and still love them, even when we do horrible things to them with good intentions. The river flows both ways, for children know their parent’s love will never leave them no matter their own well-intentioned rebellion. It has been so before I was, and shall probably be so even after I pass.”
The little alicorn sleeping on his chest fluttered a wing and leaned up against his warm neck with a smile. He blinked away tears, his mind caught in memories long gone and never to return. “Princess Luna, would you pass my apology to my son and my—” he swallowed “—new daughter-in-law. I don’t think I could face either of them tonight, and Greenie is probably already halfway to the Pericorn Mountain Range.”
Luna ‘tsk’d’ a few times under her breath while levitating Twilight up and onto her own back, tucking in a considerable amount of ethereal mane to make her journey more comfortable. “I believe you shall see your son return from his trip sooner than you realize. He is an impressive young pony with a large heart and many hidden talents, much like my sister’s student, and my new little sister.” After a brief sisterly nuzzle to the sleeping alicorn on her back, Luna examined the stuffed doll, giving it a cautious sniff and a test squeeze while obviously resisting the urge to pry it away from Twilight for closer examination.
Marteau stood up with considerable trepidation and the slightest scoot sideways to rub his damp underparts against a patch of dry grass. “Your Highness? We should probably get going. There a-are t-timber wolves around here.”
“There are?” Luna’s expression lit up with joy and she looked around. “Did you see any? I thought I saw an owlbear on the way here, but I lost it in the woods. I did discover the cutest little creature, though.” She parted her mane with a hoof and two malevolent little eyes glared out, watching Marteau with uncanny intensity.
“W-what is it?” He took a step backwards, but promptly darted back forward when something out in the water made a small splash.
“His name is Tiberius, and he’s just the cutest little thing, yes you are.” The Princess of the Night actually nuzzled the pale tubby opossum clinging to her mane, who hissed back with a mouth full of needle-sharp teeth.
Suppressing an “Eww!” quite firmly, Marteau cleared his throat and looked around the dark woods, which also seemed to be clearing its throat and looking back in a somewhat hungry fashion. “Princess? We really need to be getting going. I don’t want to worry Friday, and it’s a long walk back to the Ponyville train station.”
“Nonsense, my good Baron.” Luna threw back her head and looked up into the sky. “The Night is far too beautiful to waste by plodding along some forest path.” A band of indigo magic wrapped around Marteau’s chest, and with one stroke of her broad dark wings, Luna and her passengers rose up towards the stars.
~ ~ ~ * ~ ~ ~
A soft radiant glow filled the Ponyville library as Trixie lit a second candle in her bedroom, giving just enough light to finish changing the sheets and pillowcases and cram the dirty laundry back into the far corner of the room. It had always just seemed so much easier when the hotel cleaning mare or servant in the castle turned up the sheets, and whatever happened to dirty laundry had always been a mystery she had no intention of investigating. Maybe when she had more time, she could take them behind the library and run a cleaning spell over them a few times, but right now, she had plans.
Spike had ‘volunteered’ to go stay with the Cutie Mark Crusaders at Rarity’s for a sleepover, which left the entire library free for any midnight activities that Trixie might invite a certain stallion to participate in. After all, you didn’t get married every day, except for Greenie, and the night after the wedding was supposed to be magical, in a Great and Powerful way. Just because she could not stand to be in his wisecracking presence for more than a few hours during the day, did not mean that once the lights went off and his mouth was shut, he just might be more interesting than she had long thought of him.
After all, it had been a long time. And they were married. And it had been a long time.
The faint rattle and thump of movement downstairs made Trixie dart back to the bed and dive under the covers, feigning disinterest and fatigue while keeping both ears perked up to listen to Greenie’s progress towards the bed. The light hoofsteps stopped outside her door for a considerable time, and although just reaching out with her magic and dragging him inside was a temptation, she took a deep breath and waited.
Then the door rattled, creaking open and closed before light hoofsteps approached and stopped at the ancient dusty rug right next to the bed. It took all the control she had to stir slowly, giving a wide yawn before opening her eyes and stopping in shock.
“Menace?” The little alicorn looked naked without her cloak, deep purple eyes looking down at the floor while she dragged the ugliest stuffed doll in existence behind her by holding its ragged ear in her mouth. “What’s wrong, kid?”
“Mom and Tallgrass are… euphemisming.” Those dangerous dark eyes looked up and glanced around the library bedroom. “Where’s Green Grass?”
“You don’t think I’d drag Greenie into my bedroom tonight, do you? Menace, we’ve only really known each other for a few classes back in college.” Trixie scooted back on the bed and tapped the side. “Come on up here and sit down. You look terrible, and I should know.”
“Sleepy,” said Menace with a jaw-cracking yawn. “Greenie’s dad woke me. I don’t think he likes Luna’s flying. He screams. Threw up.” She yawned again, which felt a little contagious to Trixie. “Flying’s nice.”
The little alicorn fairly tunneled into the bed with her doll, curling up around Trixie’s chest and burying her cold nose into her throat. “What’cha got socks on for, sis?”
“I was… cold,” said Trixie, using her magic to peel off the socks and the other piece of clothing she did not want Menace of all ponies to see. “I’m warm now.”
“You feel all nice and warm,” murmured Menace, a low trembling underlying her words. “Like Mister Chryssy-anthum. Luna took him to the train station. Introduced me to Mister Stamen. I apologized. He’s not that bad. Misunderstanding. He catches butterflies and sticks these little pins through them just like Miss Swamp Flower. Scared Fluttershy.” Menace stopped talking and just trembled, her shallow breathing cool against Trixie’s neck. ”I almost killed him. Animal.”
She sniffled again as she wriggled even tighter against Trixie, which triggered a sharp twinge somewhere in her chest. “Can you sing to me, sis? Please?”
“I-I’m not sure, Menace. Give me a moment.” Taking her time removing her mane extensions and floating them over to the end table, she considered the unusual request. Contrary to public opinion, Trixie could sing quite well⁽¹⁾ indeed, but only after a good warmup with Monsieur Bourbon, and none of the songs she knew were really age-appropriate. Except there was one song she could still remember from foalhood, the one her mother used to sing while holding her late at night when she could not sleep.
(1) ‘Well’ as defined by Trixie, and mostly in the key of T, which was a special musical key only accessible after a minimum of one bottle of bourbon.
—
♫ When I was just a little foal
I asked my mother, what would I be
Will I be pretty, will I be rich
Here’s what she said to me
Que Sera Sera
Whatever will be, will be
The future’s not ours to see
Que Sera Sera ♫
As the trembling little pony relaxed by phases, eventually settling into a relaxed sleep, Trixie continued humming the tune. It held warm memories of her own parents, whom she had not seen in years. In the morning, perhaps she would write them a letter and tell them about their new son-in-law, who was still out in his chilly little wagon, all alone. Oh, well. It was his own damned fault. Trixie was not about to trade this for anything in the world.
~ ~ ~ * ~ ~ ~
The cramped quarters of Green Grass’ wagon were not exactly what he would have preferred for his trip to the Pericorn mountain range and interviews with the griffons there. A nice private train car with a staff of servants would have fit the bill very nicely, along with a few bodyguards and perhaps a cook or two. Instead, he was quite content to have a spot for a mattress large enough to stretch out across and a wide collection of reference books in the wall-mounted bookshelves that made the heavy wagon such a pain to pull. It would be his home once again for the next few months, like some literate turtle seeking a perch in the mountain cliffs.
Of course technically since she was his wife now, Trixie owned half of the wagon, although the thought of that pampered braggart trapped in a traveling box with him for months on end drew a cold shiver down his spine. A sham marriage to a sham mare was all this could be, and after a few years when they had both tired of the theatre, it would only take a few minutes with a judge to annul the unconsummated union.
Still, he had to admit that in the few years since college, Trixie had matured far more than he had expected and in ways that, if she were to keep her mouth shut and the lights off, it might prove quite worthwhile to spend a few evenings ‘exploring their options.’ He chuckled to himself as he fluffed up his pillow and settled down. It was a silly idea. She probably had a stable full of handsome young and very talented unicorn stallions at her beck and call due to her position as Celestia’s student. An earth pony like him stood about as much chance with her as he did with Luna.
Settling down under the covers and pulling the string to extinguish his lightning bug lantern, Green Grass closed his eyes for a good night’s sleep before an early morning start tomorrow. A quiet chuckle escaped as he thought of the changes in his life that one tiny little alicorn had caused in just a few hours, and what might possibly continue to happen to his ‘wife’ after being exposed to that level of chaos for a few more months.
There was a soft knock at his wagon door.
He twitched in response, shedding the covers and turning around to face the door.
“Who is it?”
There was no response, but he could hear a faint creaking from outside as some pony shifted her weight on the ramp that led up to the door.
“Trixie?” he called, moving over to the door and trying to remember if there were any ‘raincoats’ stored in the wagon, in the highly unlikely and nearly impossible possibility that his new ‘wife’ might want to take advantage of their honeymoon for traditional activities.
“No,” said a very feminine voice from outside.
He could not place the voice. But the moment he opened the door, he could.
“Good Evening, Lord Green Grass,” said Princess Luna, standing on the ramp with her royal accoutrements in a small pile to one side. The night breeze blew through her bare mane, causing it to coil and twist as she stood naked in the moonlight a few steps away. “Are you familiar with the concept of droit de seigneuse?”
“Her Right of First Night,” croaked Green Grass, his throat suddenly dry as dust.
“Indeed,” said Luna, dipping her head slightly. “Might we enter your domicile so that we may proceed?”
“What if I say no?” The words somehow slipped out his mouth without passing by any functioning brain cells, and something in his chest seemed to crumple up when the playful sparkle in Princess Luna’s eyes went out like a doused light.
“We will understand,” she replied, in a perfectly calm and controlled voice, betrayed by a twitch in one cheek. “We shall not force ourselves on the unwilling. You may reject my offer without any consequences.”
He stood and watched her in the moonlight, the most beautiful creature in Equestria who had just made an offer that he would have to be mad to turn down.
“No,” he said, and closed the door.
* * *
Luna stared at the closed door of the frail wagon and for the smallest possible second considered ripping it from the frame and throwing it onto the moon. She had never been refused. Never. The coils of anger that rose in her heart were wispy things, a poor substitute for the raving power of Nightmare Moon, but she could feel them nonetheless. But to rage against the infant for standing up on his own hooves and making his own decision would have been a betrayal of herself beyond all reason. It would have been the first step back to the nightmare she had just escaped.
For some reason, her anger was not as strong as she had expected, possibly due to the rattle and clatter of frantic activity coming from within the wagon. It piqued her curiosity rather than her rage, and in less than a minute, the slim green colt once again opened the door, only this time he held a basket with two bottles in it clutched in his teeth, and a folded blanket across his back.
Sitting the basket down, Green Grass lowered himself to his knees and bowed in a full face-on-the-floor prostration she had not seen in this modern era. “Princess of the Moon,” he began in a low and sonorous tone. “May your humble subject beg leave of you to ask a question? After this one, of course.”
She was somewhat taken aback by his overly formal request, but Luna nodded anyway. “You may indeed. Rise and ask.”
Standing back up, Green Grass looked into her eyes with an infectious smile. “May I have your leave to enter your domicile?”
He gestured at the town and the surrounding countryside, covered in silvery moonlight and shining like a jewel. “I brought some glasses and two bottles of the finest vintage from my father’s cellars as a gift, and I know of a very comfortable hilltop outside of town where the stars shine their brightest.” He stifled a brief yawn and blinked a few times. “Although I believe we will be limited to merely conversation and one glass this evening, Your Highness. It’s been a very long day.”
Luna removed a thermos of coffee from her mane and placed it inside the basket, matching his smile tooth for tooth. “Wine is for the weak. Coffee shall stiffen thy resolve this evening. Come, let us away to a more comfortable place where you may truly appreciate the beauty of the Night.”
Green Grass hesitated outside the wagon before Luna’s magic swept the blanket to one side, dropping it on top of the pile of royal shoes and crown. Then, before he could open his mouth to protest, her magic enveloped him and the basket in a firm and unyielding grasp, holding them directly to her side.
And Princess Luna ascended up into the star-strewn sky.
~ ~ ~ * ~ ~ ~
In Canterlot, the wisp stared at the sky in horror.
The sun was gone.
Tremors shook its body as the wisp looked in all directions across the sky, as if in the hopes that perhaps a giant burning ball of light were hiding somewhere in the night sky. When it had shared a body with Monster, the Night had been an interesting oddity. The unicorn’s body warmth sustained it throughout the darkness until the emergence of the proper Day, but it had never faced the darkness alone. Fear coursed through its cooling solid body in a shuddering wave, bringing its wings close to its chest and making it whine softly deep in its throat. There was nothing that it wanted more than to burst back into its normal form and flee for home, but where was the sun?
Time had always seemed like such an abstract to the wisp for the vast majority of its life. Splitting it into ‘dark’ and ‘light’ had been ‘new’ to it during a period of time when there were so many new things crowded around that they had started to blur. ‘Today’ had been so much fun that it had forgotten about the passage of the day, and now all of the fears that it disliked so much came flooding back with the presence of the ebon veil.
A soft compassionate chirp from his side and a warm wing that wrapped around him slowed the trembling and made the panic recede. He did not have to face the darkness alone, and the thought comforted the wisp in a way he had never felt before. The wisp had a friend who cared about him, and the terrifying dark became somewhat brighter and tinged with joy again.
He rose into the night wind along with Philomena, his friend, and flew with her out into the darkened city. She explained that there were many places she wanted to show him, places where ponies would admire them and share their own joy at their presence. There were ‘restaurants’ where ponies consumed substance, and something called a ‘concert’ where they sang, and even something called a ‘park’ where ponies walked shoulder to shoulder while looking up at the stars and rubbing beaks. It all sounded strange and wonderful, except possibly the beak-rubbing, and he flew high with eager flaps of his feathered wings by her side.
There was only one thing that bothered the wisp.
Now it seemed as if there was so little time before the sun would rise again and the wisp would need to shed its physical body and return to its home before it became too weak to travel.
And it would be alone again, even in the middle of all of the other wisps.
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Whatever will be, will be
The future's not ours to see
edit: I'm always amazed at how the Publish button causes typos to leap to the front of the page. Fixed an Entire/Enter typo just moments after publishing. sigh.
that coffee that Luna offered is it perhaps Twilight's special blend?
great arc, can't wait to see what's next in store for monster, since she's going to school does that mean that she will be with the class on their trip to canterlot when the CMC releases discord?
Great as usual but I'm still concern about Twilight.
Will Monster one day truly become Twilight? And what will be her reaction when she will meet her biological parents?
I also would like more interaction between Celestia and Twilight. I found that Twilight has forgiven her to easily. We see again in this chapter the pain she has felt, it nearly destroy her! And Celestia shouldn't act like her usual mentor style and feel more in fault. At the beginning of the monster in Twilight she don't have the courage to kill her but she is sure that she is death and there is no hope. For me, she should fell way more dark emotions.
But i talk, i talk and maybe you have already plan to adress this issue or not. You are the amasing writter, i am the compulsive reader.
I so feel for the poor little wisp
Poor Twilight. Her time in the everfree was worse than anyone could possibly imagine.
Oh this chapter was amazing! I loved that song in that show and it's a surprise to see another person who remembers it!
Is it just me or did Greenie sound kinda hopeful that it was Trixie that was knocking at his door?
Yay, Tibbles! Now I'm left wondering what will become of Owlowicious in this alternate reality...
Can't say I approve of Luna marrying Greengrass off then trying to sleep with him. Even if the guy had gone for it happily, it was pretty disrespectful of Trixie to use her to solve the issue with Lord Chrysanthemum by tricking her into a marriage and then sleeping with her husband on their wedding night when she waited hopefully for him to arrive. I'm still a bit unclear as to what actually did happen during their moonlight rendezvous. Sure, neither of them knew Trixie was interested, but still...
Nice job conveying Monster's story of her time in the Everfree. Such a sad tale... I'm thankful it had a sweet conclusion and an enjoyable sequel!
The use of Que Sara Sara was quite charming. It didn't hurt that, when combined with ponies, I am put in mind of Ponydora Prancypants' very touching story of the same name.
4593493 Yep, Green Grass will be up all night. Awake too. (Arrgh! No, stop that. Keep the kiddie rating.)
4593621 Twilight/Monster has been very forgiving, and has received far more forgiveness in return than she is comfortable with.
4593968 Always nice to meet another Doris Day fan
4594733 Well, it had been a very long time for him too. Plus it was dark. And whoever it was at the door was not talking.
4594858 Oooo, good point. I'll link to that in the author's notes. Plus don't think of it as sleeping with the new husband, think of it as teaching him new talents that will come in useful over the next few years. Besides, I'm sure that Princess Luna just took him away so they could observe the heavenly bodies in a more private setting. (Oops, risking the kiddie rating again)
For a moment I thought Monster was going to launch Lord Chrysanthemum into LEO, Lower Equestria Orbit by tongue slingshot. Which would have been hilarious
But still, seeing Twilight cuddle up to everyone this chapter was adorable, hopefully Twilight Velvet can sing a song to calm her down for more cuddling when they finally meet. I can so see her mothering Trixie and Luna as well since they are Twilight's big sisters.
I do admit, part of me hoped Luna had one of the Manticore cubs as her new pet, but an opossum works for her.
Even odds Cadence gives birth to her foal during her first visit with Twilight???? Even better if Twilight Velvet and Night Light were there so the whole family can welcome the new foal.
Wow, I'm not sure if the Baron could have responded worse to the marriage announcement short of attacking someone in the room. But hey, he made it out of the chapter without being turned into a purse or being eaten by the world's largest timberwolf maid, so it could have gone much worse for him. And on the upside, Luna, Twilight, Trixie, and so on just gained, if not a politically powerful ally, at least an influential pony who has no doubts remaining about the major events that have gone on in Ponyville.
And oh god is Twilight and Trixie sleeping cuddled up together such a cute mental image.
Hmn.
Also, Tibbles!
I saw Que Sera Sera and immediately thought of Pony P's fic of the same name, and I had to stop reading to struggle not to cry.
Such a sad, yet beautiful, fic... 
This chapter is so close to perfection that I don't even know what to say... so beautiful
And Que sera sera... a tear was shed.
Okay I lied, far more than just one tear.
aw the poor wisp
I loved Dead Like Me I wish they made more.
Man, Luna is a real slut isn't she? Just throwing herself at a newly married stallion (even if it is a sham, it's still highly inappropriate), completely disregarding Big Mac back on the farm. She needs an uber cold shower.
4662068
Dude, she's had 1,000 years alone on the moon with nothing but a soul eating parasitic psychopath for company. With that many estrus's built up I'd be a little hungry for company as well. So it's not slutty as much, as she's lonely, a bit lost, and has a millenia of lady-version of blue balls / need of companionship.
Love this story but need to stop taking brakes and watching zero punctuation on youtube because when i come back i cant help but read the story in a snark=y British tone
.
*Lady Luluamoon* You can't agree in what her last name is, don't you?
*Tiberius* He is getting quite popular for a fan created character, isn't he?
*Contrary to public opinion, Trixie could sing quite well*
She is not so bad:
Remember, human or not, both Trixies have the same voice.
5807284
Tiberius is cannon in the comics
seigneuse is not a word. You should use seigneur.
absorbent
5807284
I think the spelling error is a hint as to who filled out that form.
7442889
-eur to -euse is one of the standard French masculine to feminine ending changes…even if seigneuse isn't a real word.
Don't do that, please. I don't know who came up with it, but it's a remarkably stupid term Given the 'logic' of it, this mean the Apple family has sex with trees every time they kick one.
I'm sure the experience in the Everfree with Lord Anthem in the clearing will be something he will always remember. Twilight filly in his arms asleep while surrounded by Timberwolves and the biggest one offering her smarty-pants just to give her comfort, was inspiring. Well played.
So, just to clarify:
Greengrass (but really wants him just for sex)
Greengrass 
Luna
Books
Trixie
Luna
Greengrass
Twilight
I am reading through your story, and I think Twilight's It may have become a legit magical artifact. If this were World of Warcraft, I'd say it'd be a Legendary trinket.
8293265 Well, more like Trixie would not *mind* dragging Green Grass into bed, since she's married to him now, and he's kind-of cute. And it has been a long time.
Books and her friends and her family and Ponyville and is really glad she doesn't have to worry about this glandular thing for a few years.
Luna was feeling frisky and Green Grass was kind-of cute, and surprisingly polite, much like his older brother. (this will come in later) It's good to be the princess.
Green Grass was a little star-struck, Luna is beautiful, and she requested...
And Twilight
8473334 It (or at least the most tattered It) got vaporized during the Split-Into-Three-Twilights arc. Still, there's a replacement, and if Luna were to ask, Cadence would most certainly make another. She's gotten quite good at it.
8293265
hahaha Eeyup
Okay
Wow that nearly made me cry.
10396453 It comes from the wonderful (and far too short) series Dead Like Me, in which George Lass is a Reaper, responsible for taking souls from people who are about to die and seeing them on to their destination. In particular, the scene where actress Jodelle Ferland is 'reaped' and sent on.