8. Sibling Revelry - Part Two
Letters From a Little Princess Monster
Sibling Revelry - Part Two
Rover was a good dog. All of the dogs in his pack agreed, even the ones who snarled a little and whined when he said it. He was also the Top Dog on the Heap, undisputed master of the entire caverns, and very good at sniffing out gems for other dogs to dig up.
The world was a very simple place. Rover ordered others to do things, and they got done. Outside in the bright sun, the shiny ponies and the little lizard had been digging up gems much faster than even a whole pack of dogs, so they would work just as hard for the Diamond Dogs and dig up even more gems. All the dogs would say how smart Rover was and how many pretty gems they had dug up because he was so smart.
Now the littlest pony in the bunch had burst into tears at his paws, and no matter how he whined or begged, she just screamed and cried louder. Every single pony looked at him as if he were a piece of chipped feldspar found in a box of diamonds, and his own dogs clutched paws to their ears and whined for Rover to shut the little pony up. Rover had puppies of his own, but this little pony just howled louder when tried to calm her down, and even licking her face didn’t do any good. The only intelligible word that he could make out was that infernal ‘Share’ word that kept repeating, over and over. It was a stupid word, one that made no sense at all.
But if it would shut her up.
“If we share, pony shut up? We share! What is it that pony want to share?”
“Now, darling. Calm down, please.” The white pony with the soft voice touched the tiny little pony in what must have been a reassuring way for ponies, before turning on Rover with a icy glare. Diamond Dogs had an innate ability to tell when a tunnel was on the verge of collapsing, and the sensation of thousand of tons of shifting dirt overhead seemed to crush in on all sides when he met those penetrating blue eyes.
“First of all, her name is not ‘pony,’ it is—” The white pony hesitated momentarily “—Twilight. When you address her, you may use her proper name, or you may refer to her as Miss, or even Miss Twilight.”
Rover must have looked like he was going to say something because the angry pony suddenly became even more angry. “And I think you owe Miss Twilight an apology, don’t you?”
The little mottled pony looked so pathetic, snuffling as the little lizard mopped her face with the dirty cloak, barely looking up when Rover mumbled, “I’m sorry, Miss Twilight.”
“I’m sorry, Mister Rover,” the little pony — no, Twilight mumbled back. “I don’t want to hurt anypony.”
“Nonsense, darling,” said the white pony, patting her on the shoulder. “As a matter of fact, Mister Rover and I have enjoyed watching your little friends play so much, we totally forgot to inform you of our little game.”
“We have?” said Rover, turning it into a sharp nodding of the head as he met the cold blue eyes again and shuddered.
“Of course! Why Mister Rover and I go way back. Every few weeks when I collect gems for the boutique, he graciously provides some of his friends to assist his Lady Rarity, and we share the proceeds fifty-fifty.”
“You do?” said Twilight, mopping away a tear as a sparkle returned to those bright purple eyes, adding their paralyzingly intense look at Rover.
“Oh, of course!” she purred, pulling Rover in closer to one shoulder and placing one delicate lady-like hoof on top of his rear paw with only the lightest of gentle touches, but filled with the promise of impending violence.
“But where are my manners? Rover, I would like to introduce the rest of Twilight’s little friends. First, we have Spike, the cutest little baby dragon in all of Equestria. That handsome young lad up by the ceiling is Featherweight, and then we have...”
‘Lady Rarity’ pointed out and named all the rest of the little ponies, who lined up with bright shining faces (although quite dirty) and digging implements gripped firmly in teeth. With a glow from her horn, the unicorn used a nearby stick to mark several X’s in the ground, and the dirt began to fly.
Once all of the little ponies were quite busy digging, Rarity leaned over and whispered in Rover’s ear. “Fair split down the middle, one of us divides the gems, the other gets to pick which pile they want. Deal?”
“But we lose half of gems,” whined Rover quietly, until the rapid accumulation of gems in the little wagon gathered his full attention. “You take whiny pony away when we’re done? I mean take Lady Twilight away?”
Before she could answer, the strange pony with the stubby little wings came dashing up to Lady Rarity and Rover, carrying a dozen gemstones on top of her head and shouting with joy. “Rarity! Look at what we found! There must be a hundred of them in the hole! Can we come back every week and help dig?”
“Week?” said Rover weakly.
---~^~^~^~^---
The Ponyville First Equestrian Bank and Trust prided itself on a sterling reputation of generous banking and stingy trusting ever since the founding of Ponyville, and was quite conservative in whom it loaned money to and just exactly why. After all, ponies from all around Ponyville trusted them with their valuable bits, both as depositors and lenders, and that trust had been unbroken from the time Stinking Rich deposited the first twenty bits he had earned from Zapapple Jam sales, all the way to the present. In all of its history, the bank had only been robbed once, and the president of the bank, Silver Note, had somehow managed to make the robber leave the bank with less money in his pockets than when he had entered. It was widely assumed that his son, Sterling Silver, would have been able to top the old skinflint’s stunt and make any robber sign up for the Silver Saver’s Club with automatic payroll deductions in addition to cleaning out his pockets down to the loose lint and any spare buttons.
The Great and Powerful Trixie sat uncomfortably across the desk from Sterling Silver and considered the trappings of true greatness and power that filled his office, from little brass plaques on the walls that testified to the bank’s loyal support of the community to the relatively short line of photographs that showed the former bank presidents, all earth ponies who had ‘Silver’ somewhere in their name. And this was not even his main office in the center of the building, but simply the loan ‘approval’ office that was open to the comings and goings of common ponies doing business at the bank windows, all of which could not help but gawk through the window to see her humiliation.
“Mister Silver, all I’m asking for is some of my student stipend so I can support myself in the community for the next few months while the Town Hall is being rebuilt with my money. Princess Celestia is already allowing me to stay in the library, rent free, provided I look after the place, but there’s only about three prunes and a bag of dry raisins in the icebox. I don’t even have the bits for a train ticket home!”
Sterling Silver nodded in a pose that simply radiated sympathy, while his words proved otherwise. “I’m sorry, ma’am. The instructions in the transfer of your stipend were quite clear. I understand your predicament, but I’m powerless to free up any of your money until— Silver checked a sheet covered in calculations “—thirteen to seventeen months from now, depending on cost overruns in the construction. We could, of course, arrange a personal loan to tide you over for the duration.” The grey-coated bank officer slid a paper over to Trixie and sat back in his chair, fiddling with his silver cufflinks while she scanned the details and began to fume.
“At that interest rate!”
“I’m sorry, ma’am, but without collateral of some sort, and with your history of erratic behavior, you are quite a credit risk. Perhaps if you were to take up a second job, such as foalsitting or—”
“Hi Trixie!” Trixie barely had time to turn her head and recognize the dirty orange streak running down the hallway as Scootaloo before she was gone, but the next little pony moved slow enough for her to recognize as a dust-covered Twist and actually exchange a rather confused wave before she too had trotted down the hallway and been lost from view.
“What in the—”
“Smile!”
-=Flash!=-
By the time Trixie had blinked the spots away from her vision and stumbled out into the hallway, the sound of heavy hoofsteps from the front of the building was quite apparent, and it took little thought to realize just why nopony was paying her any attention.
After all, three wagonloads of gems were being wheeled in the front door of the bank.
“Oh, there you are, darling.” A dirt-smudged Rarity fairly glided across the bank lobby floor and smiled at Trixie warmly while the bank employees dragged the gems towards the vault. “I just can’t thank you enough for permitting me to bring Spike along with the girls—”
“Hey!”
“—and Featherweight to dig for gems. We had a simply marvelous time, and quite productive too.”
“Really,” said Trixie, trying to estimate the value of the gems rolling past her nose and not coming up with any number more accurate than ‘lots.’
“I really cannot thank you enough, darling. Will this be sufficient for a down payment?” Rarity floated a small red chip of a gem over to Trixie and scurried off to oversee the placement of the rest into the vault. Trixie regarded the little red chip for a moment before floating it over to Sterling Silver and dropping it on his desk.
“Every little bit helps. Can you cash that for me, Mister Silver?”
“Why of course, Miss Trixie,” said the bank president with a bright, happy smile. “But wouldn’t you rather deposit your proceeds rather than carry that amount of cash around with you? Our institution offers a wide variety of accounts, starting at our Silver Saver level for this amount of a deposit and in addition—”
“Just. No. Deposit it and get me some petty cash, please. I need to do some grocery shopping. And maybe pay back a few debts.”
---~^~^~^~^---
…we all went to something called the spa afterwards, where Rarity showed us how to sit in hot mud with cucumber slices on our eyes to open our pours. afterwards we all rinsed in hot water and had a waterfight until we were all wrinkled like prunes. Trixie even paid for mom and Tallgrass, and took us all out for iced cream afterwards. It was very delicious, but it reminded me of some thoughts I didn’t like thinking. part of me knows my first mom and dad and brother just want to see me and that they don’t want to hurt me, but when i think of them, i also think of the bad things ive done. it sounds silly, i know, but i don’t want to see them because of it. maybe if you were here with me i could try, but i don’t want to be a bother. maybe later.
your friend
Monster
---~^~^~^~^---
Princess Luna closed the letter with a gentle touch of her magic, placing it inside the silver coffer on her dresser for later perusal. Twilight Sparkle was such a sweet little filly, and it made her heart sing to read one of her letters. Triggered by the letter, the thought of the Royal Baths danced through her mind, with a long midnight soak and preen to bring her feathers to a glossy shine, followed by a long flight through the stars until the dawn. With perhaps one or two visits along the way.
She gathered her bath things together and placed them into the basket for the short trip downstairs. A squeaky yellow duck, two different preening picks, and a selection of lilac shampoos and oils filled the basket, covered by a bright pink towel with fuzzy bunnies embroidered on it to complete the collection.
“Guards, we shall be attending the Royal Baths this eve—” Luna stopped cold as she stepped out of her door, the basket dropping unheeded from her magic to spill its contents out along the floor. Where a few hours ago her guards had been a grey-coated unicorn and earth pony dressed in the dark purple of the Night Guard, now two bat-winged and yellow-eyed pegasi stood beside them, turning to look at the startled princess.
A thousand years ago, she had created three new races of ponies in the darkness of her worst moments as Nightmare Moon, ‘blessing’ them with dragon wings and yellow slitted eyes to rule the Night, only to destroy them all a few hours later as Nightmare Moon pulled their power back to battle Celestia and the Elements of Harmony. Only a few infant Nocturne pegasi survived the murder of their ancestors at her hooves, and from those few, the race of night-dwelling pegasi had grown and prospered, serving Princess Celestia in her name ever since. She had always known she would have to face the descendants of her murders. Someday. Just not tonight. Please, not tonight.
The larger of the two Nocturne dropped to his knees as if he had been hit with a hammer, followed slowly by his compatriot. Serving Night Guard were forbidden to bow more than a brief nod to their liege, but the stallion placed his head upon the floor and began to speak, as if the words had been bottled up inside him under immense pressure, and he could not prevent them from escaping any more.
“Princess of the Moon, your subjects hereby request an audience with you about issues of the greatest importance.”
“No,” she whispered. “I can’t.”
“By ties of blood and bone we are your subjects. Your magic created us, we live to serve your will. What you speak, we shall do, as you command. A second time we call out to you, hear our plea.”
“No. NO! BEGONE!” Flinging the remnants of her basket, Luna darted back inside her room and slammed the door just as hard as she could.
And stayed there for the rest of the night, shivering in her bed while wrapped around a doll.
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FYI: This ends my supply of cached chapters. Additional chapters will be posted as they are written and checked, after suitable mind-altering phrases are put in to maximize angst and dawws.
Ahhh. Anyway, great chapter as usual, and can I assume updates will be less regular now?
3470692
The release of the new chapter made me feel awesome.... hearing we have to wait even longer for more chapters? so very very sad...
Keep up the good work though and im sure that im not the only one eagerly looking forward to what happens next in the train wreck of a town that is ponyville.
Best unicorn definitely stole the chapter, as well as quite a few gems (from the view of the dogs at least, I bet).
Poor Featherweight. As the only male in a group of six foals, he is never going to escape being collectively one of the girls. That said, that'll probably work fairly well for him eventually.
Also, poor Luna, for entirely different reasons.
was laughing so far, no d'awws from me
Hmm...seems like both Luna and Twilight/Monster have issues they need each other's help dealing with. Perhaps Pinkie could host a "Get Together and Help Each Other Get Over Our Guilt and Mental Traumas" party.
Wow. You're a dick to poor Luna.
I would count up what I liked about this chapter, but it'd just end up as "all of it"
Poor Luna. one step forward, one step back with her...
Rarity... single-hoofedly keeping Ponyville above water and in the black. Then again, when she walks in the front door with a modest prince's ransom, I guess it's to be expected.
Go talk to Monster Luna!
Everything gets better when you spend time with someone who understands and she needs it as much as you do
Why do I have a feeling that Twilight will be helping Luna with her fear of the Nocturnes (and involving something funny with "Lumpy") while Luna sets up a meeting with Velvet and Nightlight (and possibly her younger twin brothers from The Traveling Tutor and the Diplomat's Daughter, if Georg feels like putting them in)? Still, great chapter and eagerly looking forward to later chapters.
Cool
Nocturnes, hey I like the sound of that.
Still better then simply, Bat Ponies.
Also I like the way it rolls out almost as much as Thestrals. 
Can't wait to see if Twilight will be helping her make friends with them later on. 
3470692
D'awww!
Angst! 
Poor Luna.
Dang I feel sorry for those two thestrals.
Given how eager Silver was to get Trixie to deposit that gem Rarity gave her, and the fact Trixie paid for the spa, would I be correct in asuming that it was worth quite a bit? Also, poor poor Luna. Hopefully this time the whole unimaginable guilt about causing the death's of her followers in her madness thing can be taken care of without somepony whispering about going nightmare again to her at night.
Great chapter will eagerly await next chapter.
The way Lady Rarity uses filly's for hard manual labor is just how I imagine it
3472498 It's about this size:
images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20130127171257/mlp/images/6/6e/Spike_with_Rarity%27s_tiny_jewel_S03E11.png
And she could have wasted it and bought an industrial sized pet hair dryer instead.
images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20130127195157/mlp/images/c/c9/Winona_under_industrial-sized_hairdryer_S03E11.png
3473694 Au contraire, they were not 'used' for manual labor. My darling little sister and her friends volunteered for the task, and I assure you, they have been well compensated for their time and effort. Why even that darling little dragon took home at least a dozen opals in his reward, and said he was going to save them for a midnight snack sometime. I think they plan on using their share of their recompense for little tidbits and rewards for Spikie-Wikie, and at their age, I would encourage it. After all, what good is money if its stored in some dusty steel box somewhere? It should be used and enjoyed while they are still young, because that age only comes around once. Well, twice if you count what happened to Twilight Sparkle.
3472319 What I'm doing to Pumpernickel here is far less than I've done to him in other stories.
3471535 Let's see, they're creepy violent creatures of the dark who were created by Nightmare Moon. Yep, she'll love 'em. More than that devilish bunny.
3471126 I'm waffling on the twins. They really don't add to the plot unless I bend things around, and that would dilute the focus on Monster/Luna. Hmm...
3470765 At least they don't dress him up during sleepovers.
3470786 I've done worse.
3473775 Well if they do indeed take away from the tale, then by all means leave "Deimos and Phobos" as Greenie had nicknamed them out; I much prefer a more focused story over a cameo that distracts and detracts from the main point.
Ah, so we see Silver Spoon's father. Or so I presume. Works for me, especially since you've established a long family friendship with the Riches.
In any case, Luna should consider writing some letters to Twilight. A two-way discourse would definitely help the healing process.
I look forward to more whenever it comes down the pipe.
Oooh, interesting.
Although, I couldn't help but notice, that I've already seen that idea with the bat ponies suddenly appearing before Luna and saying almost exactly the same words. And they even called out to her three times.
3474668 Nice that you're following me :)
3474353 I've been glossing over any return letters (except for Celestia). I'll have to bring that up in the next full chapter.
3473798 Well, if I can find a way to make it heart-stopping cute...
3474748 Oh, damn, ha-ha
That was your story too 
That's funny.
I remembered that particular fic (among hundreds of others that I've read mind you) mostly because of that powerful scene (and what followed later).
I should chasten you for reusing your material, but I ain't even mad. It'd be interesting to see where are you going with this and if you'll manage to outdo yourself here
You are a master of sad cute.
I have frequently murmured "Buk buk buk!" to myself on past occasion while doing something mindless, enjoying myself only to go right afterwards "Hahaha, haha-ohhh... awwwwwww..."
Anyway, I'm loving the rate you're dishing these out. Thanks for all the hard work dude.
3474668 Yeah me too, but I don't remember where hmmmm.
Oh well I hope the next chapter comes up soon.
Oh Luna...
3474668 you sure that they appeared before Luna? because in the prequel they appeared before Celestia, said that precise line and called out to her three times just before Nightmare Moon returned.
3495586 Yes, I'm sure.
I've already found the story I was thinking about. It's actually an older story by this same author - To Sleep, Perchance to Dream. See Chapter 3, near the very end.
3496399 wow, that makes it three times in three different stories that that line was used.
What an interesting development. I am eager to see more!
~~Until next time - DD
3510097
Fair enough. I stand by the other two, especially Celestia's reaction.
Note: Twilight the Terrible has updated. Woot! (if you like this, you'll like that )
Again I ask. What 3 races? I mean she only mentioned the "Blessing" given to the Pegasi version. But we're kept in the dark [pun intended] about the other three and it's driving me bonkers
.
You evil, evil puny.
-Spirit
3517627 Meh, it isn't as cute.
Well, maybe it would have been better if not "Batpony" had survived.
5115625
It appears to me that she created a dark counterpart for each of the three pony races, and that only the pegasus variant survived.
5115625 Nightmare Moon created three counterpart 'Nocturne' races of ponies. Then promptly annihilated them again in her squabble with Celestia, save a few Nocturne Pegasi.
I have no negative opinions for this chapter! Huzzah! You even put bat pony sprinkles on my chocolate cake!
When we hit Luna and the visits were mentioned, I started bracing myself for more Big Mac and Princess shenanigans. instead this meteor of feels comes flying out of left field to smite me. Well played.
vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/mlp/images/4/46/Rarity_with_a_wrinkly_face_S6E10.png/revision/latest?cb=20160529102346
5828636
And changelings.
7665638 nope
I shoulda commented before but I can't see shining simply waiting until he's summoned to visit his sister.
Also poor luna
7754709 well he knows that Twilight is hurt and Celestia probaly informed him that she suffers from guilt and mental injury so that he understands that him visiting would just hurt her more then it would help
7754709
More accurately, I can't see CADANCE waiting to see her sister-in-law until summoned, given the way she's been portrayed in this story's universe so far
8465129
I mean like if I was Cadance and the being with god-like powers that nuked her husbands barriers asked to kindly be left alone for a bit... I would happily oblige and wait for the healing to continue so that she doesn’t have a panic attack from her pseudo-captors
8679539 Not to mention Cadence has all those changeling 'children' to keep an eye on Twilight, *including* her pseudo-father, Tallgrass.
8679574
Not to mention as the former Captain of the Royal Guard, he has more in likely met other guards who are suffering or have suffered from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.