• Published 4th May 2014
  • 8,528 Views, 308 Comments

Scootaloo & The Cabinet of Seers - HMXTaylorLee



While working on a school project, Scootaloo discovers that a powerful group of psychics are available for counsel to Equestrian royalty. She convinces Princess Twilight to ask only one question on her behalf - 'Will I ever be able to fly?'

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Dreaming Wide Awake

Twilight remembered seeing the crystalline tower from the door to Canterlot's castle, but it didn't dawn on her until she was staring up, neck craned, at the sparkling structure from its base just how majestic the Vestibule truly was. It reminded her of the first time she had travelled to the Crystal Empire, feeling that same sense of awe and wonder, while also contemplating the logistics of how the shimmering structures were formed.

"Right, well," Record said, disrupting Twilight's mental image of a pony on an obscenely tall ladder with a chisel and hammer, "here we are."

Like the Vestibule itself, the comparably humble wooden doors were also larger up close, more akin to the throne room in Canterlot Castle than a typical tower door. Then again, Celestia was larger than all of her subjects, and the Seers were there for her to consult with, so the bigger size made sense.

"Thank you, dear," Archive embraced his daughter in a quick hug, messing her blonde mane with a caress of his hoof. "I'll see you after?"

"Of course," Record nodded warmly, turning to face Twilight. "You'll make sure he gets to me when you are finished? Our house is just over there," she pointed to a sizeable wooden cabin at the edge of the town square. It bore a wooden sign depicting a large black book above the front porch, the same as Archive's cutie mark.

Twilight turned from the castle, and looked from the house back to Record with a look of confusion on her face. "Certainly," she answered, "aren't you coming with?"

"Oh no," Record shook her head firmly, "Only the Seers and royalty can be present during an um... session," her face screwed up as the unicorn tried to find the best way to phrase it.

Twilight's bit her lip, her anticipation and nervousness growing in tandem. "I see." The large door behind her opened, with a quiet softness that betrayed its size, at the hoof of Archive.

"Mares first," he gestured cheerfully with his free hoof to the inside of the Vestibule. Almost immediately, Twilight felt her body tingling once again. Even without being able to clearly see inside the relatively dark building, Twilight could tell that there was some extremely powerful magic at work.

"Thank you," Twilight offered politely. She took a deep breath, and stepped over the threshold, her eyes already adjusting to the dimness of the interior. Like the exterior, the entryway was formed of an indescribable mix of pink, purple, and blue crystal, the colors shifting constantly in the flickering lighting provided by a series of more Pheonixwood torches on both sides of the hallway. The door came to a muffled close behind her, and Archive trotted past Twilight with a noticeable absence of trepidation that Twilight felt. The entryway was surprisingly short, and another set of wooden double doors lay in wait at the opposite end.

"Come along, Twilight! Before I forget why we're here," Archive joked as he put his hoof on the second set of doors. Twilight nodded slowly, and stepped towards him. Inside the Vestibule, the magical tingling she felt was even more intense, the energy seemingly engulfing the air. Archive's chipper exclamation had no echo in the glassy hall, as if the sound was absorbed by said energy.

From the darkness of the hallway, a bright white light shone brilliantly from the doorway as Archive pushed it open. Twilight closed her eyes reflexively, and her mind began to race with various memories; Looking down at her brother as he gently tossed young Twilight up and down playfully in their parents den, her hoof reaching out to a slice of pumpkin pie from her foal seat, and a wooden block with the letters A & B flickering in a purple glow. The memories vanished as quickly as they came, but Twilight's nervousness was replaced by a familiar happiness and excitement. She opened her eyes again and gasped.

The room on the other side of the doors was essentially a hollow pyramid, the blindingly bright light from before having now adjusted to a comfortable glow. The sunlight shone through the tall sloped crystalline ceiling, the room below awash in dancing rainbow hues. The center of the room itself was barren, save for what appeared to be the back of large chair resting on the polished floor, directly underneath the tip of the building. Surrounding that chair, Twilight saw six other ornately decorated seats, three on either side. Five of them were accompanied by a pony. One of whom had hopped from his seat approaching her.

"Princess Twilight Sparkle," the dark grey earth pony announced with an unexpected intensity, as he came to a halt before her. He bent his front knees and bowed down before her, his muzzle practically touching the floor, and his stark white mane flopped to cover his forehead. His greeting carried a voice that was fairly deep and had a slight rasp to it. Unlike Archive, this pony was clearly older, and more in line with Twilight's original expectations for the Cabinet of Seers. Though, Twilight was quick to remind herself to keep those expectations in check. "At long last, we get to meet."

Twilight returned the bow sheepishly, noticing that the other ponies in the room had all bowed down as well. "Likewise," she replied, trying to think of something more substantial to say. "You can just call me Twilight," she defaulted to lamely, the phrase having become familiar to her in recent talks with Scootaloo.

The earth pony before stood up straight, looking at her with eyes that matched his coat. "If you wish it, your highness. I forget, you must have just had your coronation," he remarked, his gaze shifting to Archive standing behind Twilight. He received a nod in return from the unicorn. Twilight immediately felt uncomfortable, the pleasantness from the flashbacks all but gone; they seemed to know all about her, and yet she knew next to nothing about them. The pony in front of her offered another grin, a genuinely good natured one that seemed to quell Twilight's discomfort instantly.

"We didn't mean to make you nervous," he told her calmly, his rasp vanishing almost entirely. "We've been working together for so long, we can sometimes communicate what we mean without needing to actually say it aloud. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna are quite used to it, yet I did not consider that you wouldn't be. It's been a long time since we've spoken to another princess," he explained.

"I um... I see," Twilight supposed she could relate. With the notable exception of Pinkie Pie, she could sometimes predict how her friends would answer a question before she asked it. Nevertheless, she preferred to give them the opportunity anyways. The comment about another princess made her feel less at ease again, even more self-aware that she was, in fact, a princess of Equestria. The other pony smiled again softly, knowingly.

"You shouldn't doubt yourself, your highness," he told her, the addressing as a royal figure not unnoticed by Twilight. "You were made a princess for a reason." Behind him, the ponies seated around the throne nodded and chattered in agreement.

Twilight sighed deeply, with just a trace of frustration. To her surprise, it elicited a chuckle from the stallion before her.

"I'd have thought you would take comfort in hearing that from ponies that can see the future."

Twilight's ears perked up at the declaration. Not only for his perfectly valid point, but also for the mention of the reason why she was talking to him in the first place. It was a perfect way to lead in to the conversation.

"Thank you," she told him with a curt nod, "I'm certain I'll get there in time. I'm sure you know that one of my responsibilities is the Princess' Blessing, and I'm actually here is to find out how you can see the future." Twilight felt a touch embarrassed at how simply she had described the process, but the pony seemed to understand where she was coming from.

"As is expected of a princess. That said, how we can see the future is probably a more accurate way of putting it," he gestured with a wide sweep of his front leg towards the other ponies in the room. One of whom, a unicorn female, offered a wave of her hoof in return. "Twilight, allow me to introduce you to the Cabinet of Seers," Axiom spoke as he began to walk to the central chair, Twilight following closely behind him. "Please, take a seat. This one is yours."

Twilight circled around the backside of the central chair, only to find that it wasn't a chair at all - rather, it was a throne, one that bore a striking resemblance to Princess Celestia's back in Canterlot. A towering crimson oval wrought of velvet upholstery was surrounded by a golden frame and composed the back, and several cushions of the same crimson material made up the seat itself. Throne aside, what piqued Twilight's interest the most was that another pony was revealed to be in the room, previously obscured from where Twilight had been standing by the chair. Unlike the other five ponies (Archive had taken his seat to the right of the throne), this young female unicorn appeared to be sleeping in a small white bed. Were it not for her body gently rising and falling with each breath, Twilight would not have noticed her and her bright white coat against the ivory bedsheets.

"Is she-" Twilight began to ask.

"That's Antenna," the earth pony interrupted her as he absentmindedly scrubbed at a smudge on the golden frame of Twilight's throne, "and she's just fine, don't worry."

"Oh... okay," Twilight said uneasily, looking around at the other ponies staring at her curiously. She couldn't wait for the pony she had been speaking with to properly introduce them, and himself, to her. The pony was still scrubbing at the frame, though what he was cleaning Twilight wasn't sure. The golden outline of the throne looked pristine. "So, that's Antenna," she repeated as casually as she could muster in her situation to get his attention, "but I don't believe I ever got your name."

Her plan worked, and the earth pony stopped polishing immediately, his gray cheeks tinted with a shade of pink. "Oh my, I'm so sorry! You're the first new princess here in such a long time - slipped my mind. My name is Axiom," Axiom bowed down again as if in apology.

"It's nice to meet you, Axiom," Twilight returned the introduction. "I take it you're the leader, or head of the Seers?"

Axiom looked around at the other Seers, the glow in his cheeks still present. "Leader? No, not quite," he bit his lip. "I would say my role is that of-"

"Coordinator!" came a voice from the third chair on the left from Antenna's bed. This pony, a pegasus, had a plain brown coat and a dark black mane on his head. He wasn't looking at Twilight or Axiom, just looking straight ahead, his eyes hidden behind a pair of sunglasses.

"Precisely!" Axiom agreed, "coordinator is a great way to describe it. Thank you, Appear." The spectacled stallion nodded his head, still looking straight ahead. Puzzled, Twilight opened her mouth to ask, once again, if the Seer's somewhat strange behavior was considered normal. Appear beat her to the punch.

"If you were wondering, Princess Twilight, I'm blind," he said simply, turning to "look" at Twilight's mildly surprised expression. "If you think there's an irony in a blind pony being a 'Seer,' you're right," he said with a wry smile. "Just wait until later."

"Yes, that's Appear," Axiom repeated to Twilight. "Despite his rather uncouth delivery, he makes a good point - you'll find that a rather strange irony defines us. Please, take a seat, and I'll introduce you to the rest," he patted the cushions of the throne with his hoof, a barely audible thump sounding. Twilight reluctantly trod to the throne and sat down upon it, uttering an involuntary gasp as she actually sunk into the layer of cushions below her.

"Could we introduce ourselves to Princess Twilight?" asked the demure voice of the female earth pony sitting next to Appear. "Goodness knows we don't get the chance to do it often," she added for emphasis, flipping her straight blue mane back out of her face with a jerk of her head. Around her neck was a silver compass on a matching chain.

Axiom frowned at her with a hint of disapproval. "We don't do it often, Atlas. Perhaps that is why you forgot that not all of us can."

The mare, Atlas, blinked and gazed at him for a moment with her bright green eyes. They widened for a moment, and then an almost indiscernible pink appeared upon her face. She looked towards the remaining unintroduced Seers and offered a frazzled apology down the line of chairs.

"Oh, right... sorry, Alumni..."

Alumni was a name that Twilight had heard before - Record had mentioned that "Alumni knew who she was." As Twilight followed the turned heads of the Seers, all whom were looking at a young unicorn stallion sitting immediately to the right of Antenna's bed, she noticed that this pony, presumably Alumni, scarcely seemed to notice that he had been inadvertently offended and apologized to. He seemed more bothered by the ponies staring at him than anything else.

"Is something the matter?" his voice cracked as he whipped his head back and forth to the staring ponies.

"Never mind," Axiom told him gently, his voice once again devoid of his elderly rasp.

"Oh, okay," Alumni shrugged. "Thanks, Axiom. It's nice to meet you, Princess Twilight Sparkle," he added politely to the perplexed princess. Alumni lifted his right foreleg to his barrel, and subsequently extended the limb out in front of him, exhaling at the same time. "Just relax, your highness. You'll get the hang of your princess duty in no time."

Twilight was baffled at the display. Alumni had just emulated her and Princess Cadence's method of calming down in a stressful situation, a gesture that Twilight had used frequently following her coronation. Did she do it often enough that the Seers knew she did it? She suppose she shouldn't have been surprised, but it caught her off guard nonetheless. Baffled, she looked at Axiom with a raised eyebrow.

"How... Why?"

"I'll explain in a moment, Twilight," Axiom told her anxiously, as he pointed back to Atlas. "This, this is Atlas."

Despite her flustered appearance, Atlas offered a well composed greeting after clearing her throat. "It's good to finally meet you, Princess Twilight."

Twilight made no effort to disguise her flustered appearance, and mumbled a quiet "you too" looking down at the floor.

"That's my seat, and you already know Antenna, Alumni, and Archive. That leaves us with Audile," Axiom finished the introductions with the bright pink unicorn mare in the far right seat, the one that waved at Twilight when she first entered the room. Audile was watching Axiom and Twilight intently with her horn alight in a blue aura, and resting in her lap was a whiteboard. A green marker was furiously scribbling on the board under the manipulation of Audile's blue magical glow, and the marker came to a jarring halt. Audile lifted the board up, showing her writings to Twilight and Axiom.

PTS: How, why?
Ax: I'll explain in a moment, Twilight. This, this is Atlas.
At: It's good to finally meet you, Princess Twilight.
PTS: ???
Ax: That's my seat, and you already know Antenna, Alumni, and Archive. That leaves us with Audile.
Me: Hello, Princess Twilight! My name is Audile, and it's a pleasure to meet you!

"...it's a pleasure to meet you," Twilight read aloud quietly. The alicorn wondered why Audile communicated in such a fashion, but with just a modicum of thought it became very obvious. This pony didn't, or couldn't, speak.

"I'm glad to meet you too, Audile," Twilight replied to the sound of the marker squeaking against the whiteboard, Audile staring with concentration at her face all the while. Suddenly, it clicked. Lip reading - she seemed to be deaf as well.

Twilight didn't quite know what to make of all of this. Everything that she had encountered since this morning had defied her expectations in the strangest ways she could have imagined. None of it was bad, just... different. She had expected a group of sagacious, graceful, almost intimidating ponies with a tangible presence of wisdom about them. Instead, the Cabinet of Seers were a group of normal looking, if a bit quirky, ponies. Try as she might, she couldn't help but feel slightly disappointed, and the look on her face must have mirrored that.

"I get the feeling that our first impressions didn't quite match your expectations," Axiom said, a downright uncanny explanation of how Twilight actually felt.

"No!" Twilight exclaimed, but she could tell from Axiom's face that he knew otherwise. "Well... sort of. In all honesty, I don't really know what I was expecting."

"To be fair," Axiom began, "I don't think anypony would have expected a farmer, a stuntpony, a fashionista, a veterinarian, a party animal, and a bookworm to be the wielders of the Elements of Harmony. Yet..."


"...You're right. I guess I never thought of it that way," Twilight admitted. And she hadn't - she and her friends had saved Equestria several times over, and upon first glance, they all seemed as normal as could be. Also like the Seers, they all had their quirks too. Not as immediately apparent, perhaps, but they were quirks nonetheless.

"Sometimes, it's just about perspective," Axiom said. "On that note, with introductions out of the way, what do you say we begin?"

Twilight's eyes widened. "Begin? Begin what?"

"A demonstration, of course! To see how we work firsthoof," Axiom explained as he took his place in the vacant chair next to Antenna's bed.

"Okay," Twilight gulped nervously, once again feeling woefully unprepared. "What um... what do I need to do?"

"Just relax, your highness," came the voice of young Alumni, "you don't need to do anything." That was twice now that this colt had fittingly told Twilight to calm herself, though Twilight supposed that in this instance, her anxiety was a bit more obvious.

"Yeah, just do what I do. Close your eyes and take a deep breath... heh," Appear grinned, adjusting his sunglasses while Atlas rolled her eyes at the joke from her seat beside him.

"Awful, simply awful," she muttered.

The self-directed ribbing served its purpose for Twilight though, and she felt more at ease. If there was room for humor, surely the demonstration couldn't be as ominous as she was imagining?

Archive was audibly giggling from his seat. "Yeah, don't worry. We picked this one out especially for when we would meet you... though, it was a bit difficult finding a good one. Both of you were cut off pretty early on."

Just like that, the relief had vanished, and Twilight felt a stab of panic. Especially for her? Both of you? Both of who? She looked pleadingly at Axiom for help to her silent questions, but he simply nodded his head in understanding.

"I'll explain afterwards," he told her gently. "Ready, everyone?" he looked to his left and right at the other Seers, all of whom nodded back in excited affirmation. Except for the sleeping Antenna, who instead began to shimmer in a pale glow that Twilight almost didn't notice against her snowy coat and bedsheets. Twilight heard a steady humming sound that intensified as Antenna's aura did. And then she heard, and saw, nothing.

Twilight found herself no longer sitting in a plush red throne in a crystalline chamber, but in what she could best describe as a pitch black void. She could feel her hooves walking forwards, but it wasn't by her command. Twilight tried to look down to see her rogue legs moving, but her head remained staring forward into the blackness. Again, she tried to stop herself from walking further into the nothingness, but her thoughts were completely disconnected from the rest of her. Immediately, she began to panic, but she instead felt an overwhelming sense of annoyance.

Why was she annoyed? Sure, being completely out of control of what she was doing could be seen as irritating, but it was more terrifying than anything else. But try as she might, her own fears gave way to the sensation of being thoroughly annoyed instead.

"Appear?" Axiom's voice sounded all around her, and Twilight grew even more confused. "Can you shed some light on this?"
Appear's voice spoke next, at the same volume as Axiom's, and the direction just as unfathomable. "I'm waiting on Atlas to lock the location in, chief."

"Sorry, sorry!" Atlas's feminine voice rang out, "I was distracted, thinking about your stupid joke. We're there."

"Hehe, got stuck in your minds eye, did it?" Appear replied. No sooner than his disembodied voice finished his pun, the black void engulfing Twilight erupted into a burst of color and light. The shift didn't blind her, however - it was like it was there all along, just... not. She didn't ponder the phenomenon for long, once she recognized exactly where she was.

She knew this hallway anywhere, for it was a staple for her first year of school - magic kindergarten. And though she hadn't been to that particular schoolhouse in many years, it was exactly as she remembered it. The laminate tiles on the floor, alternating black and white. The salmon colored walls that even when she attended as a filly, Twilight thought to be a pretty obnoxious color. It seemingly hadn't changed at all since she attended. Well, except for one thing.

Twilight's body navigated the hallway, passing by several unicorn colts and fillies, and she approached the gold framed door of a classroom with the words "Magic Kindergarten - Miss Pommelroy" embossed upon it. Miss Pommelroy was her kindergarten teacher, and this was the door to her classroom - only, Twilight distinctly remembered it being taller. In her eagerness to learn about the ways of magic, Twilight would often arrive before all of the other students and teachers, and she found out much to her disappointment that she could not reach the handle to get inside and read the various books on the shelves within. Now, however, the handle seemed to be at a comfortable chest level.

She wanted to use magic to open the door, but instead, her white foreleg raised upwards to the nameplate, and her dark blue hoof rapped silently against the wood. But Twilight didn't have white fur, or dark blue hooves. What was going on? She wanted to open her mouth to ask the seemingly omniscient voices of the Seers, but she had a feeling that, if she couldn't move of her own free will, she couldn't speak either. The annoyed sensation that she was experiencing suddenly became more relatable. Before she could ponder her dilemma further, the silence that Twilight hadn't even noticed dissolved, replaced by the sounds of an uncharacteristically quiet schoolhouse. She could hear the fillies and colts that she had just walked past chattering in high pitched excitement, and the numerous clopping sounds of ponies walking along the hall behind her became distinctively apparent.

"Sorry it took so long, everypony," said a bright and cheery female voice that Twilight didn't recognize. "Princess Twilight's reactions were just so much fun to listen to, and I sort of spaced out."

"She can hear you, Audile," Axiom's voice sounded blithely, and Twilight's thoughts began to race again. Audile, the seemingly deaf-mute pony, was talking to her? And apparently heard her? But Twilight didn't say anything - not aloud anyways. Did that mean...

"Come in," said another female voice. This one Twilight recognized as belonging to her former teacher, and the voice wasn't surrounding her like the Seers were - instead, Twilight could very clearly determine that it was coming from behind the door that her discolored hooves had knocked on. The handle was enveloped in a light blue aura, and it twisted downward while the door was pushed open.

As Miss Pommelroy came into view beyond the threshold, Twilight was slowly piecing together what was happening here. She didn't have white fur - but she knew who did. She was short in stature when attending Magic Kindergarten - but she knew who wasn't. And the light blue aura of magic was one that she remembered so keenly as having illuminated her bedtime stories while they were being read to her at night as a filly. If Twilight's suspicions were right, then she wasn't Twilight at all right now. She was-

"Shining Armor, how lovely to see you again!" Miss Pommelroy exclaimed. "It's not often that my students come back to see me after moving on to the first grade, but you always were a special pony! It must run in the family."

The annoyance that Twilight felt subsided for a second, replaced instead by a wave of strong embarassment. The colors of the classroom pulsed, becoming sharper and more vivid in tandem with the sensation, and the sounds from the hall behind her peaked in volume as well. Twilight felt her (his?) cheeks burning, and then her mouth opened to speak. Shining Armor's voice sounded instead, prefaced by a nervous chuckle.

"Haha... it's good to see you again too, ma'am," Shining Armor said, "I'm afraid I can't stay though. I was actually looking for Twily - Twilight my erm, sister. She was supposed to meet me twenty minutes ago at the front steps."

Miss Pommelroy frowned exaggeratedly, her expression quickly morphing into a grin. "Of course you were, Shiny." The sights and sounds of the classroom pulsed once again as the fading embarrassment returned in full force at the mention of Shining Armor's familial nickname. "Have you tried looking at the library? She's read every book in here several times over, so she's probably getting her fill there. I've never seen a pony so devoted to reading about magic before. Your parents really ought to consider enrolling her to Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns."

Twilight felt, much to her surprise, the unmistakably piercing sting of jealousy. The room didn't pulse like before, but the color scheme of the room flickered for just a moment, showering the room in a faint reddish tint.

"They already have her entrance exam scheduled for the next school year," Shining Armor said with a sigh. "But yeah, the library definitely sounds like her. I'll go check it out," he said as shuffled backwards out of the door and into the hallway. "Thank you, Miss Pommelroy," he called absentmindedly over his shoulder as he moved past the group of young students, who were now regarding him with curious stares. Twilight and Shining Armor made "their" way towards the school library, the feeling of annoyance taking center stage. Twilight felt incredibly guilty, as she could detect a tangible sliver of resentment as well.

"Princess Twilight," Axiom's voice spoke once more, surrounding her and her brother. Shining Armor's pace didn't adjust one iota to the magical voice coming from out of nowhere, so Twilight assumed that only she could hear it. "I take it you have a good estimate of exactly what we're doing?"

Twilight did, but she didn't know how to reply.

"Just think it aloud, your highness," Axiom informed her with bizarre timeliness. "We'll all hear it."

"We're reliving my brother's memory," Twilight thought with deliberation. It seemed to do the trick.

"You're close," Axiom said. "We're reliving events from his perspective, the details filled in by the emotional significance he gives them."

Twilight did her best to hide her confusion, but given the mode of communication, it was impossible.

"Let me try and explain it like this, your highness. Do you remember, perfectly, everything that happened when Nightmare Moon returned?" Axiom mused to her.

"I think so," Twilight thought as she did her best to recall that fateful night. "I guess not perfectly, no."

"I wouldn't expect you to. Memories have this penchant for fading as time goes on, or for being skewed by personal biases or experiences. Everypony remembers the same thing differently. That's where emotions come into play."

"I don't understand," Twilight tried to think as clearly as she could, careful to separate the theories swimming in her head with what she was trying to communicate.

"Now, let me ask you. Do you remember how you felt that night?"

Scared was the big one. Confused was another. And of course, the relief when she and her friends had discovered the spark of friendship.

"Exactly," Axiom said. "You were frustrated when Princess Celestia seemingly disregarded your theory, you were annoyed with the errands you had been assigned, though you still felt a touch of pride that Celestia had entrusted you with them. You were upset at the party interrupting your sleep, and terrified when Princess Luna announced her plans. You alternated between fear, doubt, and hope as you and your companions navigated the Everfree Forest, and you experienced an overwhelming happiness and clarity as you discovered you and your friends magical connection via the Elements of Harmony, and enormous sense of relief when Princess Celestia returned once Nightmare Moon was defeated."

Twilight wondered what exactly her jumbled thoughts sounded like to the other Seers at that moment. Everything Axiom had said was entirely true, and Twilight found herself reliving, albeit in a vastly accelerated time frame, the events of that evening and the morning after. Of course, that was when-

"And then, you experienced a sadness that you had never known before, as you prepared to leave your newfound friends," Axiom continued, "followed by yet another incredible surge of joy when you were allowed to stay in Ponyville with your friends. Now, did you remember more when you relied on your memories, or your emotions?"

Though Twilight felt the process was helped along by Axiom describing her feelings in relation to the events of that night, she understood what he was getting at.

"Ponies may not remember what exactly happens in their lives, but they will assuredly remember how they felt when it happened. And that, your highness, is how we see things," Axiom said definitively. "We navigate emotional connections formed between ponies, and use the spectrum of emotions shared and experienced universally as a means of dovetailing a timeline that we can read."

The theory made sense, though Twilight couldn't pinpoint exactly why. And while Twilight still didn't understand exactly HOW the process worked, based on what she was witnessing now, it very clearly did. From how Axiom seemed to be coordinating (Appear chose a good word to describe him, Twilight noted) the others, the Seers each had a part to play in translating those moments from the aforementioned timeline to something that could be seen and understood. Twilight began to think of how best to phrase the question asking how, but was quickly distracted by the sight of a familar set of double doors. She, and her brother, were approaching the schoolhouse library, where apparently Twilight's kindergarten self was laying in wait. Twilight felt a rush at the thought of seeing herself as a filly. What would that be like?


"Twily, I hope you don't mind me pulling you away from your precious books," Shining Armor muttered under his breath as he pushed the doors open, his attempt at secrecy offering little considering the observing party's method. "It's not like I've got an Oubliettes and Ogres session with the guys that I'm already late for or anything."

The reason for the annoyance that had pervaded the entire suddenly became obvious to Twilight, and she felt just horrible about it. Though one wouldn't guess it by his position today, Shining Armor was a major fan of "geeky" role playing games all throughout his school years, and he loved to spend his free afternoons with his other like-minded friends. Today, or whatever day it was in the vision, Twilight was supposed to have met him outside so they could walk home together... but Twilight had instead lost track of time in the library, something she had a knack for doing even then. As far as Twilight knew, it wasn't a big deal - but now that she could see, sense, and hear what exactly her brother felt about it...

Twilight's desire for knowledge was fleetingly replaced by a strong desire to stop the vision and leave the Seers and the Vestibule. She felt so much better not knowing. Though she knew that Axiom and the others could hear her wishes, the vision didn't stop. It continued, and the annoyance changed to curiosity when Shining Armor heard a party of voices talking within the library.

"What are you reading today?" asked a male voice hidden among the bookshelves, amplified by the emptiness of the room. "Twenty Three Simple Spells Every Unicorn Should Know? And what's this - Bookworm To Wyrmslayer: A Colt's Quest To Knighthood?"

The gears in Twilight's head started to turn. She knew those books. And she knew who the voice belonged to, a troublesome colt named Devlin that would likely never step hoof in a library unless he was forced to. Twilight distinctly recalled that, once she discovered the joys of the library, she also had the misfortune of meeting two ponies that, as punishment for some array of misdeeds, were sentenced to spend time after school organizing it. Twilight supposed she could see how some might consider that task punishment, but given how Devlin and his friend would pester Twilight to finish their homework for them, she suspected that arranging books by name was more of a chore for them than the relaxing bliss that it was for her.

If what was happening in the vision was what Twilight thought it was, than surely Devlin's friend, another rabble-rouser name Danforth, was with him. She wasn't wrong.

"Bwahaha! Let me see that one!" Danforth's voice joined in from amidst the shelves.

"Hey! Give that back!" pleaded the familiar voice of a filly. "Those books are my responsibility!"

"Tch, you really are a loser," said Danforth, "is that why you read junk like this? You want to be a knight someday?"

"I... just... like... to read!" the filly's voice was littered with pauses, and Twilight knew exactly why, even if she couldn't see it at the moment. The colt that had taken her book was dangling above the filly's head, lifting it out of reach every time she jumped for it. The voices grew louder as Shining Armor's pace quickened, his curiousity evolving into a sense of worry.

"We can give you your books back, if you just give us a hoof with some of our schoolwork," Devlin offered. "It wasn't a problem last week, so why the cold shoulder now?"

Twilight felt in herself a small surge of pride as she heard the filly reply. "How are you two supposed to learn if you don't do your homework? All I want to do today is relax and study magic."

"Why don't you just use a magic spell to get it back? Or was that one not in this book?" Devlin taunted.

"No!" the filly cried as the other book was no doubt ripped away from her too, "why won't you two ever leave me alone? I don't get it - I never did anything to you! Give them back!"

"You want it? Here - take it!" Danforth's voice cracked on the last half of the sentence.

"Ow!"

Shining Armor turned the corner just in time to watch his little sister get pelted by a hardcover book. The two bullies had their backs turned to him, and his and Twilight's watering eyes met.

"Nice! I thought you liked hitting the books?" Devlin laughed.

"Just not when the books hit back, am I right?" Danforth raised his empty hoof to his friend so as to celebrate with a hoof bump, and he wasn't disappointed. Shining Armor's worry that Twilight was acutely aware of morphed into an electric burst of anger, interspersed with an intangible mix of loyalty and affection. The edges of his vision grew dark, and the only things that were clear before him were the two bullies and his younger sibling.

"What do you think you're doing?" Shining Armor cried, his booming shout bouncing around the library. "Leave her alone!"

The two earth ponies about-faced, each wearing a look of surprise on their faced. Danforth dropped the other book on the ground in shock. Meanwhile, Devlin, though smaller than Shining Armor, puffed out his chest in defiance.

"Why don't you get out of here? This doesn't concern you," he sneered, and Twilight could feel Shining Armor's nostrils flare in rage.

"That's my sister you just attacked, you better believe it concerns me," Shining Armor snarled. The silent pony bit his lip and looked to the ground in shame, but his ostentatious friend didn't relent.

"At-attacked?" the bully stammered, "I just dropped it is all. It was an accident, honest!" Behind the bullies, filly Twilight opened her mouth in silent protest, but she didn't say anything.

"Liar!"

"So what?" Devlin continued, the bullies' lame facade quickly abandoned. "We were just having some fun, you wanna make something of it?"

"I will if I have to," Shining Armor stepped forward with an air of menace to warn them that he was serious. Twilight hadn't really doubted it before, but experiencing the sheer tenacity that Shining Armor was feeling at that moment cemented the notion that Shining Armor had indeed been ready and willing to fight to protect his sister.

"News flash, 'bro'," Devlin said obnoxiously, "but there's two of us, and only one of you. Unless you think your stupid sister can help?"

The bookshelves at the edges of Shining Armor's focused sight had taken on a tint of red that wasn't there before, their intensity matching his escalating anger. Shining Armor looked to Twilight at her mention, and her fearful appearance only contributed more to his heightened emotions.

"Stupid sister? Is that why you two need her to do your schoolwork for you? Because she's the stupid one?" Shining Armor used the opportunity to turn the tables on the two, and the dumbfounded look on their embarrassed faces was oh-so-satisfying. "I bet the principal would love to hear about how two of her students coerced a kindergartner of all ponies to do their homework for them. I wonder what she would do?"

Both of the colts flinched, but Devlin still didn't relent. "You would do that, wouldn't you? Go running to Mrs. Coal because you can't fight us yourself! You're both a bunch of losers!"

Shining Armor took a menacing step forward, hoping that his posture would aptly showcase his physicality. Twilight could feel what he was trying to do, but again, she also could sense that he was very willing to give these two what he thought they had coming. "You've got a point. Maybe I should just take care of you myself. A good hooves-on lesson on what happens when you hurt my sister."

The notion wasn't lost on Danforth, who prodded his friend nervously. "Hey, let's just get out of here."

Delvin' whipped his sideways to look in shock at Danforth, as his voice raised an octave. "You're flaking on me? Come on, we can totally take him!"

"No - I mean, I-I know we could, but..." Danforth glanced at Shining Armor for just a second, his personal assessment likely in direct contrast with what he just said. "Think about it, is he really worth it? Is she really worth it? Not that I care, but I don't want another suspension... being in this library sucks."

"Whatever!" Devlin snapped, and they hastily traipsed away from the sniffling Twilight. His face turned flush in defeated embarrassment as the duo sidled down the aisle past a most wary Shining Armor, but he kept right on walking towards the exit on the other side of the room. When the two were close enough to the door, Devlin had the nerve to deliver one last taunt. "You're lucky my friend here talked me down, loser!"

The tunnel vision that Shining Armor was experiencing had begun to relax, but it narrowed again, focused on the two figures leaving the library. "Yeah, keep walking! You even look at my sister again and I swear to Celestia-"

A sob from filly Twilight interrupted Shining Armor's threat, and his anger had all but vanished. He walked towards his sister, and Twilight could feel waves of sympathy, relief, worry, and an unshakable feeling of love engulfing Shining Armor's emotional state. The annoyance, jealousy, and traces of resentment from before were gone.

"Heya, Twily... are you alright?" Shining Armor approached his sister, and it dawned on Twilight just how tiny she must have always seemed to him as they were growing up. He knelt down beside her shaking form, and swept away the neatly trimmed bangs from her red eyes.

"Yes," she sniffed hastily, her appearance betraying her answer. "Are the books-"

"Nevermind the books, kiddo," Shining Armor said, holding the filly firmly as he examined the welt on her temple. "That's going to bruise, but I think you'll be okay."

Twilight remarked to herself how similar it looked to Scootaloo's injury.

"Thanks to you," her younger self looked up at Shining Armor with her round velvet eyes, and Twilight could detect Shining Armor's sense of pride swelling. "You saved me!" The stallion found himself wrapped in the biggest hug the little filly could muster.

"Don't mention it," came his modest reply. "I'm your B.B.B.F.F. Protecting you is my job, and it's one that I'm glad to do."

Young Twilight's eyes grew wide at the phrase, and she gave a huge gasp. She scrambled away from her brother, looking around for the book that had bounced away after colliding with her. "That's what you should do when you grow up, Shiny! You should be a knight just like Quilleran, from this book I'm reading!"

Shining Armor chuckled as he twisted to his side to reach the other book that had been dropped. This one hadn't been tossed, and it was no worse for wear as far as he could tell. "A knight, huh? I guess I could see that. I always thought the royal guard were pretty cool." Twilight gasped aloud, and Shining Armor once again grew alarmed. "What's wrong, Twily? Is your book alright?"


Through Shining Armor's eyes, Twilight witnessed herself staring flabbergasted at her brother. As soon as she heard the name of the books, Twilight knew exactly what was coming next. After all, how could she forget-

"Your cutie mark! You got your cutie mark!" Twilight pointed at Shining Armor's flank, squealing in excitement. Shining Armor's gaze dropped down to his sides, and he was overcome with disbelief that gave way to the same jubilation that seemed to possess the filly before him.

"Oh my gosh, oh my gosh! I did! It's my cutie mark!"

Emblazoned on his flanks was a dark blue shield that matched the color of his hooves, with three dark blue stars above it. One rested on the central tip, while the other two nestled into the rounded depressions on either side of the tip. On the shield itself was a curious symbol - a six pointed pink star. The two wasted no time in trying to figure out what it could mean.

"See! You really are going to be a knight! A knight named Shining Armor, just like the bedtime stories!" Twilight squeaked, bouncing around her brother in a frenzy as she undoubtedly contemplated her brother starring in his own heroic tale. "Defending helpless fillies from evildoers everywhere!"

Shining Armor rubbed the new mark with his hooves, making sure that it wasn't paint as the result of some practical joke. No smudges or anything. "I can't even... wow. You know, Twilight, I wouldn't have got it if it weren't for you," he mused aloud. "Guess it's a good thing you got lost in your books again, huh?"

Twilight's mania faltered for a second, and emitted another gasp as she saw what time it was. "Oh! Sorry! I lost track of time, and - oh no, you had your game thing today didn't you?"

Shining Armor didn't let her finish before he swept her off her hooves to present a loving hug of his own. "Don't apologize - I should be thanking you! I'm sorry that I didn't get here sooner, or else I could have prevented... that," he referenced the lump on his sister's head. "Would some ice cream make it up to you? Cream's Creamery?"

Twilight giggled and did her best to like she was seriously considering rejecting his offer, but the smile on her face was too broad to conceal. "I don't know... it'll have to be at least two scoops! With toppings!"

Twilight practically tingled as a result of experiencing her brother's happiness vicariously. There were so many wonderful emotions he was feeling at that moment that Twilight struggled to name them all. Gratitude, joy, relief, pride, all of them swirling around at once, and the library seemed to shimmer in his perspective.

"Deal! Come on, kiddo, let's get there before the popular flavors are gone!" He set his sister down, and levitated the two books into his sister's already stuffed saddlebags resting against a bookcase. Shining Armor chuckled good-naturedly as he watched Twilight struggle under the weight of her many books, and opted to magically lift both her and her belongings to rest upon his back as they made their way out of the library.

"I can't wait to be able to do magic like that someday, just like you!" Twilight praised Shining Armor from her perch on his shoulder.

"You keep reading and studying like you are, I don't doubt you will," Shining Armor replied. "If you don't mind me asking, about those two jerks... did I hear that they were bothering you for two weeks?"


The library vanished into blackness, and the sounds of Shining Armor's question faded away. Twilight blinked, and she found herself back in the Vestibule, the looks on anticipation of the Seers all fixed upon her.

"That was... wow," she trailed off.

The Seers all beamed at the wordless praise of their demonstration, Audile clapping her hooves together happily as her whiteboard tumbled to the ground.

"That was what your mother witnessed in a dream when she was pregnant with Shining Armor," Axiom told Twilight, "and how he earned his name. Like all dreams, the details quickly faded when she awoke, but it left Mrs. Velvet with an unshakable feeling about her son's loyalty and fierce determination to protect his loved ones. Just... like a knight in shining armor," he added with a wink.

Twilight ruminated on Axiom's words. She had never thought why her brother was named Shining Armor, instead of the more traditional family name like Twilight had, nor just how much of a "coincidence" that he would grow to become a true knight - a captain of the royal guard, no less. Something else also struck her as strange about what he said.

"Does that mean," she pondered slowly, "that Mom saw me, even before Shining Armor was born? Before I was even conceived?"

"Destiny is a funny thing, your role in it especially," Axiom nodded. "She did. Though again, as the details slipped away as she woke, I suspect that her mind was more focused on the future of her upcoming son at the time, and her certainty of his traits."

"That's amazing," Twilight stood up and stretched her legs, referring to both the vision itself, and Twilight Velvet's knowledge of her daughter years before she was even a sparkle in her eye. "The details in the school, the ponies, the sights, sounds, everything!" The Seers once again appeared very pleased that their endeavor had met with the approval of the new princess, especially Atlas and Audile, both of whom looked flush. Twilight felt ever-so-slightly embarrassed that her words could make this group of powerful ponies so happy, but she was glad for it nonetheless. Speaking of which...

"And feeling those emotions," she rambled as she paced in front of her throne. "I mean, I always knew that my brother loved me, but actually getting to experience just how much... that's just..." Try as she might, and Twilight's affinity for description was not unimpressive, she couldn't put it into words. Hearing it from her brother was one thing, but knowing without a shadow of a doubt was something else entirely. But, Twilight's eyes faltered when she remembered that there was more than just love that her brother had for her in that vision.

"I have to say, I didn't realize that I had irritated him so much. Or that he was apparently jealous of me..."

"Don't forget that he was still just a colt," Archive spoke up from his chair. "Little things like someone else forgetting something can be devastating to someone of that age. I can only imagine what that's like..."

"I see what you're saying, and I agree," Appear chuckled.

"If I recall," Axiom said aloud while looking intently at Antenna's sleeping figure, "you were also jealous of your brother's magical ability at the time."

Twilight nodded sheepishly.

"But as you clearly saw, his love for you was enough to overcome his envy of your learning prowess. Jealousy is natural, and something that can be vanquished as one grows wiser, or as they learn to be glad for another's success. Something I've no doubt Shining Armor has accomplished," he reassured Twilight in his remarkably effective soft voice. "Though, I must admit, as gifted as you are, I'm surprised at your surprise. Perhaps it speaks to your modesty, but I'd wager that many ponies are jealous of you for simply being a princess, among countless other things."

Like Scootaloo with her wings, Twilight thought. Then, Twilight remembered the how and why that brought her to visit the Seers in the first place.

"I don't mean to change the subject, but I was wondering if I could sort of..." Twilight struggled with how to correctly identify what she was asking for without seeming too demanding or entitled. "If I could sort of make a request? To see something for somepony?"

The change in subject matter didn't faze Axiom. "Of course you may. That's why we're here."

"Wonderful," Twilight breathed a sigh of relief, "I was helping a student with a school project this weekend - it's actually how I came to even find out about the Cabinet of Seers - and well..." Twilight paused again, her will to explain the situation at odds with how to actually explain it. "She's a pegasus, probably 13 years old or so, and she can't fly yet. She wants to more than anything, and she asked me if I could find if she'd ever be able to."

"A student, you say," Axiom rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Are you two close?"

Princess Celestia asked Twilight the same question. So, Twilight gave the same answer.

"Not really," she said plaintively. "I've only really spoken with her at length this last weekend, helping her with a school assignment."

"Ah well, then certainly. What might this pony's name be?" Axiom asked as he looked to Alumni, who was gazing curiously at Twilight.

"Her name is Scootaloo," the princess replied.

Though he was looking at Alumni, Axiom asked the question to the collective. "Do we know anypony named Scootaloo?" There was a small delay before Alumni turned his head back and forth to the other Seers, as if to see if they knew the answer.

"She's an orange pegasus filly, with a messy purple mane and similarly colored eyes, correct?" Alumni asked Twilight, whose face lit up at the description.

"Yes! That's her!"

"Indeed we do," the unicorn replied. "Shall we get started?"

The rest of the Seers nodded enthusiastically, except for Archive, who was staring at his hooves on the seat of his chair, as if deep in thought. Twilight returned to the center throne, and settled comfortably in its cushions.

"What we showed you before was something in the past, past events being a specialty for Archive and his impeccable memory," Axiom pointed to Archive, who at the mention of his name, snapped out of trance and waved jovially at Twilight. "But, since we're going to be looking to the future, things are going to be a bit different."

"Different?" Twilight tilted her head, "how so?"

"Because we're looking for something that hasn't happened yet, we're going to be navigating Scootaloo's timeline by looking for emotional peaks."

"Peaks?"

"Moments of intense emotion. If she truly is looking forward to flying more than anything, then when she is able to, it will register as a significantly joyful moment that will stand out. That's also how we find when ponies earn their cutie marks," Axiom added.

"I understand, I think," Twilight said as a nagging thought crossed her mind. "But what if she can't?"

"I suspect that that moment of realization will be just as significant," Axiom answered somberly, "Everypony ready?"

From her bedsheets, Antenna began to glow and hum again, the sheer energy causing Twilight to tingle once more, her fur standing on end. Before long, Twilight found herself in a familiar black void. Axiom's voice rang out from the blackness.


"We're going to start from the present, or near enough to it, at any rate, and begin moving forwards. It might be a little disorienting."

Twilight conjured up the word "Okay" in her head, but found herself (just as Axiom had said) disoriented as she suddenly found herself in a brightly lit stadium, surrounded by the roar of the crowd. She, or more appropriately, Scootaloo was looking at a caramel colored pony standing before a podium. This pony had a short blonde mane, and wore a crisp mulberry jacket that just screamed "professionalism." Twilight recognized this mare as the Equestria Games inspector, Miss Harshwhinny. She cleared her throat, and Twilight could feel a sense of great anticipation building inside of Scootaloo.

"In the Equestria Games, the Ponyville flag will be carried by... Cutie Mark Crusaders!"

As soon as Miss Harshwhinny said the words, the crowd exploded again, and Scootaloo whooped excitedly with Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle. The trio of fillies joined in a hug together, and if Scootaloo's current state was anything to go by, the Cutie Mark Crusaders all felt elation. Elation, and a deep sense of gratitude towards one another. Twilight knew exactly why that was.

Perhaps it was because she was thinking about the flag carrying trials, and her knowledge of how the Crusaders' friendship was tested, but the stadium and all of its splendid clamor vanished.

"As I said, near enough to the present," Axiom said.

*******

The darkness was replaced with the dimly lit inside of a house, and the silence with the panicked breaths of Scootaloo mixed with rain pattering against the dark windows. All of the happiness had left, and all that Scootaloo seemed to be experiencing at the moment was pure terror and utter anxiety. Her little hooves clopped around the home, her gaze shifting from the wooden floor to an envelope on a wooden table.

Twilight recognized the table (and the stairs in Scootaloo's peripheral vision) from peeking through the semi-open door during her visit yesterday. They were at Scootaloo's home, but something was horribly, terribly amiss.

"There's got to be some mistake... there's just no way," Scootaloo whispered as she approached the table again. The shadows in the room broadened and twisted as Twilight felt another burst of fear envelop Scootaloo's state of mind. The room became blurry behind a veil of tears, and Scootaloo's little legs scurried up the stairs. The hallway was almost pitch black, and all of the doors closed save for one at the end, one that she was fast approaching. The filly darted inside what looked to be her room, judging from the various décor lining the walls, and leapt upon the bed. Scootaloo scurried under the covers, pressing her head to the pillow as she began to sob erratically.

"It just can't be..."

Everything had gone dark, but not because of the vision shifting to another event. Scootaloo was gasping for breath, and her eyes were held tightly shut.

Then, the sounds stopped, and Twilight found herself free of the strangling emotions that Scootaloo was experiencing. What in the world had happened? What was in that envelope that seemingly caused Scootaloo such unbelievable stress?

*******

She didn't have time to ponder for long, for soon Twilight found herself teleported once more. The fear and sadness disappeared, replaced by a manic joy, accompanied by disturbing and overpowering bouts of sheer rage. The visions of Scootaloo's bedroom had turned into the bloodied countenance of Diamond Tiara.

“I hate you! I hate you!” Scootaloo shouted, raining down blow after blow on Diamond Tiara’s stupid pink face, trying with every fiber of her being to bruise her hateful blue eyes shut. Scootaloo had her pinned, and Diamond Tiara’s feeble attempts to ward Scootaloo away were just that – feeble.

“You think you’re so much better than everypony else, you – you miserable entitled worthless – How does that feel? HOW DOES THAT FEEL?”

Twilight watched in horror as every blow against Diamond Tiara's crying face resulted in flecks of blood loosing into the air, and Twilight felt doubly horrified as every strike netted a feeling of deep satisfaction within Scootaloo. The description from Cheerilee's letter, while shocking when Twilight read it, was tame compared to the brutality that this young filly was exhibiting.

It came to a halt however, when Scootaloo received a punch to the back of her head. Though Scootaloo didn't know it at the time, Twilight knew full well that it was Diamond Tiara's friend Silver Spoon doing her best to try and stop Scootaloo from her onslaught. The impact cause Scootaloo's head to lurch forward, colliding with Diamond Tiara's forehead. Everything went black again, as though Scootaloo had lost consciousness, but Twilight could tell from the emptiness that she was back in the "pre-vision" space.

*******

She anticipated that in just a few seconds, Twilight would be bearing to witness to another event in Scootaloo's life. The Seers delivered, and she found herself face to face with herself for the second time that day. Only this time, Twilight in the vision wasn't a filly - rather, it was Princess Twilight from last Friday, when the Crusaders had delivered the letter to her regarding the fight that Twilight had just witnessed. Twilight felt the familiar feeling of jealousy that she had experienced with Shining Armor, only it was amplified one hundred fold. Scootaloo was staring down Princess Twilight in the library, and could feel her nostrils flared. Princess Twilight looked genuinely taken aback, and Sweetie Belle stepped forward from near the door wearing a look of similar surprise.


Sweetie Belle's mouth moved, but no sounds could be heard from it. Audile was still synchronizing, no doubt. Suddenly -

“No!” Scootaloo spat. “She doesn’t get to do that!” She told Sweetie Belle as if it was just so, as if it were the most obvious of unspoken rules. Her eyes flashed angrily again at Twilight, the princess looking like Fluttershy under a spotlight. “Just-Just because you have wings! You don’t – you can’t…” Scootaloo stammered angrily, her tongue apparently vexed as it tried to formulate every ultimatum it could at once.

“YOU’LL NEVER BE LIKE HER!” Scootaloo expelled at long last.

“W-Wait,” Twilight stammered, quickly folding her wings to her sides. “I-I didn’t mean to upset you, I just wanted to help-”

“Of course you did!” Scootaloo snarled, not caring that she was addressing royalty with an incredible amount of disrespect. “Princess Twilight, she’s so special! She’s so nice!” Scootaloo’s voice dripped with sarcasm. “She’s the best friend anypony could ask for, the best unicorn in the history of Equestria, and now she can – she can fly like a Wonderbolt!” Scootaloo faltered on her last line, tearing up once more, and started to back up into the open doorway leading to the kitchen. “Why don’t you – why- why don’t you let others have a chance?” With that, Scootaloo scrambled on her hooves, scrabbling rapidly against the floor, and she disappeared into the kitchen away from the main room of the library. She peered frantically around the kitchen, looking for a place to go, to escape.

She looked up at the window above the countertop, then to her own wings, and Twilight could feel Scootaloo's jealousy succumb to desperate sadness marred by residual envy. Twilight guessed that, were Scootaloo able to fly to the top of counter to the window, she would have done so and left through it. Yet...

"My stupid, useless wings..." the filly sniffed, and with nowhere else to go, she slowly ambled to the underside of the kitchen table. Scootaloo pushed past the chair legs, and curled into a ball. Using her tail as a cushion, Scootaloo stared at the wall and cried some more, all the while feelings of worthlessness and anger coursed through her as she could vaguely hear the voices of Twilight and her friends over her intermittent sobbing.

*******

The kitchen warped away, but the black void was only visible for a second before being replaced by the view of Princess Twilight Sparkle once more. This time, Scootaloo was curled up on the blue comforter that Twilight recognized as the one that covered her bed above the library. Laying next to her was Princess Twilight herself, who was looking down at the filly nestled against her side with a smile on her face. Above Scootaloo, Twilight's wing was outstretched, slowly lowering down upon the young pegasus like a blanket.

"You're not," Princess Twilight said. Scootaloo's doubts flared for a second as her lip quivered.

"Y-you mean it?"

"Of course I do," Princess Twilight answered.

Twilight could sense Scootaloo's emotions running haywire. That doubt expanded even more, and along with it, the feelings of worthlessness grew again. Twilight didn't know what Scootaloo was thinking, with her brain, but something clicked. Something wonderful. Gone were the feelings of worthlessness. In fact, Twilight could detect almost nothing but positive emotions now. Gratitude and acceptance were in abundance, the doubt shredded away.

With that, Scootaloo dove into Twilight’s side, just under where her outstretched wing would have normally been folded along the alicorn’s ribs. As Twilight’s wing lowered and wrapped itself around the filly, Scootaloo's hooves were doing their best to wrap around the much larger pony. She buried her muzzle into the princess' side, eagerly accepting what she had longed for what was evidently a very long time.

Love. Twilight could feel, almost verbatim, the exact same feeling that Shining Armor felt when he laid eyes upon his sister. That wondrous feeling, that feeling that somepony else cared for you, and accepted you despite your faults. That you could rely on them to help you through thick and thin. That made you feel like you had a purpose, that indescribable feeling that -


Everything stopped, and Twilight was no longer vicariously cocooned against herself in her bedroom, nor was she in that void. Rather, she was laying on the floor in Eres before her throne. She looked up to see the Seers looking at her uneasily, and Twilight grew confused. What had happened?

"I distinctly remember asking if you two were close, Princess Twilight," Axiom said quietly, the tone of his voice greatly unnerving to the alicorn.

"We aren't - weren't! I mean, I don't know. I didn't think... I mean, all of that was -" Twilight babbled, but Axiom raised his hoof to stop her.

"I know what you mean," he said gently, "but evidently Scootaloo doesn't feel the same way."

Author's Note:

Sorry it took so long, this chapter took a lot of work to put together. There's a whole bunch of indulgent backstory and intricacies concerning the Seers that got cut out for the sake of pacing (at the sage advice of eminent pre-reader RaylanKrios - special thanks for his pre-reading, and helping keep me reigned in and focused), and even still, this is a pretty heavy world-building chapter.

Watchful readers will notice that much earlier in the story (written May 2014) Twilight mentioned to Scootaloo how she had her own run-in with bullies, and you get a neat little payoff here, courtesy of the fittingly named Shining Armor.

I hope you enjoy it. Any feedback would be appreciated.

Readers on Xbox 360 or Xbox One:

Here are two codes for Gears of War 1, and Gears of War Judgment. Please let me know when they've been used!

Gears of War 1: T9RGC-QMT2M-9YT6J-6H2DP-2YKQZ

Gears of War Judgment: DMDXH-TXHJG-T4F4V-C42JY-YT9TZ