So...What Now?

by MythrilMoth

The Familiar and the New

Twilight, Celestia, and Polly spent nearly two hours in conference inside Town Hall. Outside, Pinkie had swiftly organized a massive town-wide block party, which was still in full swing by the time the princesses emerged.

"Princess Celestia! Twilight! Come party with us!" Pinkie called out, tossing a hoofful of confetti into the air.

The two princesses looked at one another. Celestia shrugged and wandered over to the buffet table, helping herself to a piece of cake. Twilight rolled her eyes, giggled, and joined her.

It was late afternoon by the time the party wound down and ponies wandered off to their own homes and errands. Twilight, her friends, and Celestia returned to the palace to find stocky stallions still hauling things in, an unseemly amount of noise from within the palace itself, and Amber Glow screaming nigh-incomprehensible orders through a megaphone.

Twilight winced as two workponies dropped a massive mahogany desk, which led to Amber Glow screaming obscenities at them. She stuck a hoof in her ear. "I don't think I'll ever stop hearing that word," she said. "I think it's burned into my eardrum forever."

Celestia's eyes widened. "Perhaps...we should steer clear for just a while longer," she said mildly.

"You know, this might not be a bad time to head down to the old castle," Twilight said. "We did say we were going to have a picnic there, and this seems like as good a time as any."

"A visit to the old castle sounds lovely," Celestia said. "Just a moment..." Parchment, ink, and a quill appeared out of nowhere, and she wrote a quick letter. It rolled up, sealed itself, and dissipated into a plume of glittery blue-black smoke, which wafted away in the direction of Canterlot. "I've asked Luna to meet us there."

"You really need to teach me how to do that now that I'm an alicorn," Twilight said. "I mean, don't get me wrong, I love having Spike send letters for me, but..."

"I'm totally in favor of Twilight learning how to send letters that way!" Spike said. "That way I'll never have to worry about suddenly burping up a letter in the middle of eating ice cream ever again."

Celestia blinked. "Oh dear...that's actually happened?"

"More than once," Spike lamented. "Comes with the territory of being a living mailbox."

Celestia sighed. "I hereby swear that no more ice cream will be destroyed due to my thoughtlessness," she swore solemnly. "Twilight, I'll teach you the scroll-sending spell before I leave Ponyville."

* * * * *

Luna crept nervously over the threshold of the castle's grand entrance. "It has been...quite some time since last I laid eyes upon our old home," she said.

"It's been the same for me," Celestia said. "Ever since...that night...I haven't had the heart to come back here." She bowed her head. "I didn't even sleep here that night. I curled up under the Tree of Harmony and cried myself to sleep."

"Celie..." Luna said, extending a wing over her sister.

Twilight winced, ears folding. "I'm sorry," she said. "If...if this was a bad idea..."

Celestia smiled gently. "No, Twilight," she said. "This is something both my sister and I must face."

"Yes...we haven't cleaned our rooms in over a thousand years," Luna quipped. She sighed. "Still...it does hurt to see the state of ruin which has befallen the castle." She glanced at Twilight. "I fully appreciate your pain."

Twilight smiled. "It looks a lot worse on the outside than it does on the inside," she said.

The group entered, and the two ancient alicorns looked around, eyes wide. "Why...you all have done a wonderful job!" Celestia gasped. "It looks so clean and...and..."

"Un-ruined?" Luna ventured.

"Well-maintained," Celestia amended.

"We've put a lot of work into this place," Rainbow said.

"The tapestries!" Luna cried. "They look...they look as lovely as the day Princess Platinum presented them to us!"

"They certainly do," Celestia said. "I suppose we have you to thank for that, Rarity?"

Rarity smiled. "Well...I couldn't simply sit by and let such beautiful art rot! It would be a crime against fabulosity!"

"The significance of what you have done is far greater than simply preserving beautiful art," Luna said. "These tapestries are historic treasures. They date back to the founding of Equestria itself!"

"Yes...the unicorn princess, Princess Platinum, designed and commissioned these tapestries," Celestia said. "They're priceless."

Rarity gasped. "I...I had no idea!"

"I knew," Twilight said. "It's in the journal."

Celestia looked up at the tapestries. "I think we should remove these tapestries from this castle and have them transplanted to Canterlot. What do you think, Luna?"

"I agree," Luna said. "All of Equestria should be free to appreciate these splendid tapestries."

"That's a wonderful idea!" Twilight said. "After all, they sort of belong to the two of you, not to the castle itself. Um...which also belongs to the two of you..."

"Yes, they're just going to waste here," Rarity said.

"As long as we're talking about transplanting things from this castle," Twilight said, "I was thinking...the library here is a valuable resource. The books and scrolls here should be, well...more readily accessible."

Celestia smiled. "I quite agree. When I return to Canterlot, I'll arrange to have the contents of the castle library transplanted to your new palace."

Twilight blinked. "To...to my palace? But...but it's your—"

"Logistics," Celestia said simply. "It would be easier to transfer the materials to your palace, your library will have more room for them than the Canterlot Archives, and it would be better if you had more direct access to them." She smiled.

Twilight bounced in place. "Well, alright then!" she said with a wide, bright smile and a girlish giggle. She stopped bouncing after a moment, a mild frown on her face. "I'll need to screen out the dark magic stuff, though." She gave the elder princesses a faintly disapproving look. "No disrespect intended, but you two were into some pretty twisted stuff when you were younger."

"Yeah, like that Hall of Hooves," Rainbow Dash said. "Seriously, what the hay?"

Luna and Celestia shared a sheepish look and giggled.

* * * * *

It was late evening, with the moon already high overhead, when the picnic broke up. Luna and Celestia returned to Canterlot, and Twilight and her friends packed up and headed back for Ponyville. As the group returned to the new palace, Amber Glow approached. "Your Highness," she said, bowing to Twilight, "ze crews haff finished furnishing your private rooms und ze kitchen. Zere is more vork to be done, und it vill take at least four more days to complete all vork visin ze palace, but you und your dragon now haff a place to sleep."

"Thank you, Amber Glow. I'll have to thank all the workers personally tomorrow." Twilight noticed a massive collection of tents scattered around the outside of the palace. "What's going on here?"

"Temporary quarters for ze vorkers und guards," Amber Glow said. "Zey vill remain here until ze vork is completed, und zen return to Canterlot."

"Oh. Alright." Twilight stretched and yawned. "Well...I don't know about you guys, but I'm beat."

"Yeah, I hear ya," Rainbow said. "I wanna see your new digs, but...I'd better get home while I can still fly. G'nite!" Waving a wing, she launched herself into the air.

"We can have a great big sleepover slash housewarming party for Twilight...after all this mess is over with," Pinkie said, cracking a huge yawn. "I gotta get home before the twins' bedtime so I don't wake them up coming in. Goodnight everypony!"

One by one, Twilight's other friends made their goodbyes and headed for home. "Well, Spike," Twilight said as she looked up at the palace. "Let's...go home."

* * * * *

With Spike on her back, Twilight glided through the balcony door at the base of the palace proper. They looked around at the bright purple crystal interior. "This place is even cooler than Cadance's palace," Spike said. "The color's better anyway."

"Yeah...come to think of it, we didn't really explore the upper palace yet, did we?" Twilight paused, brow furrowed. "Wait a second...how will I find our rooms?"

Spike shrugged. "Well...there's gotta be a window, right? We can just fly around outside until we find a room that's got furniture and stuff."

"Good idea, Spike!" Twilight said. Spike hopped back onto her back, and Twilight turned and flew out the way she entered, circling the outside of the palace and peering into each window. Finally, near the top of the third floor, she looked into one window and nearly dropped Spike.

Inside was a near-perfect replica of her bedroom from the library, only much larger, with an enormous bed. As Twilight flew through the huge window, Spike jumped down off her back and looked around. "Wow, it really looks...amazing," he said. He frowned. "But...where's my basket?"

Twilight giggled. "Spike," she said, "you don't really want to sleep in a basket by my bed anymore, do you?"

Spike frowned. "Well...I always have..."

"Think, Spike. There's this whole huge palace. There's a lot of rooms."

Spike blinked. "Wait...you don't mean..." He gasped. "I've got my own room?!"

"Let's find out," Twilight said, giving his spines an affectionate ruffle. She opened the bedroom door, and they stepped out into a massive sitting room, decorated to look exactly like the reading room at Golden Oak Library. The bookshelves were all empty, but Twilight was determined to correct that at her earliest opportunity. Several large crystal doors led off the sitting room; the one they had just come through had her cutie mark engraved on it. Twilight's horn glowed, and all the doors opened. She and Spike began poking their heads in each door.

"This one's apparently my private office," Twilight said.

"I found the bathroom," Spike said. "Ooh, that toilet looks cold..."

"This is a closet," Twilight said. "A really big closet..."

"Found it!" Spike said. "Whoa, check it out!"

Twilight trotted over and peered into the door Spike had just gone through. Inside, the decor was similar to Twilight's bedroom. In the center of the floor was a large round cushion with raised edges, the same deep purple as Rarity's mane, scattered with a dozen off-white plush throw pillows, with two neatly-folded lavender blankets in the middle. There were a few bookshelves in the room, as well as an ornate gilded treasure chest that stood open and empty against one wall.

"Ooooh! Fancy," Twilight said. With a giggle, she added, "Love the color choice."

"You and me both," Spike said.

"And look! You've got a place to keep all your gems! Well...the ones you can manage not to eat the second you get your claws on them."

"And plenty of room for a comic book collection!" Spike dived into the "bed", rolling over on his back and tucking a pillow under his head. "Yeah, I'm gonna love this room," he said happily.

Twilight giggled. "Well...I'll leave you to it then," she said. "G'nite, Spike." She trotted off, closing the door behind her, and headed for her own room, where she wasted no time at all settling into a deep, contented sleep.

* * * * *

Twilight awoke to a full bladder and a grumbling stomach. Spike awoke to a loud, shrill squeal of shock. As he toddled out of his bedroom, rubbing sleep from his eyes, Twilight stalked stiffly out of the bathroom. "Spike, make a note," she said tersely. "Before the end of the day, I want that stupid toilet seat padded."

She had not, in fact, said 'stupid', but rather the terribly foul word Amber Glow had used the day before; Spike chose to pretend she hadn't said something that nasty. Instead, he wagged an empty claw. "Uhh...Twilight? I don't have anything to make a note with yet."

The door to Twilight's office opened, and parchment, ink, and a quill floated out. "There. Now make that note."

"Padded toilet seat, got it," Spike said. His belly rumbled. "Should I go make breakfast?"

"I don't even know if the kitchen is stocked with food yet," Twilight said. "Or where the kitchen is, for that matter..."

"So...breakfast in town?" Spike suggested.

"Sounds good to me," Twilight agreed. She frowned. "We really should just walk downstairs, so that we can learn our way around the palace..."

"Nah," Spike said. "I'm too hungry to walk. Just fly or teleport us."

Twilight giggled. "Alright."

As the two exited the same way they had entered, Twilight glided gracefully to the ground. Outside the miniature tent city, several catering wagons had set up shop. Applejack and Pinkie Pie were distributing pastries, fruit, coffee, and juice to the workers and guards. Twilight dropped to the ground nearby, and she and Spike walked up to their wagons. "Good morning, everypony!" she greeted.

The nearest workers dropped to a knee, bowing their heads. "Howdy, Twilight!" Applejack waved. "Y'all care fer some breakfast?"

"Don't mind if we do!" Twilight looked around at the kneeling workers and rolled her eyes. "Get up, guys. It's too early in the morning for this." She perused the goodies on the wagons before helping herself to an apple turnover and a cup of coffee. Spike wandered over to Pinkie's wagon and claimed a huge, frosted donut with sprinkles.

"So how'd you sleep last night?" Applejack asked.

"Wonderfully," Twilight said. "I have the most amazing bed. And Spike has his own room!" She giggled. "Wait until you see his bed. Heck, wait until Rarity sees it."

Applejack raised an eyebrow. "Lookin' forward to it. How's th' rest of th' palace?"

Twilight shrugged. "Purple, crystal, fancy...honestly, we didn't bother exploring much. We just figured out where the royal suite was from the outside."

"Zat is for ze best, perhaps," Amber Glow said as she approached, adjusting her glasses. "Ze inside of ze palace is...razzer messy at ze moment." She bowed slightly. "Good morning, Your Highness. Vork vill resume in...sirty minutes, ja?"

Twilight looked around at the workers. "Make it an hour," she said. "Give everypony time to enjoy breakfast and stretch out a bit."

Amber Glow frowned, but dipped her head. "As you wish, Your Highness."

"Oh, and Amber Glow?" Twilight frowned. "I want the toilet seat in my bathroom padded. Make that today's number one priority."

Amber Glow raised an eyebrow. "I'll make a note of it."

Applejack chuckled. "Froze your fanny off, huh?"

"Let's just say it wasn't the nicest way to wake up," Twilight grimaced. Her horn began to tingle in an unfamiliar way. "Huh? What—?"

A plume of lavender smoke, shot through with pink sparkles, wafted toward her from the direction of Canterlot in a lazy spiral, coalescing into a scroll with Celestia's seal. She seized it in her magic and opened it.

Dear Twilight,

Your parents, your brother, and Cadance will be arriving on the early train from Canterlot.

Sincerely,
Celestia

Twilight smiled happily. "My family's coming to Ponyville for a visit!"

"Well ain't that right nice," Applejack said.

Pinkie gasped. "Your parents have never come to Ponyville before, have they?"

"They sure haven't," Twilight said. "Actually, neither has Shining Armor, now that I think about it." Her ears twitched. "I was planning to get to work reorganizing Town Hall today, buuuut...I guess it can wait a little longer." She rustled her wings. "Spike, stay here and be my liaison to the workers. I'm headed for the train station."

Spike saluted. "You can count on me!"

"Girls, thanks for breakfast!" Twilight appropriated a second apple turnover with her magic, then took off, leaving a faint lavender blur in her wake.

* * * * *

Twilight trotted lightly in place on the platform, wings ruffling anxiously as she awaited the train.

"Jeez, Twilight, settle down! You look like you gotta tinkle or somethin'!"

Twilight spun to see Rainbow Dash land lightly behind her. She blushed furiously. "No I don't! ...do I?"

"Maybe just a little."

Twilight ducked her head. "Ponyfeathers."

Rainbow snickered. "So, what's got you so worked up?"

"My whole family's coming to Ponyville on the next train!"

"Awesome!" Rainbow said. "I'd stick around and greet them with you, but I've got pegasus stuff to do. See you up at the palace later?"

Twilight nodded, and Rainbow left. A few minutes later, the train arrived. Two guard ponies stepped out of one car, and a procession emerged, led by Princess Cadance. Behind and to her left was Shining Armor; behind him were—

"Mom! Dad!" Twilight rushed over and swept her parents up in a hug.

"Oof!" Night Light wheezed with a strained chuckle. "Take it easy there! You're stronger than you look!"

"Hello, dear," Twilight Velvet said.

Twilight released her parents and straightened up. She then rushed over to Cadance and hugged her tightly, then repeated the process with Shining Armor. "I'm just so happy to see all of you," she said. "You have no idea..."

"The last few days have been trying for everypony, but you most of all," Cadance said gently. "We all agreed Ponyville is the only place in Equestria for us to be right now. I'm just sorry it took us so long to get here."

"Oh, that's fine," Twilight said. "Yesterday was crazy, what with the construction in the palace and me taking over Ponyville..." She paused. "Oh! I can't wait to show you the palace!"

"We can't wait to see it up close!" Shining Armor said. "We can see it from Canterlot and it's amazing!"

Twilight blinked. "Wow. It's visible from Canterlot?"

"Can't really miss it," Cadance said with a grin.

Twilight Velvet trotted up to her daughter, peering curiously at her. "My, but you've grown," she said. "Your father and I haven't seen you since the coronation...you've really grown!" She reached up with a hoof and measured her daughter's horn.

Twilight blushed self-consciously. "I haven't grown that much..."

"Are you kidding?" Shining Armor said. "You're HUGE, little sis!"

Twilight peered at him, eyes narrowed. "Are you calling me fat, BBBFF?"

Shining reached up and booped her on the muzzle. "Not falling for that," he said. The others laughed.

"But seriously," Cadance said, "you think she's grown now, wait two or three years. You won't even recognize her."

Twilight blinked at her. "What do you mean?"

Cadance smirked. "Twilight, look at me, Luna, and Celestia. I've only been an alicorn what, eighteen years? And I'm nowhere close to having anything on those two." She smiled. "But I'm also not as powerful as you. And you'd have to ask Celestia to know for sure, but..." She paused. "I think having all of our magic inside you like you did...well...I wouldn't be surprised if there are after-effects."

"After-effects?" Twilight asked, eyes wide.

Cadance tilted her head. "Come to think of it...I'd swear you're half a hoof taller than you were just the other day."

Twilight's eyes widened. "Wait...are you saying..." She trailed off. "I need to research this as soon as I have the books and scrolls from the old castle library." She began to pace nervously in place. "If I have some kind of...alicorn growth spurt..."

"Bit late for that," Shining Armor said.

Velvet walked up to her daughter. "Sparkle, dear," she said soothingly. "Don't worry about it. Whatever happens, happens. The important thing is you're you, and everypony who knows you is proud of you."

Twilight smiled and hugged her mother. "Mom..."

"But even if you get as tall as Celestia, I'm still calling you little sis," Shining Armor said.

Twilight looked over at him, smirking. "Yeah? Well you can count on me calling you little brother." Everypony laughed. "Come on," Twilight said. "Let me show you all my new home."

Comments

[Tatsurou]

That ending was perfect!

[Blue2411]

Awesome chapter! Can't wait for more! really love the idea, there needs to be more stories like this one! keep up the good work!

[NebulaNyx]

That was awesome. Enough said.

[Discorder]

daw
I didn't tough it could be, but this chapter is even better then the previous

keep the good work

[gamexpert1990]

Okay, so if I had this story in my favorites in order to check on it's progress, why didn't I get a notification that a new chapter was up? I just happened to see this on the recently updated section of the home page...

Also, why can't we give individual chapters a thumbs up? Because I would definitely give this story another green thumb.

[MythrilMoth]

4732724 There's a sporadic glitch with the favorites system. Sometimes when stories show up the update will appear in your feed but not in your favorites tab. The best way to be sure you don't miss an update is to click the checkbox that says "Email updates". Anyway, glad you enjoyed it. :)

[OmniFox]

I don't think Twilight ever introduced her family to Owlowisicious.
Added that to it.

[Awesomo3000]

Aww, Twilight's parents and family coming to Ponyville? Sweet!

[Spilledink82]

Please update, this was amazing!

[MythrilMoth]

4734025 ...dude, it hasn't even been twelve hours yet since I updated the story. Writing takes time. And so do things like sleep!

[Wyld Card]

4734115

Excuses! More!

...Please...

[Spilledink82]

4734115 hehehe
Whoops.

Feel free to take your time!

[djthomp]

As a 6'2" younger brother to a 5'10" older brother, I am right there with Twilight at the end, I've been calling him my little brother for years.

[Rokas]

Nicely done.

[zero11729]

nice job more

[rogueunicorn]

"Twilight, look at me, Luna, and Celestia. I've only been an alicorn what, eighteen years? And I'm nowhere close to having anything on those two."

Seriously guys. Stop pretending Luna and Cadence aren't almost the exact same size, and that Celestia isn't way taller than both of them, as you can see here:

img3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20130217153026/mlp/images/a/a8/Celestia%2C_Luna%2C_and_Cadance_in_coronation_attire_S03E13.png

But if you look at this scene depicting Celestia and Luna over 1000 years ago:
img1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20131126002548/mlp/images/9/93/Celestia_and_Luna_facing_Discord_S4E2.png

While Celestia is still significantly taller than Luna, the height difference is not as prominent, and Celestia's mane is shorter. The only way to explain this is, is to assume Luna stopped growing while on the moon. If she had not been banished, she would be nearly as tall as Celestia.

[Swashbucklist]

Celestia sighed. "I hereby swear that no more ice cream will be destroyed due to my thoughtlessness," she swore solemnly. "Twilight, I'll teach you the scroll-sending spell before I leave Ponyville."

Unfortunately, she only taught Twilight the sending spell, and neglected to teach her the receiving spell. When she realized her bungle, she sent an apology just as Spike was about to suck rattlesnake poison out of Sweetie Belle's leg. The good news: the snakebite was cauterized.

[BenRG]

I wonder if all the Mane Six will experience some type of power boost (maybe Element-specific special abilities) as a result of unlocking the Rainbow Power.