A Debt to Pay
Celestia walked up to the door of the guest room Luna was using and gently tapped on it with a hoof. The Solar Princess had woken up earlier than everyone else and had taken care of her morning essentials like she normally did. Even when she was away from Canterlot for an extended period of time, it was hard to shake the routine she was so accustomed to. Shining and Cadance had woken up a little while ago and were busy getting ready for the new day, but Luna had not yet and Celestia was getting a little concerned about her. She raised her hoof and knocked a little louder after a moment, calling, “Luna? Are you awake yet?”
At that moment on the other side of the door, Luna was just starting to wake up. As she was roused from her slumber, she felt a familiar sense of disorientation that her mind slowly recognized as she became more aware of the waking world. It wasn’t due to Celestia’s knocking or any feeling of tiredness; it was due to what happened during the night. She’d fallen asleep and subconsciously use her magic to reach out to Twilight and enter her dream, only for her friend to abruptly wake up before she could pull herself out. It was something that had happened before and it wasn’t necessarily harmful to her, but it usually caused her to take longer to wake up and left her feeling shaken up to say the least.
Luna opened her eyes after a few seconds, hearing the sound of Celestia’s knocking more clearly than before. Although she remained on her back, she called out, “I am awake, sister. I will be out momentarily.” She didn’t hear anything after several seconds, so she guessed that Celestia was waiting for her to keep her word. She gave a small sigh and raised herself to a sitting position as she pushed the covers aside.
As she swung her legs over the side of the bed, her thoughts turned back to what she’d seen in Twilight’s dreams as she put her shoes on, specifically the soldiers. Not only had her magic not affected them, they reacted to it as if they were ghosts. There certainly were things that she had no influence over in a pony’s dreams; she had her own creation and her powerlessness against it to remind her of that, but it was unusual for her to encounter it in other ponies. She found it especially concerning since it was Twilight, her friend. From the moment she saw her in the hospital bed, she knew whatever she had been through had to have changed her somehow, but what she’d told everyone did not line up with what Luna had seen. Was there something else she had witnessed? Something she didn’t want to talk about?
Luna shook her head, realizing that she was getting lost in her thoughts and losing track of time. “Celestia will probably start banging on the door again if I take much longer,” she thought to herself, quickly grabbing her tiara and chest plate and walking over to the door. She pulled it open and found the white alicorn on the other side like she suspected. “Good morning, sister,” she said.
Celestia replied, “Good morning, Luna. I wasn’t sure if you were up yet. Has Twilight’s return been messing with how much sleep you’re getting?”
Luna could hear the concern in her older sister’s voice and said, “Not at all, sister. I was merely reaching out in my sleep and took a little longer to come back to myself.”
Celestia nodded, “I see. Well, once we’ve made sure that Twilight understands that she is truly the Princess of Friendship, that should take a great weight off our shoulders as well.”
Luna asked, “Surely we’re not simply going to leave for Canterlot once the matter has been settled?”
Celestia said, “I don’t wish to leave Twilight’s side so soon after reuniting with her either, Luna, but we cannot be away for long, and neither can Cadance and Shining Armor from the Crystal Empire. At the very least, we need to put her worries to rest before we return.”
Luna’s ears perked up at the word ‘worries’ and she nodded softly, “Very well. Where is the bathing room? I will get ready and then we will meet with Twilight.”
Celestia turned and said, “I will show you the way.” As the two sisters walked, Celestia remarked, “Hopefully Twilight will have gotten a good night’s sleep and will have no trouble paying attention.”
Luna didn’t comment, but she did think to herself, “I’m not so sure she will be well rested, but I hope that she’ll be willing to open up. I certainly hope she is not haunted, in every meaning of the word.”
The sisters, Cadance, and Shining were expecting to find Twilight exploring her new castle when they went looking for her, but they were wrong about where her interest was that morning. At that time, Twilight was sitting on the ground outside, looking over at the heavily burnt remains of the Golden Oak Library. She could only stare listlessly at it, her mind a jumble of thoughts at the moment.
Twilight looked at the scorched bark and what remained of the trunk of the tree. The sight of it wasn’t overly horrifying for her; it looked much worse when she’d seen it right after Tirek’s attack destroyed it. That was the image that she remembered so vividly during her time in the other world, how she narrowly got Owlowiscious out before he was engulfed in the explosion. She wondered what happened to him, if she’d ever see him again or if he returned to living as a free owl. “Maybe Fluttershy has seen him since then,” she idly thought.
Twilight returned her focus to the remains of her old home. She was sad that it was gone and wanted to outwardly express, even if it was to herself, how much she missed it, but she couldn’t bring herself to. She had a problem that she considered much bigger that was in the way of her doing that or much of anything else for the time being. She lifted up her left hoof and looked down at the piece of paper underneath it, her mind going back to her earlier conversation with the Mayor.
Flashback
Mayor Mare looked over at Twilight in concern as they sat on one of the benches near the castle’s front doors. The two had been talking about what had happened to the Golden Oak Library and what it meant for the town and Twilight and she’d given her the paper she was holding in both hooves and looking down at almost a minute ago. Twilight had been distressed almost the entire time they were talking, but now she was looking down with wide eyes. The way her hooves were shaking slightly made Mayor Mare think she wanted to scream something really loudly, but for the moment, she seemed to be locked in a staring contest with the paper that the tan pony wasn’t sure that pulling her out of was a good idea.
The uncertainty was getting to her, however, and it wasn’t long before she couldn’t take it anymore. “Twilight? Are you okay?” she asked, cautiously.
The Mayor’s voice caused Twilight to snap back to the present and she blinked as she looked up, her eyes returning to a more normal size as she looked at the wall across from her. She then turned to the tan mare and replied, with no small amount of uncertainty, “Uh, y-yeah. I think so…”
Mayor Mare looked away with a sigh, “I had a feeling I should’ve waited until later to discuss this…”
Twilight quickly said, “No, no! It… It’s fine. I’m glad you brought this to my attention right away. I mean, I’m not sure that’s the right word for it, but… you know…”
Mayor Mare looked back at her and said, “Yes. You see now why the town council has been getting more and more insistent that I get this matter settled. They’ve even suggested sending that to Princess Celestia and make her pay for it due to your princess status.” Twilight shook a little bit and looked at her with wide eyes, the former going unnoticed by the tan mare. “I was even starting to consider it myself…”
Twilight held up her hooves, “No, no, no, that’s… that won’t be necessary. I’ll… I’ll find a way to pay for the damages… soon.”
Mayor Mare asked, “Are you sure? It’s asking a lot for one pony to pay for it all…”
Twilight replied, “I’ll find a way to. It was technically my home as well; I should take responsibility for anything that happens to it. I would’ve gotten insurance on it long ago, but apparently you can’t insure a tree.”
Mayor Mare shook her head with a slight smile, “No, you can’t. That’s one paperwork mess that hasn’t been figured out yet.”
Twilight finished, “Still, I’ll find a way to pay for it.” She tried to instill her words with confidence, but they didn’t come out that way.
Mayor Mare stood up, “All right, then. I’ll leave you to it for the time being.” Twilight nodded and got up as well. She walked the tan mare to the doors and shut them behind her before turning around and slumping down against them, looking at the bill in her hoof again.
End flashback
Twilight picked the bill up with her hoof as she continued to look at it, staring at the total at the bottom. “How am I ever going to get enough bits to pay this off?” she moaned internally. The various categories that added up to the total included not only the destruction of the tree, but also everything in it, including the furniture and the books. “They must have a copy of all the book lists on file to be able to add all this up. Now I really wish I’d given away all my extra books at the Trader’s Exchange. At least that would’ve lowered the amount somewhat,” she thought. Starting to feel frustrated with the whole thing, she tucked the bill into one of her saddlebags and stood up, hoping a walk would help clear her head.
Falling back into old habits, Twilight walked away from the remains of her old home as if she were going out to do something and headed into town. Plenty of ponies were up and about now, and many of them were surprised to see Twilight walking around Ponyville after her month-long absence. They smiled and waved to her as she walked by and she returned the gesture, albeit a bit forced. Of course, she still had the debt she owed on her mind, but she also felt that any joy they had at seeing her was misplaced, that they wouldn’t want to see her if they knew…
While Twilight was waving at another pony, she didn’t look where she was going and ended up walking into another pony, knocking them both to the ground. “Hey! Careful!” the other pony, a mare, exclaimed after they both landed.
“Sorry…” Twilight muttered as she rubbed her flank. She then looked at the mare. She had a light blue coat and a mane and tail that was a mix of blue and light blue-gray. On her flanks was a cutie mark of an hourglass. “Minuette?” Twilight asked, remembering looking her and her other old friends’ names up during her night session in the tower.
The unicorn blinked and looked behind her at that, staring back at the young princess. “Twilight?” she uttered, her confusion soon giving way to a big smile. “Twilight!” she exclaimed as she leapt up and pulled the other mare into a tight hug. “Wow, I haven’t seen you in, like, forever! It’s been so long we were all getting worried about you! Oh, it’s so nice to see you again, see you walking around Ponyville, see you…” She paused and a look of confusion appeared on her face as she felt Twilight’s back. “You feel… different,” she said, not looking at her.
Twilight, despite the crushing grip she was in, managed to say, “I believe that’s my uniform you’re feeling.”
Minuette’s eyes moved to look at Twilight and then down at her Sneaking Suit. “Oh!” she said before letting the mare go, both of them taking a few steps back from each other. “How did I miss that?” While Twilight caught her breath, Minuette leaned forward to take a closer look at the suit. “That looks… odd. And really tight,” she remarked after a few moments.
Twilight looked back at her and said, “I guess. I mean, I’ve worn it so long that I barely notice how it fits.”
Minuette smiled back at her. She looked about ready to say something, but then she blinked as she realized something. “Aw! I just had to forget my camera today! Maybe Lyra has one I can borrow,” she said.
Twilight asked, “Lyra?”
Minuette replied, “Yeah! You know, she lives here in Ponyville, just like you! Lemon Hearts, Twinkleshine, and I visit a lot to see her! We’d visit you too, but you always seem to be busy with your friends when we’re in town.”
Twilight glanced off to the side and muttered, “It’s probably better that way anyway…”
Minuette didn’t catch what she said and asked, “What? What’d you say?” Twilight didn’t respond and, as she looked her over, Minuette finally noticed that she didn’t seem to be too enthused about this reunion. “Hey, what’s wrong?” she asked.
Twilight looked back at her and said, “Don’t get the wrong idea, Minuette. It’s great to see you too and I’d ask if we could find time to hang out…”
Minuette interrupted her, “Of course we can! We can hang out right now! Come on, let’s go meet up with Lemon Hearts and Twinkleshine!”
Twilight spoke up once she finished speaking, “BUT! I just found out this morning that I owe a lot of money that, I guess, nopony I know was told about.”
Minuette asked, “Really? You have a debt to pay off, Twilight?”
Twilight replied, “Yes, to the town for destruction of their property, as a matter of fact. I don’t know if you heard about some destruction that happened here about a month ago?”
Minuette cheerily replied, “I remember seeing it! The library was totally destroyed in big explosion! That’s where you and Spike live, right? That’s gotta be…” She came to a stop as she realized what she said. “…oh. Oh.”
Twilight nodded, “Yeah. So, I’m currently a little distracted by the question of how I’m going to pay back the money. With interest, I’m sure, since it’s been a month.”
Minuette glanced down and to the side as she thought about Twilight’s problem. After a couple of seconds, she looked up at the mare and said, “Hey, I’ve got an idea!” Twilight blinked and looked attentively at her. “You should totally come with me and catch up with the other girls too!” Twilight gave her a deadpan expression as she slouched forward a bit, but Minuette’s smile didn’t waver.
She used her magic to lift one of Twilight’s hooves off the ground as she continued, “Come on, it’ll be great! You can catch up with everypony and then we can start tackling your problem together! I’m sure we can all come up with a way for you to start earning money to pay off your debt!” And with that, she stood up and turned around before she started running down the street, pulling Twilight through the air behind with her magic as she hurried to meet up with the rest of their friends.
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Well, at least she's being helpful. Let' be honest, how much good was it doing Twi walking around worrying?
Save the land, get stuck with the bill?
Someone in accounting needs a tail torch to illuminate what's wrong with that.
So this story seems fun! I'm gonna read it later though, as it is 1:37 where I live, and I need to sleep.
8992298
Technically, though, trees are living organisms. Training Dummies generally aren't.
im sorry wtf your lumping her ass with the bill!? nah dog
also your now on my shit list
if any one should be fronted with the bill, it should be Tirek... and Discord, since he actually helped Tirek for a while... still... love the story
9301809
You never know, that's for sure.
9301889
Me?
9301837
Bureaucrats.
......twilight and her friends have saved the world HOW MANY TIMES now, and these assholes are pinning her with the debt for one destroyed tree?
9302247
nah the ponyville council,........ also hold up is she going to go payday 2 on us and start pulling off heist with her superior sneaking skills to pay for said bill if so i approve
Screw it, go Senator Armstrong with Twilight. "I'm using War as a business, to pay off my debt. So I can END was as a business!"
Dang, so she saved the whole town from being turned from ash because of a demonic centaur, went missing for months, came back injured, lost her home, and they just give her a bill.
Like your lucky that fight didn’t level the whole town considering the fire power they were throwing out.
Yay minuette!!! I really hope Twilight’s Canterlot friends have another episode in the next season.
9302306
welcome to politics buddy
9302254
More oh men i love this story is there going to be a change Vernon snake or naked snake to equestria might be turn to be pony
Soooo... this has been bugging me since I first read the chapter but with it originally being a public library wouldn't the Golden Oak Library technically be covered under some sort of Town-wide insurance legislation? in fact seeing as it was technically a monster attack wouldn't the crown pay for all the damages anyway?
- Thunder
9308506
A number of council members want to suck all the money they can out of the crown, so they're holding Twilight responsible, but the Mayor's trying to be fair to all and let her make the decision.
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More
9308806
Greedy Jerks.......let's give them to a certain five headed species to be dealt with.