The Phoenix Tear

by CartoonNerd12

Chapter 15

Pinkie was bouncing on ahead while singing, "She'll be comin' around the mountain when she comes! She'll be comin' around when she comes!"

She kept on singing while her sisters were behind her and keeping their distance from her singing.

Rainbow whispered to AJ as she was holding her ears while flapping beside her, "She better hurry around that mountain 'cause I don't know how much more I can take!"

"Me, either!" Sweetie Belle said behind them and she looked like she was in a lot of pain. "My eardrums can't stand this type of singing! It needs something with more tempo!" Then her eyes lit up, quickly went up to Pinkie, and tapped her shoulder, "Uh, Pinkie?"

She stopped singing to face her young sister, "Yeah, Sweetie?"

"Mind if I take over?"

"Not at all! Go ahead!"

She nodded, took a big breath, and sung out, "What I love most about rivers is: You can't step in the same river twice… The water's always changing, always flowing… But ponies, I guess, can't live like that… We all must pay a price… To be safe, we lose our chance of ever knowing… What's around the riverbend? Waiting just around the riverbend… I look once more… Just around the riverbend! Beyond the shore! Where the gulls fly free! Don't know what for! What I dream the day might send… Just around the riverbend… For me… Coming for me… I feel it there beyond those trees or right behind these waterfalls… Can I ignore that sound of distant drumming just to keep Sunset Shimmer locked away behind tower walls and never dream that her friends might be coming? Just around the riverbend… Just around the riverbend… I look once more just around the riverbend! Beyond the shore! Somewhere past the sea… Don't know what for... Why do all my dreams extend just around the riverbend? Just around the riverbend... Should we choose the smoothest course? Steady as the beating drum? Should we resume our duties? Is all our searching at an end? Or do you still wait for us, Ms. Shimmer… Just around the riverbend?

"Nice one, Sweetie Belle." said Scootaloo.

"Thanks. My singing has improved a lot since I started singing the girls to sleep every night."

"Do you sing to them the same lullaby that Mother sang to us?" Pinkie asked.

"As a matter of fact, I do. It's such a lovely song. I can't get it out of my head."

Rarity questioned, "Where do you suppose Mother and Father got it?"

"I'm not sure. We'll have to ask them when we get back." said Twilight.

"Think the boys can handle things while we're gone?" Applejack asked.

"They better," said Rainbow, "or else we'll have to clean up after them when we get back!"

"Oh, how much trouble can they get into?" Apple Bloom questioned.

At that very moment back at the Canterlot castle, the guys were relaxing till…

"DADDDD!" came a chorus of shouts that caused the fathers to jump.

The cousins came filing in as all of them yelled and pointed hooves.

"Gem wouldn't share her dolls!" Screwy whined.

"You'll just end up breaking them!" Gem countered.

"Jewel burned my bed!" Cotton shouted.

"I said I was sorry and I didn't mean to. It was an accident!" Apple Jewel hollered.

"Whirl Wind broke my prized collection of priceless figurines!" Dignity gestured.

"Well, you broke my collection of Wonderbolt memorabilia!"

"Apple Butter took our skates!" pointed Skater.

"I did not!"

There was more arguing and hoof pointing when suddenly, Discord used a whistle to silence the fighting.

"Give us one moment." he got the guys into a huddle.

"What do we do?!" Spike panicked. "The girls were the one who knew how calm the kids down and knew what to do to fix the problem!"

"Well, we got to do something…" said Fancy.

"I know! A party!" piped Cheese.

"Huh?!" they all said.

"How is that going to fix anything?" Pip questioned.

"Easy, we give them something to do so they won't focus on bickering so much and their mothers being gone."

"Hey… you just might be on to something…" Discord stroked his beard.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" gestured Button. "What happens when the girls get back and find out?"

"Not if we make the kids Pinkie-promise not to say anything…" Discord grinned mischievously. The rest of the dads, except Cheese, were hesitant about this. "Hey, it's either that or… we go back listening to arguments. Take your pick."

They quickly glanced back at the kids and finally, they nodded their heads. Discord then clapped his hands and addressed the children, "Alright, kids, are you ready for a fun-filled day with the dads?!"

The kids' faces lit up.

"Dessert in the morning and carnival rides at night!" Cheese pointed out.

"Yay!" the young ones cheered.

"Then you stay right here until we have everything ready." said Discord as he left the room with the rest of the fathers following behind him.

Once they were gone, the kids exchanged smirks and shook each other's hooves.

Meanwhile, the girls kept following Owlowiscious through the forest path.

"How much longer till we get there?" Rainbow asked in a bored tone.

"I don't know. It couldn't have taken Owlowiscious more than a day to get back to the castle with the message in his claws." Twilight voiced.

"Think we may need to stop for the night?" questioned Applejack.

"Or maybe we're already there." Pinkie pointed to a manor that was within view.

They stopped to stare at the manor house.

"Think this is it?" Scootaloo asked.

"We'll soon see…" Twilight flapped her wings up and headed for the tower attached to the building.

Sunset was feeling bored as she hung her head upside-down on the side of the bed. At this point, she actually wished she could do some chores instead of just sitting around being able to do nothing.

Suddenly, she saw a figure approaching the window even though from her view, the figure was upside down. When it became clear who it was, she had a wide grin on, got up, and went to the window while being careful of the force field.

"Sunset Shimmer!" Twilight called out. "We came as soon as we got the message."

"We?"

"My sisters," she smiled and looked back to see them coming. She turned to face Sunset again and was about to get closer to the window when Sunset cried out.

"Stop! Don't come any closer!"

"Why?"

"There's a spell around the tower. If you get near the window or door, it will zap you!"

"Whoa, a lock-down spell… Your guardian did this?"

"Starlight Glimmer. She's pretty powerful, so be careful."

"Why would she do this to you?"

"As punishment for disobeying her orders… All I ever wanted was to leave this place and to explore what was out there. I thought I had succeeded of getting away with it when I met you, but she caught us in the act…"

"Just who is this 'us'?"

"My friends, also servants to Starlight. They were found by Starlight and she promised she would provide them with everything they needed."

"But they are being treated unfairly as well?"

"Yes. I won't leave without them. They're the first real friends I made while living here. Our lives were more bearable as we looked out for each other."

Twilight beamed, "Don't worry. I promise we'll get you and them out of here…"

"How?"

"I'm not quite sure yet. I need some time to look over this spell and figure out if there's any way to lift it without using the caster's magic. In the meantime, we'll meet these friends of yours and see if there's any we can do help them."

So when Twilight knocked on the front doors, the four ponies came out with surprised looks on their faces. Sunset shouted down from her tower that the visiting ponies were in fact the princesses that she met, but Twilight needed to introduce her younger sisters to Sunset. The alicorn explained how they were adopted into the royal family and how they were away on their island kingdom during Sunset's visit in Canterlot.

Once introductions and formalities were over with, Double Diamond explained to the princesses about daily life in Starlight's manor. "Starlight keeps a very tight schedule around here."

"And because of Sunset's recent adventure," spoke Party Favor, "we've been punished to take over her chores while still doing our own chores."

"And it was hard enough finishing our chores while Starlight was out before Sunset's punishment." said Night Gilder.

"In that case, I suggest we split up and have two for each pony. Applejack and Fluttershy, go with Sugar Belle. Rarity and Sweetie Belle with Double Diamond, Pinkie Pie and Apple Bloom assist with Party Favor, and Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo will help Night Gilder."

"What about you?" Rainbow asked.

"I'm going to check on Sunset Shimmer and see if I can lift that spell from inside."

Sugar Belle was in near tears, "I was afraid that there was no chance for Sunset to escape, but if you're here… then there's hope!"

The other three nodded.

"Once I free Sunset, we're going to free the rest of you as well."

They gasped.

Party Favor stammered, "You… you mean that?"

"Of course we do, silly!" Pinkie motioned. "We couldn't leave you alone with a big meanie-pants who locks ponies up in towers!"

They smiled to that until Sugar saw the time on the grandfather clock, "Oh, my! We have to hurry! Starlight will be back in an hour!"

Twilight turned to Double Diamond, "Quick, tell me where her room is."

"Upstairs. There's a door that leads to stairs."

"Thank you." She then told her sisters, "Try to get as much done as you can."

"Got it!" they all said as they headed off with the pony they were assigned to.

Applejack and Fluttershy were hard at work helping Sugar Belle preparing meals, washing dishes, and sweeping up the kitchen floor.

Night Gilder had to replace the shutters and roof tiles. With Rainbow and Scootaloo, it seemed that the work was easier and faster.

Double Diamond had to mend the curtains and beat the rugs. Thanks to Rarity's sewing skills and her and Sweetie Belle's magic, beating the rugs took no time at all.

Party Favor was to light all the candles in the rooms and dust off the shelves in the library. Because of Pinkie and Apple Bloom's energy, they went at such a fast pace lighting candles and dusting all the shelves.

Twilight, in the meantime, was talking to Sunset through the door and tried a few spells on the force field, but nothing seemed to work.

"It's no use, Twilight! I'm never going to get out of here, am I?" Sunset was on the verge of breaking down.

"Don't say that! Of course you will! I just need time… I will admit that your guardian doesn't fool around. She had taken all the precautions that were needed. But there has to be a flaw she left out… And I won't rest until I find it," she vowed.

That brought some comfort to Sunset and she said, "So, now that you've seen my world, what do you think it?"

"It's very nice, except that you're being forced into servitude and that you get punished over the most outlandish rules…"

"Yeah…" she did a small giggle. "Far different from your world, that's for sure."

"Too bad you can't show me more."

"The others will show you and there's not much anyway, except…" she paused as she thought it over and then said, "Ask them to show you the secret passage."

"The… secret passage?"

"Yeah, before I left for Canterlot, we found this secret stairway that led us to a secret room. I figure since you've shown me a secret world, I might as well show you a secret room…"

Twilight's eyes widened, "Did this room belong to Starlight?"

"I'm sure it did. None us knew that passage was there until we accidentally stumble upon it."

"Then… that room may be the key to your escape!"

"You think so?!"

"I bet it is. I'll be right back." She turned to go down the stairs.

Sunset sighed, "Take your time…" Suddenly, she heard chirping and saw a familiar phoenix by the window, "Philomena! You came to see me?"

Philomena chirped happily.

All of the ponies gathered in the kitchen after a job well-done.

"I can't believe we did all that in record time!" Night Gilder cheered.

"Thank you so much for your help…" Party Favor said in gratitude.

"Yes, thank you. We couldn't have done it without you…" Sugar Belle humbly smiled.

"We are forever grateful to you…" Double Diamond pointed.

But as they were expressing their thanks, they had lost all track of time when they had heard Troubleshoes' signal.

"Oh, no!" Night Gilder said in alarm. "Starlight is going to be here any minute!"

"If she sees you here… Who knows what she'll do you and us…?" Sugar whimpered.

"Let her come!" Rainbow declared. "I'd like to straighten out a few things with her!"

"No! She has great power!" Party Favor proclaimed. "You have to hide!"

"But where?" Double Diamond uttered. "Where could we hide them?!"

Twilight came up to them as she had heard everything, "What about the secret passage?"

"Huh?!" her sisters said.

"Of course! It was so simple!" Night Gilder smacked her forehead.

Double Diamond quickly went to the stone pony by the fireplace and pulled its nose down. When the stairway appeared, he gestured, "Down there, and hurry."

The girls did as he said as they filed downward onto the steps and the four ponies quickly went to go greet their mistress.

Comments

[Mythic Eithne 597]

Pinkie was bouncing on ahead while singing, "She'll be comin' around the mountain when she comes! She'll be comin' around when she comes!"
She kept on singing while her sisters were behind her and keeping their distance from her singing.
Rainbow whispered to AJ as she was holding her ears while flapping beside her, "She better hurry around that mountain 'cause I don't know how much more I can take!"

Is that a reference to Home on the Range? If it is I love that movie!! Especially that scene with Grace singing.
Also I love the kids in this chapter, manipulating their fathers to treat them during their mothers' absence. So funny

[Bronydude23]

Sweetie Belle singing Just Around the Riverbend is a reference to Pocahontas