Friendship is Forever

by fabrosi

Drawing the Noose

Chapter 17: Drawing the Noose

As she heard echoing hoofsteps approach her, Cheerilee snapped to attentiveness, either from shallow sleep or from a conscious but dull state of numbness to her surroundings—she couldn't be sure which.

"Misty," she called out in a hoarse monotone. "Expert in the art of subtlety, well-versed in the extraordinarily useful skill of making a homicide look like an accident, never leaves any evidence, maximum flight speed of six hundred and"—

"Yes, thank you," snarled the sky-blue-haired Wonderbolt at the schoolteacher through gritted teeth as she approached the bars of Cheerilee's cell. "Why am I even bothering to come down here? You wouldn't talk yesterday, or the day before, or the day before that"—

"So drug me!" bellowed Cheerilee, slurring her speech somewhat in her disoriented state. "Employ some kind of magical mind control, trick me, intimidate me, confuse me, bribe me, torture me harder, show me fear like I have never known before and make me grovel on my knees for mercy before your goddess!" As she raved, her nostrils flared and her pupils contracted with rage. "Oh, great and powerful Celestia! Please forgive me, for I have sinned unto thee! I beg of thee, accept my penance, for I am but a lowly mortal, and knew not of your divine plans for ponykind! Praise be to your holy name, for only you have the power and the grace to maintain the unblemished, perfect utopia that is Equestria!" She spat in Misty's face, surprising the pegasus with her range. She wiped it off slowly, her features devoid of expression.

"You know, you're not even fighting for anything worthwhile," the Wonderbolt coolly explained. "We just want to know where Twilight Sparkle and her friends are. Perhaps you aren't aware, but that unicorn happens to be the Princess's prized pupil, so I think it's a safe enough assumption that when we find her and ascertain her safety, no harm will come to her."

Cheerilee laughed, causing her head to sway unsteadily and her disheveled hair to bounce somewhat. "No harm, she says! Just like no harm ever comes to the Princess's beloved subjects: not me, not you, certainly not any of the unicorns that mysteriously go missing every once in a while…" She resumed laughing.

Misty sighed, exasperated. "Just what do you think you're accomplishing, anyway? What difference does it make if those ponies wander through the wilderness for a while? Surely there's nothing for them to find out there that you think might save you?"

Cheerilee suddenly stopped laughing and gave him a mocking, sly look. "Ah, but I might very well ask you the same question! Why does it matter? Why bother tracking down some wayward fillies who may or may not know all your dirty secrets?"

"…I don't have time for this," announced Misty after a few seconds' silence. "Let somepony else deal with you, I say. I just hope you won't take too long to realize that you're fighting for a lost cause."

As Misty walked out of the room, Cheerilee collapsed on the floor, prepared to enter whatever state she'd been in before her visitor had arrived. Maybe they were simply poor torturers, but she was past the point of caring about the pain they could inflict on her. Her only remaining drive was to stall for as much time as possible before they realized that she hadn't the faintest idea where the missing ponies had gone—or even if they were still alive.

…

Thank you for responding to my letter—it brings me no end of relief to know that you and your friends are safe. I wish you luck in your endeavor, and may the magic of friendship guide your path. Yours,

-Princess Celestia

Twilight scanned the letter several times before satisfying herself that there was no hidden subtext, no subtle hints, and no sign of any incoming trickery. Spike had regurgitated it early in the morning, waking her up and filling her with intense alarm.

"What's going on?" mumbled Pinkie Pie as she sat up and rubbed her eyes.

"It's nothing," replied Twilight. "You can go back to sleep." Pinkie Pie shrugged once before collapsing back down on the bed.

…

Later, after the sun had risen, Twilight met Perseus in the usual place. "You know, Twilight," he said, "I'm not sure I have much more to teach you. Your power has reached a level where you do things with magic that few ponies before you have dared dream of. For whatever reason, your magic still seems to be getting more potent every day. Now, I personally have never met Celestia, but after seeing what you're capable of, I don't doubt that you might become stronger than her in a matter of months—maybe even sooner."

Twilight felt a strange thrill. She'd noticed her power growing, too—each day she'd performed a little better, but unlike an ordinary skill, her magic seemed to visibly improve over hours and sometimes even minutes.

"But Perseus," she said, "there must be something you can teach me. What will we do during our lessons?"

"Keep practicing," he shrugged. "In a situation like this, there's no such thing as too much preparation. Focus on the newer spells you've learned, but don't forget to keep up on the old ones."

And so they practiced. As the day wore on, Twilight began to feel a sense of peace for the first time in quite a while—there would be plenty of time now, it seemed, to gather her strength until she was able to deal with whatever came her way, no matter how—

"Twilight!"

The voice caught her by surprise, and she hastily extinguished a fireball she'd conjured before it could slip from her control and ignite the trees.

"Spike! What is it?"

He held out a letter, prompting Twilight to groan. "Again?"

"Twilight:

So sorry to trouble you, but it seems I need your help—you see, Philomena has grown seriously ill, and she isn't due to reincarnate for a few more centuries. There is an herb that I need to brew a potion to cure her (enclosed is a sketch of it) and again, I hate to ask this of you, but royal duties call and I simply don't have the time to seek out the herb on my own. I'm very worried about Philomena, and she has been a close and faithful companion to me for many, many years. I'm sure this all must sound a bit strange, and I sincerely hope it won't trouble you too much to aid me in my time of need—I know it would mean the world to Philomena. Anxiously awaiting your reply,

-Princess Celestia"

"Philomena?" asked Perseus once Twilight had finished reading aloud.

"Her pet phoenix."

The three of them stared silently at each other, every one of them wondering how this might be a trap.

"It's just an herb," said Spike, "and it sounds like Philomena really could use your help."

"I don't know…" said Twilight, still deep in thought. "It just seems… fishy."

She debated inwardly whether there might be some way this was a trap, but eventually her conscience got the better of her, and she resolved that she would send Celestia the herb. Shrugging to indicate his compliance, Perseus led her into the forest and pointed out the correct plant to her. She plucked it from the ground, enclosed it in the envelope Celestia's letter had arrived in, and had Spike send it back to her. Within a matter of minutes, the princess's reply arrived:

Thank you, thank you, and thank you again! Honestly, I don't know what I would do without a faithful student like you. (Philomena sends her thanks, as well.) The potion is already brewing as I write this, and my dear Philomena should recover in a matter of days. Yours in gratitude,

-Princess Celestia

"Funny how she feels the need to sign every letter," observed Spike, "seeing as how I only ever cough up letters from her."

"Maybe it's because I do the same thing," offered Twilight. She felt a pang of loss as she was forcefully reminded of the days when a letter from the princess was a joyous occasion, and not cause for alarm. Even knowing what she did about her, Twilight still felt a special attachment to her childhood mentor.

She and Perseus resumed their practice session as Spike watched. Her focus was split, however, between the task at hoof and her troubling thoughts over the letter. Perhaps Perseus noticed this, because he suggested a break, much to Twilight's secret relief.

As she trotted back into town, she was surprised to see a certain alicorn standing in the town square.

"Princess Luna!"

"Twilight!" As Twilight approached her, the princess asked "How has your training been going?"

"Great! Perseus says he's taught me everything he knows, so now I just have to keep practicing."

"Well, that's just wonderful!"

It occurred to Twilight that she probably should have asked Luna's advice about the letter from Celestia, but of course she hadn't known the princess would be in town that day. Hoping for affirmation that she'd made the right decision, she explained what had transpired. To her dismay, Luna showed a look of deep concern.

"The herb," she said, her mind apparently racing, "what did it look like?" Twilight described it to her.

"Oh, no…"

"What?" asked Twilight, her pulse rapidly acceleration. "What is it? What's wrong?"

"Twilight, there's no way you could have known this ahead of time…"

"Just tell me what I've done!"

Luna looked up at her with a helpless expression. "That herb grows only in the Everfree Forest."

"What?"

"That's not the worst of it," continued Luna, shaking her head. "It grows in four different varieties, each of which is native to a different part of the forest."

Twilight felt faint with fear. "So… what you're saying is…"

"…that she could find us here in a matter of minutes," finished Luna, almost whimpering.

By now, a rapidly growing crowd had formed around the conversing ponies—even larger than the usual crowd following Princess Luna. Twilight turned to face them.

"Everypony, there are no words to describe how deeply sorry I am to all of you. Believe me, I would give anything to take back what I've done, and I can't believe I fell for that"—

Mid-sentence, her jaw dropped and her gaze turned upward. It took less than a second for everypony around her to do the same, and a deathly silence seemed to fall over the entire town as ponies everywhere froze in their tracks, their collective attention focused completely skyward.

About a hundred feet in the air, soaring over Maneheart's massive clearing, was a beautiful white alicorn with a long, flowing mane of blue, teal, indigo and pink.

Princess Celestia had come.