Miracles

by awesomesauce4

Chapter 12 - The Festival, Part I

They awoke in the morning to find sunlight gently filtering in through the windows. Celestia and Luna were already up, Celestia having ventured off to parts unknown while Luna elected to simply cuddle up next to Miracle. Still mostly asleep, Miracle snuggled into the new source of warmth, Luna smiling contentedly as she laid her head atop his.

“Miracle…” Clockwork began, but a look from Luna silenced him. Miracle, for his part, appeared content, flicking one of his hind legs as he continued to slumber.

“Aww, so cute,” Pinkie gushed.

Immediately, Miracle bolted upright, startling Luna. “Where is the cute thing?” he demanded. “I must see it!”

Everypony else laughed, and Clockwork gently slugged him on the shoulder. “It’s you! You’re the cute thing!” he answered, and Miracle fake-gasped in realization as Luna laughed at his expression.

The group ate breakfast, Spike happily doling out pancakes to each plate as he walked on, not around, the table.

“So… what should we do today?” Clockwork asked.

Luna daintily cut a slice of her pancakes, flashing Celestia a knowing smile. “Would you like to go to the festival, now that you are alright?” she suggested.

“Oh yeah, that,” Miracle remembered. “Odd to think that there’s a week-long festival about us.”

Celestia tittered. “We already have the Summer Sun Festival, the Winter Moon Festival, Hearts and Hooves Day, and Friendship Day – why not?” she replied. Miracle noted with interest that there was, in fact, a Winter Moon Festival.

“Anyway… sure? I just… I hope we aren’t going to be mobbed by fans, or something,” Clockwork muttered.

“We can post some Guards to protect you, if you like?” Celestia offered.

Clockwork seemed worried. “Well, then we’d look too distant,” he muttered.

“I don’t think anyone will try anything in front of most of the Equestrian royalty. Why don’t we just stick together?” Miracle countered.

“…Agreed,” Celestia mused.

“This sounds like a great idea! I have the entire festival schedule written down here,” Twilight spoke up, levitating over a piece of paper.

Miracle tilted his head to try and read it upside down, noticing the plethora of events. There were more than ten per day, on average… how was anyone able to visit all of them?

“We’ve got to try the hula hoops, those are so cool,” Starlight exclaimed.

Miracle and Clockwork looked at each other – they both had remembered their experiences with the festival in Canterlot. “They are cool,” Miracle agreed, and Starlight raised an eyebrow.

“Have you… seen them before?” she inquired.

Miracle nodded. “We were there for the first day of the festival, as humans,” he explained.

“Oh, right…” Starlight remembered.

The other Elements of Harmony departed to their daily activities, leaving Spike, Starlight, Celestia, Luna, Twilight and the two brothers to figure out what to do.

“Huh, everyone seems really into this…” Miracle noted, looking around at the crowded streets.

“Uh… those don’t look like Ponyville ponies…” Twilight noted.

“Is that… is that Sapphire Shores?” Luna inquired, pointing out a mare off in the distance.

“But isn’t she supposed to be in Manehatten right now? What is going on?” Starlight wondered.

“Is it me, or does Ponyville seem… full?” Spike noticed, looking around.

True enough, every shop was filled, every table encircled. There was so little space to sit or move anywhere, in fact, that the trickle of ponies walking down this street were quickly turning into a crowd.

“Huh. Hey, Twilight. When you made the announcement last night… how long did you think it would take for word to spread across Equestria?” Miracle asked.

“Not… not this fast,” Twilight answered, nervously looking around. “Oh, I hope we have room for this, Ponyville’s never had to deal with this many tourists…”

Clockwork raised an eyebrow. “Doesn’t your castle have, like, five billion unused bedrooms?” he reminded her.

Twilight blinked, then smiled. “You’re right! I can easily handle the overflow from any hotels.”

They made their way slowly through the town, and every time somepony spotted the group they would run over, excitedly gushing at the returned Princes about how happy they were now that the two were back.

“No, really, thanks, it means a lot,” Miracle answered the latest of these, an excitable mare who he was doing his best to fend off. As she happily bounced away, he turned to Twilight. “I hate to stop our festival tour before it starts, but… can we go somewhere less crowded?” he pleaded.

“Of course,” Twilight answered.

There was a flash of light, and a moment later Miracle found they’d been teleported to the middle of a park. Even the park was crowded, fillies and colts happily playing while their parents watched, but it was less so than the street.

“…Better,” Miracle accepted, Clockwork still trying to adjust to teleportation.

Just then, they heard a voice in the background. “Celestia! Oh, it has been too long,” Discord greeted, making his way over.

“Hello, Discord,” Celestia answered neutrally.

“Greetings, Lord of Chaos,” Luna added.

“Hi, Discord,” Twilight and Starlight greeted, staring at him as neutrally as Celestia.

“Hey,” Miracle lazily attempted a greeting.

“Who’s this?” Discord noticed, staring down at the pair of them. “Could these be the alicorns I’ve been hearing so much about?”

Miracle rolled his eyes. “Nah. They’re over by Sugarcube Corner, you just missed them,” he joked.

Discord grinned. “Oh, I like you. You’re Miracle Matter, right? Pinkie tells me you’re quite good at comedy,” he noted.

Miracle shrugged. “When I need to be,” he answered.

“Hmm. And you must be Clockwork Chronology! Pleasure to meet you again,” Discord offered his paw, Clockwork hesitating and glancing at Miracle. Miracle nodded, and Clockwork shook with Discord, the latter looking (or at least pretending to be) excited.

“So… Discord… why are you here? That is, why were you in the park today?” Celestia asked, still maintaining a neutral tone.

“Oh, you know, just introducing myself to all these new ponies. After all, what better way to make friends than to go where there’s a whole bunch of them?” Discord explained.

“Alright, I’ll ask. Best prank of the day?” Miracle inquired.

Discord crossed his paws, scrunching up his face and closing his eyes. “Hey! I’ll have you know that I am a hundred and ten percent reformed, thank you very much!” he indignantly retorted, before opening one eye to wink at Miracle. “Though, if I must pick, that noblemare with the hair made of pudding was pretty funny.”

Twilight glared at him. “Discord!” she accused.

“What? I put it back to normal,” Discord replied irritably. “Honestly, she was such a bore. Going around and insulting everything about this ‘dumb hick town.’ I swear, if I hadn’t intervened, somepony else would have. And besides, now she can really claim ancestry of Chancellor Puddinghead!”

Twilight grumbled, but decided to let it go.

“Okay, so, what’s first on the list?” Miracle asked as Discord sauntered off to ruin some other noble’s day.

“First is… ooh! The anti-gravity chamber!” Twilight exclaimed.

Clockwork and Miracle immediately perked up. “Anti-gravity?” they replied excitedly in unison.

“When’s it open?” Miracle begged.

“In just about ten minutes. Want to go? If we hurry, we might get a good spot in the line!” Twilight enthused, leading them onward.

Miracle and Clockwork excitedly bounded forth, while the others followed some distance behind, knowing grins on their faces.

“This is so cool!” Miracle exclaimed for the tenth time as he jumped all around the room, bouncing off of walls as he fought to keep his momentum under control.

“Hey, look out!” Clockwork called, colliding into him a second later. Miracle laughed, and pushed off of his brother, sending him and Clockwork in opposite directions. They bounced around for a moment more, Miracle trying to do tricks but failing in the low gravity conditions.

“Okay, I think it’s time to stop, everypony else probably wants a turn,” Clockwork called, standing on the ‘correct’ floor.

Miracle sighed, and somersaulted down, landing with a gentle thump. “Aww… maybe we can come back later,” he wistfully sighed as the operator unicorn outside the room resumed normal gravity. He’d been having fun, too.

Next were the hula hoops, which sent Starlight and Twilight into stitches as they watched Miracle try to use them. Clockwork, meanwhile, was effortlessly dancing with them, the younger foals enraptured as he grabbed a hula hoop and pulled it away from its counterpart, effectively bisecting himself. To their surprise, he incorporated this into the dance, rolling one hula hoop around the other and laughing with glee as the upper half of his body spun around. Miracle watched him go, handing off his hoops to a waiting bystander and getting disoriented just looking at Clockwork’s fun.

“I really wish I could do that,” he muttered to Luna, who shrugged.

Due to all the time they had spent waiting in lines, it was now time for lunch, which they elected to take at Sugarcube Corner. They barely squeezed through the door, ponies parting for their royalty to enter. This was less out of respect and more due to Celestia’s size compared to the others, making her easy to spot over the crowd.

“Oh, my!” Mrs. Cake called, spotting them immediately. “Pinkie, your friends are here!” With that, she made her way over and bowed low, apron falling onto the floor as she genuflected.

“Arise, my faithful subject,” Celestia responded warmly, the others noticing the bakery had fallen silent. “Today, I am merely celebrating like the rest.”

Mrs. Cake nodded hastily. “O-of course, Princess! What would you and yours like?” she asked.

Miracle looked at the menu, trying to discern things he would be able to eat. Hay was right out, as were gemstones… wait. Wasn’t he a pony now?

“I think I shall have a scone, chocolate chip if you have it,” Celestia decided.

“Chocolate donut for me,” Clockwork added.

“Ditto!” Twilight and Starlight chorused.

“I’ll have... a donut as well,” Miracle added, chickening out.

"Can I have a ruby cupcake?” Spike asked Twilight, who nodded.

“Of course. One ruby cupcake as well, thank you,” she added, and Mrs. Cake finished writing down their order.

“Thank you, it’ll be at your table in just a moment!” she trilled, disappearing into the back.

A moment later Pinkie was there, hoofing out plates, forks, and knives. “Wowee, we’re busy today! I’ve never seen the ovens so packed!” Pinkie exclaimed.

“Hope you guys are getting some breaks,” Clockwork worried, exchanging a look with Miracle – they both knew the horrors of working retail.

Pinkie laughed. “I don’t need a break, silly! I’m having a ball!” With that, she threw a ball up in the air, Gummy the alligator appearing from precisely nowhere a moment later to catch it in his toothless mouth before bouncing on it right up the stairs and out of sight.

“If you say so, Pinkie. Hope to see you later!” Twilight called as Pinkie zoomed away to deal with some other customer.

To the surprise of Miracle and Clockwork, their food arrived just a minute later, Pinkie carefully but quickly passing each of them their chosen dishes.

“I hope they’re as yummy to you as they are to me!” she cheerfully quipped, speeding off again.

Celestia mildly chuckled, looking around the table. “To family?” she proposed.

“To family,” they toasted, clinking glasses together.

Luna noticed Miracle did so with a reluctant tone of voice, giving him a worried look as he quickly set it down. Noticing her glance, he bumped her hoof under the table, giving her a furtive smile. Relieved, she resumed eating.

A few minutes later, Twilight had insisted to pay for the meal, refusing the Cakes’ polite reassurances that it was quite alright, and they were royalty. That done, the group headed out once more.

“Anything up next?” Clockwork asked. Twilight checked the schedule.

“Nothing for an hour or so. Want to head back to the park?” she asked.

“Sure,” Miracle answered, and they began making their way across Ponyville, ponies once more turning and staring at the sight of them.

After a few more incidents with overexcited fans, they found themselves back in the park, where Twilight promptly spotted Discord performing mischief and hurried over to stop him, Starlight following after a moment.

“Dear me, I think we’d better go over there too. Would you two mind staying here a moment?” Celestia asked the pair of them.

“No, we’ll be fine,” Clockwork dutifully answered, and the Princesses trotted over to talk to Discord.

“So. How’s being a pony going for you?” Miracle asked once their mothers were out of earshot.

“It’s so… weird. Did you notice all the sugar in our lunch? That can’t be normal,” Clockwork worried.

Miracle gazed up at the sun. “Ponies probably have a higher sugar-intake diet than humans do.” He sighed, closing his eyes. “Being famous is going to suck,” he muttered. “Everyone’s going to be lining up to see us, touch us… well, that’s normal for you, at least,” he ribbed.

Clockwork snorted. “At least it was just because my sweater was the fluffiest sweater and everyone in the school wanted to feel it. Now, they probably want to feel us up more than our clothes.”

Miracle shivered. “Don’t remind me. It was bad enough when I was apparently ultra-hot,” he reminisced.

“What?” Clockwork queried incredulously, and Miracle chuckled.

“Oh yeah, you were asleep. This is actually a glamour spell, the real me is apparently so attractive that it sent most of the Elements of Harmony into a catatonic stupor.”

Clockwork began laughing. “You’re lying!” he accused, and Miracle laughed back.

“I swear, it’s true! Ask Celestia, she casted the glamour spell!” Miracle retorted.

“Oh, wow, it’s the Princes!” a voice spoke up from beside them, and Miracle reluctantly looked over, annoyed at the interruption but putting on a smile regardless.

“Hey,” he greeted the mare in front of him. “What’s up?”

She had a dark teal coat, with perfectly straight and strikingly green hair that perfectly accentuated her lime-green eyes. “Nice to meet you,” she greeted casually, already a far cry from the gushing enthusiasm of everypony else. “I’m Jade Heart, I study neuroscience at the University of Baltimare. I heard you were a scientist, as well?” she asked.

Miracle’s heart leapt at the chance to talk to a scientific equal. “Y-yeah,” he answered, hating himself for stuttering. “I study inorganic chemistry, mostly, and engineering.”

Jade nodded interestedly, taking a seat next to him. “What’s your favorite element?” she asked.

“Bromine, definitely,” he answered, and began regaling her with the tale he’d told Luna just a few days ago. She listened, enraptured as he described his mishaps, near-death experiences, and eventual success, laughing at all the right points and gasping at all the others.

“Wow, you’re pretty lucky!” she noted, once he’d finished.

Miracle laughed. “Yeah… I’ve learned better, since then.” He neglected to mention that he’d gotten chemical burns just last month from making some very similar mistakes to his fourteen-year-old self. “So, what about you?” he finally queried. “What do you study in neuroscience?”

Jade blushed, and looked away. “Nothing so interesting as your experiments. I study the chemistry of the brain’s emotional receptors, with particular attention to the amygdala and the limbic system.”

Miracle nodded, somewhat following along. “Sounds hard. Any particular problem you’re trying to solve?” he asked.

“No, just interested in the system,” Jade answered, sounding nervous for some reason.

“Hey, there’s nothing wrong with curiosity for the sake of curiosity,” Miracle soothed.

“Thanks,” Jade answered, relieved. “Anyway, I’d better get back to my friends. See you later!” she called out, quickly leaving.

A moment later, Celestia and Luna trotted back onto the scene, looking curiously at the retreating mare. “Who was that?” Celestia wondered.

“A neuroscientist from the University of Baltimare. This festival sure is drawing all types, huh?” Miracle noted.

“Indeed it does. That said, would you be alright with making another public appearance? I believe it would be very beneficial to your reputations if all these tourists got to see what they came for,” Luna inquired.

Miracle looked at Clockwork. “Ready to be on stage again?” he asked.

Clockwork grinned. “I’m always ready,” he answered.

A short distance away, Jade Heart looked around suspiciously before turning invisible. Stupid, STUPID! You had him in the frog of your hoof, you could have practically asked him to marry you there and then, why’d you have to chicken out?! She chided herself, growling. A small filly looked around for the source of the noise, and she hurriedly stopped. I’d better head back, she decided. No sense sticking around longer if I don’t have to. She headed for the town, becoming visible once more as she lit her horn.

A few hours later, Miracle and Clockwork were once again waiting ‘offstage’ in the Town Hall, which had been magically expanded to three times its former capacity with the help of Celestia, Luna and Twilight. Even still, it was completely packed, with the rest of the tourists being forced to wait outside as magically projected images of the announcement would be played on the outside walls of the Town Hall.

“Where’d you get that idea?” Miracle had whispered, upon Luna’s explanation of this.

“From your television,” she answered. “It seems useful, and the magic is quite similar to projecting illusions and dreams in mine own realm.”

Miracle had shrugged, and accepted this – hopefully one day, he’d understand how magic worked.

This time, there was no speech given by the two – they were merely asked to come out, receive applause, and leave the stage again. Miracle wasn’t sure if Celestia and Luna merely wanted to put on a more ‘formal’ showing for the reporters and journalists that were undoubtedly beginning to swarm in, or whether they had something else in mind, but he elected to roll with it as usual. They left the stage, to the same tumultuous applause as before, and Clockwork paused a moment to wipe his brow with his hoof.

“That was… a lot more nerve-wracking than I remember,” he huffed.

“The audience was a lot bigger. But hey, it’s over now. Good job,” Miracle praised.

Just then, a Guard ran into the room, stomping their hoof once in some sort of signal as the other Guards rushed to join them. As soon as the last guard had disappeared, a reporter hurried up to them from around a corner, quill and paper already out as she paused a moment to catch her breath.

“Silver Quill, with the Cloudsdale Report – would you like to answer a few questions?” she asked hopefully.

Miracle and Clockwork looked at each other, and then back at the stage, where Celestia and Luna were answering questions of their own. It looked as though they’d be a while.

“…Sure,” Miracle answered. “Go ahead.”

Silver Quill excitedly squealed, trotting in place. “Great! Okay, first question. Are you really from another planet?” she asked.

Both of them nodded. “It’s called ‘Earth.’ Nice enough place, at least where we live,” Clockwork answered.

Silver Quill wrote something down. “Earth, huh? Sounds neat. Okay, next question: Do either of you know who your father is?” she pressed.

Clockwork was about to answer something, but was nudged viciously by Miracle. “I’m afraid we are not qualified to answer that question,” he spoke up, already hating himself for playing this game.

Silver Quill appeared crestfallen, but perked back up a moment later. “Fair enough, fair enough. Okay, third question: Were you two natural-born alicorns, or ‘ascended’ in a means similar to Princess Twilight?” she asked.

Clockwork gave Miracle a look. “...We don’t know,” Miracle finally admitted. “We have been alicorns for as long as anyone can remember.”

Silver Quill nodded excitedly, writing their answers down furiously. “Good, good. Well, thank you for taking the time to answer these questions! You’ve been very… cooperative,” she remarked, causing Miracle and Clockwork to exchange a worried look as she hurried off.

Clockwork turned to Miracle Matter. “I think we may have made a mistake,” he noted.

“Agreed. Now, what do we do about it?” Miracle wondered.

Silver Quill hurriedly trotted out of sight, ponies looking at her suspiciously as she ran away from the most important announcement of the century. She turned into an alleyway, activating a crystal hidden in her saddlebag. There was a moment of delay.

“What news?” the voice on the other side hissed, sounding irritated. “I’m in a meeting with someone!”

She nodded, acknowledging this - it was often unwise to drop the pretense that her employers' time was more important than hers. “I am sorry, but I just finished the interview, and wanted to relay it to you while the memory was fresh, your Majesty.”

The figure on the other end paused, any irritation vanishing as they eagerly gripped the crystal, holding it closer to them. “Go on,” it demanded.

“They do not know if they are ascended or natural-born alicorns. They were unwilling to say who or what their father was, which made me think they do not know. They are indeed from another planet,” she listed off.

The figure frowned. “It seems they’re a bit more politically savvy than I’d hoped… still, I think this is enough to work with. You may expect your payment by mail.”

Silver Quill bowed once more, grinning. “Thank you very much, your Majesty,” she answered sincerely.

“You’re welcome. Never contact me again,” the voice demanded, and the crystal promptly shattered.

Silver Quill chuckled as she imagined the riches she’d obtain in short order – and all for the price of three questions! It had been a cinch to slip past the Guards patrolling the Town Hall, they never expected a pegasus like her to have an invisibility cloak on hoof – and those two clueless little Princes had never even suspected that she wasn’t allowed to be back there. And now, she’d get to retire somewhere nice. Maybe even one of those nice tropical islands? Filli sounded good this time of year.

Silver Quill turned to exit the alleyway, only to find her way blocked by what appeared to be several ordinary mares and stallions.

“Can I… help you?” she asked, wondering if she’d been caught.

They chuckled evilly, more appearing on the rooftops, and Silver Quill quickly realized she’d been surrounded somehow. What did all of them want with her? Unless... maybe her correspondent wouldn't be paying her after all!

“You… you’ll never get away with this! The Royal Guard will stop you! GUARDS!” she screamed out.

The mare in front of her smiled evilly. “They’re far too slow… and so are you, if you thought you could outwit us.”

There was a flash of green fire, and a terrified scream, and by the time the Royal Guard arrived, all they found was an empty alleyway, with a few shards of crystal littering the ground.

“What was that?” Miracle asked, still behind the stage.

“Sounded like a scream.” Clockwork paused, worried.

“Maybe we should get a guard to check it out?” Miracle wondered. He paused and looked at one of the nearby Guards, who had returned, and the Guard he was looking at saluted before galloping off.

“…Wow. I forgot, we can actually give ponies orders,” Clockwork remembered. “Meh. Let’s try not to abuse that kind of privilege,” Miracle dismissed, turning back to face the stage. If the two of them had been looking at the Guards, they would have noticed a very slight, but unmistakably relieved slump of the shoulders.

As soon as Celestia and Luna rejoined them, Miracle bumped Luna’s withers.

“We may have made a mistake,” Miracle admitted.

“I thought your performance was excellent,” Luna soothed, and Miracle shook his head.

“Not that. There was a journalist mare, who came backstage while the Guards were off doing something else. She asked us a few… pertinent questions, and I have a feeling our answers might cause some backlash.”

Celestia and Luna hummed, worried. “There weren't supposed to be any journalists allowed back here. Which newspaper was she working for? Perhaps we can review the article to be printed,” Celestia mused.

“Cloudsdale Report,’ according to her,” Clockwork answered.

Celestia and Luna exchanged a worried look. “Clockwork,” Celestia began carefully.

“There is no such paper as the Cloudsdale Report.”

Comments

[Razzy]

And the plot thickens! I mean, the story's plot, not Celestia's.

Hmm, Chryssie's hard at work, I see.

[Sharp77]

Oh dear.....that poor mare....

[Galaxy of Equestria]

“Silver Quill

is youtube!
https://www.youtube.com/user/tgcsilver