Trouble Brewing
Princess Celestia sat upon her throne, her brow scrunched in concentration as she reread the letter her student had sent her the previous afternoon for what felt like the hundredth time. The letter had sent a cold spike of fear through her heart when she had first received it, enough so that she had abruptly dismissed her day court and was preparing to mobilize the guard to dispatch them immediately to Ponyville. She stopped herself, however, when she had reread the description of the pony her student had written her about.
Using her magic to place the letter upon the small table next to her throne, she descended her dais and walked slowly to the window that overlooked Ponyville.
“It seems you have discovered yet another piece of history I thought long lost, my student,” Celestia said to herself, unable to stop a small smile from pulling at the corners of her mouth. “After all these years, it’s good to finally know that you made it out alive, old friend.”
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
My dearest Twilight Sparkle,
While I understand your concern in dealing with a new pony, I must say that I am quite disappointed to hear the lengths you went through to acquire the information you did. You performed an egregious breach on your new friend's privacy by going through her belongings without her permission. Not only that, but you also display a complete lack of trust and understanding in the word of your new friend, as well as the word of your fellow Element bearers.
As for the case of your friend's lack of residence, I can not help but feel responsible for taking her home from her. To make amends for this I shall be traveling to Ponyville in three days time, both to meet your new friend and to assist her in the purchasing of a new home.
I expect you to be present for this visit, both so that I may witness your apology to Silvia… and so that I may see my student again. I miss you greatly, and I wish you’d write to me more often.
Hoping all is well,
Princess Celestia
Twilight sat hard on the floor, her jaw hanging open as she gaped at the letter in front of her. She had spent the entire night tossing and turning, awaiting a response from her mentor, and now that she had received one she was flabbergasted by its contents.
’Not only did Princess Celestia completely ignore my suspicions of Silvia and her motives,’ Twilight thought to herself in bewilderment, ’she also wants to apologize i] and buy her a house! It’s the Summer Sun Celebration all over again!’
Twilight’s thoughts ground to a halt as she repeated her last thought to herself.
“It’s the Summer Sun Celebration all over again…” Twilight mumbled to herself, her eyes slowly drifting down as her mind went to work. “If it’s like the Summer Sun Celebration, then maybe Princess Celestia does know something about Silvia…”
In one swift motion, Twilight stood and moved to her desk, her mentor’s letter floating beside her. Laying the roll of parchment out on her desk, she produced a fresh roll, along with a quill and inkwell, and began noting her thoughts as she pored over the missive.
“This could mean this, and this could…” Twilight mumbled to herself as she studied the Princess’s writing, hoping to discover some hidden meaning. “Or maybe this could… and this…”
“Or maybe I’m reading into this too much,” Twilight groaned, dropping her quill as she rested her head on her desk. “Maybe the princess is right, and I’m just being a bad friend.”
Twilight laid there for some time, head down and ears back as she stewed in her own negative thoughts until eventually, Spike came to check on her.
“Hey, Twilight,” Spike said, opening the door and stepping inside. “Lunch is ready, and Silvia is…”
Spike stopped mid-sentence, claw shooting to his mouth in an attempt to silence himself when he spotted Twilight hunched over at her desk.
“Are you sleeping?” Spike whispered loudly through his claw. “I can come back later if you want.”
“No,” Twilight groaned, causing Spike to jump at the unexpected response. “I’m not sleeping.”
“Oh,” Spike responded, talking normally again. “You sure you don’t want to? I know you didn’t sleep well last night, and you do look like you could use a little more rest.”
“I’m fine,” Twilight sighed, lifting her head and turning to look at Spike. “I was just…”
Spike’s claw shot to his mouth once more, this time to stifle his laughter, as the piece of paper she had been laying on stuck to her face. Twilight sat for a moment facing Spike with the sheet still plastered to her face before it became engulfed in her magic and slowly floated its way back to the desk.
“I was just going over the letter the princess sent me again,” Twilight continued, rubbing her eyes with a foreleg.
“Oh,” Spike said worriedly. “Is… everything ok? You seem a little down, and your eyes are all red.”
“I told you, I’m fine,” Twilight insisted. “I just… I’m…”
Sighing, Twilight turned to face the desk once more and slumped in her seat.
“Do you think I’m a bad friend?” Twilight asked after a moment of silence.
“Not at all!” Spike responded instantly. “A little inexperienced, maybe, but not bad.”
Realization shot across Spike’s face as his eyes darted to the scroll laying on Twilight’s desk.
“Does this have something to do with what the princess sent you?” Spike asked, finally making the connection. Crossing the room, he placed a comforting claw on Twilight’s back. “Is something wrong? Anything I can do to help?”
“No, I just…” Twilight said, pausing to sniffle. “I made a mistake, and Princess Celestia wasn’t too happy about it.”
“Uh oh,” Spike said with a grimace, remembering the last time Twilight had thought the princess was disappointed in her. “Are you sure she’s actually upset with you?”
“She even said it in her letter!” Twilight said, starting to get hysterical as she shoved the letter into Spike’s claws.
Taking the letter Spike looked it over, his frown deepening as he read.
“What did you do?” Spike asked incredulously, glancing at Twilight. “Usually you’re just overreacting, but she actually seems upset with you.”
“...I went through Silvia’s things yesterday after you both left,” Twilight admitted, slouching further in shame.
“You did what?” Spike exclaimed, giving Twilight a bewildered look.
“When I was putting her bags away last night I saw something weird stuck to one of them, so I pulled it off and it was a giant piece of snakeskin,” Twilight said in an attempt to defend herself. “Without realizing what I was doing I started digging through her bags, and I found another section of snakeskin as big as me.”
“That’s… actually kind of scary,” Spike admitted, “but you were still going through her things! You knew she was just coming home from the Everfree, maybe she found it out there and decided to take it home. Like some type of souvenir.”
“I know,” Twilight admitted. “But I let my emotions get the better of me and now everyponys going to hate me!”
A tear fell from Twilight’s eye as she dropped her head to her desk with an audible thunk, a low groan escaping her throat when her horn throbbed in protest to the abuse.
“I think you may be overreacting a bit,” Spike said in an attempt to comfort her. “I don’t think the princess or your friends will hate you.”
“Really?” Twilight asked, raising her head to look at Spike.
“Yeah,” Spike said, giving her a reassuring smile. “They’ll probably only be disappointed in you like I am.”
Letting out another groan, Twilight dropped her head back to her desk, this time taking care not to hit her horn.
“What?” Spike asked, oblivious as to why she was more upset. “I just said they wouldn’t hate you.”
After a long moment of silence from Twilight Spike shrugged, gave her one more comforting back rub accompanied by a shoulder squeeze, and turned to walk away.
“Well, whenever you decide you’re ready to come down lunch is ready,” Spike said. “Silvia just got in as well. I was going to cook up some more food for her, but if you’re not feeling up to eating right now I’ll just give her your food and make you something later.”
“No,” Twilight groaned after a moment of silence, causing Spike to turn and regard her from the open doorway. “I skipped dinner last night, and breakfast this morning, so I really shouldn’t skip another meal.”
As if to emphasize her point, Twilight’s stomach chose that moment to release a rumbling growl that surprised both of them.
“Besides,” Twilight continued, rubbing the back of her head in embarrassment as Spike crossed his arms over his chest and gave her a stern look. “I needed to talk to Silvia, anyways, and I should get it out of the way now before my nerves get the best of me.”
“But first, food,” Spike said adamantly, tapping his foot as he continued to glare at Twilight.
Chuckling sheepishly, Twilight stood from her desk and followed Spike downstairs. Pausing in the doorway to take a calming breath, Twilight walked into the kitchen with her head held low and took a seat across the table from Silvia and kept her head down, refusing to make eye contact. Sensing the tension in the air as soon as the duo entered the room, along with Twilight’s refusal to make eye contact and the constant stern glares Spike was shooting the purple unicorn, Silvia instantly knew something was wrong.
“So… did I miss something?” Silvia asked, unable to contain her curiosity. “I… I didn’t do anything wrong, did I?”
Looking to Spike in the hopes that he’d answer, her already dour expression wilted more when the look he was giving her confirmed that she was on her own with this one.
“No,” Twilight responded with a sigh. “You didn’t do anything wrong. If anypony did anything wrong, it was me.”
“What do you mean by that?” Silvia asked, cocking her head in confusion. Noticing Twilight flinch at her question Silvia quickly backpedaled, hoping she hadn’t upset the librarian even more. “If you don’t mind telling me, that is. In fact, you don’t even need to tell me, I’m sure it’s none of my business anyways. I’m sure whoever you wronged will forgive you, no problem.”
As soon as she finished speaking Silvia gave Twilight the friendliest smile she could in the hopes of raising the purple mare’s spirits, but the grin slowly transformed into a frown when she noticed her words had the exact opposite effect.
“But it is your business,” Twilight said, finally raising her head to make eye contact with Silvia. “You’re the pony I wronged.”
“What… what do you mean?” Silvia asked, leaning back and scrunching her face in confusion. “I don’t remember you wronging me in any way.”
Twilight opened and closed her mouth a few times in an attempt to speak, but she just couldn’t get the words past the bundle of nerves in her chest.
“Whatever it is, I’m sure it’s fine,” Silvia continued, noticing Twilight was having trouble speaking. “Was it the potions? I noticed a few of the flasks were cracked when I got back this morning. It’s fine, really. I had extras, anyways, and the ingredients to make more are simple enough to get.”
“It’s not the potions,” Twilight finally responded, “although, I guess that’s one more thing I have to apologize about.”
Taking a moment to collect herself, Twilight paused to thank Spike as he placed a plate of food in front of her before continuing.
“I… lied to you,” Twilight started. “Remember at your party, when I said I was done being suspicious of you?”
“Of course I do,” Silvia responded, giving Spike a nod and a smile when he placed a plate of food in front of her as well. “But I can’t really be mad at you for continuing to be suspicious. Ponies are suspicious by nature, and there is still a lot about me you don’t know.”
“That still doesn’t justify what I did,” Twilight insisted. “I… went through your bag after you left yesterday.”
“Oh, well that’s no… oh,” Silvia started, before remembering just what was in the bag.
’That means… I knew I should have gotten rid of the shed skin that Zecora didn’t need,’ Silvia thought to herself as she carefully watched Twilight. ’But I was afraid if I dumped it in the woods on the way back somepony would find it. Guess it doesn’t matter now, Twilight has seen it.’
“I wasn’t planning to,” Twilight started explaining herself, “but then I saw something sticking out of one of the pockets, and when I went to tuck it back in my curiosity got the better of me, and…”
“It’s fine, really,” Silvia said, doing her best to hide the anxiety building in her chest. “I found a big piece of skin a snake had shed, and I like collecting strange things I find in the forest…”
“But it wasn’t just a ‘big piece of skin’,” Twilight shot back. “The snake that shed that would have to have been massive, or at least large enough to eat a fully grown pony. It was larger than me!”
Taking a moment to reel her emotions in, Twilight took a few deep breaths before continuing.
“I… kind of panicked when I saw that,” Twilight continued. “I’m… kind of afraid of snakes, and seeing that we had one that big living next door freaked me out.”
“That’s understandable,” Silvia said. “Any rational pony would have panicked in your situation.”
“But a rational pony wouldn’t have written a letter to the princess,” Twilight said, letting her eyes drop back to the table.
Unbeknownst to her, Silvia froze mid-statement as soon as Twilight’s words sunk in, the words dying in her throat as the color drained from her entire body.
“I wrote the princess and told her all about you,” Twilight continued without looking up. “I told her about my suspicions of you, about how you just seemed to come out of nowhere and suddenly everypony knew you… about how strange you and your siblings looked.”
Sighing once more, Twilight let her head drop further in shame.
“The princess wasn’t very happy,” Twilight said. “She told me…”
The sound of the front door bursting open, followed by a cry of surprise from Spike as he fell from something in the other room interrupted her and shocked Silvia out of her stupor.
“Twilight, Silvia, you girls gotta come quick,” Rainbow Dash cried as she flew into the room. “Something’s goin’ on in the forest, and there are foals missing!”
“There’s what?!” Both Silvia and Twilight yelled in shock.
“What’s happening, what do I need to do?” Twilight asked, the previous conversation instantly forgotten.
“I don’t know the details,” Rainbow admitted. “I heard some shouting, and saw a crowd of ponies gathered near the edge of the forest, so I flew down to see what was going on. As soon as somepony said something about missing ponies I knew I had to come and get you two.”
“I really wish you would have gotten some details before you came to get me,” Twilight responded. Standing from her seat, she moved swiftly into the library and began looking through one of the nearby shelves. “I could much better find information relevant to the problem if I knew that it involved more than ‘some missing foals’ and ‘the forest’.”
Finding what she was looking for, Twilight pulled two large books from the shelf and laid them out on a nearby table. Summoning a quill and roll of parchment from her desk upstairs, she began scribbling furiously as she leafed through the books.
“For now, though, I’ve got these two books containing maps of Ponyville and the lands nearby,” Twilight said, sliding the first book to Rainbow as she found the page she was looking for, “as well as well as what little we have mapped of the Everfree,” she continued, sliding the second book towards the weathermare.
“I’ve also drawn up a provisionary roster for search and rescue teams, making sure I’ve grouped ponies together that work well with one another, or who have complementary talents,” Twilight continued. “Do you know which foals are missing? Or how many?”
“Well… no,” Rainbow sheepishly responded. “But I can fly back and ask real quick!”
Before Twilight could respond Rainbow moved for the door, ripping it open and stopping just short of the pony standing on the other side. Much to everyponys' surprise, standing in the doorway gasping for breath was none other than Rarity.
“I must say,” Rarity gasped, glaring at Rainbow, “you really do need to slow down and think before you act.”
Hovering in place, Rainbow rubbed the back of her head in embarrassment and opened her mouth to respond, but before she could Rarity’s eyes shot wide open as she remembered what she had sprinted to the library for.
“But that’s not what’s important!” Rarity shouted.
Pushing past Rainbow, Rarity ran to Twilight and took her forelegs in her own.
“Twilight, Silvia, please,” Rarity begged. “You have to help! It’s Sweetie! She went into the forest with some friends from class, and they haven’t come back!”
Still reeling from the news that Twilight had told Celestia about her, all thoughts of the consequences of the librarian’s actions left Silvia’s head when Rarity finished speaking.
“Show me,” Silvia said, setting her brow in determination.
“But the maps, and the search teams,” Twilight said, levitating them to herself. “We need to take some time to organize a search so we don’t waste precious time checking the same areas more than once.”
“We don’t need search parties,” Silvia responded, the look of determination on her face slowly morphing to anger. “I know that forest like the back of my hoof, and I know exactly where they’re going to be.”
“Oh,” Twilight responded, giving Silvia a questioning look. “Well, then why don’t you show me on the map where they’ll be and we can send ponies to check.”
“Unnecessary,” Silvia responded as she began moving for the door. Reaching the door, she pulled it open before turning to regard the ponies in the room. “Now, is everypony coming? The longer we stand around talking, the greater the chances that they’ll come to harm.”
Sharing a questioning look, the three ponies trotted after Silvia, the latter not having waited for a response before leaving. Finally having extracted himself from the tangled mess he made falling from the ladder on the far side of the library, Spike cautiously approached the open door as he looked around for signs of anypony.
“Hello?” Spike said, poking his head out of the door and looking around. Hearing no response, he shrugged and closed the door before returning to his chores.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Approaching the scene, the group was shocked to find that the local guard detachment had already organized, and that word had already been sent to Canterlot of the situation.
“What do you mean, I can’t get through?” The group heard Silvia’s exasperated shout, finally locating her after she had left them at the library.
“I’m sorry, Silvia,” a familiar stallion from town replied, doing his best to defuse the situation. “The rulebook states that in a situation like this, the guard is to take control and wait for reinforcements to be sent from the main branch in Canterlot.”
“But every minute we wait is another minute for them to come to harm,” Silvia argued, trying to step around the guard.
“I understand,” the guard responded. “But the rulebook says…”
Finally noticing the group standing behind Silvia, the guard locked eyes with Twilight and sighed in relief.
“Oh, thank Celestia you’re here,” he said. Stepping around Silvia, he hooked a foreleg around one of Twilight's and began leading her towards the group of guards on the edge of the forest. “The Lieutenant is losing his mind trying to get things organized, and there’s nopony else higher ranked to take the lead.”
“Wait, why does she get to help,” Silvia asked. “She’s just as much of a civilian as I am!”
“She’s also the princess’s student,” the guard responded, “which gives her a pass on stuff like this. That, and there’s nopony in this town I’d trust more to organize this search than her. My son, Featherweight, is one of the foals missing.”
Taking a moment to digest that information Silvia watched as the guard led Twilight, laden with her books and scrolls, to the impromptu command center that had been set up. Noticing that there was now nopony holding the slowly growing crowd back near her, she glanced around before turning to Rainbow and Rarity.
“Well, since the guard showed up already and doesn’t seem to want to make me useful, I’m goin’ in myself,” Silvia said. “But, in order to do that, I’m gonna need you girls to run distraction.”
“Don’t worry, you can count on me,” Rainbow said, giving Silvia a salute.
“While I wouldn’t normally condone going against the orders of the guard,” Rarity said, taking a moment to adjust her mane, “I must agree that sitting around talking about the problem will achieve nothing.”
Turning and walking toward the nearest guard, Rarity paused and turned to give the two a mischievous smile.
“I’ll handle the distraction, darling,” Rarity said. “You just make sure you bring my sister back safely.”
Getting a confident nod in response, Rarity turned and approached the first guard she saw.
“Oh, please, you must help,” Rarity shrieked, throwing herself at him. “My sister and her friends are in that horrible forest, all alone, with nopony to protect them!”
“Ma’am, please!” the guard responded, attempting to get Rarity back to her hooves. “We are doing everything we can to help your sister, but we need to…”
“But you aren’t doing anything!” Rarity shouted, her worry turning to anger. “You’re all just standing around talking!”
“Ma’am,” the guard tried again, “we are doing everything we are allowed to try and find your sister.”
“Then why not try things you aren’t allowed to do?” Rarity responded. “Why not let any of the townsponies that are actually familiar with the forest to help?”
Noticing the commotion she was causing, a few of the nearby guards began making their way over to help calm the mare. Seeing her chance, Silvia thanked Rarity under her breath and slipped through the crowd. Making it to the edge of the forest without being noticed, Silvia glanced back one last time before slipping into the forest. Green flames encased Silvia’s body as she broke the treeline, transforming her into her lamia form as she took off into the forest with a burst of speed.
Silvia’s entrance into the Everfree didn’t go as unnoticed as she had thought, however. Frozen in place, eyes locked on the exact spot that Silvia had entered the forest with a look of fear and recognition on her face, was Twilight Sparkle...
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Oh damn...seriously this story gets better and better every time a new chapter comes out
Well it's nice to finally hear from this story again. I hope you keep up the good work my good man
ah. well, that's... not good. Don't remember when in the MLP universe this is, but if it's after the wedding (pretty sure it is), then trouble is afoot, that's likely only going to be solved when Celestia gets there, and three days is a very long time in Ponyville...
great chapter, by the way, your writing quality is excellent, and your pacing is at exactly the right speed, balancing exposition and important events within a realistic time frame.
Excellent chapter , with a good word flow.
)
Looks like trouble is ahoof , both generally and for our dear Sylvia....and Twilight.
(Still ship it
Oh crap.
Ha! And now Twilight knows she's an evil fetish creature out to molesternate all the pones from her origins in the horrible realm of Furaffninity!
i can sense a ship son with twilight and silvia!!!!
hope to see a new chapter soon!
Well, this seems like fun. I figure if Celestia had to let history dehumanize her sister, then it makes sense that the same would happen to any enemies Equestria faced in the past. So, perhaps the history books do not reflect her own opinions on the matter.
When you find out your new friend is a snake who lived in your house.
New chapter! Fantastic!
And an excellent new chapter, too. Twilight saw Sylvia's transformation...which wouldn't be good at the best of times since she's afraid of snakes...but at the same time it would seem that perhaps Celestia knew there were still good lamia during the purge, and seems to think Sylvia's appearance indicates an old friend.
More important, though, are the foals missing in the Everfree. I do hope they're all safe, but I suspect at least one of them was hurt or is being held by something to keep the others from escaping, since they wouldn't abandon a friend.
I understand why, but I think that Sylvia should have told her closest friends about her true nature. They may have found what she is frightening, but they know Sylvia. And having ponies in town that know the truth would help protect her from misunderstandings that could result in someone getting hurt.
I expected Twilight to find out during this, but so soon? That's trouble more than brewing. It's boiling over.
9200446
I wouldn't be surprised if Applejack says something like that later.
9199027
Celestia might show up early if she hears of things. They did say they were already reporting back to Canterlot.
*Holding a broom and mop for a well known fan*
9200647
Zecora knows. ;)
9215743
Yeah, so?
Loving the story, though I have to say I found it a little out of character with how careful Silvia has been in the past to change when and where she did. I mean putting Twilight aside, the guards could just as easily have seen her. I suppose the focus on finding the foals can be argued overrode it, but unless her lamina form gives her a speed advantage I don't see why she would change there and then rather then once she was deeper in the forest.
Still looking forward to new chapters whenever they may arrive, I know quality takes time and will have patience.
Update soon?
Hey, is the next chapter coming along? It's about the time of year for one.
Seriously though, if you need some help editing or just someone for bouncing ideas off of, please ask? However, I totally understand if life just has you busy. Best wishes and blessings to you. 
I hope you are still working on this one, it's a really good story
can't wait for next chapter! this is really good!
Boop!
Once again Twilight displayed how much of bitch she is.
Please continue this story. I love you
I hope you update this! I'm really hooked! I just love a good Creature/Hiding-OC Story. And your style of writing is so clean!
10293500
Exactly what I wanted to say, I want more!
Oh fuck, I wasn't paying attention and accidentally read the last chapter... I don't read like to read incomplete stories to the end, for this exact reason... Now I have a four-year-old cliffhanger...