Chapter 11 - Family Ties
The trip to Canterlot Castle was largely spent in silence. Luna looked tired, her eyes struggling to stay upturned. Drifter kept her gaze forward, though one could spot her occasionally glancing back at the foals to ensure they were alright. It was only when they stepped into the castle courtyard itself that Palmwood and Wonder really seemed to notice where they were. Palm looked up, his eyes widening with surprise. Wonder looked around in awe, mesmerized by it all.
“Never been inside the castle?” Drifter asked quietly, falling back slightly so she could talk to the two easier.
“No. Neither of us has ever been in here…” Wonder said, barely even paying attention to Drifter as the hustle and bustle of the courtyard drew her attention.
“Well, I’ll show you around later. I need to talk to Princess Luna first.”
Palmwood looked over to Luna and shuddered, trying to hold in his swiftly returning enthusiasm. Drifter merely giggled and bopped him on the head. He pouted at her. “Ow. Don’t do that.”
“No promises. Don’t get in any trouble, though, and you’ll be just fine.” Drifter winked at him before trotting to catch up to Luna, her face once more shifting into a frown. Luna, however, was smiling softly, albeit sleepily, at Drifter as she fell into stride.
“If I were a normal pony, I might think you were actually their mother, the way you’re handling them.” Luna commented, earning a look of annoyance from Drifter.
“I’m taking care of them; but I am not their mother.”
“I know.”
The two fell silent. Luna’s horn lit with magic and the tall, double doors of the castle’s main entrance swung open into the public foyer. Ponies were going about their business, several of them giving quick bows of respect as the princess strode by. Luna’s reactions were very small in scale, consisting of barely even a glance or simple murmur of acknowledgement. Drifter’s frown deepened even further. “You’re tired.”
“Again with stating the obvious, Drifter? Shall I give you a medal?” Luna snarked out, though she still wore a small smile. Drifter shook her head with a smile of her own.
“No thanks. I gave up on trophies when my seventh necklace of fiend teeth fell into Ghastly Gorge. Just too much to keep track of with my lifestyle.” Drifter then lost her smile and gazed into Luna’s eyes worriedly. “But all joking aside, you are very tired. You need to go get some rest.”
“I have gone for longer than this without rest Dri… fter….” Luna’s response segwayed into a yawn halfway through. She frowned and looked away to hide the slight blush coming to her cheeks.
“Just because you have, or even because you can, doesn’t mean you should. Go get some rest. I’m sure everypony can take care of things long enough for you to get a few hours of shut-eye. You need it.” Drifter added firmly, gently touching a hoof to Luna’s shoulder. “We’ll talk about Skeintooth when you wake up, okay?”
“But, I-”
“Nuh-uh.” Drifter shook her head sharply. “No ‘buts,’ Luna. Go to bed.”
Luna frowned at Drifter with a raised eyebrow. “You know that you’re smart-mouthing a princess in the middle of the foyer, don’t you?”
“I know.” Drifter grinned, showing her fangs. “But I’m pretty sure ponies aren’t willing to mess with me just because I gave you a scolding on your sleeping habits.”
Luna chuckled before sagging heavily and nodding slowly. “Heh, very well, Moonrise Drifter. You have made your point. I shall get some rest... “ she turned and began to drag herself up the stairs that would see her to her personal chambers. Drifter watched her go before turning to the foals.
“Alright, let’s show you two around, eh?”
“That sounds cool. Let’s go!” Palm said with a smile starting to return to his face.
Drifter nodded, returning the smile warmly. “Alright. Come on, then. Let’s check out the kitchens. I bet you two are hungry.”
Wonderboom perked up immediately, giving Drifter an enormous and rather adorable grin. “Oh, yes! I could eat an entire mountains of hay at this point.”
“But you’d get fat if you ate that much.” Palmwood pointed out with a grin.
Palmwood frowned at him, visibly offended. “Yeah? Well, uh…” she stuttered, trying to come up with a come-back. Palmwood puffed out his chest with pride at having stumped her.
Drifter merely chuckled at their antics, shaking her head. Wonder stopped looking in her mind for a comeback and instead looked at Drifter with a small bit of worry coming to her face. “Actually, speaking of food, I don’t think I’ve seen you eat anything since you started taking care of us, Drifter.“
Drifter paused briefly before glancing back at Wonder with a reassuring smile. “No, I’ve eaten. I just eat when you two are asleep, usually.”
“Really? Don’t you need to eat more than that to stay healthy?” Wonder pressed, her face twisting slightly as she tried to piece this together.
“Not with what I eat, or how my body digests food. I’m not the same as normal ponies, remember?” Drifter said, absently licking her fangs as she remembered the last time she had eaten. It had been almost a week ago. Now that she thought about it, she was starting to get somewhat hungry.
“Oh, right… you eat monsters.” Wonder said solemnly, looking at Drifter with sad eyes.
“Yes… Yes, I do.” Drifter nodded before closing her eyes, reminded of the title she had been given so long ago. The Mare that eats monsters. She hadn’t really thought about it much, how greatly things had changed in the last two months. She was a household name before then, sure, but only as a bedtime story, oftentimes with the details skewed by the passage of time. Over the last two months, ever since Horizon began his campaign in earnest, Drifter was not just a bedtime story, but recognized as a pony of great importance to the situation. Ponies knew she was real; though it wasn’t common knowledge that Celestia was her mother by birth.
Drifter grimaced at that thought before opening her eyes. She still felt a deep, powerful bitterness towards Celestia for having hid the fact she was her mother for so long. To then go and die without giving a proper goodbye. From all accounts, she had let Horizon kill her. Granted, her intention was to sow seeds of doubt into him, but, well, with how things were progressing, Drifter was inclined to believe it hadn’t worked out as Celestia had hoped.
Drifter was jarred from her thoughts when Wonderboom suddenly gave an excited squeak. Drifter looked over to see they were right next to the kitchens. It wasn’t very active right now. A unicorn mare dressed as a maid was going through it and tidying up while sweeping the floor with a broom in a soft yellow magical aura. She glanced over at the trio as they stepped inside the room, wearing a warm smile. “Oh, hello there. Do you need anything?”
“Yeah, I’m hoping there might be some leftovers I could get for these foals? They haven’t had a decent meal in a few days.” Drifter replied motioning to the two while they vigorously nodded in agreement.
The maid shook her head sadly. “I’m sorry, but I’m not permitted to do that. You’d need to ask the chef-” she abruptly went silent as Drifter let one of her wings pop free so it was readily visible. “Oh… well, nevermind, then. Help yourself and, if you ask him, I’m sure the chef would be more than happy to let you make some fresh food for them. Have a good day, miss.” she bowed her head before trotting by, her work in the kitchen mostly done anyway.
Palmwood looked at Drifter with wide eyes. “Woooaaah. You can make ponies do stuff by showing them your wings?”
Drifter rolled her eyes. “Eh. Kinda sorta. I’m not really a myth anymore. Ponies know about me being real now and, well, they’re under orders to assist me if I need it.” she strode into the kitchen and made her way for the fridge. “Not that I’d ever make use of that assistance in a way that would put ponies at risk needlessly.”
For several minutes, Drifter rummaged around and set up a few plates of leftover food from the previous night’s meals. A couple of plates with salads, hay and a couple cookies each. Once they had been heated up, Drifter brought the two foals their food. She smiled as she approached, seeing them quite deep in conversation. Once she set the plates down, Palmwood almost instantly buried his face into the food, disregarding table manners entirely. Drifter frowned for a moment before laughing at Wonder’s loud squeak of protest.
“Palm! Use your silverware!” Wonder complained, shielding her face with her forelegs as bits of stray food went flying. Palm looked up with a euphoric grin.
“No!”
He then dug back in. Drifter simply chuckle before putting her hoof on Palm’s forehead and lifting his face out of the food. “Not in public, you silly little thing. Show some manners, please. You are in the castle, after all.”
Palm instantly plopped down, going rigid. “Oh. right… eh-heh, sorry.”
Drifter simply smiled and sat down, watching the two enjoy their food. After a short while, Wonder swallowed another mouthful and then looked at Drifter curiously. “Drifter? May I ask you something?”
“Sure thing Wonder. What is it?”
“I heard Princess Luna mention earlier that you were her ‘sister’s daughter.’ That means you’re Princess Celestia’s daughter, right?” Wonder asked, to which Drifter lost her smile.
“...By birth only. I can’t see her as my mother.” Drifter replied before looking down solemnly. “She abandoned me when I was an infant. Left me near Hollow Shades for somepony to find.”
“Oh… I’m sorry about that. But, um, if that’s the case, doesn’t that mean Princess Luna is your aunt?”
Drifter’s ears instantly stood up. “...Huh. You know, yeah, it does. I never really thought about it.” she looked up at Wonder with a small smile. “Thanks for mentioning that.”
Wonder beamed and dug back into her food greedily. Drifter simply watched over the two while her mind began to wander.
That evening, as the sun was setting, Drifter stepped into a meeting room that Luna had decided would be where they would plan their pursuit of Skeintooth. Closing the door behind her, she studied the small room carefully. A round table in the center of the room with seating cushions for up to ten ponies was the most notable piece of furniture. A few shelves and filing cabinets were in the corners, presumably for maps or useful information to help make informed decisions. The table had a map of Canterlot and the surrounding mountains and foothills sprawled out on it. Luna was peering over a few sheets of parchment, probably reports sent in by patrols and scouts.
“I’m here, Princess.” Drifter said when Luna didn’t immediately look up. Luna jumped slightly before turning her gaze to meet the hybrid’s. The cold, icy fury in them was clearly visible.
“Good evening, Moonrise Drifter. I’ve received numerous reports and I think I know where Skeintooth is making his hideout.” she lowered the papers to the side and pointed to a spot on the map, marking it with a red ink quill. “Here. One of our scouts found a small bowl in the terrain with a blue, glowing pod that emitted a ‘lovely ringing sound’ planted in it’s core. Luckily, one of his comrades was able to destroy the pod with magic and bring them all back safely. The blue pod is one of Skeintooth’s methods of drawing in victims, if Twilight’s information is anything to go off of.”
Drifter frowned at the princess, easily spotting her eagerness to head out for vengeance. She set a hoof on the table loud enough to catch Luna’s attention.. “Slow down, Luna. Don’t get too excited here; you know how you can get rather reckless if provoked.”
Luna grimaced but then nodded. “...Yes. I know, it’s just that this thing violated my sister’s grave. You understand that I am rather distraught.”
“The feeling is mutual, Luna, trust me.” Drifter said calmly, looking over the map herself. “But I get the feeling that this ‘Skeintooth’ is preying upon your anger. I doubt he needed to take as much as he did, or do so much damage to the statue. It was probably in an effort to increase your anger and make you hurl yourself at him without a proper plan of attack.”
Luna nodded slowly, taking a deep breath. “...You’re right. What shall we do, then?”
“We’re still going to kill him, make no mistake. But we have to play it carefully…” Drifter hummed to herself more than anything, looking over the map carefully. “Okay, he would expect you to try and take a direct path. The trail of least resistance, as it were. Which would be the same road your patrol took, right?”
“Correct.”
“Then you can take the path of most resistance.” Drifter suggested, extending her claws and dipping it into the red inkwell. She painted a line on the parchment with the tip of her claw as she spoke. “If you follow along these ridges and peaks, you’ll be at a high altitude over his little hideout. By the time you get there, I’ll have already engaged him. I’ll keep his attention. When you’re in range, you can use a spell to stun him or hold him down. Then we can finish him off.” Drifter pulled up her claw before jabbing it into the point that Luna marked as Skeintooth’s hideout, leaving a small hole in the parchment with crimson ink spreading out from that point.
Luna smirked. “I like the way you think, Drifter.”
“I’ve had to do this for a living for a long time, Princess. I’ve picked up a few things.” Drifter returned the smile with one of her own, her fangs quite visible.
Luna stood to her full height and nodded. “Then let us begin.”
Also, here: I did a very rudimentary drawing of Skeintooth. No colors or anything, and not in show style, but eh.
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Well, technically Drifter is also a princess through right of birth.
Oh this can't possibly go wrong...
8204611
Oh, the nobles will be thrilled to hear about that... XD
derpicdn.net/img/2016/3/26/1117593/thumb.gif
Re-reading this whole three-part series, and I noticed an error:
That should be Wonderboom, not Palmwood.
On an unrelated note, I still feel that the drawing of Skeintooth, though yes, rudimentary & not in show style, is still a good representation; from how his appearance is described, he'd probably look less threatening if he was drawn in show style.
But on a different note,
Made this come to my mind:
derpicdn.net/img/view/2015/5/15/896708__safe_artist-colon-nobody_spitfire_oc_oc-colon-anon_behaving+like+a+bird_blushing_chest+fluff_column_human_impossibly+large+chest+fluff_pedestal.png