Trade Wind: Royal Tutor

by BlackBonitaCherry

Chapter 11- Zebra in Coffee Shop

“Do you have everything? Books, hat, notebooks, quills?” Spike rolled his eyes as Twilight continued fretting, adjusting the strap in his grasp while she looked over the school list for the 100th time.

Sure he was glad she finally accepted him leaving for school five days a week, but now she was in the perfectionist mode and he ended up having to put back books that weren’t even in the curriculum.

Though he did not tell her that.

“I’ll be fine, they have a school store there and Shining Armor helped me set up an account for cases of emergency,” she stopped and stared at him.

“Shining Armor?” they were near the outskirts of town and he was surprised to see no one out and about on such a clear day.

Then again, it was six in the morning.

“Yeah, he does rotation shifts with the Nocturne Guard and is quite familiar with StarDusk Town,” he also frequents an RPG shop there but made Spike promise not to tell her or anyone else.

“Oh,” she was silent for a moment, looking around them and frowned, “Strange, I thought the market stalls set up around this time,” he shrugged, spotting Caramel, Glaze, and Frost with their guardians gathered together at a post he was pretty sure had not been there before.

It had a white and orange sign with a Nocturne and Griffin Wing on either side curled towards one another.

Frost saw him and lit up, opening his beak when he saw Twilight and shrunk back, hiding behind Zephyr who sighed.

Twilight had a hurt expression on her face but Spike wasn’t all that surprised, the last time Frost had seen them was when the unicorn got mad at him, and the dragon learned pretty easily that the cub hated confrontation.

Reese nodded to them,

“Good morning, Carrot Mash would be here, but he has to get prep ready,” Caramel rolled her eyes.

“You mean cry in the kitchen where no one can see him,” Glaze flicked her beak.

“Give him some dignity please,” he muttered, “We’re just lucky that he didn’t decide to come with and cling to us while crying,” Spike did not see how that would give the pony more dignity, but oh well.

“Wow, everyone’s here! Good Morning,” a large shadow appeared over their head and a griffin and Nocturne landed in front of them, a large caravan attached to them. There were several round windows on each side and the back of it had a large door on it. “Everyone head on in, and make sure to put your seatbelts on, we don’t plan on slowing down when we lift off,” Spike hurried in, taking a seat in the middle row, Frost joining him while Caramel sat in the front and Glaze claimed a seat for himself in the back.

Seeing Twilight outside the window, he waved to her with a smile before the caravan jerked and moved forward, feeling his stomach drop as the flyers took to the air.

At least the seats were more comfortable than the ones the Royal Guards fly around.

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Twilight watched the caravan disappear and sighed, well, that’s that.

“Back to work for me,” Zephyr muttered, “See you two around,” Twilight stopped him.

“Where’s Fluttershy?” the pegasus stopped and turned to look at her,

“Oh, Sis said bye to him last night before going to a Ranger seminar, they hold it once a month and this year its in Fillydelphia so she had to take the late night train,” she hadn’t known that.

“She didn’t say anything,” she muttered, feeling hurt, did Fluttershy not see her as a friend anymore?

“Uh,” Zephyr looked awkward, “It’s actually a last-minute thing, they always change the location and time so usually Fluttershy just sends out letters before she leaves.” that really did not make Twilight feel better but at least she had a reason for it.

Zephyr flew off and Twilight walked down the road, thinking to herself. She’s had a lot of conversations with a few ponies over the last week, Princess Celestia, Rarity.

Before she left, Rarity had warned her against taking anything Rainbow Dash and Applejack said about Trade Wind with a grain of salt.

(“Applejack sees Trade Wind as a bad influence on her family just because Granny Smith goes against her ‘advice’, and Rainbow Dash has no room bad mouthing Trade Wind at all, you could ask her, but if she tries blustering or saying something stupid, just tell her that Trade Wind is not North Wind anymore, and that she’s lucky Trade Wind never pressed charges against her.”) There were a few other words about her own feelings towards the Pegasus but Twilight was relieved when Rarity did not push too far.

Though her comment about Trade Wind specifically avoiding going into Ponyville because she knew Twilight was there struck a nerve. As well as the fact that she knew nothing about the Pegasus’ past.

The unicorn could admit that she knew nothing about Trade Wind beyond the fact she was the first apprentice of the dragon Po who had a really strange relationship with Princess Celestia. That she had a hoof in Nocturnes and other non-ponies streaming into Equestria and Canterlot in particular.

And that she thought Starswirl the Bearded was overrated and a jealous, magic hoarding hack.

Feeling her magic building up, Twilight forced herself to calm down just in time for a ‘pssst’ to reach her ears.

Looking around, she spotted a pink hoof waving at her from the bakery and Pinkie’s head popped up.

“Come on! Before he gets you!” and popped back down. Twilight blinked uncertainly before hopping into the dark bakery.

The door was slammed shut and lights turned on, a confused Rarity being pinned to the ground by Lyra with Rainbow Dash and Applejack there as well, Applebloom at her hooves. The former gave her an awkward wave while the latter gave her a look before turning away, making her wilt.

The Earth Pony had not forgiven her at all, had she?

“So, what are we doing here?” she asked uncertainly, Lyra slouched over, earning an indignant yelp from Rarity,

“Avoiding the convict leaving the Everfree Forest,” the unicorn frowned.

“Convict?” Rarity pushed up and Lyra rolled off with a yelp, the fashionista huffing and pointing at the window where Twilight peeked through at a tall hooded figure walking through town.

“When you say convict?” she trailed off, Rarity sighed.

“Honestly I wouldn’t be going along with this, but,” a wind outside blew the cloak away, the material lifting away to reveal bat wings, but something seemed off.

“A Nocturne? But I thought you were used to them,” she asked, Rarity sighed,

“I am, but you don’t see any fingers on his right wing, right? That means he committed a grave sin against the Nocturne Tribes and was convicted for it,” Twilight reared back.

“Seriously?” she knew the bat-winged ponies had different laws of justice, but that?

“Plus, he lives in the Everfree Forest! Do you know how crazy that is?!” Rainbow Dash waved both hooves.

Twilight looked at Pinkie who had her eyes narrowed at the Nocturne, a surprisingly dark look in her eyes that scared her.

“Uh, Pinkie?” the dark look disappeared and Pinkie beamed at her.

“Yes Twilight?” the unicorn wondered if she misread the Earth Pony, surely the Element of Laughter would never have that expression on her face, right?

What was going on?

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Trade Wind paused in opening the coffee shop, seeing a familiar figure sitting at one of the tables.

“Professor Cora!” the zebra looked up, smiling,

“My former student, how are you?” Trade Wind kept the door open, waiting for her companion to step through before entering.

“Alright, is it okay if we sit with her?” she asked the pegasus next to her who gave a silent nod, their dark blue mane tied back over an even darker blue coat. Their Cutie Mark was that of a Dream Catcher with a moon and several stars hanging from it.

Trade Wind took a seat across from the zebra raising her hoof to get the attention of the waiter as the other pegasus joined her.

“Oh, this is Dream Catcher, Professor, Dream Catcher, this is Professor Cora, she teaches Potions at WEU,” Dream Catcher gave a short nod with her head that Core returned, chuckling.

“It is actually Zecora, but my students insisted on a nickname, and somehow I ended up with Cora. I’m glad I managed to catch you Trade Wind,” the waiter came and ordering the sample tray of every coffee, Trade Wind showed Dream Catcher the menu as she frowned at the apothecary.

“Is something wrong? You usually send a letter,” Professor Cora sighed, turning serious.

“It’s about Silver Tongue,” Trade paused, feeling herself stiffen at the name,

“What about him?” she asked coldly, startling Dream Catcher and making Cora sigh sadly.

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“Applebloom!” the filly winced at her sister’s voice, crouching down as she stared at the Nocturne going deeper into the forest, his ash grey coat making it easy to spot him among the trees. He had shed his coat by the time he got into the Everfree, and she spotted his green eyes before he went into the forest.

Seeing a field of blue flowers, she almost stepped in when her sister finally caught up.

“Applebloom!” she was grabbed, her sister stepping into the field and catching the Nocturne’s attention.

He gave them a look and rolled his eyes,

“Idiots,” Applejack bristled.

“And what is that supposed to mean?” she demanded, the others running ahead, though Lyra spotted the flowers and made a move to stop in her tracks along with Rarity who had blanched, only for Pinkie to ruin their attempts by crashing into them.

His wings bristled but his expression was still blank,

“Keep a better eye on your sister,” Applebloom could feel her sister’s fear and anger and inwardly sighed, great.

“Y-you stay away from her!” Rainbow Dash joined her in yelling at the Nocturne who turned and left.

“Oh no, oh no, oh no, I need to make a bath immediately,” Rarity muttered, getting out of the flowers, “You dears need to take ones as well, I suggest going to the Spa to do so, Poison Joke is annoying,” Applebloom looked at the pretty flowers and frowned.

Poison Joke huh?

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“You know about his past, and that my husband is his uncle,” Professor Cora began, Trade Wind nodded, shifting the tray so that Dream could grab another cup, the ‘pegasus’ was enjoying the taste testing so far and was enjoying all the bitter sweets the shop had.

“When he finished his apprenticeship with me, I asked where he wanted to go and he surprised me upon saying the Everfree. But he did point out to me that I had planned on going there before my professorship and no one was there to study the flora there. So we both agreed to sending him there, and you remember us talking to you about it,” Trade Wind did, she hadn’t been happy about it, but the Everfree did need an expert alchemist, and Professor Cora was happy with her current job.

Sure there had been a panic a few years ago when she realized the wise zebra was teaching at their school instead of going to the Everfree, but she had reassured herself that in time the zebra would end up where she was in canon.

Then she fell in love with Judge Oak and the two got married so that plan went out the window.

But of all equines to substitute her, Silver Tongue was not what she expected, or wanted.

“Yes, and I even told (warned) Fluttershy that he would be moving to the Everfree,” because she did not want the pegasus caught off guard when the Nocturne eventually approached her.

“And that is the issue, it’s been several months, if not half a year since his relocation to the Everfree, and his progress only talks of his studies in the forest. He hasn’t said anything about whether he has approached Miss Fluttershy, and I’m worried about whether he’s been able to get along with the villagers,” sipping her Tartarus Black Coffee, Trade Wind flicked an ear.

“Fluttershy hasn’t said anything to me either,” her sister spent a lot of years trying to get over the trauma of that time, and she knows the thought of that Nocturne living so close is terrifying, but when she asked whether Fluttershy wanted to the stallion not to come, the pegasus told her it was fine.

Now that she thought about it, she hadn’t seen nor heard the stallion when she was in the Everfree, and the wind was oddly silent about the Nocturne.

“Who is this Silver Tongue?” Dream Catcher suddenly asked, getting an uneasy look from Zecora but Trade Wind gave her a nod.

“He’s my nephew, and when he was young he was very angry towards non-Nocturnes. Ended up joining a group calling themselves Thestrals,” Dream Catcher stiffened and Trade Wind carefully laid a hoof on her wing calming her down, “They caused mayhem in the nearby settlement, and when they came across a transformed Fluttershy, they decided to use her for their own means,” Dream Catcher was vibrating at this point and Trade Wind hurriedly got up.

“Sorry Professor Cora, too much coffee, I’ll see you later, and I’ll talk to Silver when I have the chance, alright?” she left some bits to cover the bill and hurried out with her seething companion. She took her to the large stadium in Canterlot with a dome over it and threw bits into a counter as they entered.

“Two for the extreme course,” she told the vendor who took one look at the angry pegasus by her side and quickly pressed a button. The course lit up and hoops came into existence, moving around in different ways, each one glowing with two different colors.

“How good is your flying?” dark blue eyes glanced at her, the mare still looking angry but she smirked.

“Enough,” and she shot up without warning, Trade Wind rolled her eyes and spread her wings, taking off as well.

Its a good thing she learned how to fly without the large wings of wind, otherwise this would be difficult.

She did not want to break the arena, again.

Two hours later Dream Catcher was much calmer but was still frowning as they sipped slushies at the stadium’s drink stand.

“So the unicorn responsible for Miss Fluttershy,” “Is the one who tried tutoring you,” Trade Wind replied, stirring the straw in her cup, “What I do not understand is why Silver Tongue is having so many issues, I know he has some reservations about being in a town like Ponyville, but it shouldn’t be that difficult to meet up with Flutter-” she stopped and thought about it, “Unless someone else is interfering,” and she has a good idea of who it was.

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Twilight felt really embarrassed as the Spa Ponies put in the formula, Rarity giving her, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash looks. Pinkie she had already glared at, the Earth Mare turning away from her with an innocent look.

Lyra was paddling around the bathtub, humming to herself and making splashes that forced Twilight to shield herself.

Then the spa doors burst open,
“Pinkie Pie and Lyra Heartstrings!” the two stiffened and paled, and Twilight froze as Trade Wind came in, looking very annoyed with the Nocturne next to her looking like he wanted to be anywhere else.

“Well, looks like I got to go-” Pinkie Pie tried escaping but let out a squeal when the water she was in turned to ice, Lyra yelping as her limbs were frozen together.

“I-i forgot you could d-do t-that,” she chattered, giving a nervous smile to the pegasus who was pursing her lips, “W-what’s up Trade W-wind?”

“What’s up?” she asked slowly, taking another step forward, “What’s up? Do you know how visited me in Canterlot yesterday?” “Headmaster Fancy Pants?” Lyra tried, shrinking when Trade Wind’s face became even fiercer.

“No, Professor Cora, who expressed her worries that her nephew was not being well received in Ponyville and hadn’t written her any letters beyond his research, stay here Silver,” she said suddenly, turning to the Nocturne who paused in his backing out.

“I have some venom to harve-” “Fluttershy will be back any moment and I’ve asked her to come here,” Pinkie and Lyra broke their icy prisons and jumped out with panicked expressions, while Rarity was mouthing something to herself.

“Nephew? Nocturne, wait, your Judge Oak’s nephew?” Silver sniffed.

“I am,” Rarity narrowed her eyes.

“The same nephew responsible for Fluttershy’s trauma years ago and a former member of the radical ‘Thestral’ group,” the Nocturne didn’t flinch, raising his wings.

“You’ve seen this haven’t you?” only the fingers on his right wing were gone, but the one on the left wing was still there.

“Silver Tongue has served his time for his actions and completed an apprenticeship with Professor Cora herself. He’s using the Everfree to get his Master’s and he is also a herpatologist who will be raising reptiles and amphibians in a private enclosure. Silver deals with rare species and is contracted to the Alchemy Society to produce potions and anti-venom for them every month. Though it could be difficult to get ingredients if everytime he comes into town everyone leaves,” she said the last part pointedly, staring at the pink pony looking away from her, the unicorn next to her was staring in the other direction, and Twilight couldn’t take her eyes off the scene.

It was rather strange to see Trade Wind directing the cold attitude to others.

Did make her feel a bit better though, it meant she wasn’t the only one the pegasus lectured.

“Pinkie, Lyra, do the both of you have something to say to Silver Tongue?” the two flinched but said nothing, Trade rubbed her head, “Right, just so you know, Fluttershy is quite aware of his presence here, and has been waiting patiently for him to come visit her when I first informed her of his presence,” Pinkie and Lyra gaped.

“What? You can’t let the two of them meet,” Pinkie protested, Lyra nodded,

“What if he does something that triggers-” “I do believe I’m old enough to have grown passed that Lyra,” Fluttershy’s voice reached them, the pegasus-turned-Nocturne entering the Spa and looking at Silver who had frozen, standing so still it looked like he wasn’t breathing. The yellow mare took a deep breath and stepped towards him, “Silver Tongue, right? Come on, we can have that talk at the Pizza Cub, I heard they had some fresh mushrooms from Hollow Shades along with some boiled snails,” Twilight turned green, but kept her mouth shut as the two left, Pinkie and Lyra bolting after them only to be stopped by Trade Wind.

“No,” “But-” “Fluttershy has the right to hear him out, remember the pact?” the two drooped, “Carrot Mash is there, and Zephyr is having lunch there with Gabby and a few of the other workers,” that made them look better and Applejack finally spoke.

“So what exactly happened? I don’t feel right knowing somepony like that is near Ponyville, near mah sister,” Applebloom covered her muzzle with her ribbon as Trade Wind looked at Applejack.

“Like I said, he served his time, you have no right to judge him, the only one allowed to do so is Fluttershy herself. Now if you’ll excuse me, I might as well get some more Castle work done, Pinkie Pie, Lyra, with me,” they gulped but followed after her.

“Well that’s that, I’ll ask Fluttershy how the talk turned out tomorrow, honestly I’m just relieved he isn’t a fugitive,” Rarity said, looking relieved, before realizing something, “Wait, I still don’t know what happened with Garble, ooh, Darlings wait for me!” and she ran out, leaving just the three of them.

The only ones not in the know.

Rainbow Dash clicked her tongue and climbed out, her wings back to normal.

“I have some training to do, see ya,” and she left. Twilight saw Applejack getting ready to leave and swallowed,

“Applejack?” the Earth pony stopped, “Can we talk, for a minute please?” green eyes looked back at her.

“Fine, Applebloom go back home,” the filly hurried out after a quick nod, and they went over to the hooficure section, Twilight settling back as Applejack did the same.

“So, about what happened with the dragon-” she began.

Author's Note:

I do not own MLP or any other elements from other fandoms.