Celestia's Trust

by Kitsunin

The Party

Back in Ponyville, Twilight Sparkle was standing outside of the library, pacing. “Come on Spike, we're going to be late!” She called, pulling the door back open. At Sugarcube Corner, Mr. and Mrs. cake were going to be having a small party and giving free confections to all of the ponies for their hard work preparing for the Summer Sun Celebration. Twilight figured it would be the perfect place to ask how everyone's preparations were coming along.

Spike jumped into the doorway, blocking Twilight from seeing inside. “Sorry Twilight, there's something I, um...forgot to do, I might be a little bit. You go on ahead, I'll catch up.” He replied, pulling the door closed again and looking around. He had accidentally pulled down an entire shelf-full of books trying to get one that Twilight wanted; they were just too tightly packed. He grabbed a book off the floor and pulled the door open again, “Sorry again, here's the book you needed.” handing it to a bemused Twilight.

“Thank you, Spike.” Twilight said dryly, before putting the book into her bag and heading towards town. She had so much to do, having waited until just two days before the Celebration to begin coordinating the efforts. She knew the other ponies could handle everything on their own. After all, every year besides the last she hadn't been around, but it still made her feel uneasy that she had been too busy practicing her magic to check in on the preparations until now.

Upon arriving, Applejack was waiting in front of the shop. “Howdy, Twilight!” she called, raising a hoof in welcome. “I just knew you'd come when there's sweets involved!”

“Oh, well, no...” Twilight responded meekly, not catching the playfulness. “I was coming to check on the preparations, I figured that everyone would be here, so it would make sense. I mean, I don't deserve anything, I haven't been helping out...”

“Come on Twilight, I was only kiddin'! We know you've prob'ly been mighty busy.” Applejack said, pushing Twilight inside. “You've helped with enough stuff already that I'm sure nopony's gonna mind if you take it easy for the Summer Sun Celebration.”

The shop was bustling, filled with excited ponies munching on confections. Mr. and Mrs. Cake had their work cut out for them keeping the sweets out on the tables. Thankfully they had prepared properly, and were still at no risk of running out. “Things like this really make it worth the effort it takes to make these events work.” a stallion remarked.

“You sure got that right!” A pink mare said, bouncing by, “Wait, what work? I don't remember doing any work!” She paused for a moment, “Do parties count as work?” She asked nopony in particular, then started hopping yet again.

“Well Pinkie, I suspect that for ponies other than you, they do.” Twilight responded, giggling, as Pinkie bounced by. Pinkie did a double take, noticing Twilight, and she went back to give a big welcome to her, but the purple unicorn had already slipped back into the crowd; searching for someone else.

“Hey Twilight, where've you been!” A rainbow maned pegasus called from her perch in front of a table. She took a cookie, and shoved it into her mouth. “'S been a while, you must've been studying pretty hard!” She said, swallowing.

“Oh, you know...just standard magic practice.” Twilight replied, “But um, right, I just need to check, you have got the weather under control, right, Rainbow Dash?”

“Well, duh! Won't be a problem,” Rainbow said, then her voice got a bit more serious, “Although it might not seem so obvious, because we're due for some rain tomorrow. Before the Celebration, of course. Hopefully it's not too much of a problem for the preparations.”

Twilight thought for a moment. “Well, I suppose it can be worked around, though it would no doubt be good to let everyone know, so nothing gets ruined by it.” She thought aloud, taking a scroll and quill out of her bag, and jotting down a note.

“Hey, um, Twi', sweetie, do you uh, think you could get out here?” Applejack called from the front of the shop. Twilight put her stuff back in her pack, and made her way back to the entrance. There was already a commotion, and many of the colts and fillies were cowering behind older ponies; a fair portion of which seemed to be simply frozen. Others were just murmuring to on another. Above the commotion a voice shouted, “Ooh, something's going on! Wait for me, things that are going on!”

Twilight pushed her way through the last of the crowd and out the door. Outside she found Applejack and Pinkie waiting for her, though both were in awe of the deep blue winged unicorn that was poised in front of them. “Oh, um, Princess Luna, what are you doing here?” Twilight asked, feeling anxious, “Did Celestia um, send you to check on the preparations?” She hoped not, since she hadn't had the time to ready a proper report on the proceedings.

“Hello, Twilight Sparkle,” Luna said, “No, I have not come by her whim, though I have come due to her.” She looked nervous, not sure what the best course of action would be was to accomplish her goal. As far as she had thought was to get Twilight onto her side, which would hopefully prove something to her sister. “I hate to ask this of you, but I require your assistance.”

Twilight now felt even more uneasy, it sounded as though something might be wrong with Celestia. “W-what is it, Princess? Is Celestia okay? Is something wrong?” she asked, her voice shaking.

“No, Celestia is fine, far as I can tell. This is more related to me...” Luna answered, trying to word what she wanted to say properly, “You see, she does not seem to trust me, and I am not sure how, but I wish to earn her trust yet again.”

Twilight was relieved that Celestia was fine, and furthermore that nopony was considering her lack of involvement in the current preparations. It took her a moment to become serious again and consider Luna's problem, during which time Applejack had responded, “Well maybe if you hadn't gone and caused so much trouble for everypony she'd be a bit more trustin' of you!” She berated.

“Now now, Applejack, I think that's a bit cruel of a thing to say.” Twilight told her, “I don't think Luna really had control of herself when that happened. I just don't think that anypony would go that far, even with a decent reason.” She explained, levitating a book from her pack and opening it, “In fact, I have a theory that Luna was possessed by some sort of malevolent spirit!” She had a proud look on her face. “See, this book has information about spirits that could have caused just what happened.” She added.

“Thank you for the confidence, Twilight.” Luna smiled, happy enough to ignore the question of why Twilight was carrying the book with her in the first place. “Maybe if I can get some ponies to trust me, that will convince Celestia.” She said, partially to herself and partially to the other ponies nearby.

Pinkie suddenly jumped in. “Hey girls? Did you see anything just now?” She asked, “I thought I just saw something, but I guess not!” The other ponies realized she had been awfully quiet for the last little while, and when they looked at her, they noticed she was shivering strongly.

Comments

[Balancer]

..............more?..............

[NeverKnown]

shivering strongly thats never good

[Sweetie_Belle_Derelle]

[Azkhare]

Better than the first one. Much better. Though I still feel it was "rushed". And a little too short. Maybe I'm a little too perfectionist, but, well. I don't see Luna confessing her feelings in front of a crowd.

Don't get me wrong. As I said, this one is much better. I hope you don't take my comments as offensive. I want to help!

[LunaUsesCaps]

Cliffhanger + Mystery added in.

Well played.

[Kitsunin]

58694

I won't say you're wrong about that, I guess I could argue that there was a door between Celestia and the three others, and the crowd inside, but that's sort of a weak explanation.

Don't worry about it, I can take criticism, and I suspect your comments will keep me more cautious about these things in the future

Oh Go- Celestia! A doozey!

[wolfgirl66]

[Marisher]

Ah k... I'm reading... reading... reading... DONE!!! Again, I proclaim this worth reading! Spelling errors need to be fixed. I would gladly be your humble and willing pre-reader, but alas! I have no time for such things. Boo me...

[Ignis Infinitus]

Her Pinkie sense is tingling, I wonder what is triggering it though. (this is of course assuming that is her Pinkie sense)

[Salnax]

Felt a touch malnourished. Brevity is the soul of wit, but flesh has its values too!

[UltimateAnimeGamer]

“In fact, I have a theory that Luna was possessed by some sort of malevolent spirit!” She had a proud look on her face. “See, this book has information about spirits that could have caused just what happened.” She added.

Chekov's Gun, anyone?