The Successors

by Portmeirion

12: Inseparable

Cold rain pattered rhythmically against the window. Blue Moon stared out into the drizzle, anxiously scanning the yard with her eyes. She thought she could make out the old oak on the hilltop, and the edge of the woods even further back, but the thick rain-curtain made everything seem hazy and gray. She sighed, let the curtain fall back over the window, and began pacing the floor in a nervous circle.

Summer had been gone for hours. When their father, Tripod, had said he needed a little help surveying the hillsides for a new map of the next county over, Summer had enthusiastically volunteered to accompany him – before immediately asking if Blue wanted to come along as well. But Blue hadn’t slept well the night before, sick with a mild cold that left her tired and sore. Summer, torn between sticking by Blue’s side and spending time with her father, eventually opted for the latter.

“I’m sorry, Blue. I don’t wanna leave you when you’re feeling sick, but I haven’t gotten to spend much time with Dad for a while….”

“It’s okay, Summer. I understand.”

“Sweet!” Summer beamed. “It’s gonna be awesome! Dad said he’d let me work the theoly – the tholydid – you know, the telescope thing!”

“It’s called a theodolite,” said Blue. She cocked her head curiously. “But I thought you weren’t interested in all that stuff.”

“Well, I guess I’m not,” Summer admitted. “Not really. But YOU are, so I wanna learn everything I can! And when I get back, we can talk about cartography and surveying and geography and I’ll finally be able to understand what you’re talking about!”

They laughed together, hugged, and said goodbye.

That had been early in the morning, eleven hours ago, and now Blue was beginning to worry. At first she had hoped they might be back in time for lunch, so she and Summer could eat the fresh watermelons they had been growing in their mother’s garden together. Then, when noon came and went, she hoped they might return before evening fell, since a rainstorm was scheduled for five-thirty and she had wanted the two of them to go birdwatching in the backyard before the weather changed. But now, as the grandfather clock in the foyer chimed six times and the rain pattered on against the windows, Blue’s worries continued to grow.

She set off through the quiet house in search of some way to pass the time. Summer’s conspicuous absence bothered her like an itch. Blue Moon and her sister spent nearly all of their time together, and always found things to do that they both enjoyed, whether that was map-making or butterfly-catching or simply romping around the woods behind their house. (Whether she enjoyed the activities for their own sake, or only because Summer liked them, Blue couldn’t tell, and didn’t care anyway.) Their mother and father sometimes joked that their daughters might as well be joined at the hip, since they were just about inseparable as it was. They shared everything: their room, their favorite foods, even their toothbrushes (though only occasionally, and much to their parents’ consternation). For their entire foalhood, the two were never apart for more than a day. Even being separated for half a day was driving Blue nearly to distraction.

For a while she tried to keep her mind occupied with reading. She hefted a heavy old atlas from the bookshelf, but within minutes she found herself growing bored and restless. There had been a time when such reading might have held her interest for hours in a stretch, but as she and Summer had begun to share their interests with each other, Blue had come to see her sister’s presence as an integral part of the studying experience. She missed the feeling of Summer leaning up next to her to gaze at the maps, she missed the sound of her bubbly voice asking questions every time she turned the page. The silence was almost deafening.

In the end, the only thing that brought her any peace was helping her mother draw up a map. Compass Point was working on an especially large topographical chart of the Canterbury Peninsula, and the huge number of contour lines was rapidly depleting her pen’s ink. Blue dutifully stood by and passed her mother refills every now and again, and Compass Point took the opportunity to provide her daughter with another impromptu geography lesson.

“You see, Canterbury is situated closer to sea level than the rest of the peninsula, and the way the land just dips so suddenly means the contour lines have to be drawn very densely… oh, and I’m positive nothing’s wrong, dear,” Compass Point assured her. “Surveying takes a great deal of time, you know. Don’t worry yourself, they’ll be back before you know it.” She took up her pen again and continued to scribble.

“Oh. All right,” said Blue, nodding in acceptance. “Are you sure?”

“Absholutely,” said Compass Point, enunciating as best she could with the pen between her teeth. “Oh! Phooey,” she spat out the pen. “Clumsy me, another splotch. Blue Moon, can you bring me some white-out?”

The map was indeed large and complicated, and the two of them went on in this manner for a few more hours. Soon Blue moved up from refilling Compass Point’s pens to actually drawing a few lines herself, and receiving proud compliments from her mother. It proved an effective diversion, and Blue certainly enjoyed feeling useful, knowing that her assistance, however small, lightened somepony’s load. By the time Tripod and Summer Sun returned home, exhausted and sopping wet from the rain, Blue had completely forgotten about how worried and lonely she was.

Of course, that didn’t stop her from rushing to greet her sister the moment she showed up on the porch.

“Summer!”

“Blue!”

They embraced.

“What happened? What took you so long?”

“Dad completely forgot to bring the theodidy – the thelydod – the telescope thing,” Summer explained. “We got all the way out to Barrelton before he noticed, but he didn’t wanna come back and get it, so he tried to do the survey with a pair of binoculars.” Summer was soaked to the bone, and so tired she could barely stand, but she couldn’t stop herself from laughing as she related this news. “Can you believe it?”

“Actually,” said Blue, laughing along with her, “that does kind of sound like him.”

The sisters’ laughter mingled with the sound of the rain and thunder. Then they headed inside, warm and safe and together on this cold, rainy night.

---

Aurora felt terribly cold.

The fire that crackled in the hearth on her right warmed her body, but for some reason she couldn’t stop shivering. She reached back and tugged the thick, red blanket more closely around herself and settled down again, resting her head on the floor. Her long mane spilled out across the carpet, but its sheen was gone, its blackness seemed muted and dull. The stars that had shone so brightly a few hours before were darkened now.

She sneezed, sniffled, and sat back up again, rubbing her snout with a hoof.

“Here ya go,” said Pink Pearl, plucking a tissue out of a nearby box and passing it to the princess. She was seated on her cushion a short distance away, having made room in front of the fire for Aurora to warm herself. The earth pony had been on her porch the night before, warily watching the storm gathering over the Everfree (since Sweet Apple Acres was close enough to the forest to be affected by its weather), and had been there to see the princess go rushing off frantically into the woods. After a few hours had passed with no sign of Aurora’s return, she had sent a couple of her farmhooves out into the forest to search for her.

They had found Aurora half-conscious, her eyes filled with tears, lying in the mud. By the time they had gotten her back to Sweet Apple Acres, she was soaked, sniffling, and shivering.

“Thank you,” Aurora said, taking the tissue. Then she sneezed again.

“Gesundheit, your highness,” said Tally Mark. The mayor stood at the edge of the circle of firelight, looking down at Aurora with violet eyes full of sympathy.

“No,” Aurora snapped, weakly and half-heartedly. “No. Please don’t call me that. I don’t deserve it.”

“Aw, c’mon now, Princess,” Pink Pearl chided her gently. “So you made one mistake. Heck, I wouldn’t even call it a mistake. I mean, if I’d been in your place, I wouldn’t have done any different.”

“You made the best choices you could with the information you had at the time,” said Tally Mark. “And in the process, you uncovered the identity of the foalnapper and found a cure for our plague victims. Nopony could ask any more of you.”

“Ya did your best, highness,” added Pink Pearl. “And that ain’t nothing to be ashamed of.”

“Yes, it is,” said Aurora. She blew her nose, then tossed the tissue into the fire. “It is. I’m supposed to be the princess. I’m supposed to take care of my subjects, aren’t I? I’m supposed to be someone that everypony can rely on.”

Her throat began to tighten, her voice choked. “But – but I’m not. I couldn’t. I couldn’t save anypony. Not those foals. Not even Summer. I’m no princess. I’m not even a decent sister. Don’t you see?” Guilt bowed her head, and Aurora blinked back the tears that gathered in her blue eyes. “Don’t you see? I lost her.”

Tally Mark and Pink Pearl shared a silent, helpless glance. Soft thunder rumbled in the distance, and the rain pattered against the windows in an inconsistent drizzle as the heavy storm moved away north. In one corner of the room, Ghost snored quietly, curled up cozily in a round cat’s bed. She had come staggering in from the woods shortly after Aurora had been found, and the princess had insisted that she be treated kindly.

Aurora, meanwhile, continued to shiver. Corona’s absence made her feel cold right down to her bones. All the world seemed dark and empty, as if the sun had been stolen right out of the sky. Her heart ached like an open wound. In the past, in all the years of her life, Corona had been constantly close at hoof, never leaving her side, always there for her to lean on whenever her burden got too heavy. Every single day, Aurora could count on hearing the warm, bubbling sound of her laughter, seeing the sun-bright shine of her smile, feeling the infinite peace and comfort of Corona’s affectionate embrace. But she wasn’t there now. The laughter and smiles and hugs were all gone. It was like half of her world was missing.

No, not missing, she reminded herself. Not just missing.

She had been taken.

“Blue… please… help….”

The princess shut her tear-filled eyes tightly, trying to block out the sickening images that suddenly leapt into her mind again. But no matter how hard she resisted, she saw Corona, locked away in some distant, desolate place, hurt, scared, lonely, crying out for her, begging for her sister to come and save her….

“Blue!”

Before she knew it, Aurora was finding it difficult to breathe again. With great effort, she drew in a steady, calming lungful of air, exercising every bit of her willpower to compose her thoughts. She tried to focus on other images, happier memories. She thought of two days ago, when Corona had greeted her with a hug after a tiresome night of magic training. She thought of the previous night, after they had returned from their first trip to Ponyville, and Corona had told her exactly what she thought she needed to hear.

“I’m still really glad you’re my sister.”

Corona had said that. But how could she possibly feel that way now? How, when Aurora had let her down so terribly, when she had failed her sister at the exact moment when she needed her most?

The fire crackled in the fireplace. Aurora heaved a sigh, sinking into a deep gloom, continuing to shiver under her blanket. Suddenly she felt very small. She wasn’t Princess Aurora anymore, or so it seemed to her. She had never really been a princess at all. She was just Blue Moon, she had always been Blue Moon, and she was tiny and frightened and helpless and she missed her sister so much it hurt.

A word came into her mind. “Why?” she whispered, almost unthinkingly.

“Er… why what, your highness?” asked Pink Pearl.

“Why was I chosen for this?” Aurora said, sitting up again. “Why was I chosen to be a princess? I don’t have it in me. I’ve worked so hard, I’ve given everything I have, everything I am, and I still failed. I still let her down. I let everypony down.” She shook her head dejectedly. “The Elements made a mistake. It’s all been a mistake. Everything, from the beginning. One big mistake.”

Before either Pink Pearl or Tally Mark had a chance to respond, the front door flew open.

“Princess Aurora!”

The concerned voice belonged to Glass Eye. He rushed into the room, dripping from the rain, pausing only briefly to catch his breath and wipe his brow with a handkerchief. “I got on the train to Ponyville the moment I heard what had happened. They don’t ordinarily run this late, but given the circumstances….”

“You’ve… heard?” Aurora perked up, then lowered her eyes again in shame. “About everything?”

Glass Eye nodded politely, taking a short moment to greet Pink Pearl and Tally Mark as well. “Yes, your highness. Lantern Jaw filled me in. I still can’t quite believe it… Somnambula….”

“She’s one of your granddaughters, isn’t she?” asked Tally Mark.

“Indeed she is.” Glass Eye shook his head sadly and nervously. “I can’t imagine what’s come over her. Oh, I knew, I just knew it had been too long since I had last spoken with her… she had been so reclusive lately… and her sisters are going to be so terribly worried… oh dear, oh dear….”

He was beginning to fret. Aurora had never seen him so upset. It was disconcerting.

“She… she didn’t seem like herself,” the princess spoke up. Though her voice was still weak and morose, she tried her best to sound reassuring. “When I fought her, I mean. She didn’t sound at all like the pony I met yesterday, if that means anything. The way she spoke, it was as if something else were controlling her.”

There was a short silence as Aurora let her comment sink in. She sat up straighter, trying to regain some measure of dignity and authority now that Glass Eye was here – anything that might help him feel less ill at ease. Something about his grandfatherly presence made her feel a tad more at ease as well; it gave her something reliable and familiar to latch onto, a sense that she wasn’t completely lost and alone. Most importantly, it gave her somepony to worry about other than herself.

“Well… I suppose there might have been some sort of mind-control involved,” said Glass Eye. “Or perhaps she was just another changeling in disguise. Or maybe there was it was the work of some sort of an illusory spirit… I understand that many such spirits dwell in those woods….”

As he spoke, Aurora stared silently into the crackling red fireplace, taking a few more slow, cleansing breaths. “What’ll we tell the University now?” she asked. “Won’t her students notice that she’s gone?”

Glass Eye cleared his throat. “Somnambula’s… recent activity is currently an official state secret, as is Princess Corona’s kidnapping. In retrospect, I suppose it’s a good thing that you two didn’t leave the palace very often. Nopony will likely notice that your sister is gone for a while yet.”

The red firelight flickered in Aurora’s eyes. “We won’t let her stay gone any longer than we can help it,” she murmured, her voice low but firm.

“Er – beggin’ your pardon, highness,” said Pink Pearl, eyeing the princess with uncertainty, “but how do ya plan on doin’ that?”

“I’m concerned as well,” said Tally Mark. “The way you described the encounter, it sounds as if there’s no way of knowing where Somnambula went. How do you mean to find them now?”

At that moment, Ghost came ambling over towards the hearth, stirred awake by Glass Eye’s sudden entrance. Her appearance halted the conversation in its tracks, and the four ponies fell silent and watched her. She yawned a little yawn, smacked her lips, and looked up at Aurora with wide, expectant eyes, blinking at her through the stringy green mane that hung over her face. There seemed to be tinge of trepidation in her features, as though she weren’t quite certain how to feel towards this strange, dark-maned princess.

“F…friend?” she squeaked, clearly trying her hardest to keep her shrill voice under control.

“So you’re the ‘ghost’ that made me break my leg,” said Pink Pearl. She tried to muster up a glare, but it quickly softened as she gazed at the small, timid creature. She sighed. “Well. I guess you ain’t so scary after all, now that I can see you up close. And kinda cute, I gotta admit.”

“Ghost,” Aurora spoke up suddenly, struck by an idea. “You were there last night, weren’t you? You saw everything?”

Ghost nodded enthusiastically. “The Witch!” she squeaked. “The yellow bird!”

Hope flared up in Aurora’s heart, but she kept her cool. Her voice grew stern. “Do you remember where they went?”

“They gone… up! Over! Over the – the gray!!” shrieked Ghost, struggling to express herself. Then she frowned, obviously not satisfied with the words she had at her disposal. She grumbled incoherent gibberish to herself while Tally Mark and Glass Eye shared a skeptical glance. Aurora, putting aside her previous mistrust of the little changeling, leaned in close and spoke to her softly.

“Can you show us?”

Ghost hopped up from the fireside and trotted over to the door, looking back at the others in anticipation. “Follow?”

“Forgive me, your highness,” said Glass Eye, “but are you quite certain this creature can be trusted? After everything that’s happened….”

“Summer trusted her,” Aurora said. “That’s good enough for me.” She shook off the blanket and began to rise to her hooves.

“Are you well enough to walk, your highness?” asked Tally Mark.

“I think so.” Aurora rose, stretching her back and her wings, testing the strength in her sore legs. After exhausting her magical reserves in her battle the previous night, a few hours of rest seemed to have done some good: she could feel life and vigor seeping into her limbs again, filling her with new strength and new hope. She stood, shook her mane out of her face, and walked over to the door to follow Ghost.

Tally Mark shrugged, tentatively moving to follow the princess. Pink Pearl muttered some grouchy comment about not being able to come along, since she couldn’t very well leave her house with her leg still in a cast, but she wished the others well anyway. Glass Eye stood waiting for a moment, muttered, “Oh, dear,” again, and then finally started after them.

Aurora pushed the door open with a hoof, and Ghost shot out like a cat, leaping down the porch and heading for the long dirt road that ran to the Everfree. The princess paused for a short spell to breathe in the morning air. Now that the rain had passed, the world was fresh and dewy, and the gentle breeze that blew from the forest whispered in the apple trees and touched lightly upon her face. And in the distance, far to the east across the rolling hills of apple-orchard, the sky was beginning to turn pink and red as dawn crept slowly over the horizon.

Wait – dawn?

“The sun is rising?” Aurora exclaimed. “But – how? I completely forgot about raising it….”

“You know, your highness,” said Glass Eye, “in the time before the princesses, regular unicorns would raise the sun and the moon. And they still can, if group of powerful magicians work together. Before I left Canterlot, Lord Stargazer volunteered to organize just such a group.”

“Hmm,” Aurora grumbled as she climbed down from the porch and started after Ghost, who now stood waiting for them by the green-painted gate that marked the edge of Sweet Apple Acres. The mere mention of Stargazer was usually enough to sour her mood, but now was worse than usual: she had failed in her appointed task, and now Stargazer and his smug, elitist colleagues had to step in and do her job for her. He would be sure to rub her face in it whenever she returned to Canterlot.

Aurora scowled. Her burning resentment only seemed to further fuel her renewed sense of purpose. She quickly picked up her pace, following Ghost along the path towards the woods, with Tally Mark and Glass Eye trailing close behind them.

A few minutes of walking brought them to the forest. In the morning light, the path that had so oppressed and frightened Aurora two nights ago now seemed harmless and inoffensive. Though the trees still grew close and dense, the rain and wind had lent the forest air a new freshness and cleanness that made the whole wood feel at once more alive and less alien than before. Yellow daylight shone in bright shafts through the overhanging green boughs. Robins and cardinals darted here and there among the trees, singing merry songs that Aurora couldn’t help but smile at. Even Glass Eye, who had seemed hesitant to enter the forest in the first place, soon found himself smiling as well – or so it seemed to Aurora, since she still couldn’t quite see his mouth behind his bushy moustache.

“I must admit, this isn’t at all what I expected,” he said as they ambled along at a leisurely pace. “The way Princess Aurora described the forest in her report, I had pictured something much less….”

“…pleasant?” Tally Mark suggested, keeping pace beside him. “I know, sir. It’s really not as frightening as the stories suggest, at least in the daytime.”

He “smiled” at her knowingly. “You sound as though you know these woods rather well.”

“I do,” she said, smiling back in warm recollection. “I grew up in Ponyville, of course, and Pink Pearl was always gallivanting off into the woods, and I had to come along and make sure she didn’t get herself killed.” Her smile faded as her eyes turned to the princess walking several paces ahead of her. “But… she was never in any real danger. I can’t imagine what that would be like.”

Aurora heard what the mayor said, but made no comment.

After a few more quiet minutes of walking, they arrived at last at the ghost town. (To Aurora, it seemed a shorter trip than it had been last night, perhaps due to the less oppressive atmosphere.) Ghost, who had been leading them on in silence, suddenly raced to the other end of the square, where a narrow, winding path, strewn with rocks and overgrown with roots, began to rise northwards into a hilly region away from the crumbling buildings. With some effort she began climbing up the trail, flapping her insect wings furiously to struggle over a large log that lay in the way.

Aurora caught up with Ghost and lifted her over the log with a bit of magic. Looking up, she noticed now, for the first time, that shortly beyond the ruined village the land began to slope upwards, rising first in rolling foothills and then in sharp ridges towards the grim, gray mountain peaks that glowered down at her from beyond the forest.

“They went that way?” she asked the changeling.

Ghost nodded again. “They go up – went up! Over!!”

“Over the gray,” Aurora murmured. “So that’s what you meant. They went over the Drackenridge Mountains.”

“Mountains!” cried Ghost, pleased to have finally found the word she had been looking for.

Aurora turned back to Glass Eye, who had just caught up with them. The long walk and slight uphill climb had left him a tad winded. “What’s north of those mountains?” she asked him.

“The Griffon Kingdom, your highness,” he answered, pausing for a moment to catch his breath. “But only the far corner of it. There’s nothing north of those mountains but an icy wasteland. There would be nowhere for them to take shelter, no place they could possibly have gone, except… hmmm.”

He trailed off, and his brow furrowed into a grim glower. Aurora and Tally Mark looked on in anticipation as the gears turned in his mind.

“…Gloomhold,” he said at last, and the half-whispered name carried a strange, menacing weight. “Yes, Gloohmhold – perhaps that does make sense.”

“Gloomhold?” Aurora echoed worriedly.

“A small sovereignty within the Griffon Kingdom,” Glass Eye explained. “And one of Equestria’s most enigmatic and reclusive allies. For almost twenty years they’ve had minimal contact with the rest of the world, and our occasional diplomatic visitors have reported that the kingdom suffers from a perennial winter. Almost certainly, the weather is of magical origin. Very suspicious indeed.”

Ghost shivered. “Gloom… hold,” she croaked, slowly remembering the name. “The Witch goes there! Takes ponies. Took me once. Took me….” She began to tremble violently. Aurora, struck by a pang of sympathy, extended a comforting wing over the frightened creature. Her trembling slowed, and she leaned against the princess’s leg.

“That must be where the missing foals were taken,” said Tally Mark. She glared northward at the mountains with a quiet, slow-burning anger in her violet eyes. “How soon can something be done?”

Aurora raised her eyes again, glaring northward as well. Images were coming into her mind again: Corona lost and afraid and alone, locked in some dank, freezing prison, calling out for her. But now Aurora knew where she was. Now she could come to her rescue, blasting open the dungeon walls and setting her free, and they would be together again, and safe again, at last. Now something could finally be done. Something will be done….

Glass Eye cleared his throat. “Actually, Mayor,” he began, “as part of our renegotiations with the Griffon Kingdom, the Council elected to send a party of ambassadors there. They’re due to set out tomorrow, and arrive the next day – perhaps, in light of these revelations, it might be better if they performed their own investigation while they were there….”

The old unicorn’s voice broke Aurora out of her fantasy. She stopped, and shook her head, snapping back to her senses. “No – I mean, yes. You’re right, Glass Eye. That would probably be best. But I need to come, too.”

“Ah – but – hmmm,” Glass Eye stuttered, conflicted. “Forgive me, your highness, but you’re not the official sovereign yet. I don’t believe the Council would agree to allow you to go on a mission of diplomacy, let alone one of espionage.”

“Then convince them,” she snapped, surprising herself with her sudden sharpness. She paused for a moment to breathe. “Just… please. I need to do this. For Summer, for Somnambula, for the missing foals. It’s been my responsibility from the beginning. If I’m ever going to be official sovereign, I need to start acting like one. Please.”

“I’ll… I’ll do my best, your highness,” he said. He stepped forward and laid a comforting hoof on her shoulder. “We’ll get to the bottom of this, I promise.”

Aurora nodded. “Thank you,” she whispered.

The princess heaved a tired sigh. Glass Eye’s comforting presence was invaluable to her, but right now, she felt that it wasn’t quite enough. Her mind was weary, a piece of her heart was missing, and the greater part of her still felt lonely and bewildered. Though Glass Eye had grown on her over her three months in the palace, he was still just another part of her new life, a life which she had not yet fully accepted; right now, she needed something more familiar, something closer to home. Another memory suddenly came into her mind: the suggestion she had made to Corona yesterday, when they had both been feeling overwhelmed and homesick.

“I’ve been feeling overwhelmed lately, like I’m in over my head. 　Just being home again, being somewhere safe and familiar… I think it would do us both a world of good.”

“Before we go back to Canterlot,” she spoke up at last, “there’s something I need to do first. Somewhere I need to go.”

“Of course, your highness,” said Glass Eye. “Anywhere you like.”

One short sky chariot ride later, Aurora found herself looking on a familiar sight.

Her destination, as it turned out, was not a great distance from Ponyville. She had asked the batponies to land the chariot at the edge of town to avoid attracting attention, and then set off by herself down a long, dusty dirt road ran through a field of dancing yellow lilies and into a shady grove of ancient elms and oaks. Beyond the concealing grove was a quiet neighborhood of fine old houses separated by spacious yards. Aurora’s heart nearly melted at the sight of it; it had been too long, far too long since last she’d been here.

The walk through the neighborhood was peaceful and quiet. A few ponies were out mowing their lawns or watering their gardens, and as Aurora approached them, she could see a flash of recognition in their faces before they bowed their heads respectfully. The princess smiled at them as she passed, but said nothing. By the time she reached her old home, the sun had reached its zenith, and the houses and yard lay beneath deep, cool shadows.

When she arrived, a pony was sitting on the porch of her old home. She was an earth pony mare, with a red coat and a wavy blonde mane tied up in a camouflage bandana, and a Cutie Mark on her hip in the shape of a drafting compass. On the table in front of her, a large, roughly-sketched map was spread out, and she scribbling away at it with a pencil held in her mouth, mumbling to herself all the while.

“Hmmm…. Three hundred feet of elevation between the New Saddle hillcrest and sea level… but that doesn’t take into account the Derbyshire depression, either…. Hmmm….”

She didn’t notice Aurora’s approach until a soft, delicate voice called out to her.

“Mom?”

Compass Point raised her head. Her jaw fell open, and the pencil dropped out of her mouth and clattered on the table. Her face lit up, her bright blue eyes widening in simultaneous surprise and joy. “Blue Moon? Is that you? Oh, darling it’s been so – oh wait, I’m sorry,” she suddenly stopped herself, standing up and bowing her head. “I mean, Princess, of course.”

“No – not princess,” said Aurora, stepping up on the porch to join her mother. “Not yet. But… but it’s really good to see you again.”

“Oh, you took the words right out of my mouth!” Compass Point practically squealed, sitting down and wrapping her forelegs around her daughter’s neck. Then she stepped back and looked her over. “Goodness, I’d forgotten how tall you are now! Don’t hit your head on the ceiling! Oh, and try not to poke any holes in it either! Haha!”

Aurora smiled – a thin, false smile. She had come bearing such terrible news, her mother’s oblivious joy was breaking her heart. Compass babbled on excitedly.

“I’d tell your father you’re here, but he’s out surveying the New Saddle Ridge over the weekend. Again. Would you believe he completely forgot to record the depth of the Derbyshire depression the first time around? Of course, of course, it’s just like him, that silly old stallion, bless his heart. I’ve been having to redraw everything.”

“Yes, that does sound like him,” said Aurora, struggling to get a word in. She could already feel her throat tightening. “Mom… there’s something I need to….”

“Oh! Silly me, I almost forgot to ask,” Compass laughed. “Where’s Summer – I mean, haha, where’s Princess Corona? Catching butterflies in the Canterlot Royal Gardens?”

Aurora bit her lip nervously. This was it. “Actually, Mom….” Her voice faltered.

Compass Point’s face fell. “What is it?” she asked quietly. “What’s wrong?”

Tears were gathering again in Aurora’s eyes. Now that she was here, now that she was home, now that she was just Blue Moon, a little filly coming to her mother for help… her defenses came crumbling down.

“She….”

Before she could get another word out, Aurora collapsed, weeping, into her mother’s embrace.

What followed was fifteen minutes of hugging, crying, and tearful explanations. Aurora told her mother the whole story from the beginning, pouring her heart out about her helplessness and homesickness and fear. Compass Point listened to every word, holding her daughter while she wept. Aurora thought she could feel her mother trembling slightly, obviously consumed with worry of her own, but she spoke nothing of it. All Compass would do was shush her gently and assure her that everything would be all right. Aurora wanted to believe her.

After what felt like hours, they parted, and Compass Point invited her daughter inside, sitting her down on a comfy old sofa and brewing some tea (jasmine, always Aurora’s favorite flavor). In short order, the princess – now feeling very much like a foal again – finally began to calm down, her tears now reduced to the occasional hiccup. The drink, the familiar living room, her mother’s presence all worked together to soothe the tempest in her mind. When she finished the tea, she set down the teacup on the low drawing-room table beside the sofa.

“I’m s-sorry, Mom,” said Aurora. “I should’ve listened to her. I – I should have been more careful. I wish I’d – I’d….”

“Please, dear,” Compass Point interrupted her gently. She sat across from her daughter on a large, thick cushion. “Please don’t be so hard on yourself. No part of this was your fault. Understand?”

“But I – ”

“Up-bup-bup!” Compass Point raised a hoof, halting Aurora’s protest. “Let me hear you say it: ‘No part of this was my fault.’”

“No… no part of this was my fault,” Aurora repeated weakly.

“There. That wasn’t so hard, was it?”

“But it – it’s still my responsibility. I’m still supposed to take care of her. I still need to – ”

“You will, honey, you will. And I know – I know – that you’ll bring her back safe.”

Aurora sniffled. “What makes you so sure?” she asked dourly. “I couldn’t keep her safe before. I couldn’t save those foals, or stop Somnambula, or, or…..” She began to stutter, and hung her head sadly, letting her dark mane fall over her face. “I’m trying. I’m trying so hard, but so far… so far, I’ve done nothing to earn anypony’s faith in me.”

For a moment, there was silence. Then Aurora felt a hoof under her chin, lifting her head until her eyes were staring into her mother’s. Compass was smiling.

“Oh, Blue Moon… ever since you were a little filly, you’ve tried your hardest at everything you put your mind to, and you’ve worried yourself sick about living up to the standards you set for yourself. But now… now, I believe you can finally stop worrying.”

“Wh… why’s that?”

“You were chosen for a reason, Blue. Your father and I have always had faith that it was so. The Elements haven’t only given you a new destiny, they’ve given you a wonderful gift, you and your sister both: something to trust in. They wouldn’t put you up to this task without giving you the strength you need to carry it out. And I know, when the time is right, that they won’t let you down.”

“Hm.” Aurora gazed aside in reflection. “Glass Eye said something similar the other day, actually. ‘Everything I need, I’ve already been given.’ Something like that.” Then she sighed, and her sullen eyes fell to the floor. “But… I really don’t feel that way. I don’t feel that way at all.”

Compass Point climbed onto the sofa beside Aurora, allowing her daughter to rest her head against her withers. “You’ve always been kind, Blue. You’ve brought us so much laughter. You have such a generous heart. You’ve never been anything less than honest. And there’s nopony in Equestria who’s more loyal to the ponies she loves. I know the Elements are with you, whether you feel that way or not. Sooner or later, their power will shine through, if you let it. Just be patient. Have faith. And please, please don’t worry so much.”

Aurora sniffled one last time, wiping a tear from her eye. “I’ll bring her back safe,” she whispered at last. “I promise.”

Compass Point smiled. “I know you will. I believe.”

Aurora nodded, raising her head again with new confidence, and new purpose. If this was the task the Elements of Harmony had charged her with, so be it. She would prove to herself, if to nopony else, that they hadn’t made a mistake. She would be the princess that she was meant to be. She would live up to her responsibilities, no matter how hard the journey.

And she would bring her sister home.

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[FinalFan]

Oh, I haven't upvoted yet? Let's just fix that.