Since When am I Faust?

by McDufus_456

Chapter 4: Day With Amore.

Since When am I Faust?
Chapter 4: A Day With Amore

A few hours after Luna and I went to get a midnight snack, we returned to my bedroom. Tia was still sleeping soundly, and as she laid wrapped in the bedsheets, she had a happy smile on her face. The alicorn let out a quiet purr as she enjoyed the warmth of the covers, and Luna let out a huff in disappointment.

Seeing that her so-called prank was a failure, the Princess of the night stepped into the room with a frown. She yawned, lighting up her horn, and she grabbed a hold of the bedsheets wrapped around Tia.

Seeing this, I looked at the princess with a questioning glance, and she smirked at me and nudged my side. Luna then jolted her head upwards and pulled the bedsheets away from Tia. In an instant, the blankets were tugged away from the solar princess, and the white mare let out a stifled gasp as she woke up, finding herself to be rapidly spinning around.

Luna gave a satisfied smile as her sister clumsily rolled off the edge of the bed, and I looked on with amusement and a hint of concern as I waited for Tia to get up. A moment passed, and the two of us heard a groan from the floor. Sitting up, Celestia set her chin on the edge of the bed, and she grumbled as she puffed out her cheeks. "Aww... Lulu, is it time for morning already?..."

Luna yawned and chuckled at her sister's question. Somehow the mare seemed to be more concerned about having to wake up than she was about being thrown out of the bed. Shaking her head, Luna smiled, and she walked forward and stood on the opposing side of the mattress. "Yes, sister, tis… Argh!... It, Is, time to raise the sun."

Celestia’s face grew a faint smile as she listened to her sister try to speak, and it turned mischievous as she let her head roll to the side. She rested on her cheek, and she began to playfully pout, "Oohhh, why can't anypony else do it for once… Just let me sleep in already..."

"Tia! You know why!"

"Awwwwwww...."

I found myself chuckling at Celestia's childish behavior, and she looked at me as I stifled a giggle. Her pout became a slight smirk, and she grunted as she stood up. Tia let out a tired groan as she stretched her neck from side to side, and she yawned as she wiped the sleep from her eyes. She looked over at Luna with a tired gaze, and she smiled as she shrugged, "Alright, Lulu, you win..."

The princess turned towards the balcony and walked outside. Luna followed her elder sister out of the room, and the two stood side by side as they lit their horns. From inside, I watched with rapt attention as the two began changing it from night to day. It was still fascinating, and I couldn't help but wonder how much magic a pony would need to be able to move the sun and moon.

The whole exchange lasted for only a minute or two, but it was worth it. As the girls finished tending to their duties, I stepped closer to the door as the sisters walked back inside. I smiled as I opened my mouth to speak, but before I could say anything, the doors to my bedroom suddenly burst open. Surprised, I jumped at the sound, and I turned my head to see a group of attendants flooding into the room.

A secretary wearing glasses led them in, and she pushed the spectacles up on her nose. This caused them to shimmer, and she looked directly at Tia. The alicorn groaned and dove for the bed, but the attendants suddenly swarmed her. She didn't reach the mattress, and they practically pulled the white mare out of the room. She wined as they dragged her off to her duties, and I watched the whole thing play out with a stunned and somewhat dumbfounded expression on my face.

Gathering my wits about me, I turned to Luna. She seemed eager to spend more time with her mom, but at the same time, it was obvious that she was in desperate need of some sleep. The princess wobbled back and forth as she tried to stay awake, and with a slight misstep, she almost fell to the ground.

Thankfully though, before she could hit the floor, Lauren caught her with our magic, and a fiery glow wrapped itself around the mare. Faust levitated the sleepy princess onto the bed, and Luna groaned, wanting to stay awake. The princess reached out to her mom, and Lauren smiled at the gesture. She tucked her daughter in, and she stroked her mane. "Have a good sleep, Lulu, I'll see you later."

She kissed her daughter on the forehead and smiled happily as she sat back up. Luna was still trying to push herself to stay awake, hoping to catch up on so many years that should have been spent together. But she couldn't. Her body gave out, and the ancient mare laid back. As soon as her head touched the pillow, the princess could feel the lure of sleep pulling at her.

While Luna began to nod off, I found myself in control again, and I looked up at the room. The curtains were wide open, and the bright sunlight flowed through. Flaring my horn, I grabbed the curtains with my magic and slid them shut.

The room became enveloped in darkness, and I heard Luna whisper a quiet "Thank you" at the gesture. With that, I made my way out of the room and quietly closed the door behind me.

---

About two hours later, I found myself wandering aimlessly through the castle. I was bored. Tia was busy, Luna was sleeping, and I didn't have anything to do. Lauren suggested that I try doing some artwork or reading a book, but I wasn't exactly keen to stay inside all day again. I wanted to get out and explore this new world, so that's exactly what I went to do.

Cadance was walking in the courtyard that overlooked the Castle grounds, and as she walked, she went over a shopping list, checking things off as she went along. "And... done, looks like everything is pretty much set to go."

She smiled happily to herself and looked up only to spot a guard approaching her. He had an odd expression on his face, and she was about to ask him what was wrong, but then the two heard her name being called from across the courtyard.

"Cadance!"

The pink alicorn looked up from her clipboard and glanced around, wondering who had just called her name. She looked around with a bit of a confused expression, and then she spotted the smaller alicorn running out of the castle to meet her.

As I ran towards Cadance, I noticed a guard standing near her rear back and grit his teeth as he strolled away. However, I quickly brushed it off and turned to the pink mare. She smiled at me, and greeted, "Oh hi, Lauren, how are you?"

"Alright, just a bit bored. I don't have any duties to attend to, so I've just been waiting around. How about you?"

Cadance bumped against my shoulder. "Actually, I just finished up with what I had planned. Would you like to do something together?"

My eyes lit up. "Sure!"

"Okay, what would you like to do?"

That question actually kind of stumped me. I wasn't expecting to get this far. I put my hoof against my chin and looked upwards in thought. "Hmm... Oh, I know, how about cashing in on those ten bits and getting free ice cream!" I exclaimed.

Cadance just looked at me with a stare that said 'really?' And deadpanned. "Lauren, 'you' always get free ice cream. Besides..." Cadance looked to me and then down at herself and breathed out a laugh. "Does it look like I have any bits on me?"

I looked at her, and sure enough, the only thing she had with her was the clipboard. I laughed in defeat. "Alright, alright, but I still want my ten bits."

Cadance shook her head with a slight roll of her eyes. "Noted. Now what?"

I was thinking of going, exploring, or visiting the city, but Lauren suddenly took control before I could voice that opinion. She looked Cadance in the eyes and tapped her hoof on the alicorn’s shoulder. Nodding, she gave a wide grin, and she shouted, "(Tag your it!)" then she started running.

Cadance raised an eyebrow, and she grinned in disbelief. "Seriously, Lauren?"

A short distance away, Lauren stopped and turned to face Cadance as she ran in place. "(One thing that you will learn when you get to be my age, Cadance, is that there's nothing wrong with being childish.)"

Cadance grinned and lowered herself to the ground, playfully waving her tail. "Oh, I have no problem being childish! But you should learn a little more about a pony before challenging them to tag, especially me!"

I was suddenly given full control again. And I was not so sure about playing this game with her anymore. She suddenly launched herself towards me like a missile. I ran.

...So, why tag exactly?

(Simple, it's good practice for your coordination. I figured that if you have enough practice, your dumbass will stop throwing me down the damn staircase!)

"Oops…"

I looked to see if Cadance was still behind me and was startled when I saw her right on my tail. She had a goofy grin on her muzzle and crazy eyes. "Challenging me to tag was a bad idea~" She sang.

My eyes bulged out in surprise, and I ran faster. It didn't work, though. I felt like I was in some sort of horror movie where I could never get away from her no matter how fast I ran.

I decided that if I couldn't outrun her, then I'd evade her. So, running up to one of the park benches, I lept and used it as a springboard to jump over the nearby hedge. I landed and kept running. As I ran, I heard the sound of Cadance landing. She was once again right behind me and closing the distance. In an effort to evade her, I suddenly turned to the left and then shot to the right. Cadance went left and dug her hooves into the ground when she saw me change direction. I rounded the corner of one of the hedges and dove into some nearby bushes.

I held my breath as I looked through the leaves to see if she followed me. I saw a flash of pink run by, but then there was silence. From my vantage point, I couldn't see anything, and I held my breath in wait.

"You're going to have to try harder than that if you want to lose me," Cadance whispered. My ears twitched as I felt her breath brush against them. I felt a chill go down my back and leaped out of the bush, running to get away. "Wahhh!"

Cadance simply stayed in the bush, laughing at how freaked out I was. As I glanced back, I saw her head peeking out from the bush, "I'm going to get youuu~" she said in a sing-song voice.

"Noooo!"

"Here I come~" She was now out of the bush, and her wings were unfurling.

"Stay away!" I cried. But she didn't listen. As I glanced back once again, I only got to see Cadances smiling face before being tackled to the ground.

We fell in a heap, and we tumbled down the face of a small hill. Once we got to the bottom, we laid on the grass, and I found myself lying on my back. Cadance was in a similar position, and we were both out of breath from running. My sides were aching, and my heart was beating loudly in my ears. Cadance was breathing heavily and just staring up at the sky for a moment before she reached up and touched my shoulder, "Tag…" She breathed out.

I laughed, "Alright, you win…"

I couldn't see her because I was facing the sky, but I could somehow sense her smile in recognition. Then she started chuckling to herself.

"I haven't played that game since the first day I met Twilight…"

"Oh yeah?... and how long... did she last?" I asked.

"Didn't… even make… a minute, and I gave her a thirty second head start…"

I just laughed. We stayed like that, looking up at the clouds for a few minutes as we caught our breath.

Tilting my head upward, I looked at where we ended up. Surprisingly we were lying in the grass just in front of Discord's statue. When I saw that, I rolled over, stood up, and walked over to it.

For one thing, he was damn big. I didn't have much to compare him to, but I'd guess he would be close to twelve feet tall. Cadance got up as well and walked over to my side. She draped a wing over my back, and I felt a pang of sadness well up inside of me. Cadance looked at me consolingly and asked, "You knew him?"

At Cadance's question, I felt Lauren take control. Her eyes began to water, and she looked down and nodded. "(Yeah… Yeah I know him.)"

Looking up at the statue, Lauren blinked her tears away and spoke with a quivering voice "(H-Hello Discord, it's been a while… I'd hoped that we would reunite under better circumstances... I just wanted to thank you for protecting Tia and Lulu for me while they were growing up… I know they didn't always see it that way. Thank you... Discord.)"

Lauren lowered her head with a bow and then gave me back control. I stood up straight and looked at the statue; my breathing was shaky, and I simply stared, trying to deal with the sudden bursts of emotion that I would get from my passenger. I looked over to Cadance, and her face was covered in shock. She then collected herself and smiled sheepishly. She moved her wing back and forth on my back, much in the same way that someone would rub someone's shoulder to try to comfort a friend. "You okay?" She asked.

I looked at Cadance and gave a bittersweet smile. "Yeah, I'm okay... Come on, let's go…bystanders are starting to stare."

The two alicorns walked away, not knowing where to go, and unbeknownst to the two of them, a tear appeared on the statue.

Cadance and I walked alongside each other for a few minutes in silence. We simply continued down the pathway with no real destination in mind before we found ourselves looking up at the Canterlot royal library. I glanced at her, "Want to take a look?"

She shrugged her shoulders, "Sure."

I ran up the stairs and trotted up to the door. I tried to pull the doors open, but they didn't budge. Again and again, I tried to pull open the door, but it was to no avail. Cadance walked up and raised an eyebrow, and then walked past me and pushed the door open. Moving her foreleg, she gestured for me to walk inside.

Damn it!

The two of us walked inside only to find the library abandoned. It was the same as it was after twilight left in episode one. Near the shelves on the far side of the room laid a present box skewered through by a dragon's tail. Books were littered along the floor, and papers decorated the desks. It made me feel somewhat sad to see the state of the place. I liked libraries.

"I must say this is a little different than I thought it would be. I'd, at least, expect someone to upkeep the library."

Across the room, Cadance had almost automatically started cleaning up. "Twilight used to keep this place tidy, but then she moved to Ponyville." Cadance then turned to look at me, "Have you met Twilight yet?"

"No, but I've heard a lot about her from Tia." I said with a shrug, and Cadance nodded at me with a smile.

A few minutes later, as the pink alicorn finished clearing one of the desks at the back of the room, she sighed. Looking up at the rest of the library, she frowned at the mess. Throwing her hooves up, she exclaimed, "This is going to take forever!"

Lauren chuckled at the princess’s comment, and she looked over at Cadance with a soft smile. "(No, not really. Back when Celestia was just a filly, I got used to cleaning up both her messes and the loose papers that would often go flying around my office. This is nothing compared to those messes. Here, I'll show you a little trick I cooked up back in those days.)"

Her horn began to glow red, and nearly all the books, papers, pens, and ink wells, lifted and were put away. They all moved to their places simultaneously, and I was personally impressed at how she did it without any strain or lack of order. The amount of concentration that she must have had would need to be astronomical. She just put away at least two hundred and fifty books!

Cadance's mouth was agape at the display that Lauren just performed. "H-how?... T-that was amazing!"

"(Oh, thank you, Cadance.)"

"You said you used to do stuff like that all the time?"

"(In the past…Yes, nowadays I can manage to do it successfully only about half the time.)"

Hey!

By the time the two of us managed to finish cleaning the library, it was nearing dusk. Cadence decided to wipe down all the tables and guard rails. For some reason, she refused to let me do the dusting. So I filed away the loose pieces of paper. We couldn't remember why we started cleaning, but both of us felt satisfied with our work once the job was done.

With nothing to do, both of us found a few books to read. Cadance found herself a romance novel, and I was studying fire magic. Looking at the lounge on the second floor, I saw Cadance sitting on one of the couches in front of the fireplace. I looked at the fireplace and opened the flue. I then tossed a few logs into it and tried one of the fire spells I had just learned. A small flame appeared, but it quickly died out. Thankfully Cadance was too engrossed in her book to notice my failure. It was a bit embarrassing.

Hey, Lauren. Can you give me a little tip on how to do this…

(Try thinking more about how you get fire rather than just the result... Don't burn down the building.)

Nodding, I tried again. My horn lit up, and I tried to think of the process of how I would get the desired result.

Okay, let's see, I need fuel, oh I know I'll use Hydrogen, I'll take that out of the air. Then use the oxygen to sustain the flame, and I just need to add a spark…

(Alex NO!)

Luna was raising the moon and watching as the houses' lights were going out one by one. She looked on as the darkness overtook the world. Suddenly, a burst of fire roared out of the chimney of one of the nearby towers. There was a resounding boom, and it was soon followed by a wind that blew against Luna's coat. Straightening up a little, she looked at the city from her balcony. One by one, the lights across Canterlot started turning back on, and Luna couldn't help but laugh to herself as she rolled her eyes. "Oh, mom..."

I was upside down plastered against the wall, my white coat now black from soot, and some bits of hair curled up from the heat. Cadance didn't even look up from her book. "Oh, thanks, Lauren. I was starting to get cold." She said.

"No problem…" I coughed. A small puff of black smoke escaping my muzzle. My body then fell off the wall, and I landed on my head. I fell behind the couch Cadance was sitting on.

"Oww…"

I laid there on the ground, wallowing in pain for a little bit. I wasn't sure how long I was there, but I soon heard the door to the library open. Looking up, I saw Luna walk through the door. She looked around and then saw me on the floor.

With a half-lidded stare, she walked over to me. "I knew it… The only pony who could wake up the whole city would have to be you."

I groaned as I looked up at her, "What can I say? I try my best." I coughed up another puff of smoke.

Luna just stared at me, and then she looked to the hearth of the fireplace. It was stained black from the blast. She looked back at me and burst out laughing.

---

The next morning I woke up lying on one of the couches. I looked down at myself, my fur had somehow healed, and someone had tucked me in for the night. I was under a big purple blanket with a starlike pattern. I glanced over at Cadance, who was asleep on the couch beside me. I noticed she must have fallen asleep while reading her book because she was still holding it in her arms. I grabbed her blanket and pulled it up over her head, so just her horn was visible. There was no real reason why; I just found it funny.

I wiped the sleep from my eyes with my front hooves and took a deep breath. A moment later, I heard a bell, and my equine ears began to swivel around instinctively. They rotated around until they managed to catch the sound of a door closing and hooves trotting along the first floor. To be honest, that was one of the things I was having the most difficulty with when it came to adjusting to my new situation. Sure, I could handle a different world, different species, and even a different gender, but those ears... they just seemed to get under my skin more than anything else. Weird...

"Your Highness! Are you here?" A familiar voice called out from the first floor. I looked up from my position on the couch and over the balcony. Looking down, I saw my three attendants, Lyra, Minuette, and Lillybreeze, walking in. They all looked around the place in hopes of finding me while they carried snacks in their magic. They all looked like they had packed up for a picnic. A picnic that I was sure had enough food for more, at least, they'd have to make it that way.

"Up here. The second floor." I called out; my voice was still dry and had the occasional crack at specific points in my speech.

"Alright, be right up!" Lyra yelled.

I began to slide off the couch, and as I dropped to the ground, I grabbed my blanket with my magic and began folding it up. Setting it aside, I looked up to see Lillybreeze reach the top of the staircase. She looked at me and paused for a brief moment.

There was a look of relief in her eyes, and I raised an eyebrow in confusion as she walked over and hugged me. I returned the gesture, awkwardly patting her on the back, but I became more and more confused by her actions. I felt her trembling in my embrace, and I pulled back and looked at her with concern."Lilly, are you alright?"

"You never came back last night, I was afraid… I don't want to loose you too." She whispered out, and I reared back slightly. It may have sounded odd to the others, but knowing the disguised Proto Queen, I clenched my jaw, realizing there was a lot to be unpacked there. I reached out to her, and with my arm, on her shoulder, I smiled softly. "I'm sorry for worrying you Lilly, I merely forgot to inform anyo-pony that I was here... Actually, now that I think about it, how did you find me here?"

"We went and asked Princess Luna for any information on your whereabouts," Minuette said as she put a plate of treats down at a nearby table.

"Yeah, she kinda didn't enjoy Lilly shaking her awake for an interrogation. But at least, we found out where you were and are now able to have breakfast together." Lyra said, walking up.

I nodded my head in response. Then I caught a whiff of the warm cinnamon buns waiting at the table. Instantly my mouth began to water, and the feeling of hunger made itself known to my senses. I let go of Lilly and stared intently at the mouth-watering food. Finally, my stomach let out a loud growl, ordering me to feed it. "So um... is it ready?" I asked briefly, pointing to the food display.

"Mostly, we are just waiting for the coffee to brew at this point," Lyra stated with a nod. I clapped my hooves together in anticipation as I waited for the coffee to arrive. When it did, we made our way over to the small lounging area and grabbed our food. Lilly served the coffee to everyone, and we enjoyed talking with one another. I found myself grinning as I looked at my cinnamon bun and my new friends. "So, what plans do you gu-irls have for today?" I asked as I took a sip of my drink.

Lillybreeze was the first to speak up. "I have no plans. My job is to be your maid, and everything I've been directed to do has already been done. At this point in just waiting for your direction." She said; I nodded to her answer and then turned to my other visitors to hear what they had to say on the subject.

I looked over to Lyra and patiently waited for her to finish chugging a mug of coffee. "Ahhh, that's good stuff." She wiped her mouth. "Oh, right plans… Well, Minuette and I will be helping out with a wedding rehearsal we're supposed to go to. We have to go within a minute or two, but we wanted to make sure we said hi."

I smiled and took another sip. "Well, thank you for passing by," I then took a bite of my cinnamon bun and asked, "Swo, wh wddin ih it?"

(Please swallow your food...)

I gulped and tried again. "Sorry about that... Whose wedding is it?"

All of my attendants turned to stare at me in shock. "You mean nopony told you!"

"Told me what?" I shrugged.

Minuette threw her arms out to the side. "Princess Cadence is getting married in two days!"

The room seemed to freeze as my initial shock overcame me. My coffee cup fell to the ground; my concentration all but disappearing as I heard those words. I felt as if my heart had stopped, my blood quickly went from mildly chill to ice-cold, and the hair on the back of my neck stood tall. A few seconds passed as the tension in the room started to grow. My attendants all began to look at me with worried expressions. Lilly was the next one to speak up.

"Hey, Princess… you alright?" My statue-like state yielded no response for my maid and instead furthered her growing concern.

"I think we broke her," Lyra stated, leaning into my line of sight and waving her hoof to get my attention. She continued doing this until I pulled myself out of my stupor.

I suddenly got up and ran over to the couch. Throwing off her blanket, I yelled at Cadance, "Hey butt face! Why didn't ya tell me ya were getting married in the next few days!"

Cadance groaned as she stirred from sleep. She looked up at me and raised an eyebrow.

"Butt face? Really Lauren?"

(Really Alex?)

"You heard me..."

Cadance shook her head and slowly got up. She seemed surprised that she was still in the library, but she paid it little mind. "Coffee first." She said, and Minuette Poured her a cup. The pink alicorn gladly accepted it, and she took a sip as she sat on the couch, "So what is this all about..." She groaned.

I don't think Cadance is a morning person.

Lyra was the first to get over her initial shock that the pink alicorn was in the room and spoke up, "We were telling Lauren about how we are supposed to be attending your wedding rehearsal in the next ten minutes."

Cadance's ear lifted as Lyra said this, and her eyes shot open. She quickly gulped down her coffee and jumped up onto her hooves.

"Oh, no, nonononono! I'm late! And I'm a mess! I got to go! See you later, Lauren!" She jumped off the balcony, glided to the first floor, and then ran out the door.

Lyra looked over to Minuette. "Do you think we should follow her?" Minuette nodded, and the pair got up and ran after the princess. Both of them waved goodbye as they left the library, and I waved back as they closed the door behind them.

Shrugging, I turned to Lilly and said, "Well, I guess it's just the two of us then..."

Lilly nodded, and I picked up my cup, and took a sip of what remained after I dropped it. I stared down at it, a bit disheartened that there was only about one third of my drink left, and I gave a shallow sigh.

Looking up, I noticed Lilly was staring at me, and my eyes widened as I looked at her curiously. "Something wrong?"

"Huh? Oh, nothing... it's just well when you heard about the wedding you looked shocked, but your emotions showed you were more panicked and fearful. I was just wondering why you would be scared of Cadence getting married?"

I gave a half-hearted chuckle to her question. "I'm not scared of Cadence getting married. I'm all for it. But..."

"But what?"

"I'm scared of the day she gets married and how close it is."

She looked at me with confusion, and she raised an eyebrow, "Um... why?"

Looking at her, my gentle smile disappeared. My face became one of complete seriousness, and I looked her in the eyes. "Because that's when your mother strikes."

Comments

[Pinklestia]

Episode Two: The Mother Strikes back!

[Black--Soul]

10779318
Priceless

Mother in law joke without context i would say.

[Greenhorn]

With a half-lidded stare, she walked over to me. "I knew it… The only pony who could wake up the whole city would have to be you."

Celestia: Mother, why didn't you just ring the maids if you were cold? There is a bell in every rooms, so you don't need to use magic alarm.

[Chrome Masquerade]

"Okay, what would you like to do?"

Is anyone else reminded of the vultures from The Jungle Book, here?

[Chrome Masquerade]

I suddenly felt Lauren take control, and she looked over at Cadance with a soft smile. "(No, not really; I used to be a writer way back when Celestia was just a filly, and this is nothing compared to the messes I had to clean up. Here, I'll show you a little trick I cooked up back in those days...)"

[Chrome Masquerade]

"(In the past…Yes, nowadays I can manage to do it successfully only about half the time.)"

[Kevin Lee]

By now, Princess Adorilin should be wondering what other 'ling may have informed Lauren--and Alex/Lauren should at least push that idea as being valid. That way, if Chrysalis ever did discover and interrogate Adorilin, all the queen will find out is that her covert ops seems to have more holes than her own legs!

[lainverse]

Insanely my mouth began to water,

This sounds almost correct. ^_^

[McDufus_456]

10813052 Thanks 👍

[Someguy458]

Looking up at the statue, Lauren blinked her tears away and spoke with a quivering voice "(H-Hello Discord, it's been a while… I'd hoped that we would reunite under better circumstances... I just wanted to thank you for protecting Tia and Lulu for me while they were growing up… I know they didn't always see it that way. Thank you... Discord.)"

Excuse me, WHAT?!

[Holydude]

Hopefully we will eventually get to read about Lauren and discord meeting again