Prance en France

by Sunny_and_Auri_23

Chapter 6: A Plan

Nothing much had changed over the last few days. Twilight bit her lip as she continued taking notes from the scrying mirror. She could see what Lila was doing, it didn’t really take much to see through her endless bouts of manipulation and lies.

So why was everyone else falling for it?

The only solution she could think of was mind magic or something of the sort, and she had a feeling Lila had an aura of magic surrounding her. However, she didn’t know for sure. And she highly doubted magic existed in this world.

She shook her head and groaned in frustration, “It doesn’t make any sense…”

Rarity carefully approached her, “Darling? I think you should take a break.”

Twilight sighed, “I guess I should... “

Rarity seemed mildly surprised by her lack of protest but quickly hid it beneath a comforting smile. “Let’s have lunch, hm?”

Surprisingly, Felix had managed to produce enough sustenance for all of them from his oversized rich-person food stock for each of them, which they had been grateful for. Twilight especially was grateful for the food, since she sometimes forgot to make herself a meal when involved in a research project.
No one really had many complaints about the salads, sandwiches and other dishes they got each day, with the exception of Pinkie, who was begging for a sugar rush for some reason.

As she and her friends sat around the table in the attic, another feeling emanated from their faces and postures. Boredom.

She was reminded of all the times when she was sitting around all day, wishing on shooting stars that she would finally be called to help with a friendship problem. Yet, here she was now. They had been at this for days, with no real progress. She knew physical combat was much more of Rainbow’s style, but she honestly just wanted to kick that Lila girl in the face.

Not that she’d ever actually do it.

Rainbow rubbed her hooves over her face, “You guys feel that feeling of nothingness yet?”

Fluttershy sighed sadly, “Did you find anything Twilight?”

Twilight shook her head, “No. All I can come up with are theories. We’ll need to ask Felix if he can do some
tests to see if any of them are true.”

Applejack raised an eyebrow, “What kinda tests?”

“Magic tests. Obviously, since he doesn’t have magic, I’ll need to lend him some of my magic to do them.”

Rarity paused, then spoke, “Are… you certain this is the only way we can do this? What about the spell you used to turn us into breezes before? Can’t you use that to turn us into humans or something?”

Rainbow nodded with a hint of annoyance, “Yeah, the one that you didn’t turn us into dragons with!” She huffed, crossing her hooves.

Twilight rolled her eyes and turned back to face Rarity, “Humans don’t exist in Equestria, as far as we know. To use the spell to transform us into such foreign creatures would require… a lot of modifications. And I don’t have all the resources I need for it. Not to mention it could take weeks or even months, and I don’t think we can afford to be away from Equestria for so long.”

Rarity sighed dramatically in defeat, “I suppose that makes sense.”

“Yeah. I’ll discuss it with Felix later.”

“Discuss what with me later?”

Twilight jumped in surprise, “Felix! Why do you keep walking in like that!?”

“...I live here.”

“He’s got a point y’know.” Pinkie Pie commented.

“But I am also here to tell you I think it's time we informed Marinette of your involvement in the situation.”

Twilight’s eyes widened, “W-Wha- Bu-”

“I invited her over so she can meet you all.”

Twilight paused. Then she opened her mouth to fill it with the words, “Oh.”

Felix nodded, “Yes.”

“Well then, I don’t really have much to say.” She shrugged, then smiled, “I can’t wait to meet your friend!”

Rarity giggled, “Yes… your friend.” This was followed by a series of snickers around the group of colourful pastel ponies. Though, it seemed that everypony was laughing for completely different reasons.

Rainbow smirked, “You gonna show ‘er your card tricks?”
Felix groaned and rubbed the bridge of his nose with his fingers, “I was planning to show her a few tricks, yes.”

Applejack grinned, “Well then, ya better show us what y’all have up yer sleeve! Ah know Ah’ve been waitin’ to see yer magicking those cards!” She ended with a wink. Felix actually gave a small smile. Twilight could tell it was genuine; it was that same smile he had on his face whenever he was with Marinette.

Fluttershy stepped forward quietly, noticeably much less nervous than when they were first thrust into this world, “You know, Felix, if you’re worried about anything, you can tell us. I know how scary it is to perform something. Especially in front of people you care about.” She smiled sympathetically.

He stuttered momentarily, though Twilight couldn’t imagine why, and quickly recomposed himself, smiling back down at Fluttershy. “Thank you, Fluttershy, but it is not necessary.” He closed his eyes and sighed.

Twilight flew up to his height, grabbing his attention. “You seem very passionate about magic tricks.” She looked away briefly, “I love magic too. Well, not stage magic, that’s Trixie’s thing. But… I get it.” she faced him again, determination and certainty lining her expression, “I think, no, I know that Marinette will like it.”
Felix gave her a grateful nod for the reassurance. “Trust me, everything will go just fine. I promise.”

***

Felix waited aimlessly around the empty house, waiting for the doorbell to ring when it hit him he had yet to ask his mother if it was okay to have guests over. Cursing internally, Felix pulled out his phone and dialled her number. He hoped she would allow it, or else he would have to introduce the magical horses to Marinette another way. His mother would definitely have allowed guests in their house in England, but he doubted she would for their house in France. It was where they had lived before, where the memories of his father were strongest…

“Hello, Mother.”

“Hi, Felix!” His mother’s cheerful voice called from the phone. “How was school!? How have you been getting along? I'm sorry I didn’t call earlier, I’ve been super busy but I have some time now! In fact, I just need to wrap up a few things and I’ll be back in about a fortnight, sooner if I can. I know you don’t mind, but I hate having to leave you alone all the time, now that your father can’t stay with you.”

“I’m fine mother, school is complicated, but I was just calling you about that. I was wondering if…” he trailed off, unsure how to proceed.

“Yes?”

“I could invite someone over? To show magic tricks to?” Technically, it was true. “She’s very responsible, and I guarantee the house will be left in perfect condition-”

“Felix.” His mother’s voice cut off his rambling and there was a pause before she spoke again. “Did you...make a friend?”

“I think so. She said we are. Twice.”

“You made a fRIEND?????!!!!!! OF COURSE, YOU CAN HAVE HER OVER!!!!!!! I'M SO HAPPY FOR YOU! When's the wedding?”

“Thank you, Mother. But what was that last part? I didn’t quite catch it.”

“Nothing! Just make sure to invite her over again when I come back so I can meet her too! I love you, bye!”

“Certainly, Mother. Goodbye”

The call cut off, and the doorbell rang.

***

“Can I get you anything?” Felix asked Marinette, feeling slightly awkward. “We have tea. Quite a lot of tea.”

“Sure, I love tea! What kinds do you have?”

“Mostly earl grey, but a few other varieties too. Do you have a preference?”

“Earl grey is fine,” she said, smiling.

“I’ll go make some,” he said, backing into the kitchen. “Make yourself comfortable in the living room until then.”

Felix returned minutes later with a tray with a teapot and teacups on it.

“You have a nice house,” Marinette commented, taking a cup and sipping from it.

“Thank you. The credit goes to my mother though; she designed most of the interior.”

“She did an excellent job, then. But speaking of your mother, where are your parents, Felix? Are they somewhere else in the house?”

“Oh, no, my mother is on a business trip and often leaves me by myself.” At Marinette’s concerned look he hastily added on. “I don’t mind, and she has someone check up on me and drive me to and from school every day.”

Marinette's look of concern lessened somewhat but remained. “Still, you shouldn’t be alone so much. It’s not good for you. Is your father on a business trip, too?” she asked.

Felix stiffened at the mention and managed to choke out an explanation. “No- he- he died a few years ago.”
There was a pregnant pause and Felix looked out the window to the grounds surrounding the house when suddenly Marinette’s arms were around him, pulling him into a tight hug. “I’m so sorry Felix,” She said into his chest.

Felix just rested his chin on the top of her head, her cinnamon and lavender scent soothing. “It’s okay.” He said, fighting to keep his voice steady. “It happened a long time ago.”

“It’s not fair on you at all. How…?”

“He died of cancer when I was eleven. It’s why we moved from Paris to London; my mother couldn’t bear being here anymore. She’s better now, though. She’s accepted it. So we moved back to France.”

“What about you?” Marinette asked, pulling back from the hug and looking up at him. “How are you coping?”

He averted his eyes. “I- I don’t really want to talk about it.”

“Of course,” Marinette said quickly, expression soft. “But if you change your mind, let me know. I’ll be here.”

“Thank you. So, about your reason for visitation…”

“That thing about the situation with Lila you said you had to show me? What is it?”

“It’s uh, it’s in the attic, so...” They made their way up a twisting staircase to the top of the house, and stopped in front of the attic door. Felix put his hand on the doorknob and began to turn it-

Suddenly, Marinette’s eyes widened. “Felix did you murder her and stuff her body in your atti-”

“No! Nothing like that! It’s just-”

“Us!” Pinkie pie yelled, bursting through the attic door.

Marinette screamed. “AH TALKING HORSE! PINK TALKING HORSE! FELIX RUN THE HORSE WILL GET US-”

Pinkie paused and rolled her eyes, “Um, I’m a pony, not a Mare of Diomedes.” Then, with a bounce, she regained her chirp and bubbliness, “I won’t eat you unless you’re cake! Which, last time I checked, you are not!” She ended with a grin.

Marinette jumped behind Felix and did her best to not fall down the stairs all the way to the bottom floor and took a few short breaths to steady herself. Felix turned his face away to hide his small amused smile. “I see you’ve met Pinkie Pie.” He said calmly.

“How does a pink talking horse have anything to do with the situation with Lila!” Marinette exclaimed from behind Felix, peeking out over his shoulder.

“That’s the thing.” He tried to explain. “The talking horses do not just talk and be brightly coloured, they are also magic and go around the multiverse solving friendship problems. The situation we are in is a friendship problem, and so they are here to help.”

“Horses?! Plural?!”

“Eeyup.” Applejack said, poking her head out through the doorway.

Twilight stuck her head out too and smiled. “Nice to finally meet you, Marinette. How about we have this conversation in the attic?”

“How do you know my name?! But besides that, I’m not going into an enclosed space! How do I know you aren’t a serial killer!”

“Because we aren’t,” Rainbow Dash said in a bored voice. “We’re ‘spirits’ of friendship here to help you or whatever we’re supposed to do. We’ve been here so long I barely remember life back in Equestria.”

Fluttershy, who was hiding behind Rainbow quietly mumbled, “Rainbow, it’s been five days.” to which Rainbow groaned.

“All of you stop, immediately.” Rarity said, pushing everyone back into the attic. “You’re scaring her.”
Rarity turned to look at Marinette. “You are a designer, are you not?” She asked in a gentle voice. At Marinette’s shaky nod she continued in a calming voice, “I am, too. And on the designer's code, I swear that my friends and I intend no harm, and sincerely want to help you.” She held out one perfectly polished hoof to Marinette, who tentatively accepted it with her own hand and the two walked into the attic like that, Felix following after.

The rest of the mane six stood at a distance to Marinette, and she watched them warily before she took a deep breath and she looked at them. “This ‘spirits of friendship’ thing,” she said. “Explain.”
“Gladly,” Twilight said with a smug expression, levitating the fully produced presentation she had prepared for this moment...

***

“So basically you come from an alternate universe called Equestria where the dominant species is not humans but a variety of mythical creatures and you are all magic and live in a magic world where a magic map made a magic portal and magically transported you to here to help me with your magic, magically?” Marinette glanced at all the ponies as Twilight finished her speech.

“That’s ‘bout it.” Applejack nodded.

“Yep, but I don’t think you used the word magic enough times.” Rainbow Dash deadpanned. Fluttershy gently chastised her to be nicer.

Marinette ignored her and wrapped her arms around herself. “So magic is real. Wow! Real-life magic! Magic magic magic magic...” she said, more to herself than anyone in particular. She looked up as a new thought entered her mind. “I have one question.”

“Yes… What’s your question?” Twilight probed.

Marinette turned and looked up at Felix, “Did you spike my tea and this is all a really complex hallucination?”

Felix’s eyes blew wide. “Of course not-”

“We’re real,” Rainbow Dash cut in, “Pinkie, tell her.”

Pinkie stood up and walked over to Marinette, enough seriousness lining her brow to make Felix stutter, “Tell me, do you have magical jewellery that you and your former crush use to save Paris from the evil butterfly guy?” She leaned in conspiratorially.

Marinette leaned back, “...No?”

Pinkie reverted her head back to its starting point and gasped, “Oh. Yeah, then you’re totally hallucinating!”

“WHAT!?”

Twilight rolled her eyes, “No, don’t listen to her. When you do, hallucinating or not, you feel like you’re in a fever dream. Trust me, and don’t question her. Ever.” She sighed, “And I can assure you that you’re not hallucinating.”

Marinette raised her eyebrow, “That’s exactly what a hallucination would say.”

“Wha- I- Ugh.”

Felix snickered in his mind at their antics, seconds away from his straight face cracking as he tried to mediate the situation.

“Even if they are hallucinations, they wish to help us and have the means to solve our ‘friendship problem’. And if I’m real enough to spike your tea, then I’m real, and I assure you, so are they.” Marinette peered at him through her lashes, her blue eyes scanning his face with apprehension. “I am aware I am not making the most sense right now, but please trust me.”

Indecision wavered on her face until Marinette sighed and met his eyes. “ Okay. I trust you.”
She then turned to the ponies, “So you said you're gonna help with the situation with Lila? How? I don’t know what to do myself. My everything still hurts from when I got dodgeballed today.”

Rainbow took a double-take, “Dodgeballed? What?”

Applejack raised her eyebrow, “Were ya not payin’ attention or somethin’?”

She paused, “...Eheh… no. I wasn’t.”

“Basically, as part of her regime to make my life miserable, Lila convinced some of our class to throw dodgeballs at me. Repeatedly.”

Rainbow grimaced and looked over to Marinette, “Sheesh, what is with that girl and her minions. Dodgeballs? I thought you went to school, not war.”

Marinette sighed, “I suppose it is war, and I know who's losing. There’ll be bruises everywhere on me by tomorrow.”

“Oh,” a small voice exclaimed,” that’s terrible. Uh I-I could help with that. If you wanted ?” A timid pink haired pony mumbled towards the end, seemingly shrinking into herself.

Marinette’s eyes widened. “Really? How?”
Fluttershy gestured for the girl to sit down on one of the slightly dusty straight-backed chairs scattered around the attic. She shyly shuffled over to Marinette and stopped a foot away, silently asking for permission that she received a second later in the form of a nod. Marinette closed her eyes and felt a coolness against her skin, resisting the urge to open her eyes- there was only so much crazy a girl could process in one day.

“Y-You can open your eyes now, Miss .”

“Call me Marinette,” she said almost reflexively, gasping as she opened her eyes at the lack of pain that she had become somewhat accustomed to in the last hours. She turned to Fluttershy, eyes wide, “ H- How did you- actually don’t answer that, just thank you so very much! “

Rainbow grinned proudly at her foalhood friend, “That’s Flutters, alright. Spreading kindness even to absolute strangers.”

Pinkie laughed and hugged the soft pegasus, “So kind, she’ll melt your heart within seconds of meeting her! Like she did to me! And Rarity! And Applejack! And probably Rainbow! And- wait I guess not really Twilight, she was just annoyed. BUT WE’RE ALL BESTIES NOW!”

A fierce blush decorated the pony’s yellow coat as she ducked, hiding behind the curtain of pink hair, “I-It was n-nothing, really. Just some magic anaesthetic that Zecora helped me make in case of emergencies...” Twilight chose this moment to interrupt, drawing the attention away from Fluttershy, receiving a grateful smile from her.

“Now that that’s all cleared up, Marinette, we need your help. After intense observation I have noted that we have reason to believe Lila Rossi has…” she took a breath“ magic.” she then continued quickly before Marinette could get a word in, “But I’m not a hundred percent sure and we are going to need a personal item of hers so I can run some tests on it and see if I can detect anything. Something she keeps close to her person, like hair ties.”

Felix watched as a sly smile stretched across Marinette's usually innocent face. “How about a necklace?” she asked demurely.

“Yes, that's perfect! A necklace will have had a chance to absorb any magical energies and will be the perfect subject for tests-”

Rarity cut off Twilight’s excited ramble. “But it’s a necklace. It’s not like you can just snatch it off her.”

A mischievous glint came to Marinette’s eyes. “Oh, you’d be surprised.”

“...Yes, I don’t think I’ll question that.” Rarity said. “As long as you can obtain something for Twilight to test, however, we won't scrutinise your methods.”

“Don’t worry; give me a few days and I'll get Lila’s necklace.”

Twilight nodded. “Good. But until we next regroup, there are a few other things the two of you can do.”

At Felix and Marinette’s nod, Twilight continued. “I noticed before the unfortunate incident that occurred in your gym lesson, Marinette, you said people in other classes haven’t yet met Lila?”

Marinette frowned slightly. “Yes, but how did you know that?”

Applejack coughed slightly. “We were, uh, we were spy- Ah mean scrying on you.”

“You were wHAT-”

“Ehehe... just a simple observation spell to see how things were going,” Twilight said, not making eye contact.

Marinette turned to Felix. “Did you know about this?!” She asked angrily.

“Yes, but I only just found out this morning.” He placated. “It’s part of why I arranged this meeting; so you too could be aware. But besides, it’s not like we can stop them; they have magic.”

Applejack sighed guiltily, “Yeah, Ah know it wasn’t really honest. But ya can rest assured that we didn’t have no bad intentions.”

Marinette muttered irately under her breath but eventually conceded. “Okay, as long as next time you tell me… and Felix, first. Anyway yes, Lila hasn’t had the chance to expand her domain to other classes yet so the only people who aren't her minions are people from there, and… Chloe.”

Rainbow Dash perked her head from the corner of the room. “Hold on, isn’t that the blond one with a head practically congealed with hair-spray?”

Felix grimaced. “The very same. From what I remember of her from when I used to live in Paris, she hasn’t changed much. Certainly just as stuck up, but perhaps being replaced as queen bee by Lila has taught her a few things. For example, she does not appear to be taken in by the lies, from what I’ve observed.”

Marinette nodded. “Chloe Bourgeois is a spoiled brat who always gets her way because her dad’s the mayor of Paris and the only reason she isn’t another human subjugate is that she’s so pig-headed.”

“She is indeed one of the most tenastic people I know, and though she could be a potential ally in this fight with Lila, I could not stand to hear her speak for a second before my brain melted from vexation and poured out from my ears.” Felix continued.

“That’s very true,” Marinette agreed, “Chloe’s almost as bad as that witch and I sincerely hope I never have to interact with her ever again-”

“Too bad!” Rainbow Dash interjected. “The enemy of my enemy is my friend or something like that, I don’t know I don’t do philosophy but anyway, from what you said she has power so it would be very dumb of you to not take this opportunity”

“But-” Felix and Marinette both started.

“You know darlings, you don’t just have to make friends with this Chloe,” Rarity soothed with a placating voice.”You are also gathering allies from other classes. Make friends there first, and see what you can do about Mlle. Bourgeois along the way.”

Marinette made a face. “I suppose so. Is there anything else?”

Twilight nodded hesitantly. “Yes, actually. I’ve been… reluctant to do this, but it has been a few eventful days, and from what we observed, you’re both good people.”

Marinette raised her eyebrow, “Thank… you?”

Twilight smiled and nodded, slowly relaxing as she continued, “The experiments with her necklace are going to help determine exactly what kind of magic she has if she has any. But that will be a long and arduous process. I need something that can be done to determine that she has magic in the first place. I need to be there in person with her to be able to do it, but it will only take a few minutes.”

Felix eyed her sceptically, “I am not sure that that is the best course of action.”

Pinkie rolled her eyes, bouncing in front of Twilight before the alicorn could reply, “Wel duhhhhhhhhh, which is why she’s giving you her magic!”

Marinette gaped at her, “Bu- Wha- uhhhhh- huh?”

Twilight groaned and shook her head, “Pinkie, you should really stop doing that. I’m tired of people interrupting my fully planned, written and memorised speeches.” She crossed her hooves and huffed.

Rainbow gave her a look, “Wait, that was memorised?”

“Of course it was! Anyway,” She performed the breathing exercise that Cadence had taught her, “It’s not all of my magic but a fraction of it. I’ll teach you how to use it, don’t worry. But let’s regroup as soon as you get the necklace. I’ll give you my magic then and train you properly on how to use it. Just remember to bring a piece of jewellery that you can wear to access the magic.”

“Sure,” Marinette said turning around, the fact that she was going to use magic not completely sinking in, “In fact, if that’s all, I’ll just go no- Woah!” Her foot caught on the leg of the piano pressed against the wall and tripped over.
Shaking off concern, Marinette got up and dusted herself off. “Ahem. Sorry about that, I’m fine. This is a very um, cool piano you have, Felix.”

“It is of good quality,” Rarity nodded in acknowledgement while running a hoof over the polished surface. “Wherever did you acquire such a thing?”

Felix smiled sadly, a bit more comfortable with opening up with his new acquaintance- friends. If… the candy-coloured horses did consider him a friend, of course. He walked up to the piano, nostalgia and memories of bygone times lingering in his eyes. “Adrien's parents gave it to mine for a wedding gift. My parents didn't use it much but Adrien and I used to play it all the time together.”

Rainbow flew up to meet Felix’s eye-level, shocked, “Wait, you and that blonde-haired pretty-boy were close!?”

“Rainbow Dash!” Fluttershy sternly chastised, to which Rainbow slowly flew back down to the floor of the attic with an apologetic expression.

Felix shook his head, “It is fine. Yes, we were close. The closest, in fact. Our mothers are twins so we are nearly identical.” He briefly glanced at the photo album lying a few feet away from earlier. “It was useful in magic tricks and tricking adults. He was my…”

Twilight stepped forward tentatively, “Friend?”

Felix looked at her and nodded, “I suppose we were… friends.”

Marinette sat down on the piano seat, studying the keys. After a few moments, she looked back at Felix, “What… What happened to you two?”

Felix lowered his gaze to his feet. He seemed to be attempting to twist his hands off. He took a calming breath before saying “ H-He didn't come to my fathers funeral. Then I moved to England and we just lost touch. We have scarcely spoken since then.”

Applejack sat on her haunches, listening with a knowing, yet sad expression, “And… that’s why y’all moved to ‘England’, ain’t it?”

Felix flashed her a pained look, “T-That was probably accurate,” he seemed to withdraw into himself, his face haunted, probably recounting a million memories in his mind’s eye. Marinette walked to the boy and lay a hand on his shoulder, she then guided him to the piano stool.

“Hey. Does the great, multi-talented Felix play the piano, or did he admit defeat to the keys?” she chuckled, knowing full and well what answer she was about to receive. When they were downstairs she had seen many certificates and photos of Felix, with the piano.

“Absolutely not! I have not spent hours upon hours toiling away with my archaic instructor to merely succumb to defeat!” Marinette sitting beside him on the piano stool and the main six gathered around, Felix flexed his fingers once before starting to play the first few bars of Clair de lune.
His hands flattered slightly when he heard a beautiful voice overlapping the music whispering a haunting melody. The music slowed and quietened to compliment the chanter.
Applejack now sat in the hammock close to the piano, eyes closed and seemingly unaware that she was singing. Her warm, honey-filled voice adorned the words with familiarity.

“Moonlight fills the sky

As angels whisper lullabies

And stars come out to dance around

the milky way.

“While streams of moonbeams

Chase away

The light of day”

Soon, Fluttershy and Rarity had joined in, their sopranos harmonising with the orange mare’s tenor.

“Moonbeams paint your dreams

Radiant moonbeams

Somehow seem to

gently break through the

Deepest darkness…”

A calm had descended over the eight friends, as they forgot their worries for a few minutes and just let the music take them.

***