Chapter 46: Morning in Mrs Silverwoods home Canterlot
Aerie and Brightstar winged their way into town landing in front of the Guard station in Ponyville. The street light, the light over the entry, and a light in one window was the only sign that there might be anyone there. Aerie’s armor vanished, and then she headed for the door, Brightstar following. Inside only a handful of lights were on. Two guards watched the two identical fox ponies like they were seeing specters.
“Good evening,” Aerie offered.
“We came by to report Timber Wolf activity on the edge of town.”
“You two aren’t from these parts are you?” One of the guards asked.
“Meaning?” Aerie asked.
“Meaning the locals know to stay indoors after dark during the winter.”
“You saying you aren’t going to do anything about it?” Brightstar asked.
“We’ve neither the horsepower nor the equipment.”
“Last time we tried a big push to drive the blasted things away we lost Bright Mac and Pear Butter,” Offered another. “Fortunately it’s only a problem when rogue winter storms come in from the Everfree.”
“And there’s been nothing since? That was years ago?” Brightstar protested.
“Come on, let’s go,” Aerie said sounding defeated.
“You’re just going to leave it like this?”
“No, but as he said, they don’t have the horsepower. Look we are going into Canterlot tomorrow anyway, if we get the opportunity we might just put a mosquito in someone’s ear.”
“You do that,” offered the guard who’d spoken to them first. “Don’t be too disappointed when nothing happens.”
“I’ve got a mind to fetch my airship,” Brightstar muttered as she turned to follow Aerie out the door.
“You’re back!” Aurora cheered moments after Aerie and Brightstar entered the back door. “Why were you gone so long?”
“We ran into a little problem,” Brightstar explained.
“Apple Bloom didn’t have permission either, is it?”
“She might have, but Granny seems to have forgotten, that or Apple Bloom hadn’t made it clear,” Aerie explained. “The real problem is that they have a Timber Wolf problem.”
“Every time a rogue winter storm comes in off the Everfree.”
“And they haven't the ponies to really do anything about it.”
“I wonder if I can get Mrs Silverwood to tell me what her warding spell was?”
“Ah, if we could set up a warding spell… or perhaps a series of warding spells that might just solve the problem. Anyway… I need to get back to my ship.”
“OK, we probably won’t see you tomorrow morning, but feel free to drop in for dinner.”
“What were we doing tomorrow?” Aurora asked.
“We were going to go into Canterlot, to the White Tower Law firm.”
“Oh, right, right, I’d forgotten.”
On the following morning Aurora, Scootaloo, and Aerie were alarmed to find Mrs Summers at the bottom of the stairs after having taken a tumble down said stairs. Flora was up at the top of the stairs fretting about what to do. Especially given that Mrs Summers had transformed on the landing.
“Mom!?” Aurora shouted.
“Bio scan… nothing broken, just bruised,” Aerie offered.
“Mom, are you alright?”
“I… I think I must have hit my head pretty hard.”
“I tried to stop her,” Flora pleaded.
“Mrs Summers, if you are seeing us as ponies, it’s alright. We are ponies.”
“What? Seriously? But how?”
“Magic. Mother. It’s magic. And you can’t tell anyone.”
“She’s so cute!” Celeste Summers exclaimed on seeing Scootaloo.
“Mrs Summers, why don’t you just worm your way off the steps, and let’s see if we can get you upright.
“Why is Flora still human?”
“She hasn’t ventured in far enough to trigger the transformation. Come on…”
Getting Celeste the rest of the way down proved the easy part. And rolling over into a more upright position wasn’t too difficult, but beyond that, she was as ungainly as a newborn foal.
“We’ve got to come up with a better way to get down,” Flora said as she backed down the stairs, now in pony form. “Why you’ve already got a cutie mark.”
Indeed Celeste Summers looked exactly like Mystique.
“Oh my… Tia?” Luna asked from the doorway into the front room. She had on a pink nightshirt and was wearing bunny slippers.
“My mom. My actual mom,” Aurora explained.
“Good morning,” Aerie said cheerfully.
“Mom, what are you doing here?”
“I wanted to spend the day with my daughter. Maybe make up for some of the time I got too engrossed in my work to give you the time you deserved.” She had a look at herself. “This isn’t normal even for the magical community, is it?”
“No, it’s not. That’s why you need to keep it quiet,” Aurora admonished.
“Will I turn back?”
“Yes, you will.”
“How about breakfast?”
“Come on into the kitchen and we’ll set you up with breakfast.”
“Hang on, how do I eat like this?”
“Just imagine you have hands.”
“Seriously? And I’ll be able to grip things… with these?”
“Come on… you don’t need help do you?”
“I’ve got it… I think… woo, hang on, woo!”
“You take the left flank,” Aerie offered as she hurried over to Celeste's right. The two then proceeded to maneuver as though playing some sort of horse pong, much to Luna’s delight.
Breakfast proved to be a barrel of laughs as Celeste learned how to horse. “Just don’t overthink it,” Aurora admonished several times.
They did eventually finish breakfast. Celeste was cleaned up, bundled up to go out, and headed for the front door. Luna poked her head out the door which had been switched back to her home world shortly after returning from dinner, let the guards on station know that they would not be available for the better part of the day, closed the door, and switched the dial to the other Canterlot.
“And we can just wander about as horses?” Celeste asked as she poked her head out the door.
“Ponies, mom, ponies,” Aurora corrected. And indeed there were quite a few ponies already out and about. “This is one of those things you can’t tell anyone. Aerie’s basement is a portal to another world. Everyone here is a pony. Well, most. There are griffins, dragons, hippogriffs, and I think you get the point. And you can’t tell anyone. There are far too many who would try to exploit this world.”
“So which neighborhood is this?” Aerie asked as she went out the door. The place was a typical upper-class Canterlot estate with a small garden and several outbuildings walled off from the street. It was also fairly high up in the city. Not quite in the section where most of the nobles of Canterlot had homes, but fairly well placed.
“Don’t look at me,” Celeste said as she gingerly picked her way through the snow. Aurora had stepped out and decided to use her magic to clear the walkways.
“Aurora, we are supposed to be pegasi, remember?” Aerie teased.
“It’s Canterlot, I’m surprised we haven't been fined for not clearing the walk. And you know what,” she said as she reached up and shut off the ring hiding her horn. A moment later she had her wings under her winter cloak. “Today I will be a unicorn.” Luna decided to tuck her wings under her cloak as well.
“Good for you. Can I come too?” Flora asked. “Justin is going to spend the day with friends, which was going to leave me at home by myself.”
“Don’t see why not,” Aerie offered as she looked at Aurora. Her stern expression cracked, and she decided to do the same. “Now we are both unicorns.”
“So no flying?” Scootaloo asked.
“Canterlot is pretty high up, best to stay close by,” Aurora replied.
“You need a little more experience before you start doing high-altitude flights,” Aerie offered. “Everything happens a whole lot faster.”
“She’s not wrong.”
“Aww,” Scootaloo groused.
“Hey, I know, we can go tour Canterlot castle,” Aerie announced. “Just as soon as we are done at the White Tower Law Firm.” Aerie opened the gate that exited out onto the street. “Ah, 1117 Cador Lane.”
“That’s not too far from Mane Street. Where was this place?” Aurora asked.
“Bank said the address they had on file was 1266 Agravain Avenue. It’d be off Bedivere Lane. Near the Castle district.”
Aerie, Aurora, Celeste, Flora, Luna, and Scootaloo headed out of the gate and made their way along the lane until they came to a carriage stop. They only had a short wait for a team of four earth ponies to approach in a Tallyho carriage.
“Ladies,” Offered the lead pony, a rather muscular stallion as they came to a stop. They were all very shaggy from the winter weather.
“Can you fit six,” Aurora asked.
“Can I ride on top?” Scootaloo asked.
“Me too,” Luna added.
“It’s going to get cold up there,” Aerie cautioned.
“I think we can manage. Where do you need to go?”
“Twelve sixty-six Agravain Avenue,” Aurora informed them.
“Well climb on up, and we’ll get you there in a jiffy.”
“I’m going inside,” Flora said with a cheeky smile as she climbed on up into the carriage.
“Scootaloo, if you really want to go up there that’s fine,” Aurora offered as she helped Celeste into the carriage.
“Don’t say you weren’t warned,” Aerie cautioned, and as she climbed in Moonie the cat lept up to the top to join Luna and Scootaloo. And I should add that Scootaloo had no trouble climbing up. She’d simply used her wings to propel herself up the way some birds do to climb trees.
It took but a couple of minutes for everyone to get seated, and they were off. Their route took them through several areas frequented by tourists including the Natural History Museum which Scootaloo indicated she’d like to visit if they had the time.
Finally, they arrived at their destination. Agravain Avenue was a short spur off Bedivere lane flanked on one side by buildings and on the other by nearly sheer cliff walls. The building itself was a rather austere building that lead the ponies to think the designer had no imagination whatsoever. Scootaloo and Luna were so frozen they needed to be lifted down.
“I told you to say something if you got too cold,” Aurora scolded as she set the two on the icy pavement. Celeste rushed to the two and draped her wings over them.
“Oh my, you two are cold!” Celeste exclaimed. She shivered at the touch and was rather dumbfounded when Scootaloo climbed up to snuggle under her wing, her legs now tucked in.
“Nothing to be embarrassed about, mam, we see that sort of thing all the time in weather like this,” Offered the team leader.
“How do you guys put up with the cold,” Aerie asked as she paid him.
“Just keep moving, keep moving, just keep moving,” he offered took the money which was placed in a pouch, pulled away, turned the carriage, and headed back the way they’d come.
A small bell rang above the door as they entered the lobby. The walls were white, the floor was tiled in black and white squares, and the furniture consisted of hard wooden chairs painted avocado green. Every couple of chairs had a small table between them that was made of a wrought-iron base with a marble slab on top, and at the far end, a silver mare with a blue mane sat behind a counter set in a wall. The overhead lighting was about as institutional as it could get, there was a door to the left, and blinds on the window.
The mare behind the counter watched them with curiosity as they entered.
“Are you perhaps lost?” she asked as they approached.
“I’d imagine that depends,” Aerie offered. “Might this be the White Tower Agency?”
“And you… Mystique?”
“Do I know you?” Celeste asked.
“Mom?”
“Oh, don’t look so shocked. That was my nickname in college.”
“Mom?” whispered the receptionist astounded at the idea that ‘the Mystique actually had a family. “Hang on, Princess Luna?”
“OK, you two need to come out of there,” Celeste requested as she stretched out her wings.
“Ack!” Scootaloo exclaimed, her hooves quickly finding the floor.
“But you are so warm,” Luna pleaded.
“Princess?”
“Ah, right, yes,” Luna offered.
“I thought you’d be… bigger?”
“Waning moon,” Aerie offered. “She’s only full-sized during the full moon.”
“How might I help you? Princess… Your Highness.” She attempted a rather awkward bow.
“This is the White Tower Agency?” Luna asked.
“Yes, yes it is.”
“We were told that we needed to come here regarding Mane Allgood, and Snap Shutter,” Aurora informed her. “They are… well, overdue is probably the best way to describe it.”
“Overdue? Mane and Snap?”
“Discord turned their house upside down,” Aerie explained. “Scootaloo Shutter, their daughter, went homeless for a while due to issues I don’t want to get into. We found her squatting in our Ponyville house.”
“Mane and Snap have been declared Missing and Aerie and I are Scootaloo’s temporary guardians,” Aurora added.
“Oh my, oh my… hang on, let me go talk to someone…” and with that, the receptionist rushed out of her office and into the back of the building.
“Where’d she go,” Scootaloo asked.
“To go talk to someone… I guess?” Flora offered.
“So, mom, you were into acting in college?”
“I’ll have you know I was quite good. One might even say it was my special talent.”
“So what happened?”
“I needed to make a living.”
“It was my fault, wasn’t it?”
“No, it was your father’s fault.”
“Takes two to tango, dear,” Flora teased.
“I don’t regret it. Changing my career that is. To make it in acting a person needs to be on the move constantly. Always looking for that next opportunity. Constantly going from place to place, and a movie set or backstage in a theater is no place for a baby. Plus, I got to spend time with my baby. At least when I first started. Over the years as more and more responsibility got piled onto me it pulled me further and further away from Aurora.”
They all turned to watch a white unicorn with a blond mane enter the room via the door to the back.
“Hello, I’m Agent Blond. Games Blond. I understand you are here to enquire about Mane and Snap shutter?”
“We are actually here to inform you that they’ve been declared missing,” Aerie offered. “And that Sunshine and myself have been given temporary custody of Scootaloo.”
“And you are?”
“Aerie Potter, also known as Nova Moon. With me are Summer Sunshine Mustang, her mother Mrs Celeste Summers, my two moms Flora Finch-Fletchley and Luna Moon, and the little one is Scootaloo Shutter.”
“Aerie Nova Moon Potter, is it?” He gave her a funny look. His eyes locked on the horn on her head. Weren’t you supposed to be a… peg…” He’d seen the N-sid ring on her horn and recognized what it was. Allowing his gaze to explore the backs of these two ponies he could see the unmistakable bulges created by their wings. He then cast his eyes over to Celeste who just looked at him and smiled. From there he looked over at Luna, who he knew couldn't possibly be Princess Luna and yet… he then looked back at Aurora who also sported an N-sid ring on her horn. He looked back at Luna… putting a spell on herself so as not to be too noticeable was in the realm of possibilities. Could they be impersonators?
The bell over the front door rang as two stallions entered. Ray Mustang and Hurricane Mitchell quickly sized up who was there.
“Aurora, Aerie? This is a surprise,” Ray Mustang offered as he walked into the room. “Mystique.”
“My mom,” Aurora whispered with a wink.
“Ah, yes, of course.” He leaned close to her, “Not using the rings?”
“So what brings you here of all places?” Hurricane asked. He had a look on his face that indicated that something he was looking at didn’t quite fit, but it hadn’t registered yet.
“The bank told us that the White Tower law firm handled Mane and Snap’s legal matters whenever they were away. And given that they have been away for an extended period of time having abandoned their foal in the process we came to inform them we had temporary custody,” Aerie supplied and then mouthed ‘she’s my mom’ to Hurricane.
Hurricane tilted his head slightly and then nodded.
“Dare we ask what brings you here?” Aurora asked.
“Well…” Ray began. “I’m not quite sure what to think, but… we were over at the museum and they confirmed certain suspicions. Scootaloo, your parents are not in the Yackatan. Word is they were part of an expedition to Mount Aris. We were told we might seek answers here. As for your letters, I’m not sure what to say short of the mail was running really slow. More likely they are forgeries.”
“My letters… they aren’t real?” Scootaloo asked, her ears going back in worry. Aerie and Luna’s ears had also gone back in alarm, ears flat, but only because they knew full well what the connection to Mount Aris might mean.
“They went to Mount Aris?” Aurora asked, not quite sure she wanted to believe it. “Aerie?”
“I can’t. As much as I’d love to take the Arcadia down there, I can’t. I just can’t. You know full well that I already have a mission that takes priority over everything.”
“You two know something,” Ray stated.
“When was the last time any pony heard from the Hippogriff kingdom?” Aerie asked.
“It’s been a while,” Mr Blond informed her. And given that two such notable ponies knew who these ponies were he was starting to think he was in over his pay grade. And his pay grade was pretty high up.
“Arcadia?” Ray asked.
“We discovered that there is an open route to my home country,” Aerie offered. “The Arcadia is a large warship.”
“I see.” Ray was giving her an odd look.
“It is entirely possible that the Hippogriffs used their magic to become sea ponies,” Aurora explained in a sort of leading way. “It’s possible that they moved their entire population under the sea to avoid an individual who calls himself the Storm King. And by doing so, they’ve created a vacuum of lawlessness where no pony is safe.”
“Are my…” Scootaloo began but didn’t want to say it.
“I don’t know,” Aerie offered. She refocused on Ray, “Any chance a ghost ship has been sneaking in and out of Cloudsdale?”
“A ghost ship?” Mr Blond asked. “There have been rumors.”
“Does it answer to Drumlinhay?”
“The Drumlinhay went down over the Everfree years ago. All hands as I understand,” Ray offered. “Big luxury liner.”
“It’s entirely possible she’s been hiding out in a hollow below the Wonderbolt base on Cloudsdale,” Aerie informed them. “If you were to gather up a crew of near-do-wells and happen to find her unawares, you might just commandeer that ghost ship and do a little extralegal rescuing.”
“Anyway…” Aurora interjected. She got out a copy of the custody papers and showed that to Mr Blond. “Aerie and I will be handling Scootaloo’s affairs for the foreseeable future.”
“Yes, yes, Mrs Lining, if you could? Mrs Lining will just take that.”
“With Snap and Mane missing, do you know if the Canterlot Institute of Natural History will continue to pay them?” Aerie asked. “I only asked because Sunshine burns through my money a might bit too fast.”
“I am not.”
“You gave Pinkie a hundred bit Royal.”
“It was a fun party. That is until Diamond tried to spoil it.”
“My purse was given to me by Discord. No telling when it’ll run out.”
“Discord?” Mr Blond asked in dismay.
“Above your pay grade, I’m guessing,” Celeste suggested. She couldn't know it, but her saying so had only cemented it in his mind that he’d been left out of something big. Granted that two unknown alicorns right in front of him just helped to cement that notion.
“Well, um, what will happen is they will continue to get their salary,” Mr Blond explained. “..and if it comes down to… well, you know, Being that they were on a sanctioned trip, the salary will switch over to a benefits package that Miss Shutter will get until she is of age. Otherwise, she will continue to benefit from the salary so long as Snap and Mane are whereabouts unknown.”
“And then what?” Aerie asked.
“Well, she’d inherit the estate.”
“So in other words, nothing,” Scootaloo said dryly.
“Now dear?” Flora asked.
“No investments, the house is gone, and the Courthouse took possession of the property.”
“What?” Mrs Lining said under her breath.
“Shenanigans,” Aurora offered. “Hers was one of many houses turned upside down by Discord. We’ll get it straitened out.”
“I should hope so,” Mrs Lining offered. “Now, if I may, I’ll just take that and make the necessary adjustments to the records, and you can be on your way.”
“In truth, you could have just mailed it,” Mr Blond suggested.
“With a corrupt official in the courthouse?” Aurora asked. “That and we were planning on touring the castle today.”
“Can’t wait,” Luna offered. Mr Blond raised an eyebrow and then cracked a smile.
“Well, glad we could be of assistance. Oh, and General Mustang, if you should happen to locate that airship, I might know some ponies who could help you out in such an operation.”
“I’ll be sure and keep that in mind,” Ray replied.
Stats
Page generated in 0.031 seconds
Total duration
1,046 users online
2,081,975 hits today, 1,872,792 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
KittyrinnAiko you take the time you need to allow your arm to heal we the story readers would rather sit back and relax knowing you will be back to full speed in time.
this chapter lays down so much and so many hints of things to come.
Great update!