Hearth's Warming, AP Class

by Lets Do This

Epilogue -- A Royal Summons

In the middle of the night, Trixie's eyes snapped open. She peered around warily through the darkness of the tower bunkroom. She listened to the sound of Starlight's muffled snoring, and Moondancer clutching her plush bear and muttering lines from the pageant in her sleep.

Then Trixie's roaming gaze landed on the window above Twilight's bed. And saw, framed in it, a dragon-winged, purple-armored pony, standing right outside. Standing on thin air, its wings folded, as if it was nothing at all.

The nightmare's glowing eyes met Trixie's, paused briefly to be certain she'd seen it. Then it turned away, slipping into the purple darkness of the Night outside -- and was gone.

Trixie got up, with practiced quiet. She stood for a moment looking at her friends to be sure none of them saw her. And then she stepped forwards into the shadows, quietly vanishing herself.

She found herself trotting up the nave of the black cathedral, in the heart of the shadowy dreamworld City of Nightmares. She came to the dais, to the throne of Night, on which sat Princess Luna, surrounded by her guards.

And bowed gracefully. "Your Highness. You wished to speak with me?"

"Lady Trixie," Luna smiled welcomingly. "My apologies for disturbing your rest. But yes, there is a matter of great importance."

Quickly Luna outlined the situation and Trixie stared, amazed. She was about to ask a question, but Luna held up a hoof.

"The less said the better, my inquisitive student," Luna warned. "This must be kept quiet, even between us."

"They're my friends," Trixie said. "And maybe they could help?"

"They will," Luna said. And then she looked regretful. "This is not something they can be told. It is a thing they must discover. And we must see to it," she added sternly, "that the mistakes of the past are not repeated. Too much has been lost already. The Empire must not fall to the darkness again."

Trixie made a face. "It's just... I'm finally feeling like I belong now. I don't like having to lie to them again."

"It is not a lie," Luna assured her. "All thee has to do is... say nothing for the nonce. And keep thy eyes open."

"Yes, Your Highness," Trixie said, bowing. "You will keep Trixie in the loop, won't you? Give me a hint when it's time?"

"Always, my devoted student. Thou will know when it is time to act. Now, return to bed, and sleep well until morning." She gestured with a hoof, smiling. "We command it."

Trixie's head drooped. "Highness..." she mumbled, wearily.

And then turned over in her bed, her forehooves tucked snugly in the hoof-trap she always wore, to keep herself from presenting stage acts in her sleep. And began quietly snoring.

While through the window over Twilight's bed, the Moon swept onwards through the chilly, icy night outside...

Comments

[Stahlseele]

oh fuck the hell yes, there is more!
let me quickly upvote and favourite
before i get to reading this story.

[Lets Do This]

11497758
To "reify" means to make something more concrete or real -- in this specific case, to take just "acting" a part and turn it into fully "living" the part, so the audience reads it as more direct and believable.
(Insert Moondancer emoticon here.)

[Lets Do This]

11497751
Thanks much for the in-depth comments!

Twilight looked up from the note. "Celestia did mention she was hoping to persuade Luna to attend, as part of Luna's efforts to reintegrate in modern pony society. So I think we should try to accommodate any suggestions she has."

Why? Seriously why?

A side-goal in this story (and perhaps Celestia's intent in her "advice") was to take the typical associations of the characters from previous stories (that is, Twilight/Tempest, Sunset/Moondancer, Trixie/Starlight) and deliberately shake them up a bit, forcing the characters to team up with ponies they don't usually hang out with, and thereby learn how to deal with that.

"As for the rest..." Twilight looked up from the list. "Sorry, Starlight, it looks like the Princess feels you might be a better choice as Smart Cookie."

Does Starlight look like a Smart Cookie to you?

Well, I did write a previous Starlight story (Starlight Breaks Magic) where she basically invents the Pony equivalent of Gödel's Incompleteness Theorem, so... yeah!

I wouldn't want the other tribes accusing us of cultural appropriation, or horn-washing, or the like."

"Hey I'll have you know that washing things by horn is a perfectly legitimate line of employment!" Soapy Bubbles: Unicorn Maid.

"Horn-washing" is a ponification of "White-washing", the practice (now rightly frowned on) of deliberately casting white actors as non-white characters in stage and screen roles. Starlight's just being the voice of cultural sensitivity here. (Twilight feels the same way, though for Twilight it's such a natural state of mind she doesn't feel it even needs saying. The world needs a few more Starlights calling attention to these things...)

[Eroraf86]

Oho, setting up for the Sombra arc, are we? I must say, I absolutely LOVE the idea of Luna holding her court in her own dream palace! Let Celestia keep her court in Canterlot, with all its stuffy nobles; THIS princess is in another, BETTER castle!

[new55]

That was a good story.

[Mister Morden]

Things are getting very interesting...

[Wild Stallion]

11497814
Sorry. I should have replied way earlier. Apologies.

A side-goal in this story (and perhaps Celestia's intent in her "advice") was to take the typical associations of the characters from previous stories (that is, Twilight/Tempest, Sunset/Moondancer, Trixie/Starlight) and deliberately shake them up a bit, forcing the characters to team up with ponies they don't usually hang out with, and thereby learn how to deal with that.

Yeah, that's very much a Celestia move, now that I think about it.

Well, I did write a previous Starlight story (Starlight Breaks Magic) where she basically invents the Pony equivalent of Gödel's Incompleteness Theorem, so... yeah!

Well yeah, but isn't that a Clover the Clever thing? Smart Cookie is an earth pony, so I don't imagine her discovering universal truths of unicorn magic. I know Starlight's smart, but she's much more spell oriented than say Moondancer.

"Horn-washing" is a ponification of "White-washing", the practice (now rightly frowned on) of deliberately casting white actors as non-white characters in stage and screen roles.

I figured. I was making a joke.

Great job with the ending though. The twist is just another one of those fantastic mysteries which is part of the reason why I keep coming back to the series.

That and the character and world building obviously. The ending stinger is pretty enticing too. Looking forward to seeing more.

[Melody Song]

What thing?!! Lunaaa, waitttt!!

[redmar]

At this point there is little for Trixie to keep from her friends given how little she's been told.

[binary animal]

PHEEW! I've just finished all the AP series and I have to say this whole thing is ABSOLUTELY AWESOME! Thank you so much for such a great time I got while reading it! Now I want printed version on my bookshelf so badly! It deserves to be a real book!