The Night Of A Broken Heart

by WanderingPony

Chapter 11: Spelling It Out

Canterlot is not a place for anyone with even a hint of acrophobia. Or at least, it's a great way to get a proper fear of heights started.

Inkie Pie was finding this out as her family walked across a broad, golden walkway that connected the Royal Observatory Annex to the Ivory Tower (or, as it was oft called nowadays for it's frequent resident, the Sparkle Spire). Canterlot had a serious lack of enough railings and a penchant for high places that you could feel the breeze in as you walked and see what lay below. When you're a young mare who's high point in life was the top of the sand silo- well, the balcony on the other side was a welcome find indeed. A pegasus guardpony stood at the door, but stepped aside without a word at the sight of the Luna-led party. They'd had to walk between one tower and another, up stairs and down stairs and across plenty of bridges to get through with any speed, as the grounds below had become a traffic jam of refugees from the Empire and Guard units mobilizing and training.

Finally, though- they were here at last!

The world developed blur lines as Inkie found herself suddenly yanked dozens of feet in the air. Stunned, she could only watch as the faces of the entire party stared at the creature who had snatched her from the midst of their number. It was so sudden, she couldn't even scream...

Pinkie Pie did it for her.

"EEEEEEEOHWOWYOUMADEITIAMSOHAPPYTOSEEYOUANDBLINKIEANDMOMMYANDDADDYIMGONNAHAVEAPIEFAMILYPARTYYEEEEEEEEEES!" dopplered off as the elastic-banded pony hugged Inkie to her chest, the words blurring together into a hyperactive babblesquee of pure Pinkie joy. A tug marked the top of the line's limit, and Inkie's stomach rose as the brief moment of weightlessness turned into a plunge.

A dozen ponies (plus a bunny) watched as Inkie and Pinkie dived past them, then snapped back up again, then down...and up...and down...and up......and finally, with a gentle landing, Pinkie lowered her sister back down on the walkway and swung in a little circle on the end of her bungee cord.

"Ithoughtitwasn'tgoingtobemuchfunwithhurthoovesbuttheyputmeonareallyfunharnessandonceIknewitwassosuperstretchyoohBlinkieyouwantnextrid"

Sue cut Pinkie off by hugging her daughter instead. "Don't you EVER scare me like that again, Pinkamena Diane Pie!"

"Mooooom, the line is good for three thousand pounds and I haven't eaten THAT many cakes since you last saw me!"

"You KNOW what I mean!"

Pinkie just sniffled a bit at that, shut up and let her mother get back to the hugging. You could never get enough Mommy Hugs and it HAD been a hard last couple of days. The Canterlot doctors didn't even give her any of those good checkup smiley face stickers!

"Now, you take yourself inside so your family can talk to you somewhere with four walls and a floor!"

"Okie dokie, don't be pokey!", Pinkie replied. Clambering up the line, she vanished through an open skylight in the onion-shaped top of the tower. The rest of the lot simply used the now-open door, which the astonished guard had been holding for them during the entire snatch-and-gab.

Compared to the scene outside, it was a fountain of tranquility- if you didn't count Spider-Pinkie hanging from the ceiling.

Stretched out on a sofa, Rainbow Dash was performing one of her rarest tricks. Not moving without sleeping first. A book was propped open between her hooves, and her face was pressed against the pages as she read with an intensity that made you wonder if she'd swapped cutie marks with Twilight Sparkle. Fluttershy had already ended up nose-to-nose with Angel in record time (even if the local birds were very nice once you knew what bread crumbs they liked, Angel was her specialest baby-waby), and gathered around a round table (somewhat stained and chipped) were the other occupants of the tower. A tea pot and a few cups floated down to it's surface as they turned to see the new arrivals:

Applejack, who from the crumbs and scattered droplets of tea had just managed to demolish an apple scone. Rarity, who had been conversing with the older couple at the table. Night Light and Twilight Velvet, who had a far easier trip from Canterlot proper to the castle to see their loved one. Twilight Sparkle, who had a rather large book (but only one, she had been taught that two books or more at teatime was overdoing it) open...oh, and the large, dawn-colored alicorn princess resting her Royal Fanny on a sizeable cushion.

"Sister, I thought you were supposed to be at Court?", Celestia pronounced with perfect innocence. And slurped her tea.

---

"Oyez, oyez! Her Royal Majesty, Princess of the Dawn shall resume her audiences after a short recess for dinner!", shouted Sunny Flag, Herald to the Dawn Court. For the third time. In an hour. A drop of sweat rolled down his face. "She's left me to keep the crowd busy again, hasn't she? Princess Luna was supposed to take over by now!"

A small crowd of well dressed ponies looked as if they were preparing to trample him underfoot to get their petitions heard, and the less-well-dressed ponies behind THEM were twice and numerous and half as patient looking. Sunny Flag swallowed the lump in his throat as the royal entry opened.

Servants in the royal livery rolled cart after cart of delicacies into the waiting room, followed by tables and comfortable-looking chairs. Oh, salvation!

"DINNER IS SERVED!"

---

"Fear not, dearest sister. I've made sure Sunny Flag has everyone well in hoof while we discuss a few things. A little tea with your sugar as usual?". Celestia floated a cup anchored with a thick silting of sweetness across the table to rest in front of Luna before turning her gaze to the rest of the ponies before her.

"My little ponies, you are all close kin or good friends to the Elements, and I would ask that what you hear here go no further than this tower. I'd also like to introduce you to a few new friends I made the other day, who have been good enough to wait here with your family until I could make some proper introductions. Too many ponies have been sticking their noses around our chambers to give them privacy elsewhere, but thankfully they've had a chance to make some more friends here."

The doors to a storage closet opened, and Princess Celestia introduced her subjects to their first meeting with the Goblin and Moogle races.

Kupollux and Kupofrieda were quite happy to join the table for tea, floating stallion-head-high as they slowly spoke in Equestrian to the three Princesses. Macguffnox and Macgyvix, on the other hand ended up in a cluster of earth ponies on the other side, the Pies and Apples making themselves understood without all the fancy talkers getting in the way.

"We gobbies actually speak Tartarian just fine, even if those bat-winged flutterbrains over there ain't up for talking with "demons" most days.", said Macguffnox. The words rolled out from behind his mask like he'd carved each one out of a cavern wall.

"Ain't that some kinda fish sauce?", said Applejack. The slightly confused looks from the other ponies came along a heartbeat afterwards.

"Nah! Tartarian is what demons talk in- and booooy, when we heard your pretty Princess talking monster, she had us spooked!", Macgyvix answered in a slightly higher-pitched and squeakier tone than her companion. "We didn't know that monsters learned to talk from ponies- heck, we didn't even know there WERE ponies! Just goblins, those moogle twerps over there-", the she-goblin waved at the two orbiting Twilight's head, "and the beasties Princess Way-Too-Bright kept locked up in the caverns over our noggins. With nice big magical wards that'd fry anyone who touched em, up and down and all around!"

"But a few days back, the wards went POOF and a few braver gobbies, an' even a couple of those scaredy-mogs climbed up to see what was goin' on. Well, there was some NEW monsters in there, and they wanted our masks with the heads still in em. Nothin' else, see. Me and Macgyvix ran before we was chop-chop-suey, and we ran into them mogs on the way out. Then we found a tunnel to this "outside" stuff and there's this big ol' pony lyin' there all banged up. Good thing she talked to us first, or the flutterbrains woulda flapped their white butts halfway back to Moogletown by now. We helped patch her up, she gave us the mythril-coated road to Shiny City here an' we've been talkin' deals ever since.", finished Macguffnox.

"Father, what does "mythril" mean?", asked Blinkie.

Macguffnox sat down and dug a shiny, silvery nugget from a pocket.

"This here's a little bit of mythril ore. When ya melt it down an' forge it, ya can draw it as fine as silver but it's harder than steel. Mostly, ya find it in sand or pebbles like this."

"Find it? Why don't you grow it?", said Clyde. "Whattya mean, "grow" ? ", replied both goblins at once.

"Ya grow mushrooms an' fish! Who ever heard of growin rocks?", said Macguffnox.

Clyde and Sue studied the nugget with professional eyes. "You'd need to find the right field, but I've got a bumper crop of hematite coming in this season. I'd just finished turning it two days back, before Princess Luna's letter arrived.", said Clyde.

"It'll make some fine iron once they're done cooking it at the foundry.", finished Sue. "We Pies have been rock farmers for centuries- an earth pony with the right knack for farming can grow nearly anything, after all. Though I do have to say, this is something new...we'd have to do a few seasons just growing enough seed ore for a decent harvest. What do you think, girls?"

"We did end up having to pebble out most of that galena field when you hired Trixie, mother...", said Blinky. "I bet it'd do pretty good if it's like silver, especially if we put down some sulfur!", chipped in Inky.

Sue smiled. "Well, you two needed to do something for your Four-Hooves project this year for the country fair, and this looks like blue-ribbon if you make it work. Macgyvix, dear? Let's talk bits and brass."

Macguffnox just sat there as the she-gob and mare found a corner and started chatting away. Clyde put his head down between his two daughters and started discussing the finer points of fertilizing metal sulfides.

"Ya...ya can't just grow rocks? Rocks? How do you...why would anyone...", the baffled he-gob said. "Can you?"

Applejack and Big Mac looked down at the goblin and nodded as one.

"Eeeyup."