All Faint Wisp wanted was to be an ambassador to her people for the Courts. Fate had other plans. Now she's an ambassador, not that anyone knows it, and worst of all she has been assigned to a town called Ponyville. Hopefully things will get better...
The moon was barely visible through the dense forest canopy, just enough light managed to break through to allow the traveller to see the path in front of him. The white stallion grunted as he re-adjusted his bags, taking care so as not to jostle the contents too much. As the stallion trotted down the moonlit path, his mind turned to the warnings he had received about this particular forest, usually involving a pony that was "never heard from again". At the time he had scoffed at the stories and chided the villagers for their tales, after all he had been traveling for many years and each village had its own tall stories to tell and usually they came about as either an embellishment of a mundane event or bored villagers looking for some form of entertainment. Now however, as he looked at the gnarled trees barely illuminated in the light and the eerie silence, he began to wonder if all those stories he had been told were true.
A sound.
The stallion quickly turned around. Seeing nothing there, he slowly turned back swinging his head from side to side checking the tree line for movement. He froze when he thought he saw something out of the corner of his eye. Turning his head slowly, he looked in the direction of where the stray thought had come from. Seeing nothing there he breathed a sigh of relief, catching himself he let out a hollow laugh, he prided himself on being logical and brave, yet, here he was jumping at every little sound and errant thought he had. He was better than this. Bursting with a new found resolve the stallion continued on his way, a resolve that crumbled rather quickly after he turned the corner.
Another sound.
He froze, not wanting to move, his eyes searching for the origin. This time he definitely saw something. Off in the trees there was a faint light, looking closer he thought it looked a lot like a torchlight.
There must be others, he reasoned, after all why else would there be a path if nopony else had walked this way before. He visibly relaxed, chiding himself for falling for the villager's tricks.
"Hello there!" He shouted, hoping that the bearer of the light would hear him. It was then he noticed that the light was emanating from deep within the trees and that it seemed rather faint.
"Hello? Are you lost?" He shouted, this time really hoping that they could hear him. He waited for a bit, listening for a response. When he didn't get a response back he began to think that maybe whoever it was couldn't hear him. Just as he was about to continue on the light started bouncing from side-to-side as if somepony was waving it in the air to catch his attention. He furrowed his brow, wondering why they didn't respond when he called them. Figuring that they must either be too weak or possibly injured, he pushed those questions out of his mind and set off into the trees and towards the light.
After a while the stallion was getting tired and a bit annoyed. At first when he had come within a few meters of the light and it had suddenly darted off deeper into the forest, he thought it was odd, but maybe it was a shy pony. As he continued to follow the light he had begun to think that maybe playing 'the good pony' and going to help somepony may not have been the best idea. Whoever they were, they seemed adamant that he follow them. Even more frustrating was that he couldn't turn back now, he had lost sight of the path a while ago and the forest was becoming more and more dense as he progressed allowing for less and less light. Soon, he realised, the only light he would be able to see would be that of the torch of the pony in front of him. Every so often the torch would seemingly fade, only to be replaced by another one further down. This, the stallion attributed it to, was because the pony had let the torch die and had to re-ignite it.
The ground had gone from firm to covered in roots, and now had progressed to boggy. The stallion swore as he tripped on a root hidden by the darkness and landed face-first into boggy water. He glared up at the light that seemed to have stopped a fair distance away.
"What do you want?" He yelled angrily at the light getting up, "Why are you doing this? Who are you?" The light just sat there, bobbing to and fro, saying nothing. The stallion got back to his feet, knowing that he had to continue following the light; the path had long ago disappeared and the light was the only light source there was. His only hope was that daylight wasn't too far away and that then there would be enough light to see by and he could get out of this cursed swamp, injured pony or not. Swearing again, this time at his luck and the damned light, he took another step towards the light. Odd, he thought as his leg sunk further into the boggy water, the bog seems to be getting deeper. Puzzled by this he took another step, this time he sank to his torso. Realising what was happening he tried to back out of the water, as he took a step backwards his right rear leg slipped on some mud forcing his bottom to hit the ground rather hard. Wincing in pain, he tried to straighten his posture out of reflex, proving difficult to do with his current position his bottom slid further into the water to allow him to straighten. He felt his bags start to gain weight as they absorbed the water and began to drag him down.
"No, no, no, no!" He tried to undo the strap that held the bags to his body. Sure they were his livelihood, after all what good is a merchant with no wares, but at the moment he figured, what good was a dead merchant? As he struggled with his bags he failed to notice the water getting higher as he slowly slid into the bog. It wasn't until the water had reached his chest, covering his attempt to untie himself, when he realized what was happening. Digging his hooves into the mud proved pointless, abandoning his attempt to free himself from his baggage he struggled to stop himself from slipping further and further into the watery prison. By now he was shouting, calling for help as he struggled to keep his head above the water. He continued screaming as the water filled his lungs and his bags drag him down to the waters below. Eventually all that was left were a few bubbles rising towards the surface.
"Such a pity, he almost made it too." A white mare sighed emerging out of nothing as she looked at the spot where the traveler had drowned. The mare appeared to be walking on water as she made her way to where the bog had claimed its latest victim shaking her head. She looked with sadness at the spectacle, tears welling in her grey coloured eyes. Suddenly there was movement beneath the surface of the water, hope welled up inside her, maybe he had survived! Quickly she called the wisp to illuminate the bog. Slowly the figure rose, the mare held her breath. There! In the light! The mare released her breath, once again disappointed and saddened. The object that had floated to the surface was nothing more than a doll. She scooped it out of the water, looking at how it was lovingly crafted, possibly for the dead stallion's daughter or niece.
"Faint. Faint, come here." A gray filly emerged from the shadows and joined her mother on the surface of the bog. The white mare passed the filly called Faint the doll in her hooves. Faint appraised the doll, it looked a lot like a horse except it had two button eyes placed directly on the muzzle, hair that had been made out of wool and, perhaps the most intriguing part, pants with polka-dots on them. Faint looked up at her mother. Her mother forced a smile, "It's yours now." Faint could barely contain her excitement, she rarely ever got presents and this one was the best so far, she jumped around on the surface of the water, barely causing a ripple. Despite her daughter's elation, the white mare continued to grieve. Faint walked over to where her mother was looking,
"Thank you mister!" She only received single bubble as a reply. Faint looked expectantly at her mother. Sniffing and wiping her eyes she looked down at her daughter, "What are you going to call her?" Faint thought for a moment, "Jack," She said finally, "Jack Lantern"
"That's not a filly's name." "Of course not, Jack is a colt." Faint said rolling her eyes at her mother's silliness. Her mother laughed at that, "Come on, let’s go home." She waved her hoof and the wisp vanished. Turning around, she walked towards the centre of the bog where a small hut materialized.
"Goodbye mister," Faint said to the bog, "Mum really wanted to meet you and...I guess I did too." Quickly she turned around and ran into the hut, her green and blue hair blowing behind her like a flame. The door closed behind her and the house vanished. A small bubble rose to the surface of the bog and popped; the forest was back to normal.
"Order. Quiet in the courts." The sound of the gavel echoed throughout the large chamber, causing the cacophony of voices to fall into a dull hum. The twin brothers looked down at the assembled parties from their raised desks, daring any to raise their voice. Once they were satisfied with the level of noise they turned their attention to the two chitinous individuals seated far below them.
"We have yet to come to a decision for your transgressions. Your crimes are numerous and heavy." The white brother spoke first, glaring with contempt at the figures before him, his red eyes seeming to pierce their exoskeleton and into their minds. Unfazed by the open act of hostility, one of the Changelings stepped forward and addressed the judges,
"Everything we did was for our survival, so that we may continue to exist. We are slowly starving; there are very little emotions in the Badlands, let alone love. Our queen sort to bring about change, somewhere we could live and gather as much love as we wanted. Canterlot was a prime location." The Changeling noticed the twin's subtle reaction when he said 'queen', the sudden rigidness they both took on. Even the black twin, who was known for his sympathetic and relaxed nature, was sitting up straighter and looked more stern. Bugger, the Changeling thought.
"Your queen," The white twin spat, "Is little more than an overgrown cicada. It appears that she feeds you hubris as well as love. As for your pitiful attempts to hide behind the plea of survival, that was attempted nearly 5 moons ago."
"You have yet to explain why you had chosen Canterlot, the current home and seat of power of The Sisters. There are many places between your 'Badlands' and Canterlot; surely they are a better choice." The black twin now weighed in, his voice was soft and kind but it still carried an edge to it.
The Changeling knew he had annoyed the twins with the mention of a queen. They were kings and they only answered to their queen, the queen that everybody here answered to, even Chrysalis. The Changeling looked at the massive figure behind the twins; she appeared to be asleep, embedded in a large tree, forever presiding over the courts of Seelie and Unseelie, Queen Giavita. For another queen to exist is unthinkable.
"Those towns, while closer, could not provide enough to feed us. We had to look elsewhere, the brood was going larger and we needed to feed. Canterlot provided the best option, especially due to the royal wedding." "Which brings us to another point, why impersonate a princess?"
***
Faint Wisp sighed and turned away from the spectacle. While it was rare that both the Seelie and Unseelie courts came together, this farce had been going on close to seven months. The courts were, if nothing else, thorough. She was lucky to be in Hollow Shades and working for the Wisp representatives in the court, even luckier to be present at a united court. However, for the past months the courts had done nothing but go around in circles, never addressing the crux of the issue.
Her mother and younger brother had been so proud when she was chosen to be trained to become a representative for their race. She was going to be interacting with Changelings, Breezies, Sea Ponies and all manner of well respected and revered ponies. She had been ecstatic, it had been her dream to become a representative, and she even liked to think that her cutie mark represented that, a shining lantern. She quickly found out however that being a representative meant keeping your mouth shut, your head down, out of everybody else's way and, for the love of Giavita, don't draw attention to yourself. So, here she was, listening to a Changeling try to explain why attacking Canterlot and revealing that Changelings existed was such a good idea. She sighed again as she looked over at the Sea Ponies, they too looked bored by the whole procedure, so did just about everybody. Why don't they just ask the question everybody wants to ask?
Why don't they?
Because they're scared of the answer, nobody wants to hear it.
Why don't you ask?
Because it’s not my place.
Ask, you will be heard. Faint blinked, it took her a while to realize that the voice responding didn't sound like her own. She often debated and argued in her head, it’s perfectly natural, she hoped. This voice however, didn't sound like her usual snarky, sarcastic inner voice, this sounded...motherly. It was calming, soft and understanding, yet strong and willful. The voice was becoming more forceful now.
Ask.
It's not my place.
Ask!
No.
ASK!
"NO!" She surprised herself at how loud she was, even more surprising was that she had said it out loud, drawing attention to herself. She looked up at where the twin brothers Auber and Orbon, the ruler of the Unseelie and Seelie respectively sat. Every eye was now focused on her. Even the Changeling that was speaking had stopped to stare at her. Faint turned bright red, she had broken one of the cardinal rules of the Courts, 'never interrupt another pony'. It was one of the few golden rules, put in place to ensure that everybody had a fair say and that one argument wouldn't override another. She had gone and broken it. She felt the colour drain from her coat as she became the center of attention.
Ask, the voice whispered. Auber glared at Faint, his face displaying barely contained his anger, his butterfly-like wings twitching every so often as pure rage seethed through his very being. Orbon stared at the mare more shocked than angry, but anyone who had attended Seelie knew that just by the subtle twitching of his moth-like wings and the unyielding stare he was now giving Faint meant that he too was just as angry as his brother. It was just that shock had won the battle of emotions first.
"What is the meaning of this interruption?" Auber spat the word out like he had 'queen' showing his obvious distaste.
"Well? What is it?" Orbon said finally, his anger evident in his voice.
ASK, the voice urged yet again. Faint took a deep breath, closed her eyes and tried to sort out the chaos that was her current thought process. Exhaling, she opened her eyes and looked at the twins, "I wish to direct a question."
Pandemonium broke out, everyone started talking at once. The Púca demanded an explanation, the Sea Ponies demanded that they too be allowed to ask a question, the Breezies demanded that the rules be upheld and Faint be executed, the entire court was in disarray. Only the Changelings and the wins remained silent. Both twins looked shocked, as if someone had shoved mashed potato in their ears and then run away. The Changelings whispered quickly between one another before turning to the twins.
"We wish to allow it."
"What?" Auber and Orbon asked in unison.
"We, the Changelings, wish to permit the assistant of the Wisps to direct a question to this hearing." The Changeling repeated again.
Then as suddenly as the chaos had started, it stopped. All eyes were on the twins, awaiting their verdict. The court held its collective breath. Orbon was the first to recover, "Ask your question little one. Be warned though, the question you ask also holds your fate." All eyes turned once again to Faint, still holding their breath.
"I direct my question to the just and righteous Kings, Auber and Orbon. My question is this: What now?"
The twins blinked, "We're sorry?" They asked in unison.
"What happens now? Despite what has happened, the world knows that the Changelings are real. It wouldn't be too long before others start to question what other creatures exist. We've spent years carefully weaving ourselves as fables, while a few may be exposed from time-to-time, never before has one of us blatantly shouted out 'We exist!'. So my question to you great kings is: Where do we go from here? What is our next step?" Faint finally breathed a sigh of relief at finally getting that off her chest. See, I told you they would listen, my child. It was a good few minutes before either twin blinked, there were a few more minutes before one even said something.
"We, we shall continue with our discussion. Once we have an understanding of the proper motivations and reasoning behind the incident, then we can formulate a proper response." Orbon gained more and more of his former confidence with each word. Auber still looked shocked that someone would dare interrupt another and even worse, be allowed to ask it. Orbon turned his attention once again to the Changelings, "Now, please continue with-"
NO
The voice rang out through every body present; it seemed to echo through the wood, ground and air. It was a voice that was not spoken but rather felt in every being. The day had started off routinely for the twins but had suddenly descended into one of surprises and rule breaking. They didn't like either very much. This new surprise was one that they could have done without, the colour from their coats faded to pure white, it seemed to make no difference for Auber but it was amusing to watch Orbon's coat go from black to bright white. Both of them slowly turned to face the carved alicorn behind them.
"Y-your majesty?" Auber stuttered. The court froze; no-one could ever remember hearing the queen talk. Auber and Orbon had been around since the world was new and even then could only remember a few rare times when the queen, their mother, had ever spoken. The last time had been more than a millennia ago and only to announce Nightmare Moon's rise and banishment. Never before had Giavita intervened in a court session.
THE YOUNG ONE IS CORRECT. HOW WE PROCEED FROM HERE IS PARAMOUNT.
Slowly the closed eyes of the embedded alicorn opened and focused on Faint. Faint felt a quickening of her heart as she realized something, THAT'S who I was hearing in my head?
Correct child, came the response. Faint almost lived up to her name in that instant, but caught herself just in time.
"Your majesty, how should we proceed, we have been revealed, and there is nothing we can do."
ONLY ONE OF US HAS BEEN SHOWN
"She's right, only the Changelings have revealed themselves, the rest of us have not." Orbon reasoned. He turned to his brother, "We need to determine what the rest of the world knows and if they suspect of more than just the Changelings existing." Auber nodded his head. If they suspect that only Changelings exist and not the greater whole then we would be safe, Auber concluded.
"Depending on the findings we could have someone discourage further research into our kind." Auber said out loud.
LITTLE ONE, Giavita's wooden eyes fell upon Faint, WOULD YOU TAKE IT UPON YOURSELF TO UNDERTAKE THIS ENDEAVOR?
"Yes." Faint squeaked. She was being addressed directly by the queen herself! Faint found herself torn between utter elation and total terror. The alicorn's head appeared to nod in acceptance of Faint's answer. The queen's eyes turned back to the twins, SO IT SHALL BE. Closing her eyes the queen returned to her original position as if nothing had happened. Auber's gavel rang out snapping everyone out of their stupor.
"Next order of business..." The two Wisp representatives stared open mouthed at Faint and what had just transpired. Faint smiled faintly at them before finally blacking out.
A few months later Faint found herself standing on the path leading out of the Everfree Forest and into Ponyville.
Ponyville was big. Faint Wisp realized it probably wasn't that big compared to some of the other towns and cities she had heard about, but compared to the small villages she was used to, Ponyville was big. She looked down at the note in her hoof; it contained an outline of her 'assignment'. She was to integrate as best as she could with pony society while hiding her heritage, to find out how much the ponies knew of any creatures within the courts of Seelie and Unseelie and to hide any information they might gleam. To facilitate this she had been given a house on the edge of Ponyville, information on local families (such as the Apple family) and even a few notable events. Faint turned her attention back to the town as she placed the letter in her saddlebag and set off in a slow walk towards the city and out of the Everfree forest where she had grown up.
Faint's first task, she reasoned, was to find the town library. There she could gauge how much the ponies really knew about the courts of the Seelie and Unseelie and look up if there had been any recent sightings or speculation about other species. Unfortunately, she had no idea where to start or even what a library looked like. The court library was in a section of the Courts and having grown up in a swamp where there weren't any libraries nearby, Faint had no idea what one would even look like. She had no choice other than to ask, which meant drawing attention to herself. So much for being incognito, she inwardly sighed as she tapped a pink mare on the shoulder.
"Excuse me, but I was-" The pink mare looked at Faint for a split second and gasped. Faint was slightly taken aback, she had seen people gasp in shock before, heck, she had done it herself. This mare however, appeared to defy logic as the simple act of drawing in air had caused her to levitate a few inches off the ground.
"...um-" before Faint could even finish the pink mare disappeared leaving nothing but a pink blur. Her brain halted as it attempted to process what had just happened, she had tried to ask where the library was and the pink mare had gasped, defied physics as even spirits knew it and had disappeared. "I feel like I missed something..." Faint mumbled to herself.
"That's just Pinkie Pie." Was the response. Faint looked at the pony that had just spoken, she had a beige coat, a blue mane with a rose pink streak and cerulean eyes.
"I'm guessing you're new to Ponyville?"
"Is it that obvious?"
"Pinkie Pie's reaction was the giveaway and I haven’t seen you around before. I'm BonBon by the way." Faint made a mental note to investigate what a Pinkie Pie was, if there was a member of the Courts already living in Ponyville and one that clearly ponies knew about she should know. After all, her information packet had contained everything the Courts knew about Ponyville, sure it wasn't much, but it was enough.
"My name is Faint Wisp."
"Well Faint, did you want something? You looked like you were going to ask a question before Pinkie disappeared." The question snapped Faint out of her thoughts, "What? Oh, yes. I was just wondering where the library was located." The beige mare lifted her hoof and pointed, "It's just over there. It's built into a tree so you can't miss it, Princess Sparkle lives there." Faint thanked BonBon and shook her head as she trotted off in the direction BonBon had pointed her in.
Princess Sparkle? There should only be three princesses, she mentally checked off all the alicorns she knew of to make sure she hadn't missed any, Celestia of the Sun, Luna of the Moon, Cadenza of the Heart, Lady Thanasia of Death and Queen Giavita of Life. Oh, I suppose Orbon and Auber count in a way. No, as far as she could tell no Princess Sparkle. She was so lost in thought that she nearly didn't notice the sign in front of her, the sign the coincidentally read 'Golden Oaks Library Opening Times: 9am - 6pm'. Just as BonBon had said it looked like someone had tried to build a house in a tree, the most surprising thing though, was that the door was shut despite it close to midday. Walking up to the door Faint failed to see any note explaining that the owner would be 'Back in 5 mins' or something like that, so she knocked on the door in the hopes that somepony could guide her to what she wanted.
"Coming!" A voice rang out from behind the door and soon enough the door was opened by a purple dragon with green spines.
"Hello?" The dragon asked cautiously, Faint just gaped. It was a dragon, she had heard stories about dragons and even read the old historical accounts of when they were part of the Courts, she had dreamt of meeting a dragon for years and here one was, right in front of her. Forgetting that she was to remain inconspicuous Faint let loose a barely contained noise and promptly hug-tackled the dragon.
"Spike? Did I just hear a 'squee'?" Came a voice from up above the library.
"TWILIGHT! HELP!" Spike cried managing to get a breath of air before the air was again squeezed out of him by another hug. As far as Faint was concerned the only thing that existed was her and the cute dragon. A lavender hoof gently tapped her on the shoulder, "Sorry, but could you please let go of Spike?" Faint looked up at the lavender unicorn and grinned sheepishly; she relaxed her grip on the baby dragon. Faster than Pinkie Pie, Spike was out of the mare's clutches and hiding behind the unicorn.
"Sorry about that, I've only ever heard about dragons from stories. So when I saw one I kind of went a bit...over the top." Faint admitted, "Sorry little guy." The mare waved a hoof dismissively, "Don't worry about it, as long as you're sorry." Spike looked annoyed that the unicorn had so casually dismissed his life-or-death struggle with the crazy mare.
"My name is Twilight Sparkle and this here is Spike."
"Oh, I'm Faint Wisp. It's nice to meet you." Faint stuck out a hoof and Twilight shook it. Faint then did the same for Spike, "I'm sorry I surprised you Spike, I honestly didn't mean to, it's just that I've never seen a real dragon before." Spike looked at the outstretched hoof in front of him; looking up at Twilight he saw her glaring at him to shake it. He sighed and shook the outstretched hoof. "It's ok. Just, please don't do that again." Faint tried to hide her disappointment at not being able to hug the dragon again, I'm sure I'll find some other way.
"So, how can I help you Faint Wisp?" Faint suddenly remembered why she had come to the library in the first place. "Oh, I was looking for some books. Preferably ones on Equestrian History, Cryptozoological Creatures and Myths please." Twilight turned to the numerous bookshelves covering the walls of the library.
"Hmmmm, let’s see..." She started mumbling to herself.
"It's for research purposes." Faint added helpfully, "Research?!" Twilight was suddenly almost on top of Faint. "What are you doing your research on? I mean I know its myths, obviously, but I mean what aspect? How myths of the past have helped shape society as we know it? Or perhaps the psychology of early Equestrian culture? How they used myths as a way to explain certain natural occurrences? That would make a good paper. But I suppose you would need other papers to draw your research from, I could send a letter to Cant-"
"Umm, Twilight?" Twilight looked at Spike,
"Yes Spike?"
"You might want to get off her and let her breathe." Spike pointed at the terrified Faint that Twilight was now standing on top of.
"Heh, sorry, I'll get those books for you." Twilight lifted herself off the ground with her wings and flew over to the top shelf of a bookcase. Spike shot Faint a look that said 'Now you know how I felt'. Faint didn't catch the look; she was too busy looking at Twilight's wings. Horn...wings...horn and wings...Faint's mind ground to a halt. There was a new alicorn princess. She wasn't in Canterlot doing whatever royal duties the princesses did, she was in Ponyville, in a library, helping Faint find books.
"Alicorn..." Faint whispered.
Unfortunately not quietly enough, "Yep, she's an alicorn." Spike said beaming with pride, "Student to Princess Celestia and barer of the Element of Magic and I'm her number one assistant." Faint just stared at Spike with her mouth open. Faint's mind boggled. Here she was, assigned a random town and it just so happened to be the one that housed not only the Element of Magic but a princess as well! Her mind was so busy struggling to process all this new information that she didn't notice Twilight was speaking to her until she said Faint's name.
"Oh, sorry about that."
"Does spacing out like that happen often?" Twilight inquired,
"What? No. Well, sometimes, it’s just that...you're an alicorn. A princess." Twilight chose to ignore Faint's comments and unrolled a scroll, "Now, if you could tell me where you live, I'll write your name down with the books you're borrowing. Just to let you know, while there is no set return date there are a few rules."
A while later Faint had packed the five great tomes in her saddle bags along with a copy of the library rules, her mind still reeling from the latest revelation that there were now four princesses. She knew what her first letter to the Twins was going to be.
Faint stopped off at a bakery on the way to her new home to pick up a loaf of bread using the Bits that her mother had given her. Faint sighed as she looked at the few Bits she had left; I'm going to need a job, she idly thought. The rest of the trip to her house was uneventful; however, she did notice that there appeared to be fewer ponies about than there were previously. Granted it was late afternoon but the sign at Golden Oaks mentioned that the library closed at six, judging from the angle of the sun Faint guessed the current time to be around five-thirty. It wasn't until she got to her house that Faint started to feel something was wrong.
The house she had been given was just on the outskirts of Ponyville towards the Everfree Forest, it was slightly dilapidated with boards covering the windows, vines had grown along the sides of the house and what was once a garden now resembled some kind of briar patch. While it was in an obvious state of disrepair it still had a 'homey' feel to it, for Faint anyway. Now, there seemed to be an ominous feel to it, as if crossing the threshold of the door would invite some kind of punishment. With some trepidation Faint opened the door and stuck a hoof inside.
No sooner had her hoof touched the floor when all the lights came on at once, streamers and confetti were thrown in the air and party blowers were blown.
"SURPRISE!" Pinkie shouted at the empty doorway with a huge smile on her face. Faint was halfway down the path running backwards when she ran into Twilight.
"Oof!" Twilight exclaimed as the gray mare nearly bowled her over.
"Hey Faint. Are you enjoying Pinkie's Party?" Spike asked sliding off Twilight's back and walking towards Faint. Twilight looked concerned as Faint had yet to turn around or even acknowledge that Twilight and Spike were there, she just stood there in a crouching position staring up at the house.
"Faint?" Finally the mare looked up at Twilight, her eyes wide and a look of fear in them before turning away to stare at the house once more. Twilight knew that Pinkie Pie's surprise parties could be shocking, but this was overdoing it. However, she still felt a pang of sympathy for the poor mare.
"I'm sorry, I should have warned you about the party." Twilight apologised, resting a hoof on Faint's shaking shoulder. Spike started racing down the path towards the house, "Come on Twilight, we're missing the party!"Twilight sighed and shook her head at the baby dragon and nudged the still trembling figure. Faint flinched and looked up at Twilight again, Twilight gave Faint her most confident smile.
"Don't worry, I'll be here." Faint merely nodded and straightened up a bit and anxiously put one hoof in front of the other. Twilight sighed again; it was going to be a long night.
When they finally got to the house they found that the door was still open and a worried Pinkie Pie was standing in it.
"Oh gosh, I'm super-duper-duper sorry. I totally didn't know you were scared of surprises, I mean if Spike hadn't of told me that you were scared of surprises I might of thought that you didn't like the 'Welcome to Ponyville' party I threw you and that would be really bad, especially since I invited everypony I know and I know everypony in Ponyville because they're all my friends and I hope that you will be my friend because that would be like the bestest thing ever! So do you like the party?" Faint looked at Twilight for some help on how to deal with the pink pony, Twilight just smiled.
"Um...yes."
"Whew, I'm super-duper relieved to hear that I mean it would be absolutely terrible if you didn't like it, but you do, so it's good. Now I get to introduce you to everypony!"
"Wait Pinkie-" Before Twilight could finish Pinkie had grabbed Faint's hoof and was throwing her at random ponies while saying their names, "This is Roseluck, Lyra, BonBon, Goldengrape, Cloudkicker, Caramel, Sassaflash, Berry Dreams, Cherry Fizzy, Filthy Rich, Blossomforth, Coco Crusoe, Derpy Hooves, Time Turner, Minuette, Berryshine, Thunderlane, Vinyl Scratch, Daisy, Mr and Mrs Cake, Golden Harvest, Cherry Berry, Applejack..." After listing off what appeared to be every pony in Ponyville Pinkie eventually let go and Faint found herself standing, once again, next to Twilight.
"I...I think I need some fresh air." Faint mumbled and excused herself outside.
***
After a while Twilight too excused herself from the party stating that she needed to take Spike to bed. She spotted Faint not too far away from the house staring up at the moon. Adjusting the sleeping dragon on her back slightly so he wouldn't fall off, Twilight went over to Ponyville's newest resident. Faint sighed as Twilight drew near and mumbled something.
"You're missing the party." Twilight said pulling Faint away from her thoughts.
"Princess!" Twilight waved a dismissive hoof, "Please, just call me Twilight." Twilight looked up at the moon, like every night Luna had done a wonderful job with the stars. Faint turned back to look at the moon.
"Sorry, I'm...not good with crowds." While that wasn't true, it wasn't a lie either. Faint's position in the courts meant that she was always surrounded by others; however, they usually weren't paying attention to her. Faint hated to be the centre of attention, as did most wisps. Wisp society was based around very little interaction with other species almost to the point of isolation, so they tended to become uncomfortable in crowds and avoid any situation where they might draw attention to themselves. One of the few reasons Faint was a good candidate for this assignment was that she had a wisp's natural instinct to avoid drawing attention to themselves and having spent several years as a representative-in-training she could handle being around new and different species better than other wisps. It had also helped that she looked pony-like as well.
Finally the awkward silence proved too much for even Twilight.
"I like your mane." Faint snapped her head in Twilight's direction a look of surprise on her face. Faint grabbed her mane in a defensive manner glaring at Twilight. "I mean it looks nice," Twilight continued, clearly struggling to keep the conversation going. Fashion and mane styles were not her forte. That was more Rarity's thing than it was Twilight's.
"The green and blue complement each other nicely." She didn't mention that the way Faint's hair moved reminded her of somepony she knew, it was hard enough getting her to talk let alone bringing the princesses up. Faint mumbled a quiet 'thank you' as she turned her head away from Twilight and looked up at the moon again still holding onto her mane. It was Twilight's turn to sigh.
"I'm sorry, I'm just...still getting used to everything." Faint sighed, her body seeming to sink just a bit, "I know you're trying but..." Faint just let the rest of the sentence fade away. Twilight decided to finish for her, "You're used to being by yourself. I understand." Faint nodded, smiling a bit. Twilight smiled in response, she remembered when she had arrived in Ponyville and how, if it wasn't for her friends showing her that she wasn't alone, then they might never have defeated Nightmare Moon. Recalling that incident gave Twilight an idea.
"Faint, why don't you drop by the library tomorrow, I'll show you around the town and introduce you to some of my friends." Faint shivered at the thought of being introduced to more people, Pinkie Pie seemed to have introduced her to every pony in Ponyville and Faint didn't want to have to go through that again.
"Just the tour would be nice thank you. I don't think I could go through introductions like that again." Twilight smiled and clapped her hooves, "Wonderful, I shall see you tomorrow." Twilight carefully stood up still balancing the sleeping dragon on her back, as she made her way down the path she turned to Faint and gave her a wave goodbye before walking the rest of the way into town. Faint continued to stare at the moon with the sounds of the party behind her.
***
It was well past midnight when Pinkie's party finally decided that it should start wrapping up now, after all a new day meant new parties to have. As she bid the last party-goer a 'good night' Faint was pleased to note that even with the large amount of ponies that were present they had the peace of mind not to peek in on her rooms and to clean up after themselves, all that had been left was the occasional streamer, balloon and confetti. Finally having some time to herself, Faint decided that it was a good time to report to the twins. She carefully crafted a wisp orb and set it on a candle illuminating the parchment in front of her. Taking the quill carefully in her mouth she wrote her letter:
My kings Auber and Orbon, I have just arrived and have yet to ascertain as to the full extent of Our involvement in pony history. The incident involving the changelings appears to all be relegated to that of a 'past' event and was dealt with. I have made contact with the local librarian and have gained enough trust as to have access to the vast quantity of books available, that I hope will provide insight as to what has or has not been relegated to myth. It would also appear that a number of or records are lacking, as I have recently ascertained the existence of another princess, one aside from the known five, a Princess Twilight Sparkle. It is currently unknown what realm she presides over, which is most troubling. I would like to request to have the records amended to reflect this.
Your loyal and faithful subject, Faint Wisp of Everfree
Once Faint had finished the letter she put the quill away and focused on creating a special wisp orb. This orb was designed to carry a message to a specific recipient. All wisps had the ability to create orbs by carefully manipulating the aether around living things, allowing them to effectively 'mold' the orb into being. Faint had learned early on that if she concentrated hard enough she could manipulate the aether better than most other wisps allowing her to create orbs able to perform singular tasks, such as carrying something small. The orb she was creating now was one she had spent years developing. Once she was sure it was complete, Faint rolled up her parchment and passed it into the orb she had just created. Upon touching the orb, the parchment caught on fire and the ashes left behind by the blue-green flame were collected by the orb. Walking upstairs, still holding the newly created orb, she opened and window and threw it out. The orb hung there for a few seconds before quickly and quietly zipping off in the direction of Hollow Shade. Watching it go, Faint shut the window and went to bed wondering what tomorrow would bring.