A collection of short stories, prompts, and extracts from stories never truly begun.
A collection of short stories, prompts, and extracts from stories never truly begun.
At present this consists mainly of prompts I have written for Twilight x Princess prompt collaborations; more along the same line will be added here, as well as scenes that make their way into my head but don't deserve their own piece.
If I could have one wish granted for me in my life, it would be to sit by a fire for a night with Princess Luna, and take turns telling stories.
Don't get me wrong - I would hardly pass up the chance to do so with Princess Celestia either! Thousands of years worth of stories, maybe not spoken or heard for just as long! But... there's something about the night for storytelling, and that makes me wonder about the night's Princess.
I mean, look at tonight! A brilliant half-moon shining, just enough to see by once it gets to the ground. Stars, twinkling in their own romantic, slow dances. A gentle breeze - not so cold you would need to hide behind walls, but cool enough to make the campfire glow seem divine. A night when voices carry and the whole world seems ready to listen... or aching to tell its own story.
But the tales we tell are so often of daylight, of adventures and misadventures alike when Celestia's sun shines bright, of what was done and what was said, and what we wish we could have done and yet do. There are so few stories of our Princess of the Night, compared to Her sister of the Day. Of course, Princess Celestia has had a good thousand extra years of recent history to build tales of Herself, but even with that in mind... when you think of the princesses, you think of Celestia flying high, acting, shining bright... And Luna watching, listening, and learning.
On nights like this, I imagine I stand on Princess Luna's back... I see Her wings spread wide in the trees around me, Her mane flowing across as the sky, as She lets the world flow around Her. My words float up, caught amongst those twinkling sparks until they make their way to Her ears, and I hope She listens and enjoys what She hears.
That She has an appreciation for stories... I think is unquestionable. After all, does She not make such a perfect night for it as this - Whether or not She flows through it to listen in? But... try as I might, I cannot imagine what sort of stories She would tell.
Tales of days and nights, long past and nostalgic, from before Her banishment? Would they be tales of sadness, of war, of romance, or of little joys? Of what brought forth Her jealousy and rebellion? Of Her time in exile? Or would it be tales of what She has seen since Her return - learning of the new Equestria, likely so different that we could not ever imagine it, and yet surely with so many little similarities that would each make a story of themselves.
Or perhaps She would not be one to speak of Herself and Her life, but would spread the tales of other ponies who have told them in the night - some perhaps, of course, more true than others. What would She find more important, the truth of a story, or the joy that it brings the listener?
But maybe, like Her glorious night around us, She would make no move to tell a story of Her own, and simply listen... and smile a quiet, knowing smile as the tales wash over Her, and travel within the stories like the dreams that are Her domain...
Ah! I am rambling, again. You're not here to listen to me talk about stories, after all - and the night is ready and waiting for a tale.
So, what story would you like to hear tonight?
~Sojourn, Pegasus travelling storyteller
Table of Contents
1. On the origin of Ponies - Everyone, OC - A piece of backstory from a discarded work. A tale of how ponies came to not so much rule Equestria as embody it.
2. The Blank Flank Witch - Everyone, OC, CMC - A travelling storyteller weaves a ghost story to the foals of Ponyville.
3. Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster - Teen, Celestia, Twilight, OC - Originally published in the Twilestia Prompt Collab - Thousands of years in the future, an archaeologist stumbles across the last diary of Princess Twilight Sparkle, and the world-shaking secrets within.
4. Desire Unleashed - Teen, Twilight, Celestia, Spike - Originally published in the Twilestia Prompt Collab - Twilight discovers an unwelcome side effect of using Spike's inherent magical power to exchange raunchy letters with Celestia.
5. Etiology - Teen, Twilight, Celestia - Originally published in the Twilestia Prompt Collab - Twilight learns the joys and dangers of mixing playtime with playing with time magic.
6. Kismet - Everyone, Twilight, Luna - Originally published in the Twiluna Prompt Collab - Twilight grants a wish with unexpected consequences.
7. Oh Sh... Teen, Twilight, Cadance - Originally published in the Twidance Prompt Collab - Cadance is less than pleased to find somepony impersonating her lover.
8. Guardian - Teen, Twilight, Shining Armour, Cadance - Originally published in the Twidance Prompt Collab - Twilight and Shining Armour search for their Cadance, lost among countless parallel dimensions, despite some unexpected distractions.
"On the Origin of Ponies" - An extract from the story "The Price of Harmony", a long adventure which I started writing but never published, due to severe pacing issues and being severely outpaced by canon - featuring such brilliant original ideas as "Twilight becoming an Alicorn" and "Villains who steal magic from ponies".
The scene takes place at the end of a festival of storytelling in Ponyville, and is a bit of expository world-building by a couple of OCs which would set the stage for the adventure.
"Good evening, my friends... I hope you've had a wonderful time tonight hearing stories old and new, and I thank you for coming to hear my tale at the end of the night."
It was rapidly coming up on midnight now, and many of the ponies had finally wandered away. The food tables had been packed away, and all but one stage lay bare.
"My name is Sojourn, and this is Wild Meadow Bloom. And this story is one that has likely not been told to a group of ponies like yourself for hundreds - maybe thousands of years."
Every pony with the will to remain awake had gathered before the largest, central stage, where the lights had been turned low, giving only shadowy impressions of the storytellers on the stage.
"In fact, it wasn't even told to me by a pony at all. I've travelled all over Equestria and beyond, trying to find stories nopony's ever heard. Even the story of what I had to do to hear this tale could probably keep you entertained tonight."
Twilight and her friends sat near the front, at varying levels of tired and interested, as the talespinner gave his introduction. She had to give Rainbow a quick nudge when she heard her mutter something about getting on with it.
"But this tale was told to me by the very oldest of the living dragons, and it is the story of the origins of Ponykind."
Suddenly the interest of the crowd sparked, murmuring spreading through the crowd quickly and ears perking up. Elder dragons rarely had anything to say to Ponies, and the topic...
Suddenly the night lit up, images sketching themselves in the air, drawn forth from Meadow's horn as she painted the night air. A shining circle of white formed, surrounded by swirls of colour and points of light.
"Long ago, so long ago that none could put a number to the years or even centuries, the world was created, brought into being by a Creator. This being brought the world to existence, as we would suggest, because such was its special talent - to create something from nothing." And from the white circle, the swirls of colour suddenly twisted, forming themselves into abstract mountains, hills and rivers - at first the barest lines, like a young filly's drawing, but then becoming more detailed, trees and crags and waterfalls filling themselves into the landscape.
"And on that world soon there came to be creatures who called it home, great and small. Mighty dragons, proud gryphons, cunning dogs, secretive kappa," Each appeared in turn in the background of the image, sitting upon the mountain, flocking on the hills, digging in the plains, swimming in the river, "and each took its portion of the world. Sometimes they fought, sometimes they traded, and often they did their best to ignore each other entirely, but they all had power of a sort.
"And the sun and moon rose and fell according to the paths set by the Creator, and the trees and animals flourished at its will also. The winds and clouds danced to its tune, and the stars shone as they would. It did not guide these things directly, but rather allowed them to be, and merely used its power to protect and keep them safe, should any try to twist them."
Some muttering broke through the crowd at those words, not sounding happy. Twilight could understand why - the world described was nearly unimaginable, without pony guidance - an entire Everfree world - and to those who revered Celestia and Luna, it bordered on blasphemy. But the tale continued on over their misgivings, the image following the words.
"But the day came at last when the Creator looked down on its work, and felt it complete - that nothing more could be added. And in its nature, it longed to create other new worlds, as what craftspony could be satisfied with only a single masterpiece?
"Though it planned to move on, it had pride in its work also, and knew that without balance and keeping, it could fall to ruin and be destroyed.
"So it gave a call out to the creatures of the world, all those who lived there, and said, 'Though I move on, I will leave my power over this place to who should seek to protect it. Who will take up this responsibility?'
"The king of Gryphons saw this power, and saw that with it his kind could come to straddle the world, and he could be as the sun itself, and all he saw beneath would fall under his rule. And he cried, 'I will!'
"The alpha of the Dogs saw this power, and in it saw shining every gem that his kind coveted and more, the power to turn the landscapes themselves into shining crystal. And he cried, 'I will!'
"The emperor of the Kappa saw this power, and in it saw a link to everything that lay on the land, to commune with and command the world itself. And he cried, 'I will!'
"And every great dragon saw this power, and in it saw more power yet, and saw that every other being of power in the world sought it also, and each wished to hoard it for themselves. And they cried, 'I will!'
"The creator looked upon these beings, each with their own power and desires, and knew that if it granted this power to all who desired it, it would bring about exactly the destruction it sought to avoid. And so, unsure of who to grant the power to, it hesitated to give it to any.
"And as so often happens when there is one thing wanted by many beings... it took not long at all for it to turn to arguments... fighting... and war."
The image flashed bright suddenly, illuminating the field with a sudden red glare as the previous image of green, blue and grey came alight with crackling flames. Once the assembled ponies regained their sight, they saw the landscape reduced to a burning, twisted mockery of what it had once been. Armies clashed one after another - Gryphons driving a pack of the diamond dogs underground, only to be caught up in swirls of magic emanating from the kappa in the river, scattered to the winds. The river was then blasted away by a dragon, who in turn was set on by another dragon. And above it all, the creator shone atop a mountain like the rising sun, watching everything.
"Each of the groups would try to go to the Creator to plead their case once again, but in doing so they would face the combined wrath of the others, unwilling to let any try to take the advantage. Soon none dared approach the Creator at all, until the battle was won.
"The Creator saw the battles and was distraught, for it boded poorly for the world if any of these warring beings were to take up the power, as even if they were given it, the others would likely soon come to try to take it from them, and the wars would continue - only with the magic of the world itself at risk. Soon it came to despair, believing that it would have to either stay on this world to keep it safe personally, or simply abandon it altogether.
"But it was surprised indeed when a new figure came to the field... not of any of the great races, but a lowly Pony." And on the mountain appeared a small figure - a pony mare with white coat and deep red mane, otherwise unremarkable - not even a cutie mark on her flank.
"You would perhaps not even recognise the ponies back then. There were no unicorns, no pegasi - not even earth ponies, in truth, and certainly no alicorns. We had no cities, no towns, and no power - living wild, and in fear, of the powerful races who wielded talon and beak and magic. Even those who noticed the pony on her trek ignored her - for what threat could a little pony be?" The crowd cheered as the image animated further, showing her climbing the mountain, hiding from the armies as they swarmed, ducking away from blasts of magic and dragonflame, determined to make her way up. And finally she reached the top.
"The creator looked down at this tiny creature, who held no power, commanded no army, and threatened no more than the grass at her feet. Curious, it asked, 'Why have you come here? Do you, too, want my power?'
"'Yes,' She replied simply.
"'And would you lead the ponies into this war too? You would be destroyed in seconds, as soon as any of the others noticed you.'
"'I do not want to lead all the ponies.' She replied. 'Nor do I wish to be as the creator, or fight those below. My people have no power at all - I would share it amongst them all, so that we might protect the world. So long as ponies live, and wherever we are, we will be able to keep the world right, instead of fighting to destroy it.'
"The creator was intrigued. This creature, alone of all who had requested the power, sought to protect, and avoid the fighting. And it could see in her eyes that she knew the consequences, if she was to take the power on here, surrounded by enemies - and cared not.
"Tired of watching battle, and eager to move on, the Creator agreed, and handed the power of the world over to the pony."
The image of the battle faded, zooming in on the pony, shimmering as her form changed, her body growing tall and regal, her mane flowing back into an ethereal red wave, white wings and horn growing from her body. A cutie mark appeared on her flank, a simple circle, just as the creator had been represented.
"The creator took its leave, then, eager to continue its purpose and create new worlds, while the pony stood on the mountain, suddenly able to touch the whole world at once. She could feel the very underpinnings of creation, the very essence of magic itself. She reached out once, and took up the elemental building blocks that made up the world, seperating them out into their components. She reached out again, and took up the being of every pony alive, and seperated them also. And with both these things in hoof... she twisted them together.
"She took the earth, stone and dirt and sand and mountain and hill, all the solidity and strength and structure and nurturing of the world, and tied it to the bodies of ponies. With the magic of earth and body in their hooves, the first earth ponies had the power to encourage growth, work the land, and build great monuments." An outline image formed of an earth pony, coloured green, directly beneath the Alicorn.
"She took the air, wind and storm and cloud and breeze and twist, all the change and flow and pattern and breath of the world, and tied it to the wills of ponies. With the magic of air and will in their wings, the first pegasi had the power to manipulate the weather and clouds, and fly with unmatched grace." Another silhouette of a pegasus, blue-white, this time directly above.
"She took the fire, sun and blaze and spark and lava and lightning, all the energy and light and heat and sparks of the world, and tied it to the minds of ponies. With the magic of fire and mind in their horns, the first unicorns had the power to manipulate the world beyond their reach, stretch out their energy and lift what they could not touch, and cause changes they could not otherwise hope to achieve." The unicorn image formed to the right of the Alicorn, the three ponies now surrounding it on three sides of a square. Twilight frowned slightly at the imbalance - both in magical theory and the image itself - but the tale continued.
"But the pony who had started all this had more in mind yet. She pulled more and more power from the world, taking not only the connections and the methods, but the power that kept all things moving as the creator had wished, and wove that power, those patterns, into her kind. And so it was that where once the sun had trailed its own path across the sky, now the unicorns must guide it. Where once the weather had led its own dance, now the pegasi must arrange it. And where forest and animal followed instinct and grew as they would, now earth ponies must tend them. The very world itself, its inherent magic, and every other thing about it - were now shaped around ponies."
The crowd was silent. The elation they had felt at knowing that a pony had succeeded where no other could was tempered significantly at the implication that their power seemed essentially stolen - ripped from the world they were intended to guide, not control. The storyteller let it sink in for a few long moments before continuing.
"By this point, the armies below had noticed that things had changed. The light of the creator was gone, and where he had been now stood an unfamiliar sight. One by one, the armies stopped fighting, as they realised what had come to pass. And then all together, they turned to charge up the mountain - determined to take from this little pony the power that had been denied them, or failing that, to get their vengeance on the one who had stolen their chance to control the world.
"If the pony had kept all the power to herself, she might have been able to protect herself against them all together - but then again, maybe not. But it mattered not, for by now she had little more strength than any of the other ponies around the world, and as the horde grew closer, she put that strength to one last task of creation.
"Having seen the horrors of war amongst the other races, her greatest fear was that the ponies, now given power on par or greater than the others, would squabble and fight as they did. And so to encourage the ponies always to work together, to always be strongest when they supported each other and lived in harmony, she forged the Elements of Harmony from the things she thought were most important - Honesty, Kindness, Generosity, Loyalty and Laughter - all supporting Magic, the bond that linked every pony together and to the very world." The symbols of the elements were overlaid over the alicorn, the five gems each resembling one of the cutie marks of the bearers, surrounding Twilight's star in the centre.
"And thus were created the elements, which vanished into the world to be called upon when needed, seconds before the armies reached her. She had put her heart and soul and very life into the elements itself, giving them purpose and a link to the ponies who wielded them - and though the armies struck at her, she was already gone, leaving nothing behind for them to steal or assault." Suddenly the symbolic images faded, leaving only the alicorn showing, her form seeming faded and grey. The landscape she had previously stood upon suddenly reappeared like a background being painted behind a subject, and monstrous forms swept down on her, breathing fire, twisting magic, and slashing claws... but as they touched her the lines of the image simply fell apart, as if she was reduced to dust and smoke, spreading away on the breeze. The rest of the image soon followed, being reduced to smudges and lines and dots much like the tale had begun - but as they flowed, seemingly randomly, they formed vague outlines that could have been mistaken for ponies - an earth pony bucking, a pegasus in flight, a unicorn with glowing horn...
The images moved down closer to the ground now, their light dimmer but more clearly illuminating the ponies on the stage, as Sojourn stepped forward to be viewed once more. "And ever since that day, we have safeguarded and guided the world. We raise the sun and moon, we control the weather, and we grow the plants and guide the animals. Even though we had forgotten why we received this power in the first place... we do the tasks we were given. And in return, that power protects us - for should the other races decide to strike at Equestria and succeed at destroying it, who would raise the sun, or keep the plants growing, or tame the weather? To destroy Equestria would be to end the world.
"This is the pony's world - and it would not be too far wrong to say that Equestria describes not only our own nation - but all the world we live in." He paused a few moments, then laughed. "Although I would probably not say that too loudly around non-ponies too often.
"So, my friends... thus ends the tale of the beginnings of Ponies as we know them. I know some of you may not believe it - and reasonably so, for what proof can there be that there was ever a time before the Princesses we know and love today? But even if you don't like it... remember, every time you feel the earth beneath your hooves, the wind in your wings, the energy in your horns, you're feeling the world that we were given to protect. Every power, everything good comes with its responsibilities, and its price. She gave us that knowledge too - in our cutie marks, and our special talents.
"Everypony has a place, a talent, to fit into the world, from those who can grow crops or move clouds, to those who move the very sun itself, to those who can bring joy and inspiration to those around them. I hope this story helps you take that to heart - use that talent to the best of your ability, and take the opportunities it gives you in life - and do whatever you can to make the world a better, safer place for everypony."
He gave a wry smile, looking over the crowd for a long, silent minute - taking in the looks on the faces of the crowd, his gaze flicking over the population of Ponyville and hovering briefly on Twilight and her friends. The crowd made no move to applaud, condemn or leave, simply remaining still as the moment grew awkward. Twilight glanced at her friends, trying to get a read on their reactions as a couple of them did the same, but they were unreadable in the low light. She couldn't bring herself to speak or move, not sure if the story was truly over.
Sojourn finally nodded, giving a quiet sigh, before bowing to the crowd along with Wild Meadow Bloom at his side. "Thank you for listening," he said simply, and the illuminations above were extinguished - leaving the stage dark, and the audience - now left with nothing but the soft moonlight to guide them - suddenly burst into a hundred voices like a dam breaking, hunting for lights or discussing the tale at increasing volume.
Another extract from "The Price of Harmony" - this one actually came in the previous chapter to "On the Origin of Ponies". One of the major themes in The Price of Harmony was stories, and each chapter was planned to begin with either a story, an article, or an essay of some sort.
This piece was of no greater import than being the first introduction of Sojourn and Wild Meadow Bloom, my OCs. The actual ghost story was suggested by my housemate, who gave me permission to write it up myself for my fic - shame it never actually happened.
"Well then, my little ponies... I've been around a lot of places in my life, as you might expect - from the busy streets of Fillydelphia to the factories of Cloudsdale, the regal streets of Canterlot to little towns like the one you've got here, but there are some things that never change.
"And one of them are colts and fillies like you, and what the most important thing in life is. More important than good food, or playing, or your boring old parents and their rules - no, what you care about most is your cutie marks.
"Some of you got 'em, some of you don't! You can't see I've got mine right here - it's a book and a breeze, because that's what I do - I fly around telling stories! But don't you worry, you'll all get yours someday. ...Or at least... I hope you will.
"Because this is a story about a mare who never got her cutie mark.
"It was a little town just like this one where she was born, and where she grew up. Her coat was black as ink, her mane nearly as dark, wild and dark as the night, her horn barely visible, and she was quite pretty in her own way. For the first few years of her life, she was no different to any of you - she grew up with her family, went to school made friends... but the problems started when she got to that age - that age where many of you are now, when colts and fillies start finding their special talents.
"When the first of her friends found their talent, they were so happy! The party went on far past their bedtimes, and in the middle of that party, another friend found hers too, getting her mark on the spot! And it was then she swore she would find her cutie mark whatever happened, and every waking moment she had from that day she spent trying to hunt down her talent.
She tried everything she could, something new every day. Today she would try cooking, tomorrow stargazing. She competed in every sport, attempted a dozen musical instruments, and even spent a rather memorable week on a farm trying to keep up with the earth ponies there. But it was no good - every time she tried a new task, her flank remained a plain blank black, and all she saw were the others in her class finding their talents, one by one.
"Some of them teased her, of course. Her coat was so dark, they said, that a cutie mark couldn't be seen even if it did appear. That it didn't know where her flank was to put it. That she wasn't special. That she would never have a cutie mark - she would be a blank flank forever.
"Now I can see some of you with fear in your eyes, and some of you with scorn or pity. I'd be careful with those feelings if I were you, because the tale's not over yet. Because even though she tried harder and harder, every moment trying something more extreme, desperate to find her talent, soon every other pony her age had their cutie mark - and then every pony in the class below her as well. And as she soon became a full-grown mare, everything got worse.
"Some said that she had gotten her mark, but she was so embarrassed by it she inked over it every morning. Some said she was a changeling, merely pretending to be a pony. This was back before Luna had returned, of course - so given her colouring, and her penchant for running around at night, some of them said she might be cursed by Nightmare Moon. Some said she must be Nightmare Moon's daughter - or even the Princess herself, reborn. But of course none of this was true - she was just a pony, just like you or me, and every time they said these things, it felt like a buck to the heart.
"What friends she had moved on, saying their apologies and goodbyes but pursuing the destinies their marks had revealed. Without a cutie mark - without a special talent - she didn't know what path to take, where to go, what to do. Everybody in the town knew her, and knew of her plight - but nobody could help her. Even worse, as a unicorn, her magic was without focus - she couldn't do anything nearly as well as the other unicorns in town, because there was always somebody who had the right special talent for the job.
"She worked as hard as she could, whatever jobs she could get, and while some of the people of her town tried their best to help her, she soon found their pity almost as painful as the stares and mockery of the less kind. Even the strongest heart can be worn down, and soon she stopped trying as hard at jobs she had tried before, knowing they could never be her talent, and feeling it was pointless. She felt she would never find her talent. And then she stopped coming out of her house at all.
"But even though she had given up, she never stopped wanting her cutie mark. And soon ponies began to forget about her entirely... but she never forgot about them. Never forgot how every one of them had their cutie mark, a place in the world, while all that remained on her flank was a black void, swallowing up any hope she had of a normal life.
"And it was then she began to think... what if that is my cutie mark? What if that emptiness is what represents my special talent?
"Days later, when somebody realised that nopony had seen her for some time, they went to her house to make sure she was okay. When they knocked, the door creaked open beneath their hooves. And they called her name, gingerly moving throughout the dark abode... but there was no sign of her, no belongings, no notes. It was as if nobody had ever lived there at all...
"The next anypony ever saw of her was back at the school where she had spent her foalhood. Class was over for the day, and behind the desk was the teacher. Her name was Rising Dawn, and her cutie mark was a sun just peeking over the horizon. She had found her talent as a teacher as a filly, when their own teacher had slept in for the day - she always loved the mornings, and while every other pony yawned and mumbled and messed around, she had driven them all to get together and start their lesson before he arrived. She had been one of the first in her class to get her cutie mark - a class which included, as you might have guessed, a certain unicorn. And though she now knew to respect the children she taught and that their talents would all shine through in time, when she had been the first, she had been most smug, showing off the sun mark on her flank and never missing a chance to practise and show off her talent.
But needless to say, of all the ponies she might consider would come to her without a mark on their flank, she was not expecting her old classmate. When the door to the classroom opened, she was surprised indeed to see the inky black mare standing there.
"'It's been so long!' she cried. 'Where have you been?' - and if that had been all she said, maybe nothing more would have happened to her... but then again, maybe it would have made no difference. For the next thing she said was, with pity in her voice, 'You still haven't found your special talent?'
"And the Blank Flank Mare stared back into her eyes and said, "No, I still haven't found my talent... so I thought I might try yours instead."
"Her horn lit up, and before a thing could be said or done, her magic struck the teacher! It didn't hurt, exactly, but a terrible feeling settled over her, because as that magic faded, she felt something else fade inside her as well. And even then, somehow knowing what she would see, she turned to look at her flank - as empty as the day she had first walked into this classroom.
"And on the black coat of her visitor, she could see the image forming... exactly like her own, the sun standing out bright against her black coat. The Blank Flank Mare laughed, and turned and fled the room, leaving her alone, with nothing...
"Over the next few days, other ponies were visited also... all those who had struck out at her, who had rejected her for her blankness, and each was left in turn exactly as they had left her - without any cutie mark at all. And once she was done, once she had taken all she felt she was owed, she vanished away again... and while many tried to find her, to reclaim what she had taken from them, none ever succeeded.
"But it's said that she lives to this day... walking always alone, always searching... Visiting cities and towns, looking for new talents, perhaps one day to find the talent that was truly hers, that could let her rest..."
"And always on the lookout for fillies and colts just like her." Another voice suddenly cut in, causing a murmur through the crowd as they strove to find who had interrupted the tale. "Those who had not yet found their special talents, but struggled every day to bring them out. They were of no use to her yet, but though her heart had grown as black as her coat, she could still remember that sorrow."
Soon all eyes were locked on the source of the new voice, a cloaked figure who strode from behind the stage, moving up towards the pegasus as if she owned the stage, never turning to look at the crowd. "And she sought to show those who would taunt the blank flanks that nopony could feel safe just because they had found their talents... and she would remind them how it felt to be talentless... for the rest of their lives."
"Excuse me, miss." The storyteller glared at the newcomer. "Who exactly is telling this story?"
"Why, the storyteller is telling the story, of course. But who is the storyteller?" With a flourish, she threw off her cloak, giving the crowd a moment to take in her inky coat, her dark grey mane and tail, and featureless flank... before her horn lit up brightly, a flash of magic striking out and engulfing herself and the pegasus, who cried out in shock... "Why don't you tell me?"
And as the two ponies faced each other on the stage, sides to the audience, it was clear to see - the symbol of breeze and book had faded from the stallion's dust-coloured flank - and was now starkly visible in contrast to the black coat of the mare. Stunned silence reigned for a long five seconds as the two matched glares, before the unicorn finally turned to the crowd, sweeping it with her brilliant purple eyes.
"So which of you little ponies has a talent for me?" She grinned, her horn coming alight once more.
Then suddenly, with a blur of movement, the pegasus leapt at her, the two of them falling to the ground in a tangle of limbs. Holding her down, he looked at the crowd with imploring eyes. "Run!"
As if a spell had suddenly been broken, a scream rose from twenty young throats at once, the crowd of foals broke and ran in all directions, bringing stares from all around the field. The two adult ponies struggled valiantly on the stage, grunting and crying out, trading blows and rolling one atop the other, first the black unicorn having the upper hand, then the pegasus pinning her down, until they guessed most of the audience was out of sight, and could hold their straight faces no longer. They fell into each other's hooves, laughing at the memory of the captivated faces.
"Oh dear... we definitely have to do that one next Nightmare Night..."
"S-Stop right there!"
Both of them froze suddenly, their eyes turning as one to the new voice. By the look of things, three of the fillies had returned - a yellow earth pony with bright red mane in a bow; an orange pegasus with a styled purple mane, and a white unicorn with pink and purple curls, and not one of them with a mark on their flank. All three stood with an air of defiance, trying to hide the shaking of their legs as they faced down the Blank Flank Mare.
"Y-you cahn't go around taking other ponies' cutie marks!" the earth pony cried.
"Yeah... we'd do anything to get ours, but they've gotta be our cutie marks! If you take someone else's... that's not doing it right! You haven't earned it!" The pegasus flared her tiny wings, apparently ready to charge.
"So you give him back his cutie mark, and don't ever steal another one!"
The two on the stage blinked, taken aback by the vehemence of the trio. For a moment there was silence, then they looked at each other again... with the slightest of smiles and nods entirely missed by the fillies, they had their plan.
The black unicorn pushed the pegasus off her, leaving him sprawled on the stage, and trotted over towards the Crusaders with all the menacing grace of Nightmare Moon herself. The three took a step back in unison as she approached - but only a single step, glancing at each other before they stood firm.
"And why should I give back his talent? It's mine now. Don't you have other fillies who tease you for having no cutie marks? Don't you wish you could take theirs, and leave them Blank Flanks while you could move on?"
The three hesitated only a second before replying.
"Ah won't say ah wouldn't like to see Diamond Tiara's face if she lost her mark suddenly... But--"
"But not even she deserves that! We'll find our talents our own way! Everypony should have their own cutie mark!"
"If anything, you should have a cutie mark for being a thief!" The pegasus finished the rant with a flourish, before all three took a step forward together and spoke as one.
"Now give him back his cutie mark!"
The black mare took a step back, clearly taken aback by their passion, before slowly looking at the stallion slowly getting up on the stage. After a long moment, she gave a sigh, bent her head, and let the magic flow once more...
And with a much more subdued flash this time, the mark disappeared from her side and appeared back in its rightful place.
The trio looked shocked momentarily that she had done so, staring for a moment until she turned back to them again, when they quickly regained their stances, at the ready.
"You're very brave fillies." She said quietly. "I think you will get your cutie marks soon... and you might just take Equestria by storm when you do. But always remember what you just said, little ponies!" Her horn lit up again, energy now swirling around her. "Because I will have my eye on you!"
A flash of light and wind made all three fillies cover their eyes, and when it faded only they and the stallion remained on the stage.
There are some jobs where you might expect to be woken up at any time of night, and some where you can expect a decent night’s uninterrupted sleep and do the work in the morning.
Mine usually falls into the latter category - although admittedly, when the call does come, it’s usually interesting enough to make it worth it.
That doesn’t mean I’m gonna be thrilled with somepony banging wildly at my door at two in the bucking morning, though.
When I’d finally gotten my hooves under me and trotted down to the front door of the apartment, wondering what sort of idiot would do something like this and ready to buck them in the face if it was somepony knocking on the wrong door, I’ll admit I might have looked something of a fright, but…
The earth pony at the door didn’t even see me, collapsing straight down onto the ground as his next round of knocking failed to connect, and proceeded to flail at the floor instead, as if he hadn’t noticed that the world had tipped sideways. I blinked, looking down.
“...Grid Survey?”
~-~-~-~
Five minutes later, we were both inside, and I had some coffee going as I tried to figure out what in Equestria had happened to my old colleague.
I recognised him by coat and mark, but beyond that I would never have guessed him. He’d never been much of a drinker before, but right now he was more plastered than anypony I’d ever seen before - though I’ll admit I don’t hang in the right social circles for that to be too much of a competition.
The stench of alcohol coming off him was horrific, and his face bleary, miserable and barely focused. There was a bottle he had clutched in one hoof, which I had managed to extract from him with some difficulty; I didn’t recognise the smell, but just a whiff of it nearly knocked me out.
“What is this?” I asked, pushing it away.
“D’no.” He slurred. “Asked f’r the strooooongest thing there was. Ever. Pan… Panagalattic… garrrr… dunno.”
The label on the bottle showed a cartoon of a cheerful-looking two-headed earth pony - looked vaguely familiar, probably some movie or book I’d seen an ad for - and a physically impossible alcohol rating. Putting it well out of the way, I turned back to my friend as he wavered on my couch. “...Was it worth it?”
He blinked, having to think about that a long moment, then somehow contrived to look even more miserable as he shook his head slowly. and muttered.
“Still ‘memb’r.”
I sighed, walking out into the kitchen as the kettle whistled. I think I was going to need a lot of coffee for this…
~-~-~-~
Once I was a little more awake, and we both had some coffee in us - no more of that drink - I sat down and tried to interrogate the drunken archaeologist.
“Alright. What in Tartarus happened to you?”
“Ruined. Ruined ev’rythin’.”
“Ruined what?”
“Ev’rything!” His hooves shot out, as if to demonstrate the magnitude of the ruination, before the sudden motion left him toppling once more into the floor in an amazingly uncomfortable-looking position. “D… dunno what t’do. Dunno who to go to.”
As pathetic as this was, somehow this was giving me a chill down my spine. “...What did you do?”
“Found a book.” He whispered. He started trying to reach towards his saddlebags, and panicked as he groped at his sides.
“No! No no no no no it can’t be gone no!”
“Your bags are over here.” I picked them up, and watched as he practically collapsed with relief. Even more concerned, I opened them up, finding - amongst the usual collection of paraphenalia - a notebook filled with loose sheets shoved between pages, and another book which immediately grabbed my attention.
It was old.
Those not in the business probably wouldn’t even have noticed, since it looked pristine, maybe even fresh from the binders. But there’s a certain… weight to items that have been around forever, and this one had been around far, far longer than I had.
There were a couple of other hints, too, of course. The first being the aura of a preservative spell of considerable power; the second being the symbol on the front - a purple, six-pointed starburst, with a second white starburst behind and surrounded by several smaller white stars - a symbol anypony would recognise - and some scribbles along the bottom which most ponies wouldn’t - but I - and assumedly Grid - easily recognised as ancient Equestrian.
The numbers I recognised easily, but the other word took a little more time before I remembered what it meant, and I hissed in a breath.
Diary.
I was holding Princess Twilight Sparkle’s Diary.
And those numbers would be… dates.
Oh.
This would be her last diary.
“Where… where did you…”
“Some colt… some colt foun’ it. Was just wannnnndering through the ol’ tree-castle on one o’ those tours. Pressed some secret button we haven’t found in millenniennia. ‘cos if the buckin’ Princess doesn’t want us findin’ her Diary, we ain’t gonna find it! ‘cept by accident.
“Dinneven know what it was. Thought he just foun’ some weird ol’ code book. Saw him wanderin’ wiffit through the market, got it off’f him for a hunnred bits.” He gave a laugh, which sounded more like a death rattle.
That would make sense. Grid’s talent lay in spotting important things among the dross, so if anypony was going to spot something like that in a crowd…
I opened the book reverently. Well, if it wasn’t the Princess’ own tome, it was a damn good fake - her hornwriting was distinctive and fairly easy to recognise for somepony in my business, even if I wasn’t completely fluent in the long-dead language. A lot of Princess Twilight’s writings had survived to present day, translated and passed on as borderline scripture - but something this personal…
Grid groaned, clutching his head, and I remembered that there was something more to this. I set it aside carefully - of course, I could have tossed the thing in the fireplace without damaging it, but seriously - and picked up the notebook.
As I suspected, Grid had been translating it. His grasp of the ancient language wasn’t nearly as good as mine - special talent and all - but he knew a bit, and had sources to work with more, and had basically picked out key words in the various entries to get a better idea of the theme of each.
I flipped forward to the end of his works, and prepared myself for whatever madness-inducing horrors seemed to have claimed my friend…
...Well, a lot of mentions of Princess Celestia. That one was easy. And… huh...
‘bound’... ‘hobbled’... ‘overpowered’...
‘forced’... ‘restrained magic’... ‘struck’...
‘control’... ‘begging’... ‘servant’...
‘Queen Twilight Sparkle’...
I hissed through my teeth, checking the words in question on the untranslated page - most of them fairly easy, a lot of surviving texts for translation were for battles, and many of the words used were common enough in those. And the context was definitely that Twilight was performing the actions, and Celestia was the recipient.
This was not in the history books.
And there wasn’t a lot of diary after this.
There really wasn’t a lot of information on why the Alicorns vanished from the world, all those thousands of years ago… but if Princess Twilight Sparkle had betrayed Celestia and attacked her… then…
“Everything we know about the Princesses…”
“It’s all ruined!” wailed Grid, making me jump - I’d actually forgotten he was there. Calming my heart, and turning back to the book of heresy before me, I reached out to the diary with a shaking hoof.
By the sun, moon and stars… what the hell was I supposed to do with this?
~-~-~-~
Well, the first thing to do with it was to make sure this wasn’t a massive misunderstanding.
I lured Grid onto the couch, found a blanket to wrap around him, and he was asleep in moments, leaving me free to take the books into my study for more professional examination.
A few quick checks confirmed that the book was Princess Twilight’s, definitely, or at least previously enchanted by her. Her enchantments were always easy to spot - a couple millennia or so of progress had seen some significant improvement in spellwork since her time, but her preservation spells simply… didn’t stop. Every part of the spell matrix she used had been examined and reverse engineered many times over the centuries, and there was no good reason for it - it just seemed that if the Alicorn of magic had wanted a spell to keep going, that spell bucking well kept going.
Aside from being remarkably decent of her from the point of view of us archaeologists, it also made it amazingly difficult to forge.
The handwriting was hers, the book was hers… so unless something very tricky was going on, this was her diary, and I wasn’t getting out of this that easily.
So, time to start parsing. I pulled out my translation texts, and got to work...
The words translated were all accurate, and filling in the gaps between them only made things worse. Princess Twilight had clearly enjoyed the process, expounding on the indignities she had inflicted on the Princess of the Sun in detail and with excitement and glee.
I had to pause a couple of times to keep from throwing up at the very thought. I mean, even knowing the old, old stories about Nightmare Moon, the idea of the Alicorns fighting amongst themselves - let alone described like this - was horrifying, like walking in on one of your parents casually torturing the other… and then asking if you’d like to help…
It took me a few long moments to recover from that little simile.
I did manage to get some context near the beginning of the entry, however. Princess Twilight had written of a relationship that Princess Celestia had demanded be kept secret, which she certainly didn’t seem happy about. Still, that hardly seemed reason enough to torture and overthrow your peer…
It was frustratingly slow going. Special talent can only help so much, especially when part of you is fairly sure you don’t want to know what’s going on, and the book was written in a far more personal style than the more official documentation we normally got to translate. The fact that Princess Twilight had been around for a few centuries at this point meant that she pulled linguistics from all over the place.
When I was mostly ready to sink into despair at the destruction of the hero figure of my youth, it seemed almost like my prayers had been answered as I neared the end of the text, for suddenly it had Twilight describing a conversation with Celestia, all hostility seemingly forgotten. Slightly convinced I might be hallucinating by this point, I looked over it carefully, translating it as best I could…
It didn’t sound like Twilight was discussing with a thrall, but with all the respect she had previously had, and that they were still friendly. Was there memory magic at play? Was this all supposed to be a dream? No, there was no overtone of fear or anxiety…
‘Celestia said she had never’ something ‘so strongly before’ - maybe this was all some magical trial? That word was probably important, but I entirely didn’t recognise it. I knew virtually every word relating to fighting, struggling, war, magic, but the books I had didn’t recognise it. Maybe some form of slang? Knowing Princess Twilight, it might be something completely made up.
I sighed, leaning back and wincing as the sun streamed in through the window into my face. Oh, sunrise already? I’d been at this for hours…
I stood, my joints cracking as I wandered over to the window, staring out at the city and the rising sun.
“What happened to you?” I wondered quietly. “...And what am I going to do about it?”
What could I do? If we published this, it’d overturn society. To learn that one of the princesses had assaulted another, which had probably set off the last days of the Alicorns, would be a scandal that would rock the entirety of Equestria…
“I wonder if that secret relationship would have been this much of a--”
Wait.
Ooooooh no.
I rushed back to the books, looking over the entry again and suddenly reading everything in a new light, my muzzle growing redder and redder as everything fit into place.
That bit of context made everything make a LOT more sense.
And suddenly that mental image I had before about walking in on my parents… well…
I fell into a coughing fit, staring at the translation through teary eyes.
Oooh, I bet I knew what that missing word was, too.
Oh Celestia, I… uh… oh my.
I staggered away from the study, unable to read any further, most of the blood in my body now gathered in my face - and trying quite hard to ignore wherever else it was collecting - and collapsed on the couch across from Grid with a heavy thump.
It was enough to wake him up, and his head blearily raised, staring over at me. I coughed into my hoof.
“Ermm… you, um, were wrong about one thing, and right about two things.”
“Ehhh?” He drawled.
“Well, it’s not nearly as bad as you thought. Princess Twilight didn’t overthrow Princess Celestia.”
“I… oh, Celestia, I didn’t dream that… Wait, she didn’t?”
“No. But… that book probably will turn society on its head. You were right about that.”
He stared for a long moment. “And… the other right thing?”
I floated over the bottle of Pan-galactic Gargle Blaster, staring at the label with a trepidatious horror. “...That we are far, far too sober to deal with this.”
There was something about sitting on a throne, in front of a noble, listening to her complain about something that was actually tiny and insignificant even by mortal terms, for the… I didn’t even know how many-th time, giving arguments of self-importance and demands that the crown do something about it.
Even if I had absolutely no intention of actually bending to their will, I had to sit here and listen to their self-indulgent arguments and at least pretend to give it due concern - although I could more or less do it on auto-pilot by now, and indeed I did. I couldn’t even really consciously remember what she was talking about - something about her summer home out in the country - but by this point I’d managed to hone the art of subconsciously guiding my nation to a mastery.
However, today was dragging on even worse than normal, every minute torturous.
...Although to be fair, I had nopony but herself to blame for that. Time always drags when you have something to look forward to… and the correspondence I’d been sending back and forth with Twilight had definitely ended with something worth looking forward to. Especially since she told her that she couldn’t send a reply, since she was going straight to court…
Teasing my ex-student and getting the last word (and a few suggestive diagrams) in was cruel, sure, but now I had to wait to see what Twilight would cook up in response…
Court was due to continue for hours yet. An inward groan very nearly became an outward one as the noble started waffling on down a new path.
It was a shame, really… Honestly, the fact that Twilight was the sort of pony who would never let her desires overwhelm duty was one of the things that I respected most, but…
I couldn’t help imagining Twilight suddenly bursting into the courtroom to rescue me… hah, appearing in a flash of purple light and whisking me away with a…
“Oh! Um, I’m afraid I’m going to have to take the princess now.”
“What?”
I blinked. That flash… hadn’t been a daydream? Luna had better not be playing with my head again… I shook my head, cleared my mind and eyes...
Nope, Twilight was actually here.
“Excuse me, I am in a meeting with the Princess!” So was the noble. Should do something about that.
“Sorry, Day Court is cancelled.” Twilight stated firmly, walking towards me with a very serious look.
“But… what am I supposed to do?” Go AWAY.
Twilight paused, looking back at him for a moment, thinking. “Oh. Um. Evacuate? Yes. You should evacuate. Get away from this room, everyone. And, um, anywhere that Celestia tends to spend a lot of time. Could you guards please pass that on? Thank you.” She gave a polite smile, finished climbing the steps, and reached out her hoof, whisking us away before I could so much as say a word.
I don’t think I’d ever been so overwhelmed.
Or excited.
~-~-~-~
When the teleport let us out, it was not into my rooms. Or her rooms. Or anywhere I recognised, in fact - it looked more like a cave than anything, and it took a moment’s magic for me to note our location as… well outside Canterlot, well outside any habitated area. The middle of nowhere.
Twilight was going around putting up shields on the walls and entrances, by the look of things. That boded… very interestingly indeed.
I finally found my voice, though I’m ashamed to admit it was only to start babbling. “Well! Um, I’ll admit I was hoping you would rescue me there, but I didn’t really expect… why here? I wasn’t suggesting anything that couldn’t be don…”
And my ears caught up. “Why did you say ponies should evacuate places I’ve been? Are you planning on… Twilight, didn’t we learn our lesson about mixing time magic and fun…”
And then finally my eyes joined the party, and saw the expression on her face, which promised very little in the way of fun, and suddenly my libido dropped like a stone.
“This… this isn’t about the letter I sent at all, is it?”
“Well… yes and no?” The confident leader and mage from a moment ago seemed to crumble. “It’s… well, I didn’t really get to read most of it, but…”
I blinked, my heart going cold for a moment. “...Wait, did somepony else get it?” The contents of that letter could probably get the both of us in a lot of hot water in the wrong hooves…
“Not exactly. It’s more, um… well, you know how Spike has been… not entirely well a little lately?”
I could only nod. Spike had been growing, lately, finally coming into his draconic heritage, but it had come with a few little hiccups, which even I didn’t truly understand the meaning of… Twilight had taken full responsibility for it, however, and seemed to be doing fine...
“Well, I think I might have figured that out. How much do you know about the spell you use to send the letters by dragon mail?”
“Errr…”
“I think it might have slightly more effect than just sending the mail. See, I’ve been… a little distracted, so I didn’t really make the correlation, but… Spike started properly growing shortly after we started dating.
“You know the saying ‘you are what you eat’?” She chuckled nervously. “Until we got together, most of what we sent back and forth was about studying, friendship, or duty to Equestria. And those have always been big parts of Spike’s personality. I always thought that was just me teaching him as he grew, but…”
“You think the letters have something to do with that?”
“And ever since we’ve been, um… exchanging letters on more intimate matters… that’s when he started growing. And, well, um, again I… might not have noticed, but… my first worry was that he might be more interested in Rarity, but he seemed to outgrow that…
“But instead he was more interested in… um, again, I feel really silly for not noticing it, but he was always asking about you and me… and maybe looking a bit much… and I never really noticed because he stayed a gentleman for the most part and I always thought of him as a little brother…”
Oh dear. This… I think I could see why she was panicking, if he’d suddenly…
“Um, then we, kinda, um, had that long conversation back and forth today… that was when I first kind of noticed that the letters were having an effect on him. He was happy to keep going, though, but every letter was making him a little more antsy…
“And… um… then you sent that last letter. With the… diagrams. And the very descriptive… and emotional… and the rest… and what I kind of hope was drool…”
“Oh. I can see why you might be… a little weirded out… is he okay?”
“Oh… no, I’m not confused. I had to run away.” She avoided looking at me.
What. “...What?”
“Well, Spike is growing up… and really quite magic resistant… and it might have slightly set off a bit of a focused greed growth…”
WHAT. “Um, wait, you don’t mean…”
“What? OH! No, no… well, a little, but not… no! I mean, um, just power. Normal greed growth might make him monster size so he can hoard, but this only made him a little bigger… but very strong… and impressive… and gave him a bit of magic power…”
“...A bit…?”
Suddenly the cave shook violently. Twilight’s eyes widened, and she focused hard, reinforcing her shield spells.
“A lot.”
“I see.”
“We might be able to fight him off, but probably not without hurting him…”
“Maybe we need to find an alternate method of sending our messages.”
Another blast rocked the cavern.
“Oh, and speaking of, he’s got a link to you through the fire-mail thing, so he can probably find you anywhere?” Twilight gave a nervous grin. “Hence, not in Canterlot…”
The cave shook again, as if something was blasting its way through the earth towards us.
“How long do you think it’ll take him to get in here?”
Another explosion, closer. Twilight’s ears flicked as she calculated. “...I’d say about twenty minutes to get to the cave. Another five for the shields.” Wow. Twilight’s shields were nothing to scoff at, and to break through them so fast...
“And then?”
“I... know a few more caves we can teleport to and hide in…?”
“How long are we going to have to hide for before he calms down?”
“...Probably a couple days.”
I stared at her for a long moment. “And we’re not going to be able to stay in any one spot for too long.”
“Oh, and, um, we probably shouldn’t do anything too, um, involved. With the connection it might just make things worse.”
I groaned. “Only you could make a couple of days of desperately hiding from a raging dragon boring, Twilight.”
“Hey!”
The blasts were getting closer and more frequent, now.
At least I don’t have to deal with that noble’s rambling about her summer home for a few days. I sighed… then thoughtfully turned to Twilight.
“Actually… would it be bad if I suggested the next place to hide?”
Wait, no, that’s not even the problem. Sometimes being Princess of the Day is unfair.
Because paperwork. Piles upon piles of Me-cursed paperwork.
Court is well and truly over, and my little Sparkle is off in her labs developing magical wonders never before seen by ponykind, and I’m here in my chambers doing paperwork. This was supposed to die down once Luna came back! Why does it seem like I’ve got even more endless piles of paperwork now? I cannot honestly imagine how a stack of the height in front of me can contain as many pages to read and sign as it apparently does.
I sighed. The answer was obvious - because I have something I would rather be doing. Or somepony, perhaps… heh. I would call them very un-princessly thoughts, if they weren’t being had by a princess about a princess. That should make them the most princessly of thoughts!
...Sigh. Getting distracted. Have to start reading this page all over…
Somepony save me…
Ah! Perfect timing! I look up with a possibly-desperate grin as Twilight opened the door and walked into the room…
...The door was closed, and the room empty, apart from the endless stack of paperwork.
What? I could’ve sworn...
The door suddenly swung open, and then she walked in, bereft of regalia or lab equipment, with that incredible smile across her muzzle that accompanied a fun and interesting night, either from some new magical discovery or something more… biological… or both…
My ear twitched. Something weird just happened, and something was still…
I heard the gentle creak of my door opening, and the clip-clop of Twilight’s bare hooves across the marble floor.
At least five seconds after Twilight herself.
“Twilight Sparkle… what have you done?” I asked. Not in a horrified way, of course, just very curious.
She grinned even wider, and started talking. Or at least, her mouth started moving. It was fascinating, watching those lips move, forming sounds that didn’t come… It took less than those five seconds for me to lose myself in a daydream about those lips, and I almost missed it when her voice suddenly started to catch up.
“I’ve been studying etiology! The time version, not the disease version. Causality. Time spells.” She paused, then, and it took me a moment to link the moment with an eager grin she’d had a few seconds earlier. “This wasn’t intentional, just a weird little side effect. I thought it was interesting. Do you like it?”
By the time her voice had caught up with her, Twilight had been sitting with an expectant expression on her face for a few seconds, but fortunately she had been waiting for my responses for longer in the past as a filly. It took me a few moments to process everything, to be honest.
“It’s… fascinating. A little distracting, admittedly. So your sound is lagging behind--”
I blinked, cutting off. My eyes were tracking across the room to my right. I could sense Twilight somehow, instinct telling me that she was moving, but she was sitting still. It was one of the strangest things I’d ever experienced… at least in a setting that wasn’t checkered and raining chocolate milk.
And then, she stood and started moving, slowly walking around to the right just like I’d somehow predicted, starting to talk again before she started moving. I wanted to watch those beautiful lips again, but my eyes kept trying to insist that I should look a couple of lengths ahead of where she was.
The sound of her hooves sounded a couple of seconds after her voice. “Sound appears to be delayed by five seconds, but that’s not all. It seems my… presence is a few seconds ahead, as well. Not sure if it’s my magic, if it’s just because I have so much magic or something, but I can tell you can sense it.”
Twilight was pacing back and forth before her desk and watching her reactions, now, and I was trying very hard to focus on where my lover was, rather than where my instincts were screaming she should be. The fact that her voice was moving back and forth as a third distraction wasn’t helping either.
“I can see why you’d find it fascinating…”
I felt her presence come to a halt. The smile on her face suddenly turned a little more sultry as her physical form moved to join it and spoke again, giving me a spoiler to where her words were going.. “But I don’t think it’s a good idea to keep doing my testing like this… it would probably interfere with my research. So I thought I might... test out its effects while it lasts.”
The desk, laden with accursed and currently unimportant paperwork, suddenly lifted in the air and set itself to one side of the room under Twilight’s expert magical field (without spilling a single sheet in the fireplace, unfortunately) and suddenly there was nothing between her and I.
And then suddenly I felt her moving forward, and I was leaning down before I knew it, my heart rate soaring and eyes closing on instinct and feeling her lean in and meet my lips in a crushing, passionate kiss…
...Only her lips weren’t there.
It was jarring, yet somehow exciting - like she was teasing me, close enough for her fur and breath to be tickling my nose and lips, yet not close enough to touch. I found myself actually whimpering, pushing forward a little as if to find those lips, forever just a little beyond my reach…
It felt like forever I hunted for the warm, moist slice of heaven, almost unbalancing myself, and I’d just begun to open my eyes when the five seconds was up and Twilight’s corporeal lips met mine.
Ahhhh...
I don’t think I’ve ever melted that fast before. My legs shook slightly as my lips parted for her tongue and caught up on lost time, lips twisting around each other and tongues entangling in a hot, liquid mess.
The fact that it was mostly completely silent for a few seconds meant I jumped slightly when the wet smacking and happy moaning caught up, which led to a giggle from Twilight that I felt immediately and heard shortly after.
I have no idea how long we lost ourselves to that divine kiss, with sounds and presence and physical all giving conflicting but wonderful signals, keeping me on hooftips…
It ended on a slightly sour note when I felt Twilight’s presence retreat and tried to follow, unwilling to break the kiss yet, and forgot that her actual muzzle was still there, leading to us butting heads a little harder than I’d intended, but neither of us really cared. The whole world seemed to shudder as she pulled away physically as well, the sounds of our passion echoing in the air as we both caught our breath.
“...Wow.” We both said together. Only, of course, the sound was delayed for her, but that was hardly important, and I found myself giggling at the tardy exclaimation.
And then my eyes widened with a gasp as I felt her move forward again, twisting around my neck and nuzzling across my shoulder.
It was anticipation of a sort I’d never before encountered. I had to settle onto the ground, not trusting my legs as Twilight teased me twice over - feeling her playful giggles as my body twitched and arched in response to touches with hoof, muzzle or feather that she hadn’t yet made. I would lean into a touch on my barrel only to feel her nip at my neck, and by the time she stroked the former with a wing I was shuddering from the feeling of her presence along my back between my wings.
I was constantly off-guard and off-balance. I could not imagine myself allowing this sort of situation with anypony but Twilight, ever, but with her it was incredible.
Slowly but surely she worked her way back along my body, leaving me shuddering more and more with every moment, building up the suspense. When she reached my cutie mark she paused there to play a while while my hind leg twitched and my breath came in stuttered gasps, letting her physical form meet up with the preview at last, and by the time both of them were working together there I was little more than a puddle of whining, molten white princess.
And then she started moving further back.
I let out a hiss as I felt her presence move fully behind me, and tensed in that endless anticipation…
…And waited...
...and heard a strangled yelp and a heavy thump and clatter.
My eyes shot open as the feeling somehow… fizzed, fading and distorting, and looked around wildly to determine what had interrupted my bliss. Twilight was in a groaning pile of tangled limbs against the wall, and…
Oh. My wings had shot open.
Twilight had been in the way!
I hadn’t done that in centuries! I nearly killed somepony last time it happened!
I was always so careful!
I scrambled up to check on her as I realised what had happened. While I’d trained myself to be ever-so-careful with my wings, I’d been instinctively sure that Twilight had been behind me.
“Twilight! Are you alright?”
She groaned, and it sounded… wrong. The pitch wavered and twisted as the sound escaped. I looked at her, as she twitched, her body moving too fast, too slow, jumping and stuttering like a damaged recording crystal…
I’d felt her move behind me in the future, and that had made me throw her across the room. I’d broken causality, and now it was snapping back.
I could suddenly feel the ache in my horn that I realised had been building, an incredible magical charge.
Before I could so much as swear, everything exploded.
~-~-~-~
Twilight and I stared at the doorway of my chambers.
Beyond the doorway, instead of the pristine hallways of Canterlot Castle, was an eye-melting nothingness and chaos.
The same thing could be seen through the windows and other doorways.
“Twilight. What is this?”
“...Ummm… the timeless void beyond reality? Maybe?” She chuckled nervously, once more back in one metaphysical piece.
“Did you just dislodge my chambers from time and space?”
“Hey, don’t put this on me, princess ‘I can bench-press stone towers with my wings’.”
I gave her a long, searching look.
“...That’s not what bench-press means, is it?”
I ignored that. “What have we learned about time magic?”
“Yeah, yeah, not a toy, I know...”
“How long will it take to fix this?”
“...I don’t know? If I was in my lab with my notes I could probably fix it in a couple of hours, but it could take a couple of days from here…” She stared again into the abyss. “...Maybe longer.”
I sighed. There would be panic across the whole country, Luna would be insufferable...
“But hey! Remember, this is timeless space. If we do it right, we can get back right where we started!”
I halted, looking up. “...Wait, so, no matter how much time we spend here…”
“Well, yes, theoretically… I mean, I should be able to...”
I grinned, settling into position and tensing“Good. We can start working on that tomorrow.”
“What? But there’s no such thing as tomorrow here, there’s no time…”
“Twilight.” I closed the chamber door with magic a little harder than necessary, blocking off the sight of the swirling nothingness.
She whipped her head toward me in surprise. I imagine she likely had enough time to notice wild eyes, spread wings, a slightly predatory grin and pose, and how fast I was coming at her before she was bowled off her hooves.
“Oh! Tomorrow...” She managed to gasp out before I caught her lips in mine.
And that was the last coherent thing out of either of us until tomorrow.
"I wish he'd come home soon," asks a pegasus mare, the first petitioner at my Stellar Court tonight. I smile, and grant her wish, without ever laying eyes on her.
There are four princesses in Equestria, and as such there are four courts - Solar, Lunar, Crystal and Stellar - but they are four very different things, managed by four very different princesses.
The Solar court dealt with affairs secular - government, money, power, and so on, and was based in Canterlot. The Crystal court, as might surprise nopony, was one for matters of the heart, and primarily dealt in marriage and negotiation, and was firmly based in the Crystal Empire - though Cadance occasionally had a habit of appearing where she was needed, without warning or explanation.
It seems to be a thing about pink mares. Two data points is a trend, right?
The Lunar court, on the other hand, had no physical basis at all, and dealt in dreams and mysticism, secrecy and knowledge.
But my court is everywhere, throughout the night.
All you had to do was wish upon a star.
Magic. Friendship. Stars. Wishes. Fate. It all tied together, and though I might not be able to provide the direct rule of Celestia, the knowledge of Luna, or the empathy of Cadance, I could guide the stars themselves, the fates of ponies, and nudge...
Fate, destiny, kismet, call it what you will, but it held a lot of power over the lives of ponies. Before or after my ascension, there would have been few who understood that more than me.
The stars shimmer, and circumstances change... a path becomes easier, a yearning for home becomes stronger... and two long-separated ponies become fated to soon come together again.
I smile. Cadance would be pleased.
"I wish I can do well on my test tomorrow!" hopes a young unicorn stallion.
I laugh at that. On the one hand, it's kind of cheating... but I could appreciate a pony doing everything he could to do his best on the test.
As I gave him a boost to his focus, removing distractions and providing clarity, I realise I recognise the pony. Not personally, but... well, the funny thing about fate is that time is kind of an... optional thing. The stars exist beyond the time and space we know and understand, and provide their fate widely.
And though I received the wish tonight, and granted it tonight, the test in question was years ago. I remember seeing the touch of altered fate on him then, not knowing why - well, he seemed fairly happy then, so hopefully he'll take advantage of this opportunity...
"I wish I could get my cutie mark," wishes a young earth pony colt, staring out his window.
I chuckle - that was a common one. I remember, long ago, a young filly begging me for just that same thing, but at the time, there was nothing I could do…
Once, Celestia had told me, they were called 'kismet marks', the marks of fate; not even she or her sister knew when or who that got corrupted into the modern wording...
I could do it, now. I embody the twinkling points of fate, and I could force them to grant a cutie mark for that colt. I could probably even choose it myself, and he'd never truly know it had happened...
But of course, I would never twist fate like that. It's best to keep a light touch, because every fate touches every other fate around them. I didn't railroad ponies into their destinies - I had no intention of living a pony's life for them - but I could create opportunities, guidance...
And even though I didn't know that colt myself, nor what he sought to do, the stars knew him, and given instruction, gave him the opportunity... I wouldn't be surprised if, should chance lead me to see him in the weeks to come, he would be proudly displaying the new image on his flank...
"I wish my mother would get better," cries an earth pony mare to the heavens, from her rooftop.
My smile vanishes. Not all the wishes are happy, for fate had its limits, and this wish is beyond them.
The connections in the stars tell me that the mother has little time remaining. Perhaps I could extend that by a day or two with a bit of power, but at this time...
The heavens shift - with nothing more than a twinkle seen below - and bring a measure of peace to the crying mare, and to her mother. I link together her friends and other family, guiding them to stay close, to offer support in her time of need. It is the best I can do, and hopefully it will help them through their time of loss. I’ve never met the mare, or her mother, but I still have to hold back a tear or two.
I sigh, looking something more encouraging after that...
"I wish I had someone to love me," gripes a miserable young mare from a balcony.
Ahh, that was the sort of thing I was after.
I throw forth the nets of fate, letting the stars decide, setting in motion events that would lead a likely partner to this young mare. An easy piece of work, though the rest woul--
Whoa!
No, wait, what?
What is... ahhhhh!
Power! Power streaming out, as the heavens shake! I think I'm screaming, my horn is burning, the rest of my body numb as the careless change I set in motion cascades. I don't think I've ever handled power like this in a single spell before, not even when I had all the powers of the other three together, and it's only getting stronger!
The little part of my mind sitting aside and watching the torrents of power seems somehow detached, shunted out of my body to watch as if it's happening to somepony else. I can't even remember the last time I even felt the slightest bit drained from the use of magic, but right now I can feel my reserves growing emptier. The change is chewing through my magic like Pinkie through a five-layer cake, and I can't stop it, and if it doesn't stop soon I'm going to have nothing left and nobody will ever...
...And then it finally stops without warning, shoving my mind back in control of my body and leaving me to collapse in a heap on the ground, barely dregs left of my power, panting and unable to move.
What in Tartarus was that?
It was just a wish to find someone to love! What on earth would make that use enough power to tear the stars from the sky?
When I can focus again, I try to extend my mind back into the heavens, and soon enough find that that is apparently exactly what I have done. Instead of the subtle movements that guide fate, my magic has torn stars from their places, setting them free-wheeling on a new path. One, two, three… no, four stars... why does that sound familiar?
Who made that wish?
I follow it back to its source, seeking more knowledge of the wisher, and see a young, purple unicorn mare - barely into adolescence - slumped miserably on Canterlot castle's balcony... her dark mane blending into the night except for a pink streak o--
...No.
I...
Oh Celestia, I remember... I'd been excited to hang out with Shiny, but he'd been dragged off by Cadance... and Celestia was busy, and so were my teachers... and I didn't have any other friends yet...
It had just been a little lonely fit of teenage angst, years before I had even first gone to Ponyville. Forgotten the next day, when I'd gone to visit my parents, but I just had that one little moment of feeling lost, alone and unloved...
And I'd wished, without thinking...
But, why would that tear free four stars from the sky, to...
And then suddenly the door to my chambers crashes open, tearing me away from the stars and the past to the present, and the presence of a mighty Alicorn warrior.
Luna blazes with power, the sparks of her etheral mane hissing and flicking, clad in armour of darkness and wielding a blade of moonlight and energy, an avenging valkyrie staring around the room.
"Twilight Sparkle! What has happened here? We felt your surge from Canterlot and feared you under attack! Are you hurt?"
And I stare at the dark mare before me, who had rushed to my defence, from Canterlot to Ponyville in minutes, ready to smite...
The fates... the stars didn't demand, or force... they just provided opportunities. And the best opportunity for love for me had brought about...
The stars shall aid in her escape.
Unable to help myself, I burst out laughing. Still weak from the incredible working I had wrought, I lose my balance entirely and collapse to one side, laughing joyously, as a bemused Luna looks on.
"Are you well, Twilight? What has happened here?" Her armour and weapon begin to fade away as she sees no immediate danger, and trots over to me to help me up.
As I finally regain control of myself I let her guide me to my hooves, looking over the mare before me in a new light as she checks me for hurt. She’s rather beautiful - of course she is, she’s one of the Princesses - but I’ve never before found my eyes lingering across her star-speckled form as they do now. Of course, I probably look a mess - using that sort of power is never easy on the mane.
It had been a wish in the heat of the moment, given with all the conviction of a spurned teenager but forgotten soon after, given no more thought in all the years since. I'd not given any consideration to such matters since I ascended, let alone with Luna, but...
Opportunity is opportunity, and who am I to argue with the kismet I give myself?
"I think..." I smile knowingly as I meet the eyes of the confused and worried Princess of the Night. "I think it might possibly have been the start of something beautiful."
"Well, I have to say, you'd probably have to be the most inept changeling I think I've ever encountered."
"Ahaha, very funny, sweetie, now please..."
"Do I look like I find anything about this funny?"
The Princess of love circled the stallion in her bedroom, and indeed, there was not even a hint of a smile on her face. To all appearances, he was Shining Armour, prince of the Crystal Empire - although what he wore currently was less 'Armour' and more 'hobbles, hoofcuffs and a horn ring', as well as somewhat panicked expression.
"You're right, this really isn't funny, so please take this off..." He tried to paw at the magic-blocking ring on his horn, but with his hooves bound together, he left himself completely unbalanced, falling flat on his muzzle a few moments later.
He started trying to stagger back up, but a pink hoof slammed into his back seconds later, driving him back to the ground.
"The 'I came home a day early' ruse? Honestly, every couple in Equestria knows that one by now." Cadence hissed, a rather unusual sound for anyone who knew the princess. "And you have all the discipline of a little filly on her first heat. You're years off trying to impersonate someone like my husband."
"W-what?"
"I mean every bit of offence when I say this - even if I wasn't just lowering your guard, I wouldn't even call that kiss cheating, you're so inexperienced." She made a show of wiping out her mouth, spitting to one side. "I suppose that's why changelings have to hypnotise their prey, hmmm?"
"I-I'm not a changeling!" The stallion whined, his eyes now clearly wet with tears.
"Let me go!"
"Hmph. And even if my Shining lost every last bit of his marital skills, he wouldn't have lost his martial - really, you get that distracted I could sneak that gear onto you? You didn't even notice your hooves were bound until I had the horn ring on you! Shining would have had me pinned before I had them within five feet of him. I should know." She smiled, then, but it wasn't a nice one.
"I... I..."
"But if you were really Shining..." She leant down, lips right against his ear, whispering with a dark, and yet almost sensual confidence, sending a shiver down his spine, "You'd know the safe word. Pops those restraints right off."
He froze for a heartbeat, then blurted, "Windigo!"
"Oooh, you know the factory default, maybe you aren't that inexperienced," Cadance mocked.
"Banana!"
"You're thinking of Auntie Celestia."
"Crystal! Heart!"
"Oh, come on, a safe word has to be something you'd be unlikely to say in general conversation..."
"Sunshine! Ladybirds!"
Cadance paused, slightly taken aback by those guesses, but rallied quickly. "You won't guess it. But are you ready to give up, now?"
'Shining' slumped. "I... alright, I'm not Shi... Shining Armour. But I'm not a changeling!"
"Oh? Well then, I guess you won't mind if I do this then..."
Cadance charged up her horn, focusing on the spell. It was a reasonably complicated piece of spellcraft, but she had learnt it well - experience was a harsh motivator - and it took her only seconds to bring it together. The invader flinched backwards as her pale blue aura lashed out, shredding apart all changeling magic, revealing...
...Shining Armour, still tied up on her floor.
"Huh." Cadance tilted her head, frowning.
"L-look, I'm sorry, this w-wasn't what I meant to have happen..."
"Yes, I imagine you didn't intend to get caught."
He winced again. "Please, just... just let me go, I'll leave... pretend this never happened..."
"Really? Because if you're not a changeling looking for food - because it's blatantly obvious you wouldn't have had a chance at kidnapping me - you're something else who thought it would be a lark to just come in and have a fling with the Princess."
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry, I didn't think--"
"Because I am a married mare. And I love Shining very much. As the princess of love. Do you have any conception of what that means?"
"I do, I do, and I'm sorry, I was stupid, please just let me go!" The stallion was completely in tears now, babbling on her floor. For a moment, the sight of her husband so weak and miserable tugged at her heart - but hardened it again, moments later, as she realised she was being manipulated by this impostor.
"Your magic isn't changeling, but I do know some other tricks too. Let's see, how did this go?"
She closed her eyes again, bringing forth the next spell. This one was far more complex than the previous, and far more powerful, as her horn grew brighter and brighter, multiple coronas lighting up as the spell came together.
Her prisoner thrashed suddenly, words spilling forth as he tried to escape. "No! No no no, please don't, please, don't do that, I'll leave, I'll go, you don't want to do that, it'll ruin everything, just let me go and I promise you'll never have to see me again! please just don't--"
"Disjunction."
Magic broke.
At the edge of the spell's effect, the lights in the room dimmed. The crystals in the walls grew dull and lifeless. For a heartbeat, Cadance felt her body lurch, as the natural magical flow simply stopped for an instant - extremely unpleasant, but not harmful. But the true target of the spell beneath her screamed, snapping back from its current form to another in an instant...
Then, a split second later, with a flash of purple light, it vanished - the magical restraints having been similarly disrupted by the spell, and falling to the ground in a pile as their occupant disappeared.
Cadance sat down heavily, trying to catch her breath from the strain of the incredibly advanced spell, and make sense of what she had just seen for that tiny moment.
A familiar figure. Purple. A streak of pink. Wings. Horn.
Capable of transformation equal to or better than a changeling.
"And you have all the discipline of a filly on her first heat."
Capable of infiltrating the castle and acting just like him, right up until the bedroom...
"Sunshine! Ladybirds"
Capable of recognising a disjunction spell.
"Do you have any conception of what that means?"
Capable of teleporting within a second of being struck.
"...please, don't do that, I'll leave, I'll go, you don't want to do that, it'll ruin everything..."
And a scream, not of physical pain, but of loss, despair, heartbreak...
"Oh, Twilight... why would you... what have I done?"
Cadance collapsed to the floor, covering her muzzle with her hooves, and wept.
Pink-purple magic lit the room, filling it with an eerie but warm glow as it coalesced into the centre. At first it seemed there was simply gathering, without actually acting on anything; but as it grew stronger, the very air itself seemed to buckle and twist…
Twilight gave a cry of effort as she completed the spell, tearing the very fabric of reality asunder. Suddenly, where once there stood a mostly empty room, there was now a tear, through which a familiar pink pony could be seen.
Cadance lay in a heap in the middle of the floor, gazing up in confusion and horror at the rip in the air... but that immediately stopped as soon as she saw the spellcasting princess. Giving a desperate cry of delight, she surged through the portal in a blur of bedraggled feathers, and pounced onto Twilight, disrupting the spell and leaving the portal to collapse behind her as the two princesses tumbled across the room.
Cadance regained her bearings first and wasted no time, capturing Twilight’s lips with her own in a downright hungry display of passion, pinning down the slightly smaller princess and twisting their muzzles together. All six limbs wrapped tightly around Twilight, and she would have had to struggle hard to escape.
Not that she seemed to be trying particularly hard. Indeed, between recovering from the portal spell and Cadance’s ministrations, Twilight could do little more than melt in the grip of the Alicorn of love, basking in her passion and attention, pressed tightly together along barrel, limb and lips.
I sighed and cleared my throat loudly.
...And again.
...On the third time, it seems Twilight heard me, and struggled enough to actually get Cadance’s attention as well. It was a little longer still before she seemed willing to actually relinquish her prize, but eventually Twilight managed to direct her attention my way, and finally she composed herself and got off, letting them both stand up.
“Oh… hi, Shining.” Cadance grinned, rubbing the back of her head. “Sorry, it’s just been… wait…”
She stared at me a long moment, before spinning around to Twilight, giving her a closer inspection as well. Twilight, on the other hand, was still trying to catch her breath, while also trying to avoid my gaze, which might have been just a touch harsher than I intended it to be.
“You’re not Shining Armour! And you’re not Twilight!” She hissed, backing off a bit from us both. Her horn lit up, but it was obviously flickering - her incarceration had not left her in the peak of strength.
“N-no.” Twilight responded shakily. “We’re… just different. Hang on. Sorry. I’ll get you home properly.”
Before Cadance could protest any further, Twilight cast another spell. This one was a lot easier, though no less impressive - the magic twisting open the doorway again, lighting up Cadance and the area before showing another scene, with…
Another Twilight and Shining Armour, looking just as ragged as we were, staring in surprise as we looked over to them. There were subtle differences in the way they held themselves - as well as their colours, which were a little lighter across the board than ours. That matched the Cadance before us, too.
She cried out again, staggering through to the wide smiles of the two others. Other-Twilight embraced Cadance, and Other-Shining gave a heartfelt smile and a salute, which I wearily returned.
And then the gateway closed, and it was just the two of us again, one of each. Twilight sank down, still not looking at me.
“...Sorry, BBBFF…”
I sighed, pushing down my frustration and gently putting a hoof over my sister’s withers. “It’s alright, Twily. I think maybe we should take a little break.”
“W-what? But I can’t, not while…”
“You won’t be able to help her in that condition. Come on. Let’s get you some food.”
~-~-~-~
Twilight continued to be very quiet while we ate, only in the next room over. She had her serious thinking face on, that much was obvious, and normally I wouldn’t have interrupted her, but if ever there was a time…
“Twily?”
She winced, slowly turning towards me, but still not meeting my eyes. “Yeah, Shiny?”
“I know it’s not what you want to hear right now, but…” I paused, trying to find the way of saying this least likely to freak out my sister, and trying to keep my teeth from grinding. “...Well, that’s nine different times we’ve tried so far. You were pretty confident in this spell of yours, but… well, that was the third one who pounced you the moment the portal opened. And there were two more who were pretty clearly with their Twilight rather than with m… their Shining Armour.
“So assuming that we’re not the minority here and most of the multiverse is actually Twily and Cady rather than Shiny and Cady…”
“Doesn’t work that way.” She muttered, eyes down.
“I know it’s a good thing that we’re rescuing all these other versions of her as well, but I am really kind of worried about my Cadance. I know this whole multiverse thing is pretty new to all of us, but…” He sighed. “Twi, I know you’re not, and I’m trying really hard not to get upset about this, but I really do kind of need to hear you say it. Please tell me you’re not doing this on purpose.”
She winced again, opening her mouth… but didn’t actually say anything. I blinked, feeling my heart drop back through my stomach. “T-Twi…”
“I’m not doing it on purpose!” She blurted out, then sank back down. “Not… on-purpose-on-purpose, anyway.”
“...Okay, Twily, you’re going to have to explain that one to me.”
“W-well, the spell is sort of a two-part thing. The first part’s tracking, the second part’s actually opening the gate. That’s the easy bit, and that’s why getting them home after we get them here - they’re easy to link up with their home dimension. It’s like they’ve got the key already.
“But the tracking is… I have to really, really focus on Cadance. And I do want to find her! I’m getting the hang of it more and more.”
“But?”
“Ummm… okay, so, I’m not a hundred percent sure here, but, I think… well, the third one we tried, that was the first one that... pounced me. Um. I really wasn’t expecting it. And she kissed me.”
“Yes. I know. I was there. I wasn’t expecting it either.”
Twilight blushed. “Yeah. Well. Um. Cadance is kind of… a really good kisser.”
“Yes. I know that too.”
“She’s... a really, really good kisser. I mean… I don’t exactly have a lot of data points to compare to… or any, really…”
I blinked. “Twi, was that your first…”
“So, yeah, my head was still ringing and then she was on top of me and kissing and… um… wow. Yeah.” She licked her lips slightly, glancing at me, but then her eyes went down again. I might have been glaring a little.
“And.. umm… well, yeah, I’ve been… I’ve been trying to think of Cadance! Our Cadance. Your Cadance. Really. But, um, every time I think of her… um…”
I sighed heavily, lowering my head to the table. Twilight shrank further back.
“...She’s a really good kisser.” She mumbled, as if trying to use that as a shield. It didn’t exactly improve my mood.
“So what are we supposed to do then?” I cried out, storming to my feet. “Can I do the seeking part for you?”
She shook her head miserably. “No, that’d bring in a whole heap of new issues. It’d take me weeks to rewrite the spell. And there’s no way you could cast it. I don’t even think Celestia could… this is a special talent thing…”
“So what, then? We keep going until we run out of Twilight-obsessed Cadances to rescue?” I might have been yelling by that point.
“I… um…”
“Yes?”
“There’s… one thing that might work.”
“What? Anything!”
“Umm… well, if I was… thinking that maybe when our Cadance got back, maybe I could… have something to, um… look forward to… maybe kiss her when she…”
“WHAT?” I was suddenly towering over Twilight, snarling, as she cut off with a squeak. “You… I… you think you can… after… ARGH!” I didn’t even know how to start dealing with that. Twilight cowered again, hiding her face.
I sighed, storming away back into the portal room, leaving Twily curled up in a ball with her food.
What does she think she’s doing? Asking me to… to let her kiss Cadance? Oh, and that’s probably not all either. She probably would have asked for more, if she even knew how to get the words out. She’s holding my wife hostage. This is blackmail. If I don’t let her… with my wife, then I might never see her again? How dare she?
I glared back at the last room. I thought I knew Twilight better than that. I thought she was better than that! I can’t believe my little sister would suggest something like that! It doesn’t make any sense! She’d never…
…
She was crying.
I could hear her sobbing from here. Softly, trying to keep me from noticing, but there are some things that come from being a big brother with a talent in protection.
It cut through my rage harder than Twily had been tearing apart space-time.
She…
She really would never do something like that, would she.
I stared back at the other room. That… that wasn’t Twily trying to get it on with my wife. That was Twily, exhausted, confused and guilty, desperately trying to find a way to rescue her foalsitter. That was Twily having tried fighting herself and her feelings to bring me back the mare I loved, and only making the issue worse. That was little studious Twily, taking apart a problem and trying to find the best way to solve it.
Maybe the only way to solve it.
...How the hell was I supposed to deal with this?
~-~-~-~
It was a little while before I managed to compose myself enough to head back into the room. Once I could see her, as well as just hear her, that drove away the last of my bitterness.
With long-practised magical touch, I wiped away the tears from her eyes, and then hugged her close against me. It wasn’t quite the same as it used to be - she was nearly bigger than me now! - but it still brought back memories.
She jumped in surprise, then looked at me in confusion, but it wasn’t long before she collapsed against me and we lay there together for a little while, brother and sister, comforting each other in a time of stress. Whatever else happened, we’d always have that.
Finally, I broke the silence.
“...I… I’ll ask Cady about it. Okay?”
“W-what?”
“It’s her choice in the end, I can’t make her do anything. I’m… I’m not going to pretend I’m happy about it, Twily. But… if you can get her back for me…”
“You… are you sure?” She wavered. “I mean… you don’t have to… I can…”
“If you can get her back, I’ll… ask her. I guess… it’s the least we can do. Don’t think this is going to be a regular thing, though!”
She shook her head frantically. “I’m not trying to take her away from you!”
“I know, Twily. I know.” It still hurt, but I knew she wasn’t doing it on purpose. “But I’ll ask her. I promise.”
“Okay.” She grinned, wiping fresh tears from her eyes. “I’ll get her back. I promise.” She stood up, a little shaky but determined, trotting towards the portal room.
“I’ve got a good feeling about this time. Come on, let’s get Cadance back!”
I sighed. The things I do for the wonderful mares in my life...
