> Farewell to old Friends > by Ponymanxx7 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Meeting of Princesses > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- My Little Pony... My Little- "CUUUUUUT! Cancel production! Halt the papers! Somepony get me Oprah!" Pinkie Pie started shouting, halting every Pony's preformance and filming, also earning a lot of complaints and moans. The suddeness of the pause ended up startling the two pegasi who "Great, you see what you did? Now it's gonna take her a half hour to calm down!" Rainbow Dash complained. "Look, why don't you come with me to the lounge and we'll take f'ahve?" Applejack suggested as the two of them began walking off the set. Applejack quickly looked back towards the set before they left. "Hey Star' fella! Ya'll wanna come too? Ah'll make ya some apple pie." Applejack suggested, which Starlight smiled excitedly to. "Oh boy!" He yelped, quickly trotting as fast as his tiny legs could carry him over to Applejack and Fluttershy before they left. "Wait! I want some too!" Pinkie Pie yelled, running in place excitedly before being ready to burst off the set. Twilight rolled her eyes at this before using her magic to hold Pinkie Pie's tail in place. "Pinkie..." Twilight mumbled. Pinkie Pie blinked in confusion for a few seconds before snapping out of it. "Oh yeah, the big emergency!" Pinkie stated, digging through her saddle bag before pulling out an envelope with a heart-shaped pink sticker as the seal. The director raised an eyebrow at this as he took it from her, carefully pulling off the envelope with his teeth before gently pulling out the actual letter, looking at it closely. "What is it?" Twilight asked curiously. The director's eyes shifted side to side as it skimmed down the paper for a few seconds before looking back to Pinkie Pie again. "You want us to do a birthday fanfic? That's why you stopped production in the middle of a show?" "No, I stopped it in the beginning of the show. You were only doing the intro when I saw it..." Pinkie Pie commented as she rubbed her chin. "Grrrrrr..." The director grumbled. Twilight did her best to give a postive smile back to the director, knowing how close this was putting Pinkie Pie to being fired. "Ehh...Look, sir? I know we usually make random episodes and whatnot about teachings of friendship and such, but why don't we take just one break from a specific episode and have some sort of "special" episode? Or at least a surprise one for...umm...whoever's birthday it is?" Twilight suggested before looking back to Pinkie Pie. "Who's birthday was it anyway?" Pinkie Pie took the moment to look back at the letter in her hand, somehow magically getting it without the director noticing. "It's from a Ponytube account. Somepony named...Abluestitch in time...?" She replied. Twilight simply shrugged before looking back to the director. "Either way, c'mon! I mean I'm sure the pony would be greatful. And who knows? Maybe having something offset from the actual series will attract more fans to it." "We have fans on this fanfic?" Rainbow Dash whispered to Pinkie who shrugged. The director sighed briefly as he scratched the back of his head. While he didn't neccesarily have anything against the children who were fans of this show, business was still business to him, and he wanted to make sure the show continued to air. On the other hoof, he would have to admit Twilight brought up a great theory for getting more fans, and he wasn't against trying something new. With a sigh he smiled back to the present mane cast as he made his decision. "Fine, let's give it a shot." He replied, earning cheers from a majority of the crew, as well as the cast themselves. "Let's start from the top ponies, we need to do something special for this one!" He stated. "Awesooooooome! I'll get the pony-eating Sea Serpent!" Pinkie Pie announced, quickly disappearing in a cloud of dust before anypony could stop her. "Hmmm, I wonder what type of episode we should make this?" Spike questioned as he rubbed his chin. Twilight smiled back to him as she replied. "Well whatever it is, I bet it'll be awesome. So let's-...Wait, has anypony seen Rarity?" Twilight asked as everypony began looking around. She turned her attention back to Rainbow Dash as she felt tapping on her shoulder. "Uhhh...Twilight?" Rainbow gestured over to the set again. "Owwwwww, dear Celestia my back!" Rarity moaned in extreme pain, the upper half of her body sticking out from under the Hot Air Balloon's basket. "I...I can't feel my back!" She cried in pain, trying to rub her back soothingly, only to be met with another ounce of pain. The entire set of ponies were filled with disbelief and worry, mostly knowing that a twenty pound basket falling on anypony from thirty feet in the air would've caused fatal injury to just about anypony. Rarity's state at the moment was considered a blessing to most. "Oh jeeze...somepony call an ambulence!" The director yelled while a few of the staff crew rushed over to help Rarity from under the basket. As if on que, Pinkie Pie suddenly appeared out of nowhere in front of the director, gasping at the sight. "Ohmigosh! What happened?" She panicked, worried for her friends. While it was just a show filled with actors, the mane cast became close friends after the first few weeks of shooting. The director grumbled again as he glared back to her. "What do ya mean? The Hot Air Balloon Basket Twilight and Spike were in dropped on her because you interrupted the show!" The director snapped at the completely oblivious Pinkie Pie. "They were riding a Hot Air Balloon in the intros?" She questioned, to which Rainbow Dash face-hoofed to when she wasn't looking. "Now we'll never get to film the rest of the episode. Everypony of the mane cast was supposed to be present!" He complained. "Can't you just start a new episode from scratch? I mean we don't always appear in every episode for numerous reasons." Twilight suggested. "Yeah!" Pinkie added with a nod. "Like the one episode Rainbow Dash couldn't be in because she had doctor's appointment for her- "PINKIE!" Rianbow Dash yelped, suddenly tackling her to the ground as she tried to keep her quiet. "I'm afraid there's just no way!" The director replied with a frown. "The budget for the episode was already given, majority of it was spent, and if we were to just start a new episode out of the blue we would go bankrupt!...And Rainbow Dash! Quit strangling her, she's turning bluer than you!" The director commanded, even though Rainbow Dash was still ignoring him while putting Pinkie Pie in a tightening headlock. "Ac...neee..." Pinkie Pie mumbled, talking despite all suffocation. "I said shush!" Rainbow Dash yelled again with a slight blush. Twilight watched the little "Wrestling Match" Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie were in at the moment for a brief moment before turning her attention back to the director. "Well...if we can't do our usual long-chaptered episodes...why don't we try a new spin-off of the series that's shorter? It'll save time and money?" Twilight suggested again. "Like what?" Twilight whispered into the director's ears as she explained her little plan. The director's expression slowly changed from a worried wart to an intrigued professor by the time he looked back to her. "That...actually sounds interesting!" The director agreed to, which made Twilight smile. Both Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie looked at each other confused as they paused before turning their attention back to the director. "What sounds interesting?" They both asked... *Tweet* *Chirp* *Chirp* The scenery began to open up as sunlight filtered through the decorated flower-filled window of a small room. As the light became brighter within the room, the scenery revealed what appeared to be a rather luxorious bedroom, perfectly made for any little girl. The bed itself appeared to be a rather large, puffy bed which anypony would've loved to sleep in. It practically appeared to be made of the softest cloth ever, and the comfiest cushioning for any situation. The covers of the large bed were tossed about on different sides of the bed slightly, while a single pink blanket remained in the middle. Upon further inspection, it became evident that there was a small figure within the blanket itself, but as to who the small figure was remained the mystery. In addition to the beautifully designed bedding, many other noticable yet childish decor surrounded the room, everything from cheerie blue sky wallpaper with a pink tint to it, numerous stuffed cuddly animals sprawled about on the oversized bed, and even a few personal-use items like a wardrobe and a small mirror next to a tabletop dresser built into it. And, as a grand centerpiece of this large room, there was a gigantic round rug within the center of the room, dispalying a pure red-colored drawing of the sun .The room was suddenly filled with the sound of the door creaking open slowly as a verily large alicorn walked into the room. To describe such a beautiful pony would be hard to put into words. Her flawless mane and tails glimmered with the stars themselves further along the space-colored mane, hooves, and wings. While closer to her body and down towards the bottom of her mane itself, her colors changed greatly to the heart of a constellation itself, beaming as if sunlight itself. Her Cutie Mark itself was rather intricate with the rest of her colors, spiraling like a universe itself. And her eyes were filled with pink-colored joy and happiness, capable of filling anypony who looked into them with just that. What's more, given by the sight of a pink-encrusted gem in her tiara and necklace, there was no doubt that this was the currect ruler of Equestria- "Due to the amount of uncreativeness and uncertanity in our director's intelligence in descriptions, refer to the link in this fanfic ponymanxx7. /favourites/?offset=24#/d3khi4j. But also be sure to type in deviantart after ponymanxx7. exactly." Pinke Pie suddenly announced, appearing in front of the screen while the background froze. "Pinkie! Get out of the special, we're still running on our budget here!" The director shouted, throwing his megaphone at her head. Luckily, she ducked down just in time before running out of view. "Sorry!" The large alicorn gingerly walked her way over to the large bed in the center of the room as she used her magic to open the blinds from the windows slowly. "Sweetie...Wake up Sweetie." The Queen said softly, nudging the small figure within the blanket. She waited for a few seconds before tilting her head curiously. "Rise and shine sweetie." She repeated, still with no response. the Queen simply smiled as she pulled the blanket gently. "C'mon now sweetie, it's time to get u-!" The Queen began, suddenly pausing with surprise at the sight of a fluffed pillow in place of the small filly she was expecting. "Sweetie? Where are you?" She asked aloud, with only a slight hint of worry. Her tenseness quickly washed away though as she heard a squeaky giggling sound coming from behind her; more specifically, hidden somewhere in the large pile of stuffed animals on the floor. The Queen sighed silently to herself before growing a small smirk, deciding to play along. "Oh, dear! It appears my sweet little angel as turned into this fluffy pink pillow!" The Queen moaned in sadness, purposely acting more dramatic than she should have been. As expected, the small fits of giggles grew a bit louder despite trying to keep them quiet. "Ohhh, if ONLY I could've saved my dear sweetie from turning into this poor, sad, pillow! Ohhh sob, sob..." The Queen added, rubbing her eyes with her left hoof as she pretended to cry. The giggles soon became twice as loud as they began to fill the entire room. After a few more seconds of "sobbing" the Queen continued as she sighed. "Well, I guess I should just take this pillow out for icecream instead." She commented, suddenly catching the source of the mysterious giggles' attention. "At least like this, she can't complain or anything. Oooh, if only she didn't turn into a pillow, she would've enjoyed a nice, dairy treat." The Queen finally said as she headed towards the door. "W-Wait!" A tiny voice squeaked out. The Queen simply giggled a bit as she turned back to the bundle of stuffed toys which began shaking about. At first, she expected a certain small filly to come bursting out of the bundle of stuffed animals. But after another couple seconds, she found it harder to keep herself from giggling again- the small expected filly couldn't pull herself out of the bundle of toys. With another humorous sigh, the Queen used her magic, giving off an orange aura around her horn, as she began leviating the stuffed animals off one by one. In a matter of seconds, she came upon the last two where the expected filly was apparently stuck between. The Queen let out another giggle as the small filly worked on pulling herself out from under the stuffed animals. "So, my little girl was trying to play sandwhich it seems?" The Queen asked, the question implied by being stuck between the two large stuffed animals. The small filly giggled again as she finally pulled herself out from under the pink elephant, messing her purplish-pink mane up in the process. Much like her mother, she was an alicorn too, but while her mother had more of a..."celestial" outlook, the small blue-eyed filly maintained a pure white creamy coat. "Nah, I was pwayin' Hide and seek." The small four-and-a-half year old filly lisped. The Queen put her hoof to her mouth as she giggled lightly, levitating the small filly onto her back before nuzzling with her head. "Oh Celestia, what am I ever going to do with you?" The Queen asked as she walked over to the dresser with the mirror. Celestia hummed to herself as she tapped her chin, thinking. "Mhhhh...that icecream idea sounded good!" Celestia said excitedly, slurping her lips. The Queen let out another chuckle as she levitated down the small filly down on the round pink chair in front of the dresser's mirror. "Hmhmhm, we'll see sweetie, we'll see." The Queen replied as she levitated a yellow brush from the dware. "Ooh, wait! I wanna do it!" Celestia announced, quickly raising her hoof up. Her mother gave her an unsure look at this. "Are you sure, honey?" She asked, levitating the brush back down onto the dresser. "Yes yes yes! I can do it this time!" Celestia assured with a nod. The Queen watched closely as Celestia began humming to herself as she began focusing her magic into the brush next to her. The magic it was taking was incredibly hard for the young filly, but at this day and age, it was rare for a young filly such as herself to be even able to use magic, alicorn or not. As she continued to concentrate, the small brush next to her began to give off a shining white glow as it levitated. Unsurprisingly to her mother, the brush wobbled slightly as the small alicorn struggled to simply keep it balanced as she slowly levitated it to her mane. Her mother would admit she was a bit surprised at this point, being the farthest Celestia has ever gone so far. The small alicorn began to sweat a bit as she finally managed to get the brush up to the top of her mane. "Ok, very good so far Celestia. Now just bring it down nice and easy..." Her mother instructed, tapping her chin with anticipation. Celestia moaned a bit as she focused harder to concentrate. "Easy...easy..." Celestia mumbled to herself, carefully and slowly brushing from the top to the bottom of her mane. *Twissss* "Ow!" Celestia suddenly yelped in pain. The brush she had been carefully using suddenly twirled about half way down her mane, causing knots to form all around the right side of her mane, and continued pulling. "Ow, owie! Stop iiiit..." Celestia whined, tearing up slightly. Her mother simply sighed as she softly patted her daughter's head. "It's alright honey, just relax." Her mother instructed calmly, quickly taking control of the brush as she used her magic to undo the knots. With a couple of twirls and pulls, her mother managed to quickly fix the knot-filled tangles Celestia got herself into before, taking over the work of brushing her mane after. Celestia just sighed with a slight moan to herself, which caught her mother's attention. "Something wrong sweetie?" She asked curiously. "Why can't I controll it better?" Celestia whined. "Sweetie, you're just a little filly. It takes time to learn these things." "But everypony else in my class can cast at least some spell!" "Yes, and how old are those other ponies?" Her mother asked with a grin. "...Five?" "Try six." "Awww, but that just means I have to wait longer!" She complained. Her mother rolled her eyes playfully at this as she finally finished combing her daughter's mane. With her mane smooth and combed, her mouth levitated her onto her back again as she made her way back to the door, which was opened by two pegesus guards who bowed as they passed. "Sweetie, what's bothering you? My little Celestia isn't normally this grumpy in the morning." She commented, nuzzling her nose against Celestia's forehead while she walked. Celestia let out a small sigh as she thought for a moment. "I just...I don't like anypony in my class." She stated bluntly, much to her mother's surprise. "What? Why not sweetie? They're not picking on you, are they?" She asked a tincy bit worried. "No, they're not. They're...nice." She replied. "So? Then everything is fine, right?" "No, that's the probwem!" She lisped again. "The problem is they're...nice?" Her mother asked as she opened another door to the large dining hall. "No! They're being "nice" nice." She whined. Her mother simply blinked at her in confusion for a few seconds as she took a seat in a royal, and rather fancy red leather with golden decoration, dining chair, and obviously in front of the large white table cloth covering the sixty-foot long rectangular table. Clearing her thoughts for the moment, se gently levitated Celestia from her back as she sat her down next to a pink leather chair next to her. While it wasn't as "spectacular" as the one her mother had, it was just right for her size. "Ok...now I know I'm not that old, but did the term "nice" change in the last couple centuries?" Her mother joked. "No, I mean they're just being nice because...well...you know." Celestia mumbled. "Because you have pink hair?" She teased. "Mommyyyy!" Celestia moaned again. "You know what I mean!" She whined, despite the Queen's giggling. "Oh come now hun'. Even though you're a Princess, I'm sure that's not the only reason the others would wish to befriend you." She commented, looking towards the double kitchen doors as they opened. Walking on through were three chestnut-colored stallions, all of which were dressed with a white apron with a single red line through the middle, as well as a common Chef's hat on their heads. The trio were all carrying single trays' of foods on their backs as they walked on over to the Queen and Princess on the far end of the table (they should consider switching where the majestys' sit so they don't have to walk that far...). Bowing presentfully in front of the duo, the Queen bowing in return, the three pulled off the top metal domes of the trays as they set the foods in front of them. On the two trays in front of the Queen herself appeared to be a full stack of five fresh steamy pancakes on the left, and a simple glass of orange juice and small bowl of fruit salad on the right. As for Celestia, her dish, like any kids these days would have, consisted of a smaller stack of simply two, but of waffles instead with a glass of orange juice. The last of the three chefs' happily set down rolled up napkins with silverware in them in a presentable fashion. Celestia slurped her lips enthusiasticly, but before she could chow down, the Queen used her magic as she tied the napkin around her neck as well as her own. With everything as it should be, the three Chef's tipped their hats off before bowing. "Viola!" The Chef in the middle said as his kissed his front hoof graciously. It should be noted that he was the only one of the three that had a small moustache below the tip of his snout, as well as a French accent. "Does this not satisfy thy majesty?" "Ah, it's wonder- oops!" The Queen giggled briefly as she covered her mouth with her left hoof. "Pardon me. Eh hem-" "Oh no..." Celestia moaned, covering her ears and lowering her head as her mother spread her wings out far. "AH, THIS IS WONDERFUL! YOU'VE OUTDONE YOURSELF YET AGAIN GENTLEMEN! THAT IS ALL FOR NOW!" The Queen shouted in a strangely calm and happy manner as she smiled at the three chef's. The strength of the incredible shouting was enough to blow back the three chefs' hats as well as their skin briefly. Even more strangely, the three bowed graciously again, not seeming phased by the intense shouting that nearly knocked them off their feet, before taking their leave. Celestia finally uncovered her head as she watched the three leave before turning her attention back to her mother. "Why do you have to keep shouting mommy?" She asked curiously. "It's traditional sweetie. Someday you'll speak like it too." She replied, using her magic casually as she cut up a slice of her pancakes to take a bite. Celestia shrugged the comment off for the moment as she began eating the pancakes plain and simple- digging into the pancakes with her mouth and causing the syrup to spread all around her face. It was times like this her mother was glad she tied a napkin around her neck just in case, and esspecially happy she didn't tell her it was supposed to be like a bib. While Celestia was still verily young and small for her age, if there was one thing she hated it was being treated as somepony little. In this way, her mother simply told her tying a napkin around your own neck was just a matter of manners. "But it's...kinda scary..." She muttered, rubbing her ear lightly as a minor ringing sound resonated from the shouting. "Speaking of tradition," her mother continued, "I bet one little filly forgot what today was..." The Queen suggested. Celestia tilted her head for a few seconds in confusion before letting out a mild surprised gasp. "Huh! I almost forgot Rosemary's Gawden Party!" Celestia said excitedly. "See? And you complained about your class just being "nice" nice." The Queen teased again. Celestia frowned slightly as she twirled the straw in her orange juice. "Doesn't mean she's any different..." "Celestia, please. She could be somepony who actually wants to be your friend just because you're you." The Queen commented again, wiping her chin with her napkin. "I know...it's just...It's hard to tell who wants to be my friend for me being...well...me." Celestia added with a slight frown as she looked down. The Queen frowned as well to this, but gave a small smile as she lifted Celestia's chin with her hoof. "Celestia, look at me for a minute." The Queen commanded. Celestia continued looking down for a few more seconds before doing as her mother commanded. The Queen gave a soft smile as she continued. "I'm going to tell you something that my Mother told me-" "Is this the thing about never taking off Gwanny's wig? Cause I swear I only did it once-" "No, not that. My mother always said there's a friend out there for everypony. You'll find one eventually." Her mother said confidently. Celestia stared at her for a few seconds before sighing again. Her mother gave her a calming smile as she licked her napkin slightly, then began to gently wipe off Celestia's somewhat syrup-y face. Making a quickly check that her daughter's face was lickity-clean, so to speak, she let out a simple "hmph" as she levitated her back onto her back. Almost instantly, a purple unicorn maiden appeared beside them, quickly gathering the dishes with her magic before setting off into the kitchen. "Now why don't we head out to the market? I know as part of a Garden Party, somepony is suppose to bring a flower..." The Queen announced as she made her way to the doors again. It was at no surprise by this point that two guard Pegasus, both different of course, opened the door again and bowed as they passed. "Do you think I'll find my real friend there too?" Celestia asked curiously. Her mother smiled again as she nuzzled against her head. "Now now sweetie, I'm sure your "real friend" is just around the corner..." Much as it did at the palace, the sun began to rise as light sweapt slowly across all of Canterlot. Living among the mountains, it took a bit longer than usual for the sun to shine upon the small town sometimes, while other times the glorious city was the first among the many lands to touch sunlight. With the morning coming, many of the townsfolk began to wake up for the day, just around the same time the Queen herself was waking up her daughter. Despite the setting of over thousands of years old, much of the city retained the same look as it did in the present. While the buildings may not have been as large as they were within the current timestream, save for the castle which was as glorious as the present's, it still retained it's clean and beautiful structures. Being in the time of old, Canterlot was currently the only full-city-structured place in all of Equestria. While some areas within Equestria had small towns and villages, none of them were as populated, or large, as Canterlot itself. And much like it will be thousands of years from now, the city was still filled with fancy-clothed ponies, who took a pony's appearance or family's history quite seriously. As such, ponies like these were heavily fond of the current King, Queen, and Princess of Equestria, while shunning or looking down upon anypony else of a lesser origin. The only times they even interacted with any such pony was either for Business purposes, or if said pony had any sort of fame for whatever reason. Otherwise, nopony was barely allowed to even venture into the glorious city. And yet, that didn't stop the mysterious, small cloaked figure who ventured towards the city gates. The figure itself was cloaked in a small grey cloak with a hood that covered a majority of it's face, save for part if it's black snout and mouth. The only other noticeable piece of this figure were the small black legs Yet the figure itself was no big possibly Celestia herself! In fact, upon closer inspection, the figure appeared to be even a few inches shorter than the young Princess, though, they would be having to stand side by side in order to tell. Which either indicated that one, it was an even younger pony that came Celestia herself, or two, it was just a really small pony. The earlier seeming more likely. For whatever reason said small pony was coming to Canterlot for, it should consider itself blessed at the moment, because there was a Caravan going through the front gates to deliver food to the city's markets. With this event happening, the small pony easily managed to sneak under the large cart as it was crossing through the gate. The pony was very lucky about this event due to the guards that always watched the front gate, and even more lucky that the guards didn't check the Caravan on a regular basis either. The last thing the small pony wanted was for anyone to get a good look at what they really were. Otherwise, there would be a number of problems, and not just from the guards either. As the Caravan continued to press on through the market, the small pony looked around the streets. As expected, the streets were already filled with numerous ponies who were either talking business or just about life in general. Even younger ponies around an older childs' age were dressed fancy, or at least presentable. The pony was so distracted by these citizens that they didn't even notice as the Caravan stopped a few seconds ago, running along passed it a few yards before they realized they were in plain view. It was a miracle to them that they weren't spotted by any pony yet, who took the oppertunity to run towards the closest alley as they hid. The small pony panted a bit heavily, not just from the running itself, but a large mix of previous exhaustion and hunger. Their stomach growled loudly, reminding them already of why they were here. Checking one last time to make sure the coast was clear, the small pony quickly made a dash towards the nearby garbage can, quickly hiding in cover as a seemingly wealthy couple passed by. Fortunately again, the couple hadn't noticed the small pony by the time she was in cover, much more to her relief. Scanning around again, her eyes caught sight of one of the variety of things she came looking for: bright and red shiney apples just sitting in a display basket. Unfortunately, the only thing standing between her and said delicious looking apples were the shopkeeper of the store, who was currently in the middle of talking to two customers in front of the basket on the other side. Both customers' had a grey-colored coating and fancy suit for their gender, while the stallion had a brown smooth mane, and the mare an orangish puffed up mane. As for the shopkeeper, she was an almost golden coated mare with a blonde flat mane. She looked just about the same size as the other mare, but both of whom were slightly shorter than the stallion. The small pony moaned to herself as she stealthly moved closer to it, trying to think of a plan to get one of the apples along the way. "Ah, Appledeen, how goes the business?" The Stallion of the two customer's greeted, tipping his black top hat. The shopkeep breathed light on one of the apples he was holding before wiping it smoothly, giving it a small shine. "W'ah hello there, McHasten!" The Shopkeeper replied, having a mild southern accent. "What can Ah do 'ya for today?" "The Mrs. and I would like your finest Apple Pie today." McHasten replied as he gestured his left hoof towards his wife. "We're going to one of our festivities this afternoon, but with all of our other festivities the previous days, we haven't had the time to make something ourselves for this one!" "We we're hoping you might have one of your famous Apple Pies on supply." The wife added. Appledeen rubbed her chin as she thought to herself. "Hmmm, well as luck would 'ave it, Ah'm afraid we're out at the moment, but Ah actually got one cooking in the oven r'aght now. It'll taste m'aghty purtty with it freshly baked." Appledeen replied. "Don't you have any available now?" McHasten's wife asked, raising her right brow. "Ah'm sorry Gingercream," Appledeen apologized with a sigh, "but livin' up 'ere on the mountain tops, it takes awhile to get some new crops to start growin' after the winter ends. And Ah always got to have a steady supply of apples left hoof-dy before Ah can start bakin'. Otherwise Ah'd be in the middle of a shortage, an' that won't be good for business." She explained. McHasten simply smiled again as he set his hat back on his head. "Well as long as ones cooking, there'll be no trouble at all." McHasten stated, much to Appledeen's relief. "Well golly, thanks for bein' the patient bunch 'round here. Most ponies these days have no sense of manners. B'ah the way, is that a new tux?" Appledeen asked curiously, which McHasten smiled to. "Why yes, I actually got this-" McHasten continued his conversation. Meanwhile, the small cloaked figure from earlier quickly sneaked under the wooden basket while the other three were occupied. Getting to the apples here were the easy part, the hard part now was trying to find a way to get one of the apples without the others noticing. Looking around, the only noticable thing on her surroundings were the basket legs keeping the basket up and the legs from the currently conversing ponies. Not seeing any other option in the matter, and with a tiny gulp, the small pony lowered her head towards the front left wooden leg, revealing a black, strangely bent, horn on her forehead as well as a strange light blue mane. With a small grunt to herself as she concentrated, the small pony's horn suddenly gave off a small black spark at the tip of it as the wooden leg suddenly desintigrated. With one of the supports busted, and a tiny tap from under the basket, the entire structure began to wobble before suddenly falling forward, startling the three ponies, and causing almost all the apples to come tumbling out onto the road. "Ah!" The mare meeped quickly as she jumped back a bit. "Oh my..." McHasten muttered tapping his chin. Appledeen's eyes suddenly widened at the sight. "Mah Apples!" She yelled worriedly. An oncoming taxi pony was suddenly startled as he came to a quick halt, causing the current passengers to jump forward a bit, but not enough to fall out of their seats. Many of the other ponies around the road quickly looked towards the road soon after, wondering what all the commotion was about. At the same time, with everypony seemingly distracted, the small cloaked pony used this oppertunity to pick up one of the apples closet to the basket with it's teeth. Luckily it managed to duck it's head behind the basket before any pony noticed it. Sadly, it's luck finally began to catch up with them. As the small pony attempted to flee the scene before anypony else showed up, it's escape was suddenly halted as she was stuck in place. Looking around in confusion, it's attention looked back in worry as it saw it's cape was caught under one of the basket's other legs, pinning it to the ground. The small pony whined worriedly as it tried pulling itself from the basket's leg, more worried about any pony noticing them rather than the fact the cape's string attachment began to loosen up. With another, harder, tug, the small pony finally managed to pull itself away, but ended up causing themself to pull off the cape, tumbling forward as they fell. If that wasn't enough, the situation only worsened as the basket rumbled a bit from the pull, catching the attention of the lovely couple and Appledeen. "Dear Majesty!" Gingercream yelped in terror, dramatically fainting as she fell backwards. "What in the Queen's name is that THING?" McHasten blurted out, attaching a monucole from his Tuxedo's right pocket. "Oh no..." Appledeen whispered to herself, apparently having some familiarity with the small filly in front of them. Sitting terrified in front of them was possibly the most grotesque looking thing, at least to a majority of Canterlot's pony populace. In front of them was a pony much like everypony else, but at the same time, completely different than everypony else. By appearance alone, it appeared to be a small little girl given that look in her Emerald-colored eyes. While her ears were much like everypony elses', they were deffinitely longer than the average pony by a few inches, and had had a black coating to her overall appearance. The only other color presentable about her was the green seaweed-looking wrapping that was all around her stomache, and the blue colored mane, tail, and bug-like wings she also had. The only thing that disgusted everypony more with her appearance aside from these factors were the holes in her. It was no joke. The small filly had holes along the ends of her legs, as well as strangely shaped holes through her mane, tail, and in the middle of her wings. And these weren't just deep holes. These were holes that you could see through to the other side, like a tunnel. As to how anypony could have holes like this young filly was oblivious to anypony, but within the Canterlot society, the only thing they cared about were appearance and history, and unfortunately for the small filly, she not only lacked either, she had negative points in both categories. At this point, everypony along the street had seen her, and not one of them went by without knowing who she was. "Is that thing what I think it is?" Another mare questioned in disgust. "What is it even doing back in this town?" The stallion next to her asked. "Dear mercy, I hope they burn that apple she's holding. At least that should be put out of it's misery." Another commented. "Ewww, it's the black bug Chrysalis!" A nearby group of kids joked purposely. The small filly looked around in fear as she teared up slightly. As they had said, the filly's name was indefinitely Chrysalis. It was unknown exactly how her name came to be known, but it was actually her name in in reality. Her last name was still a mystery to everypony, but with all the ponies being upper class, they dubbed her the "Black Bug". The nickname was created out of a number of different reasons. Some dubbed her it for how her wings looked like bug wings, others named her it due to how she looked like a dirty bug that manages to sneak around like a roach. Others simply called her it to be mean. Yet even in a high modern-class society, there were rarely anypony in town that were sympathetic towards the young alicorn-copycat, and one of her were towering over her as we speak. Appledeen gave a somewhat angry glare at her as she lumbered in hieght. The small filly sniffled a bit before she gently lowered the apple back to the ground, then nudged it forward with her nose as it rolled a few inches closer to Appledeen before stepping back a foot away sniffling. Her face was already streaming with tears at this point. Appledeen continued to glare as she watched the apple rolled towards her right hoof. Once it finally reached her, she looked back at the other ponies on the opposite side of the street with her angry look, just to show them that she was supportive on their side. But once everypony saw her expression she looked back to Chrysalis with a worried expression instead of what the other ponies assumed to be a continued glare. "How dare y'all come to mah shop and try an' steal one of mah apples!" She shouted angrily for everypony to hear, quickly lowering her head again closer to her. "Girl, what are you doing here?" Appledeen whispered quietly before raising her head again. The small filly sniffled again as she wiped her tears. "I-I'm sorwie..." The very young pony lisped. Appledeen shifted her eyes to the side briefly at the crowd before looking back. "Ah can't b'ahlieve some dirty varmit l'ake you would come to our town and be nuttin' but a rotten theif!" She shouted loudly again, pointing her left hoof firmly in front of her face, just a few inches from her nose. This somewhat threatening manner was enough to make the small filly hiccup and whimper louder. The other ponies smiled as she whispered amongst themselves about Appledeen doing the "right thing". But while they were distracted, Appledeen quickly wiped the left side of her face of the tears just briefly. Making sure the coast was clear again, she quickly lowered her head down towards the filly again as she whispered, "What did Ah say about comin' 'round these parts? Get outta here before somepony else causes real trouble!" She warned. Her attentiion suddenly shifted as she heard a blatant cough. Shifting her eyes back around, she noticed how all the other ponies were looking at her with curious and confused expressions. She sighed mentally to herself at this. She didn't like being "mean", even if it just meant pretending to be mean to her. But the last thing she wanted was to be considered an outcast like her too. Don't get her wrong, she wouldn't even be part of the "niegh-sayers" if it just meant she would be looked down upon. But if she was caught associating with an outcast like her, not only would she be considered an outcast, but everypony within her family tree would also be looked down upon, and there was no way she was going to have her whole family be punished just because of her. She gave a somewhat apologetic look to the small filly before she raised her head again. "AND DON'T LET ME CATCH Y'ALL 'ROUND HERE EVER AGAIN!" She shouted angrily. The small filly burst into more tears at this as she finally turned around to run away. "Hey!" A voice from above yelled. Much to Appledeen's worry, it was one of the Royal Pegasi guards. "What's with all the commotion?" He asked out loud as he flew to the ground. "Sir, stop that repulsive young creature. She's a theif!" McHasten demanded as he pointed to the running-away filly. Appledeen mumbled to herself annoyed from McHasten's comment. "Show y'all repulsive ya little..." She mumbled silently before looking back. As instructed, the Pegasus guard began running in the same direction the little filly was going. It would've been too much of a scene for a Guard to be chasing a little filly by air, but he was not above letting a lawbreaker go, no matter how old. As he was about to reach passed Appledeen, she couldn't help as her right back hoof "accidentally" stood in the way of the oncoming Pegasus, tripping him face down to the ground. *Thud!* "Ow!" He yelped, rubbing his snout. Before he could pull himself up, he was suddenly pinned down again as Appledeen, once again, "accidentally" stepped onto his left wing. "Oh mah! Ah'm so sorry, Ah just didn't see you there!" She apologized innocently. The guard grunted somewhat as he looked back to her. "It's no problem mam, but would ya mind getting off me!" He yelled. "Sure sure, Ah just got a few questions to ask ya. Like umm...Oh! One, why's the sky blue?" She asked, trying to stall for time for the small filly's sake. Unfortunately, almost nopony else held the same sympathy Appledeen did, or if they did, they never even tried to show. The small mysterious alicorn whimpered to herself as she continued rushing down the sidewalks of the town as fast as her little legs could carry her. But it didn't help passing nearby pony crowds as she tried to run away. All of them scoffed at her as she passed them, disgusted by her looks and even mere appearance. It didn't matter to them that she was as young as she appeared to be. In an over-the-top High-classed society, the only thing these ponies associated with was business and history. And if you didn't have one or the other, you were a nopony. For a nopony trying to run through a town like this, it was like being a small catterpillar while running through a town filled with spiders. Only instead of sucking out your blood, they'd suck out your joy and self-respect. Sadly, that term of phrase actually worked around the "Black-Bug-Chrysalis", and actually worked for a majority of the townsfolk being the spiders. And like a town infested with spiders, chances are, eventually you'll run into the big hairy Tarantulas, which is exactly what Chrysalis bumped into when she fell back. But these weren't any type of big buffed ponies as you might be thinking. These were three older children with an even more rotten attitude. The shortest of the three, while still being twice the young Chrysalis' size, was a brown chestnut pony with a brown mane and tail. Based off his looks and that "superiority"-look in his yellow eyes, it was no surprise he had a Cutiemark of a hoof flexing on his backside. The second of these three was a Pegasus, only about an inch and a half taller than the brown one. Like the first one, his overall color was grey with a darker tinted grey mane and wings. For whatever disturbing reason, he had a strange picture of a Tornado for his Cutiemark, and having almost pitch black-colored eyes made his look even more creepy. The last of the three was an orange Unicorn, and the largest of the group by about three inches higher than the brown one. He appeared to be the leader of the gang given his look. With the red eyes around his pupils, for somepony like him to look down at anypony would've made anypony shrivel up. To put all worries and fears even higher, all of them "knew" Chrysalis much more than anypony else in town, save for Appledeen and a few others. And to double the amount of fear now, nopony else was around, which also meant no witnesses. "Well well well, what do we have here boys...?" The Orange one led on as he slowly crept towards Chrysalis with the rest. Chrysalis whimpered in fear as she backed away, having an..."unwanted" history with them before. "It's a bug!" The Grey one answered. "No, it's a freak!" The Brown guessed. "Ha! You're both right! It's wittle Chrissy again. How's it been freaky?" The Orange one replied with a teethy grin. "Mmmhhm..." The young Chrysalis whimpered with a sniffle. "Oh, what's that? I can't hearrr youuuu!" The Orange Unicorn commented, gesturing towards his left ear. "W-Weave m-me a-alohne...O-Or e'se..." She mumbled. "Or else what? Are you gonna "cwyyyyy" on us?" The Grey one tesaed. "No, I bet she's gonna give us her "fashion statement"." The brown one stated. "Ooooh, please! Do anything but THAT!" The Orange one begged before they all burst into laughter. "Mhh!" Chrysalis grunted as she finally snapped. Using everything she had, she headbutted the Orange Pony's front left hoof. The trio went silent at this as they all became confused, looking back at each other as Chrysalis kept her head against the leg. To any average sized pony, this probably would've done more actual damage if it was another pony closer in age and hieght. But for a three-and-a-half year old filly to headbutt anypony his size, the most she could even reach were his kneecaps, and even then, the orange Unicorn felt nothing more than a simple tap against his legs. After another few seconds the small black alicorn opened her eyes again as she looked up. She let out a nervous gulp as she backed away again. "S-S-Sorwie..." She meeped again. The Orange unicorn raised a questionable brow before he grinned. "Ohhh, ow! Ohhh the paaaain!" He dramatized, falling backwards as he held his front left leg. The other two raised their brows confused at this, but a simple wink from the unicorn was all they needed to get the joke. "Ohhh, my little leeeeg! She hit me soooo haaaard!" He went on. If the young pony was old enough to understand sarcasm, she wouldnt be whimpering in twice as much worry like she was now, not only from her own fear, but now worried she actually did hurt somepony else. "My gosh dude, look how badly she damaged it!" The Grey one played along. "Are you gonna be ok man? I think you should go to a hospital after she attacked you!" The Brown one added as well. "Hey, she did attack me, didn't she?" He asked with a smirk. "By law, that means I can use self-defense for my own sake, doesn't it?" "Yeah!" The other two yelped in Unison, much to the small ponies fear as her eyes widened. "Uh-oh..." She meeped. "Get her!" The Grey one shouted. Chrysalis didn't need any other hint to begin running away. The orange one burst into laughter for a few more seconds before jumping back to his hooves. All at once the three of them took chase of the small alicorn, planning massive payback for past mistakes... Getting back on track with the earlier family, the setting brought us just outside the Canterlot palace as the King and Queen's royal chariot finally arrived in front of the Flower shop. It was no surprise that Pegasi guards flew the chariot, and even less surprising that there were four guards in total escorting the Queen and young Princess, standing their post of two on each side like they were trainned to. The Queen smiled back to her daughter as she picked her up between the back of her neck with her teeth, gently lifting her off her back and onto the ground in front of her. The Flower Shop was one of Celestia's favorite places in all of Canterlot. It wasn't so much for it's floral decoration or pretty flowers that appeased her. A majority of the love she had for said place was that it was one of the only places she was allowed to visit outside of the palace. Aside from being young, being a Princess meant that while she was royalty, there would be a few dangerous ponys who wouldn't mind getting their hooves on somepony like her for money. And being a loving and caring mother, the Queen didn't want Celestia anywhere outside her sights whenever she was outside the palace. The two casually walked to the door of the Floral housing while attracting much attention. The store made quite a bit more business than most businesses in Canterlot. It was no surprise that a majority of the reasoning being that the Queen and Celestia visited the store every few months, and any place visited upon by royalty obviously boomed with much more customers. And considering the store was just a few blocks away from the attraction of the grand Castle itself, many ponies visited it along the way. As the duo finally approached the entrance, the front door opened as they were greeted by a yellow mare with bushy brown hair- "Horray for Rhyming!" "Pinkie Pie, I swear to Celestia!-" - and a red Apron. The features really managed to bring out the blue coloring in her eyes. "Ah, if it isn't my most Royal and best customers in all of Canterlot!" The flourist greeted gracefully as she bowed. "To what do I owe this honor?" She asked politely. "GOOD DAY TO YOU MS. ROOTS! MY DAUGHTER AND I ARE LOOKING FOR A UNIQUE PLANT FOR HER FRIEND'S GARDEN PARTY! COULD YOU PLEASE ASSIST US?" The Queen replied in an almost roaring accent. Celestia found herself quite fortunate to expect this. Otherwise, she wouldn't have covered her ears in time and possibly have gone deaf for a brief time. Ms. Rose looked up into space as she thought about the request. "Hmm...for a Garden party..." She paused briefly as she let out a small gasp. "Huh, I think I know the perfect plant you're looking for! Come on in!" Ms. Rose stated as she greeted them inside. The inside of it was the secondary reason behind Celestia's love for this place. The garden house was absolutely beautiful. Whether from across the sea or from places unknown, Ms. Rose's Garden shop was known for housing almost every known species of flora from all across Equestria. At first like any business, it was a simple small flower shop with the few basic flowers here and there, and business in general was very slow. Compared to it now, there were almost no customers back then. Ms. Rose herself was even worried that her business would eventually be taken over by other coporations who were simply looking for "Office Space", as some would call it. But one day, the Queen stopped by for a visit as she noticed how peaceful and quiet the shop seemed. It wasn't just her presents' that inspired customers to drop by, but also an apparently newborn Celestia at the time. The Queen had hoped to rest around here while trying to calm down her crying newborn, but struggled to find any place to calm her down without other ponies swarming her. Fortunately for her, however, Ms. Rose had a few experiences with newborn foals, save for none of them ever being an alicorn before. Nevertheless, Ms. Rose presented the crying Celestia at the time with a shining blue flower with a golden rose. Taking a small sniff of the flower, the sobbing infant quickly burst into a fit of giggles, much to the Queen's relief. Soon after, the Queen began a conversation with Ms. Rose, quickly becoming a good friend with the Majesty. Not only did the Queen officially change the name of the blue flower to the Tearstopper via by law, much to the origional discoverer's dissopointment, but she began talking around town, and with her other friends, about how much she enjoyed herself at said flowershop. In addition to this, the Queen made it official that she would visit the small shop regularly, which instantly caused business with customers to boom. Ms. Rose has been grateful ever since, because after that one visit, she was getting mountains (quite litterally in the case of Canterlot) of customers visiting her often. Getting back with the current crew, Ms. Rose opened up a door in the far back of the store while numerous customers admired simply watching the Queen and young Princess stroll through the building. They felt blessed simply being in the same building as the Queen and Princess herself, rarely ever seeing the two out in public. Said famous ponies looked around in facination at the scenery, seeing how flora was practically growing along the walls themselves. It was even more interesting for Celestia, because due to never being able to venture outside the Castle unsupervised, seeing all the flowers and exotic plants gathered around made her feel like she was visiting every place in Equestria at once! Ms. Rose's shop was so big, it even housed a variety of different trees, each with it's own Unique look. There was practically nothing to distract Celestia away from this scenery. "Hey, Shrimp!" A voice suddenly yelled out. Celestia suddenly paused to look back at the shouting as her mother walked passed her, mostly thinking the call was for her. "Get back here you twerp!" Another voice yelled. To her surprise, and confusion, she saw a strange black alicorn across the road quickly running across the sidewalk as she tried to outrun the three taller ponies that were chasing her. Although it was only for a split second that she saw the foursome ponies run past the view of the open door, she felt it her responsibility as a Princess to help whoever the troubled pony was and quickly galloped as fast as her small legs could run. And at the same time, Ms. Rose was finally presenting the special flower she had planned specially for Celestia and the Queen. The Queen's eyes perked up a bit in wonder at the sight of the flower, never seeing one such as it before. It looked like a dozen roses put together, but each rose had a different color that shimmered in the cieling bulb's light. The flower looked more like a single boquette of flowers bundled together, but seeing how the stems all origionated from one single stem simply proved it was one flower as a whole. "THIS PLANT INTRIGUES US! TELL US WHAT PLANT IT IS YOU SHOW BEFORE US?" The Queen requested, looking at the plant more closely as she walked around it. "I call it a Rainbow Rose Bush, your Highness. It's a very rare type of rose that's very hard to come across. It comes from the thousandth seed of a cycle of one thousand Roses, and it takes three whole years to grow!" Ms. Rose explained. "REMARKABLE! WHERE DID YOU COME ACROSS SUCH A PLANT?" "Well to be honest, I had to make a lot of personal calls for this one. It required alot of spendy trade routes and looking to find, but after a few months I finally managed to get this shipped to my store. And I couldn't think of a better type of plant to show my appreciation for the two who saved my business long ago." Ms. Rose commented graciously. "THINK NOTHING OF IT MS. ROSE! THE SUCCESS YOU'VE HAD UP TO NOW WAS FROM ALL YOUR HARD WORK!" The Queen stated. Ms. Rose gave a small bow again before she replied. "You're too kind your Highness. So do you like it?" She asked curiously. "IN TRUTH, WE WOULD LOVE TO HAVE ANY WONDEROUS PLANT JUST AS THIS! BUT THIS IS NOT OUR DECISION TO MAKE, IT IS OUR DAUGHTER'S!" The Queen commented before looking to her side. "What do you think sweetie-" The Queen began to ask as she returned to her regular way of speaking. But upon turning around, her eyes suddenly widened as she saw Celestia running through the front door. "Celestia!" She screamed worriedly, trying to run after her. It was around this time that the four guards at the door suddenly saw the young Celestia run passed them under their legs. "Hey, isn't that the Queen's girl-?" One of the Guard's began to ask curiously. "Celesti-!" *CRASH!* "Oww..." There was a huge pile up of moaning guardsmen who were suddenly crashed into by a worrisome mother, causing a small dust pile to spread around them as they all collapsed to the ground. There were a few coughs here and there as the five, Queen included, ponies inhaled some of the dust, as well as growing somewhat delerious and dizzy from the impact to all their heads. "Ooooh..." The Queen moaned, rubbing her side before looking around at the guards beneath her. "Oops, sorry gentlemen." She apologized nervously, standing up soon after to look around for Celestia. Much to her fear, Celestia was nowhere in side, nor was there any indication of which direction she went to. "That's ok your majesty...we live to serve..." One of the commented raising a wobbly hoof. "But if we could live longer to serve, that'd be appreciated too..." _ Meanwhile... "Chrissy's-a-freaky!" "Chrissy's-a-freaky!" "Chrissy's-a-freaky!" The small group of colts laughed, tossing small rocks at the defenseless little changling-alicorn. She was scared enough to tears as it was, being in a new town still surrounded by strangers. The fact she now had bullies throwing small rocks at her, despite her crying, didn't help the situation any bit, as the light brown, white, and orange colt Unicorns continued bullying her. She had a few bruises on her by this point, even a scrape on her head from the constant pickings, but that didn't even seem to matter to the colt trio. "W-W-Weave me al-lohhnne..." The young Chrysalis cried out. Despite the sobbing and sniffling, it did nothing to convince the small colts to stop. "Dawwww, she's crying. Or maybe her "freaky-head" is leaking!" The brown one teased. "We'll leave you alone as you stop being freaky!" The orange one replied, tossing another one that hit her head again. "Woah, bullseye! Right between her forehead!" The grey one complimented, tossing a rock repeatedly in his hoof. "I wonder if I can get one right through one of those holes in her legs-" He added, pulling back his hoof, ready to chuck it at her. The small changling covered her head terrified, waiting for the inevitable. *THUD!* "Owww! Let go!" The same colt suddenly yelped. The small Chrysalis opened her eyes as she looked back. To her surprise, there was another alicorn suddenly pinning down the small grey colt who had the rock in his hoof. She appeared to be a small alicorn, possibly the same age as herself even, and had a surprisingly a purplish-pink mane. To only surprise her more, the alicorn also had wings and a horn on her head, much like herself, but completely whole, and to what she believes, "normal". "Say you're sorry you bullies!" The young alicorn demanded, pulling on his left hoof from behind his back. The brown unicorn quickly shoved the small alicorn off, but ignored her as he grabbed another rock. "Beat it shrimpy, we're picking on her, not you." The colt deemed, pulling his arm back as he prepared another rock. To everypony's surprise, and changeling, the small alicorn stood firmly in front of the small Chrysalis, spreading her tiny wings out as well. Although they didn't exactly spread that far, they were still big enough to block the small changling. "What the- are you stupid? Do you want to get hit too?" The colt yelled. "If you wanna hurt her, you'll have to hurt me first!" She decreed. The three colts looked at each other, each seeming to have an unammused expression on their face, before they all grinned, pulling their hoof's back with a rock ready to fire. The alicorn gulped nervously at the sight. "Ok, maybe I sould've thought dis through..." She muttered, covering her face for protection. "Princess Celestiaaaa!" A female pony called out. "Where are you sweetie?" The grey unicorn suddenly turned pale as he dropped his rock. "Oh haystacks! I thought she looked familiar. That's the queen's daughter!" He said worriedly. The other two quickly panicked as they yelped, dropping their rocks too as the three of them backed up, which made Celestia grin. "W-Woah woah woah, hey! We didn't mean it, honest!" The brown one blurted out. "Y-Yeah, we were just goofing around!" The orange one cried out. The grey one looked at the other two worriedly. "Let's get out of here!" He yelped, all three immediately screaming as they ran faster. Celestia smiled as she watched the trio run in fear, sticking out her tongue soon after. "Pwpwpwpwpwpw!" She spitted. "You're lucky I'm not the Princess or I'd make you eat mud for the rest of your wives you stupid-meanie-heads!" Celestia yelled, puffing her nostrils firmly before looking back to the small changeling curiously. "Are you okay?" She asked, tilting her head at the never-before-seen pony before. Chrysalis continued to sniffle sadly as she covered her face, still frieghtened due to her experience. "Hey, it's ok, I'm not like those other meanies. My name's Princess Celestia, but my friends call my Celly...at least if I had any..." She commented, rubbing her chin briefly. "So what's your name?" "Mmhhmmhh..." Chrysalis whimpered, still tearing up in frieght. "Celestia!" The queen called out, walking down the alley. Celestia looked back curiously before smiling. "Hi mommy." She replied. "Sweetie, what did mommy tell you about running off like that? You know you shouldn't-" The queen suddenly paused as she noticed the other pony she was with. "Oh! H-Hello there little one. Who are you?" The queen asked with a gentle smile, lowering herself down towards the small pony. She blinked a bit surprised as she noticed the scrapes and bruises on her body. "Oh, my! What happened to you?" "There were some bulies that were throwing rocks at her!" Celestia said angrily. "Ohhh, sweetie..." The queen cooed softly, using her magic to levitate the small changeling over to her as she gave her a gentle hug. "Bwwaaahhh..." Chrysalis began crying softly into her shoulder, all the while the queen gently patting her back. Chrysalis began crying softly into her shoulder, all the while the queen gently patting her back. "Shhh shh, it's ok. They won't pick on you again." She commented, levitating her and Celestia onto her back before gently flying into the sky. "Why don't we go home for a bit to treat her "owies", okay?" The queen suggested, smiling. Celestia nodded as she held the changling close, knowing it helped comfort her...