Twilight Receives a letter that reveals a secret she's been keeping from her friends, a letter that carries bad news and sparks a journey
Twilight receives a letter out of the blue that reveals a secret she's been keeping from her friends, a letter that conveys the condolences of a family friend. What hidden meaning does it carry, and how will Twilight deal with the responsibility that comes with it?
After Twilight's grim duty is completed, the mane 6 travel out of the country on a diplomatic mission to the Griffon territories and find trouble on the way.
(If there are grammatical or other errors, please tell me in the comments and I'll fix them)
It was a beautiful day. A perfect day in fact for the pet play date and picnic that was currently occurring in the east field of Ponyville.
"Pinkie, I told you to keep Gummy away from the potato salad!" said Applejack as she dumped the bowl's contents onto the ground off the nearest edge of the blanket, revealing a potato covered alligator.
"Gummy! I told you that that was a one time thing silly! We don't bathe in food unless we ask the Cakes very nicely!" the pink party pony giggled.
Winona was a reliable friend, and was more than willing to help her cold-blooded friend clean up; licking the lizard's tail clean of potato product.
Twilight, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Spike, along with Owlicious, Opalescence, Tank, Angel, and newly-added Pewee laughed at the farm and party ponies and their pets' hijinks.
"Twilight? Mail!" a certain grey mailmare called, approaching from the direction of Ponyville.
"Hey Derpy! Whatcha' doing walking when you could be flying?" Rainbow asked, zooming over to the bubble-flanked mare.
"I can't fly with all the mail I've got today. It's more than I've ever had in one day; I had to bring a whole second bag just for you Twilight! It seems like all of Canterlot wants to talk to you!"
Twilight's magic took the large bag and pulled out the first of what seemed to be hundreds of letters.
It was addressed to Twilight from "House Glitterhorn".
"What's this about Twi?" Applejack said, eyeing the bag suspiciously.
Twilight gave a shrug, opening the letter and reading the contents aloud.
"Dear Duchess Sparkle,
House Glitterhorn wishes to convey our sincerest condolences over your loss. We understand your pain and wish to extend any aid you need in this troubling time.
He will be greatly missed.
Sincerely, Luster Von Glitterhorn IV"
"Well I didn't think that the potato salad would be missed so much, but it sure is nice of them to send a letter." Pinkie laughed.
Applejack was first to respond "I don't think they were talking about the food Pinkie... Twi, what's this all about? Duchess? Is this some kind of joke?" she looked over to Twilight to see her standing dead still, frozen in place.
"Dear, what's going on? 'Duchess!' Are you a noble? I was unaware Celestia gave you a noble title! You should have told us!" Rarity exclaimed to the frozen mare.
"She didn't..."
"What's that sweetie? I can't hear you."
"She didn't..."
"This letter is addressed to 'Duchess Sparkle'" said Rainbow Dash as she began to dig through the rest of the mailbag, "Do you know what that means Rarity? ...Rarity?"
Rarity was suddenly as frozen as Twilight. "I'm so sorry Twilight" she said as she slowly embraced Twilight.
Dash flew over confused, "What's wrong? This sounds like a good thing? Right? ...Right?"
Rarity shot dash a soft glare, "Twilight said that Celestia didn't give her the title..."
Fluttershy was becoming concerned now, "Does that mean..."
"Yes Fluttershy, Duchess is an inherited title..."
Dash was more confused than ever and she was getting upset, "What does that mean! I don't understand!"
Rarity looked to the chromatic pegasus, tears in her eyes, "Dash... It means she inherited the title... It means that she was the next in the family line... It- It means the person who held the title died..."
Dash finally seemed to figure out the significance, if not the facts of what happened.
Silence fell over the east field.
Rarity's whisper broke the silence "We need to go to Canterlot."
Rarity escorted Twilight home as the other girls gathered their pets and went home themselves to pack.
-------------------------------------
It wasn't long before they were all on the train to Canterlot.
Fluttershy and Rarity were on either side of Twilight now, comforting the distraught mare.
"Twilight, dear, I'm sorry, but I'm trying to understand what's going on. I've never heard of the Sparkles amongst the noble houses, so how..." she let the words die as she looked to Twilight who looked as if she was about to break into tears again.
Luckily she didn't, "I'm named after my mother, it's a family tradition, but my father is... was... Night Light of the house of Light."
"House Light! That means you were related to- well, ARE the duchess of all southern Equestria!" As if realizing what her words finally meant, Rarity dropped to the train's floor, "I'm sorry your majesty! I didn't realize! If I had known who you were!"
"Rarity, stand up, you're acting like a silly filly." Twilight chastised. Rarities theatrics were having the benefit of lightening Twilight's mood somewhat.
"But! Now you are a titled noble!-" it sounded like she had meant to continue, but stopped when Pinkie started laughing, "Silly Rarity, Twi's been noble since we met her!"
"Well shoot Pinkie, we all know Twi's a nice 'n truthful gal, but we're talking about something else right now."
Pinkie scrunched up her eyes questioningly at the orange mare "That's funny, because I thought we were talking about Twilight's titles of nobility; like how she's now a Duchess but was a Baroness, but oh! oh! oh! She's even a princess! Right Twi!"
Everypony looked in shock from pinkie to Twilight, Twilight herself stared at Pinkie.
"Pinkie, how did you... Never mind." Twilight gave her head a shake and closed her eyes, looking away as if to hide. "Girls, I... I'm sorry I didn't tell you before, but I was afraid of how you would treat me if you knew. You know how I was with my magic before Trixie showed up... I thought you wouldn't want to be friends if you found out I was one of those 'stuck up Canterlot snobs'" Rarity shot a glare at Applejack before turning a comforting look to Twilight, "Dear, tell us the whole story, we won't judge you." she said, apparently forgetting her desperate groveling just moments before.
"Thanks girls, I'm really sorry I didn't tell you sooner, but I really expected one of you to figure it out at some point." Twilight gave an apologetic shrug, "Well, anyway, ...where do I even begin? ...I'll start with my family history." Twilight looked around at the girls for confirmation.
Receiving only excited anticipation she began, "As you know, my father, Night Light, is- was the Duke of southern Equestria, but as Pinkie said my family tree is a little more complicated than that. My great uncle, Dewey Glitter, was the Barron of Vanhoover before he passed the title on to my mother."
"But Rarity said that the Sparkle's weren't noble!" Applejack protested.
"Well they technically aren't. My mother's name is Twilight Velvet, and it's a family tradition, so I inherited the 'Twilight' part, but since 'Twilight Light' sounds redundant they just made up the 'Sparkle'. Anyway, she said she wasn't cut out for being a Barroness, so she passed it right on to Shining Armor. Which is why he wears my uncle's badge on his armor: to show his connection to the Barrony of Vanhoover."
Applejack was becoming visibly upset the more Twilight talked, "But how does that go to you then! Wouldn't that make HIM the Barron?"
"Well no it doesn't, because he passed the title to me after his wedding, seeing as he was going to be with Cadence on the throne of the Crystal Empire. He thought it best if he passed it on. Which leads to the Most obvious of the titles I possess, Princess of the Crystal Empire."
Rarity face-hoofed, "Of course! How could I not see it before! Your brother married Princess Cadence! That would make you part of the royal family!"
"It does, but also because Cadence has no family, and they have no fillies or foals yet, so they named me the heir to the Crystal Throne if something were to happen to them, they also liked the idea because I was the one that recovered the crystal heart and thought it would go over well with the population. My training with Celestia didn't hurt either. And that's my story."
All the mares just stared in awe at the new Princess-Duchess-Barroness that used to be their simple librarian/all-team-organizer/Element of Magic/Princesse's student.
Under the scrutiny of her friends Twilight began cover-explaining "My noble title is 'Twilight de Cryst von Sud-Equest de Cant ad Vanhoof. Which is of course the shortened version, derived from the location of authority of the title, preceded by appropriate particle, and arranged in order of precedence. Long hand my full name is-"
Rainbow Dash's hoof met with Twilight's mouth fast enough to stop what she could see was her friend's unraveling.
"So Twi, what you're saying is: you are pretty important, Right?"
Rarity gave a shriek, "Applejack! Don't speak to her like that!"
"Like what?" Applejack shot Rarity a deadpan stare.
"I'm so sorry princess! I'm sure she didn't mean to sound so familiar!" Rarity's begging only elicited an unamused scowl from the newly revealed princess.
"And this is why I didn't tell anypony. Anyway, we're here girls."
Over the course of revealing her great secret to her friends Twilight had forgotten the reason they began this trip, but as they neared their destination the grim reality sunk into Twilight. She was going to bury her father.
The father who hadn't been a part of her life since becoming Celestia's student.
Luna was waiting at the station with a company of her guard.
Twilight was first off to see the welcoming committee.
"Princ-" and one leg past the train doors was as far as she got before she was tackled by a half dozen of Luna's bat-winged guard, with unicorns throwing shields over seemingly everything.
They held her down, each large stallion securing a limb while two tried to secure her head. She could see they were going for her horn.
She screamed. The sound of their friends cries woke the five mares and dragon from their slack-jawed stupor.
"We're coming Twi!" Applejack called as she lunged into the fray.
The five were not trained fighters, but they had managed to hold off hundreds of changelings while advancing through their lines in the past, so trained or not, they were appallingly effective at dispatching the guard currently occupied with holding Twilight.
When Twilight was no longer covered in guards, she looked to the pile that used to be said guards, pulling out what Twilight recognized as what they were attempting to put on her horn.
"An inhibitor ring!?!" she glanced back to the now just-shy-of-cowering-while-not-breaking-formation of forces lead by Luna.
"Twilight calm down! You don't want to do this!" Luna's voice was quiet, almost conveying sympathy, but was more urgent, almost fearful.
"What? What's going on!" Twilight yelled, lighting her horn.
Luna flared her wings, glancing back at her soldiers before giving a nod.
Twilight braced, ready for the onslaught, but instead the soldiers ran screaming.
Twilight's horn died down a little bit in awe.
"Twilight please! We know how you feel, but you don't have to do this!" Luna pleaded.
The rest of Twilight's magic died down as she looked upon Luna's pained face.
"Do what? What's going on?" she asked.
"You don't know? Oh, then we have..." she fell silent, "Twilight, I know I do not deserve it, but do you trust me?"
Twilight frowned in confusion. "After you just had your guard jump me?"
"We art sorry, but we thought you..."
Twilight could see Luna was struggling, but she saw no malice in her eyes.
"Luna, last nightmare night I called you my friend, and if for that alone, I trust you. Now tell me what is going on."
Luna looked a little relieved, even happy, before it died in an instant.
"Twilight, we must request, Neigh, order you as Princess of Equestria to put on the inhibitor ring."
Twilight eyed up the ring, then eyed up Luna again before slipping it over her horn.
Luna calmed down a little more, having the anxiety turn to sadness.
"Twilight Sparkle, we regret to inform you that your father has- has passed." Luna said looking away.
"I know, so what's the big deal? What's so important that you brought a small army and made me wear an inhibitor ring? Is Chrysalis back! Did you think she was disguised as me? Would an inhibitor even disrupt changeling magic?"
"Twilight, I just told you your father has died!"
"That's hardly a concern at the moment, now tell me what the threat is! ...um, if you may, princess."
Luna stood looking at Twilight with an expression of confusion, Twilight stared back expectantly.
"You... Um... Well, that's it." Luna stuttered.
"What do you mean that's it?"
"Well, that is why we needed all this" Luna said with fading conviction.
"I don't understand how this is related to the death of my father."
Luna's expression became unreadable as she began to explain the situation.
"Celestia went to inform you of the news personally, but when she arrived, she sent word back that you were not there. We assumed the worst- that you had already had gotten news of your father's passing and were coming to Canterlot."
"I don't understand, why did she go to deliver the news personally, and why is my arrival met with being body tackled by the Lunar guard?"
Luna looked away sheepishly, "There are stories... stories that sister has privately confirmed to be true, that you have previously taken bad news very adversely. Celestia went to tell you in person, we assume to contain you if things went wrong, but as you had left, we thought you may have come to Canterlot for revenge."
"Revenge! Did you-!"
"No! Of course not! He died of a heart attack brought on by general bad health. His sickness of the body caused his passing."
Twilight mentally confirmed that this made sense with how she knew his habits to be.
"But that doesn't explain the nice 'welcoming' from your guards. Did you expect me to just go on a rampage?" Twilight joked, until she saw the look on Luna's face. "You did!" Twilight said with shock.
"There are stories- Legends! Of your reactions to bad news! Celestia has many a time told of how you enchanted a doll to ensnare the city that mocked your tardiness. Or when you were about to be told you had failed an exam and not only held the proctors in your magic, but transformed ponies into plants and summoned a dragon of great size to destroy the castle!
"We were concerned the news of your father's passing was going to send you into a rage or some-such possibility."
Twilight gawked at the Lunar Princess. "Wow, Celestia may have overstated those cases a little bit."
"But sister fully expected you to be devastated by this news!"
"No offense, but that's simply not the case."
"Um... Why?" Luna asked, "You seem... Almost indifferent..."
"Well it's not like I wasn't upset when I heard, but you try staying upset a bout the loss of someone who you didn't really know. I mean really, we hadn't seen or even written each other since... I think since I was accepted as Celestia's student. No contact in Ten years! Even as a filly I never really saw him much, so it doesn't really have a big impact on me now that he's gone."
"That's..." Luna began.
"-the truth princess, only the truth. So what is going to happen now?"
"Well," Luna began, ""I am not very versed in the ways of this era, but I believe that it is still customary for family members to have roles at the funerals of loved ones. In fact, I believe that we both have obligations at the funeral." She turned her head from Twilight "Or at least that is what was implied by Celestia's cryptic message to me."
"Cryptic message?" Twilight asked.
"She has been behaving strangely since she became aware of his passing." A hint of sadness tinged Luna's words as she grew pensive. "She seems worried..." Luna eyes grew wide, looking back at Twilight. "But don't worry, I'm sure she's just concerned about her student!"
"Princess, are you... uh... never mind." Twilight looked away. "So, princess, when is the funeral? Has a date been set?"
Luna's wings flared as she looked to Twilight, fear in her eyes. "That's why she went to Ponyville to get you! It's today! She wanted to bring you with a chariot because the train wouldn't be fast enough to-" she glanced at the train station's central clock tower. "We must leave now!"
-------------------------------------
The few guards that had not yet fled Canterlot made their way back to the train station just in time to be knocked in the face by the massive station doors as Luna raced away closely followed by the elements of harmony.
"Captain! What was that!" one of the two lieutenants to remain yelled once they regained their footing.
"That was our princess being chased by the Elements of Harmony." the captain said grimly looking at his two remaining troops.
The lieutenant was aghast. "We need to help her!"
"You think the three of us can do anything to stop them? Good luck! I'm going through with the contingency plan. If you wish to remain, I will not hold it against you, but please be safe." The captain took off and began making his way out of Canterlot, leaving his lieutenants on the street. The inquisitive guard looked to his female associate "What do you want to do?"
She gave no response as she began trotting in the direction of the fleeing princess.
I have entirely rewritten this chapter to keep it more in-line with the story, the "old" chapter (prior to 5pm 1/29) is now becoming it's own story! So I apologize if you liked it here, but to make it up to you, check it out here! http://www.fimfiction.net/story/80206/second-at-best New chapter should be up within the week!
Also, I wanted to leave something here to make up for stealing the old chapter 3, I give you this, the rough draft of new chapter 3.
The posse of mares reached the castle just as the ceremony was beginning, still in time to make a dignified entrance that looked passable as intentional.
The guards that had been gaining on their heels though, did not.
Luna and the elements of harmony turned from their seat on the first bench to see one of the lunar stallions from the station flying into the hall at high speed, high enough speed that he couldn't stop when he found himself on a collision course with another lunar guard, this one a female unicorn that had been sneaking her way silently up the isle.
Luna looked at her "prestigious" guards in a heap blocking the isle at a funeral.
"Up at once and explain yourselves!" Luna yelled at the guards.
"Protecting you princess!" yelled the male pegasi jumped to his feat and blindly charged Twilight, who was sitting on the bench in shock.
He was caught by Luna's magic inches from impacting.
"What, dare I ask, are you protecting me from?" Luna ventured a glance at the formerly calm congregation of nobles and friends.
The guard didn't get the hint.
"I was protecting you from HER!" he pointed a hoof towards Twilight.
Luna stood in dumbfounded outrage, "You were protecting me from the Duchess of La Reins?" She gave the guard a look that said "play along".
"Yes! At the train station-"
The guard quickly froze when Luna's look turned from "play along" to an unmistakable "say one more word and you'll know firsthand what Equestria looks like from 239,000 miles away".
"M-my apologies princess! I must have had her mistaken for someone else! Heh Heh..."
"Must have." Luna said before sitting back down and puppeteering the guard to attention next to her on the outside of the bench.
Rainbow leaned over to Twilight, "La Reins?" she whispered under her breath.
"The old name for territorial southern Equestria" she whispered back, knowing Dash wouldn't really know what she was talking about. She nodded forward to draw her attention back to the front.
Luna looked to where the lunar unicorn had been knocked down only to find she was gone. Looking around, she was now located on the opposite side of the bench, standing at attention like her associate.
With everything once again calm, the ceremony began.
The ceremony was solemn, Celestia presiding, (the chariot could be heard landing just outside the hall just before she entered) and concluded with a traditional unicorn magical cremation-burrial.
Once the group had progressed back indoors, though, high society took its course, and the gossip began.
Twilight was walking to the reserved reception table at the head of the room when she heard her name being spoken at a nearby table. She slowed to listen.
"-she was a threat! Really! You'd think they would be more respectful towards a duchess!"
She heard her name again.
"-really young for such a title, what happened to Shining Armor! He would be perfect if he didn't have foreign interests."
Again from another table, this one though, made her stop to listen.
"-I heard she took on a whole company of lunar guards and won just to attend the funeral!"
"But didn't Luna arrived with her?"
"I heard that the duchess is actually holding her hostage!"
"What! That's absurd! No pony could threaten the princess!"
"No normal pony, but she's the one who beat Nightmare Moon, Discord, and that King Sombrero from the Crystal empire!"
"You mean-!"
"Yep, I hear she's trying for a Coup d'état! I have it on good report that she already installed a puppet government in the Crystal Empire."
Twilight calmly walked back to her table. The first two conversations were the usual Canterlot chatter, but the third had her worried.
Was that what they really thought?
King Sombrero! They didn't even know King Sombra's name! Really! That's just upsetting.
She paid no mind to the drivel conspiracy theories of the nobles, as she sat down with her friends.
"What?" she asked as her friends stared at her.
"We're here for ya, ya know that right?" Applejack said with a gesture to the group.
"Sometimes it's better to just let it out..." Fluttershy added.
"Girls, I'm fine really." she gave them a reassuring look.
None of her friends seemed anymore at ease.
Not that she noticed over the sudden panic caused by the main doors to the hall bursting open to reveal the entire Lunar guard battalion, armed and angry.