Tidbits of my Brain

The day was ending, and Twilight Sparkle had (finally) finished buying groceries. As she walked up to the front door of her "castle", not quite used to it yet, she looked up at its crystal branches holding the actual structure. It was beautiful to some, she supposed, but she didn't see why. All she saw was a castle, sitting on a tree. An impossible tree, made of crystal, grown in seconds, complete with fully furnished main castle, kitchen and library; that last actually almost made her forget the impossibility of what she was living in, as she had yet to fully catalog the entirety of it. Nevertheless, she did think about it, and had gone so far as ask the Pri- Celestia about it. That had been fruitful.

‘I couldn't begin to know for sure, but from what you told me its seed came from the Tree of Harmony. Doubtless the Tree's magic had something to do with it. After all, the Elements did things we could never explain, and they came from the tree as well.’

That didn’t tell Twilight what the tree did. It didn’t tell her how the thing managed to grow so fast and yet be strong enough to hold an entire castle in its grasping faux branches, or how it managed to produce fine silverware (actual silver), golden plates (actual gold), silken sheets (actual silk) or fill the pantries with real food. And that didn’t touch the library! As excited as she was to see so many books, she had to question where they had come from. As far as she had found, none of them were teleported, and that meant the Tree had made them. Made books written long after it had grown, long after the Elements had been returned to it. All in all, it made Twilight’s obsessive desire to know surface.

And so she stopped thinking about it, something she was getting better at doing (especially after Rainbow Dash’s flight training). Instead, she thought about the large stallion in full armor to the side of her door. He was big, not quite as big as Big Mac, or as muscular as Bulk Biceps, but he was big. But despite his size, he was never intimidating, and decently friendly when not on duty. As such, Twilight never felt awkward talking to him, even though he never talked back.

“Sergeant Sentinel.”

“…”

The ever silent guard-pony saluted, eyes never wavering, no other part of him moving aside from the one leg it took to salute. Twilight didn’t even see muscles shift to balance on three hooves. She wasn’t sure any did.

“Did anyone stop by while I was out?”

“…”

A nod, followed by the Sergeant opening the door to allow Twilight and her small pile of groceries into the castle.

“Oh? Who was it?”

“…”

A subtle nod of the head pointed to a shadow along the wall, one not normally there. Twilight was confused, not quite seeing anything at first, but then she say the odd pony-esque shape. She recognized the alicornian outline immediately.

“Luna, is that you?! Why are hiding in the shadows of my entryway?”

“…”

“Oh no, I get enough of that from the good Sergeant, I’m not having it with you Luna. Why the shadows? You know you’re welcome here anytime. After all, I can empathize your jealousy. Celestia has a palace, and though you share that it’s not the same; Cadence has the Crystal Empire and its palace, and now I have this….. Thing. So why do you hide?”

The shadowy figure moved, ever so slightly, and unfolded a wing. A wing too big, and too white to be Luna’s.

“Is she really that jealous? And of a palace of all things?”

The voice was melodious, serene, and slightly amused. It was also definitely not Luna’s.

“Celestia, I…..”