The Things I'd Never Do

        Rose Aphid was roused from her sleep by the smell of something cooking. That's weird, she thought, I thought I left the Bakery pretty far behind. Then she noticed something very wrong. Why am I warm? I know that when you get hypothermia, you eventually loose feeling, but I never thought that would make me feel better. And, is it just me, or does this snow drift feel a lot more comfortable than when I fell asleep on it. And, is that a pillow?! At that last thought, Rose opened her eyes, and shot up into a sitting position, the sudden amount of energy she had was the least surprising thing she noticed.

        Rose was sitting on a large bed, in a room that appeared to be made entirely out of multi-colored crystal. There was a door to her left, and a window to her right.

        She walked over to the window and looked out. She could see the entirety of Ponyville from her window, from the train station she had come in from, to the large stretch of snow-covered farmland on one end of town, to the rather dark and forbidding forest on other.

So, it's official then, The little changeling thought, I Really am dead, Ponyville is my heaven. Maybe I'll see if I have a family here. Then, she turned back to the door, and noticed that the sack of gold and the apron that Joe had given her were on the nightstand.

Or, I'm not dead. Didn't the baker say something about a party at a castle? Maybe the owner of the castle found me last night, what name did the baker use? Twilight? If "Twilight" found me last night, and brought me in, that would explain why I don't feel hungry any more.

        Then Rose remembered why she had to leave the three fillies in the bakery. On her travels, Rose had heard about adverse effects that a changeling's feeding can cause for ponies.

This isn't good, Rose thought, as she grabbed her stuff and ran out the door, and down a long hallway, following the cooking smell she had sensed earlier ( figuring that would be the best place to start). I need to get out of here before I hurt anyone! What kind of idiot just brings in any random filly from off the street?

...

        Twilight Sparkle awoke to a scream, a small squeak, and a crash, in that order.

        "Ohhhh Spike," she said to herself, pulling her pillow over her head, "it's way too early for this!"

        Then, a realization hit her, she jumped out of bed, and made a bolt for the stairs, leaving a trail of purple feathers behind her.

        "SPIKE, DON'T HURT HER!!"

...

        Twilight burst into the kitchen, upon entering, she saw Spike running around the kitchen, chasing a small white and pink shape, frying pan in hand. An overturned carton of eggs sat spilling it's contents on the floor by the stove.

        Thinking fast, the violet princess quickly cast a spell that caused both the tiny dragon and his prey to freeze in place. She then quickly levitated them to opposite ends of the kitchen. And, just for good measure, she teleported Spike's pan back to the rack by the stove.

         "Twilight," the dragon said urgently, "I think this filly snuck in last night..."

         Spike was interrupted by a magic zipper that suddenly appeared over his mouth.

         "Spike," Twilight said "I found this filly lying out in the snow last night, cold and alone, so I decided to bring her in."

        Spike managed to unzip the zipper covering his mouth, and suddenly seemed to realize that he was angry with her.

        "TWILIGHT, where in the wide realm of Equestria did you disappear to last night!? It was your idea to throw a party, you should have been the one to clean it up, NOT ME! I told Pinkie not to set up the chocolate fountain, I warned her that Derpy was coming, but did she listen to me, no. Twilight, do you know how long it takes to clean the chocolate hoofprints off of the UNDERSIDE of all the new bookshelves!? Also, I'm pretty sure the DJ you hired is asleep in the upstairs bathroom! And then you go out..."

        Having had enough of his tirade, Twilight magically re-zipped his zipper, and just for good measure, magically shackled him to the wall.

        "Spike, allow me to rephrase, I found her on the streets last night, but she was asleep, so I didn't get to talk to her. Give me some time with her alone, she's probably pretty confused, and you aren't helping. Also, did you say the upstairs bathroom?"

        The dragon nodded.

        "Alright, in a moment, I'm going to let you go, you're going to take some bits from the pouch in my room. Then, you're going to go upstairs, pay Vinyl, thank her for her services, get her out of here, and leave this filly and I alone for a couple of hours. Sound good?"

        Spike nodded again, his restraints were undone, and he left the kitchen.

        Twilight finally turned to the filly on the other end of the kitchen. This was the first time the princess had actually gotten to study her while she was awake, and she was obviously very scared. Twilight gave her a warm smile, but that only served to cause the filly to back herself farther up against the wall, trying to make herself as small as possible.

She looks like a miniature Fluttershy like that. Twilight thought, then giggled silently, the pegasus before her really did look like a younger version of the alicorn's shy friend. From the way she kept her eyes on Twilight, without making eye contact, to the angle she bent her head at, as if she was trying to hide behind her light pink mane.

         "Hi" Twilight said in the most friendly, enthusiastic voice possible "I'm princess Twilight Sparkle, but my friends just call me Twilight, and you've already met my dragon, Spike. What's your name?"

         "I'm R-r-r-Rose Aphid, Mrs. Sparkle, your highness." The pegasus said in a small voice

         "I'm sure we both have some questions for each other, but first, do you like tea?" Twilight asked.

         Rose shook her head lightly. "No, thank you, your highness, but I've never particularly cared for tea."

        "Oh, not a tea drinker, huh, what about hot chocolate, do you like cocoa?

        At this, the filly seemed to perk up a little bit "Yes, your highness, I do like hot chocolate, if it's not too much to ask, I mean."

        "Alright just give me a moment to put some on, and then we'll talk."

        Twilight walked over to the stove, and started heating up some hot chocolate, as well as a pot of herbal tea for herself. She took a second to look down at the carton of eggs on the floor. She hadn't had any breakfast yet, and she was pretty hungry. But she decided that she had more important things to tend to first. Breakfast can wait, right now, I need to get Rose situated.

...

        "There are quite a few sitting rooms in the castle, but this one is my favorite. The picture windows give a great view of the town and the forest beyond." Twilight explained, as she led Rose into a large room with comfortable looking chairs arranged around a wall of windows. There was a lit fireplace in the wall behind the chairs.

        Twilight took a seat, and told Rose to do the same.

        "Now, I'm sure you have a lot of questions, so please, feel free to ask anything."

        Rose paused for a second, seemed to consider what to ask first, and then spoke nervously.

        "Did you find me last night, and bring me in?"

        "Yes." The princess answered.

        "Why?"

        Twilight had been expecting the first question, but the second one caught her a little off guard. She paused for a second before answering.

        "Because, I found you sleeping out in the cold, I had plenty of room, it's just me and Spike here, after all, and I couldn't just leave you alone."

       "Wait, are you actually going to let me stay here?" The pegasus asked.

        "Well, yes." The allicorn replied "But first, I need to ask you some questions."

        "Okay."

        The purple pony paused.

        "Rose, do you have parents, a family, a place to stay?"

        Rose seemed to be saddened by the question, her small voice cracked slightly, and Twilight thought she caught a glimpse of a tear sliding down her cheek.

        "No, I don't have a family, my mom kicked me out about a year ago, I've been wandering around Equestria ever since."

        Twilight had felt the same mixture of sympathy, sadness, anger, and lack of knowledge about how to respond, several times before, but only to this extant once.

        "I am so sorry, I assumed that you didn't have a place to stay, but I didn't know..." She trailed off.

         "It's okay, your highness," Rose said. "it was my fault, I'm sure I did something to deserve it."

Wow, deja vu.

         "Here," the princess said "I'll go check on the drinks, you stay here, I'll be back in a second.

...

          Upon re-entering, Twilight saw that her dragon was back at the stove, cooking some eggs. He turned around when he heard her walk in.

         "What?" He asked "I didn't get to finish making breakfast."

         "Good, I could really use some breakfast soon. Is Vinyl gone?" Twilight asked.

        "Yeah, she wasn't too happy about being woken up before 12, but other than that, she was pretty cool about the whole thing. Said this kind of stuff happens to her all the time."

        Twilight sighed, leaning up against the wall. "Man, Spike, you aught to hear Rose's story, I'd like to figure out a way to comfort her. No wonder she's nervous around us

        "So, can I assume her story is sad?"

        The allicorn nodded.

         "How sad, like, Pinky Pie, rock farm story sad?" Spike asked.

        "Like, almost identical to Scootaloo's story sad." Twilight replied.

         "Wow."

        Twilight magically lifted the the mug of cocoa and the tea cup off of the stove and onto a tray, and started walking back out of the kitchen.

        "Wait," Spike said "are you really sure we should let her stay here? I mean, we don't know much about her, or what she's like, I mean, come on, have you learned nothing from the Nightmare Nyx incident?"

        "What are you talking about Spike?"

         The purple dragon sighed "Nothing,  nothing at all, I'm just saying, don't be so sure we can trust her."

        "Spike, stop worrying, I'm sure we can trust her, and even if we can't, what's the worst that can happen?"

        And with that, the Purple allicorn left the kitchen.

...

        While Rose was waiting for Twilight, she thought about what she should do next. If this magenta allicorn was the same one she had seen in Canterlot, which she had no doubt about, as she had felt the same way when Twilight saved her from Spike as the time she saw her from inside the Bush, she would have to leave as soon as possible.

Maybe I can slip out before she comes back, I could be out of town in a couple of hours.

        But, Rose decided against this, it wasn't fair to leave one of maybe five ponies that had been nice to her without even a word of goodbye.

        Before Rose could finish her next thought, Twilight re-entered, levitating a tray with two cups on it. She put the tray gently down on a coffee table in front of the chairs, and took her seat again. She then motioned for for Rose to take the mug of cocoa, which she did, and then proceeded to begin sipping her tea. They sat there, enjoying their drinks and the view of town, until Twilight finally broke the silence

        "I take it that you're from Canterlot." She said. When Rose looked confused, she continued.

        "That apron I found you wrapped in last night, it was printed with Pony Joe's logo."

        "Oh, no your highness, I'm from a small village to the east, I ended up in Canterlot the day before yesterday. Joe, he found me in the alley behind his shop, I was on the brink of death. He, he gave me his apron, and that bag of gold you found me with, he gave me that too. Joe saved my life." She said.

       "Oh," The allicorn paused "next time I'm in Canterlot, I will have to thank him. Now, Rose, I know that we just met and all, but, if you don't have anywhere else to go, I would be honored if you would like to stay here, I assume you don't have any relatives that can take you in?"

        Rose shook her head.

        "Then, Rose, I would love it if you would stay, we can get you checked in to the Ponyville adoption association tomorrow, and you can stay here until we find a more permanent home for you."

        Rose thought about it for a second. "I'm sorry, your highness, but I don't think that my staying here would be a good idea. I really do owe you everything, for taking me in and all, but I really need to leave."

        "Rose," the princess said "I can understand if you don't want to stay, but I can't, in good conscience, allow you to go back out on the streets unless I know that you have somewhere to go."

        "But, your highness..."

        "Please, Rose, call me Twilight."

        "Twilight," the pink haired pegasus begged "there are some things about me that I'd prefer nobody knew, at least not yet, I can't ask you to agree with my decision to keep my secrets just that, but I do ask you to respect it. And, because of that, there is a reason I can't stay here."

        "You have a right to privacy, and I do respect that," Twilight said "however, Rose, I have a friend who once told me their story, it was very similar to yours, and I wanted for the longest time to be able to do something about it, but I never could. Think about this from my perspective, and if you won't stay for yourself, then stay for me, please."

        Rose thought about it for a while, then finally sighed. "Alright, Twilight, if you're willing to trust me, I'll trust you."

        The little filly was caught off guard by the violet allicorn suddenly giving her a very large hug."

        "Thank you, Rose." The princess withdrew. "Now, it looks like you could use a bath, come with me, and I'll heat up some water for you, and when you're done, Spike should be finished cooking breakfast."

        Rose looked up at the princess, a sad smile on her face and happy tears in her eyes "Twilight," she said, "thanks."