AMORE OBBLIGATO

Chapter 5: Fortissimo

Spike nervously sat in the chair, lazily swinging his legs which did not even come close to touching the ground. He looked around at the opulent room once more, sighing with apprehension. He knew how valuable Celestia's time was, and how much others always want her advice or needed her approval for one thing or another, but other than Twilight's parents, he didn't know to whom else he could turn. Normally, he would have gone to them, but he knew that as much as she loved her parents, Twilight always took Celestia's word as divine writ.

His eye caught the guards standing at attention at the door to Celestia's private study, but neither of them acknowledged his presence. It always creeps me out a little, the way they never seem to notice the world around them until you do something you're not supposed to. Who would want a job like that? The sound of the Grandam clock in the corner was the only one to be heard in the small antechamber as the seconds ticked away and Spike twiddled his thumbs. Maybe I should have brought some homework to do while I waited? Nah. I don't want to turn into Twilight, or anything.

The little dragon's inner thoughts were interrupted by the door opening and Celestia's personal assistant, Ink Well, Poking her head out out. “Master Spike? The princess will see you now.”

Hopping off the chair, Spike walked into the office and was surprised to see the huge stack of papers sitting to one side of Celestia's desk, but was even more surprised to find the princess herself sitting on a divan next to the fireplace. He ran over to her where she welcomed him with open arms in a hug. Although he had bonded and imprinted on Twilight, Celestia always had a special place in his heart as one of his primary caregivers.

Even so, she was surprised at the ferocity of Spike's hug today, despite the fact that it had been less than a week since they had last seen each other. “Spike, is something wrong?”

Spike looked up and she was dismayed to see tears starting to gather there. “Princess, I think something's wrong with Twilight, but she won't tell me what it is. The past couple of days, she's had this really worried expression on her face, but every time I ask her about it, she just tells me that it's nothing and has me go do something else away from her. Last night when I asked again after dinner, she had me sort through her card catalog even though we had already done that like two weeks ago!”

Celestia pinched her chin between her thumb and forefinger in thought. “Odd. There's no big tests she should be studying for at this time. Perhaps these music lessons are adding too much strain on her?”

“Actually, the only time she's looked happy this week is when she's practicing or talking about music,” Spike replied.

“I see,” Celestia said with a small nod. “Very well, then. When Twilight comes to me for afternoon tea today, I shall talk to her about this. Odd that she was able to conceal whatever is troubling her from me. Perhaps I have not been giving either of you the attention you deserve, lately.” She smiled down at the baby dragon still gripping her in a desperate hug and petted his head spines down. “How would you like to take lunch with me today?”

Spike's grin sent a flutter of affection through the alicorn's chest. “I'd like that, princess.”

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Leaning against the tree to catch her breath, Twinkleshine gasped and brushed a stray lock of pink mane from her eyes. Even though she had been expecting it, the sound of Plain Sight's voice from the other side of the tree startled her, as she was sure that she had arrived first. “What do you have to report?”

Twinkleshine jumped a little, and almost whirled around to face her, but her training kicked in and she just resumed her original position against the tree. “Something... big... is going... down today.” She gasped. Swallowing, she took another deep breath before resuming. “It involves Twilight as well as all of Honeyed Words' clique. I don't know if she'll be there herself, since Busy Bee claimed to have no idea either, no matter what... pressure I used on her.”

“This... pressure, it wasn't anything permanent, was it?” Plain Sight asked.

Shaking her head, Twinkleshine replied with a smile, “No, just a little arm-twisting. It's amazing how little pain these nobles can stand before they spill everything they know.”

Plain Sight nodded in agreement. “Did she say what was being planned and when?”

“It's why I ran all the way here from the other side of the High District,” the unicorn replied, gesturing with a hand at the area of Canterlot that the nobles had unofficially taken over. “They're planning on confronting Twilight before classes outside between the locker room and the equipment storage building. She wouldn't say what Honeyed Words had planned exactly, but I sincerely doubt it would be a tea party.”

With another nod, Plain Sight said, “Good work. Go to Coach Power Lift, and tell him what you learned, and to execute plan delta-three. You're both to await for my signal which is this,” She imitated the call of a thrush, and said, “Understood?”

Twinkleshine pushed off the tree, happy now that she knew Plain Sight was on top of things once more. “Perfectly. I'd better go find him now in case he's not in his office.”

With that, the unicorn filly took off, leaving Plain Sight to slowly make her way over to the expected confrontation spot. She was halfway across the grounds when a niggling little worry came over her, and she changed her mind. Instead of heading towards the equipment storage building, she found an unobtrusive spot to wait within sight of the front gates where Twilight always walked in every morning. Given how chaos seems to dog her every step, it might behoove me to keep her under as much direct surveillance as possible. Don't want another Clock Incident, after all.

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As she approached the front gate to Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns, Twilight swallowed hard, and tried her best to not appear nervous. I'm really starting to regret starting this chain of events. If it weren't for Honeyed Words discovering those Light blasted scribbles, I probably could have just let her coast along in my wake, and I would never have to see her again after graduation. She sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. No, that's not fair. It's my fault she even saw it in the first place. I should have been more careful with them and paid attention in class like I'm supposed to instead of doodling like a dummy. I swear to Celestia that even if this doesn't work out like I planned, I'll never goof off in class again, no matter how well I already know the material.

Walking past the gates unmolested proved to be a bit tougher than the approach. It was only because Twilight was on the lookout for trouble today that she avoided walking into a much larger filly, but the filly in question seemed to seek her out and bump into her, knocking her to the ground.

“Oops. Are you okay?” Tight Rein said very unconvincingly as she towered over Twilight. She bent over and grabbed the smaller unicorn's arm and pulled her to her hooves. From a distance, one could not tell that the action was anything other than a student helping another up, but the strength she put into the grip let Twilight know that there would be no escape. “Here, let me help you to the infirmary to make sure.”

Twilight gulped a little at the filly's choice of words, but the ominous sound of them was no doubt intentional. Her nerves went into overdrive when two more of Honeyed Words' friends showed up and flanked her as well. Though none of them were doing anything overtly hostile, the twisted smiles they wore did not bode well for anypony caught by them. Luckily for Twilight she had anticipated that the final confrontation would start like this, and was even counting on it. After all, she would not want to get into trouble by getting caught doing what she was sure she would soon be forced into doing. Just to keep up the façade though, she let the terror she was feeling at being caught show on her face; let them think it was because they had the upper hand at the moment.

Tight Rein's grip intensified until Twilight was certain that her wrist would be crushed as she pulled her not towards the front doors to the school, but around the side. “Come on, I know a shortcut through here.”

Twilight's hooves became tangled as she was pulled along, almost causing her to trip. One of the other girls- her name escaped the filly at the moment- bodily picked her up and set her on her hooves again, very roughly, almost shoving her forward. She pulled her arm back to give her a quick punch, but something small and very hard smacked into the back of the mystery filly's head, causing her to look around, but the yard was conspicuously empty, and looking down, all she saw was an acorn which she stepped on and ground under her hoof before running to catch up to Tight Rein, who had not stopped or even slowed down.

She caught up to the group just as they rounded the corner, well within sight of the equipment building. Another filly waiting there ran up to Tight Rein and asked, “Did Busy Bee ever show up at the gate?”

“No. Honey said that she'd deal with her personally if she chickened out, so I advise you to tend to your own knitting Silver Service, unless you want some of what Honey plans to give her,” Tight Rein replied. She smirked down at Twilight and added, “Mind you, what she's going to get is nothing compared to you, Egghead. Not even close.”

Even though things were going pretty much as Twilight had planned, she couldn't help but feel a smidgen of worry that she was in fact, over her head, both literally and figuratively. The group went into the small alley between the two buildings. Though class was set to start soon, both would surely be empty, so even though the high windows to the filly's locker room were open to allow for ventilation, there was a very low chance of anypony being in there to hear anything going on out here. Even the tree at the end of the alley blocked the early morning sun, making the normally innocuous space seem much more ominous than any place in a school had a right to be.

Several fillies were already waiting for her arrival, making for an even ten fillies, all looking at Twilight the way a dragon might look at a particular rare gem. Honeyed Words was there, looking rather smug, if a bit put out. Tight Rein shoved the smaller filly against the rough brick wall of the locker room so hard she bounced off a little, and the fillies gathered around Twilight, hemming her in quite effectively.

Honeyed Words nodded to one of the fillies, who concentrated and a bubble of energy formed around them, blocking out the sounds beyond its perimeter. That detail taken care of, she came forward and with one finger, poked Twilight's shoulder hard, pushing her against the wall again. “So, little miss princess' pet thinks she doesn't have to pay her dues? You think you're better than us; than me?”

Twilight remained silent, but set her jaw, and with careful subtlety, began gathering mana for a spell. She wasn't sure what spell she would need to cast just yet, but she had been preparing for this for the past two days, so she believed she was ready to counter whatever they might throw at her.

“Scared?” The older filly asked, a smirk taking over her expression once more. “You should be. My family is one of the oldest, most powerful of the noble houses around. Yours may be almost as old, but it is certainly not as powerful, and is nowhere near as rich.” Planting one hand on the wall over Twilight's shoulder, she leaned in menacingly and with a voice dripping with contempt and venom, she added, “I could buy your entire family with my weekly allowance, and have them all but shunned by the rest of the noble houses. The Great and Noble House of Twilight would be an even sadder shade of what it once was, and considering how far it has already fallen, that's saying something.”

Finally breaking her silence, Twilight mumbled something unintelligible.

Honeyed Words leaned a little closer and said, “What was that? You'll have to speak up; I don't speak mouse.”

Meeting her eyes with her own steely gaze, Twilight said in a soft, but unmistakable voice, “I said that there's more to nobility than a title and money, but then, I don't expect a spoiled little rich filly to understand that.”

Momentarily taken aback at the sudden resolve, Honeyed Words leaned back, then smiled again. “Congratulations, Sparkle; you've actually managed to dig yourself in deeper. I was going to have your punishment be just a friendly reminder of your place in the grand scheme of things, but in light of your truculence, I'm going to have to dial up the pain a little more.” She pushed off the wall and took a few steps back, letting a filly Twilight recognized as one of her more fierce tormentors, Hard Line, take her place. “Just like we practiced, Hard Line. Give me five minutes, then start with the first step of the agony spell, then slowly take it up to oh, say, level five. That should put some respect back in her, I think.”

Hard Line cracked her knuckles, and rolled her head, eliciting more cracks from her neck. “With pleasure. It's not often I get to go past level three. I'll be sure to thank you for that properly, runt,” she said to Twilight as she advanced on her.

With a laugh, Honeyed Words said, “I hope you'll remember the rules of engagement, Sparkle. You even try to implicate one of us, and we'll each have at least five others vouching that we were elsewhere at the time.”

“You're forgetting one thing, Honey,” Twilight said levelly. Her right hand partially hidden from view, slipped into a pocket within her skirt and gripped something.

Pausing in her retreat to the safety of a crowd far away from the scene, Honeyed Words turned around and asked, “And what is that, Sparkle?”

Twilight smiled as a finger of the hand in her pocket pierced a plastic bag, releasing a few small grains of its contents. “I may be the smartest in the class, but smarts is nothing without imagination, and imagination is the prime requisite for ingenuity!” With a sweeping arc, she quickly pulled her hand from her pocket and twirled it around in a circle as the small plastic bag she held spilled out a cloud of glittering powder, coating everypony in the alley, and blinding all but Twilight who was prepared and had closed her eyes. The unicorn's horn glowed with a magenta aura, easily shattering the soundproof bubble while simultaneously amplifying her voice. While the others were shouting about their blindness, Twilight drew in a deep breath and gave the loudest, most ear-piercing shriek for help of her life.

The narrow alley with a sound-baffling tree at one end acted like an amplifier, turning the already cacophonous yell into something deafening within in its confines. Unfortunately for Twilight, Hard Line already had her spell ready and targeted, meaning that she didn't need her eyes to hit her with it. When the spell hit, her yell turned into a wail of pain that under the amplification magic she had cast, rivaled an air raid siren. Even her own ears were ringing, but she didn't even notice due to the agony spell, which because of Hard Line's surprise, was actually the most powerful she had ever cast before. Twilight dropped to the ground and writhed around, mindless in her torment.

With a curse, Plain Sight dropped down from the tree, throwing down a glass vial that filled the alley with smoke, negating all magic it touched. She picked up the unconscious Twilight, cradling in her arms like an exceptionally large, limp doll. She ran to the end of the alley, almost running directly into a very large earth pony stallion and Twinkleshine. She paused long enough to say, “There's ten girls in there, including Honeyed Words. Detain them all and keep them under careful watch in your office. I need to get Twilight to the nurse right away. Twinkleshine, report to the principal and have her meet me there.” With that, she dashed off, leaving her subordinates to their work.

Twinkleshine ran off to complete her orders, While Coach Power Lift walked into the alley, where eight girls covered in glitter were trying to regain their hooves. Some were still rubbing at their eyes, and all of them were bleeding from their ears. Power Lift stomped on the ground, sending vibrations that all of them felt, causing them to turn their attention to him. Knowing that they would all be unable to hear him until they had seen the nurse to restore their hearing, he looked at them disapprovingly and gestured for them to line up against the wall, which they did, some helping those still blinded by the glitter. He looked around, but the expected number was short by two, most conspicuous in her absence being Honeyed Words.

Several Teachers came up then, with Crucible in the lead, her mane still askew from when she fell out of her chair at Twilight's bellow. “What happened here? Is everything alright?”

Power Lift gestured at the assembled fillies and said, “The guard caught them doing something they shouldn't and asked me to hold on to them. Unfortunately, two of them ran off in the confusion. Would you mind searching for them? They're likely covered in glitter like these are.” His back to the fillies, he silently mouthed the words, “Honeyed Words”.

Crucible nodded in understanding. She ran a finger down Hard Line's sleeve, gathering a bit of the glitter and sniffed it, causing her to give a violent sneeze. “No problem. Coated in Sovereign Glue from the smell of it. Looks like it was slightly weakened with a bit of Dispelling Dust, but if it's made by who I think it is, there should still be plenty of stickiness to it that it won't come off easily.” Her horn lit in a fiery aura, and she bent over at the waist, following a trail only she could see out the other end of the alley, Cosine following after her.

Turning to the rest of the teachers, he nodded to them. “Now, if one of you could help me herd these fine young ladies to my office, I think the rest of you can return to your classes.” Just as he finished, the bell signaling the start of the school day rang.

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Twilight awoke, her bleary eyes taking in the mostly white surroundings, which contrasted with the odd flag waving above her. She blinked a few times, allowing her vision to clear, revealing Princess Celestia sitting in a chair next to her bed in the school infirmary. She tried to sit up, but had to lie back down as a wave of nausea overtook her senses, sending her head spinning. “P- Princess! What- where- huh?”

Celestia gently smiled down at her. “You gave us all quite a scare, My Faithful Student. I heard your voice clear all the way to the palace. Gave Spike a severe shock as well. He was ready to come blazing to your rescue, so I had to cast a sleep spell upon him in order to keep him out of trouble.” Her smile disappeared, and her face took on the serious look she wore whenever she dealt with a particularly disagreeable noble as she asked, “Is there something you want to talk about, Twilight Sparkle?”

Swallowing hard, Twilight never even considered telling her no or a lie. It all came tumbling out, starting with the first day of high school when Honeyed Words first gave her the option of helping her pass or facing the consequences, all the way up to this morning's events. She even told her of her burgeoning feelings for Octavia which precipitated the final confrontation with her bully. By the end of it, the filly was in tears, sore afraid that she would be dismissed as The Princess' personal student. “I'm sorry, Princess! I've wanted to tell you so many times now, but every time I worked up the courage, I would chicken out, because so much time had passed, or I thought I could handle it myself. I didn't want to burden you with something trivial like this; you've already got so much to do and worry about, I-”

Celestia silenced her with a finger on the filly's lips. “Twilight, I'm not going to stop teaching you over something like this, but you realize what must happen now, don't you?”

With a sad nod, Twilight replied, “I'm going to be punished. Go ahead, Princess; I deserve it.”

Sighing sadly, Celestia said, “For not coming to me or anypony in authority with this problem, and instead deciding to 'handle it yourself', your library, observatory and laboratory privileges are hereby revoked for no less than a month. You will not enter any such facility except for the purposes of completing school assignments, but not extra credit. Furthermore, all the books in your apartment are even now being boxed up and placed into storage until your punishment concludes, and your paper, ink, and quill allowance will be cut back to the bare minimum necessary to allow completion of your school assignments.”

The alicorn almost lost her composure at the sight of Twilight's overreaction to her punishment, but she still wasn't done. “Additionally, you will be performing at least two hours of community service of my choosing every weekday after school as well as six hours of the same every Sunday and Satyrday. When not at school, on assignment, or at your parents' house, you are to come directly to the palace and are banned from outdoor activities without my explicit permission.”

Twilight gaped like a landed fish, appalled at the severity of the discipline, but could not bring herself to object. She nodded, conceding her fate, but she had a question. “Um... Princess? What about... what about my music lessons?”

Putting a finger to her chin, Celestia mused, “Well, I suppose it is schooling, and we can't interfere with that. Very well, then. On the days of you music lessons, you are excused from community service. I presume there are no objections?” Twilight shook her head, and Celestia rose to her hooves with another sigh. “Then that concludes your disciplinary meeting. I'll expect to see you straight away after school today so that we might further discuss this and how could have been handled better.”

She turned to leave, but Twilight's voice stopped her. “Princess?” Celestia turned back to her, and the unicorn asked, “W- what's going to happen to Honeyed Words?”

Celestia folded her arms under her considerable bust as she considered. “Well, that really depends on how repentant she is for her actions. From what I've gathered, she's rather entrenched in her ways by now, and we still have to consider the length and extent of her actions. You're not the only one she terrorized, and from what I've seen, not the worst case.”

Twilight silently considered this for a moment, before asking, “You're not going to... banish her, are you?”

“No, Twilight. I will not banish her, though she will suffer some sort of punishment. We must all obey the laws, even those who make them. No one is above them. No one,” Celestia replied grimly. She offered her protégée a weak smile before walking out, leaving the filly to her thoughts.

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With a tired sigh, Twilight trudged through the palace gates, barely acknowledging the guards' salutes in an uncharacteristic display of depression. The two guards spared each other a knowing glance, but remained silent at their post. She plodded along through the palace until she came to The Princess' parlor where they always partook of after-school tea and shyly knocked. The Princess' musical voice called out, “Enter,” and the filly let herself in.

She was surprised by a living missile tackling her before she even got fully into the room. Looking down, she saw Spike burying his face in her stomach as he gave her the fiercest hug he had yet delivered. “Spike...”

He suddenly pushed away and gave her a light punch on the arm. “That's for not talking to me about this. I'm supposed to be your number one assistant, aren't I? Then treat me like one!” With that, he hugged her again. “I'm just glad you're okay, Twi.”

Confused at his bipolar display of emotions, Twilight stopped rubbing her sore arm and simply opted to hug him back, accepting the painful punch as her due. “I'm sorry, Spike. It won't happen again.”

A polite cough got her attention, and Twilight looked over towards Celestia's couch, only to be horrified that both her parents were there as well. Oh, boy. First, The Princess uses my full name, and now mom and dad are involved. This does not look good.

She was surprised once more when her mother and father both came forward and hugged both her and Spike at once. “You need to come home more often, Twily. Your father and I missed you so much,” Velvet said.

Twilight was embarrassed at the use of her parent's nickname for her, but was enjoying the feel of their affection too much to really object. “I'm sorry, mom, daddy. I... I didn't mean to disappoint or worry you or anything. I just...”

“Shh... It's alright, Twilight,” Night Light replied. “We're just glad you're safe and sound.”

They led her over to the couch where they sat her and Spike between them. The filly dried her eyes and looked over to Celestia, who was calmly sipping her tea. “I'm sorry again, Princess. I promise it won't happen again.” She hesitated as she broached the next subject, but she managed to squeeze the question out. “Um, if it's alright for me to ask, what's happened to Honeyed Words?”

Celestia set her cup down on the table and cleared her throat. “I'm sorry to say that she remained rather stubborn despite my repeated warnings that prevarications would not be tolerated. She has been asked to leave my school along with her friend, Tight Rein. As far as I know, their parents are sending them away to their home city of Neigh Orleans, where they will finish their schooling in a different private academy. I'm afraid you may have an enemy for life, My Faithful Student.”

Looking down at her lap where she twiddled her thumbs, Twilight said in a quiet voice, “I was afraid of that. I tried to use a method that would allow her to come clean with a minimum of trouble for anypony involved, but she can be quite... obstinate.”

Celestia nodded. “I noticed. All their other friends admitted to their wrongdoings, and will be suspended for two weeks during which time they will also be given two months of community service, but will be allowed to return after that. Naturally, they will be closely monitored from here on out, so I doubt you will have anything to worry about from them.”

Twilight gave a weak nod, shuddering at the thought of being banned from school for two whole weeks. Her banishment from her favorite work spaces was already bad enough; banning her from school would have been just unendurable.

“I hope all this will teach you to come to the proper authorities in future, Twily,” Night Light said, as he gently ruffled her mane.

Sheepishly smiling up at her father, Twilight replied, “Don't worry, daddy. I don't want to go through that again.”

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Twilight collapsed face-down on her apartment couch, exhausted from such an eventful day. She had never felt so emotionally drained that it affected her physical energy before. “Ugh. Maybe I should just call in dead tomorrow?” she mused aloud.

“They'd never buy it,” Spike replied to her rhetorical question with dripping sarcasm and acerbic wit as he continued on to the kitchen to prepare some tea for them both. “They know that even if you died, your ghost would haunt the school just to get your diploma.”

Twilight rolled her eyes, but didn't rise to the bait. Her gaze landed on an empty bookshelf, and she cursed her own stupidity. A whole month without books? How am I ever going to survive? Already, I can feel ennui stealing in like a thief, turning my brain to mush. With a groan, she buried her face into the couch cushions so she wouldn't have to look at her naked shelves.

Author's Note

Sorry this one took so long to come out. Just a side note, I've got a new job, so updates may continue to be this far apart. I'll try to get them out faster, but you know how it is. Also, sorry there wasn't much romance in this one, but the conflict needed to be resolved... for now.