Steady as She Flies

Chapters

Chapter 1 - Reassignment
Chapter 2 - Wonderment
Chapter 3 - Instrument
Chapter 4 - Bewilderment
Chapter 5 - Adjustment
Chapter 6 - Engagement
Chapter 7 - Amendment
Chapter 8 - Movement
Chapter 9 - Convergent
Chapter 10 - Presentiment
Chapter 11 - Efferent

Chapter 1 - Reassignment

Witching Hour paces anxiously around her apartment, running through a mental check-list multiple times aloud, convinced she was forgetting something.

“Relax Twitchy-Witchy… You’re not forgetting anything…” Monkey Wrench says with a sigh from her seat on a couch. “And it’s not like you’re going far. You’re not even leaving Canterlot!” she adds with a slight flip of her wings, sending rays of green light flashing from the crystalline edges.

Witching Hour casts her pegasus friend an exasperated glance. “That’s not the point, Monkey!” she snaps irritably before sighing as well. “Did you even know the Wonderbolts had non-pegasi staff?!” she demands, flopping onto the other couch in the apartment the pair shared.

Since Witching Hour had saved Monkey Wrench’s ability to fly, the unlikely pair had been nearly inseparable. Monkey Wrench had moved to Canterlot to keep her physical therapy/retraining herself to fly with Witching Hour, and eventually that lead to spending their downtime together… Which lead to Monkey Wrench getting a job with the Weather Team, and them moving into an apartment together about a month before Witching Hour’s newest assignment from Princess Luna.

“And that’s not the point either, Witch,” Monkey retorts. “You don’t even have to pack to move into the compound. It’s barely further than you walk to get to the castle. And I’ve already promised that the house won’t become a sty. Chill, girl… You realize how lucky you are? You get to work with the Wonderbolts! I would happily maim to get another shot at flying with them!”

Witching Hour turns a frustrated glare on Monkey Wrench, brushing a stray lock of blue mane back into place. “Monkey… We’ve been over this… There’s no reason you couldn’t try to join…”

Monkey cut the unicorn off by spreading one wing out, the crystal edge sending another sparkling array of green light throughout their living area. “Um… I think that’s a perfectly good reason…”

“And I’ve told you that it’s not…”

“It is!” Monkey snaps, and turns to look out the window, attempting to end the uncomfortable conversation.

“Oh for buck’s sake, Monkey!” Witching Hour sighs, getting up and standing in front of her roommate. “It’s not cheating that your natural wing power makes you go faster and turn sharper now…” she says, poking at Monkey’s chest with her hoof.

“So what if you say it’s not… Not everyone agrees with you, Witch. You’re not a pegasus,” Monkey replied, turning hard green eyes on her friend. Her eyes catch on the wall-mounted clock and she sighs, shaking her head, causing her short red mane to flip wildly. “Look, Witch… I appreciate the encouragement, but it’s not going to change the fact that my competitive flying days are done… And if you want to argue more about it, you know where I sleep, because if you don’t get going soon, you’ll be late for your first shift.”

Witch looks as though she were about to argue, but then the words ‘going to be late’ sunk into her brain. “Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!! Dammit all!!!” Witch wails, running into her room, then reappearing with her work saddlebag over her lab coat before she zips into the kitchen and dashes out of the apartment, levitating a lunch bag ahead of her. Almost immediately after the door closed behind her, it opens and Witch peers around the edge. “Don’t think this conversation is over, Miss Wrench!” she states firmly, glowering at the pegasus.

Monkey, though irritated at the unicorn’s persistence, merely raises an eyebrow at her. “Late?” she suggests simply, garnering Witch’s panicked reaction and the door slams behind her again.

Witch gallops hard through the streets of Canterlot, her lunch bag now stashed safely in her saddlebag. With her stipend from her parents and Princess Luna, combined with Monkey’s income, they’d managed to afford a much nicer place than she’d had before, and was therefore much closer to the hospital. Of course, that point was now moot, since the Princess had enlisted her with the Wonderbolts, but it wasn’t much further to get to the Wonderbolts compound.

Her mind still spins with thoughts as she concentrates on running hard to get to the compound. Just like Monkey to use her ‘early is on time, on time is late, and late is unacceptable’ thought process to get herself out of the conversation.

She’d been there when Monkey had been called a cheater. It had been at a small competition for young pegasi in Canterlot. The race had been nothing huge or important; just for fun and pride… But one pegasus that took losing poorly had called Monkey a cheater since her wings had obviously been meddled with.

Witch slowed her pace as she got into more crowded avenues, only managing a slow trot through the masses of ponies around. She was frustrated with Monkey for letting it get under her skin; it was just a sour comment from a sore loser, but Monkey had decided afterwards that she’d have nothing to do with competitive flying whatsoever. She had even tossed the small winged trophy she’d gotten for first place in the trash. (Witch had rescued it on multiple occasions until she finally hid it in her room.)

Witch sighs, stopping at a cross street, and shakes her head. She resigns herself to worrying about Monkey later… For now, she had to concentrate on work. She glances around quickly, glad to see that her thoughts had not taken her off her path to the compound. She turns right, and finds the streets thankfully less packed the further into the high end district she got.

She still had trouble with the knowledge Princess Luna had leveled on her two weeks before; that the Wonderbolts were actually a military organization, and earth ponies and unicorns were among them as ground support! And now she was joining them?!

She shakes her head, one of the restrained tails of her main flipping into her face before she puffs a breath at it to get it back in place. She looks up the steps to the compound, feeling a little daunted. While Luna had been correct in stating that her work at Canterlot General was starting to take its toll on her, Witch wasn’t, and still isn’t, sure it was such a great idea to reassign her to a new practice… Would she still be doing medical work? Probably… Celestia and Luna knew how often training injuries happened, even without the idea that the Wonderbolts were also training to do combat. But Luna had also implied that she’d need to stretch herself into new areas for this… She couldn’t help but worry anxiously about what exactly she’d be doing.

Witch takes the steps quickly up to the entrance and goes in. Upon entering, Witch feels a new swell of anxiety, and distinctly tiny in the grand foyer. Her eyes go wide as she takes the whole place in; three floors, and lots of pegasi flitting about. Feeling horribly out of place, she pushes the urge to turn right back around and head straight back home aside, reminding herself that Monkey would never let her hear the end of it if she did, and slowly approaches the front desk where a unicorn stallion (‘Oh thank Luna, another unicorn here!’ she thinks with a mental sigh of relief) sorts the mail.

“Um… Ahem… Excuse me?” she starts, gaining his attention. “I’m Witching Hour… Princess Lu-”

“Ah yes! Witching Hour,” he says before pulling a note taped to the near edge of the mail desk. “Princess Luna said to expect you today… Report to Siren Bliss in the trainer room, and she’ll have your schedule. Just head past the staircase, then hang a right down the hall to the east wing; just past the mess hall on the right.”

“Thank you very much,” Witch replies and starts to head in the direction indicated before the stallion catches her attention again.

“And hey!” he starts, and waits for her to turn around before continuing. “Welcome to the Wonderbolts.”

Chapter 2 - Wonderment

When Witch enters the trainer room, she wonders briefly who Siren Bliss is before shaking her head. She looks around, seeing all the beds arrayed in rows along each wall, along with the tubs obviously ready for water and various trainers darting from table to table where a few pegasi were being treated for minor work-out related injuries; strains and the like. Much lower key than her hospital work, and certainly nothing life-threatening, Witch notes, already feeling some of her stress sloughing off.

Witch doesn’t have much time to savor the relief as a brown unicorn mare with a dark brown mane approaches her, looking decidedly concerned. “You lost, sweetie?” she asks. “The labs are downstairs,” she adds. “Stairwell’s at the end of the other hall, on the left.”

“Pardon, ma’am, but I’m Witching Hour… I was told to come here,” Witch explains, making the unicorn do a double take.

“Oh…” She smiles sheepishly at Witch. “I should have recognized you,” she adds with a slight chuckle. “I’m Siren Bliss, Head Trainer,” she continues, gesturing with her hoof to follow her towards the far end of the room. “There’s some paperwork we need to fill out, and then we’ll figure out where and when you’re scheduled.”

Witch follows Siren Bliss into the small but comfortable office, taking the only other seat in the room aside from Bliss’, which she promptly sits in before pulling various forms from folders in a filing cabinet and stacking them neatly on the desk before her. The last one Bliss pulls she takes a moment to look over. “Well… It looks like R&D wants some of your time, despite your obvious medical knowledge… You okay with splitting your time between here and the labs, hon?” she asks, looking up at Witch.

Witch nods, feeling a little unnerved at how relaxed Bliss is being around her. “I’m here to be at the Wonderbolts’ disposal… I will need to report to Princess Luna on occasion, but whatever I’m needed for, I’m more than up for the challenge,” Witch replies with a slight shrug. Bliss simply nods, and floats the paper over to Witch. Now able to read it, Witch saw her schedule in two-hour blocks in rows, and the days in columns. Most mornings, she’s slated in the trainer room, but for Fridays and Saturdays. Those are both half days, but Friday morning is in the labs, and Saturday afternoon is in the trainer room. Sunday is apparently her day off, but it was also advised in the schedule that she should make use of the gym that day after speaking to someone called Pec Bounce during any unscheduled time.

Witch glances up from the timetable at Bliss with a raised eyebrow. Bliss shrugs a reply. “Princess Luna surely told you what we do outside the public appearances… All members of the Wonderbolts, pegasi or not, are expected to be able to hold their own,” she explains, causing Witch to swallow nervously. Bliss smiles in understanding. “I’ll write up a plan and schedule for that if you like?” she offers. “It’d certainly be more suited to our physiology than anything Pec Bounce would come up with…” she adds with a slight chuckle.

Witch finds herself smiling in reply. “I’d appreciate that, thank you,” she responds, trying not to chortle as well. She didn’t know who this Pec Bounce guy was aside from someone who ran the gym, but given Bliss’ offer, Witch guesses that he must be a complete muscle head with a name like that. Horrible of her to think it, her smile turns a little sheepish. ‘Witchy, don’t go making such assumptions! These are your coworkers now!’ she chides herself mentally.

“I’ll get that to you before the end of the week… But now, breakfast is about to get done, and we should get this paperwork out of the way and show you around before we get swamped,” Bliss says before starting floating papers over to Witch to fill out; a lot of liability waivers and confidentiality agreements and all quickly dealt with.

“Most of the places you’ll need to know about are on this level or downstairs,” Bliss says, after filing all the forms away and standing. Witch follows her out, back into the Trainer room, nodding. “Offices are on the second floor, and squad dorms are on the third… Recruit dorms are down the central hall just past the staircase. Mess hall’s next door as you might’ve seen on your way in… Get used to bland food, or making a quick run to whatever food places are near here. The Battledome is further down the hall, as are the classrooms for squads to go over their maneuvers… The command squads have their private gyms over here as well. The West Wing is where the weight room and other practice rooms are…” Bliss continues, almost rambling, as she leads Witch to the entrance to her domain. “I’ll take you over to the labs after lunch. For now… Protocol…” With that, Bliss levitates a clipboard from next to the door and shows it to Witch. “This is where everyone must sign in, and then sign out, noting what treatment they got. If you see a supply of anything getting low, there’s another clipboard by the storage closet to note that.”

Witch continues to nod as Bliss explains the general treatments the trainers provide. Privately, she again feels the keen relief of no longer being faced with life-or-death choices like she had in the hospital. Combined with how friendly Bliss seems, the atmosphere in the trainer room is like the tea Witch’s mother gave her to help her sleep. The door swings open, and a large group of pegasi came in - several with obviously tender joints.

Bliss sighs, watching each one sign in, before turning back to Witch. “Well… It’s time to work… I’ll watch you for a bit and then you’ll be on your own reconnaissance,” she says with a dry smile.

Witch smiles back, knowing that Bliss probably wanted to make sure she didn’t go straight to the worst case scenario as would be the typical case in a hospital. She approaches the first table where a large, green female pegasus patiently waits. She puts on her professional mask and smiles brightly to the visitor. “Hi there… What can I do for you?”

Witch sighs heavily, leaning against a now vacant table. The morning had been just as busy as Bliss had implied, but thankfully, she’d performed to the Head Trainer’s standards, and Bliss had left her alone after the second patient.

“Hey newbie! C’mon! It’s chow time!” a pale green unicorn mare calls from near the doors. Witch nods and pushes away from the bed, moving quickly to join her and her colleagues.

“I’m Green Flash, who’re you?” she asks as the group makes their way down the hall to the cafeteria.

“Witching Hour… I was assigned here by Princess Luna,” Witch explains, garnering a squeal of girl-ish joy from one of their companions as they got in the sandwich line. Witch looked back, sighting the unicorn mare with brown eyes, braided pink mane and reddish brown coat who is presently squishing her cheeks together with her hooves while making excited noises and practically dancing in place while her tray hovered nearby.

“Oh my stars! You know Princess Luna!?” she exclaims, grabbing Witch by the shoulders and shaking her.

“Cinna! Keep it down!” Green Flash snaps before sighing. “That’s Cinnabelle,” she adds, shaking her head as she loads her tray. “She’s Bliss’ secretary.”

“Administrative assistant!” Cinnabelle retorts with a playful glower. “And you can’t really blame me, can you? I mean… Getting your assignments from a Princess… Personally,” she continues, sighing wistfully.

“Well… I am her student…” Witch replies uncertainly and bumps into Green Flash when she takes a step back as Cinnabelle squees again.

“You’re Princess Luna’s student!!!” she cries excitedly as she accidentally puts her salad into her soup bowl, her voice carrying through the now crowded lunch hall. Witch blushes, looking around at the various ponies now staring in their direction.

“Please… Keep it down?” Witch pleads, ducking her head and moving quickly to put Green Flash between her and the rest of the staring diners.

“Cinna… You’re scaring the newbie,” Green Flash says with no small amount of irritation as she put a hoof around Witch’s shoulders and guides her further along the line.

“I’m sorry but… Wow…” Cinnabelle apologizes as she catches up with them, looking contrite. “If I were even her assistant, I’d be telling everyone! It must be so exciting!”

“Not really…” Witch replies warily. “She mostly just arranges for my teachers… She had me working at Canterlot General before this…” she explains as the small group get drinks from the dispensers. “I do study some magic theory for her, but mostly it’s self-directed study.”

“That… Is… So… Amazing!” Cinnabelle exclaims, belatedly realizing that her glass was now overflowing with carrot juice. She makes a small squeaking noise as she hastily pulls her glass back and casts a quick spell to clean up the mess she’d inadvertently made.

“You’ll have to excuse Cinna here… She’s a bit obsessed when it comes to the elite of Canterlot… If you have a conversation with her and she doesn’t mention somepony like Fancy Pants, Upper Crust, Jet Set, Fleur Dis Lee, any famous pony or royalty, something is horribly wrong or she has obviously been replaced by pod-pony,” Green Flash explains with a sigh.

“I’d be up among them now if my grandparents hadn’t thrown a conniption over my father marrying ‘below’ them!” Cinna persists as they move to the tables, making quote gestures with her hooves. “They even named me after my grandmother in the hopes that at least she’d come around… No horseshoes there, but…”

Witch can’t help but laugh now at the dynamics between Green Flash and Cinnabelle. “I know that the upper class tends to frown on unicorns marrying other kinds of ponies… They don’t like patronizing my mother’s tea room and bar because she married an earth pony, never mind that he’s been bringing her all the odd ingredients she needed since… Well, pretty much ever… But that doesn’t change-”

“OH MY GOSH YOUR MOM IS FINE BREW?!” Cinna exclaims as she drops her tray on an empty table, drawing all the eyes in the hall back to their group and making Witch wish either she or Cinnabelle were not here.

“CINNA!” Green Flash shouts, practically pouncing on the offending unicorn and shoving her face into her soup/salad. Sighing as her friend blows bubbles in the leafy soup/soupy salad, Green Flash looks over at Witch. “As I said… Please excuse her…”

“Cinna turning into a fanpony again?” asks the familiar voice of Bliss as she joins them at the table, chuckling. “Let her up, Flash… She’s the one that keeps us in bandages…” Bliss adds with smile. Green Flash sighs and removes her hoof from the back of Cinna’s head. Cinna sits up, taking a deep breath before snorting to get soup and leaves of lettuce from her nose.

Bliss takes a quick look around at the gawkers. “Move along. Nothing to see here…” she says as she makes shooing motions with her hooves. The staring crowd quickly and loudly go back to their meals. She sighs, returning her attention to her trainers and assistant. “Cinna, sweetie… Tone it down a notch or eight. Yes, Witching Hour may have some significant ties, but calm yourself a bit… It’s clear the topic makes her uncomfortable.”

Cinna pouts a bit, but nods. “Sorry, Witching Hour… It’s just really exciting…” she says with a sheepish smile.

Witch, still highly uncomfortable, smiles shakily back. “Just… Try not to do it again? I’d rather be known for what I do than for who I know…” she says timidly, garnering an approving nod from Green Flash and a bemused look from Bliss.

“Shame you weren’t around five months ago… Could’ve used something like that spell you created…” Bliss replies dryly, making Witch cringe slightly.

“I was on the hospital team when Mr. Soarin came in and I actually started work on the spell afterwards…” Witch murmurs softly, her eyes cast down at her plate. She looks up sharply though when she hears Bliss snort.

“That doesn’t surprise me one bit… Quite the miracle those doctors pulled off… and apparently you too! And without that spell no less,” Bliss responds.

Witch quickly bit her tongue. While she’d been off duty when the royal sisters had arrived, it was hard to remain ignorant of it while being Princess Luna’s personal student. Still, she had promised her teacher that she’d perpetuate the ruse that it was simply a miracle pulled off by a team of dedicated doctors. “Yeah… Thanks…” she says, averting her eyes.

“Wait, what spell?” Green Flash queries, leaning forward and oblivious to the fact that a daisy petal is now hanging from her lower lip. Witch groans, using her magic to shove her tray aside, and puts her head down on the table before covering it with her forelegs. She feels someone poking her with a hoof. She peeks from between her limbs, and sees that her harasser was Cinna.

“What? You said you wanted to be better known for what you did instead of who you know… So… Tell us!” Cinna says defensively, having sighted Witch’s blue eye peering out at her.

“Fine…” Witch sighs, pushing herself back upright. “I made a spell that completely healed a pegasus’ wings…” She created a brief illusion of a miniature Monkey as she’d appeared just after her accident on the table so all her companions could see, but not anyone else trying to eat lunch. Blis and Flash cringe and Cinna sharply inhales, aghast. “As you can see, without my new spell, she would’ve been permanently grounded… Now, however,” she explains with clinical coolness before changing the image to show Monkey with her wings fully extended up and out. Cinna, Flash and Bliss could all clearly see the crystal edges glittering. Their eyes widen in surprise, and Flash’s jaw drops.

“Her name is Monkey Wrench, and she’s now my friend and roommate. The spell had an unexpected benefit in that she needed less wingpower to complete normal maneuvers… She spent most of her time in physical therapy relearning how to fly. She can still go full-tilt, which is now even faster than she ever had gone before…” Witch couldn’t help the sigh that escapes her as she finishes explaining, the spell vanishing in a twinkling of glacial blue motes.

“I sense a ‘but’ in that statement…” Cinna prods, Bliss and Flash nodding in agreement. Witch sighs debates internally whether or not to tell these ponies about Monkey’s certainty that the crystal wings were somehow cheating now. On the one hand, those things were told in confidence not only to her as a doctor, but as a friend… But Bliss and Flash are colleagues, and collaborating on cases wasn’t an uncommon thing.

“She gave up competitive flying after being called a cheater at a small fly meet about six weeks ago… She took first in the obstacle course, and the ass was obviously a sore loser, but she took it to heart, apparently… I know she wants to keep doing it, but she’s believes it’s cheating now…” Witch explains, sighing heavily as she magically pulls her tray back and takes a bite of her own sandwich.

Cinna looks about ready to hunt the asshole pegasus down, or start ranting heavily about what she’d do to him, but schools her expression into a calmer one at a sharp look from Flash.

“That is quite the issue…” Bliss says with an air of sage wisdom. “I’m guessing you tried to convince her that it wasn’t but she said that you’re a unicorn and couldn’t possibly understand?”

Witch nods, smiling ruefully. “Something to that effect, yes…”

Cinna looks between Bliss and Flash with a desperate look in her eyes. “Well we have to do something to help! Isn’t that our job?!” she demands crossly. Despite their rocky start, Witch finds herself now warming to the aide. Part of her wonders if Cinna’s reaction to Monkey’s injury is indicative of someone close to her being in a similar situation, but she shakes that thought aside when Flash snorts in aggravation.

“Our job says nothing about helping the general public; we work for the Wonderbolts, Cinna,” Flash replies with an irritated roll of her violet eyes.

Cinna opens her mouth to take umbrage but Bliss speaks, effectively cutting her off. “Leave it to me, Cinna… And Flash? We’re doctors, first and foremost, and that does mean that we help anyone that needs healing. Just because this Monkey Wrench isn’t a Wonderbolt doesn’t mean we should ignore the obvious burden of our coworker,” Bliss states calmly, making all of them look at her in confusion. “I have an idea. I’ll tell you if it pans out,” she adds, firmly ending the discussion before turning to Witch. “Better hurry up. I need to get you downstairs soon or ol’ Velly’s going to throw a tantrum about me keeping a researcher from him…”

Chapter 3 - Instrument

Witch stares at the door to Vellum Trace’s labs, an uncertain expression back on her face. Bliss had escorted her downstairs, and told her how to get to the labs before racing back to the Trainer Room… Apparently, the last time she’d had to leave Flash and Cinna in charge, she’d returned to the room with unrolled bandages covering everything.

With a sigh, Witch knocks and then opens the door. She catches a glimpse of what could best be described as a Gold Bloom device in motion before someone shouts, “OH GODS SHUT THE DOOR!” and the door is forced closed against Witch. She blinks in confusion, but then a flash of light comes from the edges of the door along with a resounding boom that rattles the door on its hinges. Witch’s eyebrow twitches upwards, wondering what in Equestria they were doing in the lab.

Before Witch can move again to open the door, it swings open, revealing and older dark red unicorn stallion with a white and black streaked mane wearing a lab coat and lab goggles with heavily tinted lenses. “What do you - Oh! You must be Witching Hour,” he says, pulling his goggles down so he could see Witch properly. “About time! Head Trainer hogs everyone who can wrap a bandage!” he grouses before going back into the lab, but leaving the door open for Witch to follow him.

Witch blinks a few times before she does so, closing the door behind her. Various unicorns in labcoats all dart about, exchanging the light filter goggles for standard clear ones and resuming whatever experiments they’d been working on before the crazy, complicated contraption went off.

The stallion who’d opened the door leads Witch to a back corner with filing cabinets basically forming a half-walled office. She watches in a state of mild confusion as he rummages around on the desk before finally finding the file he apparently wanted. “Ah! Okay… So! Says you have primarily done medical research - I’m amazed Bliss let you leave… Studied Magic Theory with Princess Luna - fantastic… Logic studies - not bad… Music…” He pauses in his outer monologuing to look up at Witch. “Good with sounds, are you?”

Witch jumps slightly at suddenly being addressed. “Um… Yes… My music tutor said I had perfect pitch in hearing and production…” she replies hesitantly

He nods, looking back at the file. “Alright… Well… Much as I want to put you in with Theory and Development right away, we need a good ear over in Sound.” Witch safely assumes that this stallion is Vellum Trace. “You’ll be answering to Piano Treble. Sound Lab is two doors down, on the left,” he continues, seemingly oblivious to the fact that he had yet to introduce himself.

“Shall I report there every afternoon, Mr. Vellum Trace?” she asks, making him blink in surprise before he laughs at himself.

“Excuse me, Miss Witching Hour, for not introducing myself properly, but it seems we both assumed each other’s names correctly without them,” Vellum Trace responds before putting her file back on his desk. Internally, she cringes at the chaos on his desk, her hooves and horn itching to tackle it and organize it properly.

“No harm done… But… My question? Should I report to the Sound Lab instead of here?” she repeats, a little desperation leaking into her tone. Despite her efforts to keep her attention on him, Witch’s eyes flick to the various ongoing experiments, and wants very much to see what they are all for.

“Ah! Yes… Sorry…” Vellum chuckles again. “Check in with me every Monday, but otherwise yes. I’ll let you know if anything changes,” he adds, his dour demeanor returning. He pauses for a long moment, watching her carefully before narrowing his eyes. “Well… What are you waiting for? Sound Lab! Now!” he says, waving his hooves at her as he turns and goes back to his Gold Bloom contraption.

Witch shakes her head before heading out into the hall and going down two doors to the one labeled “Sound Lab”. She knocks, but there’s no response, so she opens the door. A wave of cacophonous sounds assaults her ears, making them lay flat against her head as she cringes in pain. Within moments, the aural attack ends, and a small ivory unicorn mare with a blue-streaked silver mane and tail comes to the door.

“Sorry about that… We weren’t expecting anybody…” she says in a sweet voice. “I don’t recognize you… I’m Piano Treble, Head of the Sound Lab, but call me Treble. New assignment?” Piano Treble asks, peering at Witch with curious light blue eyes as though trying to place Witch in her memory.

“Very new,” Witch says, grateful when her ears stop ringing. “My name is Witching Hour. I just started here today… My mornings are generally with the Trainers, but Mr. Vellum Trace said I should work here, and check with him on Mondays to see if that changes,” she explains.

“Good ear?” Treble queries, her ears perking up and eyes practically dancing with excitement. Witch barely nods before Treble’s horn glows with a silvery light which also surrounds Witch, pulling her into the lab without another word. As the door slams, Treble starts dancing gleefully. “YAY! Finally!!! Come this way!” she says, promptly dragging Witch over to another door. Forcibly ushered inside, Witch finds herself in a full sound studio complete with window out into a room with ponies and their instruments.

“What do you need me to do?” Witch asks, mildly bewildered at Treble’s cryptic enthusiasm.

“I need you… to listen. Put these on,” she replies, and suddenly, a pair of headphones surrounded in her silver magic appear in front of Witch just before they’re jammed onto her head. Witch winces slightly and adjusts them herself while Treble looks sheepish and says something… but the headphones completely blocked out the sound.

Witch sighs and nudges one side off her ear. “I’m sorry… What was that?” she asks. Treble chuckles, still looking embarrassed.

“I said ‘sorry about that’... My enthusiasm gets ahead of me sometimes…” she answers, a pink tinge on her cheeks clearly visible through her pale coat. “I’ve been needing someone to figure out what’s wrong with this fanfare for a while, but no one in my lab has perfect pitch since Vinyl left to do her disc jockeying…” Treble elaborates. “I have a feeling she’ll be back, but until then, I still have work that needs doing…”

Witch nods. “Alright… So… I’m listening for something off in the fanfare?” she queries, gaining a nod from the petite mare.

“We make all the music that plays during performances… Squad Two’s the Elements, you know, and we’re trying to make a piece for them that goes with their new routine… Each part emphasizes a different element… Wind, Water, Fire and Lightning; in that order… For one thing, the different sections are fine, but the transitions are too jagged… Another problem is that - Well… Take a listen and you’ll hear it, I’m sure,” Treble explains at length before drawing Witch over to a seat at the sound board.

Witch pushes the earpiece back on, the world going utterly silent, and after a quick questioning look from Treble, the white unicorn presses a button and music fills her ears. The piece was a solid ten minutes, but Witch could immediately hear the problems her new boss had alluded to, along with several others - which she assumes are the unnamed issues Treble said she would hear.

After the rushing finale, Witch pulls the headphones off to hang around her neck. “I see - er - hear the problem… Squad Two works as a team and they each feed off of each other, right?” She pauses only long enough to get a nod before continuing. “The issue with each section and the transitions is that each piece is so separate… You need to have underlying themes of the other elements in each section.” She quickly grabs a pad of paper and starts writing. “Wind fans flames, flames are heat which relates well to lightning, lightning can cause fire and also creates a loud gust of wind from the pressure, water conducts electricity and can be blown about by wind… Water should clash with fire, so the transition between the two should be far more discordant,” she rambles as she writes down musical notations, using the lines of the paper to help keep them arranged like actual music.

Treble stares at her with her mouth agape and her eyes wide as saucers. “Oh… My… Stars…” she says slowly, Witch’s notes now floating before her. Treble’s eyes flick between the notes at Witch quickly before pushing past them and tackling Witch in a hug. “You. Are. AMAZING! I’m keeping you here, even if I have to trounce Ol’ Velly!” she proclaims excitedly before leaving and whisking the notes out the door to the orchestra room. She pokes her head back in. “Give us a few seconds to work something out, and then keep listening… The headphones’ll give you a live feed to the orchestra room when you press…” she pauses, squinting her eyes. “Board to your left, bottom tier, red button labeled L.F,” she explains, pointing a hoof in that direction. Witch looks quickly, spotting it, and nods to Treble.

As the smaller mare closes the door again, Witch takes another look around at the sound board. She hadn’t done over much with the mixing of music, but most of the buttons were clearly labeled. She makes quick notes about the location of each button, and then presses the live feed button. Immediately, the sounds of tuning instruments hits her ears, and she cringes, internally cursing her ears for being able to tell when an instrument is the slightest bit out of tune.

Spying the button for the microphone, she presses it and is briefly amused at how everything stops in the other room. “Cellists, I don’t know which one of you this is, but your A3 string is a quarter-tone flat… Please, for the love of the Celestial Sisters, get to the piano and tune it up. Flautists, kindly ensure that your Middle-C is in tune with the piano as well. Don’t make me come in there and show you how.” She releases the button and the sounds from the orchestra members slowly return. She sighs in relief when the cellists determine who was off-pitch, and the offending musician (a blue earth-pony mare with silvery mane and tail) moves to the piano to rectify the matter. The flautists join her and are thankfully capable of adjusting their instruments on their own. Treble smirks at her through the glass, nodding approvingly. Witch blushes, feeling the awkwardness of being the newbie snarking at professional musicians, but shakes it away. Her boss approved of it, so she need not worry about it… She wonders briefly if Treble might even encourage it.

“Alright ponies… You heard our new ears… Now, Wind players; fortissimo during Wind, mezzo-piano for Water, forte for Fire, then mezzo-forte for Lightning. Water-players; mezzo-piano, forte, mezzo-forte, then piano. Fire; mezzo-piano, mezzo-forte, fortissimo, then forte. Lighting; piano, mezzo-piano, forte, then fortissimo.” Witch finds herself nodding along with Treble’s directions. “You’ll have to sight-read the new transitions, gradual crescendo or decrescendo as needed, but this is just to see if we can mix this right… Ready?” Treble raises a conductor’s baton in one hoof, looking around and receiving nods in reply. With a sharp nod, she waves the baton in an upstroke that the orchestra readily responds to.

Witch, listening intently, finds herself greatly relieved at the improvement on the fanfare. It’s by no means a clean run, especially with the transitions being sight-read, and the musicians handling the water theme were still a little timid about playing louder than pianissimo during any part but their own, but they managed to finally find their courage about half-way through the Fire movement. Belatedly realizing she should’ve been keeping notes, she grabs another notepad and starts writing.

Witch still isn’t sure what she expected when Luna had given her this assignment, but only one day in and it’s already shaping up to be far from it.

“Come in early Saturday. Let’s grab lunch together. I have something I need to talk to you about…”

The potential topics that Bliss would want to talk to her about had bothered her all day Friday, causing her to accidentally set off one of the Sound Lab’s flash-bang grenades… And her ears were set ringing again when she’d gone to the gym and Pec Bounce had yelled at her for falling from the chin-up bar and hitting her head when her arms gave out because she’d lost count of how many reps she’d done.

Witch is anxious as she approaches the mess hall. The first week as a Wonderbolt (she still has issues coping with that concept) had gone well, aside from Friday’s mishaps. She enters and gets her food quickly, thankfully early enough that most of the Wonderbolts were still wrapping up their morning work. Bliss herself was easy to spot, off in a far corner at a table deserted but for herself, Cinna and their respective lunches.

Witch weaves her way through the steadily growing crowd to the table and slides into a seat across from Bliss. Both greet her with smiles. “Take your time, Witchy. We’re going to be pretty busy after lunch…” Bliss says, prodding her salad around with a fork to cover the leaves in dressing.

Witch simply raises an eyebrow at her boss. “Means we should talk while we have the chance then…” she replies casually as she stirs her pasta, twirling noodles around her fork. Bliss simply chuckles while Cinna looks up from her sandwich with an eyebrow raised, obviously perplexed.

“Too right… So… Your roommate slash patient slash friend should be getting a nice letter sometime soon… The way you talked about her made me think she’d like a tour of the compound… and another invitation to the flight camp, since we couldn’t get around the ‘current’ academy students rule.” Bliss laughs again as Witch’s nearly drops her jaw into her pasta and Cinna emits a high-pitched, excited noise similar to the one she’d made back when she found out Witch knew Princess Luna.

“Ohmygosh, Monkey’s gonna flip!” Cinna states, practically bouncing in her seat. Bliss reaches over the table and taps the bottom of Witch’s jaw with her hoof, causing her mouth to snap shut. Her eyes remain wide as dinner plates, staring unblinkingly at the Head Trainer.

Witch finds herself trapped on a roller coaster of Monkey’s possible reactions. On the positive side, Monkey may be thrilled that she got the invitation. Conversely, however, Monkey could assume Witch pulled strings to get her such an offer in spite of her protests and to get the Wonderbolts to ignore her ‘cheater’ wings.

Witch snaps back as Bliss clears her throat while Cinna comically waves her hoof in front of her face, blinking quickly and repeatedly. Bliss then levels a completely serious gaze on Witch. “I know where your mind just went… Look, I know it could backfire. Even if you can get her to believe that others acted on her behalf, it could mean she’ll feel you violated her trust by sharing her predicament with others. As her doctor, it’s an understandable consult… But as her friend, it’s another story entirely…”

Bliss had just summarized Witch’s thoughts exactly, so she nods, sighing and slumping in her seat. “I just don’t know what else to do…” she murmurs, almost too quiet for her lunch companions to hear.

“Well… Just let us know if it goes badly… I may be able to pull another couple strings,” Bliss replies, pressing a hoof to her forehead and rubbing in small circles right behind her eyes in a highly resigned gesture.

Cinna gets up and moves to sit beside Witch, putting an arm around her shoulders and pulling Witch close for a half-hug. “It’ll be okay, Witchy… Even if I have to sic my mom on her…” she adds, leaning her head against Witch’s. Witch leans into Cinna, a weak smile tugging at her mouth.

“Thank you both…” she responds softly.

Chapter 4 - Bewilderment

“Miss Witching Hour?” asks a vaguely familiar, masculine voice.

Witch looks up from her desk in the Sound Lab and sees a very familiar bat-pony from Luna’s Royal Guard. It was hard to not notice this particular guardsman, with his white coat and wings, black mane and tail, and dark red eyes. She smiles, pushing sheet music aside. “Sir Moonlight Knight! What brings you here at this time of day?” she asks pleasantly, resting her chin on a hoof and supporting it with her elbow on her desk. Being the near the end of her Monday shift, she had been putting some finishing touches on the arrangement for the Squad 2 Fanfare.

“Her highness requires your assistance immediately,” Moonlight Knight replies in all seriousness, though there was a faint flicker of pleasure in his eyes. Witch knows Moonlight Knight quite well, and can easily read his expression; it tells her that while he had to be professional at the moment, he is still pleased at her kind greeting.

“Princess Luna needs my help with something?” Witch repeats quietly in her confusion, blinking rapidly. Luna had never required Witch’s assistance… Her smile fades and she gets up, feeling her stomach sink unpleasantly. “Give me just one moment and you can take me back with you,” she says quickly, looking around for her boss. Spotting her blue and silver mane, Witch darts over to her quickly. “Treble? I have to go. Princess Luna has -”

The moment Witch mentions the princess, Treble waves her away. “Go… Just leave your work on the desk!” Treble replies, still waving Witch back towards the royal guard.

Witch smiles, nods and grabs her lab coat from her chair before nodding again to Moonlight Knight. “Lead the way, good sir. We mustn’t keep Her Highness waiting.”

Moonlight Knight nods as well and leads them out of the lab and over to a set of doors she hadn’t notice before. “This will take us directly to the palace,” he explains as he opens the doors and guides her through it. Witch looks surprised only for a moment before smiling slightly at the guard. Of course there would be a passage connecting the compound to the palace.

They manage to get there in short order, thanks to bypassing the streets, and Moonlight Knight takes Witch immediately into the throne room. “Your Highness, I have brought Witching Hour, as you commanded,” he says formally, bending his knee and bowing his head to her as they approach her throne. Witch bows her head as well, dipping down slightly before Luna gestures that they rise.

“Thank you Sir Moonlight Knight. Please, resume your post,” Luna says calmly. Moonlight Knight answers with a salute and turns quickly to go back to his place outside the doors, leaving Witch alone with her mentor. The moment the door closes, Luna’s shoulders slump and she slowly descends from her dais.

“Witching Hour… How do you fare?” she asks, a tired smile making its way onto her face. Witch anxiously shifts as the Princess approaches, still worrying about why the Princess needed her help.

“I’m doing quite well, Princess Luna; thank you,” Witch replies, her voice shaking slightly from her nerves. The tone catches Luna’s attention immediately and looks at her student with sharp eyes.

“You are concerned about why I called you here, am I correct?” she queries, keeping her narrowed gaze upon the grey unicorn.

“Sir Moonlight Knight said you required my assistance… What I could possibly do to help a princess?” Witch answers, looking up at her teacher with a plaintive and confused expression in her eyes.

“More than you might think, my hopeful student,” Luna responds as she steps alongside Witch and drapes a wing over Witch’s back. “Come with me. There’s somepony I need you to see,” she adds, guiding Witch to a door behind the throne.

Witch follows slowly, her hooves dragging slightly in her hesitant confusion. Luna makes no comment, allowing her student to take her time. Luna’s magic opens the door to a side room and a little unicorn colt immediately bounces into view. Witch blinks several times, taking in the auburn coat and messy black mane. Her jaw drops as she recognizes the colt from the bend in his horn. “T-T-Trick Step?” she stammers as the colt bounds up to her and hugging her foreleg.

“Witch Doctor!” he replies happily, nuzzling his face against her chest. Witch smiles down at him, melting at Trick Step’s affectionate gestures.

“Tricks… I’m not your doctor anymore… Just call me ‘Witch’,” she responds with an amused chuckle, putting her free arm around him and leaning down to nuzzle at his cheek. Despite all her efforts to get Trick Step to stop calling her Witch Doctor, the unicorn colt thought the name was perfect for her and would not be persuaded.

“You’re my Witch Doctor!” he insists, squeezing tighter for an instant before releasing her. He turns his large gold eyes on Luna. “When are my parents coming to pick me up, Princess?” he asks, blinking innocently up at the alicorn. Witch couldn’t miss the troubled expression cross Luna’s face, but it’s gone quickly as she smiles down at the colt.

“We shall speak of that in a few moments… I need to talk to… Witch Doctor,” she pauses to flash Witch a teasing smile, “for just a minute or two. She’ll take you home after we speak again,” Luna explains patiently as she leans down to bring her face level with Trick Step’s.

Trick Step remains, thankfully, ignorant of the anxious look that Luna had had, and the now worried expression on Witch’s face, and he nods happily. “Alright… Can I go look at the pretty windows?” he asks. Luna only nods before Trick Step darts out into the throne room with a gleeful whoop.

The two mares watch him go and both sigh. Witch looks to Luna sharply, looking more confused than ever. “What’s wrong with his parents, Princess Luna?” she asks quickly, worried but already sensing something bad had happened with Chaine Turn and Feather Step. Her question causes Luna to sigh and close the door, trusting the guards stationed in the throne room to keep the rambunctious colt from breaking anything irreplaceable.

“Have you been keeping any sort of tabs on your former cases from the hospital?” Luna asks softly.

Witch narrows her eyes at the non-answer, but replies, “Not really… And since Trick Step was one I was only a consulting physician on, I haven’t heard about him since I gave notice at the Hospital about my new assignment. Last I heard, they were going to be determining if reconstructive surgery was necessary… Oh no…” The pieces click into place almost audibly in Witch’s mind. The constant fighting between the two unicorn parents over Trick Step’s ‘condition’ and the subsequent strain on their marriage, and now Trick Step’s presence in the palace without them and Luna requiring her assistance. Her mouth hangs agape, horror in her eyes. “Please tell me they didn’t -” she cuts herself off as Luna shakes her head sadly. A storm of emotions course through Witch’s mind, but at the forefront was anger at Chaine Turn and Feather Step.

Luna, easily reading her student’s expressions, raises a hoof to silence whatever outburst is about to happen. “We are not pleased that they would abandon him either… Our displeasure will be known when we meet with them again without young Trick Step in attendance.” Witch catches Luna slipping into the Royal pronoun usage, knowing that her mentor is only keeping herself in check for the sake of the colt most affected by the situation.

“So this is why you needed me… I’m familiar with his case, and your student, and you want me to care for him because you’re busy trying to do the job of two princesses.” Though Witch phrases it more like a statement, Luna can hear the uncertain question in Witch’s intonation.

“For all you have been my student only a short while, you know me far too well, Witching Hour,” Luna replies with dry humor, her eyes holding a slight glimmer of her amusement.

Witch sighs. “He’ll be so heartbroken… He wanted to use his magic so badly, and earn his parents’ approval…” she says softly, blue eyes glancing to the door to the throne room.

“Witching Hour… That is why you must be his guardian now. I am confident you will pull him through this hardship, just like you did with your friend, Miss Monkey Wrench,” Luna explains firmly, her wing extending to cover Witch’s shoulders again in a comforting gesture.

“Well, at least he won’t feel like the reconstructed horn will be cheating…” Witch replies with a sigh before she goes stiff. “How will I afford the surgery? I can just cover my expenses as it is…”

“Worry not… As a ward of the crown, his operation will be paid for in full… Traditionally, wards stay in the palace, but I have not the time to care for a foal… And I believe you are uniquely suited to care for him in this trying time,” Luna responds soothingly but her answer only causes Witch to panic more.

“I don’t have room for a colt at my apartment, Wrench doesn’t even know… Oh this is going to be a disaster…” Witch groans. Luna sighs, mostly to cover her laughter.

“Witching Hour… It’s been a very difficult situation recently, but I have every faith in your ability to come through this with your usual brilliance and ingenuity,” the princess consoles her student. “But to aid you in this, your stipend will be increased so your income will reflect your status as a Wonderbolt… And I’ll arrange for the housing to be taken care of… Will you be able to take him in until then?”

Witch sighs, both relieved and resigned as she sags and leans ever so slightly against her mentor. “Even if I could say no, you would make it another assignment…” she replies dryly with the barest hint of a laugh. Luna smiles down at her, eyes dancing with mirth.

“Too true, my hopeful student.” Luna looks to the closed door, her laughter fading. “The path awaits our first step, Witching Hour… Shall we?”

Monkey had been less than pleased at having a new member of the household sprung on her, but the pegasus had a soft spot for the unicorn colt, and immediately started spoiling the child with desserts. The fact that they were getting a better house out of the deal didn’t hurt matters either.

Tuesday morning had gone well, with Witch taking Trick Step to school before heading to the compound. Cinna, of course, needled at Witch until Witch told her lunch companions what was bothering her. It was Flash, this time, that needed to be restrained from tracking down and tearing apart Trick Step’s parents. Work in the Sound Lab went smoothly, and the fanfare was almost done, which was decidedly good since Squad 2 had a show in Whinnyapolis coming up.

When Witch arrives back at her apartment after work Tuesday evening, she can tell something is wrong as soon as she walks through the doors. Monkey sits on her usual couch, her eyes narrowed as she stares at her mail on the coffee table before her.

“Where’s Tricks?” Witch asks, hoping to keep the conversation calm until she could get a better read on the state of Monkey’s mind. With Bliss’ warning bouncing in her ears, Witch hopes that Cinna was correct and that her friend would be happy for the invitations… In spite of that hope though, Witch also knew Monkey, and Monkey was likely to be extremely cross about Witch going over her head.

“Your room, doing his homework,” Monkey answers, her words clipped. Witch flinches, realizing that her fears are about to become real.

“That’s good. He’ll be missing a day or two soon for the surgery,” Witch responds, again keeping the conversation neutral as she takes off her lab coat and saddle bag, leaving them on hooks by the door.

“I bet you can guess what I got in the mail today…” Monkey prompts, and Witch is suddenly very glad that her back is turned so Monkey couldn't see the second wince.

“Hardly. I can do many things, but premonitions and mind reading are not among them,” Witch replies blandly as she turns around, hoping to keep her expression calm against her friend’s obviously growing anger.

“Don’t need either to know you set this up,” Monkey retorts harshly, suddenly in front of Witch and shoving two pieces of paper in her face. Both had the Wonderbolts seal on them and are just as Bliss had said; one invitation for a tour of the compound, and the other for the flight academy. Witch puts on a look of pleasant surprise, her eyes widening and smiling broadly.

“They invited you back to the academy? And to tour the compound? That’s really great, Monkey!” Witch says cheerfully but she can’t maintain her happy expression against the glare Monkey levels on her.

“Don’t sound surprised, Witching Hour,” Monkey snaps, causing Witch to cringe again as the pegasus uses her full name. “I know you had a hoof in this!” she accuses sharply, tossing the invitations down on the floor at Witch’s feet.

“What? Monkey, really! I’ve only been working for them eight days now! I couldn’t pull that sort of influence!” Witch states adamantly, picking the papers up and setting them on the table near the door used for sorting mail.

“You alone, no, but you’re also Princess Luna’s student!” Monkey spits back, and Witch’s eyes go wide. The line of thought in Monkey’s brain is like a trainwreck that Witch can’t stop watching. “That could certainly pull enough weight to get Spitfire to -”

“You’re accusing me of using my connections?” Witch snaps, cutting Monkey off. “Do you even know me?! After five months, you still don’t know how much I hate being judged for who I know?! I don’t know how much plainer I can make it, Miss Wrench!” she rants on, icy blue light starting to flicker around her horn and eyes as her voice raises.

“I guess I don’t know you, Witching Hour, since you seem so willing to go behind my back, against my wishes!” Monkey yells back, her wings flapping angrily and her hind legs lifting slightly off the floor. Witch meets Monkey’s angry green eyes with her own icy glare despite Monkey’s attempts to make Witch back down.

“Did you ever think that maybe some ponies care about ability, no matter what brought it about?!” Witch shouts, a burning sensation in her eyes. “Did you think it didn’t hurt anyone else to watch you throw away something you love?!”

“Well maybe it’s none of your gods-damned business!”

“It’s my business when my friendis hurting for no good reason!!!”

“YOU’RE NO FRIEND OF MINE SO BUTT THE HELL OUT!”

Witch falls back in shock, sitting down hard on the floor and staring numbly at Monkey. The flickering light from her horn and eyes snuffs out and the burning in her eyes turns into small tears that would not fall. Monkey glowers angrily at Witch for a long moment before grabbing her own bag and heading for the door.

“Monkey… Wait,” Witch says softly as the pegasus puts a hoof on the door knob. Monkey pauses only a second, letting Witch know she’d heard, before opening the door and walking out.

Witch stares at the door, hanging slightly ajar, for what feels like an eternity before something rubs against her shoulder. She looks down and sees Trick Step, eyes puffy and red from crying. Slowly she reaches an arm around him and hugs him to her, equal parts for his solace as well as her own.

“Will Monkey leave me too?” Trick Step asks plaintively, sniffling as he pulls back just enough to look at his guardian’s face.

Witch sighs, feeling the tears finally break free. “I don’t know, Tricks… I don’t know…”

Chapter 5 - Adjustment

‘Monkey,

I hope you get this. We moved to 9 1/2 Cadenza Court. You haven’t come back to get your things, so Tricks and I took them with us.

Please come back.

Your Friend,

Witchy’

“Thank you for taking this note for me, Madam Mayfair,” Witch says as the pen clinks back into the cup among like writing utensils. The unicorn landlady simply smiles as she takes the note and puts it on her desk.

“No trouble at all, my dear… I’m sorry to see you go,” Mayfair replies. “I know I’m not in a great area of town, but things did seem better for the time you and that nice pegasus girl were living here. You wouldn’t believe the caliber of applicants I’ve been getting of late.”

“I can imagine. The rent was reasonable and you’re close to the hospital. These things are good and I’m glad ponies are beginning to see that,” Witch replies, smiling back at her. “If Monkey Wrench comes back and doesn’t want to live with us, let her know that rent’s covered for this month and next… And if she needs to get her things but doesn’t - Well… Just send a note and I’ll have her things moved back…”

Mayfair nods, sensing the sadness in Witch’s demeanor. “You take care of that little foal now, and don’t be a stranger. I’ll always have tea and cookies for you,” she says, and her magic grabs a small bag from her kitchen. “For the road, my dear,” she adds, putting the bag into Witch’s saddle pack.

“Thank you Madam Mayfair,” Witch says before leaving the landlady’s apartment on the ground floor of the building.

Witch sighs, watching as the movers load the last of her things into the cart Saturday morning. Monkey still hadn’t returned since their fight five days earlier. Thank Luna her parents had been willing to take Trick Step after school so Witch wouldn’t need to cut off work early so he wouldn’t be left alone.

Tricks comes up to her and rubs against her side. Despite the excitement of moving to a new place, Monkey’s departure had hurt him deeply, especially only a day after being abandoned by his parents. She sits and puts an arm around him. “Everything ready to go here, Tricks?” she asks, putting on some false cheer. He nods, looking up at her with sad gold eyes.

“Yes, Witch Doctor… They put the last trunk in just now…” he answers, leaning against her for reassurance. Witch ruffles his mane slightly, smiling down at her ward.

“Well… Let’s go check out our new place, little one,” she says, guiding him to the front of the carriage and putting him in the seat before joining him.

Tricks looks around as the movers pull the carts and take them through the city. Witch knows the general area they would now call home, but as the area became more and more elite, she starts to worry a little. The rent in this area would be almost prohibitive, and some of their new neighbors would undoubtedly be elitist and frown upon her and Tricks; her for her mixed birth, and him for his deformed horn. She sighs, shaking her head to dispel the unpleasant thoughts.

Within a few more moments, the arrived on Cadenza Court, and pulled around to a large house - a mansion really - with the number ‘9’ painted in silver near the front door. Movers come out along a path that goes by the side of the house and start unloading the moment the carts stop. Witch hops off the seat and helps Tricks down, keeping him to one side while the movers took all their belongings inside.

As the commotion of moving gets louder when the movers start hauling trunks around the building, an elegant white unicorn stallion in a tuxedo top and elegantly quaffed blue mane exits the house followed by an ivory unicorn mare with a wavy pink mane. Witch blinks in surprise as the pair approach her.

“Ah! I must say, good day to you both!” the stallion says, his accent refined and tone jovial. “Welcome, my dears!” he adds. “I’m Fanc-”

“Mr. Fancy Pants,” Witch cuts him off, stunned. He smiles despite the fact that her action could be seen as rude.

“Quite right, Doctor Witching Hour,” he replies, nodding slightly and clearly taking no offense. He gestures to the mare standing behind and beside him. “And this is my lovely wife, Fleur dis Lee.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you both,” Fleur adds, stepping forward and smiling. “Why don’t we go to the parlour for some tea and biscuits and get acquainted while these strapping lads move your things in.”

‘Cinna is going to lose her ever-loving mindwhen she hears this…’ Witch thinks, nodding gratefully to the elite couple and following them a few steps. “C’mon Tricks… I know you like biscuits,” she says, prompting the colt to catch up with her.

Witch and Tricks follow the couple into the house, and over to a small sitting room. Despite their obvious wealth, nothing in the house seems truly ostentatious, which puts Witch a little more at ease.

“Please sit. I must say, when Princess Luna asked if the guest house was available, I wasn’t certain what to expect… Say… Wasn’t there supposed to be a third member of your party?” Fancy Pants asks genially while the staff brings in tea and Fleur pours them all tea.

Witch’s pleasant expression falters, and Tricks leans into her, sniffling slightly. “We had… a disagreement the day after Luna asked me to take in Trick Step here. She hasn’t come back since then,” Witch explains, putting an arm around the colt while grabbing a biscuit with her magic and levitating it before him. Tricks slowly takes the cookie with his hooves and nibbles on it.

“Oh dear… I’m sorry to hear that,” Fleur responds, levitating her guests teacups before serving herself and her husband. “Will your friend be joining you eventually?” she queries, concern clear on her voice and in her face.

“We, uh… We don’t really know,” Witch responds, holding her teacup with her magic while hugging Tricks with one arm. “We left her the new address, so either she’ll join us, or come to get her things…” she continues.

“May we inquire as to the nature of your,” Fancy pauses, clearing his throat, “disagreement?” he finishes inquiring. “Perhaps we may be of some assistance in clearing it up…” he adds, looking to Fleur and gaining her nod of agreement.

“I’m afraid there’s not much to be done,” Witch replies with a heavy sigh. “My… My friend is a pegasus, and I created a procedure to save her wings, but with the side-effect of it being rather obvious and letting her use less power to fly and maneuver… She now feels it’s cheating to compete, so she refuses to have anything to do with any competitive flying… My supervisor, after hearing this, apparently went to Captain Spitfire and the Captain in turn sent my friend invitations to tour the compound and to return to the Flight Academy… Monkey, my friend… Well… She thought I’d used my connection with the princess to secure the invitations despite her feelings, and I’m pretty sure she felt I’d betrayed her trust for telling others about her feelings on the matter.”

Fancy and Fleur share a look after her explanation that Witch can’t read. Fleur shakes her head and Fancy sighs. “I see what you mean… A unicorn’s word about a pegasus’ flying capabilities doesn’t carry much weight at all. If she felt so strongly as to argue with you about the invitations, then obviously other unicorns, especially influential ones, would do nothing to help the situation.”

Witch offers her hosts a shaky smiles as she nods. “Exactly… I’ve informed my supervisor about it, since she said she had some contingency in place for a bad reaction, so… I’ll just have to wait and see…” she agrees, then takes a sip of her tea. Her eyes widen, and she swallows quickly. “You get your tea from the Fine Brew Tea Room don’t you?” she asks, smiling slyly.

Tricks immediately perks up at the mention of Witch’s mother. “Nana Brew’s tea?” he repeats before eagerly taking the teacup in his hooves and sipping it. He smiles broadly, recognizing the blend immediately as Fine Brew’s favorite.

“Nana Brew?” Fleur repeats, blinking while Fancy chuckles, setting his own cup to one side and leaning forward.

“Quite right, my boy…” he says with a smiling nod to Tricks. “Why dear, our new tenant’s mother is Fine Brew. Since she is guardian to this fine young fellow here, that would make Fine Brew his grandmother, after a fashion,” Fancy explains to his wife, still laughing slightly. “You are quite correct, Doctor Hour. We order our tea exclusively from your mother.” He easily catches Witch’s incredulous expression and shakes his head. “I’m quite aware of what others of my class may say about her, but one should not let prejudice blind oneself to quality goods,” he adds.

Witch covers her surprise by taking another sip of tea. She watches as the couple exchange silent looks, communicating wordlessly until Fleur nods. “Trick Step, would you like to go see your new home? You should pick out your room and tell me if you want the walls painted a different color…” Fleur offers as she rises from her seat.

Tricks looks questioningly up at Witch for permission. “Go ahead, Tricks. Anything you want,” she adds with an encouraging smile. Tricks jumps up and follows Fleur out, smiling broadly. Witch watches the pair depart before turning to her host and new landlord. “I’ll pay for the paints and-”

“Oh not at all, my dear,” Fancy interrupts, waving her offer away with a kind smile. “I won’t hear a word about it. Consider it a housewarming gift from us, if it will make you feel better about it,” he goes on. “You must forgive our deception but I must ask… I noticed your ward does not use magic, and I can only surmise he is old enough to at least be able to manage a simple levitation spell… His horn, I presume?”

Witch considers Fancy cautiously. “Yes… He… His horn doesn’t allow him to actually use his magic… His doctors have finally determined that reconstruction will be necessary…” she explains, still tentative about letting so much be known to someone of such great standing.

“I see,” Fancy replies, nodding. “I imagine his parents did not react well to the decision…”

“That would be the understatement of the millennium, sir,” Witch responds with an eyeroll. “Their fights were legendary at the hospital, even when Tricks was in therapy… We even started casting soundproofing charms on the counseling rooms as a standard procedure because of them…” she adds, her right eye twitching a few times.

“And their decision has made you turn your world upside-down, I take it…” Fancy surmises, getting a harsh, dry laugh from Witch.

“That’s what gravity reversal spells are for, are they not sir?” Witch retorts with an arched brow.

“Oh do stop calling me sir. Just Fancy will do. After all, we are now neighbors at worst, are we not? And I hope we may amend that to friends in the near future,” he says kindly with an amused glint in his eyes.

Witch chuckles in reply. “Very well… But if I must call you Fancy, then I insist you call me Witch or Witchy,” she responds.

“As you like, my dear Witch,” he agrees, setting his now empty cup down on the table beside his chair. “Now I believe we should go check on my wife and your ward before they decide to redecorate the whole guest house. Shall we?” he offers with a polite gesture.

Witch smiles, all uneasiness dispelled by his friendly and genial mannerisms. “Please lead the way, Fancy,” she replies.

Witch sighs as she puts away the roll of athletic tape, and the large green pegasus mare (Witch had learned her name; Autumn Rain) smiles as she signs out, her wings securely wrapped against strain.

“Hey Witchy! Let’s get dinner before it gets crazy!” Flash suddenly suggests, coming out of nowhere to drape an arm over Witch’s shoulders. Witch makes a small sound of surprised discomfort and her knees bend slightly as she finds herself half-supporting her coworker.

With a sigh, she shoves Flash off of her. “Give me a moment here, Flash… I’m trying to clean u-AH!” she shouts as closes the cabinet to reveal that Cinna had been behind the door, making Witch recoil slightly in shock.

“I got this. Go on! Save me a seat!” Cinna says, shooing the pair away from the supply cupboard. Flash helpfully pulls the reluctant and quasi-stunned Witch along, leaving Cinna to finish cleaning up Witch’s work area.

Flash watches her new friend gets a simple salad and sandwich for her dinner silently, still in the distracted and morose state she’d been in since Wednesday morning. As if getting a colt dumped on you or a fight with a close friend alone wasn’t bad enough, Witch had gotten both of these slammed into her over the course of one twenty-four hour period. Flash sighs following behind Witch as they move to a table with open seats.

The awkward silence reigns at their end of the table, with Flash being uncertain of how to speak to Witch, and Witch unable to fully voice her problems. When Bliss and Cinna finally arrive, Flash sighs in grateful relief. The urge to scream at Witch for just poking her food around her plate had been rising steadily since they sat down.

“Still not back yet, sweetie?” Bliss asks Witch but the grey mare doesn’t respond. “Witchy,” she repeats, tapping Witch on the shoulder. Witch jumps alert, sending her salad flying. From another table, a cheerful voice calls out “Oo! Surprise salad!”, and several groans of “Surprise…”

Bliss glances over at the table where the plate landed before rolling her eyes with a slightly amused smile and turning her attention back to Witch. “I asked if she still wasn’t back yet,” she says with a small amount of teasing leaking into her voice.

Witch cringes. “Sorry… Yes… She’s not come back yet,” she responds with a sigh. “I left a note with our landlady, giving her the new address…”

“Well that’s at least something… And First Squad has a rest day tomorrow…” Bliss replies, looking thoughtful. Witch, Flash and Cinna all turn confused looks on her but Bliss waves the thought off with a dismissive hoof. “Never mind…”

“Where are you living now, anyways?” Cinna asks curiously, leaning forward and resting her chin on her hooves.

“Nine and one-half, Cadenza Court,” Witch responds without thinking and then immediately cringes.

“YOU’RE LIVING IN FANCY PANTS’ GUEST HOUSE!?!”

Collectively, Bliss, Flash and Witch sigh as one.

Chapter 6 - Engagement

Monkey is glad for one thing; the weather station’s bunk room. After only telling her supervisor, Merryweather, that she’d had a fight with her roommate, she had eagerly let Monkey take one of the cots.

She sighs, flopping down on her cloud. The weather team was getting ready for a rainshower so the Grand Galloping Gala in a week would have clear skies, and Monkey had quickly finished hauling her allotment of clouds into place. Her shift would be done soon, and she had every intention of getting real food afterwards. In the interim, however, she has far too much time to contemplate the last five days.

Trying to keep calm, Monkey focuses her thoughts on Tricks - how she’d been secretly following him after school, watching him trudge behind a burgundy-maned white earth pony until they reached a high-end tea room and pub. Monkey knows it was guilt driving her to do this, her heart heavy in her chest. Yesterday, she’d watched as all their things were put in carts and moved into a swanky guest house in the high-class end of town.

If her thoughts hadn’t immediately bled red with rage at Witch every time, Monkey would’ve gone down to Tricks to let him know she still cared, that she hadn’t abandoned him. How could Witch betray her confidence, and go behind her back and tell the Wonderbolts of all ponies!?

She feels someone land on the cloud next to her and she looks up, seeing Merryweather. On a clear and cloudless day, Monkey would have a hard time spotting the light blue mare. Her mane and tail were only a few shades darker than her coat, perfectly blending in with the sky.

“Hey Monks,” she says in greeting, laying down at the other edge of the small cloud. “Something bugging you?” Merryweather’s tone is polite but pointed enough that Monkey knows she isn’t getting away without a full explanation.

“I feel bad about leaving Tricks…” Monkey replies with a heavy sigh. Merryweather simply gives her a look that prompts Monkey to continue. “Princess Luna named my roommate his guardian after his parents abandoned him… It’s not his fault his horn was bent… He was born like that…” she adds. “I met him while I was doing physical therapy… He’s such a sweet colt, and all he wants is to be loved…”

“And you feel like you know what he’s going through…” Merryweather states knowingly.

Monkey nods with a sigh. “His parents abandoned him because his doctors determined he’d need to have his horn reconstructed… Something about the elite of Canterlot finding the situation scandalous,” she explains, waving her hoof dismissively and rolling her eyes.

“They do that… But that’s cold even for them…” Merryweather comments.

“So yeah… That’s on top of still being angry at my roommate… She’s a good guardian to him… But I really want to be there for him… A reconstructed horn isn’t as bad…” she trails off, unwilling to voice her feelings about her wings.

“Isn’t as bad as what, Monkey Wrench?” Merryweather asks, her tone now sharply pointed.

“Nevermind…” Monkey says, averting her eyes. Her eyes catch on her watch and she leaps up. “Time to clock out! Bye!” she calls quickly over her shoulder as she makes a hasty escape, ignoring Merryweather’s insistent calls. Monkey cringes, knowing she’ll get a talking to before her next shift, but this thought doesn’t deter her from making her way to the station, clocking out, grabbing her cloak, and making her way by hoof through Canterlot.

She tucks her wings under the the fabric, content to be mistaken for an earth pony if it meant sparing herself the looks her wings gained her. Her destination wasn’t far from the weather station, nestled between the castle and the Wonderbolts compound. Witch had introduced her to Rusty’s…

The unwelcome thought of her erstwhile friend makes her scowl but she shakes her head, her short red mane tossing about. With a sigh, she easily finds the diner and slips into a table further from the windows. Rusty soon makes his appearance at her table. “Usual Miss Wrench?” he asks, wheeling past on his skateboard.

“Thanks Rusty!” she calls as she sets her cloak beside her on the booth bench.

Across the diner, a pair of brown eyes watch Monkey with a raised eyebrow, noting the crystalline edges even from a distance.

“Hey Spitty, wha’cha lookin’ at?” Fleetfoot asks, making Spitfire return her attention to her squadmates.

“Just someone I’m curious about,” Spitfire replies in a vain attempt to deflect Fleet’s attention from the topic.

“Oh? Has someone actually managed to catch your eye now?” asks her other companion.

“Soarin…” Spitfire hisses warningly, only causing Fleetfoot to start making squealing noises.

“Oh this I gotta hear about!” Fleet says, grinning like a maniac.

Spitfire groans. “Sweet gods preserve me… Not like that!” she snaps in irritation. “Bliss was telling me about a pegasus who had her wings restored with magic and crystal iron after a weather factory accident and now, she doesn’t need as much strength to do simple tasks because of it…”

Soarin starts to look distinctly uncomfortable, shifting in his seat awkwardly. “If they could’ve done that, why didn’t they -” he starts but Spitfire cuts him off quickly, raising her hoof to stop him.

“One, you and your wings were too far gone. Even if they’d managed to fix your wings, you wouldn’t have lived very long without Celestia’s intervention. Two, the spell was only created after the twister incident,” Spitfire counters Soarin’s thoughts. “Apparently, your situation was an inspiration to one of your doctors, and now that doctor is working for us.” Spitfire adds the last with a smug grin.

“Oh yeah! That new girl working mornings in the Trainer room!” Fleet responds enthusiastically. “She’s good!”

“So… Why’d Bliss tell you about this?” Soarin asks, looking confused and concerned.

Spitfire sighs. “That’s where it gets complicated… According to Bliss, there was an altercation at a local fly-meet around two months ago… She placed first in one of the events but one of the other flyers was a sore loser and called her a cheater, as the crystal iron is rather clearly visible on her wings… Since then, she’s refused to have anything to do with competitions…”

Soarin cringes and Fleet looks near to outraged so Spitfire quickly continues on. “Bliss suggested inviting her back to the Flight Academy, and I added an invitation to tour the compound… But apparently, when she got the invitations, she thought our new doctor was pulling strings with her influence…”

“Wait… What influence does she have? She’s just a doctor, right?” Fleet queries, suddenly lost. “Right?”

“Actually, she’s also Princess Luna’s student,” Spitfire says quietly. Fleet’s jaw drops to the table while Soarin lets out a low whistle.

“Those are some strings she could pull…” he comments dryly.

Spitfire sighs in resignation. “Princess Luna wanted her student to branch out more from just medical practice, but she prefers to be known for what she does, rather than who she knows, so I agreed with her highness to keep it under wraps unless asked directly for confirmation… Given that Twilight Sparkle was Celestia’s student and she ascended, I can’t blame the girl for wanting to dodge speculation.”

“Anyway, this girl has some serious talent…” Spitfire continues, waving the previous topic away. “I talked to Squad 7, since they’d gone to the meet for scouting, and she took first in the obstacle run… Sure it was an amateur event, but she finished practically miles ahead of everypony else, on top of turning on a bit to avoid the obstacles…”

“Ah-ha… Ulterior motive for you dragging us out today!” Soarin smirks.

“Spitty, is it physically impossible for you to turn off on rest days?” Fleet asks dryly, making Spitfire scowl.

“Look… This is not only talent going to waste on the weather team, but also affecting one of our support staff. You think I’m really going to ignore it?” Spitfire asks, mostly rhetorically, with a skeptically raised eyebrow.

Soarin and Fleetfoot share a look of exasperation tempered with curiosity about this mystery pegasus. Soarin follows where Spitfire had been looking, and easily spots her. The glittering edges of her wings are certainly hard to miss, even as far away from the windows as she is. “She really thinks it’s cheating?” he asks, not looking away from the yellow pegasus.

“Bliss thought she might need a better perspective than a unicorn doctor’s and a sore sport of a pegasus’... I can’t say I disagree with her,” Spitfire replies thoughtfully. Fleet’s chair almost immediately scrapes against the floor as she pushes it back and gets to her hooves immediately starting over to the relative stranger. Soarin opens his mouth to say something but Spitfire silences him quickly with a look. “I thought Fleet might want this one… Give it a minute… If it starts going sour, feel free to jump in… As someone who wouldn’t be flying if not for magic, your perspective can come in handy if Fleet can’t get through to her…”

Soarin only smirks at Spitfire. “Manipulative… I didn’t know you had it in you…”

Spitfire rolls her eyes at her lifelong friend. “Shut up and watch…”

Monkey looks up as a shadow falls across her bowl of oatmeal with raisins, eying the aqua-colored pegasus skeptically with a raised eyebrow. “Can I help you?” she asks, a touch irritated at the interruption.

“Hey… You’re the pegasus that took first in the obstacle course at the fly-meet few weeks back, right? Sorry… I’m really bad with names…” Fleet says, smiling and taking the seat opposite Monkey, almost gleefully ignoring the aggravation starting to radiate off the yellow mare.

“Monkey Wrench,” she states shortly. “And yes, I am… But I’d rather not talk about it…” she continues, looking back to her food. If she had hopes of ending the conversation, Fleet was about to disappoint her… A lot.

“That’s a shame! Those were some slick moves you pulled… Your reaction time was unreal!” Fleet replies cheerfully. “Tell me… Do you think you could turn or stop on a bit?”

“Probably… But I don’t compete anymore,” Monkey responds, her words clipped as she glares daggers across the table at the interloper on her meal. ‘Either she’s too dumb to catch the hint, or too stubborn to take it,’ she thinks as her eyes narrow.

“What?!” Fleet exclaims, feigning affrontement. “If that’s not a crime, it should be!”

Monkey scoffs openly at Fleet’s comment. “It’s cheating if I compete,” she retorts sourly. “So I guess damned if I do, damned if I don’t,” she adds, morosely stirring her oatmeal with a spoon.

“Geez girl… Does the Weather Team call you instead of Cloudsdale for their rainclouds?” Fleet asks, leaning her forelegs against the table as though asking a genuine question, but the question itself and her tone are mocking.

“It’s none of your gods-” Monkey’s nearly-shouted reply is cut off as a loud clang rings out and she is abruptly face-first in her oatmeal.

Rusty appears out of no where, wielding a frying pan. Fleet laughs outright, clutching her sides and practically sprawling across the bench as Monkey pulls her face out of her bowl. “None of that language, Miss Wrench!” Rusty says sternly, even as he drops a towel on the table and zips away again.

Monkey sullenly grabs the towel and wipes the oatmeal off her face, and turns her back to the rest of the diner. “Just leave me alone…” she mutters, sulking.

“Hey Fleet… Quit laughing and move over…” a new voice says, accompanied by her annoyance shifting down the booth to allow this newcomer to join them. Monkey looks over her shoulder at the sky blue mare to see a pegasus stallion with a dark mane and a darker blue coat than the mare. Monkey’s eyes widen a fraction and she quickly turns away again, cheeks burning crimson as she realises who exactly she’d been about to tell off.

“So… Monkey Wrench, wasn’t it?” Soarin starts, trying to coax the yellow mare back to the conversation. He sighs as she remains turned from them, feigning being occupied with cleaning her food from her mane. “Look… There was this pegasus I know… Really strong flyer, and there was nothing he loved more… but he got beaten to a pulp and if not for magic, he wouldn’t be alive, let alone flying…” Fleet opens her mouth, but Soarin quickly kicks her under the table, making her squeak in protest, and gives Fleet a warning look. She subsides when he shakes his head slightly.

“Is it cheating if he’s one of the top flyers of the Wonderbolts?” he asks, almost innocently. Monkey looks at him sharply, eyes narrowing almost to slits as she peers at him. Something about his tone…

“And if this pegasus’ situation inspired a unicorn to create a spell that would save other pegasi from losing their wings… Is it right to hate her for doing her job?” he continues querying, driving the point home. Her shoulders slump and Monkey turns away again, eyes downcast and dark. She realises now, the pieces of the puzzle all laid out before her. She steals a brief, sidelong glance at the two Wonderbolts sitting across from her, but at Soarin in particular.

“You look… normal…” she says softly, but her words are heavy with defeat. Soarin thinks he hears something else mingled in, but he isn’t sure he wants to believe he actually hears resentment. “Not like these…” she adds as her wings twitch and she spares the appendages a brief glance. Soarin doesn’t like the emotion he sees flickering in Monkey’s eyes.

“You can’t honestly be telling us you hate your wings now?” Fleet asks, beating her squadmate to the question by a breath.

“No!” Monkey replies without hesitation, looking up at Fleet and Soarin quickly with a sudden fire in her green eyes that dims almost immediately as her brain catches up with the conversation. Her shoulders slump. “But I hate the attention… Everyone thinks that they’re fake, or I chose to cheat this way… I love flying, and pushing myself to see what I can do… That fly-meet was the best time I’d had since before the accident…”

“So you let one sore loser ruin that?!” Fleet demands, indignant on the mare’s behalf. “One sour p-,” Rusty zooms by, frying pan in hoof, making her stumble over her words briefly. “Sour sport, and you just give up?”

“He wasn’t the only one that thought that…” she persists, but the confidence she has in that perception wavers in the face of two Wonderbolts equally insistent that Monkey is mistaken.

“LINE UP!”

Monkey’s bowl goes flying as she nearly flips the table onto Fleet and Soarin to get out of her seat and stand at attention. As Monkey blinks, remembering that Flight Academy had been more than 9 months ago and why is she leaping into formation for - Her jaw goes slack as she finds herself suddenly staring into Spitfire’s eyes.

“Listen here, Monkey Wrench,” Spitfire starts as Fleet rights the table and starts laughing hysterically. Spitfire’s eyes flick over to the table, and there’s a glimmer of amusement in them. Monkey resists the urge to look back, her gaze suddenly locking with the Captain of the Wonderbolts again. “Squad 7 was at that fly-meet… And they said you were amazing. Whoever it was that said you were cheating? Hasn’t even gotten into the Flight Academy. You have, before your accident… So what does that tell you?” she asks.

Monkey continues blinking rapidly, her brain trying to process the information lain on her. Spitfire merely raises an eyebrow at her, and answers her own question after the pause gets too long for her liking. “It says… That you were better to start with… and that dunderhead would’ve lost to you no matter what. Now relax before Rusty starts using you as a table.”

As if on cue, Rusty zips by again, playfully grumbling while carrying a tablecloth back into the kitchen. Monkey sighs and turns back to her table and nearly chokes as she spots Soarin trying to clean up the remains of her oatmeal, which had apparently landed on his head. She snorts and snickers before desperately attempting to school her expression and not laugh hysterically at the sight of The Power-Flyer of the Wonderbolts’ First Squad cleaning oatmeal and raisins from his wild mane with the towel Monkey had used earlier.

“Hey Rusty!” Spitfire calls, and the cook appears with the bills for both Monkey and the First Squad. “Thank you,” she adds, though the earth pony is already off entertaining a table with two young foals. Without a word, Spitfire puts the tabs on Monkey’s table, and Fleet, still giggling occasionally, puts the required bits atop them. Turning back to Monkey, Spitfire smiles slightly at the stunned expression on the yellow pegasus’ face. “Now, I believe I offered you a tour of the compound… You’re not doing anything today, right?”

Monkey’s jaw snaps shut with an audible click of teeth as she hastily shakes her head.

“AWESOME!” Fleet gleefully exclaims, suddenly draping an arm across Monkey’s shoulders and ushering (almost pushing) her towards the door. “You’re gonna love it! C’mon!”

Monkey squirms and shoots a panicked look over her shoulder as Soarin grabs Monkey’s forgotten cloak and Spitfire just shakes her head while smiling. They quickly catch up to her, Soarin taking Monkey’s other side.

“It’s easier to just go along with Fleet when she gets like this…” he says in a stage-whisper that Fleet could easily hear. “Besides, it will be pretty awesome…” he adds, before Fleet could get indignant.

The excitement of seeing the Wonderbolts headquarters, guided by the top squad, catches up with Monkey finally, breaking her free from her stunned state. Grinning like a school-filly, Fleet no longer has to force Monkey to keep up.

Trailing behind the pair, Soarin nudges his shoulder against Spitfire with a knowing look in his eyes. Spitfire just smirks at him. Silently, their thoughts are in agreement; it’s nice when things go well.

Chapter 7 - Amendment

Monkey stands before an almost quaint looking guest house in the elite part of Canterlot, eying it skeptically. It doesn’t really look like it belonged in the upper end of Canterlot, but it’s well-constructed of finer materials and the number on the door (9 ½) is gold, glimmering in the evening light.

Her day after meeting Soarin, Spitfire and Fleetfoot at Rusty’s had been amazing! Being shown around the compound, meeting the Wonderbolts was exactly the thing she’d needed, all while finding none of the scorn she’d expected for her wings. In fact, most had commented positively about them. It’d taken a solid ten minutes and Soarin balancing trays on her before Monkey had been able to move after Point Dex of Squad 7 had complimented her on her performance at the fly-meet.

Now though, her emotional high fading with the sunlight, she hesitates outside Witch’s new home, only hoping she would be able to call it theirs…

Her hesitant state of mind causes her knock to be far softer than her norm, and she waits with bated breath for a seeming eternity. Getting no response, and inhaling for desperately needed air, Monkey raises her hoof to rap again on the door, only to have it swing open.

“Oh… Hello, Miss Wrench…” Witch greets, her tone almost stiffly neutral, but Monkey could easily see that she’s on her guard and anxious. Monkey tries to smile, but her nerves are too shaky to allow more than a slight grimace.

“Hey Witchy,” Monkey replies softly, her eyes averted. Silence falls heavily over them, an awkward tension between wanting to move on, but unsure of how to take the first step.

“Witchy, I’m -”

“Monkey, I -”

Witch closes her mouth sharply and Monkey gives her an embarrassed look as they start to speak at the same time. Apparently unwilling to have the same thing happen again, Witch quickly gestures for Monkey to speak first.

Monkey sighs heavily as she watches Witch’s professional mask fall back into place. “Witchy, I’m sorry. I should’ve listened to you and not that sandy plot. I know you were just trying to help me see I was wrong when you spoke to your boss. I’m sorry I thought you were behind the invitations…” she says quickly, almost rambling in a rush to get everything out. By the time she finishes her speech, she’s looking at the ground, so she looks up and watches Witch’s eyes and face, almost desperate.

It takes another seeming eternity for Witch to inhale to reply, all the while Monkey’s heart thumps painfully against her ribs. “If it were just me you hurt, I’d have no issue saying that it’s behind us, Monkey…” she starts softly. “But you hurt Trick Step too.”

“I know…” Monkey replies in a soft whisper.

“No, you don’t.” Monkey looks up and finds Witch no longer hesitant, but just as angry as she herself had been upon getting the letters from the Wonderbolts. “You don’t know, Monkey Wrench. You don’t know that he’s asked every night if you were coming back. You don’t know that he cried every time I had to tell him that I didn’t know. You don’t know that my parents have had the worst time trying to get him to open up to them because you left him. You don’t know that I wake up in the middle of the night to him begging to sleep next to me so he knows I’m still there!”

Witch advances slowly on Monkey, and while Monkey doesn’t take a step backwards, she finds herself shrinking under the unicorn’s angry onslaught. While Monkey had known that Tricks would take her leaving hard, she had failed to comprehend how hard and how ill-timed her fit of temper had been. Crouching down on the paving stones, Monkey shudders against the weight of Witch’s words, the guilt of her actions bringing tears to her eyes.

“I may have gone to Bliss for advice, but I was trying to help, Monkey…” Though her tone loses some of its harshness, it remains just as intense, forcing sobs to break free from Monkey’s restraint. There’s a slight creaking noise as the door opens wider behind Witch. Without any further warning, Monkey suddenly has small auburn forelegs around her neck, hugging her so tight as to almost cut off her air.

“MONKEY!!!” Tricks cries gleefully, clinging to the pegasus as though she would vanish the moment he let go. “You came back!!! Are you going to stay?!” he asks, his voice ringing in her ears at high volume. She inhales sharply as he leaps back, glaring at her with his gold eyes. “You’d better be staying! You’re not allowed to leave! I won’t let you!”

Monkey stares at Tricks for a long time, her tears slowing to a stop, before she pulls the colt back to her in a tight embrace. “Oh Tricks… I’m so sorry… I won’t leave you again… But I’ll only stay if you and Witchy want me to…” she says quietly, raising her eyes to the gray unicorn still in the doorway.

Witch stares at the reunion, eyes wide with surprise. She blinks at Monkey’s use of her name, giving her head a subtle shake to dispel her shock. She’d expected Tricks to be just as upset as she’d been, but Tricks had done almost the complete opposite. She catches the subtle emphasis in the last part, stressing that she had to agree to let Monkey stay too. Tricks’ agreement is already obvious.

Witch sighs, stepping towards the pair on the walkway before nosing her way into the hug. “As long as Tricks wants you around, you’re welcome here, Monkey,” she says softly, putting her arms around the pegasus and the colt. Monkey and Tricks happily let her join the pile.

After a long moment, holding each other in the fading daylight, Witch pulls back slightly, smiling to reassure both her ward and her friend. “Let’s get inside and show Monkey her room, and then we’ll have dinner with our landlords,” she explains, gaining a nod from Tricks as he bounces near the door. Monkey, on the other hand, looks confused.

“Who does this place belong to?” she asks Witch, one eyebrow raised.

“Fancy Pants and his wife, Fleur Dis Lee… We’re going to have Sunday dinners with them… They asked about you when we arrived yesterday,” Witch answers, smiling. “I’m glad I’ll be able to tell them that everything’s been sorted out… It has, hasn’t it?” she queries, a concerned expression in her blue eyes as she seemingly tries to read Monkey’s mind.

Monkey simply smiles and nods. “Yeah… I’ll fill you all in over dinner… But we should get going before Tricks achieves flight.” Witch laughs and the friends go inside, lead by the eager colt.

Chapter 8 - Movement

Witch paces anxiously around the guest suite in the castle, much to her companion’s amusement. “Will you chill, Witch? I can’t understand why you don’t think you won’t enjoy this!” Cinna says, almost giddy as she admires herself in the mirror. Witch stops and glowers at her friend through the mirror, making Cinna laugh.

“Cinna… Not everyone loves the elite… and you and I both know why tonight could be rough for both of us,” Witch responds with no small amount of exasperation, making Cinna sigh and turn to face her friend.

“Look, Witch, I know it could go badly, but I’d rather focus on what could go well… And you should too!” Cinna explains patiently. “And I know you’d rather have your friend, Monkey, here, but your parents are doing the catering, and someone has to stay with Trick Step while you spend the night greeting people with Princess Luna.”

Witch sighs heavily, sitting on the floor and hanging her head. “Oh c’mon Witch!” Cinna says, trotting over and nudging her towards the closet. “You’re not even dressed!”

Witch resists Cinna’s shoving until a knock at the door startles her, allowing Cinna’s force to send her tumbling into the closet. “Come in!” Witch calls as she hastily extricates herself from the assortment of dresses that had fallen upon her, while Cinna collapses into a pile of helpless giggles.

Princess Luna blinks at the sight of her student and guest and the pile of outfits she herself had provided for them to wear - all of them were Witch’s size, and the fact that Cinna was the same size is simply happy coincidence. “I hope I’m not interrupting anything?” Luna says, an eyebrow raised in amusement at Witch.

Witch sighs, pulling a tangle of midnight blue fabric off her horn. “Not at all, Princess!” she responds quickly, casting an irritated glare at Cinna, still rolling about on the floor and holding her stomach as she laughed hysterically. Luna simply shakes her head, smiling softly at Cinna before turning her gaze back to her student.

“I know you would rather spend time with your friend, but there’s something I would like to discuss with you before the Ball…” Luna says, making Witch blanch to the point where her gray coat almost turned white. Luna laughs at the stricken expression on Witch’s face before adding, “Fear not, my hopeful student… I’m not saddling you with another young foal in need, nor is it anything of great import… but it does need to be done before the guests begin arriving.”

Willing her heart to stop racing in her chest, Witch nods and follows Luna out of the room. Belatedly, she pokes her head back through the door and eyes the now calming Cinna. “Cinna, I’ll be back soon… Find me something to wear in black or white, would you?” she requests before dashing to catch up with Luna.

“So… What did you need to speak to me about, Princess?” Witch asks, eagerly looking to her teacher for an answer.

“For one, I wanted to make sure my student was settling in well with the new circumstances…” Luna starts, giving Witch a smile.

Witch blinks before smiling as well. “It was a bit rocky to start. Monkey and I fought the night after Tricks came home with us, but the Head Trainer pulled some strings and got the Elite Squad to pull her head out of her…” Witch hesitates briefly, clearing her throat before continuing, “plot… Since then, things have been pretty stable. Trick Step’s going in for his procedure tomorrow evening.”

“I’m happy to hear Trick Step has adjusted well to his new circumstances… And I’m glad Siren Bliss was able to help you with Monkey Wrench… She mentioned her plan when we had tea a week after you started with the Wonderbolts,” Luna replies, making Witch’s jaw drop.

“You had tea? With my new boss?” Witch asks incredulously, blue eyes wide as saucers behind her round blue frames. Again, Luna simply smiles and chuckles.

“Of course I did, Witching Hour. As often as our schedules allow. I have made a few friends since my return, and I am glad to count Siren Bliss among them. It certainly helped with getting your new assignment,” she replies. Witch continues to stare at Luna wide-eyed as the princess leads her through halls and stairwells leading down to a secured section of the private wing, passing by guards unchallenged.

“Regardless, I am glad that everything has been settled for the time being… Sir Fancy Pants tells me that Miss Monkey Wrench and young Trick Step are all that is charming, which doesn’t surprise me at all, given your closeness to them…” Luna continues, giving a nod to another pair of the royal guard ponies. The guards open the doors before them and Luna leads Witch into a dark room. As the doors close behind them, Luna’s horn flares with an amethyst light, making the lights in the room turn on.

Witch blinks rapidly to counter the almost dazzling flashes off the many bits of regal jewels on display there. She turns with an anxious and curious expression to Luna, wondering why the princess would have lead her to the royal vault.

“My hopeful student,” Luna starts, levitating a ebonwood box down from a high shelf, “I’ve been very pleased with your progress. You have come a long way, even in only six months… It’s my sincere wish to see you fulfill your potential… And I hope these will help you do just that…” she finishes as she opens the case and levitates a set of four jeweled silver cuffs from it.

Witch, her jaw hanging open and eyes back to being wide as saucers, simply stares at Luna and the precious adornments floating between them. “What do you mean ‘fulfill my potential’?” she finally squeaks out, her voice about half an octave higher than normal.

Luna sighs, moving the jewelry aside and stepping towards her anxious student. “If I told you, you would say you’re not ready for it… And I know you are not. I know that is not the answer you want, nor the one I would like to give you… The honest truth is that I do not know where you will go from here… But I do know that it is important, and I believe these bracelets will be of use to you.” She raises a hoof to stop the question forming on Witch’s lips. “How is not for me to say either, but for you to discover… Please accept them, Witching Hour.”

Blue eyes flick from Luna to the cuffs still hanging in the air surrounded by her mentor’s magical halo, and then back to Luna, still confused. “Luna… This is a lot…” Witch states softly, almost trembling. “I just want to help ponies…” she adds in a breathy whisper.

Luna smiles kindly, her eyes shining with sympathy. “You give so much hope, and yet keep none for yourself, my dear Witching Hour… Allow me to have hope for you… And I’m sure I am not alone in this…” she replies, her tone gentle and soothing as a lullaby.

Witch sighs, her breath shaking, before she pulls herself straight, standing almost rigidly before her mentor. “I trust you, Princess… If you say this is something I’ll need to do, I’ll do it…” she says. Though her voice attempts to convey the firmness of her faith, her eyes relay it far better, azure orbs looking up into Luna’s with fierce determination.

Luna’s smile broadens before she gently hugs Witch, her foreleg hooked lightly around Witch’s neck. “And you will exceed all expectations, my hopeful student,” she says with equal fervor. Witch pulls back after lingering in the embrace for a moment, and her magic takes hold over the bracelets, icy blue replacing pale violet.

The next few moments are silent but for the soft click of metal clasps securing the cuffs around her legs just above the fetlock joints. Witch waits only a few seconds before glancing with questioning eyes to Luna, raising an eyebrow. The princess smiles, a small chuckle escaping her as she nudges Witch back towards the door. “You didn’t think everything would happen right away, did you?” she asks with a teasing laugh as they exit the vault.

Witch sighs, falling into step beside her mentor. “Maybe I did… I don’t know what to expect with you being all cryptic about it…” she complains, though her tone is good-natured.

Luna laughs outright then before smiling down at Witch. “Just do as you have done, my dear Witch, and you will find out… Now hurry up and have your friend help you dress… There should be something in a silvery-blue I think will look perfect…”

Witch raises an eyebrow at Luna. “But won’t that be too much blue?” she asks, sending a puff of breath at a lock of her mane.

“Nonsense,” Luna replies firmly, her eyes crinkling in amusement. “If I’m remembering the dress correctly, it’s a light enough shade that it won’t blend with your mane… Besides, with all the nighttime colors, one of the greeting party should be more brightly dressed… I expect Princess Twilight will be in dark blue, and you already know what I’m wearing, so your idea of wearing black would turn you into my shadow… And that is something you are not.”

Art by Foxena!

Witch smiles in understanding as they reach the point where Luna would continue to the main hall and Witch would have to go upstairs to change. Impulsively, Witch throws her forelegs around Luna to hug her quickly before sprinting away.

Luna stands stock still at the junction of the two halls, her eyes following Witch until she disappears into the stairwell. “You know, Lulu… Perhaps you should live by your own words,” says a smooth yet mocking masculine voice from above her. Instinctively, she looks up, her bemused and thoughtful expression rapidly changing to angry irritation, and sees Discord’s head and torso hanging down from the ceiling with his eyes forming a set of binoculars at Luna’s eye-level.

“DISCORD!!!” Luna shouts, her Royal Canterlot voice reverberating through the hall, scowling. “YOU HAD BETTER NOT BE HERE TO CAUSE PROBLEMS FOR THE BALL!!!” Even before she finishes speaking, Discord retracts back into the ceiling, chuckling in amusement.

“Relax, Lulu… Your precious ball is safe. I’ll only prank the guests before they get to the castle…” Discord calls in a disembodied voice thick with laughter. Luna huffs, snorting in annoyance and stomping a hoof against the floor in flustered helplessness.

Witch sighs for what feels like the millionth time that night. She had known it would be dull from what her mother had told her in years past, but simply standing in line between Princess Luna and Princess Twilight Sparkle for hours on end, being ignored as insignificant or regarded with jealousy by turns, Witch finds herself wishing more and more to escape and talk with Cinna. Her eyes flick between guests to the dance floor, easily spotting her pink-maned friend twirling about with unicorn stallions and even once with Witch’s father, Holly Sweep.

“Witching Hour, wasn’t it?” asks the princess to Witch’s right. Blinking back to her immediate surroundings, Witch realizes that (at last) there are no more ponies in line waiting to be received.

Witch turns her head to regard the newly minted Princess of Friendship with a slight smile. “That’s correct,” she replies, nodding.

Twilight Sparkle grins back at her cheerfully. “Fantastic! I’ve only heard a little bit about you and I have to know what it’s like studying under Princess Luna!” she says, starting to pull Witch off to the refreshment area. Witch glances over her shoulder as she’s nudged away, and Luna simply smiles and nods. With another sigh, Witch relents and follows Twilight away to the beverages.

“So!” Twilight starts, getting them both cups of iced tea from the table. Witch flashes her mother a quick smile as she works behind it a little further down, pouring cider into glasses for a pair of richly dressed unicorns barely hiding their disdain for their server. “What’s it like studying with Princess Luna? What does she teach you?” Twilight asks, bringing Witch’s attention back.

“I mostly study with other teachers… She occasionally works on magical theory with me, but otherwise she arranges for instructors. I was working at the hospital for a while, learning practical and emergency medicine, until she reassigned me to the Wonderbolts’ staff last month,” Witch explains, mentally making notes to deal with this princess while talking about learning as she would with Cinna while talking about the Canterlot Elite.

“You… became a doctor through Princess Luna’s teaching?” Twilight states slowly with a questioning tone, brows furrowed in something akin to confusion and disappointment.

“I was already well on my way to being a doctor on my own before Princess Luna took me under her wing…” Witch corrects, smiling. “There are still other things I enjoy, like music, logic puzzles and theory exercises… But medicine is a specialty I’ve worked hard to master. To be honest, before Luna became my mentor, I was very unfocused and hopping from idea to idea without any real rhyme or reason.”

Twilight smiles then, understanding dawning brightly in her violet eyes. “So what magic theories have you worked on with her then?” she queries eagerly.

“Well… About six months back, a pegasus had a horrible accident in the Weather Factory. Her wings were totally mangled, and the Cloudsdale doctors were sure she wouldn’t…” Witch trails off, smiling shakily at Twilight, unwilling to give voice to the obvious conclusion. Tellingly, Twilight winces and nods. “I’d only been Luna’s student for a short while by that point, maybe a month or so, but it’d been long enough for me to be on the medical team that was trying to save Commander Soarin of the Wonderbolts.”

“I thought you looked familiar!” Twilight interrupts excitedly. “You hardly look the same without your lab coat and mane pulled back!”

Witch simply nods. “Yes… Anyway, after Commander Soarin’s incident, I decided I’d look into something far less… risky?... For such situations, if they arose in the future… Monkey Wrench’s accident happened not a month later… Princess Luna didn’t so much teach me how to get the spell right as she pointed me in the right direction… You’ll be glad to hear that Monkey Wrench is doing fine, and flying better than ever.”

Twilight grins, eyes dancing with excitement at the prospect of a new spell to study. “Tell me all about it! I have to hear this!!” she says, her horn flaring with violet light to create a scroll of parchment and a quill to take notes with.

Witch chuckles, eyes crinkling in amusement. “I know I won’t be able to satisfy your curiosity now, but I promise I’ll send you a copy of my notes tomorrow,” she says, smiling as Twilight’s eyes light up with joy. “Did you know that there’s a variant of iron that the Crystal Empire uses for bone replacement?”

It becomes easy to talk to the princess as Witch sinks into detailing the creation of her spell. The quick mini-illusion spell of Monkey’s current appearance makes Twilight’s jaw drop. “That is spectacular… Did you predict-”

Witch quickly shakes her head. “I had no idea what the crystal iron would look like in the end, and I certainly couldn’t have known it would suddenly increase her flying capabilities… She spent her therapy relearning how to handle her wings. A light flick of her wings took her airborne, and her usual effort sent her crashing into the ceiling…” she explains quickly. “That first session was… well… it was pretty crazy. She flew me around the physical therapy room, she was so happy…”

Twilight and Witch share a grin of understanding when Witch spies Cinna approaching with another unicorn mare, glittering in a ruby-toned gold-trimmed dress and her violet mane is pinned up in elegant curls with jewels and a gold crown.

“Cinna!”

“Rarity!”

Twilight and Witch share a confused glance before their respective friends mob them.

“Oh my goodness, Witchy!” Cinna exclaims excitedly, draping an arm around Witch’s shoulders. “I just met this lovely mare when we had a little run-in on the dance floor… My partner wasn’t very skilled and sent us crashing into Miss Rarity and her partner…”

“And then like ruffians, those two dunderheads started fighting over it and got themselves forcibly removed…” Rarity continues, making Twilight sigh and press a hoof over her face.

“But we decided to make the best of it, and came over here to get refreshments,” the pair finish together. Witch shakes her head before turning to the exasperated princess.

“Your friend who’s obsessed with the Canterlot Elite?” Witch asks, an eyebrow raised and a corner of her mouth curled up in bemusement.

Twilight, returning the expression, nods. “Uh-huh…” she confirms wryly. “Yours?” she queries, and Witch nods in reply. They share a slight smile, amused that they both had similar friends.

Cinna and Rarity look at each other, silently asking questions before they smirk. Witch leans back, already terrified of whatever thought has crossed her friend’s mind. “Idea!!!” Rarity calls out in a sing-song voice before the pair pounce on Twilight and Witch.

A short scuffle later, Witch and Twilight find themselves out on the dance floor, being guided through the steps of a dance. Witch sighs, reluctantly following her partner’s lead, getting an amused chortle out of him.

“Sounding so disappointed can do a number to a stallion’s ego, m’lady,” he says dryly.

Witch flinches, stumbling a step. “Sorry… My friend…” she starts, eliciting another chuckle of bemusement from the stallion.

“Yes… Miss Cinnabelle… She is rather enthusiastic, is she not?” he replies, almost smirking at Witch’s discomfort. “Truth be told, she’s rather too… Vibrant for my liking,” he adds.

“I’m sorry… I’m Witching Hour… You are?” she prompts, forcing herself to take in her partner’s appearance. In a stylish gray tuxedo almost invisibly pinstriped with small silver threads, her partner is dark blue pegasus, with a darker blue mane swept to one side that had a pale blue stripe through it that matched the color of his hooves.

“Forgive me, Miss Hour… My name is Midnight Storm,” he says, flashing a bright smile. “I must admit that I already knew your name from the receiving line, but it’s no surprise you would not recall me, given the number of guests this evening,” he adds, a note of self-deprecation in his voice.

Witch smiles sheepishly. “Too true… I don’t know why I was up there though… It’s not as though a simple unicorn stands out when flanked by two princesses…”

“Don’t you though?” he asks, guiding Witch into a spin that causes the silvery fabric of her dress to swirl around her. “At the last Gala, Princess Twilight was at Princess Celestia’s side all evening,” he adds, pulling Witch back with another spin. As he catches her, he sweeps her into a dip, meeting her gaze with a serious expression in his dark purple eyes. “Why should Princess Luna’s student be treated any differently?” he asks softly.

Witch freezes, blue eyes going wide even as her cheeks burn with a bright blush. Carefully, Midnight puts her back on her hooves. “Forgive me, Miss Hour… My mouth sometimes runs off without asking…” he stammers, his cheeks turning an even darker shade of blue in his own embarrassment.

Witch stammers incomprehensibly for a long moment before shaking her head vigorously. “I’m sorry… I have to go…” she stammers before darting away, ignoring all looks of scandalized shock and concern as she leaves the dance floor at a full-tilt run.

Witch doesn’t much care where her hooves take her, the halls blurring into non-descript haze. She stops when she finally breaks into cooler air, breathing hard and looking around with wild eyes.

The tower, she realizes with a relieved sigh, is deserted, and the nighttime breeze blows her mane into her face. Witch heads to the railing and leans against it, brushing her hair back with an irritated hoof.

“I wish Monkey were here…” she sighs to herself, her eyes watching the stars twinkle overhead in the clear sky. Witch knows Monkey is likely already abed, given the late hour, and Tricks would’ve gone to bed long before now. She’d seen Fancy and Fleur at the ball, and they were supposed to return home together, but she knew they’d likely be ensconced for a while longer.

The music floats up from the open balcony several stories down, making Witch sigh wistfully. Did she really belong here? Did her simple desire to help others really elevate her so much that she had a place beside two princesses? She shakes her head, deciding that it shouldn’t… But there’s also the question of this mysterious ‘potential’ that Luna had alluded to earlier.

Another breeze rustles through the pennants streaming from the tower, almost muffling the noise of a knock at the door from the stairwell. She looks just as the door opens, easily spotting Twilight hushing whoever came with her (presumably Rarity and Cinna), and waits for the princess to join her at the railing while returning her stargazing.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Twilight asks gently as she sits next to Witch, half-turned to keep an eye on the gray unicorn.

“How do you talk about something you don’t know anything about?” Witch retorts in frustration. Out of the corner of her eye, she catches Twilight smiling sympathetically.

“Those are some nice bracelets… Are they new?” Twilight asks, hoping for a neutral topic only to stumble right into the subject bothering Witch.

“New to me… Princess Luna gave them to me tonight…” she answers, sighing heavily. Twilight blinks, blushing and chuckling nervously.

“Sorry… Did she tell you anything about them?” the princess asks, making Witch groan in frustration. “Never mind… Sorry I asked…” Twilight quickly says, almost squeaking.

“No… It’s fine… Just…” Witch waves Twilight’s apology away, turning to face her company, her brow furrowed into a thoughtful and highly conflicted expression. "I don’t know what she expects from me… She says I have this great potential but she won’t tell me what for… She just said that these,” Witch rants, holding up her forelegs to show the cabochon blue jewels set in the scalloped silver bracelets, glittering benignly in the moonlight, “will help me realize this ‘potential’… I don’t know what to do…”

Twilight sighs, thinking for a long moment before an errant thought makes her chuckle. “I know what you need to do,” she says, smiling brightly.

Witch looks up sharply, her neck snapping almost audibly as she looks over at Twilight. “What?” she asks, both for the princess to repeat her words and to explain them all in one simple query.

“You just need to keep doing what you’ve always done, Witching Hour,” Twilight explains patiently, still smiling. “Why should knowing anything special change what you do?” she questions with a slight shrug of her shoulders. “When Princess Celestia sent me and my friends to the Crystal Empire to find some way of protecting it, she impressed on me that I alone had to find the way to do it… But in the end, I got trapped and I had to ask Spike to get the Crystal Heart to Cadance… Celestia told me it was a test to see if I was ready for the next level of my studies… And despite the fact that I wasn’t able to do it in the end, I still passed the test because I put the future of others above securing my own future. Look at me now.”

Witch sighs, looking back out into the night. “That’s what I’m afraid of…” she mutters. Twilight can’t stop the dry chuckle that escapes her then, making Witch turn back to her with a scowl. “What?” she almost growls out.

“Relax Witching Hour…” Twilight replies calmly, reining in her amusement. “I’m sure no one knows where you’re meant to go, or what you’re meant to become… I’m sure Princess Luna has said as much as well.” She pauses briefly, just long enough for Witch to nod. Twilight smiles slightly, and puts a light wing around her new acquaintance. “Your friend is worried about you… And I don’t think she’s the only one… I think you can handle anything as long as you have them beside you.”

Twilight casts a brief glance back towards the door, and the sound of hooves running quickly in her direction is Witch’s only warning before she finds herself tackle-hugged by Cinna. Witch grunts before returning her friend’s hug.

“Witchy! I was so worried! Are you okay? I’m sorry if I upset you! Or if that stallion-guy said anything to upset you!” she rambles, squeezing Witch tightly. Witch sighs and leans against Cinna.

“It’s okay… Neither you nor Midnight Storm meant to upset me… It just piled on top of some other things… I’m sorry I worried you, Cinna…” Witch says softly. “Look… I’ve got tomorrow off… I’ll tell you and Monkey all about it if you want to come over for lunch. Think you could let Flash know too?”

Cinna pulls back just enough to give Witch a nod. “Sure… Sounds good, Witchy.”

Quietly, Twilight slips away, grabbing Rarity on her way back down from the tower balcony. “C’mon Rarity…”

“But details!” Rarity whines as she’s dragged back downstairs.

Chapter 9 - Convergent

Witch fusses anxiously with the teacup before her, the jasmine and camomile aroma wafting up from the softly steaming brew, before glancing at the ticking clock over the counter.

“Two-hundred and twenty-eight minutes to go…” Monkey comments dryly, her own cup half-drained and half-forgotten at her elbow. Witch sighs, turning back to her friend and tapping a hoof in worried agitation. “And no, you can’t go back to the hospital and take over the operation from Doctor Red Cross…” the pegasus adds, making Witch grumble incoherently into her tea.

“You’re probably the only person that’s gotten her to stay put just by saying that…” laughs a charcoal gray unicorn mare with a wavy mane of dark purple and lilac.

“Mother!” Witch exclaims plaintively, her eyes reflecting feigned betrayal, causing both Monkey and Witch’s mother to chortle.

“Oh don’t ‘Mother’ me, Witchy… I know better than Miss Wrench here how you can be while waiting… The only thing that compares is when you’re preparing for some event…” Fine Brew replies, coming by and topping up Monkey’s tea with fresh. “Drink that, Miss Wrench… It’ll help keep your head clear, and trust me… You’ll need it to keep my daughter in line…” she adds, giving the pegasus a slight nudge as she heads further into the Tea Room to ensure that her customers, few though they were at this hour, are content for the time being.

“It’s almost as bad as having my own mother hanging over me…” Monkey states dryly as she picks up her teacup. Witch chuckles at Monkey’s obvious discomfort.

“How’re your parents doing anyways?” Witch asks before taking a sip of her tea and sighing contentedly. Her muscles relax against the railings of her mind, the taste of this particular tea blend triggering the ingrained response… And if she isn’t much mistaken, her mother had dosed her tea with one of her father’s sedative concoctions as well.

“Same old, same old…” Monkey replies with a shrug. “Mom’s cloud-architect firm keeps growing, Dad’s got Cloudsdale Air Guard… They asked if I was considering moving back, but I sent a reply explaining things with Tricks. I can only imagine how surprised they’ll be that I’m essentially a co-guardian at the tender age of 17…” She sighs. “And really, if I went back, what would I really do? It’s not like I want my old job back… And besides, I… Well… I’d miss everyone here… and you…”

Witch smiles at Monkey, levitating a cinnamon cookie over to her pegasus friend. “I’d miss you too, Monkey,” she replies as Monkey eagerly grabs the cookie and eats half of it in one bite.

Monkey opens her mouth, whether to speak or finish off the cookie would remain a mystery, when the front window shatters, two pegasi tumbling through at high speed and crashing through tables and chairs before hitting the counter. Witch gasps as she recognizes the pair brawling.

“Commander Soarin! Captain Spitfire!” she exclaims before turning her attention back to Monkey. “Help my mom! Get everyone through the kitchen and into the pub!” she shouts to be heard over the screams of the other patrons. Monkey immediately takes off, zooming towards the older unicorn and helping her marshal the other ponies through the double doors at the back of the tea room.

Even as she turned back to her superiors, Soarin goes flying through the glass door next to the broken window. “Captain Spitfire!” Witch shouts again, trying to figure out why she was fighting with her squadmate. She catches a brief flash of pink light emanating from Spitfire’s eyes, making Witch recoil from her, inexplicably terrified of that aura. Horrified, she watches the Wonderbolts’ Captain land heavy hits on Soarin.

Suddenly, after a wicked punch to his face, Soarin has Spitfire grappled, forcing her to the ground. Witch peers out from the doorway, cautiously stepping over the glass shards. The air is thick with the sounds of a fierce fight, and she could hear Soarin pleading with the captain, though not specifically what he’s saying. Pink magic flares around the plaza, and Witch cringes at the sight for some strange reason she can’t quite put her hoof on.

A fuchsia explosion from further down the plaza sends a rainbow-maned pegasus flipping head over hooves backwards towards the struggling elites. After steadying herself, she joins Soarin and Spitfire on the ground, forming what Witch could only describe as a pile of hugging pegasi. Anxious, Witch gingerly trots across the avenue, stepping lightly around the demolished cobblestones when the rainbow-maned mare left to help Commander Fleetfoot against their disgraced squadmate, Rapidfire.

Rose-colored energy crackles around the orange pegasus, making Witch’s insides quake, and the arrival of three more dark versions of the Wonderbolts certainly didn’t help matters. She could hear words being exchanged between these magic-using dark pegasi and the Wonderbolts, but she could feel the pain and mental anguish radiating off of Spitfire, even as Soarin keeps a hold of her, nearly overwhelming Witch.

Suddenly, Squad 3 flies in, followed quickly by Wave Chill of the second squad blasting in. He lands and skids to a stop beside Soarin, making Witch pause a few steps away from the two members of Squad 1. “Reporting sir!” Wave Chill says as he salutes Soarin. “Blaze and High Winds took over at the compound! They are going through the last inspections before the whole force is dispatched! Captain Silver Lining flew to the castle to warn the princesses! I estimate both the Wonderbolts and Royal Guard arriving full force in fifteen to twenty minutes!”

Witch exhales a breath she hadn’t realized she’d held, trotting up as Soarin made the Squad 2 Commander promise faithfully to protect Spitfire.

“Sir?” Witch says timidly as Soarin leaves to join the rainbow-haired mare that she still only vaguely recognized. Filing it away, she returns her attention to Wave Chill, “We can take shelter in the tea room. My mother’s the owner, and there’s a pub on the far side through the kitchen. Plenty of places to barricade…”

Wave Chill peers at her suspiciously. “You look familiar…” he says, still not moving.

Witch sighs. “I’m Witching Hour with the Unicorn Auxiliary, Trainer and Research…” she explains as she glances towards where the dark pegasi begin to fight with the Wonderbolts again with a worried expression. “Sir, with all due respect, we should take cover and get the captain away from the fighting. If you have another idea, I would recommend acting on it now…” Finally, Wave Chill nods, accepting her logic, carefully and gently pulling Spitfire to her hooves. Witch sends a quick sweeping charm to clear the shards and debris from their path, ushering them inside the battered tea room.

Wave Chill barely left Spitfire’s side, but chooses to stay as close to the plaza as the shop would allow, so Witch quickly pulls some overturned tables to make a temporary blockade of the door that the stallion could easily see over, but allows the two mares cover. Peering cautiously over the edge of the table, Witch spies the Streak twins watching an airborne fight that obviously includes Commander Soarin, since Fire Streak is getting his brother’s cooperation in aiding Soarin if it started to look bad for him.

Witch ducks back down, turning her attention to the distraught captain, curled up and shaking against Wave Chill, who has a foreleg loosely draped around her. “Are they all okay?” she suddenly asks. Witch doesn’t reply, looking up at Wave Chill for the answer.

“Uh… yes ma’am! The Wonderbolts are fighting well!” he responds, robotic in his militaristic answer. Witch edges closer to her, putting a foreleg around her as well.

“They’re gonna be fine, right?” she asks immediately, making Wave Chill blink in confusion. He looks at her with a long and appraising expression, obviously trying to figure out what had turned the usually stoic and serious captain into this shaking wreck that clings to any reassurance.

“They’ll be fine, ma’ - Spitfire.” Witch couldn’t help but be amused at the way Wave Chill haltingly dropped the formality. It’s obviously difficult for him to go against his strict code of conduct, but Witch can easily see that comfort and informal support is what the captain needs. “They’ll be fine,” he repeats, and Spitfire buries her face into his shoulder, shivering.

Witch shifts closer to Spitfire. “Ma’am? I never got to thank you and your friends for helping my friend last week…” she says softly, making Spitfire peek with one uncertain eye at Witch. “You helped her, and me by extension, a lot…” Witch pauses just a moment, hesitating before attempting to cleanse the mental wound the pegasus had suffered. “Captain, I know this doesn’t mean much from me, but don’t lose hope… If something is truly important to you, you will find the time to make it happen… But you’re not alone… No one ever truly is…”

Spitfire’s eye closes and she hides again in Wave Chill’s hug. Witch simply sits with her foreleg around her, a hoof running soothingly up and down her back. She tries to not think about the ground shaking and the shouts of fighting. She looks to the back of the café, spotting Monkey peeking through the swinging double-doors. Witch shakes her head and makes a small hoof gesture to send Monkey back to the other patrons and her mother. Focusing quickly, she casts a spell to freeze the door from opening on the tea room’s side and then a protective shield over it.

“Trainer Witching Hour?” Witch nearly jumps out of her skin when Wave Chill speaks.

“Yes, sir?” she responds, looking up at him from beside Spitfire.

“Third Captain Fire Streak and his brother have joined the fighting. Can you cast a shield over the door?”

Witch nods at his question, and her horn flares brighter as the multiple spells take effect. “It won’t be able to hold against much, and if they use that…” she hesitates briefly, unwilling to call the pink auras magic, since everything in her screams at its wrongness, “that stuff… I don’t know if it’ll react normally with natural magic…”

“You don’t think it’s natural magic?” the elite commander queries, meeting Witch’s eyes as his hold around Spitfire tightened slightly.

Witch shrugs, helpless in her ignorance. “It just feels wrong…” she answers. “Everything in me screams to run away from it.” Wave Chill accepts this explanation with a slight nod, before lowering his head to rest against Spitfire’s for a long moment.

“If anything comes our way, and your shield can’t hold it off, you take Captain Spitfire and get back to the compound,” he states, all authority and command.

Witch simply nods, knowing an order when she hears one. “Yes, sir.” Sitting there, with nothing to do but maintain the spells protecting her superiors and her mother’s patrons behind the kitchen door, Witch feels time pass her slowly. Crashing noises last far longer than she thinks they should, and even the little vocalizations seem drawn out for too long.

She senses more than sees or hears the approaching guard, especially with the magical blast of amethyst light that sends one of the dark-pegasi tumbling from the air. Breathing for what felt like the first time in half an hour, Witch relaxes. “Luna’s here,” she sighs in obvious relief.

“Oh no you don’t!” Luna shouts, making Witch look over the barricade into the plaza beyond. Another burst of light, this time all shades of the rainbow, accompanied by the sonic boom of somepony breaking the sound barrier, follows Luna’s challenge before a crackling implosion of air rushing into a vacuum and another explosion of glass and broken bricks crashing to the ground.

Dropping the protective shields over both doorways, Witch leaps over the tables blocking the doors and dashes out into the plaza, not phased by Luna shouting obscenities and stomping the cobbled road hard enough to shatter the stones. Eyeing the Wonderbolts, none of the injuries look particularly threatening, though she could easily tell that Misty Fly isn’t handling something well.

She looks around, feeling something missing, when Captain Fire Streak looks around, his distress clear. “Wait, where are Commander Soarin and Miss Rainbow Dash?” he asks, shaking Fleetfoot’s hoof away from him.

Fleetfoot simply looks up, apparently knowing where the pair are. Witch blanches, suddenly recalling the rainbow-maned pegasus from the stained glass windows in the castle. An Element of Harmony is missing?! Witch feels the pit of her stomach give out under the weight of the horrible sinking feeling that thought produces. “Princess Luna! Where are they going?! Can you track them?!” she asks loudly as Luna joins the group of battered Wonderbolts. Witch cringes, already knowing the answer, and Luna shakes her head.

“The magic in their crystals is quiet and mysterious. We are afraid we cannot sense nor trace it.” A quiet murmur of disbelief passes through the gathered guard and Wonderbolts. “Witching Hour, stay here and help the Royal Guard in organizing transport of any injured ponies then meet us at the palace,” she adds, addressing her student specifically and drawing the gaze of others to her. Witch swallows nervously and nods to the princess.

Taking charge of the situation there is easy enough for Witch, dispatching guardponies into the buildings to find any ponies that were injured by blasts or debris, unquestioned because of the authority granted to her by Princess Luna.

As she heads back to The Fine Brew Tea Room, Witch stops in her tracks, an unpleasant jolt of energy spiking up her foreleg. Shifting to one side, she looks down and quickly quells the urge to scream and smash the pink jewel, glittering with feigned benevolence in a crack between cobblestones. Cautiously, she pulls a napkin from her mother’s café with her magic and wraps the crystal in it before heading inside.

Monkey stands near their abandoned table, eying the bundle in Witch’s arcane grip. “What’s that?” she asks, moving to pluck it from the air.

“NO!” Witch shouts, nearly knocking her friend over as she both magically moves the hidden gem out of reach and practically tackles Monkey away. Monkey gives Witch a confused look as she rights herself and Witch hastily steps back and puts the suspicious… thing… in her bag. “Sorry,” Witch says, coughing nervously. “It’s something those pegasi were using to attack the Wonderbolts and I don’t want it hurting you…” she explains, smiling apologetically at her pegasus companion.

“You have to go?” Monkey asks, well able to guess that, as Luna’s student, Witch would be needed at the palace.

“Yes… As soon as the Royal Guard have found all the injured and started transporting them to the hospital,” Witch confirms with a nod and resigned sigh. “Were there any hurt here from when Captain Spitfire and Commander Soarin crashed through the window?” she asks, casting a wary glance back towards the kitchen.

“Just a few scratches from flying glass. Holly Sweep’s fixing them up and Fine Brew got them all something to make them relax a bit,” Monkey replies.

“Okay… Good… I’ll let the guards know, and you let Mom know that if anypony needs further care to go to the hospital. I’ll meet you there after I get done at the palace. Hopefully, I’ll be done there before Tricks is out of surgery…” Witch responds, her eyes constantly shifting and taking in everything and nothing at once; a sure sign of her anxiety eking its way back to the surface, compounded now with the emergency situation. Monkey nods and puts a hoof gently on Witch’s shoulder.

“Go get to work, Twitchy Witchy… It’ll keep your mind off things.” Witch smiles ruefully at Monkey’s well-placed encouragement.

“You know me too well,” Witch says, grabbing her bag with her magic and trotting back outside.

Witch forces herself to stare at the pink gem, thinking about it a merciful distraction from all the waiting. The occasional raised voices make Witch wish she were in the throne room with the group instead of this side room, but Luna had left instruction with the guards at the palace to have Witch wait there until after the Wonderbolts left.

With a heavy and frustrated sigh, Witch refocuses her gaze on the crystal, trying to puzzle out why it makes her want to destroy it without actually doing so. Those urges to smash it into dust had gotten so bad that she’d called in one of the unicorn guards after not even two minutes to cast a protective shield over it…

Every exploratory scanning spell she could think of, and still the pink gem remains an anomaly to Witch. She can’t even discern why only she is so affected by it.

At her wits’ end, she screams unintelligibly and swings her hoof down towards the crystal. The brown unicorn guard flinches when her hoof collides with his shield. Witch shrinks in on herself sheepishly, an apologetic half smile over her shoulder at the poor stallion.

“Eleven…” the guard comments dryly with one eye winced shut, still keeping count of the number of times she’d lost whatever composure she’d managed to gather and attempted to destroy the crystal.

“Sorry… Again…” she says softly before the sound of the door opening makes her whip around to see Luna entering, one eye still twitching.

“We hate him…” the princess mutters in irritation before blinking in confusion. “What art thou -” she cuts herself off, sighing and shaking her head, obviously forcing herself to exchange her regal formality for the normal informal speech Witch is accustomed to. “What are you doing, Witching Hour? And why is Sir Golden Compass cringing while maintaining a shield dome around a pink crystal?”

Witch sighs, rubbing her face with a hoof. “I’m trying to figure out two things: one, how this damnable thing allows pegasi to use magic…” she starts, looking up at her mentor. “And two, why it makes me want to smash it to smithereens!” she adds, before she makes another frustrated noise and takes yet another swing at the crystal, her hoof colliding with the gold aura of the shield.

“Twelve…” Golden Compass groans, his eyes closed tightly in a grimace.

“Sorry!” Witch quickly apologizes, cringing at her own loss of control. “Again…” she adds, her shoulders hunched up as she tries to hide her face in her mane.

Luna raises a brow at Witch’s uncharacteristic outburst, one ear twitching between up and down. Witch could certainly get flustered or anxious, but the anger just shown is decidedly not the norm. On top of her aberrant behavior, Luna’s eyes catch on the cuff bracelets, the blue jewels glittering with light not entirely from the lamps.

Approaching and circling her student, Luna takes a long hard look at the bracelets. The silver cuffs themselves, with their scalloped lower edge, now seem to be one piece with no means of removing them, and the silver surrounding the blue gems has old writing that even the princess had difficulty deciphering, though the characters are clear enough in a shimmering blue light that matches Witch’s own magic.

“Where there is Compassion, there is Love. Where there is Love, there is Strength. Where there is Strength, there is Life. Where there is Life, there is Hope,” she murmurs in the old tongue before her eyes stop on text that she’d initially mistaken as a simple reflection, but is actually more text made to look like a reflection. “From Envy, Hate. From Hate, Fear. From Fear, Death. From Death. Pain,” she whispers fearfully, unable to keep herself from reading the old text aloud. Luna looks up sharply at Witch, who peers at her mentor with a worried and confused expression on her face.

“Oh-ho-ho! Just when I thought things were going to get dull here for a moment, you go and prove me wrong, Lulu! I think you like having me around,” laughs a smooth male voice that echoes around the chamber. “But you do realize I have other places to be, don’t you?”

Witch finds herself wrapped up in the coils of the draconequus, staring into its red eyes with yellow sclerae. The gryphon-clawed arm holds one of her legs out to allow it to examine the glittering bracelets. “Oh my, Luna, where did you dig these up?” it asks, vanishing and letting Witch drop to the floor with a surprised squeak of protest. It reappears beside Luna, holding its paw and talons to form a rectangle that it stares through at Witch, as though sizing her up.

“Though, I suppose she does fit the bill…” it adds right before Luna finally gathers herself from her surprise.

“DISCORD!!!” Luna shouts, her voice rattling everything in the room. “WE HAVE HAD ENOUGH OF THEE AND THINE TRICKS! BE HELPFUL OR BE GONE!” she declares, with a stomp of her hoof that cracks the tiles of the floor.

“Oh, Luna… Do relax,” Discord says, pulling a zipper-tag along her mouth, leaving Luna’s mouth stuck closed. “You can’t expect me to just leave when you’ve gone and spoken Old Equusese… Ooo! And a prophecy no less, involving your dear hopeful student, Witching Hour!” he continues, practically giggling and tapping the digits of his gryphon claw and lion’s paw against each other.

Witch feels the color drain out of her at the word ‘prophecy’, swaying dangerously on her hooves as the world seems to tilt and spin too quickly. ‘No,’ she thinks to herself desperately, ‘I’m no special pony…’

“Easy there, Miss Witchy…” Discord coaxes, and Witch blinks as she realizes that the embodiment of chaos is supporting her with his detached wings fluttering on their own. “You need to relax more than Moon-butt over there does…” he continues, a giant red arrow suddenly pointing at Luna who is desperately trying to find the tag to unzip her mouth. “And I would beg to differ, little Witch Doctor… Being the student of a goddess is enough to make any pony special.”

He, and his wings, vanish again, and a whole, if miniaturized Discord appears on the table, opening a door in Golden Compass’ shield like it was there the whole time and taking a long look at the pink crystal. Witch staggers somewhat when the support suddenly disappears, and Luna lets out a frustrated roar as her mouth is released.

Surprised by Discord’s antics, Luna’s rage, or all or none of the above, Golden Compass’ magic flickers and the shield drops, and the guard pony collapses as well, hooves over his head and groaning. Witch’s bracelets flare with dazzling blue light, and the crystal glows bright pink in response. Moving without thinking, Witch makes a sound of primal fury as she leaps at the table, her eyes aglow with the same light as her bracelets.

The miniature Discord looks panicked only for a split second before he, and the crystal, disappear with a faint pop. Witch crashes into the table, breaking it and leaving her groaning in the wreckage. When he reappears, he’s back to his normal size, and the crystal is suspended in a small transparent box.

“There you go, curious little pony. Now you can study it without giving some poor unicorn a splitting headache, if you like…” He trails off, one ear suddenly turning into a bowl-like shape with a rod sticking out of the middle that swivels around 360* before he shrugs. “Gotta run! Been a treat as always, Lulu!” he calls as he pops away.

Luna gives vent to her frustration by stomping repeatedly, practically pounding a section of the tiled floor into dust. As her anger fades, the sound of muffled sobbing penetrates over the sound of her racing, irritated, heartbeat and she turns towards it. Her fury deserts her instantly and she rushes to Witch’s side, ignoring the table-debris that made sitting next to her student less than comfortable. When Luna extends her wing to cover Witch, the unicorn turns towards her and hangs onto her desperately as she cries, clinging as though the princess is the only thing capable of steadying her. “Witching Hour,” she queries softly, lowering her head to lightly graze her nose against Witch’s mane and ear.

Witch shudders again, obviously trying to regain control of herself. “I don’t know why I want to destroy that crystal… I couldn’t stop myself… Those dark pegasi were using it like magic… I don’t understand any of this…” Her voice breaks and she shivers against her mentor, her mane falling across her face.

“Neither do I,” Luna admits, and Witch looks up at her with a stricken expression. “But we need to find out,” she adds. “I knew you needed those bracelets, though not why or what for. They are now bound to you and your magic… and somehow, they are opposing forces.” Luna sighs heavily, resting her head lightly against Witch’s. “I would take this burden from you if I could, but -”

“I know…” Witch interrupts, sniffling. “I know you can’t…”

“I need you to keep studying this,” Luna states firmly, making Witch jerk sharply. Luna tightens her wing around Witch, keeping the unicorn against her side. “We need to understand these crystals… and we need to understand how it connects to your bracelets, and the writing on them…”

“Where there is life, there is hope,” Witch says, her voice sounding distant and far away. Luna cringes, mentally cursing Powers greater than she that Witch had understood the words spoken.

“I’ll send you some books that might point you in the right direction, but you cannot tell the Wonderbolts about the crystal…” Witch looks up at Luna with hazy blue eyes that steadily focus on Luna’s face. The princess shakes her head, answering the unspoken question. “Not even your friends in the support corps,” she adds, then explains further, “There are many ways they could react to it, and none of them show any promise towards understanding the way these crystals work, and how they relate to the augury.”

Almost numb from shock and now this burden, Witch nods her acceptance.

Chapter 10 - Presentiment

“Witch Doctor! Look!!!”

Witch looks up from the borrowed tome and smiles as she sees her ward beaming fit to burst as the green marble hovered (erratically, probably due to the colt’s excitement and inexperience) before him. Her azure eyes flick over Trick Step’s head to meet Fancy Pants’ and he nods slightly at her, one corner of his mouth twitching upwards in amusement.

“Good job Tricks… But you should calm down and get back to Fancy’s lessons…” Witch says encouragingly, giving the colt an affectionate ruffle of his mane before gently nudging him back towards their landlord. Tricks practically bounces back to the table near the fireplace in Fancy Pants’ library, marble bobbing before him. Witch follows him with her eyes, silently noting that his aura had paled some, now a pale amber compared to the dark honey color it had been before the reconstruction. Idly, she wonders if the color change is due to the white porcelain-like tip of his horn.

Dismissing the digressive thought, Witch turns her attention back to the book, her hoof knocking her glasses askew as she rubs at her eyes. The book is a trial to get through, full of vague theories and insubstantially-founded suppositions about the old Equusese culture. It had only been a day since she and Luna had discovered the prophetic words inscribed on her bracelets, so the books Luna had promised had not yet arrived. Fancy Pants had been more than happy to allow her access to his extensive collection while he taught Tricks how to use his magic.

Sighing, she closes the book as her magic grabs a pen and writes short line about what she could gather the author’s conclusions were based on in her notebook. Perhaps, if she had more information, she might be able to draw her own ideas…

“Sir? There is a pegasus gentlecolt at the door asking to see Doctor Witching Hour.” Both Fancy and Witch look up at the butler standing in the doorway.

As Fancy opens his mouth to reply, a sing-song voice comes floating in from behind the butler, startling the poor elderly stallion. “Oh big sis!” the voice calls, drawing out the vowel of ‘sis’. Witch’s ears are immediately erect, her chair scraping on the floor as she stands quickly.

“LEAF!” she shouts, leaping towards the door and knocking the poor butler over in her haste. Sure enough, the wine-red stallion had let himself in after the butler, and Witch throws her arms around him. She would have bowled him over too, if not for his quick reflex to catch her and take their momentum airborne so they wouldn’t crash to the floor.

“Oof! When’d you get so strong?” Leaf asks as he sets them back down and scoops up his drab olive pith helmet to put it back on his head. Witch grins at him while he straightens out his matching jacket and saddle bags.

“A month with the Wonderbolts will do that, I suppose… Weren’t expecting your big sister to get tougher than you, huh?” she asks with a laugh, her eyes sparkling with mirth as she reaches up and knocks his hat askew to ruffle his pink and purple mane. He quickly bats her hoof away with his wing as he hastily straightens the mess she’d just made.

“Gah! How is that the way you greet her highness’s mail-pony?” he retorts, only a little irritated at her teasing. “And you’re not tougher than me… You just took me by surprise!” he adds, smirking down at her.

Witch blinks rapidly, her brain having caught when he mentioned bringing mail from Luna. “Wait… Luna sent you to give me the books I need?! Last I heard from you, you were with your friend in Neighpon!” Her entire demeanor changes from playfulness and confusion to eagerness and she drags him into the library, shooting the butler an apologetic smile. The butler simply sighs and goes back to whatever he’d been doing before Leaf had arrived.

“Yeah well…” he chuckles, rubbing the back of his head with a sheepish chuckle. “When a Princess asks you a favor, you find the nearest sling-shot and do it as quick as possible… Especially when it’s a favor for your favorite sister…”

“I’m your only sister!” she retorts, giving his shoulder a light punch.

“And thank Celestia for tha - ow! Hey!” he complains as Witch jumps atop him and starts giving him a noogie, his hat clattering to the floor again. Her playful ire is short-lived, and she hops back down, her magic floating his hat back to him.

Pulling him over to her landlord and ward who’d been watching the whole exchange with bemused or eager interest, she quickly jumps into introductions. “Fancy! Tricks! I’d like you to meet my younger brother, Leaf Wind. Leaf, meet my landlord, Fancy Pants, and my ward, Trick Step.” Fancy eagerly steps forward to shake Leaf’s hoof.

“A pleasure to meet you, old boy!” Fancy says, grinning as he releases Leaf’s hoof. “Your friend wouldn’t be Miss Yearling, would it? I believe I saw a dedication to a Leaf Wind in one of her recent novels,” he asks curiously as Leaf chuckles.

“Guilty as charged,” Leaf replies, a sheepish smile on his face. “I usually only call her that when I want to irritate her, though.” Leaf looks down as Tricks attaches himself to Leaf’s foreleg, hugging the limb tightly.

“Yay! I have an uncle!” the auburn colt cheers.

Leaf look between Witch and Fancy with a confused and panicked expression. “Bu- wha?” he stammers, making Witch laugh outright while Fancy does his best to politely cover his smile.

“That’s right Tricks,” Witch agrees with a nod to Tricks, making Leaf blanch further. She smirks at her brother, obviously unable to keep her mirth contained. “Well I told you I’m his guardian. He already calls mom ‘Nana Brew’,” she says, taking far too much amusement from Leaf’s obvious discomfort.

Leaf cautiously lifts his foreleg in an obvious attempt to extricate himself from the colt’s hold, but Tricks hangs on, giggling as he rises. Leaf gives his leg a gentle shake back and forth, but again, Tricks’ hold is unaffected and the colt gleefully whoops. “Do it again!!!” Tricks shouts happily, and Leaf gives Witch a pleading look.

Unable to contain her mirth any longer, Witch falls to the floor, clutching her sides and laughing hysterically at the stricken expression on her brother’s face. Fancy, conversely, takes pity on the poor bewildered pegasus, and clears his throat. “Trick Step… We have a lesson to get back to, my boy…” he prompts. As quick as a spell, Tricks releases Leaf’s leg and immediately goes back to the table, immediately taking up his green marble in his magic and levitating it… Though with notable difficulty, no doubt due to his excited state of mind.

Witch recovers her breath at last, her laughter fading to occasional chortles at the purple-eyed glower of her brother. “C’mon… I’m working over here,” she says, nodding in the direction of the corner she’d taken over. Sighing and rolling his eyes, Leaf follows Witch over to the table strewn with books and papers with hastily written notes.

“Looks like you’ve already started your research,” he comments dryly as he pulls his saddlebags off and sets them on the table.

“Insomuch as I can… The Equusese Empire is so ancient that all I can find is vague conjecture… Even the old tribes had little information beyond myths.” Witch falls into her chair with an irritated sigh.

“Well… Hopefully some books my friend and I found in Mesotrotamia and Saddle Arabia will help…” Leaf replies, pulling the books gently from his bags and setting them atop the notes nearest Witch.

“Hopefully, indeed!” Witch says, pulling the closest book towards her. Immediately, she spots a problem. “Oh for buck’s sake…” she groans, putting her head in her hooves. “Of course it’d be in Arabic…”

Leaf chuckles. “Well… if you ask me nicely… and keep that kid from calling me uncle too often, I’ll teach you,” he offers, smirking at his sister’s frustration. Witch sighs again, peering at him from between her hooves.

“Sir, I -” the butler’s voice again interrupts those assembled in the library, but is interrupted himself as a dark blue pegasus with a bright yellow mane in Wonderbolt uniform crashes past him into the room. “Doctor Witching! You’re needed at the Compound!” she says, looking around the room with wild eyes as she flips up her flight goggles. Within moments of her precipitous entrance, her amber eyes fall on Witch, and she immediately closes in on the bewildered unicorn.

“I think someone might be popular today…” Fancy comments in his bemusement as the Wonderbolt starts dragging Witch towards the doors.

“Wait a minute! What’s going on!?” Witch protests, making the pegasus sigh in obvious frustration.

“We found Commander Soarin and Miss Rainbow Dash. They’re in the Trainer Room, and Head Trainer Bliss wants you there ASAP!” she explains to Witch’s ever-widening eyes. With a brief flare of magic, Witch vanishes in a puff of sparks and returns within a moment with her bag and her lab coat half-donned.

“Lead with Point A, next time. Don’t start at ‘M’,” Witch says jokingly as the pegasus bends her knees slightly to allow Witch to climb up on her back.

“Less talky, more getting back to the Compound!” she urges as Witch situates herself between the Wonderbolt’s wings.

Witch casts one last glance back over her shoulder towards Leaf and Fancy. “Watch over Tricks while I’m gone!” she calls before the pegasus takes off and flies away.

“Yay! Time with Uncle Leaf!” Tricks cheers in the ensuing silence, latching on to Leaf’s foreleg again.

“Oh Luna owes me big time…” Leaf mutters resignedly.

“This is probably gonna hurt. A lot,” Witch says, looking at Rainbow Dash’s dislocated wings. She catches the rolled up towel that Cinna sends floating towards her and Flash and she sets it before the injured pegasus. “Put this in your mouth, it’ll keep your teeth from grinding together when the pain hits,” she adds and Dash gulps nervously. Witch couldn’t help but flinch in sympathy.

Flash moves to Dash’s other side and together they gently grab Dash’s wings, trying to cause as little pain as possible before putting the joints back in place. “Ready?” Flash asks, garnering an otherwise-incoherent sound of assent from their patient. “Okay,” she continues, looking over Dash to meet Witch’s gaze with a nod. “One.”

“Two,” Witch adds firmly and they pull hard on Dash’s wings, popping them back into place with an audible snap. Dash let out a muffled scream, sitting up and flaring her wings out, knocking both Flash and Witch to the ground. Flash gets up quickly, the towel snagged on her horn.

Witch clamors up as well as Dash makes loud noises of discomfort coupled with relief, and laughter rings out from the table across the aisle. Commander Fleetfoot is already debilitated with giggles and clutching her sides, and Commander Soarin is smiling in affectionate amusement at Dash’s reaction.

“I think she’s good to go,” Soarin comments dryly, a few chuckles escaping him as Bliss checks him over as well.

“That’s a strong wing reflex you’ve got there,” Fleetfoot manages to say between giggles. Dash turns a pouty glare on Witch.

“That was not cool! Why did you go on two?! Who does that?!” the rainbow-maned pegasus fumes, still flinching slightly at the obvious soreness still present.

“It’s a common practice,” Witch starts calmly, pushing a lock of her mane out of her face. “you were expecting us to go on three. Your body would have tensed in anticipation. By going on two, your body is still relaxed, and we can cleanly put your wings back in place,” she finishes explaining smoothly with a slight smile to Dash.

“It’s easier to put a nail in a pillow than a rock.” Soarin comments wryly.

“Exactly,” Witch agrees, her smile now turning to the commander. Witch motions for Dash to lay back down so she can finish tending to Dash’s various cuts and bruises. She tunes out of the conversation when it turns to how the Wonderbolts had found Soarin and Dash, pouring disinfectant on a piece of gauze to clean a cut.

Until Fleetfoot mentions Discord…

“Discord?!” Dash exclaims, perking up at the same time as Witch jerks, accidentally pressing the gauze to the cut harder than she’d intended.

“A prophecy no less, involving your dear hopeful student, Witching Hour!”

…

“And I would beg to differ, little Witch Doctor… Being the student of a goddess is enough to make any pony special.”

“Please… Hold still,” Witch commands, somehow keeping the tremor out of her voice. Memories of the draconequus’ words ring in her ears as though spoken anew, and her mind spins. She forces the crushing weight on her shoulders away with a slight shake of her head and bends all her focus to tending Dash’s cut.

Done quickly with her patient no longer jumping at odd moments, Witch gives Dash a few words of caution and encouragement, pausing only to smile briefly at the pegasus’ thanks, before slipping away quietly.

Taking refuge in a corner, Witch hides until the pegasi leave, and stays there even after that, lost in her own thoughts.

“Witchy?” Bliss’ voice brings Witch from her thoughts with a small start, and she immediately notices the concern in Bliss’ green eyes. “Step into my office a moment?” she suggests, though Witch can also hear an edge of an order mixed in. Wordlessly, Witch nods, following the Head Trainer into her office.

“Do you want to tell me what that was about?” Bliss asks gently after they both sit. Witch sighs, remaining silent while she tries to put her thoughts in order.

“I… I met Discord yesterday… After Miss Dash and Commander Soarin went missing…” Witch replies shakily, blue eyes flitting everywhere in the office but Bliss.

“That’s not the problem though, is it?” Bliss prompts, making Witch sigh again and shake her head. “So what is it, sweetie?”

“I… I just want to help ponies… That doesn’t make me special… Why does it make me special?” she says quietly, almost to herself. If Bliss hadn’t been paying close attention, she would’ve missed Witch’s reply.

“Witch… Why do you think it’s so hard for ponies to become healers?” Bliss queries, but Witch doesn’t look up at her, forcing the Head Trainer to continue explaining. “It’s hard because it takes a toll on a pony that most can’t bear… Seeing ponies hurt, sick or dying… It’s hard to remember that there’s still good in the world… But you… With your friend Monkey, or with your ward Trick Step, you helped them see that things would get better… You haven’t given up hope for others, and that is, frankly, amazing in our field of work.”

Witch sits in silence, hearing Bliss’ words and they lift some of the weight on her mind, but still…

“Is that all there is?” Bliss asks, almost as though sensing that something still bothered her colleague.

Witch opens her mouth to say ‘no’, but closes it quickly, a flash of pain flitting through her eyes. She wants to tell Bliss everything; the bracelet writing, the crystals and how they affected her, but Luna’s injunction against it stops her. She sighs before softly replying, “Yes… That’s all…”

Bliss gives Witch a skeptical look before shrugging, filing it away to talk to Luna about when they next sat down for tea. “All right,” Bliss says cautiously. “If you have any other worries, you can always talk to me, Witch,” she says before letting the matter drop.

Chapter 11 - Efferent

Three months later…

Witching Hour,

I’m so excited to have you visit me in Ponyville! Your current research about the ancient Equusese Empire sounds absolutely fascinating! I hope I can help you with it!

I’ll be waiting at the Ponyville station for the noon arrival from Canterlot this Sunday and Fluttershy will be with me. We’ll go to her cottage to get Trick Step settled in and then we’ll head back to my place. I’m sorry that you can’t stay together, but the library only has one spare room and you already said that you wanted two rooms. Fluttershy is great with foals though - just ask Rarity and Applejack - so there’s nothing to worry about.

Let me know if there’s anything else you need me to arrange so your trip goes smoothly!

Yours in Friendship,

Twilight Sparkle

Witch sighs as she sets the letter back in her desk drawer and closes it. “This is just bad luck…” she grouses, looking over to where Monkey is packing her own bag.

“What do you mean? It’s perfect timing… This way, you’re not dealing with Tricks on your own while I’m at the Flight Academy, and I’m not rattling about this huge place like a lone pea in a tin can!” Monkey retorts as she carefully places a picture of the strange hodge-podge family she’d accrued over the last nine months in her bag. Looking at the picture of her with Witch, Tricks, Fine Brew, Holly Sweep, and Leaf Wind, Monkey thinks it had to be a little strange to be so readily adopted into her doctor’s family, but it’s a strange that Monkey likes.

“I feel terrible about this… Tricks should be staying with one of us… Not with some strange pony in a town he’s never been to…” Witch frets, even as she too starts gathering up the books Leaf had brought her.

“Relax Witchy,” Monkey replies, the consolation almost a knee-jerk reflex now. “I’m sure the princess’ friend will take good care of Tricks and he won’t think that either of us have abandoned him. Besides… I’m only going to be gone for two weeks. If you’re not done with your mystery solving by then, I can swing by on my way home and pick him up. Does that make you feel better?” she asks, raising an eyebrow at Witch’s frustration.

Sighing, Witch nods as she puts stray notes into a binder and sets it atop her books.. “Okay… Yes. It does… and don’t tell me I’m being overbearing again. You know full well why I worry about that.”

Setting aside her bag gently, Monkey comes over to Witch’s desk and gives her friend a playful shove. “I know… but he’ll probably have too much fun making new friends… Didn’t the princess mention a trio of kids his age related to her friends?”

“But what if they make fun of him for not having his cutie mark yet?” Witch asks, her voice raising in panic. “Forget it, I’m not going!”

Monkey sighs, pressing a hoof to her face before giving the back of Witch’s head a light smack with her wing. “You have to go!” Monkey insists as the unicorn glowers at her while fixing her now-mussed mane. “You said it yourself! You’ve hit a block! You’re not getting any further, and you need someone to help you. Celestia knows I tried, but I just don’t have a head for this ancient history stuff outside of a Daring Do novel.”

Witch sighs again. “But what about work?”

“You said Luna already cleared it with your superiors.”

“Tricks’ schooling?”

“Princess Twilight said she had that sorted out. He’ll go to school in Ponyville while you’re there.”

“Um… Housework?”

Monkey laughs outright as Witch runs out of arguments. “No housework to be done if we’re all not here… Besides, Fancy and Fleur always send their maid over twice a week no matter what we do.”

Deprived of all reasons to back out of her trip, Witch flops into her desk chair, staring with unfocused eyes at the mess that still remains there. “Sorry… Thanks Monkey… I just… I’m really nervous…”

“I know, Witchy… But that’s why you keep me around I think,” Monkey replies with a grin and a half-hug. “To talk you out of silly things like this…” she adds, ruffling Witch’s mane again with her hoof.

Not bothering to fix it this time, Witch simply sighs and starts levitating the books over towards a suitcase she’d left open. “You’ll write though, won’t you? At least to Tricks?” she asks as the tomes are neatly placed in her luggage.

“Of course I will… and you’d better write to tell me how everything’s going!” Monkey responds, scooping up several balls of crumpled paper and putting them in the waste bin beside the desk.

Witch smiles in return. “Definitely.”

“Hey… You gonna take this too? The princess might be able to help with it too.” Witch looks up at Monkey’s question and her heart nearly stops in her chest as she sees the pink crystal, still seeming so innocent, in its case held up by Monkey’s hoof. Without thinking, Witch speeds over and snatches it from her friend, making Monkey recoil away half a step. “Sorry… Forgot you don’t like ponies touching that… Even if it is in that weird-ass case…” Monkey says, heading off the flood of apologies that would inevitably flow if she didn’t.

Witch mutters several curses under her breath before adding it to the luggage. There was just enough room for it without it possibly damaging the books. “Dammit Monkey… Stop heading off my apology with one of your own…” she grouses, good-naturedly, as she closes the suitcase and moves it closer to the door.

Monkey simply laughs as she starts heading for her room upstairs. “Get over it Witchy… You can’t apologize for me screwing up this time,” she calls over her shoulder before she disappears into the stairwell.

Casting one last glance at her desk, Witch decides there’s nothing else for her to pack there and follows Monkey upstairs. Ignoring the sounds of things getting tossed about in a search through the door immediately to her left upon reaching the upper level, Witch goes to the end of the hall and enters her room.

The large room, decorated in rich blues and golds, had needed little alteration to suit her tastes from when she’d moved in four months prior. Going to her closet and pulling out her travel bag, she starts filling it with the non-book necessities for the trip. After a moment’s consideration, she packs her Wonderbolts uniform. Sure, she was officially on leave, but it could come in handy… Witch isn’t sure how, but it might.

That bag packed, Witch settles it on her back and goes across the hall. She knocks twice on the door before opening it, peering into the room. “Tricks? You ready? We have to get to the train station soon…” Witch asks, looking for her ward. She spots him over in his play corner so she enters and walks over to him when he doesn’t respond. “Tricks? You okay?” she asks, putting a gentle hoof on his shoulder.

He looks up from his toy blocks, the cubes clattering to the floor as his magic suddenly drops them. Witch smiles down at him. “Why can’t I stay with Nana Brew and Pappy Sweep?” he queries in a tremulous voice that makes Witch’s heart break.

“I wish I could have you stay with them, Tricks… But they’re getting ready for that ale festival in Germaney,” Witch explains, trying valiantly to keep her own anxiety from her voice. “Do you really not want to go?” she asks softly, her hoof stroking his mane reassuringly.

“What if the other foals don’t like me? What if they tease me about my horn?” he asks, turning his fretful gold eyes on his guardian. Witch sighs, pulling him to her in a hug.

“Just give it a try for me? Please? I’m sure Princess Twilight’s friend, Fluttershy, will adore you as much as I do…” she says, not addressing the issue of the children his age. “If you have any problems at all, you can tell Fluttershy, and she’ll bring you straight to me at the Golden Oak Library,” she adds, laying the reassurances on thickly. Witch finds herself becoming more confident as she comforts her ward, as though saying the reasons Monkey had just given her are finally made believable by her speaking them herself.

After a long moment, Tricks nods. Witch stands and coaxes him over to his own closet, where his travel bag lay discarded with only a few books and article or two of clothing haphazardly shoved into it. “That’s my big brave colt… Let’s finish packing up. We’re all getting breakfast at Rusty’s, remember? You don’t want to miss that.”