A Coven of Sisters

Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship, cantered to the map room where Apple Jack waited. The orange mare looked worried, standing and fiddling with her hat and busying herself with studding the map of Equestira, that was the magical table in the center of six emblem, crystal seats, as well as few unmarked ones.

“Apple Jack.” Twilight intoned brightly. “What can I do for you?”

AJ jumped, being too self absorbed to notice Twi walking in. “OH! H-hi Twi. A'h've got me a problem like a rattler in the drinkin' hole in a blisterin' August noon day sun.”

Spike put a claw to his chin. “That does sound bad.” He looked up at Twi. “She was forcing all of that, and if AJ is forcing a country saying, she's worried.”

Twilight ignored her number one assistant and nodded sympathetically to her friend. “What's the problem? I'm sure we can figure this out and come up with a-”

“Beg pardon, but it's technically not really her problem.” Apple Bloom interrupted. Apple Bloom might not have been the sharpest trimmers in the tool shed, but she was very far from blunt. After seeing AJ freak out by just looking at their cutie marks, and now, not even able to make eye contact with them from the altercation with Diamond Tiara, Apple Bloom figured out that something was very wrong, and that worried her.

Twilight blinked. “What do you mean?”

“Well, ya see,” Scootaloo gave a sheepish smile. “We may have done some bad things.”

“Bad?!” Apple Bloom demanded. “Na'h that A'h thinking about it, it's just down right plain horrible!”

“You're over reacting.” Scootaloo waved aside with a hoof.

“A'h'm not!”

“Am too.”

“A'H'M NOT!”

“AM TO-”

“ENOUGH!” The whole room went silent as Sweetie Belle stood tall, as tall as the little filly could. “Scootaloo, don't down play what we did. It was bad, and over the line. You need to accept that, and take responsibility with us.” She gave Apple Bloom a look of annoyance. “And Apple Bloom. You're just as much at fault as we are, so you can't play innocent.”

“Na'h Apple Bloom has nothin' to do with this!” Apple Jack said, stepping forward and placing a foreleg around Apple Bloom's shoulders. “She's Ma'h baby sister and ya ain't takin' that away from me!”

“Oh, we won't be doing the taking.” Sweetie Belle replied sadly. “That's the Princess's job.”

Twilight blinked in confusion. “Uhh, what's going on here?”

Spike tapped his claws together, as if trying to untangle the mystery by the short piece of dialog alone. He counted, pointed at all four ponies, scratched his head and finally shrugged.

“I got nothin'.”

“This is what's going on!” Apple Jack cried, grabbing her sister's skirt and ripping it off roughly. Twilight was about to object and scold her for doing such a deed when the torn cloth fell revealing the tell tell cutie mark that adorned Apple Bloom's flank.

For a long moment, everything was silent.

“This isn't a joke is it?” Twilight asked in a small voice, eyes not moving from the cutie mark.

“Does it look like A'h'm laughin'?” AJ demanded, her voice catching.

Scootaloo shook her little head, wings buzzing angrily. “Okay, what's so bad about our cutie marks? Really?! What's the big deal?”

Twilight slowly looked at her and Sweetie Belle. “Our? You're saying you two have them too?”

Wordlessly, Sweetie Belle levitated hers and Scootaloo's make shift skirts away to reveal green eyes staring from behind a black cauldron tipped with a pointed black hat on their flanks as well. Twilight sat down hard, a look of frightened disbelief on her face, as she felt dread started to boil up inside her.

“You might as well say it.” Sweetie Belle finally spoke, shattering the icy thick silence that froze the room. “Go oh. You might even feel better about it all.”

Twilight shook her head. “Sweetie Belle...” So many questions swirled in the princess's head, but the only one phrase came out. One dreaded phrase that stilled her beating hard and made the room temperature drop to near freezing. “You're a witch.”

Sweetie Belle smiled, a kind smile that had a hint of mischief. “Yes Princess. We are. We formed a Coven about a week ago.”

“Same day as your visit to the castle.” Spike mused. Twilight and Apple Jack looked at him. “What? YOU try cleaning a giant library for hours only to have three fillies unshelved almost every book. That sorta stays with you for a little bit.” The purple drake shivered. “Still gives me nightmares.”

Twilight put a hoof to her chin. “But wait, how did you go from the library to forming a coven?”

“We found an old tattered book that told us.” Scootaloo supplied, relieved that the adults weren't yelling at them.

“Old tattered book?” Twilight repeated blankly. She looked to Spike, who shrugged.

“Coven, how to form your own Coven.” Sweetie Belle answered. “And we found it in your library.”

Twilight face was blank. “I don't own any books on Covens, witches or anything otherwise.”

Silence.

“Well, that's weird.” Scootaloo gave a nervous giggle.

“But, That's besides the paint, Twi. Ma'h sister ain't no-”

“Our sister!” Scootaloo interrupted. “We made the blood oath. Now we're all sisters. Apple Bloom, Sweetie Bell and me.”

Twilight's face went from confusion to shock. “Oh. Oh my.” She looked to Spike. “Do you know what this means?!”

“Yeah.” Spike muttered. “I don't get to finish my nap.”

“That's right Spike!” Twilight Sparkle continued on, as if Spike had said what was on her mind. “This is a perfect opportunity to study a witch coven first hoof!” She clapped her for hooves with joy that could only be brought about by something new to learn.

“This Ain't!” AJ stomped a hoof, her eyes filling with tears. “Ma'h baby sister. MA'H SISTER,” She snapped at Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle before they could say different. “Is NOT a witch!” She sat down on her haunches, weeping openly now. “She just can't be. If'n she was, she'd be banished.”

Apple Bloom stiffened as the word 'banished' hung in the air. All looked to Twilight.

The cheery pony was now biting her lip. “Well...Celestia and Luna made the Fireclove proclamation several thousand years ago, banishing all witches from pony society....By law, in the default, I have to banish you.”

Apple Jack's sobs filled the air as the young fillies hung their heads dejectedly.

“However...” Twilight began slowly, thinking of a way that she could, legally of course, avoid banishing the younger siblings of her best friends. “....We could...uummm...”

“Oh come on!” Spike burst. “You want to study them and there was a clause in the Fireclove proclamation that stated that if any witch or coven wished to abide near pony society and participate, they must present themselves before the Two sisters, proclaim allegiance to them and add to society the same as an other pony would.”

Again, the entire room turned to the purple drake, but this time in stunned awe that he could remember such an obscure, unheard of thing.

“Twilight spend a whole year when she was still studying under Princess Celestia, learning all she could about witch related things. I picked up on that.” He blushed. “Not that I was waiting for a moment to unleash a load of knowledge that she'd forgotten or anything to sound and look smart. I'd never do that.”

Twilight and Apple Jack gave him the a warm smile.

“Of course not, Spike.”

“A'h say you're the soul of ma'hdesty.”

The three fillies looked up, unsure what to make of all this.

“Sooo....?” Scootaloo started to ask.

“We're not banished?” Apple Bloom finished.

Princess Twilight Sparkle stood tall, smiling. “No, my little ponies. But first things first. You three need to present yourselves at Canterlot.”

They gave each other nervous excited smiles.

“When do we leave?” Sweetie Belle asked excitedly, for once sounding like the filly she was, rather than a self appointed leader.

“Tomorrow.” Twilight announced. “But for now, you'll stay with me.” She gave a girlish giggle. “Oh! My first guests at the Castle! Yay!”