The Foal in The Basket

Chapters

Who says a girl can’t have it all!
Eleven months later
Primary Care Giver
Keeping a secret in a small village?
Borrowing a book
Honeydew Wisp
Heritage
Fatherhood
Twilight
Cadance
Along came Rainbow Dash

Who says a girl can’t have it all!

Chapter 1
Who says a girl can’t have it all!

“Ah…” Queen Chrysalis leaned into Shining Armour’s side. The white Unicorn stallion was not quite under her control yet, but not quite free of will either. She could feel a fresh layer of her magic begin to settle over his mind. It was only a matter of time before he was mere puppet.

She pressed her body to his side, savouring the liquid warmth that flowed into her body. The love he extruded tasted so pure, so very rich. It was a taste that filled her mouth in a starburst of flavour. Her body was hot, her stomach was full, and it made her head swim. So this was the pleasure of a full belly, Chrysalis thought to herself. She sighed in bliss, and rested her head on the pillow alongside her host.

She had never felt so satiated. Not as a Queen ruling her people, nor as a young Princess sheltered under her mother’s blackened, diaphanous wings. There was food but never enough, never in the abundance that she could see scattered across this city. Even a princess was not fed enough to staff off the signs of malnutrition from blackening her coat and boring painful holes in her hooves and wings. The raw edge of hunger was an ever present companion even in her earliest memories. But not this time!

A terrible grin grew on her muzzle. The dark queen’s thoughts turned to the pathetic pink fool she had trapped in the deep, dark caves below Canterlot Castle, the pony whose form she had taken. It was an easy victory. She simply took the form of the alicorn’s lover, the Unicorn stallion she now lay beside, and asked the alicorn to follow her. It was as simple as that! No battle of magic. No duel of power. A simple request, and she had Princess Cadance trapped; abandoned and lost in the dark depths of the underworld! Even now, the expression of that mare’s pink face was exquisite in its subtle mixture of betrayal and horror, as she watched the form of her lover melt away only to reform into a perfect mirror image of her own.

Chrysalis let out a small laugh as she gloated over her triumph in the dim light of the bedroom she had stolen. And to imagine, her Royal Advisors had been so fearful.

“Alicorns were Lords of Order,” they said.

“Gods and Goddess in every meaning of the word,” they begged.

Fools! Cowards, all of them!

The features which she had borrowed sneered ever so briefly. Alicorns were a powerful breed. None would deny their magical prowess. They moved the sun and moon, plain for anypony to see. But had she not seen with her own eyes that alicorns could be tricked? They were not all knowing, not all powerful as those gibbering old mares in her court wanted her to believe. Far from it, alicorns were ponies, and ponies she could defeat.

Even as she lay on the bed she had stolen, she knew her plan was coming to fruition. Her people at last had a Queen that had the ability, vision, and most importantly, the will to see them prosper. Soon her people would return to Equestria, something that had not been seen since their banishment in last days of Queen Honeydew Hum, the age of Harmony and Betrayal. The conquest of Equestria was a day she had long looked forward to. It was a day she had dreamed of since she was small. A day her people would sleep with full bellies and the cries of hungry foals would, for once, be silenced.

Her host stirred awake. Chrysalis peeked up and saw the Unicorn stallion lying there in the dimness, gazing at her. His eyes were clouded by a mix of her magic and something she could not identify. “What is it?” She said sternly.

He made no reply, and bent his head to touch his muzzle to hers, planting a light kiss on that spot. Shock coursed through her mind. He had caught her by surprise. His hoof was moving too, brushing along her shoulders and up the nape of her neck.

“No,” she tried to say and jerk away. However, a new and sudden warmth cut her off in a shuddering gasp, as it rushed through her body like boundless wave. It was a different kind of love. It tasted strange. It was intoxicating. His hoof was far too agile, and had discovered a sensitive spot just between her softly twitching wings. She found no words would come out. He didn’t stop. Unwillingly, her wings flared ever so slightly as he came back time and again to the same spot.

‘Stay in control!’

She knew she had to. It was the first lesson any young Breezy learned when hunting for a host. Yet despite all the lessons she had been taught, she was limp in the ministrations of the first stallion she had ever caught on her own.

Her sensitive nerve endings were being stimulated beyond anything she had experienced in her young life. Every stroke sparked an intense jolt of energy that sent every muscle in her disguised body twitching. Her own betraying whine made it clear that her trembling body didn't want it to stop.

A low guttural moan escaped her lips. She squirmed, she gasped and she bucked. Her sides were rising and falling and she was breathing hard. Her mind reeled, as though drunk on a perfume of lust that came cascading off his body. Chrysalis was lost in a sea of sensations which were mixed together with the ever present scent of a healthy, virile stallion. He was so unlike the gaunt stallions of her own people. He was powerful, perhaps the most powerful Unicorn in all of Canterlot. She did not love him, but he was hers to control, hers to do as she pleased. The sensation was overpowering. It made her body sing with an unfamiliar desire.

The room spun. Her head was dizzy. She moved when she did not. Her whole body was trembling. But it was need, not fear that was making her shiver. She felt a certain inexplicable sensitivity in her loins. This was a sensation the young Queen had never felt before. “Yes”, Chrysalis hissed. He was so very close. Everything of the alicorn named Cadance would be hers. Her face, her wedding and her stallion

Finally, he set his hooves aside and nuzzled her again. Her mind flashed in mild alarm as she felt his strong forelegs turning her onto her back. He then nudged gently across her exposed throat. She was breathing quickly now, and deeply, his masculine scents mixing strangely in the thick air, laden with sexual energy. She licked her dry lips. “Kiss me.” She commanded.

And he obeyed, breathing soft puffs of air against her tender throat. His lips lightly brushed over her short fur, as they explored her body. Those same lips where soon on her chest, then down onto her belly where they lingered for several moments, before finally pushing down to the two sensitive nubs between her hind legs. She felt his hot breath on places no stallion had ever touched before. She felt his raspy tongue on her bare naked skin, one of two places a mare was not covered in fur. She gasped and shuddered, each one of her blissful sighs filled her with creamy warmth.

A shiver ran through her soul. “Love me.” She moaned ever so softly.

And he did….

Eleven months later

Chapter 2
Eleven months later.

The door knocked three times.

It wasn’t loud but it was enough to catch Spike’s attention. “Coming!” The baby dragon sighed and put away the bread knife he held. He untied the apron around his waist, and left the kitchen with the morning’s breakfast still half made on the countertop. Twilight was no help in the early mornings. He couldn’t depend on her to answer the door. As with most mornings, the purple Unicorn which he called mother, sister, and friend was dead to the world from staying up till the early hours of the morning studying.

The little purple dragon opened the door of the Book and Branches Library and looked outside. “Any pony there?”

No pony replied. There was nothing but the sound of birds, and a basket on the threshold of the door. It was a dirty, brown, straw basket, the type a pony would use for a picnic. A thin midnight blue blanket covered the top. An uneasy feeling crept up his gullet.

‘Nah couldn’t be,’ Spike dismissed. That only happened in stories. This was Ponyville! It was far more likely that it was a basket of freshly baked muffins, or sweet candy, or even spicy sapphires given by some unknown benefactor or secret admirer. Actually, on second thought, it probably wasn’t freshly baked muffins; the grey mailmare Derpy Hooves would have eaten those. He reached down and peeled back the blanket.

** *** **

“Twilight!” Spike ran up to stairs. The fast, heavy foot falls of the young dragon echoed all the way up to library’s second floor. “You’ve got to come down now!” The dragon huffed at the foot of her bed.

“A few more minutes,” came the reply from the mound under the blanket.

“NO!” He nearly shouted in fearful panic. “Twilight it’s important.” Spike ripped the blanket off the purple mare. “You have to come down now!” He grabbed her fore leg as if he was going to carry her off the bed himself.

“I’m up! I’m up! I’m up already.” She beat him back with her fore hoof. Somehow she managed to muster enough strength to roll to the edge of the bed, and then to her four protesting legs. With a wide yawn, she trotted towards the staircase,, without so much as sparing a second to brush her bed matted mane. Spike was gone, all but flying down the staircase ahead of her at the pace his legs were moving.

It was 7 in the morning and she had all of 4 hours of sleep. Sure it was enough sleep, if you wanted a shambling zombie for company. “I’m down, what did you want to show me Spike?”

Her number one assistant pointed to the table in the library’s main room. It was a basket, a battered, reed picnic basket that had seen much use and better times. Peeking out from under the blanket was a small little snout and a pair of big, harlequin blue eyes.

There was a small foal in said basket!

Her brilliantly sharp mind, dulled slightly by lack of sleep, was at a loss to make sense of this strange sight. The little foal let out a tiny, gurgled laugh.

“I found it at our door step.” Spike looked urgently to her. “I think she’s been abandoned. What do we do?” He asked. His tone was obviously hoping for an answer.

What does a pony say after such a discovery? ‘Mail it back to Sender,’ was definitely not a suitable response. Not knowing what to do next, Twilight approached the basket for a better look. The foal had a horn on her forehead, ruling out an Earth Pony or a Pegasus. The natural conclusion was she, Twilight Sparkle, The Element of Magic, personal student of Princess Celestia of Equestria, heir apparent of House Twilight, as unlikely as it sounded had an abandoned Unicorn foal on her hooves.

However, upon closer inspection, said foal’s horn was unlike any Unicorn horn she had ever seen. It was missing the familiar spiralling pattern of grooves unique to each individual Unicorn. The foal’s horn was as smooth as a blade, and flattened on either side, giving the horn a flattened oval cross section.

‘A congenital birth defect?’ Twilight idly pondered. If so, it was quite unfortunate, and she felt a twinge of pity for the young thing, as she imagined the years of growing up with such an un-slightly horn. It was very unfortunate too, as the foal did have rather interesting eye colour.

Twilight Sparkle lit her horn and lifted the foal from under the cover of its rag thin blue blanket. The foal was a filly that much was apparent with a single glance and a newborn too, given her small size and long, weak, spindly legs. The foal’s coat was turquoisish white and her mane and tail were sapphire blue. A familiar stripe of silvery grey ran through both mane and tail. There were wings affixed to her back.

‘Not a Unicorn,’ Twilight corrected herself. This had gone beyond a mere congenital birth defect. She was seeing something new. She turned the filly around within the grip of her magic. The foal’s wings weren’t feathered like Pegasus wings. They were diaphanous, almost transparent membrane structures that refracted incoming light into a small kaleidoscope of shimmering colour. What breed of pony was this foal?

“She came with this.” Spike held up a thick envelope.

It was a clue. Twilight took the letter and placed the foal on the floor beside her. She paid close attention to the envelope, noting a wax seal affixed it. It wasn’t a House seal she was familiar with. That was a clue in itself. This was not one of the Major Houses of Canterlot nobility nor one of the more engaged and active Minor Houses.

Carefully Twilight made a cut along the edge of the envelope, and so preserving the seal for later investigation. She read the letter. It was brief letter yet by the time Twilight Sparkle had finished, she simply had to sit down. Twilight Sparkle fell heavily on to her haunches. Shock and disbelief raced through her mind in equal measure.

It didn’t take more than one look at Twilight’s shocked face to tell him that the letter was bad news. “What did it say?” Spike asked as he came close.

“Her name is Princess Honeydew Wisp.” Twilight said slowly, whilst folding the letter shut and pushed it back into its envelope.

“A Princess?” Spike glanced at the baby, puzzled. “Why would a Noble House drop their foal at our doorstep?”

“A Changeling princess, Spike!” Twilight replied sharply then in a softer tone added, “She is the daughter of Queen Chrysalis and my brother.”

“Oh boy.”

** *** **

Spike offered Twilight a cup of hot tea. It was a calming tea or so the back of the packaging claimed. “You know something, Twilight. Wisp doesn’t look like the Changlings that we saw at Canterlot.” He glanced at the foal resting on the floor, in the same place Twilight had placed her minutes earlier. “For one thing,” the dragon continued. “She doesn’t have a black coat, well, maybe just at tips of her ears and hooves. But still, her coat and mane have colour, and there aren’t holes in her hooves or wings.”

Twilight did not reply. She had no time for tea or much else for that matter. She paced round and round the small table in the middle of the library’s main floor. She was beginning to wear a groove into the floor boards. Spike knew he had to stop her soon. The last time that happened, they had to replace the library’s floor boards and it had come out of Twilight’s stipend. Spike was not going back to eating sand and charcoal for breakfast.

“Ponies in Ponyville seem to be quite an accepting bunch.” He continued, as reasonable as ever. “We have seen quite a few strange things since we moved here. I think they might be okay if Wisp moved in with us.” Spike replied quite reasonably. “Especially if she is a foal and your niece. Nopony would say a bad word about a cute foal.”

“That is not the point!”

“No?” Spike was a tad perplexed. “I think you are making a mountain out of a mole hill.”

“Spike! I. Am. Not.” Twilight stood still. “I’m trying to think of a way to prevent a catastrophe from happening. Do you know what will happen if somepony finds out that there is a changeling in Ponyville? Do you know what kind of trouble we could get into for harbouring a creature that can take any pony’s shape and feeds on love itself?!”

Spike shook his head.

“Neither do I!” Twilight exclaimed in terrible horror. “I need to study Equestrian Law to find out. Changelings are dangerous. We could be banished, or imprisoned, or imprisoned in the place we were banished too. And that is not the worst part!” Twilight exclaimed. Her mane was becoming increasingly frazzled.

“We can’t let anypony in Ponyville discover that there is a Changeling here because somepony would inevitably inform the Royal Guard.” Twilight’s mind raced as it explored the unfolding scenario. “There will be an investigation, they’d find this letter and it would lead to be a horrible scandal. My brother’s career will be ruined! I don’t know if Shining Armour would be allowed to collect trash, let alone remain as the Captain of the Royal Equestrian Guard after that.”

“It can’t be that bad. He was under a spell and that Changeling Queen did fool every pony including both Princesses. I am sure that is a good enough excuse.”

“It’s bad alright. Really bad. My mother wrote to me to keep me informed. The Noble Houses are up in arms over the Changeling Invasion. They are calling into question Shining Armour’s suitability as Captain of the Guard. Some are even calling for charges of dereliction of duty. This foal means he…with… Chrysalis. Oh Celestia, Cadance! How will Cadance react once she finds out?” Twilight was hyperventilating.

“What little I saw of Cadance, I think she is a pretty understanding mare. I think she would forgive Shining Armour.”

“She is, under normal circumstances but this isn’t normal.” Twilight couldn’t help but stress the last part. “Cadance is only an alicorn and niece to Princess Celestia. What is the worst she could do? Maybe banish my BBBFF to the moon forever!”

“BBBFF?”

“Big Brother Best Friend Forever.” Twilight Sparkle explained. It was quite obvious what the acronym meant, why did ponies always have to ask?

“Oh.” He nodded in understanding, and paused. “Well maybe this is some kind of trick?” Spike suggested helpfully. “The Changelings at Canterlot were awfully tricky. Maybe she really isn’t your niece.”

“I don’t think Queen Chrysalis would lie. A simple paternity spell would reveal the truth.”

“I guess you’re right. Wisp does have a family resemblance. She has your straight mane. She even has that different coloured stripe running through her mane and tail that you share with your brother and mother.”

“Maybe we can turn her into a regular Unicorn.” Twilight said suddenly. “There must be a spell that can do that. What am I thinking?” Twilight exclaimed. “She is a changeling! If I just could convince her to change shape, I could then lock her into a Unicorn shape, and pass her off as my niece from my father’s side of the family. Of course I would have to invent a new cousin. But that is doable. ”

Spike didn’t like the way the corner of her eye began to twitch. He didn’t like it one bit at all. His mother-sister-friend really didn’t cope well with unexpected stress. There was the whole episode of being tardy when she forgot to submit a Friendship report. Not to mention the week of madness when she forgot to leave time in the month to plan her next month. The very memory of the week was enough to give him stomach pains, although that was mostly Past Spike’s fault for eating so such ice cream.

“She’s only a baby. I don’t think she can change shape yet.” Spike signed.

“Yes, yes what was I thinking?” Twilight replied more calmly. “Spike, get me some Wonderglue. I’ll just glue on a fake horn to her forehead and hide her wings under a vest. I think I even have one of my old vests in my wardrobe. Simple and functional!”

Spike was lucky to be spared the sight of Twilight’s vest. It would have most certainly rendered him blind as he was just a tad fashion conscious. The article in question was deemed a crime against fashion, and its creator exiled to making fascinators while the pattern itself was banned ten years earlier in the Prance Fashion Convention of 993

“Stop, Twilight. Just stop. You’re going to do something off the wall.”

Unfortunately it was obvious Twilight was no longer listening. “If a fake horn, a vest, some Wonderglue and a fake cousin can save us from catastrophe, why should we not use it? If we used some good quality glue it just might last her entire life.”

The baby dragon had not finished his say. He knew they were approaching the deep end. “It’ll all go wrong somehow. Terribly wrong! Either Princess Celestia will have to come to fix things or you will try to fix it yourself, making things ten times worse. We will then have to go see The Doctor and his blue box. What follows after that is a lot of running and screaming.”

“Spike! The glue!”

“Did I mention screaming and teeth? Temporal paradoxes and things under you bed that go bump in the night. Things you don’t want to know that you share the universe with. This is just like when you broke that rare pre-Equestrian Unicorn vase you had on loan from the Royal Equestrian Society of Antiquities.”

“I didn’t break that vase. You caught it.” She pointed out

He gave her a long, searching look that somehow spoke volumes of a history and experiences that never were. “My point is just stop. You can’t solve this alone. You need to bring in other ponies to help. Your brother for example; Wisp is his foal. Besides, gluing a fake horn onto a foal must come under child abuse laws.”

Unnoticed by anybody, the young foal on the floor had risen unsteadily to her feet. Once standing, she instinctively lifted her head to the space beneath Twilight’s hind legs. The foal found one of her nipples, and began to suck aggressively.

“Hey, cut that out.” Twilight shook her body slightly and backed away.

The foal was unceremoniously dislodged. She tried to follow on her unsteady legs but Twilight took another step back. It was too much for the poor foal, and weak legs finally gave out on her. She fell to the wooden floor and began to cry. It wasn’t a loud cry. It was a soft almost defeated whimper and was gut wrenchingly pitiful in its heartfelt intensity.

“That was rather mean of you. She’s hungry.”

“I don’t have any milk to feed her, Spike.” Twilight pointed out. “I’m not lactating.

“We’ve got to get her some milk. She certainly hasn’t had breakfast.”

“So what do you recommend we do, oh wise dragon?”

“I don’t know!” He retorted. “Who does a pony go to when they have a new foal on their hooves?”

Primary Care Giver

Chapter 3
Primary Care Giver

“She is underweight and mildly undernourished,” Nurse Redheart finally announced. “There are some signs of developmental problems, but that should fade with proper care and attention.” The white Earth Pony nurse set the young, skinny foal back into her basket. “It was a good thing that you came to the hospital as quickly as you did. A few more weeks and she would have certainly caught an infection, and that would have ended very poorly”

“Underweight? How could you know that? I though you didn’t recognize the breed of pony she was? Earth Pony foals are a lot stockier than Unicorn foals, which are heavier again than Pegasus foals.”

“I don’t, and I still don’t.” The nurse replied. “Nonetheless, I do know foals. There are certain proportions that all foals have no matter the breed. Wisp didn’t put on enough weight while she was in-utero.” The white Earth Pony mare shook her light pinkish mane. “I’ve seen some hard cases in Fillydelphia, but I never imagined seeing one out here in the country side. Given the state of the foal, her mother must have been caloric deficient for much of her pregnancy. I am almost surprised she carried to term.”

“Chrysalis was starving?”

Nurse Redheart nodded her head. “You know the mother?”

Twilight looked away. “We met briefly.” She answered simply.

“If you can meet her again, please tell her to go to the nearest hospital right away. She can get aid from Luna’s Royal Aid Foundation for Disadvantage Ponies.”

“I don’t think she…”

“If she won’t accept charity, please convince her that she is doing this for herself as well as for her foal. Her health is in jeopardy.”

“I’ll try.” Twilight answered, but she truthfully she knew there was very little chance of that happening. Twilight glanced at the changeling, a foal that was likely her niece. “How old is she?”

“Given that Honeydew Wisp still has her umbilical stump. I would say no more than a week old.”

“About the right time,” Twilight whispered.

“I take it you know more than you are letting on.” It wasn’t a question. “It’s rare for a mother to abandon her foal, but in every case which I have read about, she tends to leave it to a close friend or…. family.” Nurse Redheart stated.

“I…” Twilight stuttered as she tried to think of a convincing lie on the spot that didn’t involve her brother or a changeling queen and somehow explain the foal’s odd appearance.

“You don’t have to say anything, I won’t ask any further.”

“Thank you.”

“Shall I list you as her primary care provider?”

“Her what?” Twilight Sparkle asked. The question seemed to come out of nowhere.

“Her legal guardian,” Nurse Redheart clarified. “From the state of the foal, I would imagine her birth was clandestine. No medical professional would have allowed Wisp or her mother out of their sight.”

Legal guardian? Her? Twilight was as shocked as any pony could be given the circumstance. In her own estimate, she was certainly responsible enough to care for a foal, but to raise one; and to do so by herself, without a helping herd or a stallion? She didn’t feel all that mature… although there was Spike, and he was quite mature for his age. But that was not the crux of the problem, well not all of it. She couldn’t raise a changeling foal. “What if I can’t? What if I don’t want to? What if I return her back to her mother?”

“Returning Wisp to her mother would be a very cruel thing to do, Twilight Sparkle. Wisp would almost surely die.” Nurse Redheart shook her head and sighed. “In cases of foal abandonment, I have to inform the Royal Equestrian Foal Services in Canterlot. They will take Wisp in, and place her in an orphanage, where, hopefully, somepony will adopt her and give her a good home.” The nurse regarded the young, confused mare for a long moment.

“If you have any love for this foal, please consider taking her in. I know it is a big decision, but you don’t have to make up your mind immediately. Please give it some thought. Her mother must have left her foal to you for a reason.”

‘Because she would have been caught the moment she entered Canterlot’ Twilight Sparkle kept her thoughts to herself.

“A foal thrives better when she’s in a loving environment of friends and family. Not that I am maligning the good work of the Foal Services, but the numbers they handle simply preclude the kind of emotional stability that a dedicated care provider can give.”

“Okay, I’ll give it some thought.” Twilight finally promised and turned to leave.

“Twilight, how do you intend to feed Wisp?”

That small question stopped her mid stride. ‘Find the most loving pony in Ponyville and have my niece leach off said pony’s love like the parasites her breed of pony she is?’ Apart from that sarcastic thought, she had to admit between the hospital wait and the worry that true nature of the foal would be discovered, she had forgotten the original reason for being here in Ponyville General Hospital.

“A wet nurse has already fed and burped Wisp, but we usually encourage the primary care giver to nurse the foal on her own. It helps build a bond to the foal.”

“I… don’t know,” The uncertainty in her voice was apparent.

“The lactation spell is a simple spell, and nursing a foal is perfectly natural.” Nurse Redheart assured.

It was decision time for Twilight Sparkle. The purple Unicorn mare glanced at the changeling foal sleeping in the basket. Her thoughts were troubled. Could she freely give something of herself to a breed of pony that threatened to steal so much from her? The logical answer was no. She shouldn’t. She should be half way to Canterlot ready to throw... what? A foal into irons? This foal was likely her niece, her brother’s daughter. Its only fault was to have been born the wrong pony breed.

“Okay.” She said once. “Okay, I’ll do it.”

In the end the spell itself was rather simple compared to the troubled decision of performing it. She nearly backed out twice, but managed to convince herself to continue each time. It took hardly any magic to perform, as a mare’s body was built to care and feed her own foals when the time came. But it was still a strange feeling. It left her feeling bloated down below. Her udder were heavy and full.

“You should lie on your side when nursing Wisp.” Nurse Redheart advised.

“Is that normal? I thought all foals could stand and walk hours after they’re born.”

“Usually that is true. But Wisp is in such a poor condition, she simply does not have the strength to stand for long. I would also recommend keeping her indoors until she has a chance to put on a few pounds of weight. I wouldn’t risk an illness for a foal in her state.”

Keeping a secret in a small village?

Chapter 4
Keeping a secret in a small village?

Twilight Sparkle arrived home to the Book and Branch Library in the same manner she had departed, in a purple blink of Unicorn teleportation magic. Having been born the most powerful Unicorn in a thousand years had some benefits. It had saved her from walking down the streets of Ponyville with a basket in tow, and thus becoming the inviting target for the inevitable flood of dreadful questions about the origin and breed of her skinny niece.

Wearily she set the basket carrying her sleeping niece upon her bed and was soon on the bed herself for some well-deserved rest. 4 hours of sleep is simply insufficient for a pony to stay awake throughout a stressful day. It didn’t help that her udder between her hind legs was tender and full.

Not long after her head had received some fitful rest, an annoying and rather insistent hand began to prod her into consciousness. Twilight Sparkle opened one beady eye. It was enough to stop Spike from prodding her again.

“Wisp made a mess. I think we need to clean her up”

Spike had never been more correct. It smelled and terribly so, yet somehow she had slept thought that repugnant stench. It was expected of course. Foals made messes until they were toilet trained. Yet as expected as it was, it annoyed her. “Alright,” Twilight let out a long sigh. Her short temper was likely caused by sleep deprivation. “I’ll clean her up and her basket. Go out and buy some diapers.”

** *** **

“Welcome to Carousel Boutique, where our fashion is chic and our dresses unique.”

“Hi Rarity,” the purple dragon greeted as he entered the premises.

“Oh Spike, what brings you here?” The alabaster Unicorn asked.

“I need to buy some cloth.”

“Dear me, one simply cannot go into the dressmaker’s shop armed only with the general desire to buy cloth. There are many types cloth, many different grades of each type.” The Unicorn answered. “Perhaps I should begin with a simple question. What do you want to use the cloth for?”

Spike hesitated. “I need cloth for diapers. I went to the general store, but Berry Punch sent me over here because she didn’t stock any.”

“Diapers,” Rarity put on her red rimmed glasses and begin looking through an array of hang labels. “Muslin cloth would do,” she said as she levitated out the appropriate bolt of cloth. “Are you buying for Pinkie Pie? I didn’t know Mr and Mrs Cake needed more diapers for Pound Cake and Pumpkin Cake.”

“No, I’m shopping for Twilight.”

“And why does Twilight Sparkle want diapers?” Rarity inquired as her magic took hold of a pair of scissors.

“Ummm…” Spike hesitated. “We got a newborn foal at the library, and Twilight just got back from the hospital. She sent me to buy some diapers because she is too exhausted to come herself.”

The fashionista didn’t know what to think of it. Her first reaction was to deny it. Twilight Sparkle would never get herself pregnant unplanned. All grown mares in Equestria took Heat Suppression potions every spring till the end of summer to prevent unwanted pregnancies. Rarity simply could not believe that Twilight Sparkle could be that careless. She always seemed so tied to her schedules.

It must have been shame, the Unicorn decided. Such deep, dreadful shame that even such a powerful and usually controlled Unicorn as Twilight would hide her pregnancy from her best friends. Rarity vowed not to judge. Twilight had already gone so far as to give birth in secret without anypony the wiser. It must have been terrifying going through such an ordeal without family or friend close by. Rarity was not going to push one of her best friends to hide forever in shame because of a careless mistake.

“Who is the father?” she inquired softly.

Spike hesitated again. He answered only because it was Rarity who was asking. Love did strange things to a dragon. “Shining Armour.” He answered. “I’m actually not supposed to tell.”

‘Her own brother?!‘ Rarity gasped in palpitating silence, she very nearly called for her fainting couch but somehow found the strength to steady herself. This was too much, simply too much. But in hindsight, it was obvious even to a blind mare. Certainly, Twilight seemed overly fond and protective of her older brother at the wedding, but never in all her days did she imagine that Twilight would cross the line and seduce her own brother.

“Does her sister in-law… Does Princess Cadance know?”

Spike didn’t answer immediately, and his silence was damning. His subsequent answer merely confirmed her suspicions.

“No. I think Twilight is afraid to let Cadance know. She’s thinks that Cadance would banish Shining Armour to the moon or something.”

“I see.” Rarity could not say she was at all surprised. If she had caught her stallion cheating, he too would be banished to the moon, if it were within her power to do so. And if he was cheating with his own sister….Rarity felt a shiver run through her. It was a pity too. Shining Armour seemed like such a nice stallion. He honestly did appear to love Cadance, and any mare would be lucky to join their herd. Yet the evidence was all there to be seen, looks could be deceiving. This made two stallions whose looks could not be trusted. Was high Canterlot society littered with such stallions like Prince Blueblood?

“Twilight is kind of worried to show Wisp around Ponyville. Wisp, that’s the filly’s name by the way. She is worried how ponies are going to react if they found out.”

“No pony will find out from me. Although I believe most ponies in Ponyville would accept the foal regardless of her birth.”

“I told Twilight the same thing, but she didn’t believe me. She was going on about gluing on a fake horn onto Wisp.”

Rarity was taken aback. Glue on a fake horn? Did the poor dear have some disfiguring birth defect? Yet she knew that she shouldn’t be surprised. The Unicorns of Canterlot were rumoured to be inbred, as they kept their marriages and titles of Royal lineage to themselves. As for Twilight’s newborn daughter, well the poor dear didn’t have a chance. She was hopelessly inbred.

“As one of her best friends,” Rarity declared. “It is my place to support Twilight in her moment of need. I will personally put to task any pony that would dare say a poor word against Wisp.”

“You will?” The dragon was surprised. “I mean even if Wisp isn’t, you know, like other ponies.”

“The manner of how Wisp was born may have much to be desired, but the foal is blameless. She has no control over who her parents are.”

Spike didn’t know what to say. Maybe all that worry of raising a Changeling foal in Ponyville was so much stress over nothing. “That…that is the most understanding thing I have ever heard.”

“Here Spike, take the cloth.” Rarity smiled. “I have cut several sheets to the appropriate size.” A soft white bundle floated into his outstretched claws.

“How much do I owe you?”

“Nothing, nothing at all. Take it as my gift to Twilight. We did miss giving her a baby shower.”

Spike nodded his head in thanks and walked out of the Carousel Boutique. It was only when he was outside, halfway towards the Book and Branches Library that he wondered “Why throw Twilight a baby shower?”

Borrowing a book

Chapter 5
Borrowing a book

“Twi is what now?” Applejack voice rose even as she gave Rarity an all mighty penetrating look.

Rarity had managed to keep the secret for almost an entire week. But her own nature to disperse gossip, along with the fact that the subject of said gossip involved her friend in a life changing manner, had placed an almost unbearable and ever increasing pressure on the fashionable Unicorn to remain silent. Finally it had grown too much, and she had to speak to somepony or risk exploding.

The first pony she contemplated confessing to was Fluttershy, but she simply couldn’t burden the poor timid Pegasus mare with a such secret. Then there was Rainbow Dash, but the brash mare was liable to react fast, furiously, and decisively without much forethought. She didn’t want a front page article in the Canterlot Chronicle of Ponyville’s Weather Manager assaulting the Captain of the Royal Guard. That left Pinkie Pie and Applejack.

“Hush and not so loud,” Rarity hissed. They were still in the confines of her home and business, The Carousel Boutique, but nonetheless, Rarity was not going to take any chances that they might be overheard. She had promised dear Spikey-wikey, and though she was breaking that very same promise, it would go no further than their close circle of friends.

“Ah still think you’ve been drinking too much of our special distilled apple brandy. Twi couldn’t just have a foal without anypony knowing. That’s simply hog wash. Ponyville is a small town. Why, there are only about 500 ponies in the entire village. How to do you explain nopony seeing Twi in an expecting way, when she was up and about town last month, or the month before that? Pregnant mares are rather obvious months before giving birth.”

“Applejack dear, we are speaking of Twilight Sparkle, the personal student of Princess Celestia. A simple illusionary spell is not out of the question.” Rarity replied. She then took one of many slips of iced tea from her tall glass, which did contain a dash of Sweet Apple Acres brandy. “I am just concerned that after a week, she hasn’t confided to us about the birth of her daughter.”

“Maybe there ain’t no foal.”

“You must certainly have observed that Twilight has been acting peculiar this past week. I’ve noticed she hasn’t left her library at all.”

“There’s nothing strange about Twi not leaving her books.” However, honesty compelled the orange Earth Pony to continue. “But ah’ve noticed that Twi hasn’t been coming around to do her grocery shopping. It’s always Spike on his lonesome now.”

“Poor Spikey-wikey. I would bet 5 bits that Twilight… well, Spike has been buying more food that usual if anypony kept records.”

“Ah still think you might be mistaken.” Applejack held up her hoof to stop Rarity and let her finish. “Ah’m not saying that Spike lied to you by making up a story, but it could have been some kind of misunderstanding.”

“I don’t see how this could be any sort of misunderstanding. Spike clearly stated that Twilight had just returned from the hospital with a newborn foal. He even admitted that the sire of the foal is Shining Armour and that Princess Cadance is in the dark.”

“What did ya just say!?”

Rarity found fore hooves covering her mouth. Oh, dear sweet Celestia, what had she done? All she wanted to disclose to Applejack was Twilight’s new foal, and nothing about the foal’s father. If the full secret was known, she feared the apple farmer might be too traditional to accept their fallen Twilight Sparkle or her poor disfigured and inbred foal. She shouldn’t have added that brandy into her tea but she needed a little something to calm her nerves. “Please forget what I just said.”

“Ah can’t simply forget on yer say so, Rarity.” Applejack drew in a sharp breath. “And yer saying Twi had a foal with her own brother!”

“Please whatever you do, don’t tell Pinkie Pie. She would just throw a big welcoming party for Ponyville’s newest resident. She isn’t one of the most discrete ponies.”

“Unlike yerself?”

Rarity looked away and pushed away her tall glass of iced tea. “I am just concerned that Twilight feels so ashamed that she has gone so far as to hide her pregnancy and foal. We are her friends and friends support each other, good times and bad.”

“Ah reckon we should just go to Twi and asked her straight and proper.”

“And if she denies her forbidden, incestuous love triangle, the kind that is only found in the most sordid of Canterlot romance novels?”

Applejack was suddenly not so certain any more. “Umm… well… ah reckoned we would drop the matter. Surely Twi will tell us if we ask her.”

“I don’t think that it is a prudent course of action to confront Twilight. She has already gone to such measures that nopony even suspects there is a new foal in Ponyville.”

“So what do ya suggest?”

** *** **

Applejack peered out from behind a low leafy green bush. ”Ah feel mighty darn foolish,” She commented. “We look like a pair of ponies that are up to no good.”

“Nothing of the sorts!” Rarity whispered just a tad louder from her hiding place beside the orange Earth Pony. “You must admit, closer observation has already yielded results.”

“If there are results, ah don’t quite see them. We’ve been under this here bush since this morning. Ah should be out with the apple stall, but instead ah’m here and leaving it to Caramel. And Caramel doesn’t have a good head on his shoulder when it comes to sales. Carrot Top is going to be enjoying her lack of competition today. As a matter of fact, ah don’t know why ah’m following you around.”

“You are doing this because deep down, you know that I am at least partially correct. Something isn’t right with Twilight, and she has gone to great lengths to not allow even her best of friends close. Furthermore you want to know if I am right.” Rarity turned back to the library. “Have you noticed that every curtain in the library has been drawn shut?” The Unicorn pointed with her hoof

Applejack scrutinised the entire building, and Rarity was right. Not one window was opened. It must have been dark as night inside. Why would any pony want to do that on such a bright and sunny day?

Meanwhile Rarity had already begun to move. She crept closer toward the library in her green camouflage hat and olive speckled vest. The Earth Pony could only shrug her withers and follow the white Unicorn to the library window.

Once against the library wall, Rarity ducked below the window ledge. Slowly, she rose up level to a window on the library’s ground floor. Expertly, she fished out a glass cup, and placed it against the shaded glass window. She then pressed her ear onto the impromptu listening devise. Applejack looked at her friend and held up her empty fore hooves. Rarity rolled her eyes and levitated a second glass from out of nowhere, although it probably came from her saddle bag which she wore across her back.

“Spiiiike….Spike,” The two mares could hear. “Has Shining Armour replied to my letters yet?” Twilight Sparkle sounded both agitated and nervous. “I need to see him immediately. Didn’t I stress it was of the utmost importance”

They then heard the pounding hoof beats of somepony walking down the stairs.

“Have you been routing directly to my brother? I can’t risk Cadance reading my letters.” Twilight then continued. “If she even suspects, it’ll be all over. We cannot afford to be discovered.”

Rarity bit down on her fore hoof. So it was true! Scandalous but true, not that she needed more evidence that Twilight had involved herself in a forbidden, incestuous love triangle. She could hardly say a word as she glanced quickly to Applejack. The Earth Pony seemed as riveted as herself to the glass cup and the conversation beyond.

“Nothing except his first reply,” Spike answered. “I think your brother has been ignoring all your other letters.”

“Grrrh…” They heard Twilight let out an irritable frustrated neigh.

It was a sound Rarity imagined that a mare scorned would make after she had been used and then cast aside. It only made this affair all the more tragic, and utterly sordid, that the stallion in question was her own brother.

“Well he did promise to meet you without Cadance’s company tomorrow. That’s something isn’t it? He did take a day off work to go to Ponyville.”

A secret rendezvous! Rarity pressed to hear the faint conversation.

“And he told us that three days ago! Did I not write that this is a matter of the utmost urgency?”

“If every letter you write is labelled urgent, nothing becomes urgent.”

Twilight Sparkle huffed. “I’m taking Wisp for her appointment. Are you coming or not?”

** *** **

“She’s gone. I just felt her blink away.” Rarity stood up and straightened her neck. She reached out to the library window with a blue glow of her magic.

“What the hay are you doing?” Applejack yelped. “You just can’t go breaking open windows of other pony’s homes.”

“It’s a public library.” Rarity coolly replied. Somehow her magic undid the latches and locks inside the library, and the window swung open. “I am going to borrow a book. Absolutely nothing wrong with that.” The Unicorn jumped up and pulled herself in through the opened window.

“Ah just hope you remember that excuse when Police Constable Blue Copper has us in her jail cell.”

“That will only happen if you must dally so.” Rarity answered back “How hurry in.”

Despite her not so small misgivings, Applejack did as she was told and leaped in. She didn’t go very far. She was simply too solidly built to jump that high. The apple farmer was stuck halfway upon the windowsill.

“Rarity! Some help please.” Her hind legs dangled outside the window while fore hooves did the same inside.

The Unicorn replied quickly, and pulled the orange Earth Pony in.

“And where in the hay did you learn to jimmy open a window?” Applejack asked the moment she got back onto all four legs.

“You should meet my paternal grandmother. She is quite the jeweller and amateur acrobat.”

** *** **

The library was dark.

It was much darker than the two mares remembered from their previous visits. Gone was the normally warm glow of the library’s main floor. The wide opened space and its many shelves of books, was hidden in a dark claustrophobic gloom. Their first instincts was to draw open the curtains to let in some light. However, that would have made it obvious to anypony outside, that there somepony inside.

“Do you smell that?” Rarity’s question hung between the two mares.

It was a scent that was familiar. Both mares had younger sisters who had come late into their lives, and they both knew what it was. It was a very specific and unmistakable scent. The conclusion was obvious and the apple farmer was forced to accept it.

“Twi has been nursing,” Applejack exclaimed. “Landsake, ah didn’t believe you, but you were right. She has a foal.”

“That is not the only evidence, look at reading table. It is piled high and covered with books on newborn care and parenting guides.”

Applejack just stood there, partially in shock. If Rarity was right on this, did it mean she was also right on that matter with Shining Armour too?

“Diaper cloth being boiled clean.” Rarity noted from the kitchen. They were the very same sheets of muslin cloth she had gifted to Twilight, and had obviously been in use.

“Enough! Yer convinced me already. We should be leaving.”

Rarity, however, was in a world of her own as she crept across the darken library. “I know I shouldn’t.” The Unicorn whispered to her self as she started up the staircase. “But I must really know. What did Twilight’s brother write to her?”

“Rarity, we shouldn’t be doing this.” Applejack said warningly.

“We have to protect Twilight from making another mistake.” Her voice drifted down from upstairs. “She is obviously too much in love with her brother to see clearly. I want to know if Shining Armour really thinks he can string along two mares. Princess Cadance and Twilight, an alicorn and his own sister. At the very least he should pony up and add Twilight to his herd. But that…oh… the scandal. It is wrong by every convention. Would Princess Celestia even bless such a union?”

Applejack just felt mildly ill. She had to sit down.

Meanwhile, Rarity was going through the many sheets of parchment on Twilight’s desk. Finally she picked up one sheet, and held it to the light “Ah ha,” She exclaimed. “They are going to meet at Pokey Pierce’s restaurant at 1pm tomorrow.”

“I forgot something! I’ll be back in a moment Spike!”

Applejack’s ears perked up. “Twilight’s at the door! We’ve got to go now!” She urged quickly. “The window?”

Rarity was already on the main floor, having rushed down the stairs. She swiftly shook her head at Applejack’s suggestion. “We will never get though that window quickly enough.”

“The backdoor, hurry.” Applejack moved.

The door swung open as quietly as possible and Applejack stepped out under the cover of…well… the shade of an overhanging branch. She glanced back to Rarity to make sure she was following, and when she looked forward again she came nose to nose with another white Unicorn.

It wasn’t Rarity. This white Unicorn had a red mane, striped with black, and wore a disapproving frown on her muzzle that reached all the way to her eyes.

“Hello, hello, hello, what do we have here?” The Unicorn opposite Applejack said. Although no taller than herself, she somehow seemed to loom over the Earth Pony. It might have been the custodian helmet she wore upon her head, with its moon silver and sun gold crest of the Royal Equestrian Police. It certainly added an extra hoof of extra height. Or perhaps it was the foreign Trottingham accent, with its somewhat superior and sometimes condescending tone. Some ponies would point to the four nightsticks that orbited the Unicorn constable in lazy circles. Whatever it was, the intimidating visage was completed by a dark crisp, blue uniform with long sleeves that ran down the length of her forelegs

“PC Blue Copper. Fancy meeting you here.” Rarity smiled confidently as she stepped from behind Applejack. “Nice weather we are having.”

“Snooping as usual I see, Miss Rarity.”

“Why in the world would you even suggest that? My friend and I were just enjoying the shade after a short mid morning stroll. Weren’t we Applejack? It is ever so hot”

Now in the spot light, the orange Earth Pony stood very still, glancing quickly between the two white Unicorns. The Element of Honesty was not in a happy place.

“I am sure.” PC Copper narrowed her gaze. She had caught a glance of somepony climbing into the library window. But she hadn’t been fast enough to the library’s backdoor to catch the crooks with their proverbial hooves in the cookie jar. She had nothing that would incriminate the two in an act of burglary.

“Mum, did we apprehend those dastardly thieves?” Pipsqueak changed forward. The brown and white pinto coloured colt stopped beside his mother and looked to the two mares that he had helped apprehend. “Ms Rarity! Ms Applejack!”

He recognised them immediate as the big sisters of his schoolmates Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom. He did not share the same class with the two fillies, as they were two years his senior. But every pony in school knew of the Cutie Mark Crusaders. There was only one word on his mind, “Why?”

“That wasn’t Twi at the front door.” Applejack blurted.

“Voice emulation spell,” Blue Copper, the Trottingham native answered with a grin. ‘Ooh happy days’. “It’s the latest development from Shetland Yard. I believe you fine, upstanding mares would not mind accompanying me to the Police House for a spot of tea and crumpets while we discuss our very interesting meeting.”

Honeydew Wisp

Chapter 6
Honeydew Wisp

There was much on Twilight Sparkle’s mind, and most of it weighed heavily upon her back. Foremost was the upcoming meeting with her big brother on the morrow. In her dazzlingly sharp mind, she played out a great many scenarios of how to introduce Shining Armour to Wisp. Some were sombre and foreboding, a great discussion of family, duty, and the value of blood over breed. The last took a page from Pinkie Pie, and consisted of Wisp hidden in a colourful gift wrapped box, a blue bow in her mane, and balloon tied to her hoof, accompanied by a shower of confetti. Spike would have been disturbed.

“The good news is Wisp is putting on weight, almost a full four pounds.” Nurse Redheart declared with satisfaction, as she moved the foal off the weighing scale. “She seems to be on the road to recovery, but I am a little concerned that she appears so passive.”

Nurse Redheart’s words shook Twilight from her rumination, “Passive?” It was the first word the purple Unicorn had spoken since she sat on the floor cushion by Redheart’s table.

Redheart nodded her head. “I usually come to these examinations expecting at least some crying, flailing of legs, wings, or even a bit of unfocused magic.” Nurse Redheart let out a wry smile “Young foals do their utmost best to run and hide beside their mothers. They are not the most cooperative of patients.”

Twilight Sparkle stopped brooding. She turned towards Wisp. The foal was none of those things. She did not cry nor did she struggle. She sat on the countertop with her legs folded under her body, and for the most part was still, aside from the occasional flick of her ears and blink of her eyes.

“I had hoped she would become more energetic as her health improved.” Nurse Redheart continued. She then brought out a measuring tape and began to take measurements of Wisp’s length, from shoulder to hip, then barrel girth, and with a little prodding, got Wisp to stand so she could measure her height at her withers. “That’s a good girl,” Redheart affectionately brushed the foal along her side with her hoof.

“I guess I am expecting too much at this junction. Wisp is still recovering from an ordeal.” Nurse Redheart picked up a pencil with her mouth and began filling in Wisp’s health records.

Twilight Sparkle was not so certain. In their short week together, Twilight had come to think of her niece as a very well behaved foal, one that had already begun to appreciate the peace and quiet of a well-stocked library. Perhaps she wanted to believe that a little bit of herself had somehow slipped into Wisp by way of her brother. Now she watched with growing unease, as the little foal in front of her accepted every unfamiliar touch and prod without so much as a protesting sound.

Was she mistaken?

It all boiled down to love.

It was a magical force created by all living creatures. It surrounded them, permeated them. It bound Equestria together. Love was one of the most powerful expressions of magic. It grew, it changed, it was consuming, it was chaotic, and it could move mountains. Changelings fed on that wonderful, beautiful thing.

‘Has Wisp simply not gotten enough magical energy to do more than sit and stare?’ Twilight wondered.

“Am I not loving her enough?” She whispered.

Nurse Redheart paused as she caught that softly spoken question. “Oh Twilight Sparkle,” She put down her stethoscope. “You’ve only had Wisp for a week. She came into your life unasked and unexpected. You are still very much in shock. As long as you take care of Wisp’s basic needs and cuddle with her regularly, she won't suffer if you don't feel a strong bond at first sight.”

“But… I… I have to. I have to love her.”

How could she explain to Nurse Redheart? Changelings were monsters. Even now, her feelings were mixed. How could they not be after what the Changeling did to her BBBFF and Cadance? Yet, she realised that more than anything else, she didn’t want any harm to come to Wisp. She might love Wisp just a little, or she might just be a good pony, because the thought of Wisp, the skinny foal sleeping on the countertop, starving to death in her hooves was deeply upsetting.

“You can't force yourself to love a foal. Wisp may be cute and cuddly, but she's also an entirely new individual, one you'll have to get used to before you can begin bonding. Parent-foal bonding is complicated and is truly an individual experience. A few mares fall in love with their foals in the first few days — or even minutes — of birth. Yet it's just as reasonable that most others take a little longer. There's no time table to gel with a foal. You shouldn’t feel guilt if you don’t feel some incredible attachment.”

Twilight Sparkle knew Nurse Redheart was wrong. Wisp fed on love. To a changeling foal, love was a basic need just as much as milk and diaper changes. What if she couldn’t love Wisp enough?

Nurse Redheart looked at the young mare, “A true parent-child bond is a by-product of everyday care giving. Over time, as you get to know, and learn how to soothe, her and enjoy her presence, your feelings will deepen. And one day — it may be the first time you truly see her smile— you'll realize you're utterly, ineffably filled with joy and love for her.”

“It just takes time?”

“Yes.”

The room fell silent.

Nurse Redheart picked Wisp up and placed the skinny foal back into her basket. She seemed happy to have been returned to her comfortable basket, and quickly closed her eyes and fell asleep.

“And what of yourself?” Nurse Redheart turned around so that her body faced Twilight Sparkle. “Have you been eating enough?”

“I read the pamphlet you gave me. I’ve been following the recommended nutritional guide lines. I even stopped drinking coffee… I think I’m experiencing withdrawal symptoms.” The purple Unicorn paused, remembering the headache she had experienced on the first day and constipation on the third. “I haven’t been sleeping much either. She wakes me nearly every hour of the night to nurse.”

“Her sleeping hours will become more regular after the first month.” Nurse Redheart comforted. “It doesn’t look like it now, but it’ll get better, and within a year she will be even toilet trained.” The Earth Pony paused.

“Have you decided if you want to become Wisp’s legal guardian?”

“I haven’t decided.” Twilight finally answered. “I am going speak to...”

Between one heart beat and the next, a dozen thoughts raced through her mind. Should she hide Shining Armour’s involvement? What of the scandal? Was there even a point? Ponyville was such a small village that news of Shining Armour’s visit would be known as soon as she spoke to him at Pokey Pierce’s restaurant. It was not as if she was admitting anything.

“… my brother tomorrow.”

“I see. I guess the pertinent question is, will he consider taking Wisp in?”

“I don’t know.” Twilight looked away. “It is complicated.” Twilight let out a shuddering breath. “I… How do I even begin?”

“The common advice is that it’s always easiest to start from the beginning. Nothing spoken in these four walls will leave it.”

Could she risk it? Twilight stared down at her hooves looking for an answer that they did not have. “I think Wisp is my niece. I think she is my brother’s daughter.”

There. She said it, and her mouth seemed to take on a life of its own as she recounted Wisp’s arrival at the library, the Royal Wedding at Canterlot a year ago, her brother, Cadance, and… Chrysalis.

As she talked, she felt the pressure that had built up inside her over the last week ease just a tiny bit. Maybe it was because Redheart already knew Wisp wasn’t a normal pony foal. Maybe it was because Redheart was a nurse, and would always have Wisp’s best interest at heart. Or maybe it was the act of confiding to an older mare, a subconscious substitute for Princess Celestia. Nonetheless, Twilight Sparkle didn’t tell the whole truth, just enough of it.

“I see.” Nurse Redheart kept her tone neutral. “And what of the scullery maid, Wisp’s mother? Where did Chrysalis go after she was dismissed?”

“I don’t care where Chrysalis is hiding!” Twilight’s snout twisted in to a rippled snarl. “She is evil! That’s right, evil!” She snapped. “I don’t ever want to see her again. I think she forced herself on my bother. I think she…” Twilight shuddered. “I think she raped him.”

Twilight’s outburst did not surprise Nurse Redheart. As much as she or any mare would condemn Chrysalis for what she had done, her sympathy for the pony that was Wisp’s mother had not entirely vanished.

This wasn’t the first time a poor young mare had set her sights on an unobtainable stallion; and what stallion was more unattainable, and thus desirable, than one chosen by an alicorn princess? Chrysalis’s head was doubtlessly dazzled by the imagination that she too could have a place upstairs if she captured the eye of the Stallion of the House.

Neither was it the first time a foolish young thing had used her natural beauty, the allure of her pheromones, and fire of her heat to entrap a stallion’s interest for a single night of passion. And when the harsh light of day arrived, had naively hoped that a pregnancy and foal would somehow secure a place in his herd.

It was a selfish, foolish thing. Often the results were what Nurse Redheart saw in her hooves now, a family disaster with all parties hurting in some manner. The desperate Chrysalis that couldn’t care for herself, let alone a newborn foal, forced to abandon her child and depend on the benevolence of ponies who would rightfully show her none. She didn’t even have a legal leg to stand on in an Equestrian court of law, which favoured the injured herd.

Redheart sighed. Chrysalis would doubtlessly be haunted by guilt for the rest of her life.

As for the wronged mare, she knew precious little of Princess Mi Amore Cadenza. But she expected few lead mares, let alone an alicorn and princess, would allow such an interloper entry into her herd or near her stallion again.

Then there was the stallion, no doubt emotionally traumatised. The emotional fallout and betrayal between Shining Armour and Princess Cadance would be hurtful. And finally there was the foal, an orphan in everything but name, that no pony wanted or could care for. It was a horrible mess. Wisp was luckier than most, she had a chance with her aunt.

“I can offer a parental test for Wisp to put to rest her relationship to your family. We don’t have a Unicorn trained to perform the test here, but I can collect blood samples from you, your brother, and Wisp and have it tested in Canterlot. The results are confidential and anonymous.”

“Thank you, but I can perform the spell myself.”

Nurse Redheart nodded her head. “If it is of any help, I would strongly advise that Princess Cadance be told about what happened between Chrysalis and your brother. The longer Wisp is hidden, the worse it will be for Shining Armour and yourself.”

“Myself?”

“She is your friend, a close family friend. Would you be happy if your friends kept such a secret from you?”

“No,” Twilight paused. “I guess not.”

“Do you think Princess Cadance will consider adopting Wisp?” Nurse Redheart knew that this was going to be a tender, delicate topic for the princess, no matter what the answer was.

“I don’t know. There will be problems.”

Redheart nodded her head. A pony could scarcely imagine how the press would react if Wisp or her unwed mother came to light. A scandal barely a year into a Royal Wedding that was followed across Equestria would be humiliating to the Crown.

“If you don’t mind some advice, I would recommend counselling for your brother and Princess Cadance. What happened with Chrysalis will be a sore point in their relationship. You should also involve another mare to help mediate between Shining Armour and Princess Cadance.”

“Princess Celestia?”

“Princess Celestia is Princess Cadance’s aunt, Sun Goddess, and undying monarch of Equestria.” Nurse Redheart expression was uncomfortable as she spoke. “I was thinking more along the lines of your mother. She would be Wisp’s grandmother.

Heritage

Chapter 8
Heritage

“Spike,” Twilight Sparkle called as candle lights burned on every wall, casting of a steady, comforting, heatless glow around the library’s otherwise darkened interior. “Do you know where I put Star Swirl the Bearded’s Tome of Most Ancient Scripts? I just had it! Now, I can’t find anywhere.”

It was mid-afternoon, and the Book and Branches library had changed little since Rarity and Applejack’s visit. The curtains were still drawn, the welcoming mat remained absent, the window that Rarity had pried open remained ajar, the front door was locked, and above all, the ‘closed’ sign, with its bright red letters, was turned up, telling every visitor, in no uncertain terms, that the library was in fact closed.

“I see it.” The sharp eyed baby dragon replied. “Just wait for me to get the ladder. You really shouldn’t shelve books out of view if you going to need it again.”

It was in moments like these, during the scattered hours when Wisp slept, that Twilight Sparkle could indulge in her own private interest. And what interested her most at the moment was a parchment that lay stretched out under her snout. It had arrived in the heavy envelope that accompanied Wisp. It was this parchment, rather than Chrysalis’s short letter, that had filled most of the envelope’s contents

The parchment was old and it was massive. Its straight edges overflowed a table that could comfortably seat ten ponies and their books. However, the parchment was also wafer-thin, as if it were woven from morning dew and sunshine. The entire thing reeked of magic, old, unusual magic.

Spike arrived with a heavy book between his claws. “Twilight,” he began almost casually. “We can’t keep the library closed much longer.”

“Didn’t you send my letter to the Mayor? I did emphasise personal family crisis.”

“I’ve done that.” Spike fidgeted, he knew that despite a royal edict that gave Twilight wide latitude to commandeer Ponyville’s public library for her home and residence, she still had to nominally serve as the village librarian. A pony simply could not close a public amenity without informing the village major. There were rules for these sorts of things.

“Three days is the limit for library closure. It’s been a week! Mayor Mayor Mayor is almost certainly going to demand that you reopen the library.” Spike paused as he cringed from saying ‘Mayor’ three times in succession. Not for the first time, he pondered if a pony could legally change her name, and what cruel parents would have named their child ‘Mayor Mayor.’ Did a pony’s name correspond to her lot in life?

Spike shook his head. Some things could never be answered. “You know how peculiar she is about the library’s management.” He warned.

Spike was indeed correct. The only reason that the dutiful mayor of Ponyville was not besieging their door was because she was tied up in a family crisis of her own, in the form of a mare, five years her senior, whom she reluctantly called her step-mother. Mayor Mayor only began to understand the depth of her sorrows when she realised her father, Quill Filing, a former Nutter, in the professionally sense, at least until he lost his love for almond farming, and the cause of much grief in her life, had never divorced his second wife, despite her unexplained if appreciated disappearance

None of this was known to Twilight Sparkle, and it wouldn’t have helped her sanity if she did. “Just one more day, Spike. Shining Armour’s coming tomorrow,” she reassured with the confidence she didn’t have. There was little more she could do but wait, and so she waited for Spike to nod his head in reluctant acceptance.

Twilight Sparkle returned to the parchment, the means she kept her mind occupied for the past week, and away from the worrying, volatile mess she had on her hooves. Despite Nurse Redheart’s advice, she still hadn’t a plan to approach Cadance with news of Wisp. Twilight quickly shook her head as if to rid the worrying thought from her mind. She would speak with her brother first, Cadance was his true love, and he might know how best to approach her. This moment at least, was for science and discovery.

There were writings on the parchment. However, the Changeling Script, as she had begun to call it, was unlike any script used by Ponykind from the modern era to the Classical Period. After three days of discontinuous study, the most she could afford given Wisp’s near constant nursing, Twilight had found a partial match to the Changeling script in inscriptions recorded by Splinny the Elder, a famed author and naturalist of the Classical era.

The inscriptions were discovered in the ruins of PomPie an ancient mountain city on the foothills of Amon Amarth, Mountain of Fate as it was known by the locals. Splinny’s chronicles of the excavation were chilling in their vividness. PomPie and her citizens had been entombed under a falling ash cloud. Most had been Flutter Ponies, although Earth Ponies numbered significantly amongst its citizens.

The death of so many Flutter Ponies spurred Twilight to take a second look at High Flutter, the modern written language of the Flutter Ponies. The PomPie inscriptions were again a partial match. High Flutter and the Changeling language shared a common root.

Twilight rested her head on her hoof and started rubbing her forehead with the other. Her horn ached. That was as far as her investigation went. Ponyville’s library didn’t have many examples of High Flutter, certainly not enough to build a translation. It was a minor miracle that a country library even had books that mentioned Flutter Ponies, let alone carried examples of their language. Flutter Ponies were isolationist. They kept to their mountain valleys and rarely, if ever, interacted with the wider pony society. Someday she was going to have a chat with Mayor Mayor Mayor and find out how the Book and Branches library acquired its eclectic collection

A translation for the moment was out of reach, barring the unlikely event that Chrysalis offered a helping hoof. But even if she did offer, it was a hoof that Twilight had every intention of slapping away. She would never accept anything from that mare. Regardless, a translation wasn’t essential anyway, Twilight already knew what she had in her hoof. The massive parchment was a genealogy record. This much was obvious because at the very end of this great list of portraits of mares and stallions was a cutie mark and image she knew all too well. It was her brother.

As strange as it appeared, Changelings and ponies had this one thing in common. Every mare kept a copy of their herd’s genealogy, but the originals were always passed from mother to eldest daughter. This ancient parchment under her hoof was one such original. Its magic was old, and perhaps the most precious heirloom that any mother could give to her eldest daughter.

Twilight Sparkle’s snout twisted into an angry frown. Chrysalis had formally added her big brother as her mate, the stallion who had fathered her offspring. It was a tacit claim of her brother by Chrysalis in lieu of a formal marriage certificate. Her blood flushed with anger. How dare that thieving, evil mare do that to her brother? Hadn’t she done enough?

Not for the first time Twilight Sparkle was tempted, sorely tempted, to set the document ablaze. The parchment reeked of protective magic, but her power was considerable. It would have been a simple matter to overwhelm the parchment’s defences with her own magic. In one fiery gesture, she could destroy something precious to that evil mare, and hurt her just as she did her brother.

Twilight Sparkle glared at the parchment until her eyes moved to the last name on the record, Wisp, her niece. Once again, as she done so many times this week, she stopped herself and shook her head.

‘No,’ Twilight told herself and put her hoof down.

As much as she hated Chrysalis, she could not destroy the parchment. Chrysalis had given the parchment to Wisp. It was a sacred link between mother and daughter. Twilight Sparkle knew in her heart of hearts, she couldn’t stand in the way of that. In a very real sense, this gesture showed Chrysalis did love the foal she gave birth too. She was acknowledging Wisp as her daughter, her eldest daughter. Twilight couldn’t take that away from her niece. It was probably the only good thing the evil mare had done in her life.

Twilight sighed.

On more practical matters, the loss of her genealogy record would saddle Wisp with the stigma of unknown parentage. It would be an admission that Wisp’s mother didn’t care for her and that she had been abandoned. Or worse, that her mother was of such poor breeding that her line didn’t warrant any records to begin with. Neither was true. Her brother was a stallion of good stock and good character, and given his position as Captain of the Guard, was arguably the most powerful Unicorn stallion alive in Canterlot. While her mother was a Changeling queen… which had to count for something.

She moved her hoof off of her brother’s place on Wisp’s pedigree chart. It would remain intact for Wisp’s sake. That motion brought her hoof to the one spot on the chart she had wilfully avoided looking at. It was the spot beside her brother. The spot occupied by Wisp’s mother. Reluctantly, yet at the same time driven by terrible curiosity, Twilight glanced at the entry opposite her brother.

The mare that looked out of the picture was rail thin. Her cheeks were sunken. Her skin was drawn taunt over her frame. She was the thinnest pony Twilight Sparkle had ever seen, any less weight and ribs would have shown. Chrysalis was thinner in this picture than her appearance during the wedding. This was a portrait of a mare that had endured much hardship in her life. Yet something continued to shine through, even in this small portrait. Her eyes were bright and alert. They gleamed with a spirit that was unbowed and still defiant. She stood proudly as if nothing, not even fate or famine would ever break her back. She seemed almost regal.

Twilight Sparkle stopped herself angrily. ’Regal?’ She berated herself for thinking such a thing. Such a pose didn’t suite a thief and rapist. How could she describe a pony that had raped her brother anything other than evil.

As for her cutie mark… She didn’t remember seeing Chrysalis’s cutie mark during the wedding. Everypony… no… every Changeling she fought bore the same featureless black coats. It was a disturbing recollection, as much as seeing a pony without a face. Realistically, Changelings had to have cutie marks. Could Changelings hide their cutie marks?

Twilight glared at the parchment. She expected something twisted and evil for Chrysalis’s cutie mark, maybe a pony skull or perhaps a broken heart. If she was truthful to herself, she hoped to see something to justify the way she felt about the mare, even if she had to explain to a tearful niece years from now, that her mother was an irredeemably bad pony.

Instead, Twilight Sparkle found a shield over a field of hearts. ‘Shocked,’ couldn’t encompass how she felt.

There have been many books written on interpretations of cuties marks, from simple records of cutie marks and their respective owner’s interpretations, to exoteric comparative analysis of ponies with similar marks. Twilight Sparkle knew because she had read them all as young filly. Cutie marks were a reflection of a pony’s soul writ large upon their haunches. They appeared when a pony discovered a defining characteristic that encompassed themselves, a pony’s special talent as it was often called by the laypony.

The meaning of a cutie mark was not always literal, nor was the meaning always easy to interpret. Sometimes the meaning of a cutie mark was obscure, known only to the pony who carried it. Other times the general meaning was obvious, even if the subtle specifics were known only to the pony who carried the mark.

Hearts and a shield.

‘Chrysalis’ special talent was love and protecting ponies?’ Twilight Sparkle didn’t know what to make of that. She couldn’t believe it. How could such an evil pony’s special talent be anything but the ruin of other ponies’ happiness?

“She’s got to be lying.”

Twilight felt foolish even as she finished the sentence. What was the point of lying about your cutie mark? What could Chrysalis possibly gain from such a lie? Twilight Sparkle reluctantly admitted that there was none. A cutie mark was always a personal thing.

Curious again, Twilight Sparkle began to trace Wisp’s ancestry, first to her grandmother, a portrait of a thin mare with the same black coat, but oddly, with a warm smile on her lips. While Chrysalis had eyes that there were fiercely defiant, the eyes of Wisp’s grandmother held a tired, broken expression. She looked like a pony that had been carrying a weight on her back that was far too heavy for far too long.

Twilight lingered for a moment at the portrait. Including Wisp, this was three generations of half-starved mares. Grandmother, mother, and daughter, they were not just any mares. They were the Queens and Crown Princess of the Changelings. She couldn’t imagine Princess Celestia being so emaciated. What did that mean? What did that mean for the common Changeling?

I’m just feeding my people. Chrysalis’s declaration from the height of the invasion echoed back to her.

She moved to Wisp great grandmother and then further back to the many mares and their mates who were Wisp’s ancestors. Twilight Sparkle knew what she was beginning to do, she couldn’t and wouldn’t sympathise. A pony may pity a pride of hungry manticores, but that didn’t give her the right feed an entire herd to the creatures to sate their hunger.

Changelings were monsters. Love stealing predators. Monsters in pony form which were alien with their insect wings and crooked horns. Monsters that were close enough to Unicorns, as close as Earth Ponies and Pegasi, that they could have foals together. Her thoughts turned to niece, sleeping in her bed upstairs. It wasn’t love that she felt, Twilight was certain. However the smile Wisp gave her every time she woke up made her smile in return. She hadn’t noticed that until Spike pointed it out, but it was obvious now; Wisp recognised her. Her niece’s eyes were bright and alert whenever she was in the room. Wisp seemed so interested when she read out loud to her. Wisp wasn’t hers, but this was how she imagined her own foal would be if she had one.

Wisp had to be the exception. There were so many physical differences Twilight Sparkle could list. Wisp didn’t have holes in her hoof or wing. Her coat colour wasn’t black and her horn didn’t look like it had chucks torn from it. Surely malnutrition couldn’t account for all those differences, could it? Wisp looked like a regular… well she didn’t look like a regular anything, Twilight mused.

Twilight cracked a grin. Maybe she could still find some Wonderglue and glue on a fake horn onto her niece, at least until she learned how to take the form of a unicorn.

Twilight Sparkle glanced at the parchment again. The entire pedigree of Wisp was there to be seen. It stretched back hundreds of generations. House Honeydew was a very old house, far older than her own. Portraits of mares and stallions posed alongside illustration of their Cutie Marks with what must be their names spelled out beneath. A short description was attached to each mare.

“A description of each Queen’s reign?” Twilight wondered.

She couldn’t read the Changeling Script, but she could understand their cutie marks. A few had stars as their cutie mark, the generally accepted symbol for magic or ponies with an astronomical bent. Others of Wisp distant grandmares had compasses, the symbol of explorers or leaders who found the way for the herd. Many by far had variants of Chrysalis’ shield and hearts.

There were no monster ponies in Wisp’s pedigree, not in their heart of hearts. Wisp’s grandmares were leaders and protectors, but they were Changelings. How could the cutie marks they bore be so unnervingly normal?

** *** **

“Oh me, oh my. Oh me, oh my.”

Rainbow Dash descended upon the odd sight of a butter yellow Pegasus flying around in circles outside Ponyville’s library. Futtershy was barely a foot above the ground, but it was flight all the same.

“Whoa, there Fluttershy,” Rainbow Dash called out for her friend to stop.

“Oh, Rainbow Dash. You startled me.”

“What’s got you troubled?”

“Oh it’s terrible, you see.” Fluttershy cried. “I borrowed six books from the library three weeks ago and when I wanted to return them four days ago, I found the library closed. I waited outside for Twilight to open the library, but she never did. I kept coming back each afternoon, but the library was always closed and today is the due date!” Fluttershy squeaked.

“Well, at least you didn’t wait outside the library for hours every day for the last four days. That would have been a total waste of time.”

Fluttershy turned her head away in shame.

“You didn’t.” Rainbow Dash rubbed her head. The Pegasus mare was about to say something about being more assertive until she remember the episode with the motivational speaker. Iron Bill? Iron Will? Iron something or the other. That bull’s assertiveness class turned Fluttershy into the biggest meannie in Ponyville ever, at least according to Pinkie Pie.

“Her sign seemed so fierce and forceful,” the gentle Pegasus trembled. “The letters were an angry bright red. I didn’t dare knock. I was afraid Twilight would come out and shout at me.”

“Ur… yeah.” Dash replied, although she was doubtful that Twilight would shout at anypony, let alone sweet Fluttershy.

“The books were so heavy. I couldn’t carry them anymore. I was hoping to ask Twilight not to fine me since I couldn’t bring them with me today.”

Rainbow Dash didn’t know if a fine of twelve bits was something of a financial strain. Fluttershy’s job wasn’t much to speak about; she was Ponyville’s sole Park Ranger. It wasn’t a luxurious life, but a pony could live on that wage and maybe raise a small family. However, Fluttershy did spend an awful lot of her bits feeding her many animal friends, which in Dash’s mind were simply sponging off Fluttershy’s good nature. That Angel bunny had an entire warren of offspring.

“Well, if Twilight closed the library, she can’t justifiably fine you for late returns.” Rainbow Dash reasoned with rare insight into Ponyville’s library rules, thanks to Daring Doo and her many adventures with the resulting late fees. “I’m sure it says that somewhere. If you’re worried about the bits I can cover the fine for you.” Dash assured her long-time friend.

“It’s not the bits. I’ve just never been late before… it’s not right.”

“Well…” Rainbow Dash didn’t know what to say to that.

“Would you mind sitting with me?” The butter yellow pony asked.

’Seriously? In the sun?’ Dash was less that ecstatic at the prospect.

“I have a better idea,” Rainbow Dash replied and threw her wings wide as she flew up into the library’s canopy. “I was planning on going on my own, but I’m sure Twilight won’t mind two of her best friends stopping over for a visit

“The door is shut. The library is closed.” Fluttershy yelled skywards, in a soft gentle voice.

“We’re Pegasi and I know of an open window” Dash somehow heard Fluttershy’s shout. “And what’s a window but another door for us? Come on!”

** *** **

“Rainbow Dash?” Fluttershy softly mewed as she eyes darted around her.

The cyan mare opposite her extended a hoof and pushed open a certain window on the library’s third floor, situated near the balcony where Twilight kept her telescope. Repeated collision by a certain blue mare that would not be named had actually knocked this window loose from its frame. Now whether locked or not, the entire window and its frame could pivot open for any Pegasus or Pegasi to enter.

“Are you going to ask if it’s morally right to barge into the home of a friend?”

Fluttershy was silent for a moment as she meekly followed Rainbow Dash’s lead and stepped into Twilight’s library. “I was meaning to ask, why are you carrying a camera? They are quite expensive.” She paused and cast a worried glance to the window she had just entered. Oh why did she follow Rainbow Dash like mindless herd animal? “But that’s a good question too, if you don’t mind me asking.” Fluttershy sounded worried, understandably so.

Dash chuckled uneasily, she did make a promise to Rarity. “The camera? I’m trying to take a picture of a foal.”

“Who has a foal?” Fluttershy was surprised, surprised enough to forget her previous train of thought entirely. “When was it born?”

“About a week ago. It’s supposed to be some big secret. I’m not supposed to tell, but if you follow me you can see her for yourself.” Dash declared in a hushed tone and trotted down a set of stairs to the second floor where Twilight Sparkle had her bedroom.

The door was ajar and brave Rainbow Dash plodded into the bedroom hoping to find the ugly which was Twilight’s foal. She found the foal by the slow rise and fall of restful breathing and a small, left fore hoof sticking out from under a large blanket upon Twilight’s bed. Now with her discovery insight, Rainbow Dash was suddenly noticeably less eager with the entire expedition.

“Don’t think of Dr Noteworthy,” she muttered plainly to herself. Her pleas didn’t help and her imagination kept conjuring vivid horrors unabated. “Buck Rarity for being such a descriptive story teller!”

The Unicorn’s vivid description of a one-eyed cyclops pony would not stop tormenting her. Rainbow Dash’s hoof touched the blanket and the motion beneath it tensed. In that moment Dash knew, just knew, that Twilight’s horrifying mutant foal was suddenly aware of her presence. Dash swallowed hard, her insides trembling as she steadied herself for the horrifying half pony face she just knew lurked beneath the purple blanket. Before she could regret it, Dash yanked off the blanket. A few things happened simultaneously. The blanket flew off the bed, Dash snapped her eyes shut and hit the camera button, Wisp woke up, and a bright camera flash flooded the room.

Most foals faced with such shock would have immediately started crying. Wisp however, was a good natured foal and a tad more passive than most. So she took the whole surprise reasonably well and stayed still, blinking until the stars vanished from her eyes.

Rainbow Dash stared at the foal that stared back at her. Wisp smiled, and tried to reach out to touch the rainbow coloured mane with a fore hoof.

Rainbow Dash blinked.

She wasn’t much of a fashion conscious mare, but even she knew ugly when she saw it, and it wasn’t the foal sitting in front of her. It was as if somepony had cut a hole in a rucksack and stuffed a foal through it, leaving only a head and a pair of fore hooves sticking out. Only Twilight Sparkle could have owned such an unattractive, even repugnant looking, vest. Dash deduced this, not because a week old foal was about as prepared to do her own shopping as Applejack her taxes, but rather the presence of button on the vest. Only Unicorns would have invented such deviously impractical things as buttons.

’How did Twilight expect her daughter to walk around in that… thing?’ She wondered; the vest was so big that it covered most of the foal’s body and tail.

’Can’t be healthy. A foal needs to be able to walk and run.’

“Why are you staring at her like that?” Fluttershy asked demurely.

It was enough to start Rainbow Dash laughing. “Rarity’s got me and Applejack all riled up with some story that Wisp looked like some kind of one-eyed cyclops pony.” Dash admitted with a chuckle.

“She looks quite pretty,” Fluttershy observed. “In my opinion I mean,” She added in a tiny voice.

’Buck that!’ Fluttershy couldn’t have made a greater understatement.

’She’s beautiful!’

Rainbow Dash let her gaze settle on the smiling foal, who was watched them in turn. Twilight’s daughter wasn’t just a pretty foal. Wisp was gorgeous, despite the hideous, oversized vest she was forced to wear. Other pony breeds may have held to different standards of beauty, but to Pegasi, it was as if an evening star had descended from the sky to nestle itself on the sheets of Twilight Sparkle’s bed. Her brilliance was matched only by the magical glitter of her bright greenish-blue eyes, a colour Rainbow Dash had never seen before in a pony.

Such poetic language was something uncommon to a mare like Rainbow Dash, but nothing less would capture the flawless beauty of Wisp’s features. Dash wouldn’t have been surprised if Princess Celestia had personally granted a blessing to Twilight’s daughter so that she would be the fairest mortal pony born to Equestria.

“You’re supposed to be hideous.” Rainbow Dash replied with a touch of amusement. On reflection, such a boon wasn’t that far-fetched. Twilight was Princess Celestia’s personal student. It could have been a gift from mentor to favourite student’s first daughter.

“Her horn is smooth,” Fluttershy pointed out. “I wonder if Rarity found her unattractive because of that?”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes, not really surprised at the mole hill turned mountain. What did horn shape matter? It was still a pointy thing on top the foal’s forehead. “It must be a unicorn thing,” Dash replied

Pegasi too had their hang ups and that came in the form of their wings. Differences that were glaringly obvious to any Pegasus, and caused teenage Pegasi sleepless nights, went unseen by every other breed. Ground ponies didn’t seem to get it if your primary feathers were offset by a hair span. Dash wasn’t sure about the details. Unicorns in general didn’t talk much about their horns, even if they were on their foreheads for every pony to see. They got all funny and strange the moment you brought up horns.

‘Talk about ignoring the elephant in the room,’ Dash rolled her eyes.

Nonetheless, Rainbow Dash got the gist of it. Like many things in life, bigger meant better, and nopony better demonstrated the power of a large horn than Princess Celestia, whose massive horn was as long as pony was tall at her withers. Even Twilight’s horn was longer than average.

’So yeah, big horn means more magic.’ Dash wondered what all the blushing and pussyfooting was about. That meant there was only one thing to say as she regarded the foal on the bed.

“Kiddo, you are going to be one magical pony when you grow up,” Dash regarded the horn on foal’s forehead. The beginning of a large horn was already obvious, even on such a young foal. Rainbow Dash wasn’t too surprised. Twilight Sparkle was the most powerful unicorn in a thousand years, while Shining Armour was the most powerful stallion alive. “Just don’t do anything freaky while I’m taking more photos of you,” she hastily added

Wisp didn’t cooperate and pulled her head under her giant vest like a like tortoise into its shell. It was cute, but it didn’t amuse Rainbow Dash or help her take pictures.

“Hey, Fluttershy can you hold her a second while I take pictures.”

Wisp found herself being lifted off the bed. The young foal didn’t make it easy for Rainbow Dash to photograph her. She kept wiggling and turning her head this way and that, as if to avoid giving Dash the clear photo she wanted.

“Do you think you can get her to hold still for a moment?”

Fluttershy knew just such a trick. She held her tongue to the roof her mouth and made a sharp clicking sound. She then waved her hoof in front of the young foal. Both sound and sight caught the foal’s attention. Her ears swivelled forward at the sound and Wisp gazed at the soft yellow hoof with her big, harlequin blue eyes as if perplex by the sight.

Dash grinned at the foal’s bewildered expression. It was such an intense stare, as if she was examining a hoof for her very first time. It was dorky, dorky and adorable at the same time. “Yup, you’re an adorkable little thing aren’t you?” Dash insisted as snapped a photo. “Your Aunt Rainbow is going to make sure you get out of the library at lot more. You don’t want to be a shut-in like your mom.”

Wisp turned her head towards Dash at the sound of camera’s click and flash. Her turquoise blue mane trailed behind her as she moved. The light caught Wisp just so and from behind the camera lens, Rainbow Dash knew she had liquid gold on her hooves. The camera flashed, once, twice, it was perfect. This foal could pose like one of Photo Finish’s models. Not that Rainbow Dash would ever admit to looking at such glamour magazines.

After four of five photos, Wisp seemed to tire. She opened her mouth wide in a toothless yawn, then suddenly jerked forward to clamp her mouth onto Fluttershy’s fore hoof.

“That’s not the milk bottle you’re looking for,” Rainbow Dash laughed as the small foal began to suckle noisy. “Bit of a greedy thing, aren’t you? Twilight must be sore.”

“I…- I don’t mind.” Fluttershy replied. “It’s only a bit ticklish. She doesn’t have teeth yet.”

The sound grew as the young foal redoubled her efforts, doubtlessly growing frustrated that she couldn’t get any milk. It was a horrible trick to play on a foal so young. Fluttershy tried to move her hoof.

She couldn’t.

It was as if her hoof had been caught in a vice. The sucking sound grew louder. Fluttershy knew that couldn’t be right. A newborn foal couldn’t be that strong. She wasted precious moments in confusion, during which the sucking sound had built upon itself until it became one continuous, horrible din that drowned out the room around her. There wasn’t even time to panic as it roared around her was like a plunger, going over and over again, relentlessly dragging the warm air out the library with the sound of a death rattle.

The library’s floor fell away from under her hooves, dissipating like a poorly made cloud under too much weight. There was only blue sky above her. Her pupils shrank to pin pricks. She was so high up. The clouds around her were filled with filly and colt, her classmates from Flight Camp.

Nopony noticed her fall.

Nopony noticed her as everypony was too busy watching Rainbow Dash race against those three bullies she had challenged.

She couldn’t fly!

She was scared.

“Help,” she shouted, but her voice wouldn’t penetrate the roar of wind that filled her ears and rushed over her body.

’No pony cared.’

She was plunging to her death in full view of everypony. The cloud deck was getting farther and farther away. No pony came to rescue her.

’No pony loved her.’

Despair filled her throat as she knew she was going to die on the scary ground far below. Nopony was going to rescue her because nopony would miss her, not even her own disappointed mother, High Commander Flutter Storm.

Fluttershy screamed.

Honeydew Wisp let go of Fluttershy’s hoof. The three week old foal yawned in the endearing manner that only newborn foals could. Wisp smacked her lips and cuddled up against Fluttershy’s racing heart. The beating sound of Fluttershy’s heart lured the Changeling foal to sleep.

Reality once again reasserted itself. Fluttershy was gasping in many small sharp breaths. “What happened to me?”

“Well, you sort of went rigid. I thought maybe you were having a fit or something.” Rainbow Dash glanced anxiously between Fluttershy and Twilight’s tyke. The newborn foal was rubbing her head against Fluttershy’s chest while she closed her eyes to sleep

“I…” What was she just thinking? Fluttershy couldn’t remember, the memory of the sucking noise had already become vague and uncertain. All that was left was a feeling. “I felt strange, as if I wasn’t loved and would never be loved again.” She shuddered. “A filly was screaming.”

“No filly was screaming, Fluttershy.” Rainbow Dash glanced anxiously at Fluttershy again. The other mare looked pale, more than her usual light butter yellow. It was as though Fluttershy was coming down with a bad bout of flu.

“I’m cold." She whispered as she held limply to Wisp. It was a chill that went deeper than her skin. It was a cold that burrowed inside her chest…into her soul.

“Let’s get out of here.” Rainbow Dash picked Wisp from Fluttershy’s fore hooves and placed the young foal back onto Twilight’s bed.

“Who is she?” Fluttershy finally asked. Her whisper was so quietly that it may have just been a thought.

“Her name is Wisp. Twilight Wisp,” Dash answered. The foal was once again asleep. She had a contented cherub smile on her face

Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash didn’t speak again until they reached Rarity’s boutique.

** *** **

Fatherhood

Chapter 9
Fatherhood

Twilight Sparkle stared at the little bits of leaves swirl about in her cup of green tea. She watched them for a long minute, before letting out a heavy sigh. She lifted her head and looked from her table at Pokey Pierce’s restaurant, the Prancing Pony, to Ponyville’s train station across the street. The large standing clock ticked away the minutes, steadily marking the passage of time. It was half past seven o’clock in the late morning, and almost halfway through Equestria’s sixteen hour day. Nonetheless she still had another fifteen minutes to wait before the Friendship Express from Canterlot arrived.

Overhead, in the sky above, a certain grey Pegasus mare was diligently pushing clouds to block off part of the sky, and so provide much appreciated shade for ponies out and about the village centre. It was an odd sight indeed for a mare better known for thunderclouds and eating muffin. All of this went uncommented and unnoticed by Twilight Sparkle, who was totally oblivious to the other inhabitants of Ponyville, including a trio of foals juggling apples in the town square.

Her eyes dropped down to her swirling cup of tea and its dancing tea leaves once more. Over and over again, like the tea leaves circling within her cup, she tried to formulate a plan that would both preserve her brother’s happiness and somehow allow Wisp to grow up happy and healthy. But the harder she thought, the more impossible her task seemed. Her shoulders slumped. It filled her with this terrible bout of hopelessness. Yet she knew she had to try. For the sake of a foal whose only crime in life was being born the wrong breed, she had to succeed.

The laws surrounding Changelings were, in a word, harsh. The punishment for knowingly harbouring a Changeling was… severe. She desperately wanted to know if Princess Celestia knew of the laws her Day Court had passed in her name. The good pony that she knew her mentor to be would never have allowed such terrible laws to be passed.

Had Equestria always been like this?

Imprisonment, even banishment, was the sentence for the worst pony offenders. A nauseating bout of fear rose up from the pit of her stomach into her throat. There was a very real risk she could be imprisoned in the place she was banished to, a pony lost somewhere in the cold dungeons of one of the high mountain spires of Gryphonia. Twilight shivered despite the summer warmth.

Yet, she couldn’t allow Wisp to be returned to her mother. Not after studying Wisp’s family portrait. Her niece was just the most recent generation of starving ponies. She would be sending Wisp to a life on the constant edge of starvation, with death a close companion. She had to ask… plea with Princess Celestia to spare one pony, one foal, from the hoof of Equestrian law.

“Hey Twily, good to see you little sis.” A soft smile played across her brother’s face as he trotted up to greet his sister.

Her brother’s strong voice jolted Twilight Sparkle out of her reverie, “Big brother?”

“Planning the greatest discovery in magic theory since Star Swirl the Bearded?”

She turned to the turquoise-white stallion standing alongside her table, her big brother best friend forever. "I'm sorry Shining. I… I guess I was just distracted for a second."

"More than a second if you ask me," Shining Armour felt a tug at the corner of his mouth. “I waved and walked all the way up to you and you didn’t notice.”

Her brother seated himself on the cushion opposite her. He looked at her expectantly. All of a sudden, Twilight Sparkle wasn’t keen to confront her big brother. Her throat felt tight and her words were stuck in her mouth. Suddenly her preparations felt inadequate. She needed more time to plan. The pit of stomach felt like it had tied itself into a tight knot. “How is mother?” She mumbled.

“She’s well, and already clamouring for grandfoals,” he answered.

‘Well, surprise!’ Twilight thought darkly. ‘She has one, and she’s a princess too. A Changeling Princess!’. The deadening silence between the two siblings seemed to drag on.

Shining Armour frowned. As much as he loved his little sister, he didn’t sit through a four hour train ride, and the paperwork for emergency leave, to enjoy a late morning tea get-together. “Hey, Twily,” he began. “What is so important that you had to send me a letter every two hours for the past four days?” His tone was light, but it was tinted with concern and a bit of annoyance.

Twilight seemed a bit off. For one, she was wearing a fetching blue skirted saddle that draped over her hindquarters. It was an attractive saddle for a young mare, and it certainly looked good on her. However, his sister wasn’t known for her fashion sense. She preferred plain and functional, and so she went without a stitch of clothing for the longest time, until their mother forced a dress on Twilight for her cute-ceañera party. The dress had been frilly, lacy, and pink perfect for a filly, until Twilight appeared at her unveiling with every bit of lace and ruffles torn off. Mother had been horrified. Twilight still insisted she had improved her dress.

With that thought in mind, the white stallion began to grin a little as he continued speaking from across the table. “I’ve gone so far as to follow your specific instruction to leave Cadance in Canterlot. Quality time between siblings, I told her.” He smiled.

At the mention of Cadance, Twilight felt an immediate and painful tightening in the barrel of her chest. She bit her bottom lip and evaded his gaze.

Shining Armour arched his eyebrow, and tilted his head ever so slightly. His little sister was nervous, he could tell. “Now I know something is most definitely wrong.”

“BBBFF… we need to talk… about the Changelings.” Twilight's voice was anxious.

“Ah.” Shining Armour took a sip from his own teacup, and then glanced back across the table. The two siblings sat in silence for a few moments, until he spoke again. “I gather mother has been keeping you apprised of the situation in Canterlot?” He didn’t wait for an answer. “Trouble is brewing on two fronts,” he sighed and stirred his cup of tea before continuing. Service at this restaurant was rather fast.

“The Captain of the Guard has traditionally been a Pegasus; me being a Unicorn has always been a point of contention among the circles of High Captains, especially the ones from Pegasi High Families. I have my supporters, but the invasion has emboldened the traditionalist families to speak out against me.”

“And closer to home are the nobles. They want a scapegoat, and as Captain of the Guard, I am a prime candidate.” He paused, and shook his head. “The Duke of Canterlot, Prince Blueblood, had been the driving force on that front. He’s rallying support from various Houses in the aristocracy with calls for greater security, and allegations of gross ineptitude on my part. Personally, I think he’s still the same self-absorbed twit we all know and tolerate. Apparently he was chased after by trio of Changeling mares.” Shining Armour chuckled dismissively.

“Most in the Guard think it’s because he’s the biggest narcissist in Canterlot, and thus a most potent concentration of self love. It would have done him good if he had been caught, might even have made him a better pony. Mother is using her influence to keep him and his circle under control.”

“How? House Twilight is only a Minor House. Mother would never have that kind of influence.”

“You were never one for politics, Twily.” Shining Armour replied indulgently. “House Twilight has been building its base of influence for generations. Think about it. How else do you think you, the heir of House Twilight, got an Alicorn princess to be your foal-sitter, even if Cadance wanted to earn a few bits to call her own? And you are Princess Celestia’s protégé. It’s an open secret that you are very close with Princess Celestia. I’m the Captain of the Guard, and married rather well. Cadance is an Alicorn Princess. That is a big pile of political coinage.”

Twilight was still downcast. Her ears were laid back in worry.

“Hey Twily,” He used his magic to lift her head. “It’ll be okay. I’ll get through this. Cadance, Mother, and both the Princesses are safe. We’ve changed every security protocol I knew, so even if they did get something from me, it isn’t of any use now.”

“It’s not that,” Twilight hesitated, picking her words slowly, but stumbling over them just the same. Shining Armour had so much on his plate right now, she didn’t want to add more, but she had already come this far. She had to continue, didn’t she? ”Is there… is there something that you want to say to me about what happened before the wedding.”

“Before the wedding? You mean….” Shining Armour trailed and tried his best to hide the sudden rise of his heartbeat.

“Yes, when Cadance was replaced with that… impostor.”

“What is there to tell?” He shrugged, as if there was nothing to say.

“Please Shining Armour.” Twilight pleaded.

Noticing Twilight’s violet eyes were on him, Shining Armour sighed. He couldn’t say no to those eyes “My memories are a bit fogged up.” He said simply. “It was a bit like a day dream. Nothing else to tell.” He said softly, almost as he was speaking to himself. “Nothing at all.”

For a moment, just a moment, Twilight considered sparing her brother further troubles. She didn’t need the paternity test. Wisp was almost certainly her niece. But she needed proof, definitive proof, because so much was being risked on her behalf.

“I need a drop of your blood.”

This request set off alarms in Shining Armour’s head, and he didn’t say anything immediately. “Remember what I told you about magic safety.” He asked with forced calm. Was this his sister or some Changeling trick?

“Don’t dabble with blood magic.” Twilight Sparkle recited. She smiled ruefully at the memory, her first unofficial lesson in magic with her brother. It was a much simpler time then.

Shining Armour nodded his head, some of his suspicion abating. “And if you must, always ask why and…”

“See that the blood is consumed in the spell, and have the spell cast in front of you.” Twilight continued.

“So why do you need a drop of my blood little sis?” He looked at her, trying to find some clue for the odd request. “It’s not that I don’t trust you, but I am Captain of the Guard.”

“I need it for this.” She passed him a parchment.

Shining Armour read the arcane script inked into the parchment’s surface. It was a Call to Blood spell. The rune composition and inscription looked as good as any legal document written by a Canterlot scribe. His sister truly was talented in magic. Still, he couldn’t understand why Twilight would want to cast such a spell. Was she concerned about her own pedigree? His thoughts turned back to the day his little sister was born.

It had been long day. He was tired. There were dried tears in his father’s eyes when the older stallion took him aside, and in a trembling voice, told him his little sister wasn’t going to join the family. There would not be a new pony in their herd. As a six year old colt, he didn’t understand. He wanted to see his new sister. He had waited hours in a cold hospital corridor while pegasi outside the window dropped clouds of winter snow. He wasn’t going home until he saw her. He was a stubborn pony even then.

His father looked away, but nodded his head in agreement. In the hospital room, mother was distraught. She wouldn’t let go of a bundle despite a pleading nurse. She held desperately to the bundle until the nurse gave up and left the room. He then approached his mother and asked to see his new sister. Mother started crying and he had his chance.

Twilight Sparkle was a rather bluish purple and, quite frankly, was rather ugly, the same as all newly born foals. So he did what any colt his age would do, he poked her with a sharp jolt of his magic. His parents started shouting. He thought that they were angry. Only years later did he learn that it was the moment that Twilight had taken her first breath, eight minutes after she was born. Two minutes after Twilight Sparkle was declared dead. She was a miracle baby. The story circulated in Canterlot’s newspapers for a full two days.

Now, Shining Armour considered the unthinkable, even as the thought come unasked. Had there really been a miracle? Could a Changeling have replaced his dead sister? Was the mare in front of him a Changeling? It couldn’t be; things like that only happen in fiction, right?

Shining Armour’s gaze crossed the table. Twilight was biting the tip of her lip, just as she always did whenever she was anxious or impatient. It was a familiar sight, one he had seen any number of times during their years growing up together.

‘For pony sake, why am I so paranoid? This mare was his sister, and his sister was waiting for her answer.

“Alright,” He answered and held out his fore hoof.

On the parchment there was a small drop of greenish silver blood. Something didn’t look quite right about it; however he was interrupted by the sudden prick of a sharpened force field. A small quick silvery drop of blood emerged from the prick. It glistered in the morning air for a moment before gravity took hold. The drop fell the short distance onto the parchment and for a moment, all was still, then the rune drawn into parchment activated and grew bright with power.

Twilight held her breath as blood called to blood, and a line grew to connect father to daughter.

“It’s positive.” She whispered.

“Twily, whose blood is this?”

** *** **

Little Wisp hid under a table. Her four legs were crouched under her body while her two wings were held close to her back.

A tired, despairing Spike came wandering by, calling her name like a soul damned. “Oh come on!” The dragon wailed. In his claws he held a warmed milk bottle. “I know you are hungry. Why are you putting so much of a fuss?” Spike didn’t really want to think about what he was holding. Milk was so much easier to handle when you didn’t explicitly know where it came from. “Why do foals have to learn to walk so quickly?” The dragon muttered to himself.

Wisp sat quietly until Spike walked away. She was almost impossible to see in her hidey-hole because her white pelt had taken the colours of floor on which she lay. She didn’t want a milk bottle, though she was hungry. Wisp was only three weeks old and couldn’t articulate what she wanted, but she knew it was in the shape of a purple pony that smelled of food and radiated warmth and safety.

Her ears pricked forward at the sound of the front door opening, followed by presence of the purple shape she sought after. She called out with a delighted nicker. The little foal leapt out from her camouflage bunker and raced towards the opening door as fast as her four spindly legs could propel her. Her fur rippled with greenish magical flames as it transformed from a camouflaging brown, complete with flooring patterning, to a solid turquoise-white.

** *** **

“Alright, we are at the library, and I am still waiting for that explanation you promised.” His little sister was uncharacteristically tight lipped

“Just a moment more, you’ll see when you meet her.” Twilight Sparkle answered.

‘Her?’ His ears pricked up. He didn’t have more time to ruminate over his sister’s cryptic remark when the front door to her Ponyville home opened. In that one moment, as the door swung on its oiled hinges, Shining Armour became filled with dread. Another pony might have dismissed the cheerless atmosphere for the lack of sunlight, as the curtains were indeed drawn shut. Most ponies wouldn’t have noticed the subtle chill that came creeping out from the library, like a heavy smothering cloud. It wasn’t a cold that a pony would feel upon his or her skin, it was a chill that was felt by a pony’s heart. This was a sign of a Changeling feeding… brazenly feeding on ambient love.

“Twily, stand back!” Shining Armour bellowed in warning, drowning out the delighted squeal of the approaching foal. His white horn lit up with fiery magic as he stood firm between his sister and a charging Changeling. He would not be deceived by what form the creature took. A white bolt of energy short forth from his horn as he brought it on a downward arch.

“What are you doing?” Twilight cried in alarm as she stepped out from behind him. Her horn lit up with magic as she cast a counter spell to shield Wisp from the blazing lightning bolt. Behind Twilight Sparkle’s purple shield, Honeydew Wisp squealed in fright as Shining Armour’s attack spattered across the barrier in a flash of burning blue sparks. She closed her eyes on reflex, but rather than cower on the floor, she raced even faster towards Twilight’s side, ignoring the sparks that burned around her small hooves.

“You could have injured her!” Twilight Sparkle’s voice was furious and she barely spared the time to glare at her brother before she rushed forward to meet Wisp.

Shining Armour could only stare in bewilderment as he watched his sister lower her head to nuzzle the creature, even exchanging low, and soft nickering sounds, like a mother comforting her frightened foal. At the back of his mind, he couldn’t help but notice the protective posture she had unconsciously assumed, one that would allow her to give him a quick sharp kick to the head if he approached. His own sister perceived him as a potential threat!

“I’m sorry. She got away from me. I just couldn’t find her.” Spike interrupted as he came running towards the front room. “When she woke up and found you gone, she got all anxious and panicky. I couldn’t get her to settle down, not with how active she’s been since her afternoon nap yesterday.”

“It’s okay Spike.” Twilight Sparkle answered, then turned her head and gave her big brother a reproaching glance. “Can you give me and my brother a minute? Actually, do you mind going out for a bit. Shining Armour and I have a lot to talk about.”

“Quite the understatement.” Spike muttered under his breath. Twilight was still staring at him. “Oh, sure. I’ll be at Rarity’s if you need me.”

** *** **

Once Spike was gone, Shining Armour‘s eyes were quickly on his sister. His lips were pursed into a thin line. He saw her fidget, her big violet eyes darted to the side every now and then

“Twily, you better have a good explanation. That,” He glared at the parasite. “…is a Changeling.” Had the creature taken control of her mind, like the Changeling Queen had his?

“I know.” It was the one reply he had not expected. An uncomfortable silence hung in the air.

A pony could almost imagine that she could hear the thumping sound of Twilight’s nervous heart. This was the moment she dreaded. She racked that brilliant brain she usually prided herself with, trying to come up with something, anything that she could say to make things better. But sometimes, words were not enough.

“Big brother, this is Wisp.” She introduced, and nudged the foal a step forward. Wisp glanced apprehensively at the purple mare before taking a brave step towards the imposing stallion towering above her. He looked intimidating, but she smiled a big, bright smile that went all the way to her harlequin blue eyes.

“She is your daughter.”

Shining Armour went rigid at Twilight’s reply. Denial, panic, fear, anger, and guilt all fought for dominance in his mind. The reoccurring nightmare that haunted his sleep had come to mock him in life. Excuses and exclamations lodged in his throat.

‘It’s a trick!’ was one.

‘I’m a father? I couldn’t have.’ was another.

Yet at the fuzzy edge of his mind, he knew the truth. He had held that repulsive Changeling mare, that impostor, in his hooves. He could still feel her soft fur under his body. “Love me.” He could hear her moan softly into his ear. He couldn’t stop himself, not even when her disguise melted off her bony body. He could feel his fore hooves holding on to her as he covered her. It was a dream, just a bad dream. He was going to wake up soon. Nothing to be afraid of. Just a nightmare. Just a silly nightmare.

Wisp took another step toward her father. The sound of her tiny hoof tapping on the wooden floor exploded like thunder in the library.

“No.” He backed away from the foal as if she were an attacking manticore.

“The Call to Blood can’t be faked. She is yours.” Then with much reluctance Twilight Sparkle added. “Her mother is Chrysalis.”

“I couldn’t have…” Shining Armour took another step back. “That thing isn’t my daughter!” His voice grew louder by the word until he was yelling.

Wisp let out a cry and retreated under the curtain of Twilight’s skirted saddle as fast as her small legs would allow. Wisp had never felt something so cold in her three weeks of life. She did not understand why he hated her so. Worse yet, it tasted horrible. She began rubbing the side of her face against Twilight’s leg, seeking reassurance and to rid herself of the aftertaste. She then tucked her head between Twilight Sparkle’s hind legs and began to nurse.

Twilight Sparkle gave her brother a disapproving look.

Shining Armour averted his gaze. So that was why his sister was wearing a skirted saddle. She was hiding the fact she was a nursing mare. Not only that, under this new light, he could see Twilight was a bit pale. Her cheeks were supposed to be a full, deep purple, not a light almost-fushia hue. “It’s feeding on you”.

“Of course she is.” Twilight replied. “I’ve been nursing her. What do you think a newborn foal does? Your foal seems to have quite the appetite. I’m sore in places you’re lucky not to have.” She rolled her eyes.

“Stop referring to it like it’s a pony.” Shining Armour retorted. “It’s a Changeling!” He stomped his heavy hoof down in agitation. Shining Armour could only glare at the creature in disgust.

“She!” Twilight retorted. “She!” Twilight stressed. Her body language was tense and her ears were tall and defiantly straight. “And she has a name. Her name is Wisp, Honeydew Wisp, and she is family.”

“No” The answer was so blunt that it shocked Twilight. He pulled away from his sister.

“Look at her,” Twilight demanded as she held the foal aloft in her magic. “Just please look.” The purple Unicorn approached her brother. “Please, BBBFF.” Twilight begged, her voice was almost a whisper.

Shining Armour relented and turned his head slightly. The young foal floated in mid air, her wings were opened and moving slowly as if she was attempting to fly. The small pony looked back at him with a sad and pitiful expression on her face. She hadn’t had her fill yet.

“Don’t you see?” Twilight pointed out, her voice straining to convince her brother. “The blue mane and tail? The Twilight family stripe. She’s family. She’s part of the herd.”

He could see that and more. Her eyes were bright and full of life. Her coat was a dazzling white of Unicorn nobility. When he looked at her face, it threatened to bring a smile to his lips. The foal really was beautiful. But he could also see the blade on her forehead that was her horn, and the insect wings upon her back. He could see the shadows that lurked behind her innocent eyes. He could glimpse a tall crooked horn, one as sharp as a sword, a pelt blacker than midnight, and the loathsome hooves that held him. He could hear her sultry voice command him to love her. A voice he knew he should fight with every ounce of his being.

“You have to send it away,” He shivered, it wasn’t a dream. The evidence of what happened now stood in front of him as a creature of flesh and blood. “Send it back.”

“I’m sorry, Shining Armour. I can’t and I won’t.” Twilight’s ears darted forward in agitation. “For pony sakes, we can’t abandon her just because she was born the wrong breed.”

“This is nothing to be with breed!” Shining Armour snapped. He did not say it, but one look into his eyes said it all, the hurt, and the shame. Her brother had been tricked; maybe even forced to do something that no pony should ever experience.

“Harbouring a Changeling is cause for-”.

“Imprisonment. Banishment even. I know the law. What do you think I have been doing this past week? I’ve read everything I could get my hooves on.” If ever a pony could hate another, Twilight Sparkle would most certainly have hated Chrysalis. She hated that she was fighting her own brother when she should be comforting him. “With time and effort, I could teach her-”

“Teach her what sis?” Shining Armour cut in, not pausing for sister to reply. “To feed on ponies nopony would miss? Or perhaps attack isolated homesteads? That’s what these creatures do! Changelings feed on love!” He said firmly and took a moment to examine his sister’s face to see if his words were sinking in.

“But Wisp doesn’t need to feed so much.” Twilight protested. “Her mother made do only on your love.”

“For one week!” Her brother roared. His voice grew louder as he continued. “That was how long Cadance was in that cave. She was hungry, frightened, and alone. One week and that imposter drained most of my magic! In another two or three more days, I wouldn’t have even remembered what love was!”

Wisp cowered under Twilight’s body at the sound of raised angry voices around her. She whined loudly.

The distressed sound of a foal, even a Changeling foal, was enough to give Shining Armour pause. He didn’t know why he did it, perhaps it was the way he was raised, but he forced himself under control. “Twily, if Changelings could survive on the love of one pony, wouldn’t every Changeling look for a pony to love and be loved by in return?” He asked in a more reasonable tone, even though he felt anything but.

Twilight lowered head to Wisp and nickered soft sounds of comfort. She had no reply to her brother. Not even the brilliant mind of Twilight Sparkle knew what to say to that. “There has to be a way.”

“There isn’t.” He answered. “The fact is, these creatures need to feed on the love of several ponies, dozens, maybe hundreds.”

“Wisp is different. She had to be.” Twilight dropped her head to floor and stroked Wisp along her mane. She had to hope. “Please, BBBFF. Only a desperate mare would have willingly given up her own foal.”

“And how do you know that?” He demanded.

“She wrote it in her letter,” she said softly, looking away.

“And you believed that impostor!? After what she did?” Then faintly, “After what she did to me?”

“No.” Twilight Sparkle answered. “But you should have seen Wisp. She was malnourished went I got her. Have you ever seen a malnourished pony, let alone a malnourished foal?”

“That bug is just fostering an unwanted foal on you.”

Twilight Sparkle’s reply was to point her hoof at the table across the room. For a brief moment, Shining Armour couldn’t understand what he was seeing. It appeared to be a table cloth.

“That’s Wisp genealogy record,” She answered. “It’s her entire pedigree. It’s old, an original if I had to guess. Wisp wouldn’t have this if she wasn’t considered important, if… if Chrysalis didn’t consider Wisp her first born daughter. Honeydew Wisp is a princess… a Changeling princess.”

“If it’s a princess-”

“She,” Twilight Sparkle interrupted again. ”I’ve already told you. She. Wisp is a pony.”

Shining Armour ground his teeth together, but nevertheless he reluctantly relented. “Surely, her people would feed her.”

“I don’t think you understand. Look at this, Shining.” Twilight Sparkle held up the parchment so he could see a portrait up close. “The Changelings Queens are half starved. You can even see ribs on her great grand sire. They are starving. The entire breed is starving. And after the failed invasion, the Changelings are worst off than before and…and...” She trailed. “I can’t imagine what hungry ponies would do. Chrysalis was afraid of her own people, afraid for Wisp’s safety.” Twilight paused. She hated that she had become an advocate for that evil mare.

Twilight bowed her head. “I- I can’t raise her on my own.” Were Wisp a Unicorn foal, the task would be difficult. She hadn’t finished her education. She didn’t even have a job, and lived on a stipend from the Royal Equestrian Board of Education. But a Changeling foal, with the law against her, the task was near impossible. “I need your help.”

“Do you realise what you are asking of me?”

“Yes.” Her answer was short, clipped and she could recognise the unfairness of her request. “What Chrysalis did to you was wrong, terribly wrong but Wisp isn’t to blame. She is family. Wisp deserves a better future.”

“No.” Shining Armour’s answer was a sudden and unpleasant thundering whisper. It was enough to startle her, the kind of surprise that ponies did not like

“Stallions take care of their foals. It’s the pony way. It’s your duty as her father.”

“My duty?” He asked suddenly. From his angry, hurt eyes, Twilight knew she had just made a mistake. “Don’t you dare ask me to do my duty Lady Twilight Sparkle! As Captain of the Equestrian Royal Guard, it is my duty to see you arrested for knowingly harbouring that thing. You are even nursing it, like a foal!”

“Wisp is a foal.” Twilight protested, her ears were folded back. Her voice was barely above a whisper. “Are you going to arrest me?” She asked softly.

He didn’t answer. Caught between his duty as Captain of the Guard and a brother, Shining Armour was having trouble putting his thoughts together. The silence hung in the library for a very long time. Finally, he walked away some distance to finally fall heavily on an empty cushion.

Twilight Sparkle followed her brother, and with her, so did Wisp. “Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me.” He no longer sounded angry, but tried and strained. “Have you considered the implications? I have just proven Blueblood and his circle right. I can’t be trusted to safeguard Equestria against the Changelings. Once this is over I will tender my resignation. I am not fit to be a member of the Guard.”

She blinked. “What? Wait, you can’t do that.” Twilight Sparkle was completely stunned by her brother’s abrupt decision. “You were born to be the Captain of the Guard! You live for it!"

“What else am I to do?” he asked loudly, though it wasn’t angry this time. It was a plea. “The alternative is to see my family fall apart. In the agitated state they are in, the aristocracy would demand the harshest punishment possible. You would be banished, Twily. Not even your position as Princess Celestia’s personal student would protect you. You are the sole heir of House Twilight, and mother would break herself protecting you.” With his anger spent all he had left was guilt. “What have I done?”

“The only one to blame here is Chrysalis. She fooled everypony!”

“Except you,” Shining Armour snapped. “You saw right through her act within a day, while I… I should have known better. That thing impersonated Cadance for a week. I’m her husband, before that, her fiancé, and before that, her coltfriend. I never suspected. What kind of husband am I if I don’t even know when my own wife has been replaced by a poor imitation? I should have suspected something was wrong. She was distant and demanding, unlike the generous mare I know.... all those signs I missed.”

“Seems obvious now,” Twilight Sparkle said simply. “You shouldn’t blame yourself. You were preoccupied shoring up Canterlot’s security.” She tried to assure. “You weren’t the only guard in Canterlot. You weren’t the only pony who knew Cadance. Princess Celestia was there too, remember? Everypony mistook her behaviour for a bride under stress, planning a royal wedding, her own wedding, all by herself.”

“Don’t, Twily.” Her older brother answered in a bitter tone. “When you confronted the impostor at the rehearsal, I should have had more faith in you, my own sister. Instead I just assumed the worst of you,” Shining Armour said slowly. “I turned my back on you! I told you to forget about being my best mare. I even told you not to show up at the wedding, for pony sake.”

“I want you to listen, BBBFF. I forgive you. I forgave you right after the wedding. You had every right to think I was wrong. What stallion wouldn’t defend his mare? I should have gotten some evidence, or spoken with Princess Celestia in private and explained my concerns. Instead, I just… got a little crazy. I wasn’t thinking clearly after seeing her brainwash you with her spells. Confronting Chrysalis and calling her out in the middle of the wedding rehearsal without a shred of evidence wasn’t one of my proudest moments.” Her ears drooped.

“In fact, I’d rank it right up there alongside casting a Want-It-Need-It spell on my old Smartypants doll to create a friendship problem. I probably sounded like a filly throwing a temper tantrum,” Twilight managed a small laugh. “Or maybe a deranged, jealous mare trying to keep a stallion to herself like a bad romance novel.”

“At least you tried!” Shining Armour retorted sharply. “Cadance isn’t like Blueblood. She does more than lounge around the palace all day, playing political games with the aristocracy. I’ve seen her take on any number of stressful duties, and she has never waived and lost her warmth or kindness. You saw it yourself. After we defeated the Changeling Army, we had three hours to salvage what we could from the wedding. And even though it was her special day, even though she had just been rescued from a dark cave, she took it all with the grace of an Alicorn princess. I should have caught on when she started acting oddly. Now...now I’ve betrayed her.”

“Please, listen.... You were under a mind control spell.”

“You make it sound so simple little sis. Who is to blame for that?” He pointed to Wisp, peering once again from under Twilight’s skirt. Once more the centre of attention, Wisp smiled at the two adults and took a delighted step forward. Shining Armour frowned and Wisp dropped her head to the ground, and with sad resignation, retreated back under Twilight’s legs. “It takes two ponies to make a foal. I’m not even fit to be married to Cadance. What am I going to say to her?”

“I don’t know, but I do know that she loves you, more deeply than anything. I saw her eyes when we were rushing to stop Chrysalis. Thinking of you kept her alive in that cave.”

“I don’t think I can face Cadance right now. I don’t think I have the right.” He sighed, emotionally exhausted and unsure what other horrors the day would bring.

Twilight Sparkle could only look on pensively. Wisp continued nursing.

** *** **

Twilight

Chapter 10
Twilight

Rarity closed the door to her guest room and was greeted by the concerned looks from Applejack and Rainbow Dash who were seated at the kitchen table.

“How is Fluttershy?” Applejack asked.

“The poor dear is resting now. I simply can’t tell what’s wrong.” The unicorn shook her head. “She is as weak as a kitten, yet she isn’t running a fever. I do hope a day’s rest will be enough. If not we shall have to speak to a doctor. ”

“I hope it isn’t contagious or anything,” Rainbow Dash added out loud, earning a stern look from Applejack across the table. “Hey, I was propping her up all the way from the library,” Dash defended. “I don’t want to catch whatever Fluttershy got. One moment she was holding Twilight’s tyke, the next she just fell over. ”

“Perhaps we should speak to Twilight,” Applejack said. “Just to let her know that Fluttershy might have given something to her foal.”

Rarity was, in a word, horrified. “But that would mean admitting we have been intruding on her privacy, and even riffling through her home, looking for information on her secret rendezvous with her brother, which we didn’t even get to observe.”

Applejack’s reply was a deep frown that caused Rarity to chuckle nervously. “Ah, well… friends do forgive each other for small indiscretions. The health of a newborn foal is of paramount importance. And speaking of foals… Rainbow Dash, darling, by any chance did you have the opportunity to take a few pictures of Wisp?”

“Yeah, I did,” Dash replied, eager to speak about something other than Fluttershy’s health. She reached for the photos tucked under her wing when a tiny mischievous grin crept across her snout. Turn around was fair play, after all.

“But I’ve got to warn you, Rarity.” Rainbow Dash held up a photograph. “This foal fell out of the ugly tree and hit every branch on her way down. She’s got a face that only a mother could love,” Dash continued with every bit of seriousness she could muster while she kept the photo’s white backing facing Rarity.

“You don’t mean….” Rarity trailed in horror.

“She’s hideous?” Dash made a show of trying to look at the photograph she held with one eye closed but flinched each time she got too near. “She’s not really that ugly,” Dash finally said, “Provided, of course, that a pony shuts her eyes and doesn’t look at her. I’m sure she’ll grow up to have a beautiful bookwormy personality that any stallion can appreciate.”

“Quit foolin,” Applejack rolled her eyes as she approached cerulean mare. “Give it here,” Applejack abruptly snatched the photo from the pegasus’ hoof, hooves not being the best way for a pony hold anything, “and let’s take a canter.”

Applejack had a good look at the foal in the picture. “Well, I'll be. You got a good eye for this,” She admitted once she had a photo. Dash really did have a natural flair. Her sense of timing was perfect. Twilight’s white foal almost seemed to move within these images. “She’s been yanking your leash, Rarity. Wisp’s a mighty fine looking foal. She’s as cute as a button,” Applejack smiled.

“Good balanced knees on her fore legs. Good sized nostrils for breathing. She sure has a pretty face, and even the beginning of a mighty impressive horn that you unicorns are so keen on. And to think,” Applejack spared a glance at Rarity. “You had us all railed up with some idea that Twi’s baby was hideous.”

“Yeah” Rainbow Dash added crossly. “I thought she was a pony Cyclops, another Dr Bluenote. I was scared to death taking her picture!” Dash then paused as she considered what she had just said. “I mean… I was just surprised, that’s all.”

“She is a bit on the skinny side,” Applejack continued, “But then again, all you non-earth pony folks are a bit on the skinny side.”

“I prefer the term ‘svelte’,” Rarity replied. “If I have been misinformed, perhaps you would kindly pass me the picture.”

Applejack obliged with a tilt of her head. Rarity took hold of the photograph with her magic and floated it back to her.

“What do you think?” Rainbow Dash hoof tapped on the wooden table top as she preened. “Am I awesome or what? I could make a great spy or … or a journalist .”

The alabaster unicorn made no reply. Slowly, Rarity laid the picture onto the table. “Dear Celestia I can’t help her.”

“Say what?” Applejack was taken aback by Rarity’s whiter than usual parlour.

“I didn’t realise it would be this bad.” Rarity shuddered and pushed forward the photograph to her two friends. “No amount of accessorising will hide this. A fake horn might actually be for the best.”

“What are you talking about?” Rainbow Dash asked. “She’s not even a month old and even I can tell she’s got a big horn on her forehead. What’s not to like? A big horn. I know you unicorns love that, right?”

“Wherever did you hear that?” Rarity was mildly offended. “I have never heard something so superficial.” Rarity retorted. “Unicorns value more than the length of a stallion’s horn. It is the magic one can do with it that counts.”

“I.. uh… read it in a magazine.”

Rarity snorted. She had a good idea what that magazine was, and it was not material she would keep in her home, certainly not with her young sister, Sweetie Belle, in and about the Carousel Boutique.

“I only read it for the articles.” Rainbow Dash squeaked defensively in her scratchy voice. “I really do.”

“Horn size isn’t everything. Wisp may have the potential for a large horn, but no matter the length, no unicorn will find a horn that malformed attractive. The poor dear doesn’t have a single groove on her horn,” Rarity pitied. “I simply don’t know how Twilight will be able to introduce her daughter to High Society. The poor dear will probably spend her entire life in the library. Shunned away.” Rarity fell back. “A mare destined to never know the flower of her youth. A phantom of the library!” She said dramatically.

“I still don’t see what the problem is,” Rainbow Dash stated. “So the tyke has a smooth horn, so what? I’ll bet she will be plenty powerful when she grows up.”

“So what?” Rarity repeated in shock. “Rainbow Dash, how could you say such a thing!” Seeing the blank look on Rainbow Dash, Rarity added. “A horn like this is very much like… like a pegasus with small wings… like Snow Flake.”

“Oh.” Rainbow Dash looked away. The muscular stallion had the smallest wings she had ever seen. He worked hard to compensate. He exercised them more than any pegasus she knew. And he flew well enough, actually better than most, but it would never stop the looks that mares would give him.

“Yes, terribly so. I simply cannot imagine any hat that would remedy this. Oh, her debutante ball would be a dismal shambles. Twilight would never be able to introduce her oldest daughter as her heir. This will cause all sorts of conflict between Twilight Sparkle’s daughters. ”

Suddenly, Rarity grabbed Rainbow Dash by her withers. “Should Wisp be magically stronger than her younger sister, it could trigger a family feud. And nobles being what they are, this would last generations, with one branch of House Twilight bent on uprooting the other!”

“Now, pardon me for a second there, Rarity,” Applejack interjected. “Family feud,” the earth pony mare could barely stop herself from rolling her eyes. “That is pretty darn unlikely. I’m sure Twi would raise her daughters better than that. And why are you talking about nobility? Do you mean to say our Twilight is a noble like that Prince Blueblood fella you were so obsessed about till the Grand Galloping Gala?”

At the mention of the Duke of Canterlot’s name, Rarity fell silent and dropped back onto her four hooves. Something in her chest ached for the loss of a cherished dream. It was a childish dream, but nevertheless, it was one she had had since she was but a foal on her first visit to Canterlot with her parents. Prince Blueblood the 54th had just succeeded his father as Duke, and as part of the middle class, her family was there to pay their respects to their new Duke. Prince Blueblood was but a foal himself, maybe only a few years older than her. He seemed so sad, uncomfortable, and in need of a friend.

“Let us never speak about that uncouth stallion,” Rarity said simply. “And yes. Twilight Sparkle is a noble. Did it never occur to you how odd it was that an alicorn princess was Twilight’s foalsitter.”

“Can’t say ah ever did. Ah thought Cadance was being generous and good natured,” Applejack reasoned. “She seemed that kind of pony.”

“In Ponyville perhaps, but in High Canterlot society no act is without cause and effect.”

“Ah didn’t think our Twi was such a big fancy wig.”

“Well I did read several articles pertaining to House Twilight in the Canterlot Chronicle just before her brother’s wedding. It was all in the news. Her House is minor nobility, but they have considerable…”

Rarity didn’t finish when a knock on the front door interrupted. “Rarity? Hello? Can I come in?” Spike called out.

Rarity paused, “Just hold that thought for the moment.” She smiled and left for the front room. “Spike dear. Do come in.”

“Thanks.” Spike answered and followed Rarity to the kitchen. “I needed to give Twilight space, with her brother being here and all...” Spike stopped at kitchen’s threshold. “Applejack, Rainbow Dash, what are you girls doing here?”

“Discussing Twilight’s new foal,” Rainbow Dash answered from her place at the kitchen table.

Spike was betrayed!

“W-What!” He spun around. “Rarity! You promised!”

Rarity’s glare, if not her hoof, was immediately pointed in Dash’s direction.

“Hey, it needed to get out. We were going to see her anyway. Don’t want Twilight’s tyke going down with whatever Fluttershy has, do we?”

Rarity let out a sigh and dropped her gaze to a very disappointed baby dragon. “I’m sorry, Spikey-wikey. But I had to tell somepony. Keeping it all to myself for so long was just too much for me. Will you ever forgive me?” She held her fore hooves together and did her best to look pleading.

Spike sighed. But then again, he didn’t seriously think Wisp could be hidden away forever. “Only for you Rarity, only for you.”

“Thank you.” Rarity lowered her head just a little to plant a kiss on his cheek.

His claw was soon on that warm spot. It brought him an absent smile. “But keep this between the four of us for now, please. There was enough shouting back in the library. Shining Armour even threw a lightning bolt!”

That got everypony’s attention.

“At Twilight?” Rarity asked. This was the furthest thing from what she would have expected. Joy, shock maybe, but outright violence? Never! From the expression of everypony at the table, they were all thinking the same.

“Oh, no. Not at Twilight. At Wisp! Nearly hit her too, if not for Twilight putting up a shield.”

Rainbow Dash stomped her blue hoof resolutely on the floor. “That’s it,” she snapped as she rose up. “I’m so going back to the library right now!” Her wings were fanned out to further emphasize her rage. “I’m going to buck that stallion so hard, he’ll need one of Twilight’s fancy telescopes just to see his own cutie mark.”

“Now, just hold a minute there,” Applejack protested and stomped own hoof down. Rainbow Dash wasn’t going anywhere with her tail pinned to the floor. She was a bit surprised that Dash reacted so strongly. “Ah may not be the sharpest tool in the old farm shed, but ah know that Shining Armour ain’t that kind of stallion.”

“Well what is it then?” Rainbow Dash demanded. “He nearly injured his own foal, for Celestia’s sake. Earth ponies don’t buck their foals by mistake, do they?”

“Ah got nothing, but we shouldn’t go running off half-cocked.”

“Well…” Spike began. “He did think she was a dangerous changeling.”

“Mighty jumpy. But it was a mistake.” Applejack pointed out. Privately she was in the opinion that Shining Armour needed to see a head shrink if he could mistake a foal for a changeling.

Dash wasn’t all that convinced, and the frown on her face said so.

“Well, Spike,” Rarity turned her attraction back to the purple baby dragon. “You must tell us everything about dear Wisp. So how is it living with the new foal?” she asked hoping to bring a little calm back to the table.

Spike thought about it for a moment

** *** **

Twilight Sparkle could only stare. That was right! She, Twilight Sparkle, the most powerful unicorn in a thousand years, special student of one of Equestria’s diarchs and sun goddess, and sister in-law to Princess Cadance, could only stare at the scene in front of her. She could feel a migraine coming on, and it wasn’t a weak migraine. Not at all! A small pitiful thing could never do because only the greatest, most debilitating of migraines was worthy of occupying the brilliant, amazing head of Twilight Sparkle.

There was poop on the floor!

’How did this happen?’ Twilight Sparkle could not truly say. All she did was have one little afternoon nap. Was one hour too much to ask for a poor tired unicorn that stayed up all odd hours of the night feeding a relentlessly hungry foal?

‘It’s not in one neat pile either,’ Twilight noted grimly.

No, that would have been too convenient. Instead, poop was scattered everywhere. Some even appeared to have worked its ways into the carpet that was a birthday present from her mother. That carpet had been imported from Prance and it was now coloured by a brownish yellow smear.

And her books! Her poor, poor, terribly expensive books!

Oh, her lazy habit of leaving them on the floor had finally come back to bite her with the ferocity of a starving pack of timberwolves. There would be stains on some of those precious books for years to come, provide, of course, she could dry them first. How such a small foal had such a big bladder was beyond her comprehension.

“Breathe,” Spike said. A troubled worried expression was on his face. Twilight’s dead gaze seemed fixed on a large puddle of urine that surrounded a spire of book like a moat.

“Of course I know I need to breathe, why would I forget?” The hairs in Twilight’s mane began to jut out at odd angles from uncontrolled sparks of magic. “It wouldn’t do if I fainted from not breathing would it? That would be a terrible thing! Simply tragic!!” Her pupils started shrinking and she was hyperventilating. “That would leave Wisp unattended for another hour, and only Celestia knows what would happen then!”

Spike only stared in silence. Not daring to make a sound. Yup, he knew when not to present a target.

“I’m breathing Spike.” Twilight Sparkle finally answered more calmly. Logically, she could understand. A foal that nursed with as much vigour as Wisp would obviously defecate with equal quantity. Yes, it was logical! What was not logical was why it was all over the floor. Her left eye twitched as her gaze landed on the little pony in the middle of the soiled room.

“You!”

Honeydew Wisp sat on the floor surrounded by her own filth. Her large oversized vest was soiled and wet. It was obvious that the little foal had dragged the vest all across the floor. Her diaper had somehow come off. How? Twilight could only guess. It had been secure in the exact same manner Nurse Tenderheart had shown.

Twilight’s gaze drifted to a corner where the diaper lay. It had been chewed!? Why in Princess Celestia’s good name did Wisp chew on her own diaper? Even as Twilight asked, Wisp smiled back with not an ounce of guilt. Who me? the smile asked as innocently as possible.

Twilight growled as her horn was engulfed by a roaring purple fire. “Ohh…no you don’t. The grin and smile routine is not going to work this time, young lady. You are in so much trouble.”

“Twilight…umm”

“Not now Spike,” Twilight Sparkle’s answer was as clipped as her temper was short. Her complete attention was on Wisp, who was already on her feet. The guilty foal was making ready for a sprint across the room, but that was not going to happen if Twilight Sparkle had any say in the matter. She was going to march the filthy foal into the bathroom and have her cleaned. Twilight took a step forward. She paused only when she realised her left fore hoof had stepped on something that clearly wasn’t the hard wooden floor.

“Don’t say a word.” She lifted her hoof off the brown smear on the floor.

“I won’t.”

** *** **

“Spike, dear. Are you alright? You seemed as if you were off somewhere.” Rarity passed a diamond and a cup of tea over to Spike.

“Messy,” Spike finally answered as he slowly bit down on the diamond.

“Pardon me?” Rarity paused.

“You asked what it was like living with Wisp. It’s messy,” Spike clarified as he chewed on the diamond, licking at flakes of the white stone that crumbled between his teeth. “Wisp isn’t toilet trained yet,” He said with a shudder.

“And that means?” Dash trailed as she returned a blank expression from across the table.

“What goes in one end has to come out the other.” Applejack answered dryly.

“That’s a problem why?” Rainbow Dash didn’t seem to comprehend as she sat back down again. “Wouldn’t it just go through the cloud deck… oh…ground pony.”

To put it mildly, Applejack was stunned. She could only stare at her feathered friend. “You mean to say that you pegasi just let yer foals do it on the floor and it falls out of the cloud!”

Oh, the rotten luck that earth ponies had! Unicorns had their fancy magic to pick up things, but to hear that pegasi just did their business and it would take care of itself was almost as infuriating.

Earth ponies had to change dirty diapers with their mouths!

Their mouths for Celestia sake!

Applejack remembered a certain younger sibling and the diapers she helped her mother change. Nopony would ever forget smelling something like that, especially up close.

“Hey, we have indoor plumbing! Rainbow recycling.” Rainbow Dash protested. “We don’t poop on other ponies! It’s perfectly okay to walk under a cloud house or a pegasus town. Blue ice is a racist myth!”

Before Applejack could reply, and her reply would undoubtedly be biting, Rarity interrupted. “Is she happy?”

Spike was quite again and his thoughts drifted away. Was she happy?

** *** **

It was night and the last of the day’s chores was finally done. The front door was closed, the books shelved, and most important of all, the mess Wisp had made on the floor was gone. It had taken magic and elbow work, but the room was clean and smelled of lemon. From this day on, the smell of lemon would never be the same again.

Wearily, Spike turned to the staircase and began the slow climb up to the bedroom he shared with Twilight. At the top, he noticed a sliver of light cutting across the landing. The bedroom’s door was ajar and he could hear Twilight reading out loud. Curious, Spike crossed the short distance and peered into the room beyond.

A candle burned by the bed stand as Twilight Sparkle lay curled up on her bed. Honeydew Wisp was huddled by her side with her small back pressed against the older pony. In front of the two was a large book. Wisp seemed enraptured by the slow turn of the book’s pages.

Twilight read in steady voice.

“Hey Twilight,” he greeted.

“Hey Spike.” Twilight lifted her head and turned to the dragon as he came walking in.

“What bedtime story are you reading?”

She lifted up the heavy tome for Spike to read its tittle. “Obscure Magic Theory for Intellectual…” Spike trailed.

“It’s a book on advance alchemy,” Twilight supplied.

“Um… don’t you think that’s a little…. Advanced… for her? Maybe you should wait until… you know… she learns to talk and then read.”

“Oh, Spike. It is not what I’m reading to her, it’s the tone of my voice. I understand from Lady Manner’s book on parenting that a foal first learns to speak by listening to those around her.” Then with a laugh, Twilight smiled. “Maybe she’ll learn something.”

Wisp yawned and glanced down at the book. She couldn’t comprehend what she was seeing. However, the enchanted moving pictures, which cycled and danced as they depicted complicated magical interaction of alchemy, were fascinating all the same. Drowsy and with her eyelid drooping, Honeydew Wisp laid her head down by the mattress, just by the side of the heavy book. She rubbed the side of her snout against Twilight Sparkle and closed her eyes.

“I think she has the right idea. I’m going to bed.” Spike said as he lay on his bed, a reed basket at the foot of Twilight’s bed.

“Sweet dreams.” Twilight then blew out the candle, cloaking the room in Luna’s quiet night. The stars in the sky out lit their bedroom window with

“Hey Twilight, did you read to me when I was small?” Spike asked. His question lingered in the night.

“Yes, Spike,” he heard Twilight Sparkle reply. “I read to you Star Swirl’s theory of differential topology.”

“How about that. Did it work? I mean…Did I learn any topology?”

Twilight Sparkle managed a smile. “I don’t know, but it was your favourite book.”

“Good to know.”

“Good night Spike.”

“Nighty night Twilight.”

From his own bed, Spike watched as Twilight leaned over Wisp. “Goodnight Wisp,” he heard her say before she kissed the sleeping foal on the side of her snout and laid her own head to sleep.

** *** **

“Yes, I think she is happy,” Spike answered.

Cadance

Chapter 11
Cadance

Nightfall had not come peacefully to the residence of Twilight Sparkle.

“Shining, be reasonable. She’s only a baby.”

Shining Armour paused at foot of the staircase. He turned, looking back at his sister.

“I am being reasonable.” His decision was made and now he was going to sleep on it, and by it, he meant the couch on the ground floor of the library. It was a light aquamarine colour that clashed horribly with the purple colour his sister favoured and felt just about as comfortable . It was far too short to fit a pony, and the arms were so high that they curved his spine into in an unnatural U. He twisted his back and groaned when it cracked audibly, loud enough to give him pause and wonder if he might just have broken something. Thankfully he could still feel his hind legs and the tip of his tail. Whoever had convinced his sister to take in this terrible aquamarine couch would be the receiving end of his ire come morning.

** ** **

Elsewhere Lyra Heartstrings sneezed and began wiping her nose with a handkerchief in annoyance.

“Are you coming down with a cold?” Bon Bon asked upon hearing her grumbling housemate.

"Someone is talking about me... I just know it."

** ** **

Back in the library, Shining Armour gave up trying to sleep. He simply let his head fall back on a borrowed purple pillow and settled for staring up at the ceiling. He didn’t have to sleep here. It wasn’t as if Twilight had banished him to sleep on her extremely uncomfortable couch. There was a guest bed, a nice feather down bed, but it was in his sister’s bedroom, the very same room she shared with that…that thing. Shining Armour turned again, unable to sleep.

“I’m not going to sleep in the same room as a Changeling and neither should you!”

“So what do you want me to do, force her to sleep in the cupboard under the stairs?”

He heard his sister’s sarcasm, the low pitch she used when she was upset. It was sometimes funny, but today he didn’t care much for it. They had both gone to their respective beds angry

He turned his head on the pillow and continued staring up at the ceiling of the library.

His sister, Twilight Sparkle, may have been a hero of Equestria, the Element of Magic, and may have fought changelings, but she didn’t understand those detestable creatures, not really. Not in the way he did. Shining Armour let out a shuddering breath, one that left him cold inside, and began rubbing his forelegs together. No matter how it looked, that thing nestled against his sister was one of those… those things, one of those predators, and nothing would change that. It wasn’t anypony’s family. It wasn’t anypony’s foal He would never let his guard down... Never again

Just as he finished those thoughts, a sound reached his ears. It wasn’t the hum of insects outside the window. It was the clip-clop sound of soft hooves moving towards him. “Twily,” he called out. His reply was the silence of a moonless night. It was too dark to see any further than a pony length distance. His ears flicked up and turned to follow the sound. The hoof steps slowed but did not stop. It continued its approach but not in a straight line. It was circling him, stalking him.

Unbidden, an icy knot took hold and twisted his stomach. “Not Twily,” he whispered fearfully. If not her, it could only be one other thing. His instinct as a pony screamed at him to bolt from the room. In the corner of his mind, a panicked colt cowered, frightened of the green mare looking for him. But instinct would not prevail tonight. His training with the Royal Equestrian Guard came roaring to forefront. Shining Armour pushed his blanked aside. He readied his horn. The muscles of his legs grew tense and ready to strike. And all the while the sound of hoofsteps grew closer, one footfall after another until a pony shape emerged out of the shadows.

Shining Armour didn’t waste a second. He leapt off the couch and went charging into the shadow. His magic threw the apparition backwards and against the wall with such force that it lay stunned and dazed. His hooves reached the wall soon after, bearing his full weight on the shadow to hold it fast.

“Ah!” A sharp feminine cry rang out.

It took a moment for the adrenaline to clear from his head and for Shining Armour to notice the strands of pink mane between his hooves.

“Cadance!” he yelled as he dropped back to all four hooves. “Did I hurt you?”

“No,” Cadance managed to answer between heavy breaths of her own. “I’m not hurt.”

“What are you doing here?” Shining Armour asked. He was still unsettled how close he had come to injuring his own wife.

“Does a wife need a reason to see her husband?” A smile crossed the pink alicorn’s lips. It was a kind, loving smile, but it was a fleeting one that faded when she spoke next. “Why weren’t you home? Why didn’t you tell me you would be gone for so long! You promised me that you’d tell whenever you left the Castle.”

The demanding tone in her voice was not lost on him. This was a side of Cadance he hadn’t known until after they were married. He had expected life to change upon marriage. There would be less time in the officer’s club. Fewer hours in the night to casually spend on paperwork. He had expected that he would put his wife first and foremost on his list of duties. But he had not expected to spend each and every moment, of every hour of the day under her watchful eye. “I know I did. I’m sorry. Something came up….”

No, he had not expected Cadance to be so controlling.

“Involving Twilight,” She finished, cocking her head to the side.

She wanted answers. It was a gesture he had become familiar with. “It’s complicated family business.” Shining Armour tried to hide his worry and fear that Cadance would learn of that thing upstairs. What was he going to do?

“Aren’t I family?” Her tone sounded hurt, and that hurt him even more.

“Oh of course you are, dear.” His forelegs moved without thinking to hold her close to the barrel of his chest. “It’s just complicated.”

Wordlessly, Princess Cadance accepted her husband’s embraced and pressed her body against his muscular chest. “Then explain it to me in small simple words.” She leaned towards him until her breath felt like a hot summer breeze on his face. “I miss you Shining,” she murmured into the corner of his mouth as kissed him.

“Cady,” he lifted his head, breaking the long kiss. “Not now. We have to stop. What if Twilight hears us?” Shining Armour was mortified at the thought of his sister walking down the stairs to find him… umm servicing his Princess.

Cadance looked up with a naughty grin, a naught, salacious grin that called to stallions in a way that was most certainly illegal for a former foalsitter to have. “We’ll be as quiet as a mouse.” She whispered as she wrapped her forehooves around him.

“We...” He stuttered in panic. “We’re in the middle of a public library. We can’t.”

“Why not? We might be lucky. I don’t think it would be so terrible to conceive an alicorn princess in Ponyville’s Book and Branches library. Our daughter could be the Princess of Books, patron of Knowledge and mistress of the written word. Twilight would just love her to bits.”

“Yes! No! Please don’t joke about that. We don’t want a scandal.”

Heedless of his words, her wings opened out in sensuous display of feathers that no hot blooded stallion could ever mistake its meaning. “Maybe all you needs is a little... encouragement.”

Shining armour had no time to reply before he felt the warmth of her breath and the soft touch of her lips upon his neck. Oh Celestia, he could feel her tongue dance over his skin leaving a warm, wet track. He could smell her sweet scent as he felt the first touch of her body on the underside of his body. Her hooves worked back and forth along his barrel in a relaxed pace. They were so soft it left him gasping aloud. He wanted this, he really did. She was in heat.

“Cadance,” he reached out and joined his wife. He nuzzled the skin along her belly, letting her enjoy the sensation of his hooves upon her. He was gentle and understanding. He caressed the undersides of her body sending visible shivers down her spine. He took hold of her black foreleg. His lips touched the tip of her hoof and he began kissing her all the way to her cannon.

Black? He froze. Her fur was black. Her foreleg was narrow and spindly. That couldn’t be right. He had held her foreleg many times before. Cadance’s hooves weren’t black. Her coat wasn’t black. They were… his mind stuttered unable to provide an answer. He looked at the fore leg he had been kissing and for the first time noticed it was full of holes.

Changeling!

“Get away from me!” Shining Armour yelled and roughly pushed the monster away.

In the next moment, the horrifying visage was gone. There was only Cadance, the pony he had known for nearly ten years. His racing heart began to slow. It was just Cadance, with her familiar pink coat, and her mane of dark violet hair streaked with locks of rose and gold. He felt relief and in the same breathe knew he had just made a terrible mistake. Cadance didn’t say a word. He opened his mouth to say something, anything. But how could he explain? How could he tell his wife that his thoughts were of that mare, that monster, when they were together in their most private of moments?

“I’m sorry Cady.” His words hung in the air, impotent. They were just two ponies on the floor of a darkened library. His fore hoof had reached up to fall upon her withers, but it might as well have been on the moon. Shining Armour didn’t need to look into her eyes to know the hurt he had caused. “I know we have been trying for a foal…”

‘Not one. Just the first of a very large herd’, he reminded himself. Cadance wasn’t exactly subtle when she broached the subject of starting a family. Cady wanted a big family, even a much hoped for alicorn foal. She even joked she wouldn’t be satisfied until she could field her own hoofball team with the regulation maximum of six substitute players. He opened his mouth…

“Just not tonight, please.” It was a poor, shallow excuse. If he had to guess, Cadance knew it too. This was the one thing that she had ever asked of him and he couldn’t fulfil his part.

He waited.

She made no eye contact and her wings now draped lifelessly across her back. The previous look of amorous passion was gone. She looked disappointed. ‘And how could she not?’ He knew the question that was on her lips. It was the same unspoken question he had often asked himself. ‘Do we need to see a doctor?’ Was there a problem with the stallion she had married? Had an alicorn Princess mistakenly chosen a gelding? A part of him was incensed. Angry that that he could not perform his husbandly duties without a panic attack. He was in the prime of his life. He was the Captain of the Guard. A stallion’s stallion. If asked, he should’ve been able to sire a dozen foals from his harem of wives. And yet here he was. His eyes fixated on the pink hooves of his wife for reasons he couldn’t understand. Did they need to see a doctor? Had he become impotent?

Cadance finally spoke up. Her tone was subdued. “You didn’t have any trouble before the wedding.”

“Before?” He trailed, not understanding what she meant. They had been saving themselves for after the wedding. Their first time would be special. “We never…” He began, but before he finished he knew that was a lie. It was a secret that he would tell nopony. Cadance might have given her maidenhood to him but he had already... been soiled by that creature.

“When you gave me our beautiful daughter, you didn’t have a problem.”

He froze. His eyes grew wide. Fear. That was that was what he felt, choking fear. It couldn’t be. Not her.

Slowly she lowered her snout until it reached the side of his trembling ear. “Perhaps you prefer it this way?” Her voice still sounded like Cadance but it spoke in a way Cadance never would. The smile on her pink lips had grown very wide. Her eyes flashed green in a blaze of terrible changeling magic. He saw her feathered wings break apart to leave the wings of an insect. Pink fur burned away and in its place was a black coat devoid of all colour. Her horn grew flat, sharp, and finally crooked and gnarled. It was ugly and alien.

“Don’t come near me!” He had to escape. He tried to push her away, but she was too strong. Her hooves were iron chains upon his withers, embracing him, holding him tight and helpless under their grip. With a single unrelenting push, she threw him onto his back. He looked up at the mare towering over him. Their eyes met, and in an instant, all the strength in his body was gone, like water draining out of a broken cup. Queen Chrysalis's eyes glowed a poisonous green as she spread open her damaged wings with the same grace and allure as Cadance. “You, like?” A grin twisted Chrysalis’s snout.

The two words chilled him to his core. And yet despite himself, his nostrils flared open as he took in her scent. She was in season. Her pheromones advertised her youth, her interest, her fertility. “No.” He answered and turned his head away.

“Oh, your pretty mouth tells such terrible lies, but your lower half is such a paragon of honestly.” Her hoof ran through the fur on his body until she reached down and took hold of him.

Shining Armour whimpered. “No, please.” He pushed and squirmed. It was all in vain. She was simply too strong. She was always too strong. His struggles only served to excite her even more until it become an open invitation for her to move even closer, to straddle him and push him down onto the damp pink mattress underneath.

Drool ran down her mouth to pool on his white fur. Their bodies were now only a few inches apart. The urges to breed and feed were mixed into one heady confusing brew. Her eyes flashed even brighter, and greener until finally…

“Yess! Love me.” Queen Chrysalis shrieked as she made her claim. “Make it perfect!” Her jaws flew open, wider than was possible for any pony as if to howl her victory.

He wanted to scream but the sound was stuck in his throat. His lungs were not under his control.

** ** **

Shining Armour sobbed quietly.

How long had she used him he could no longer tell. It could have been minutes or it could have been weeks. She had taken what she wanted. His body was spent. He couldn’t move. Her bite or her magic had paralysed him. He couldn’t even turn to look at her. His body was no different from a seamstress’s ponikin. All he could see was the ceiling and the pink and violet purple tapestries that decorated Cadance’s bedroom in the Royal apartments. All he could do was shiver as the sharp dagger points of her long canines dug into the nape of his neck. These was pain, but it was only a faint echo compared to ice that entered his veins and horn when she fed on his love. He felt so very cold and warmth of her body upon him only heightened the contrast.

He felt the bed sheets shift and the mattress roll as the pony he shared the bed with moved. She was awake again.

“Was it as enjoyable for you as it was for me?” Chrysalis asked.

He wished she was mocking him, but her voice sounded sincere, curious even. He could not answer regardless. His mouth was as immobile as the rest of his body. He felt the tip of her hoof trace the bones of his jaw only to land on his nose. He wished she would stop but he couldn’t move.

“Oh what will your sweet Candy think now of her sweet Knight in Shining Armour.” Chrysalis ran her hoof through his blue mane.

Then she was leaning over his head and whispered into his ear. “Captain of the Royal Guard, you’re indeed a prize.” She hummed. “But you are my prize, mine! Remember that you will always be mine!”

** ** **

Shining Armour snapped opened his eyes. His hooves were already in motion as he threw off the purple blanket and braced himself to tear off the parasite feeding on his body. His heart was still pounding in his chest when his hoof came up empty. There was no changeling, no Cadance. There was nopony in the room, only the crest of House Twilight which hung proudly on the wall alongside his sister’s cutie mark. It took a moment before reality could sink in. He held his hooves to his face. They were still trembling. It had been a dream. He reached up to his neck to wipe away the memory of that mare’s touch. It was only a dream, another one of those horrible dreams that had been plaguing his sleep for the past year.

Still breathing hard, he fell on to his hunches and cupped his face between his forehooves. He was safe. Ponyville was far away from those things. They would never come here, he told himself. Ponyville was not isolated enough to keep a changeling attack hidden for long, and too small for a changeling to hide. Changelings hunted in a certain predictable pattern. Life in Ponyville was safe, and he knew he was telling himself a lie. That thing’s daughter was here. A changeling princess would never go unguarded. His sister was mistaken.

He had to check. He rose from the couch. He had to make sure. So he crept up the staircase like a thief in the night. His horn was lit with the blue glow of his magic, but only just. He climbed and climbed; one step at time until he was at his sister’s bedroom door, the first room on the right. He reached out with his magic and turned the door knob. The door swung open without a sound. It wasn’t even locked. There was only one occupied bed in the room.

Ever so quietly he approached the bed until he loomed over the sleeping form of his sister and that mare’s daughter. His sister was tucked under a purple blanket, one of the many identical blankets their mother had given her when she moved away to Ponyville. It bore the stars and moon emblem of House Twilight as befitting the heir of a noble house. The changeling lay between his sister’s forehooves, half hidden under a fold of the blanket. He stared at it. His eyes traced its small form hidden under the blanket. For how long he did this, he did not know. But it was long enough to study its’ every feature.

Its coat was white. He didn’t want to look at his own to compare the colour. He didn’t need to touch it to know it would be just as soft as any pony foal. A two tone coloured strip ran through its mane as if to mock him for his feeble attempts at denying her lineage. Blood had bred true, and this was undoubtedly a foal of the House Twilight. Only a fool would say otherwise. Its face was some strange twisted fusion of his sister and of that mare, who even now continued to haunt his dream. It was a terrible mix to see, one almost as terrible as the unnatural blade-like horn on her head.

“If only you had never been born,” he whispered. “If only you would disappear,” he wished.

In that one terrible moment, he could see his next course of action in perfect clarity. His sister may be the most powerful unicorn in a thousand years, but if caught unprepared, even she would fall to something as innocuous as a sleeping spell. Then there would only be him and it. Shining Armour looked down at his hooves.

A quick twist and snap would be all it would take. A single monstrous deed and the reputation of House Twilight and Princess Cadance would forever be persevered. Nopony would ever know of this mistake… aside from his sister. Twily would know and she would never speak to him again. She would hate him with every breath for the rest of her life. Yet he knew he could live with that. He could bare that burden of hate. Without that monster, without his mistake, his sister would have a life, a good long life surrounded by friends and the community that she had built around herself. It would be a privileged life that the position of Celestia’s personal pupil all but guaranteed.

He couldn’t let his sister throw away her future for a monster that would only bring misery to every life it touched. He looked down at the sleeping foal. Its face was that was too narrow for a unicorn, yet not so sleek as to be confused with the snout of a pegasus. It was a changeling’s face. What possible future was there for a monster in pony form?

And even if his sister was right, as the Captain of Royal Equestrian Guard couldn’t risk a foal of House Twilight standing opposed to the Princesses. All great unicorn Houses such as the Bluebloods and the Shimmers, had an echo of alicorn blood flowing in their veins. House Twilight too had once been counted as one of their number until the Rebellion of the Night a thousand years ago. They were descendants of Princess Luna’s second daughter, Twilight. That trace of alicorn blood allowed the noble Houses to birth many powerful unicorns over the ages, ponies like himself and his sister. Equestria could not afford to face a changeling Queen even more powerful than Queen Chrysalis.

Shining Armour made his decision. It was the only decision he could see that would protect everything he loved. His face went blank and his eyes became emotionless mirrors as lowered his horn. He was the Captain of the Guard. He had a duty to perform. ‘This is the right decision,’ he told himself repeatedly. The sleep spell was at the edge of being cast when he found himself staring straight into a pair of young harlequin blue eyes.

They were beautiful.

Shining Armour turned his head. He didn’t have time for this. The rest of foal however wasn’t quite as enchanting. Her horn was caught in a blanket and her blue mane was messed up with a severe case of bed mane. In a word, she looked comical, and the scene might even be considered cute. She was in desperate need of a good brushing, just as he did in the mornings. She blinked at him, no doubt startled at seeing a stranger so close. She recovered quickly and did the most terrible thing possible, she smiled at him. It was a genuine smile, a wholehearted and welcoming smile without any shadow of deceit or fear. It was a smile of an innocent foal, smiling up at her executioner.

Shining Armour stumbled back as if he had been physically struck. The iron determination he had just moments before shattered. A single question raced through his mind. ‘What the hay am I doing?’ He could fight changelings. He could kill changelings when duty called. But what was sitting in the bed was a foal. Could he kill a defenceless foal? And it was not just any foal of a strangers, this was his…

‘No!’ His mind shouted in denial. Shining Armour took a step back, then another. Why was he even here? He was no longer certain anymore. What did he hope to accomplished? Shining Armour left the room feeling sick. He was many things, but there were some things he would never be. He had joined the Guard to protect and defend ponies, not to murder little foals in their beds.

He was not a monster.

** ** **

From between Twilight Sparkle’s hooves, Honeydew Wisp lowered her head in a wide exhausted yawn. Her bright harlequin blue eyes began to dim as she rubbed her snout against her sleeping aunt. She was safe. She was warm, and most important of all, loved. And that was all she needed in the whole wide world. Honeydew Wisp closed her eyes and dreamed of purple.

** ** **

Along came Rainbow Dash

Chapter 7
Along came Rainbow Dash.

“Afternoon Dinky Hooves, Berry Pinch,” Pipsqueak greeted as he came around the Police House front desk. “The usual?” He turned to the greyish-rose filly.

“Yeah,” Berry Pinch answered the young colt. “I’ve got to collect my mom so she can watch the store while we visit Noi’s.” She let her pink mane flop over her face as she sat on her haunches. “This happens every weekend,” she let out a long suffering sigh. “Can’t you ask your mom to not catch mine so often?”

“I tried.” He answered. “But when my mom Cherry Top catches wind of something out of place, she gets this little pony whispering into her ear and just has to investigate. Your mom passed out on a park bench attracts mine like a fly to stale cider. She really shouldn’t be drinking so much.”

“That’s like a kettle calling a pot black,” Berry Pinch replied hotly. “Your other mom, Blue Copper buys more Wild Pegasus whiskey than any pony in town.”

Dinky Hooves interrupted, knowing where this conversation was going. It was a sore and shared bond between the two. “The sooner we pick up Pinch’s mom, the sooner we can get going.”

“Right,” Pipsqueak answered the pale violet Unicorn filly. “Mom!” he called out as loudly as he could.

“In the pantry dear,” he heard his mom Cherry Top reply.

“I’m taking the key to let Ms Berry Punch out of the tank.”

“Okay, dear.” His answer came from further within the Police house. “There are some gingersnaps in the pantry if your friends want any.”

“Thank you, Inspector Cherry Top,” the two fillies sang as they replied to Pipsqueak’s other mom, a small, slim, blue-grey Unicorn mare.

“So where is Noi?” The colt then asked, referring to a pale olive Earth Pony, the absent member of their small group of friends.

“Oh, she’s waiting at her house.” Dinky Hooves, answered. “She’s helping her big sister, Carrot Top, bake carrot muffins. Noi’s trying to earn a baking cutie mark.” Dinky rolled her eyes at this.

“Another cutie mark?” Pipsqueak asked while he fished about in a drawer, looking for the cell keys.

“Didn’t we ask her to wait?” Berry Pinch cut in. The young filly wasn’t pleased.

“How many cutie marks does she have already?” Pipsqueak wondered as he led the way into the Police House. He knew that Noi having a cutie mark was remarkable in itself. Ponies their age wouldn’t reasonably expect a cutie mark for another two or three more years

“Three!” Dinky Hooves exclaimed as she followed behind Pipsqueak. “She’s a polymath. She has a pillow cutie mark from when Mr Davenport allowed us to try our hooves at building beds in his furniture shop.

“Dinky,” Berry Pinch joined the conversation. “I don’t think he allowed us in, so much as threw up his hooves while we walked in and started crying on a sofa with his wife, Mrs Button Stitch.”

“Well Scootaloo, Apple Bloom, and Sweetie Belle did make a mess before leaving.” Pipsqueak added a muffled reply, the key ring in his mouth dampening his voice.

“It wasn’t that bad once we put out the fire. We fixed Mr Davenport’s workshop real quick, didn’t we. I don’t think I’ve seen Mr Davenport happier than when he saw all the beds and pillows that Noi made.” Dinky said as she followed behind her other two friends. “Noi also has that magnifying glass cutie mark — ”

“I remember that one!” Pipsqueak yelled abruptly, dropping the key ring to the ground. “She helped both my moms solve the mystery of the Blue Carbuncle. Who would have thought that a goose would have swallowed Miss Rarity’s missing gemstone.”

“That’s two,” Dinky counted as she watched Pipsqueak pick up the fallen key ring. “And there is her chocolate ice cream cutie mark from when we were helping Twist’s mom at her ice cream parlour.”

“Three,” Berry Pinch shook her head. “She’s the only pony in our class to have a cutie mark, and she’s got three of them! Hard to imagine that she’s Apple Bloom’s cousin. That pony and her two other blank flank friends don’t have their cutie marks yet, and they’re three years ahead of us.”

“You, don’t like them much?”

Berry Pinch huffed in Dinky Hooves’ direction. “Not after what they wrote in their Gabby Gums column about my mom. They called her the town drunk!”

Dinky Hooves didn’t know what to say. She hated ponies calling her mom stupid just as much as her friend Berry Pinch disliked ponies talking about her mom’s drinking. “They did apologise.”

“She’s Apple Bloom’s cousin?” Pipsqueak managed to mumble his question.

“Second cousins,” Dinky Hooves replied. “Carrot Noi is a part of the Carrot clan. The Carrots, Apples, and Lemons are related. Carrot Noi’s grandfather and Apple bloom’s grandfather are brothers.” As she spoke, the Unicorn filly passed an opened door.

“Oh, hi Miss Applejack.” As Dinky Hooves waved, the orange Earth Pony seemed to drain of all her colour. “What are you doing in here?” The filly asked.

“My mom and I caught her and Miss Rarity,” Pipsqueak whispered as he continued walking past the observation room.

“Why?” Berry Punch’s voice drifted along.

“Where?” Dinky Hooves’ voice added.

“The library!” Pipsqueak’s voice drifted down the corridor.

“Why would anypony want to break into a library?”

“Maybe Miss Twilight Sparkle has the new Daring Do book? And they were super desperate to read it” Pipsqueak’s voice drifted through the open door.

“Don’t be silly, silly. It’s too early!” An indistinct voice exclaimed.

** *** **

Applejack had never felt so humiliated in her life, and pulled her Stetson hat to cover her snout and face. Her life was ruined. She was going to become like her uncle Calva, the black sheep in the family, a hoof for hire that would do just about anything for a hoof full of bits. ’Ya start small and before ya know it, ya have wanted posters from Appleloosa to Canterlot.’ She thought to her self.

After several minutes of self-loathing, Inspector Cherry Top walked through the door with a tea set floating with her. The inspector sat down on a cushion opposite Applejack and pushed a cup of tea towards her. Applejack personally didn’t like drinking tea much, but it was impolite to refuse a cup. Tea drinking was a national pastime. The sun princess was never seen without her cup of Earl Grey.

“Are ya going to question me?” She took a slip. The tea was pleasant enough for boiled leaves.

“Do I need to?” Inspector Cherry Top asked as she took a slip of warm tea with a gentle smile on her snout.

Applejack didn’t say a word. She didn’t trust herself to not get Rarity and herself into more trouble with the law.

Inspector Cherry Top lowered her tea cup, then, with a small absent gesture, tugged a stray bit of brown mane behind her ear. “I wish to apologise on behalf of Blue Copper. She hasn’t quite settled into life in Ponyville yet. She still sees crime in every corner, evil in every action. I hope you can forgive her for her transgression. She has been a little excessive.”

Applejack found that she could breathe again. She hadn’t realised that she’d been holding her breath. “Ah guess, ah can understand that. Lived in a big city mahself once with mah uncle and aunt Orange in Manehattan. It’s a bit more dangerous compared to country living.”

“Would you care for some crumpets? We don’t get many visitors at the police house. I have some of that lovely apple marmalade that Sugarcube Corner makes. It is simply delightful.”

“It sure is ‘cause it uses apples from Sweet Apple Acres.”

** *** **

“Now let’s go over this again.” Blue Copper glared as she tapped her snow white hoof on the table.

“I don’t think there is anything more for me to add.” Rarity answered.

“I know you burgled the Book and Branches library.”

“Really now? Breaking and entering with the intent to commit a felony therein. Might you have any evidence to support such a fallacious and fictitious claim? Have you searched my saddle bag and found proof of my dastardly crime?”

“Your friend has already confessed to being inside the library. Confess now and I can be lenient with the charges.”

“Well officer,” Rarity held up her fore hooves. “If you have all the proof you need, go ahead, throw on the iron bracelets and put me in the big house.”

The door knocked. Blue Copper turned at the sound. “This isn’t over, Rarity.”

“Oh, I believe it is, Copper.” Rarity smirked.

** *** **

“I’m not a smart pony, but I know she’s hiding something. My mane is itchy. I can just feel it.” Blue Copper glanced at her spouse.

“Dear, this is Ponyville. We aren’t in Trottingham anymore.”

“She’s too collected, Cherry Top.” The white mare insisted. “It’s as if I’m interrogating a professional. What’s more, I know she’s mocking me with her fake Canterlot accent. I think she actually speaks with a Neigh Jersey accent.”

“Blue Copper, Rarity isn’t some hardened criminal, even if she is putting on airs. She is the village seamstress, and might I add, the only seamstress in Ponyville. So unless you want to learn to do your own stitching, I think it would be best to be polite and courteous to Rarity.”

“Why would I ever need to learn to sew? You know I don’t like wearing dresses.”

Cherry Top winked coquettishly at her spouse. “You seemed to like wearing that Flash Filly dress for Baton and I the other night.” The smaller Unicorn kissed the larger mare on the lips. “Remember why we moved to Ponyville.”

“We wanted a safer place to raise Pipsqueak.” Blue Copper answered. “Less work, more time with the family. Maybe give our son a new sibling or two.”

“Or three, and that is exactly what we got with this transfer, all three of us. Nothing happens in Ponyville. The most is me levitating your drinking buddy Berry Punch to the tank so she can sleep off the alcohol, and Baton making sure the village stallions aren’t making too much noise on Weekend Cards Night.”

“I’m just trying to keep our home safe.”

“I know. Both you and our husband, Baton are doing your best. However I’m asking you to put aside the bad cop routine and let Rarity and Applejack go.”

“It’s not right. I know they were in the library.”

“Unless you have evidence to hold two prominent members of the community, we are going to have to let them go.”

“Just like that?”

** *** **

“Well that was bracing,” Rarity commented as she stepped out of the Police House.

“We were arrested!” Applejack was nearly beside herself from the dismissive remark. “We could have had a criminal record. Ah could have had a criminal record.”

“Pish posh! Nothing of the sorts, darling. We weren’t arrested, just invited for a cup of tea by Ponyville’s finest. Blue Copper was just fishing for information she didn’t have. Grandmother taught me a how to properly handle these kind of situations.”

“Um… Rarity, did you grandmother have many run-ins with the law?”

“Why would you ever say that? My grandmother is lovely mare. She has a heart of gold. Even when she was busy, she always made time to baby-sit me. Why, when I was a young foal we used to play a game called Tealeaf and Pigs. I really did love that game, although it really was just a game of catch. Grandmother had the wildest imagination. She even had me believing that we were running across the rooftops of Maretropolis, taunting angry pigs that tried to catch us.” Rarity smiled fondly.

Applejack could only stare with her mouth agape.

“One can only hope to age as gracefully as she has. I believe she continues playing our games with Sweetie Belle. She was ever so disappointed that I wouldn’t go into the family business. You see, father didn’t have the talent. So she placed all her hope on me, even calling me her little apprentice and sidekick. But alas for Grandmother, I was steadfast in my decision to become a fashion designer, even though I did get the right kind of cutie mark. One simply cannot allow one’s cutie mark to dictate one’s future.”

“Rarity, do you know the meaning of ‘tealeaf and pig’?” The apple farmer referred to the slang for thieves and police.

“Darling, I do know what pigs are, filthy animals that wallow around all day, doing nothing useful.”

Words failed her, simply failed her. Applejack was quite shocked to hear Rarity taunting the police after just leaving the Police House. On top of that, there was whole eye opener of her picking open Twilight’s window. Applejack didn’t want to think it, but the Mare-Do-Well costume did come together almost too quickly. Could Rarity…could she have a secret double life?

“You mean in the animal sense of the word?” Applejack asked slowly.

Rarity gave her friend a scrutinizing sidelong look. “You do have eight pigs on your farm. As for tea leaves, you put them in your teapot.” The Unicorn paused. “Are you alright, Applejack?”

The Earth Pony let out a small laugh. She was just glad that it was only her overactive imagination getting the better of her. This entire morning was a strange one. She was about to speak when Rainbow Dash appeared from out of nowhere, or so it seemed to her.

“Good gracious!” Rarity exclaimed, articulating surprise for both mares. “You shouldn’t fall out of the sky like that.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Rainbow Dash waved a dismissive hoof at the alabaster Unicorn, then turned her attention towards Applejack. “Well?” Ponyville’s Weather Manager asked rather pointedly as she excitedly snapped shut her wings

“Well, what?” Applejack replied.

“Did you get it?” Rainbow Dash whispered conspiringly. A wide grin was plastered on her bright blue snout as she came close.

“Come again, Dash?” Applejack was puzzled.

“Your trip to the library,” She began to wonder if Applejack was purposefully being thick today. She wasn’t a patient pony. “I heard you might have tried to sneak into the library without telling Twilight, and Blue Copper caught you.”

“Where did ya hear that?” Applejack was horrified. How did the news get around so quickly?

“I overheard some foals talking while I was working over Main Street. There was mention about you being caught breaking into Twilight’s library and something about the latest Daring Doo book, Daring Doo and the Goblet of Fire?”

“You mean, while you were napping on a cloud over Main Street.”

Rainbow Dash ignored Rarity’s comment. “So do you have it?” Her violet eyes sparkled with wild energy. “I heard rumours that Daring Doo’s author gave a special pre-release copy to Princess Celestia. Since the Princess is obviously a super busy pony, I’m guessing, hoping, that she gave the book to Twilight. Twilight’s a big fan. So did you get it? You can tell me.”

“No,” Applejack said.

“No?” Rainbow Dash paused. “No in that you didn’t get it. Or...” She leaned close into Applejack’s orange ear. “No, you can't tell me.”

“No, ah didn’t take it, and why in the hay are you only asking me? Rarity was there too. Ah’ve never stolen anything in mah life.” Applejack retorted defensively.

Rainbow Dash paused as she scrutinized the Earth Pony’s confession. If Applejack were any other pony, the Weather Manager would have treated such an admission with suspicion, more so when dealing with the latest Daring Doo novel. However, she knew Applejack, and that orange Earth Pony mare wasn’t called Honest Applejack without reason. That meant no new pre-release Daring Doo novel. It was disappointing, a bitter rain. Buck. “Then what did you go to the library for.” She cried out in frustration.

“Erm…” The Earth Pony trailed off, her eyes flicked to the side, looking anywhere except straight ahead. “We were returning a book?”

Rainbow Dash reaction was instantaneous and she began rubbing the bridge of her snout with the frog of her hoof “Seriously? AJ, I hope you didn’t tell Blue Copper that.” The pitiful performance was embarrassing to watch. “Even I can tell you aren’t telling the truth. So really, why did you break into Twilight’s library?” She pressed.

Applejack opened her mouth to answer. To be honest, she wasn’t quite sure what she hoped to say. She respected her friend’s privacy, and if Twilight Sparkle chose not to tell everypony in Ponyville that she had a foal, it was her right. Yet, having now been forced to think, Applejack had to admit, it did hurt just a little that Twilight didn’t trust her, and by extension the rest of girls, with the news of the new foal. Hay, she hadn’t even seen the foal yet. Weren’t they BPFF, Best Pony Friends Forever?

However if she were in Twilight’s horseshoes, she couldn’t be sure if she would have done any different. Marry your cousin, sure. Applejack didn’t like the stereotype that city folks cooked up, but it did happen on occasion. It couldn’t be helped really, as every pony was bound to be related to every pony else in a small village. With your own brother on the other hoof... your own ‘married’ brother, her thoughts stressed. Applejack wanted to rub the back of her head. How the hay did these things happen?

As a friend, she should keep the matter under her hat until Twilight was ready. However, anything other than the honest truth often led to more problems in the long run. Thankfully, Rarity chose that moment to speak

“Not here.” Rarity primly cut into Applejack’s long pause. “Somewhere more private.”

That got Dash’s attention, and Applejack got the feeling that she shouldn’t have been so thankful after all.

** *** **

Rainbow Dash eyed Rarity wearily as the Unicorn mare closed the door of Carousel Boutique behind them.

“So what is the big secret?” She asked. From the way Applejack was acting, she suspected it might be something more serious than Pinkie Pie’s confession about her reoccurring Cupcake Nightmare. That one still gave her the willies, better not think about that. “Never going to eat a cupcake again,” the rainbow-maned mare shivered

Rarity cleared her throat, signalling she was ready to begin. “Before I continue, I must extract a solemn oath that you will not repeat what you are about to hear. It is of the utmost importance to our friend, Twilight Sparkle’s reputation, and the future of more than one life.”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. Rarity was such a drama queen.

“What you will hear will shake the very foundation of morality and,” Rarity stressed, “I will not tolerate any judgemental behaviour or attempt to reprimand our friend. Twilight has already gone though the most stressful experience in anymare’s life, alone, without the comfort of family or friend.”

Applejack glanced at Rarity. “Wait a second there. Are you sure we should be telling Dash this? Didn’t ya promise Spike not to tell anypony?”

“Applejack dear, she already suspects something is amiss. Keeping her in the dark would merely escalate this incident out of our control.”

“Ah don’t know…” She trailed off uncertainly.

Rainbow Dash didn’t like being ignored. “’She’s’ standing right here you know.”

“How about this? Rainbow Dash darling, what if we decided to not tell you anything?” Rarity asked.

“I’d pester you a bit” Rainbow Dash answered.

“Should our lips remain immovably silent?”

The Pegasus mare paused. “Aw… I’d fly over to Twilight’s and maybe bring along Pinkie Pie. It is her lunch break, and she has a way of getting stuff out of Twilight.”

Rarity turned to the orange Earth Pony with Rainbow Dash’s statement as her final deposition. “And thus you see why we must share this secret with her.”

Silently, Applejack nodded her head in acceptance.

“Do you promise not to repeat what you are about to hear?”

“I swear. Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a –”

“Don’t finish that!” Rarity yelled.

“Pinkie Swear?” Rainbow Dash questioned.

“Yes, I don’t know how she does it, but whenever a pony even considers reneging such a promise, Pinkie Pie simply pops out of nowhere. How she does that I do not know, but she is absolutely one of the ponies we must not tell.”

“I don’t know.” Rainbow Dash replied. “The last time we kept something from Pinkie, she kind of took a trip to Crazyville. It’s like we aren’t trusting her and breaking a friend's trust is the fastest way to lose a friend –”

** *** **

Elsewhere, in the kitchen of the Sugarcube Corner bakery, Pinkie Pie had the sudden, almost irresistible urge to run to Carousel Boutique and shout ‘FOREVER’.

“Pinkie dear,” Mrs Cake paused midway between frosting a cake. Pinkie Pie was still, a far off stare in her eye while her tail cotton candy pink tail twitched. “We have to finish cakes for the afternoon lunch crowd.” That was enough to snap Pinkie Pie from what she saw.

** *** **

“Be that as it may be,” Rarity replied. “What Twilight cannot afford right now is an unplanned Pinkie Pie welcoming party.”

“Okay. Okay. I got it.” Rainbow Dash replied. “So what do you want to tell me?”

Rarity took a breath and steadied herself. “Twilight Sparkle has recently given birth to a filly.”

“Twilight’s a dam? No way. You’ve got to be joking.” Rainbow Dash expression was one of disbelief. Canterlot mares were always thought to be so proper. “And if you are joking, I’ll have to tell you the joke is lame. Like super lame, broke my leg lame. That isn’t funny.”

“I’m only speaking the truth.” Rarity replied. “Barely a week ago, Twilight secretly gave birth to her daughter.”

Rainbow Dash turned to Applejack. She was the only pony that would tell her straight. “AJ?” Rainbow Dash asked.

Reluctantly, the Element of Honesty told the honest truth, as she saw it. “It’s true. Twi has a foal.”

“So who’s the father?” Rainbow Dash asked wide eyed. “Is it Caramel?”

“No!” Applejack interjected, a bit shocked that her cousin was being mentioned. “Why in tarnation did you think it’s mah cousin?”

“Well,” Rainbow Dash began. “He kind of attracts eggheads. I mean Wind Whistler is dating him. So if she is seeing Caramel, I thought Twilight might be as well. Birds of a feather flock together. Egghead mares, forming an egghead herd, having egghead foals. Although, I don’t know what a smart mare from Maresachusetts Institute sees in him.”

“What’s wrong with a smart mare seeing something in mah cousin.” Applejack demanded. Family pride was at stake. “Sure, he ain’t as Earth Pony strong as Big Macintosh, but ah'm sure he has his charms when he isn’t behind the apple stand.”

“Have you heard Wind Whistler speak? She is way more brainy than him. Her words are so big, that I need a dictionary whenever she speaks to me about getting permission to do her research on wild weather over the Everfree Forest. She is like a Pegasus version of Twilight. I just give the approval stamp on all her stuff so I can get away from her long presentations.”

“There nothing wrong with mah cousin.”

“So, if it isn’t Caramel, who is it? Big Macintosh?”

Applejack was about to speak her mind, when Rarity waved her off. “I did say it would shake the vary foundations of morality. If our Twilight Sparkle had a relationship with either Caramel or Macintosh, there would merely be some head shaking. But no, the sire of Twilight’s foal,” Rarity paused for the dramatic effect, “is Shining Armour.

Rainbow Dash dropped onto her haunches, shocked. “No bucking way.”

Rarity slowly nodded. “Our Twilight Sparkle has entangled herself in a forbidden, incestuous love triangle.”

Rainbow Dash glanced at Applejack again, who hesitantly nodded her head. “Ooo…Eew. Eew.” The Pegasus mare squeaked and her body gave an involuntary shiver.

“That’d explain why Twilight was so upset after finding out about her brother’s marriage. She was jealous!” Rainbow Dash paused. “Wait, it has been only like a year since Shining Armour and Princess Cadance’s wedding! They must have done it just before the wedding.”

Applejack was silent as she listened to Dash. Fancy mathematics was never her strong point, but she could count. Dash was right. The timing fit. One year, an eleven month pregnancy. She always assumed that Twi was naïve, with foal like innocence, when it came to the opposite sex. She never showed interest in dating or the few single stallions in Ponyville. But now…Did Twi give her brother one last farewell the night before the wedding?”

“Oh, Twilight, it’s not like you didn’t have options.” Rainbow Dash cried. “You have a sweet flank. If only you had put out some, worn a bit of clothes or a saddle, instead of spending all your time in the library naked…” Rainbow Dash paused when she found Applejack giving her an odd look.

“What? There’s nothing wrong with one mare complimenting another.”

“Ah didn’t say nothing,” Applejack looked away.

“It’s the mane, isn’t it?” Rainbow Dash replied defensively. “I was born with it, okay. It’s naturally coloured rainbow. You can look at the roots. I’m not dying my mane just because.”

“Is there a colour called rainbow?” The blond, country Earth Pony mare had to ask.

Rarity cleared her throat, catching everypony’s attention. “From my sources, Twilight’s daughter is named Wisp and she is, as of today, one week old. Twilight has been so dreadfully ashamed that she hasn’t been seen in public since her daughter’s clandestine birth.”

“Well, it is time for action.” Rainbow Dash jump back onto her four hooves, seemingly recovered. “I’m going to buck her behind out of the library.”

“You can’t do that.” Rarity threw her body across the front door, all but barricading it.

“Rarity, she can’t raise a foal isolated in the library.” Rainbow Dash reasoned. ”That’s just a bad fairy tale. The mare in the tower... well ivory tower. Wisp has to come out sometime and ponies do go to the library on occasion.”

“Rainbow Dash, I don’t think you quite realise the gravity of the situation.”

“Twilight did the nasty with Shining Armour -there is the ick factor- and had a foal. But seriously I’m cool.” She leaned over and whispered into Rarity’s ear. “Ponies out here do it with their cousins all the time,” Rainbow Dash said quickly as she glanced over to Applejack. “Twilight just did it with one less degree of descent.”

“Might I add that her brother is married to an Alicorn princess,” Rarity continued dryly. “We have on our hooves not only a forbidden, incestuous love triangle, but also a royal scandal. As of this moment, our Twilight Sparkle is the Other Mare in her brother and sister in-law’s marriage. A mare he cannot possibly add to Princess Cadance’s matrimonial herd without triggering an uproar amongst the Canterlot nobility and pony society in general. Furthermore I am told Princess Cadance is unaware of this affair.”

“Okay,” Rainbow Dash admitted. “More complicated than I've expected. But I am so going to see Twilight’s little tyke.” Rainbow Dash answered back excitedly. “Just to make sure she’s healthy. It can’t be good to have spent your entire life in a library, even if it’s all of one week’s worth.”

Rarity was suddenly hesitant. “Rainbow Dash, dear, I must caution you. When you do have a chance to look at Wisp, please…” The alabaster Unicorn paused trying to find the right words. “Please, be kind.”

“Eh?” The cerulean Pegasus had puzzled look on her face. “So she got hit by the ugly stick or something?”

This was news to Applejack, “Something the matter?”

Rarity sighed, thinking back to what she heard from Spike. “I fear that Wisp has a congenital birth defect. There was mention of Wonderglue and a prosthetic to make Wisp look more presentable.”

“Ya mean Twilight’s girl is- ,”

“The same as Noteworthy?” Dash finished for Applejack. Everypony in Ponyville who used prescription glasses knew of Dr Noteworthy. He was Ponyville’s sole optician. Both mares stared at Rarity with varying degrees of horror.

Rarity bowed her head in reply.

Dr Noteworthy was a charming stallion with a cultured taste for operatic music, as his cutie mark of two pairs of backwards-facing quavers suggested. The slate blue Earth Pony stallion wore a fanciful blue mask that hid half his face and snout. It lent quite an air of mystery around him whenever he attended the monthly meetings of Ponyville’s chamber of commerce. So lifelike was his mask, that a pony at times could imagine the mask followed the contours of his face precisely

Rarity had seen behind his mask once by accident and knew that was not true. On the eve of that dreadful Grand Galloping Gala two years ago, she had been looking for a pair of stallions to pull the carriage Twilight had conjured from an apple. Her cat, Opalescence, in her excitement had mistakenly dispersed the mice turned horse, which Twilight Sparkle had meant to pull their magic apple carriage.

She was at his practice, using her feminine wiles to charm him into the task. It was then, by fate or misfortune, that the strap of his mask snapped off. There was no handsome noble behind the mask, or as the florist trio, Lilly, Rose, and Daisy constantly speculated, the handsome visage of Prince Blueblood’s twin. That poor stallion had the most grievous disfiguring injury she had ever seen. She had screamed and fainted in dead fright upon his polished floor. Where half a pony face should have been, there was a hole, a wide gaping hole. Dr Noteworthy had only one eye!

“Take my camera.” Rarity said to Rainbow Dash. She had apologised profusely to Noteworthy, but it was weeks before she could speak to him again without staring.

“I would like a photo of Wisp.” She levitated the expensive device from its place on a high shelf, out of Sweetie Belle’s magical reach. “Maybe… maybe I can make her a hat or give her a mane style that’ll highlight her better side.”

** *** **