Nothing Like Home

Chapter 4

Fluttershy daintily exited the carriage when they arrived to Canterlot. It was a very dark night. The clouds blocked the moon and stars from shining through. She slowed and started to shiver. There was a strange feeling she was being watched.

“Don’t go on alone little filly, you might get… EATEN!”, Rainbow Dash roared in a stereotypical evil voice. Fluttershy squeaked as loud as her lungs let her as she jet herself back into the carriage, nearly knocking it on its side. Rainbow Dash hopped off the carriage and blew on her hoof, then proceeded to rub it on her chest, with a large smirk across her face. She chuckled and said, “I’m just on a roll today, huh?” Applejack followed Rainbow Dash, turned around and stuck her head in the carriage “Fluttershy, sugar cube, it’s alright. Rainbow Dash is just being mean. Come on out, we’ll head straight to our rooms.” Fluttershy smiled timidly and stepped down the carriage’s stair. “CRRRRRREEEEEAAAAAAKKK!”, Rainbow squeaked. Fluttershy took off like a rocket, straight into Rainbow Dash, and they both tumbled into the nearby fountain. “That’s what ya get, ya nasty filly”, Applejack chuckled. She helped Fluttershy out of the fountain and stuck her tongue out at Rainbow.

                “Must you act like such barbarians?”, Rarity snuffed, requesting aid from one of the guards to exit the carriage. With a smug look of accomplishment, she turned her nose up at the other fillies.

“Look at me, I’m Rarity. I’m a dainty little flower who needs to be treated like a princess because I like to style my hair all day” Rainbow mocked, using a frog as a Rarity puppet. “Ugh, you ruffian.” Rarity sighed.

                Twilight exited the carriage and joined the others. “Cut it out girls… Am I the only one who notices that there is something wrong here? Like something is missing?” The others nodded in agreement, and looked around puzzled. A muffled groan came from the other side of the carriage. They rushed over to find Pinkie Pie messing with one of the pull horse’s face. “Pinkie, can I ask what you are doing?” Twilight remarked. Pinkie looked over at the others with a big frown on her face. “I can’t do it…. no matter how hard I try, he won’t smile!” Pinkie croaked. “It’s not fair!” She mushed the horse’s face a bit more hoping for a different result. Twilight got behind Pinkie and started pushing her towards the castle. Pinkie dug her hoofs into the ground and proceeded to mess with the horse’s face. “I’m telling you, I can do this. Just give me 5 more minutes”, she chuckled. Twilight was not taking that as an answer and picked Pinkie up with her magic, and started towards the castle. “Smile! Come on!”, Pinkie screamed as she was carried away.

                The 6 fillies entered the castle to find Celestia waiting at the door.

“Twilight, why are you here?”, she squealed in horror. Celestia’s eyes grew large and she backed away slowly. “Go home. Now!” She screamed. The princess started pacing and mumbling to herself. Every so often she looked up at the fillies, shook her head, and looked back at the floor and continued pacing. “Princess Celestia, what’s wrong? We were invited by some pony named C.H.. I’m not sure who it is, but I assumed you two were already acquainted, the way he spoke of you.” Celestia stopped pacing and plopped onto the floor with a hard thud. Her eyes started to tear up as she looked at the fillies before her. “This is bad, very bad”, she sobbed. The fillies helped her up and brought her to the den where they all settled in. Celestia was the center of attention, for she was the only pony aware of what was happening.

“Princess, please tell me what is going on. Who is C.H.? Why does he want to meet us? And why are you so upset over his arrival?”

                Celestia took a deep, sobbing breath. “C.H. stands for Chaos Harmony. He was my fiancé a long time ago.” The ponies looked at her in astonishment. Their jaws dropped, and they motioned for her to continue. “Chaos was a sweetheart when we were young; we got along quite well. He actually helped build Canterlot on the base of what is here today. The day when Discord assumed reign over Equestria, it was earlier on in the day that Chaos had proposed to me. At this time, none of us were truly royalty, it was not going to be a royal wedding. It was going to be a regular wedding, and I was happy with that. But Discord screwed it all up. When Discord was defeated… I found out about something... quite dreadful. It led my sister and I to banish Chaos. We never got married, nor did I ever see him since they day he was banished.” Celestia was weeping, not tears of despair as before, but tears of sorrow. “Oh my poor dear!”, Rarity exclaimed. “That is by far, the… WORST… POSSIBLE… THING… to have happened to you darling!” Rarity pulled over a chair and pretended to faint atop of it. Celestia paid no attention to Rarity and started to pace again.

                “So, what did Chaos do so that he was banished from Equestria?” Twilight asked. She was convinced that the princess was hiding something from them. “I can’t tell you. It strictly private, just the fact you know of his existence is beyond the knowledge of any other pony within Equestria.” Celestia stated firmly.

                “Hey Twilight...”, a whisper came off from the distance. The book in Twilight’s saddle bag began to glow. “Read the book, Twilight”, It whispered again. Twilight retrieved the book from her bag and opened it to the next page that was mysteriously filled in.

My dear Twilight

The time has come

I will return sooner

Because of some

Beware of the truth

Because a pony is lying

You are busy being stalled

While someone you know is dying

She seems quite sweet

I know the charm

She enchanted me once

Upon my own farm

But beware young filly

She aims to deceive

I am no longer a love to her

She only displays my greed

I will be home

Just give me a minute

I will tell you a truth

Please welcome my input

The poem sent shiver from Twilight’s head to her hoof. She slowly looked up from the book at Celestia, who was now staring at her in discontent.

“Where did you get that book?”, Celestia said sternly. Her expression melted into anger. “You have betrayed me, haven’t you? Haven’t you!?!”, she screamed. The floor shuttered to the power of her royal voice.

Rarity trotted over to Celestia from the other side of the room. “Now sweetie, you know we are here for you, not in a million years would we betray you”, she assured Celestia with a heavy smile, hiding the confusion that all of the ponies have felt since they arrived at the castle. Celestia laid along the stretch of carpet in front of the fireplace. She needed the warm to cure the deadly shiver she had creeping up and down her spine. Resting her head upon her front legs, she gazed at Twilight.

“I’m sorry Twilight, this whole situation has been stressing me out more than you could imagine.” Twilight glared at Celestia, for she now knew she was hiding something but refuses to budge. She took a deep breath and started to ask again why Chaos was banished. Her forced question was interrupted by the sound of the front door creaking open. Not a soul thought anything of it, other than Twilight. She froze staring at the entrance to the den. “Twilight, what in the name of Celestia is wrong wi-”, Rarity started, but was cut off by the entrance of a large Alicorn. The quote from the book echoed in Twilight’s head.

“I will be home

Just give me a minute”

~~