"No Scootaloo, you cannot become Princess of Awesomeness." An exasperated Twilight Sparkle said as she rubbed her temples with her hooves.
"Why not?! I'm the princess here. I'm the one with the alicorn magic!" Immediately Scootaloo bit her tongue as she saw Twilight look sadly at her sides where once her wings had been. "I'm sorry Twilight. That was out of line." Suddenly a Twilight’s face was scrunched up with concentration as she summoned her magic; Everything was more difficult now, she had forgotten how much she relied upon alicorn magic. Two crowns were teleported over to them. She held them up in front of Scootaloo's face.
"Friendship or The Night?" Twilight said, shaking the pointed purple crown and its dark blue compatriot as she offered their dominions. "Just choose your role to play." Scootaloo groaned for what must have been the eighteenth time in last hour. Twilight's headache started to come back and it seemed to have brought a twitch for her left eye along with it.
"I don't get why Applebloom and Sweetie got to pick before me." Scootaloo was met with an incredulous look from Twilight.
"Were you there? I'm not sure anymore because I'm pretty sure I remember seeing you there, together with your new sisters, demanding a crown based on, what was it?" Twilight quickly consulted a list on the table. "Dashosity? Funnily enough that wasn't the first new word you've invented today. I also think I remember Applebloom choosing to be Princess of the Day because she's worked in the sun at Sweet Apple Acres since she was a foal, and Sweetie Belle chose Love because she doubted any of you were as qualified to be in charge of it as she was. You were all there together and got to choose. You're lucky Twist said she wanted to let you choose first. At this point I’m tempted to give her two!."
"I know Twilight. I was there." An unimpressed Scootaloo replied. Twilight's twitch got a couple of levels more aggressive in response. Not for the first time she had to rationalise why a lobotomised princess was not ideal.
"Are you one hundred percent sure? Because from the way you're acting it seems like you don't understand the situation." Scootaloo grinned sheepishly back at Twilight.
"Maybe if you went over it one more time I would understand a bit better?" Twilight screamed in frustration for a moment before she pushed the stress away from her, like Cadance had shown her the year before, it felt much longer.
"Chalkboard, chalk, now!" Twilight barked before materialising the items. She lifted the chalk and began to draw as she explained. "Celestia, Luna, Cadance, Twili- Me. Day, Night, Love, Friendship. We all play our part. We aren't alicorns anymore, you four are. Do the math Scootaloo." Once again Twilight was starting to work herself up. "We used to have four dominions and four princesses. We lost four princesses and gained four new ones. You each need to rule over a dominion. We have two left." Once again Twilight wiggled the crowns in from of Scootaloo. "Pick!"
"This is a really big decision Twi-"
"NOW!!" Twilight screamed. "We have been in this room for little over an hour and I think rooming with Tirek for an eternity would be something I might consider if it would end this conversation, and remember that I already spent a few months in Tartarus. Now, please, choose a crown." Scootaloo took a deep breath and closer her eyes. Twilight relaxed slightly, this could be the moment she finally got out of this room and back into the land of the decisive.
"Eeny, meeny, miney-" Scootaloo whispered.
"This one!" Twilight prodded the crown Scootaloo was currently pointing a hoof at with her hoof. Quick as a flash, literally in this case, as the crown was teleported onto her head. WIthout even stopping to breathe Twilight uncharacteristically bucked the door open, startling all on the other side, and walked towards Twist. "Luna, meet the new Princess of the Night. Twist you're with me. Six weeks Luna, and I'd buy some painkillers if I were you."
"Awesome!" Scootaloo whispered to herself as she watched as the image of a full moon appeared under the Lance on her flank. "I was hoping for the Night" Luna and Scootaloo both flinched from the agonised scream elicited by Twilight as she heard this. “Sorry?” Scootaloo added meekly.
"Come along Princess Scootaloo." Luna ordered as she walked towards the main door to the Canterlot Castle gardens. "We have much to do and not enough time to do it in. I also do not trust Twilight not to try and crush you right now."
"What?" Scootaloo asked as she raced to catch up to the Princess. Had she still been the young mare she had been a few days before she would have had to really push herself to keep up with Luna's brisk pace. Out of the corner of her eye Kuna could see that Scootaloo was already a few inches taller than the average mare. It wouldn’t be long before she herself started to lose her height, eventually she would be looking up to her student! "What did Twilight mean we have 'six weeks'? Where are we going? What we going to do?"
"You're going to raise the moon. We are going to the Lunar Solace. In six weeks the four of you girls will be crowned Princesses of Equestria and will have to rule. You must be ready."
"What?" Scootaloo squeaked. "How am I supposed to raise the night the first day on the job?! Is that different to raising the Moon? Does the night come with the Moon or do I do the Moon after the night? I haven't really used magic yet! I can levitate small objects but the Moon is pretty big. Isn’t it heavy?" Luna merely laughed and kept walking as Scootaloo got more and more frantic. Indeed since the sudden appearance of horns and, much to the euphoria of a certain orange ex-pegasus, a pair of large, powerful, fully-functional wings, the girls had had minimal time to practice their use. Twilight had taught them each, with the exception of a very smug Sweetie Belle, how to access their magic and channel it through their horn. They could all just about levitate objects an, conjure very simple things, but there was nothing elegant about their abilities. She led Scootaloo through a series of winding paths until they reached a pond. Scootaloo stopped, her mouth agape, when she saw it. The pond was in the shape of a crescent moon with waters that seemed to lightly glow a beautiful dark blue. Luna stood next to a marble slab in front of the pond in the same crescent moon shape, the one Luna and Scootaloo now shared on their flanks.
"Do I..?" she asked as she approached the slab. Luna nodded and waited for Scootaloo to firmly place her hooves in the 4 small grooves in the marble.
"Welcome to the Lunar Solace, Princess Scootaloo. This is where I first raised the moon and it is here I always found the task easiest. Here I painted the night's sky and here I learned to dreamwalk. It is a place that embodies the Night, your Night." The concept of the Night being her dominion was still incredibly alien to Scootaloo. She still hardly believed it. "Each Princess is not only representative of their dominion," Luna continued "they are are also its embodiment. You are the Night and the Night is you. Try to keep up, the test will be the rest of your life. Close your eyes and look within yourself. Find the Night." Scootaloo shut her eyes as instructed.
"Nothing's happened." She frowned. "I've shut my eyes and it's dark. This seems pretty standard. What am I supposed to be seeing here?" Scootaloo tensed as within the darkness of her mind the Lunar Solace began to appear. Even without the surroundings, the trees and grass and Luna standing beside her, Scootaloo knew that it was the Lunar Solace. "I can see the Lunar Solace."
"Brilliant Princess Scootaloo. Now look into the Lunar Solace. What do you see?"
"I don't see anything. It's just dark."
"That is because you must create the Night. Do not worry, will not be for some time yet. Look deeper into the Lunar Solace." Within her mind Scootaloo leaned forward and look deeply into the calm waters. She had been wrong when she had said all she could see was darkness. Deep below the surface was a infinitely faint white light. She must have reacted physically without noticing as Luna began to continue. "It's the Moon. While you will create the Night the Moon is not your creation. Neither is it mine any more than the Sun is Celestia's creation. It’s older than everything that you can ever understand. Use your magic, take hold of it."
Scootaloo focused on the image as hard as she couldn, shutting her eyes even tighter in concentration. She had to release her magic during the first attempt because she underestimated the depth of the pond, her second attempt failed because she underestimated the size of her target. Finally on her third attempt she felt her magic close around the Moon deep below the waters. "Open your eyes." Luna commanded. When Scootaloo did so she was so surprised that her horn was still alight with magic that she almost released it.
"How?" She asked. "How am I holding onto the Moon when it was only in my mind?" Again Luna laughed at the young Princess.
"What you saw was not solely in your mind. The Lunar Solace serves as a means to manipulate the Night, it is your gate to it. When Twilight raised the Moon with my magic she merely pulled it from the sky. What you do is different, more refined, more beautiful. It is unique to the Princess of the Night. Do you understand?" Scootaloo nodded, something about the object she held in her magic was different. It told her that the Moon was special. She could feel a power emanating from it and flowing into her with every beat of her heart. She realised what Luna meant, to Twilight the moon had been an object to move. To Scootaloo it was more, it was an extension of her very soul in the sky, and yet it was also more. It was power and it was life. "Now look across the Solace."
Across the way, where Luna pointed with a hoof, stood a white pagoda covered with golden filigree. Within stood Celestia and Applebloom. The Princess' horn was lit with the orange light of her magic, just as Scootaloo's horn glowed purple. The student and their teachers smiled at each other across the way before Luna and Celestia nodded to each other and turned to their charge. "Now Scootaloo, raise the Moon. Let it guide you, not the other way around. It knows where it must lie and it will help you."
As she began to use her magic to pull the Moon she did, as Luna had said, feel an occasional pull to bring it onto its usual trajectory. Something the beginner alicorn with her shaky telekinesis was very thankful for. Hitting Sweetie with a book was funny, hitting Stalliongrad with the Moon was just awkward. Scootaloo looked across again and saw Applebloom shared her look of anxiety. Both ponies were shaking and sweating as the exertion and concentration their respective tasks demanded began to take its toll. Slowly but surely the Moon and Sun passed each other, eventually the Sun disappeared below the horizon and the moon reached its place at the top of the sky. Panting, Scootaloo and Applebloom collapsed at the exact same moment. They looked over to each other with a huge grin painted on each of their faces. Their muscles burned with exhaustion but up in the sky there sat the Moon aglow.
"Fantastic, Princess Scootaloo. I promise you the task will only become easier with time. Just like any muscle your magic will grow stronger. Take a moment to look up at what you have done. Be proud of yourself, you are one of three ponies to have done what you just did." Scootaloo shuddered before she looked up, remembering the constant dusk during the Tyranny. The ponies had been told that she had given them a level of light that allowed for maximum efficiency. Scootaloo knew the truth. The Queen simply did not care about the dangers to all plant and animal life caused by her negligence. Scootaloo felt a calm she had never experienced before when she gazed upon the Moon, the Moon she lifted into the sky. Her Moon. Suddenly Luna's voice brought Scootaloo back down to Equestria.
"Now follow me, Princess Scootaloo. There is a much more we must do tonight." Once again Luna began briskly walking away. "We shall go to the Tower of the Moon for the next part of tonight's tuition."
"Really?" Scootaloo asked. "Isn't it time we slept?"
"Princess Scootaloo, you are Princess of the Night. Are you tired?" She shook her head. Now that she thought about it she was nowhere near as tired as she should have been. "The Night invigorates you as the Day shall Princess Applebloom. When the Moon has risen you are at the height of your power. Do not waste that time with sleep, save that for the day."
As they re-entered the palace and walked down the corridor leading to the Towers of the Sun and Moon Scootaloo's blood ran cold when she heard the sound that always gave her a chill.
"Why are they crying?" She asked quietly," Applebloom, Sweetie and Twist. Why are they so upset?" Luna sighed.
"Because," she explained, "my sisters are explaining what I am about to. It is especially hard for poor Princess Applebloom." Neither of them said any more until they had reached the apartments at the top of the Tower of the Moon. "Welcome to your new home, Princess Scootaloo," Luna announced in a neutral tone. Her eyes betrayed the sadness she felt as she said it. "As Princess of the Night here you shall live. Feel free to decorate it as you wish."
"I won't," Scootaloo whispered. "It's magical as it is." She looked up at the black ceiling with the moon glowing softly in the centre.
"Even during the daytime your Night shall be here as you design it. Now please make yourself comfortable. You have heard how your fellows reacted to what I am about to explain." Scootaloo tried to settle herself on the sofa in front of where Luna stood but she couldn’t calm herself. Not after hearing how her friends handled this 'lesson'. "You are not just the Princess of the Night. You are its embodiment. As the Night, the Day, Love and Magic are permanent so shall you and the other princesses be. You shall last as Celestia and I have, as Twilight and Cadence would have. This is not a gift, nor is it a curse. It is merely a fact, and there are consequences to it."
"Like what?" Scootaloo asked, drinking up Luna's every word.
"You are gifted with the chance to meet the greatest and brightest of Equestria so long as the Night rises and falls, the high and the low, but also cursed to see all of them live and pass on. You will outlive all. Over the centuries you will see family, favourites and friends wither and die and you will be helpless to stop it." Immediately Scootaloo understood why Applebloom, with her prolific and incredibly tightly knit family, had wailed as if she were in pain. Scootaloo felt the tears begin to roll down her cheeks, one for each pony she realised she would see die. "Applebloom, Sweetie Belle and Twist are your sisters now. They are your family. Go to the gardens, Scootaloo. Meet them as sisters."
Tears still streaming down her face Scootaloo raced out of the tower and into the gardens where she saw her friends. The four girls enveloped each other in the tightest hug. It seemed to last forever. Although none of them said a word they all knew what the hug meant. They all knew that their mentors were right. They were sisters now, the only family and constants in their lives, and none of them would ever change that.
"Nice job on the Sun, Applebloom." Scootaloo said into Twist's increasingly tear-soaked mane. She heard a choked laugh.
"Nice job on the Moon. Sky's a little dull though." Applebloom choked through tears of her own.
"Hey!" Scootaloo said, jerking her head away from the hug. "It's not easy you know. This is the first day I've been on the job." The quartet broke the hug and Applebloom bopped Scootaloo playfully on the nose before sniffing.
"I was just messing with you, Scoots. It's actually kinda nice seeing the moon after two years of dusk."
"Here here!" Twist agreed. She wiped her eyes before closing them for a second and made a straining noise. Her horn began to glow pink and her purple glasses began to shake violently before four loud popping noises made the girls jump. "Peppermint twist anypony?" The Princess of Magic asked, holding four sticks of the candy in her magic. Twist frowned as her friends collapsed into laughter. “Rude.” She remarked with a smile before popping a twist into her mouth.
Author's Note
This is something I wrote up ages ago, when the Tirek episode was new and fresh, and I never got around to uploading it. There's more if people are interested but I thought I would test the waters with this chapter. Enjoy!
"I don't get it. I'll never get it!" Sweetie Belle sighed as yet another Crystal Empire couple walked away from each other in disgust. Soup dripped from the crystal filaments of a stallion’s hair.
"Don't you worry Sweetie. You'll get the hang of it I promise. You've got a strong heart. You know what it is that you're looking for. Once you have it just will it out through your horn." Cadance wrapped a wing around the young mare who was already almost her size. Cadance didn't know if she was shrinking or Sweetie was growing. Judging from the height of those around them it was both. "Right let's find somepony else and try it again." Cadance led Sweetie down another series of winding sidestreets before yet another cafe was in view.
"You ponies sure do have a lot of cafes don't you?" Sweetie noticed. Cadance pondered this for a moment.
"We do, I wonder why. I've never actually realised how many are here before. It’s like Prance, or Pony-Vienna. Anyway, it doesn't matter why there are so many so long as they're useful to us. Argument 12 o'clock." Sweetie Belle instantly scanned the crowd and saw the couple.
"They're glowing!" She said excitedly. No matter how many times it happened she still got a little rush every time she saw the dark blue aura coming off of a quarreling couple. While it was unfortunate for the couple it did a good job of making Sweetie Belle feel needed.
"Remember:Find the magic and remind them, horn. Got it?"
"Got it." Sweetie Belle closed her eyes and activated her sixth sense, the whole world seemed to slow almost to a standstill and went dark. The silence of this black world was almost deafening. She could no longer see coffees or tables or the buildings all around but she saw the glowing forms of the ponies around her. She ignored the pale pinks and the light blues. She ignored the dazzlingly bright pink of the pegasus ex-alicorn standing beside her. All her focus was on the couple in front of her, the ones with the dark blue aura. The ones she was here for. Red Shift and Neutron Flow, instantly their names appeared in her mind. She just knew. Red was angry at Neutron because he had disagreed with her thesis in a paper she recently wrote. The dispute went further though, she could see that as well. Although neither of them realised it both of them felt that the other was smarter than them and that they were inadequate, that they had to prove themselves worthy by being superior. Sweetie closed her eyes a little tight, she had to find the point they fell in love, the moment they realised that they would never be apart. The second where inadequacies weren’t even a thought.
"I don't care what he has a degree in, he's not getting in here right now! Buck the schedule, you certainly did!" The irate mare told the assistant as she jabbed him the chest with a hoof. "He could be my supervisor's supervisor's supervisor for all I care. It could be Celestia herself, Reddy said he needed to use the Crystal-Magic-Concentrator and he's gonna use it. We've spent 18 months on the waiting list and your boss just bowled up today." Two burly ponies in ill fitting lab coats walked in to join the now quivering assistant. It was doubtful that they actually had doctorates in chemistry with those cutie marks. Nevertheless Neutron Flow spread her wings and blocked the way. "Back off. Don't make me hurt myself trying to stop you because that's what you'll have to live with if you hope to get in."
"Newt it's fine." A voice chimed from afar. Everypony turned to see the red unicorn emerge from the next room. A pair of cracked goggles which looked like the compound eye of an insect covered his eyes and his horn was covered in soot but in the orange aura of his magic he held something close to him. "I'm done." Neutron flow was incredulous and quickly wheeled around to face her coltfriend, whacking the assistant in the face with her still unfurled grey wings in the process.
"What do you mean you're done?! We have half an hour left in this place, there's no way we're leaving. Not after all I've had to put up with from these guys!" Instead of replying he just smiled and floated over the object he was holding so close.
That was it! Now all Sweetie had to do was channel it into her horn. She had gotten to this stage before but she never managed it. Something always went wrong. All she was able to do was leave a tiny suggestion, a glimmer of a thought, in a pony's mind. If she didn't get it perfect then it wouldn't work. She always showed them too much and knocked them out or the intention got lost and the wrong emotion just made things worse. She opened her eyes and nodded at Cadence who was smiling supportively.
Cadence looked on as the heart slowly formed at the tip of Sweetie Belle's horn just as it used to for her, it split into halves and slowly made its way over to the couple. Unable to help it Cadence leaned forward and held her breath in anticipation and hope. The moment the two halves of the heart joined together the two ponies stopped and looked at the small crystal flower that had fallen onto the floor while they were arguing. In that instant both their faces softened as Red Shift lifted the flower with the tiny red carving of what only he and Neutron Flow knew was a newt and the chip in one of the petals from the assistant throwing his clipboard at Neutron Flow in frustration. He carefully placed it in her mane and took a deep breath.
"I'm so sorry." They said in unison. They both paused, giving the other a chance to speak before again talking at the exact same time. "It's just sometimes I feel I'm not smart enough for you. Me? You're the one with a PhD in a subject I can't hope to understand!" Suddenly they both stopped for a moment. He blinked. She blinked. Cadence started to change colour from oxygen deprivation.
"Well with that out in the open I'm sure we can sort this out. I'd be happy to go over some stuff with you. Maybe you might be able to see something I don't," Red Shift said with a smile, "it'll be interesting getting an engineer's input on this."
"I'd love to do that. But I don't think you'd be interested in the basic stuff that I do."
"OH COME ON!!" Cadence yelled from her and Sweetie's hiding spot. Sweetie quickly threw up the image of an empty alleyway until everypony in the cafe had stopped searching for the mysterious screaming mare. The screaming mare in question looked at Sweetie apologetically with a hoof shoved into her mouth. Neutron Flow merely shrugged it off and turned back to Red Shift.
"But I'm happy to show you some stuff just in case, if you'd wanna see it that is." Red Shift beamed at her.
"I'd love to. First we should go to that little place o-" Red Shift stopped what he was saying as he and the other ponies in the cafe turned to looked at whom they were sure was a pair of princesses as they suddenly appeared in the alleyway, hugging each other excitedly. Both of them slowly quietened down as they realised that Sweetie Belle had dropped the image hiding them in her excitement. There was a squeal and a flash of pale green light as the pair teleported away. Neutron Flow turned back to see her husband looking just as confused as she and everypony else was. "Was that Princess Sweetie Belle and Princess Cadence?" He asked her, taking the words right out of her mouth.
After a couple more successful reconciliations and the unexpected arrival of Shining Armor, Sweetie Belle found herself on her own. She loved her lessons with Cadance, relished every chance to improve her magic and, although she would never tell her, Sweetie finally understood Scootaloo's fascination with flight. Still, Sweetie always looked forward to when her lessons were over, to the times she could just explore the Crystal Empire and meet ponies. Everypony bowing when she passed, that was still new, and being taller than everypony was very strange as she was barely no longer a filly. Everypony was friendly to her, although she was sure that the purple studded crown on her head had something to do with that.
Sweetie walked for about twenty minutes until she reached her bench. It was probably her favourite place in the city. A simple bench made of an almost white crystal with purple handrails either side. It reminded her of Rarity. It was no coincidence, however, that the bench was made in the same colours as her sister's coat and mane. Six benches, each designed in homage of Rarity and her friends, circled the statue in the clearing which itself lay in the very centre of The Ruby Park. Crystal effigies of the bearers of the Elements of Harmony in formation towered over Sweetie, thankfully the sculptor who made The Glorious Elements wasn't a cubist like the one who made Great and Honorable Spike the Brave and Glorious near the castle, so the the likeness of the statue to their subject matter was surprisingly close. Sweetie Belle sighed.
"Always the hero, Rarity. Never the Princess" Sweetie said to nopony in particular, which was easy as there wasn't usually anypony this far into Ruby Park.
"Who are you talking to?" The little voice startled Sweetie so much that she fell off of her bench far less gracefully than she would have wanted. This made the voice giggle and it made Sweetie rub her now sore back with a wing. Sweetie looked for the source of the voice and immediately saw the little brown earthpony. "Hello." The filly waved at her.
"Hello" Sweetie replied in a crumpled heap.
"Are you comfy there?" The filly giggled again as Sweetie straightened herself and sat back down. "Can I sit with you?" Sweetie nodded and raised a wing for the filly to sit under. The little pony almost flew under Sweetie's wing at such speed that she had to stop herself checking to make sure it wasn’t a pegasus under her arm. The filly looked up at her. "Are you a Princess?" She asked.
"I don't know." Sweetie winked at her. "Why do you think I'm a princess?"
"Well you've got a crown on and you've got wings and you've got a horn. Oh you're really tall too, even taller than my daddy and he's really tall."
"Is he?"
"Mmm hmm. You're really pretty too and princesses are pretty." Sweetie smiled wider than she had in a long time as she listened to the filly.
"Well I must be a princess then. My name's Sweetie Belle. What's yours?"
"Oasis Sands." She said with a grin while trying to get her light green mane out of her eyes. "Thank you Princess." She said when Sweetie moved it with her magic.
"You can call me Sweetie, Oasis Sands."
"Then you can call me Oasis, Princess. Uh, Princess Sweetie! My daddy told me all about this statue, do you know anything about it?"
"Why don't you tell me Oasis?"
"Well these ponies are called the Elements of Harmony and they're heroes. One of them even became a princess!"
"Wow! Which one was that Oasis?"
"That one in the middle, the purple one." Oasis pointed at Twilight at the centre of the formation. "She's not my favourite one though. That's my favourite one. Her name is Rarity." Sweetie laughed.
"She's my favourite too. Why is she your favourite Oasis?"
"Well she's the prettiest one and Mrs Numbertoo, she's my teacher, says that she likes fashion, do you know if she likes fashion?" Sweetie nodded. "Well people that like fashion aren't usually good at fighting and being heroes and saving people because they have a different job. They do other things but not fighting. Rarity does both though because she's a real hero. She beat Nightmare Moon and Discord and Queen Crisliss,"
"Chryssalis," Sweetie corrected. Oasis just kept going without taking a breath.
"Chryssalis and they even beat King Sombra. He's really really mean and he took over the Crystal Empire which is really bad because it's so nice here and he kept it all to himself for a really really long time."
"Breathe ,Oasis!" Sweetie had begun to worry about how Oasis appeared to be turning blue. Finally the filly was done and started gulping up huge lungfuls of air. "What are you doing around here anyway? I don't see many equestrian earth ponies in the Crystal Empire."
"We're from Manehattan really, not the Crystal Empire. I'm here on vacation with my mommy." Suddenly the filly's smile vanished and her eyes widened. She turned a little pale. "Mommy!" She squealed. Tears began to well up in her eyes. "I don't know where Mommy is. I was with her and she told me not to wander off and then I wandered off and now I don't know where she'll be." Immediately Sweetie leapt to her hooves and dropped Oasis onto her back with her magic.
"What does your mommy look like?" She asked in a quiet, calm voice.
Sweetie just was just about able to make out "red" and "unicorn" from amongst the filly's sobbing.
"Hold on tight, Oasis, let's go find your mommy." Sweetie leapt up into the sky and shut her eyes. She focused on Oasis and smiled as the filly, who had her eyes shut even more tightly than Sweetie did, began to glow a light yellow. Now all she had to do was find the connection. She scanned The Ruby Park from above until she saw a flash of the same pale yellow. She opened her eyes, grinned, and swooped down. Sure enough there was a very worried looking red unicorn ahead. "Is that her, Oasis?" Sweetie whispered.
"Mommy!" The filly yelled in reply, far too close to Sweetie's ears for comfort. The unicorn spun around and grabbed the filly mid leap off of Sweetie's head and pulled her into a hug. "I'm sorry Mommy, I just wanted to explore, I didn't think how far I'd gone and then I got scared." The mare whispered to Oasis for a minute as she stopped crying. "And this," Oasis ran over and pulled Sweetie Belle over to her mother. The red mare's jaw practically dropped as she looked up at the radiant alicorn Oasis was dragging over.
"Sweet Celestia." The mare muttered. Sweetie Belle giggled.
"No, not quite. Princess Sweetie Belle. You've got a very clever little girl there Mrs Sand."
“A-bub-bub-Pri-Princess.” Sandy Sand said, apparently convinced that she was saying real words. While Sweetie was happy to let the mare believe this a little brown filly clearly had other ideas.
"Mommy you've broken." Oasis told her mother as she prodded her in the cheek with her hoof, Sweetie was surprised at how quickly the filly had recovered from her tears. The mare blushed about as well as you can when you're already red all over and quickly lifted Oasis onto her back in her magic. "G'bye Princess. I hope I get to see you again soon." Sweetie waved to the little filly as she was carried away by her mother before walking the other way down the path under the ruby trees. As she made her way back to the palace she started to think about what Oasis had said. This time she had a quick look around before she started talking to herself.
"She was right." She muttered. "Rarity is a hero, they all are. Tartarus, even Spike's a hero. What have I done that's special? I sang a song to a bully. Real heroic Sweetie Belle." Seeing the north exit to the park Sweetie quickly pushed the thoughts out of her mind and smiled. "if you can't be a hero, Sweetie Belle, be a princess."
