Playing the Heart's Strings

Twilight looked around the table after she had finally composed the letter and Spike had sent it away. They were all just sitting in silence.

The knock resounded through the library’s thick wooden door. All the heads around the table turned back simultaneously to look over there. Then they noticed the silhouettes of ponies pushing against the windows. The knock was louder this time.

“Miss Sparkle, it’s me, Mayor Mare. We need to talk.”

The three earth ponies rejoined the table and all sitting around it looked at each other and then at Twilight. The rumour of ponies outside grew louder as time passed. Finally Twilight left her chair and headed to the door. Without opening it she answered.

“Very well, Mayor, we’ll talk, but only you can enter here. The rest of the crowd will have to wait outside,” said Twilight with a calm, but authoritative voice, fixing her eyes in the wooden door separating them from the outside. The mayor’s voice reverberated among the loud talking of the ponies outside, of which barely a thing could be understood.

“As you wish, Miss Sparkle. I’ll go inside alone. Please let me in,” answered the Mayor, in which surely the politician thought was her best conciliatory tone, but Twilight couldn’t help but roll her eyes at the obvious two layered discourse of the older mare. Nevertheless she opened the door to let the Mayor in.

The diplomatic earth pony trotted quickly inside, her hooves clashing with the wooden floor of the library. She looked to the table and upon catching sight of Albert, her expression changed briefly to a panicked one, which wasn’t lost on anyone, despite her striving to regain composure almost immediately. She fiddled with her glasses for a while, avoiding eye contact with Twilight, who stood beside her, or anyone else, before finally lifting her gaze, directing it to the table, still avoiding the sight of the human sitting in there.

“The citizens are getting restless, you know? You can hear them outside.” Her voice had grown quieter, while she turned her gaze to Twilight, her deep blue eyes looking into Twilight’s with a tired expression.

“With regards to this gentlecolt here... well, the town has been quite happy to receive a new face, especially one that sparks the curiosity of pretty much everyone in town. He has been well received, hasn’t he?  And the incidents that happened up until this point were easily ignored by everypony. But with this incident of the school, well... Most have been asking for the young colt to be taken away.”

The general atmosphere in the inside of the Library had turned as cold as the windy night outside. Applejack and Rainbow Dash rose from the table, their eyes shining with irritation.  “Now you wait a second here!” called both mares in unison, approaching the pair.

Fluttershy looked worried in Albert’s direction, Bon Bon doing the same, both in silence. Rarity shivered. Pinkie, Spike and Albert simply looked to where Twilight and the Mayor were standing.

“They don’t have any tangible proof,” said Twilight simply, matter-of-factly. The earth pony beside her glanced at her and at the two mares that had just arrived by their side.

“Miss Sparkle, this would be too much of a coincidence, don’t you think?”  She took off her glasses and wiped them distractedly. “Incidents like this don’t occur just ‘because’. Usually we have one or another reckless pegasus to thank for that.” The brief look the Mayor gave to Dash made very clear her implication.

“Hey! Derpy and me have worked hard to repair that, and it hasn’t happened but once ever since!” replied the angry, chromatic pegasus, almost ready to jump into the politician mare. The mayor retreated a couple of steps, but did not flinch or change expression.

“There’s no problem in it, Miss Dash. It’s been easily corrected and there are funds for the occasional eventuality such as that.”

“Then what’s the problem, Mayor? Y’all can’t simply look fer a solution ta all this?” asked Applejack loudly.

“But Miss Applejack, think about it. We can’t file this as an accident or unfortunate event. We can’t pinpoint it to a fail in the structure of the school or a worn out element of the building. Mr. Lace is very thorough in his inspection of the school premises and always fixes what he can or reports what parts he needs help with. It stood properly. A building doesn’t fall just ‘because’. And the ponies have been joining dots with the recent incidents around the town and all has pointed to him.”

The mayor still pointedly avoided meeting Albert’s direct gaze, focusing on the ponies standing in front of her.

Several mouths opened to answer the Mayor’s words, but then everybody was distracted. Letters began to appear in the walls of the tree, magically etched in there by unicorns from outside.

Just give the human away.

Why do we have to endure this anymore?

Out with the problem. Aren’t you the ones who always solve everything?!

Are you going to wait until something irrecuperable happens?

There was a hard knock in the door, and the voices outside grew louder, emanating such words and other similar ones.

Twilight bit her lip. The letter that had been just sent wasn’t likely to receive an answer very soon. She addressed the Mayor again. “Even if you’re right, that’s not going to solve anything. What would you do?”

“What do you want me to do? We need to do something, to assure the town that we’re combating this, Miss Sparkle. It might even be nothing in the end.”

This time, the politician mare looked around the room meeting the gaze of all that were in the room, including - very briefly - the gaze of Albert, but she didn’t show any sign of reacting to it.

“I’m sure you know that he hasn’t been heard of in other towns or cities because the Ponyville folks were just too happy to keep a low profile about it. But what is going to happen now? Who’ll say that it hasn’t already leaked?  I am not threatening anything here, but the truth is that ponies won’t keep shut about this, and when he becomes nationwide news, what are you going to do?”

“This wasn’t bound to end up happily, was it?  Truth is, I expected it to do so, but if it’s not going to be, well..”

Albert rose from his chair, walking towards the discussing mares. Bon Bon tried to stop him, but couldn’t. The others couldn’t move from their chairs, as if an incredible gravity weighed them down.

“It’s better for everyone if this wraps over nicely, isn’t it?”

They all turned to look at him. He arrived to Twilight’s side and looked down to her.

“Don’t you think it’s best?”  She lifted her gaze to him, looking into his eyes.

“As a matter of fact, I don’t.” She shook her head vigorously.  He looked at her, dumbfounded.

“What...”

“Quiet, Albert. I need a minute here. Rarity, can you keep your grip on the door?”

“I’ll try, Twilight, but what...”

“Nevermind that now, just give me the time.”

Rarity covered the door of the Library with her magic, feeling the thumps that ponies were making against the door, which made her almost falter instantly, but she pressed on. Twilight closed her eyes and her horn began to radiate lavender light that grew shinier as time passed on. The Mayor looked at her. “Miss Twilight, what are you doing? Mis...”

She was cut short by the intense light that filled the room, covering all the ponies reunited there, Spike and Albert. She was forced to close her eyes and when the light subsumed and she could open them again, the Library was empty except for her. She heard the sound of the door opening and hurried hoofsteps rushing to her place.

“Mayor, what happened here!”

The nine touched floor in the middle of the Royal Hall in the Palace, illuminated by the moonlight coming through the windows, falling on the floors. Floors that were soon tainted by ponies, a dragon and a human throwing up on it. The mass of entangled bodies soon began to free themselves from each other.

“Urgh, the smell of acrid vomit and the feeling of it on my hooves. I need to clean myself as soon as possible!”

“Really?! That’s your problem?! How about being teleported miles across Equestria? Twilight, what’s this about?” yelled Rainbow at the top of her lungs, the acid taste in her throat irritating her even more.

“Quit yer yabblin’ over there and let everypony get free.”

Soon, with efforts, grunts, muffled curses and cries, Twilight, Fluttershy, Pinkie, Rarity, Dash, Spike, Applejack, Bon Bon and Albert stood in their own legs. Rainbow Dash did a double take

“You brought us to the Royal Palace, Twilight? And we just puked on the floor?”

“Uh, Rainbow, Ah think ‘s a mite more complicated...”

When they all recovered, they found themselves in the middle of Night Court, with Princess Luna, her Night Guards, and a line of petitioners looking at the recently arrived group with bulging eyes. Luna finally recovered, she hurriedly ordered her guards to take the petitioners away; these were too stunned to think clearly and found themselves out of the gates with the promise of an upcoming audience. Luna approached the group.

“It is not that I am not pleased to see you all. But what is owed to this interruption into the Royal Palace, Twilight Sparkle?” Luna’s eyes came to rest on Albert, who was just rising to his feet. “Is this the human my sister has talked about to me?”  She looked at the unkown vision of the creature in front of her, regarding it with interest. Albert felt the scrutiny of her gaze and was about to call out to her when she was snapped out of it by Applejack.

“Princess, y’all should come over here...”

Luna broke out of her trance and followed Applejack’s pointing. Twilight lay on the floor, unmoving, her eyes shut, her chest only barely moving. She trotted over to her, making the others open space among the tight circle they had created. She examined Twilight’s body and lowered her horn, touching the tip of Twilight’s. A crackle could be seen erupting from it. Luna lifted her head again.

“Guards, take Twilight Sparkle to the nearest available room and call one of the physicians of palace to attend her immediately!”

“Wait, Princess, is she fine?”

“Where are they carrying her?”

“Twilight!”

Luna soon lifted a hoof among the avalanche of cries and pleas from the ponies and others  surrounding her.

“Just a moment, everypony,” said Luna, calm but with deep seated authority flowing in her voice. They soon calmed and sat to listen to the night princess.

“Twilight Sparkle will be fine. She will need quite a good amount of rest, though. She exhausted absolutely every single ounce of her magic in transporting all of you here, a task simply beyond the capabilities of any normal unicorn, as you should know. She will need vitamins, and lots of repose, but in a couple of days she will be fine.”

They still didn’t seem very relaxed, but accepted her word.

“Once she has been checked by the physicians, I think we can pay her a visit. Still, you haven’t told me the reason for your visit.”

They all scrambled, trotting by her side, while one of the guards behind them scrubbed the floor with his nose upturned. They looked at each other and they all stepped back. Once again their gazes crossed. Applejack sighed.

“Alright, everypony. Ah’ll do it.”

Luna gazed intently upon her, while the farm mare walked near her and began relating the tale. Upon finishing, Luna nodded in understanding.

“I see the grave dilemma we have on our hooves... This shall be better discussed when Celestia is awoken and we’re all together. For now, I’ll suggest that all of you have a rest.”   She turned to look at Bon Bon. “I am sorry, but I do not think I recognize you. Could you introduce yourself?”

Bon Bon looked nervously at Luna. “My name’s Bon Bon, Princess. I’m simply a pastry maker of Ponyville who got involved in this somehow.”

Luna nodded again, pensively. “So, Bon Bon it is. I cannot help but feel that I’ve heard that name before somewhere, but I can’t put a hoof to it... It’ll come back to me for sure, for now follow me to your rooms.”

She guided all them to a succession of bedrooms in one of the corridors, at the end of which was resting Twilight, monitored by one of the doctors of palace. They all entered and sat around her bed, observing how she slept peacefully. After some time, they all decided to return to their respective rooms, but just when Albert was about to reach the handle of his door, he heard Luna’s voice behind him.

“Would you mind if we walked around and talked a little?”

“I guess not, Princess. Let’s go.”

She guided him through the darkened corridors of the palace leading to the throne room and outside, where the night winds blew.  Luna’s mane flowed freely, matching the night sky’s color with the shine of her stars.  They descended the stairs, making it to the bottom. Albert contemplated the streets of Canterlot, so busy and different compared to the ones in Ponyville. It reminded him of his own city, memories he had revisited, but not fully delved into while he was in the small town.

“How do you feel?” Luna’s voice, though clear, made it to him as if coming from the deepest of dreams. He looked at her, but she had her sight fixated in front of her, allegedly contemplating the same things he had seen until she spoke to him.  He once again looked to the front.

“This is far away for me. I ended up in a strange land full of creatures I can’t even grasp my mind around just yet. I’ve left people behind. People that come to my mind every day and night. And now... I have something inside me which is destroying all of this? What am I supposed to think? This would have been unfathomable just eight weeks ago...”

“Do you feel trapped inside yourself?” asked Luna, looking directly at him.

 He lifted a hand slowly to his face. He touched his cheek, feeling the skin. He discovered, or rather, finally appreciated its tact. He found that he had never gotten to do so in his lifetime on earth, taking everything for granted. He lifted his hand and passed it through his hair, as he had done countless times before, but this time he took note of the feeling his unruly black hair provided. Finally his eyes met Luna’s deep blue ones, that were looking at him with austerity.

“I guess I do. Everything is so surreal. Something that I could have never even suspected presents itself before me with such a pretense of normalcy. That which passes for normalcy around here, anyway.”

For the first time since his early days in Equestria, Albert fully meditated on what his coming to the land actually meant; what it entailed.  After spending some more time outside, he parted with the Princess of the Night, leaving for his bedroom.  But in the other rooms, only Rainbow Dash slept soundly the whole night; all the others were tossing around or thinking of different things, and for Albert it was no different. He always had a different memory playing just before falling in the clutches of sleep, and that night, the sound of Noelle’s voice cradling him into dreams...

When he opened his eyes it was still dark outside. There were no lights available and the room grew gloomy and enormous around him. He lifted the covers after infructuous attempts to go back to sleep and remembered he hadn’t brought the slippers Rarity had designed for him.  Nothing had been carried with them, so he would have to make do with the clothes he was wearing for the time being. He went to the door and opened it slowly, looking at both sides of an empty and cold corridor. He walked slowly until finally reaching the throne room, entering slowly.  The only ponies in the room were Luna, sitting in her regal chair and two guard ponies, standing below her in attending position. She turned to look at him.

“Dawn is almost upon us. I take it you haven’t slept well?”

“Not really, Princess...”

Luna left her chair, and walked straight to him. While normal ponies went around his waist, Luna almost saw eye to eye with him, with Celestia towering over him. The blue alicorn raised herself on her hind hooves and touched his forehead gently with the tip of her horn, which shone.

The stars and constellations flashed in front of his eyes. Countless bright spheres shone as he traversed outer space, each one sending a message straight to him. There were white stars, red stars, yellow stars. But among all of these, a certain blue star called his attention, almost winking to him. He pulled nearer and nearer to it until he was engulfed in its blinding gleam, finally breaking out of the illusion. He took in the normal sight of the palace, breathless.

“That’s... that is...”  Albert was speechless, looking directly at Luna, who only offered him a warm smile.

“The night sky is my canvas. And what is a canvas but a mirror in which the artist looks directly to the observer?”

“And you never show this to anypony?”

“Few ponies are available at this time. And the ones who are are as embedded in their own businesses as they are during day time. It matters not. I am already at peace with myself.”

She directed her gaze up, as if she could penetrate the ceiling with her sight. He elected to retreat and go back to bed, finally falling asleep, a blue shine welcoming him into dreams.