Playing the Heart's Strings

Twilight’s head ached as she opened her eyes once again, with everything spinning around her.

“Good morning, Twilight!” cried Spike’s voice. She turned around to see the small dragon smiling at her widely. She smiled as well and looked around, confirming that only her and Spike were around. She looked at him questioningly.

“Where are the girls, Spike?” She coughed, taking a hoof to her mouth. “Can you pass me a glass of water, please?”

“Sure, Twi.” He walked over to the night table, serving a cup of water and handing it to her. He sat back. “They went to write letters to home and friends, Celestia said she’ll send them personally. She’s been quite weird all this time, you know?”

Twilight finished downing the water, passing the glass back to Spike and feeling the cold going down her throat, which hurt her a little. She closed her eyes and gargled, opening them again to look at him.  “Like what, Spike?”

“Well, you couldn’t tell it normally. She’s a good hiding things that are passing through her head as always, but especially when she comes over here I can tell she’s being bothered by something. Luna also hides it, but she’s rather easier to read. I think they’re itching to talk about it, though.”

Twilight nodded, and tossed the covers off of her, making to leave the bed. “Then let’s not waste any more time; I’ve been lying in here quite enough, and besides, the Princess has to answer to me anyway. She put me to sleep when we were having a talk, can you believe that?!” But no sooner that she had her put her four hooves on the floor, her stomach rumbled with the strength of a minor quake. She blushed while Spike chuckled.

“I guess we ought to go and get some breakfast first.  Maybe we’ll find the girls along the way.”

“I’m with you, boss.”

They left Twilight’s room. Outside the corridor there was nopony to be found, not even a single guard, and so they took the straight path to the dining hall. Down there, Rainbow, Bon Bon and Pinkie were having breakfast. The pink mare waved happily and mumbled with her mouth full, making the other two -who were sitting with their backs facing them- turn around.

“Hey, Twi, you’re finally out of that boring room, cool. Come you two, grab a bite.”

“Good morning, Twilight. Did you rest well?” Behind her, Pinkie swallowed her food, jumping afterwards to get the attention of the lavender pony, encasing her in a strong hug.

“I’m so happy to see you, Twilight! I missed you, and Spike missed you, and we all missed you! “ Before Twilight could say anything or even grab a breath from the embrace, Pinkie somehow managed to add Spike, Rainbow and Bon Bon into the mix, pressing them until they almost ran out of oxygen. When she finally let go after all their muffled protests she smiled widely and went back to her seat.

“Well, what are you doing just standing there? Let’s EAT!” chirped the earth pony, stuffing herself again with a piece of bread. Twilight couldn’t help but smile at her friend’s antics as she sat down between Dash and Spike, with Bon Bon at the other side of the pegasus. She grabbed a piece of toast from a large plate nearby and added toast to it, taking a bite. After pouring herself some milk from a nearby jar and testing her magic with positive results she beamed.

“The others are still writing mail?”

“Well, Rarity is. She found the scrolls Princess Celestia gave us “so much beautiful” that she’s spent all this time trying different colors of ink and writing like a total egghead! Urgh!” Rainbow stuck her tongue out, rolling her eyes. “Fluttershy’s been with her. The rest of us scrawled quick notes; Celestia said we’d probably be back tomorrow. She wants Luna to be around when we have that talk it seems. As for Applejack, since she met the palace gardeners, she’s been hanging around with them. She said there were quite a lot of interesting flowers here; she’s probably thinking of planting some in the farm, since it’s it’s mostly cultivable products. Whew, that was long.”

Rainbow took a big chug out of her milk glass, with Twilight drinking a mere sip.

“I wonder what that could be,” mused the unicorn, finishing the first toast and picking up another. “Any news of Albert yet?”

“Nope, nothing!” answered Pinkie, looking right into Twilight’s eyes for a second, so fast that the unicorn didn’t notice, absorbed as she was into her food, just like her draconic companion. Next to Dash, Bon Bon took a dainty bite out of a muffin.

“I miss Ponyville,” said simply the cream colored mare. “We’ve been several days here now. I wonder how things are going up over there...”  She cast a glance over to Twilight, while all the others ceased in their eating to look at her.

Rainbow dropped her piece into the plate and her eyes blurred a little, Pinkie lost her bounciness and Spike played with his food. Twilight looked around and pushed her plate away, walking over to the door.

“I’m going to see the Princess.”  A chromatic blur passed by her side and she almost collided with Rainbow Dash standing in front of her.

“Let’s go, I’m getting bored here, you know?”

Twilight and Dash walked over to the Throne Room. The Princess sat there with the accustomed guard at her feet. It was too early for audiences, so she was reviewing some documents. Twilight walked slowly up to the bottom of the stairs, and rised a hoof to her mouth, coughing quietly.

“Excuse me, Princess?”

The royal mare lifted her face from the papers she was reading and looked at the two ponies below. She put the parchments to one side and descended, standing next to them.

“Good morning, Twilight, Rainbow Dash. Did you sleep well, my student?”

“You should know, you sent me to sleep rather than talk with me...”  Twilight avoided her mentor’s eyes, fixing her gaze at a point in the wall behind Celestia.

“What?! Sent you to sleep? Why did you do that, Princess?” asked Dash loudly.

“And how did you do it? I didn’t even see your horn flaring up?” followed Twilight, turning back to look at her. Celestia returned the gaze. She finally spoke up.

“We shall discuss all of that later, if it’s all good with you, Twilight.”

“But Princess! What is it that you are keeping so covered up? I’m your student! Haven’t we talked about many things? What it is this all?”  Twilight lashed out in a verbose barrage that even caused Rainbow Dash to fell silent, as the unicorn threw herself before Celestia with tearful eyes. The royal princess simply shook her head and her horn light up.

“I’m sorry, Twilight. We’ll disclose everything tonight, I promise you,” said the princess, while discharging her magic. Twilight and Rainbow found themselves in front of the throne room, which wouldn’t bulge or open.  Twilight finally stopped, falling to her haunches, simply looking at the door.

“I don’t understand, Rainbow Dash. I don’t understand anything of it.”

“You’re the egghead, Twilight. If you don’t understand I couldn’t even hope to grasp my mind around it. Come on, let’s get outta here; the Princess better speak tonight or I’ll speak my mind definitely, to whoever I have to.”

Rainbow held Twilight as they walked slowly across the corridor. They came back to Twilight’s room. The unicorn trotted to the bed and went to lay on top of it, while the pegasus opened the window, letting the air come in and looking out to the horizon. The current that blew from outside shuffled Twilight’s mane and made her shiver with cold, despite there being few clouds in the blue sky.

 “Things have just gotten weirder since he turned up here, Dash.”

“Uhum.” The chromatic mare nodded absent mindedly, still looking out of the window, when there was a knock on the door. Rarity’s voice passed through.

“Twilight, darling, are you in there?”

“Yes, Rarity, come on in,” answered Twilight,without too much enthusiasm. The door opened and after the white unicorn came inside Spike, Bon Bon, Fluttershy and Pinkie, who shut the door behind her. Now the whole group was reunited, except for Applejack.

“Hello, Twilight, are you feeling better?”  Fluttershy approached her, looking worried. She put her front hooves in the bed. Twilight smiled bitterly.

“I think I’m fine, Fluttershy, but I’d like to get this all over with.”

The garden of Canterlot Castle was a circle shaped structure as big as the labyrinth that lay near. Many different flowers were grown in it, creating beautiful views for those who walked around. A team of skilled gardeners were volunteers to keep the garden in proper shaper. Princess Celestia herself would sometimes give them a helping hoof.

A certain golden haired earth pony mare walked around them, looking at all the different kinds of flowers she had been learning about during the last few days.  She headed towards a certain spot where a bed full of red roses was grown. She lowered her head to take a look at the stunning view. Its deep crimson hue brought her memories of her siblings, as always. She soon broke apart, pushing aside the heaviness of her feelings as best as she could, though the smell of ripe apples ready for harvest didn’t stop following her. She turned to the left, finding herself in another known alley of the garden. She was greeted by a bed of lavenders, emanating a deep, nice aroma. She trotted over to the bushes and sniffed them.

The captivating scent filled Applejack’s nostrils as she smelt the small purple flower. The bush she was sticking her head into had a whole set of those flowers, all emanating the same aroma, one as she never had smelt in Ponyville, though admittedly, the farm mare was not one to fuss over flowers normally. It brought to her mind the image of a certain pony she had recently met.

“And here she is, the mare that lifted her eyebrow in skepticism when I told him my life was to tend to flower gardens,” laughed the pony trotting next to her, a pegasus stallion with a dusty blonde mane and a dark brown body, sporting a sunflower shaped cutie mark.

Applejack glared at him. “Y’all be bringin’ that up all the time, won’t ya?”

“Yep.” The pegasus grinned with honey colored eyes and Applejack turned her gaze away, feeling herself flush at the sight; the very same one he had thrown by her side when they first met She closed her eyes to regain the composure.

“Ah never see this that much over at the farm; with all the work on the harvest an’ all that, Ah never had put that much thought on it, but it is pretty... just as you.”

She turned her head when she heard a rustling sound and was faced with him carrying one of the flowers by the stem and reaching over to put it in her hair.  Applejack feared she would die from anemia or from her face exploding, as she felt the blood from her whole body rushing to her cheeks. She looked into his eyes and found the same sweet smile.

“Ah... Y’all...”  She could not make any coherent words come from her mouth and settled for turning around and running into the castle, leaving behind a very shocked pegasus.

“Very well, we shall see into that soon. Thank you for bringing your concern to us, an official response will be issued soon. I wish you a safe departure and journey.”

“You are too kind, Princess. May your reign be always prosper and well ventured.”

“You are too kind, gentle pony.”

“As are you, princess. I bid you farewell, then.”

“That concludes the audiences for today, Princess,” announced the guard heralding the audience line.

“Very well. Blue Quill, please file the reports for future revising. Day Court is now dismissed.”

Celestia walked out, to the castle door, and watched the sun coming down; it was still a couple hours away from setting down and so she went into the castle again.

“Hey, Applejack, is that a flower you’ve got stuck in your mane?!”  Rainbow Dash ran to the country mare’s side, with a big smirk on her face. “Must say you look stunning!” And with that, the chromatic mare went down in a stream of full force laughter.

“Consarnit, Ah forgot...”  She pulled the lavender out of her mane and ate it in one bite, swallowing it.

“I for one say that looked quite well in you, dear Applejack. I say the loss of that hat is one thing that greatly benefited you,” said Rarity, smiling. “If only you allowed for some grooming...”

“Yeah, y’all say. Well, this ain’t no fancy-schmancy occasion and my mane is perfectly well as it is. The first thing Ah’m doin’ when Ah get back is to pick up mah hat. That’s if them ruffians didn’t rip it to shreds...”  Applejack snorted, her green eyes almost reflecting the flames she was expelling inside. Rarity backed out.

“Fine, darling, do not get worked up like that; it’s not ladylike.”

“Did something happen, Applejack?” asked Twilight, looking at her. The earth pony returned the gaze, and swallowed a lump into her throat.

“Yes, something happened.  But … Ah don’t know...”

Rainbow stepped at her side that instant and gave a pat on her head, with a warm smile directed to her. “Aw, come on, you know you’re between friends. Out with it.”

All her friends surrounded her. Down her face slipped a bead of sweat.

“Well, ah suppose.  Ah like Wing Seed,” stated Applejack dryly.

They all let out a gasp, Rainbow Dash hit the air with her hoof while Rarity’s mouth dropped almost to the floor. The only one who didn’t share that reaction was Twilight, who stood there dumbfounded.

“Just who is that? What did I miss? Tell me, Applejack!”

“He... he’s one of the castle gardeners.  Ah met him three days ago. Ah know that’s nothing, but... but he had such a face.. And he began to talk to me about gardening and so many things... Ah had never known a pony outside the Apple family that had such a passion for it...”

Applejack blushed strongly while Twilight looked at her. The unicorn finally clasped her hooves together and jumped around, catching her friend in an embrace. “That’s so sweet, Applejack! And he gave you that flower? What did you say to him? What did you say? Ohh, this is just like in those romantic novels I’ve borrowed for Fluttershy and Rarity... Or like Lyra’s music...”  Twilight’s face became dreamy as she remembered her lover’s gifts; the door was slammed strongly by a small dragon after leaving, but no one paid any attention to him as they were all hanging on the words being said. Even Rainbow Dash, though she would have passed it off as listening to her friend.

Applejack chuckled nervously.  “Thing is... Ah kinda ran away from him.”

The emotive atmosphere built in the room came to a shocking halt.

“What?!” Six voices rebounded around the room, making all the ponies cover their ears and wince.

A knock at the door followed it, and an irritated Dash went to open the door.

“What is it?! We’re in the middle of something here!”

The royal guard standing on the other side of the room answered with a monotone voice.

“The Princesses require your presence in the Throne Room presently. They would like for you to go as soon as possible.”

Silence suddenly filled the room. Twilight went to met the guard. “Yes, we’ll go now.”