Foalsitting Follies

Chapters

Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 22
Epilogue
Chapter 1
Chapter 5
Chapter 21

Chapter 2

Overhead, the night sky was a velvet shroud festooned with glittering diamond sequins, and Spike liked to think that they were all part of his hoard. Yes, they were his, and Princess Luna was just keeping them safe for him. With his hoard safe and secure, Spike was free to think about other things, such as the nature of his relationships with the ponies all around him.

The little dragon thought about his relationship with Corbie and other little foals. This relationship lacked complication and there was a straightforwardness that he liked, even appreciated. With adults however, things weren’t so straightforward; adults expected things from him, demanding a level of sophistication as Twilight Sparkle’s Number One Assistant. Or, sometimes, they just expected him to get out of the way.

For Spike, it was a somewhat confusing state of affairs, and there were times that he wasn’t quite sure of his place in the world. A stray, roaming firefly caught his attention and he watched it for a time as it bobbed about. A firefly had a much easier life, Spike reckoned. All that was expected from them was to flit about and shine your light in the world.

Being a dragon assistant to the Princess of Friendship was hard, especially when the Princess of Friendship was keeping secrets. Twilight had changed overnight, a profound change, and there were times now when she seemed like a different pony altogether. She had promised multiple times to give up an explanation, but so far, no explanation seemed forthcoming. She was busy and about to become even busier as a foalsitter. By Spike’s own reckoning, Twilight was a little too eager to walk in the shoes of Princess Cadance.

Very little could be done, other than trust her, and Spike did trust her.

The evening was the sort of lazy summer evening that ponies found ideal for lazing about. It was too warm to do much of anything, even at night, and the streets were almost empty. There were lights on though, shining through open windows, and the sound of music could be heard on the sultry summer breeze. It was humid, hot and sticky, all the fault of Froggy Bottom Bogg. It was ice cream weather—at least by pony standards—not that Spike needed an excuse to pig out on sweet, cold treats.

Not far from Twilight’s castle, the bright air raid siren light blinked three times in rapid succession, indicating that the system was armed and ready to go. It did that on the hour, every hour, night and day, making it easy to tell time. Having the air raid siren be compromised or sabotaged would be disastrous, and Spike harboured a secret worry that the light would not blink when it was supposed to.

The stillness of the night was disrupted by a fast approaching creature, and Spike knew who it was from the speed at which it was travelling. It approached in a streak, passed in a blur, and then, when it was quite some distance away, it came back in full reverse. Spike heard a sharp inhale from Pinkie Pie, and knew that the game was now ahoof.

Sly Pie paused, somehow suspended in mid-air, and the pink streak of his mane seemed to possess its own illumination in the night. He waved at both Twilight and Pinkie Pie, still somehow hanging in the air, and his usual cheeky, saucy, ne'er-do-well greeting broke the quietness of the night.

“Meep meep!”

Then, he was gone, just gone, and the wake of his passing tugged on both Pinkie Pie’s and Twilight’s manes, stretching them out to ridiculous lengths. Spike watched as all of this played out, just as he had watched this play out hundreds of times before. This was a common occurrence, this was routine, this was life in Ponyville.

“That Sly little Pie!” Pinkie Pie shouted, just as Spike knew that she would do.

A second later, Maud appeared, moving with terrific speed, and she called after her son in a calm deadpan devoid of heavy breathing, “Sly Pie, you come back here, it’s bathtime and then time for bed.” Maud made no effort to slow down and say ‘hello,’ and Spike didn’t blame her. He did remember to wave though, and Maud waved back.

“Hold up, Twilight, I promise I’ll be right back!” Pinkie Pie rose up into a bipedal stance, flexed her legs, smiled at Twilight, and then took off in a pink blur after her nephew. “Sly Pie, I’m gonna get you, Sucka!” As was typical, Pinkie took off in spectacular fashion, leaving divots in the grass as she bounded away after her physics defying nephew.

“You know who deserves to be an alicorn?” Spike remarked as he watched the family drama play out.

“Maud?” Twilight replied as she too, watched the merry chase.

“Yep.” Spike gave a little nod while speaking, and he flexed his claws.

“Aw, Sly isn’t a bad little guy. He’s just… excitable. I mean, at least he’s friendly.” Twilight looked down at Spike, and Spike looked up at her.

“You’re thinking that he’s better than Nuance,” Spike said to the mare beside him that was now prancing about on her hooves.

“Spike, I wasn’t going to say it!”

“You didn’t need to say it, Twilight, but you did think about it.”

“Well, I can’t help that.” Lifting her head, Twilight resumed stargazing and watching for Gosling’s return. “Poor little guy doesn’t even have one friend, it’s awful. He won’t let Corbie be his friend, even though she tries to be nice to him, and she even cries when he is punished. She can’t bear to see anything awful happen to her brother. I don’t understand it, Spike—he’s just so awful.”

“Well, if anypony can sort him out—”

“It’ll be me, the Princess of Friendship?” Twilight smiled and squinted in the direction of Canterlot.

“No, I was going to say we should have Dim scare him into submission.”

“Spike, that’s mean.”

“Twilight, I don’t hear a ‘you’re wrong’ in your voice.”

There was a sigh followed by Twilight repeating herself: “Spike, that’s mean.”

Spike was about to say something witty when he saw the sky carriage in the distance, pulled by a half-dozen royal chauffeurs of what was sure to be the nocturnal pegasus variety. He glanced up at Twilight, saw the eagerness on her face, and once more, he could not help but notice that there was something off about Twilight, something different. Spike, a creature that would live for an indeterminable age, noticed that Twilight appeared old, but he couldn’t say how or why. Clutching his tail, he gave it a squeeze, and hoped that Twilight would keep her word.

The carriage touched down in the grass and came to a rolling halt with a cacophony of sound. Metal clanged and clattered, wood creaked, and brakes squeaked. Twilight watched it all, her ears twitching, and she lifted her wings from her sides so that she might catch a cooling breeze. She was happy to see the foals, but she was even happier knowing that Seville Orange was on the carriage.

It would be difficult resisting the temptation to glomp him—she wanted to—but it seemed like such an awkward thing to do. Their relationship was now complicated. More than friends, but how much more was yet to be determined, and there was also the fact that she had not seen him in a long time—eons, in fact. She had passed the many long years knowing that he would be waiting for her at the end.

The door opened and Fox Populi stepped out, which wasn’t what Twilight expected at all. Fox was armed, as usual, and he was handsome enough to be interesting to look at, she guessed, but all Twilight could feel was disappointment upon seeing him. She watched as he looked about, turning his head from side to side, to and fro, doing his job.

Two other unicorns came out, also unexpected. Beans and Toast took up positions on the other side of the door, and they too, were watchful. They had grown into their position, and were now stern, formidable protectors, devoted servants, and indispensable company for Gosling. Every great thing that Gosling did, Beans and Toast were right there in his shadow, offering support and keeping Gosling organised.

Gosling stuck his head out, looked around, and then Twilight saw his gaze focus upon her. He stepped out, cautious, slow, and careful, and Twilight soon saw why. Clinging to his neck was a sleepy looking Corbie, who would no doubt be a little weepy about the fact that her daddy was leaving. The big stallion—now an alicorn—still moved and behaved like a pegasus, which is to say, he acted very much like a bird. A big, overprotective, somewhat predatory, over-paternal papa bird, and Twilight could not help but see the carriage as a birdhouse now.

She laughed, destroying the silence of the night.

“Outtathaway, you chucklehead!” Seville shouted as he gave Gosling’s backside a shove. “The only thing uglier than your mug is your backside, you stinky wingpitted wise-feather!”

Twilight was no longer alone in her laughter, as now the little dragon beside her was giggling while clutching his cheeks, and Corbie let out a sleepy sounding caw of amusement. For some, friendship was magic—for others, friendship was antagonistic. It wasn’t her place to judge, but Twilight did find their antics amusing.

Now standing in the grass, Gosling stepped aside, and Seville exited. Just behind Seville, Radiance followed, wearing saddlebags loaded down with stuff, and then, hesitating a bit, Nuance followed his much larger brother. Little Nuance seemed distressed about having to step in the grass, and the look on his face was almost one of horror while he looked down at his own hooves.

“Nuance, what is your problem?” Fox asked, sounding annoyed.

“There might be bugs,” the little unicorn replied, and he shook his head in horrified disgust. “Dirt… my hooves have touched common dirt! I need a bath at once!”

“Shut up.” Radiance turned his head about and gave his smaller sibling a stern, unyielding stare. “Just… shut up. It’s dirt, you dunderhead, and your food grows in it.”

“Yeeeeeeeuuuuuuuugh!” Nuance stuck his tongue out, gagged, and then continued to freak out about having to walk on the ground. He walked on the edges of his hooves, wobbling, and gagging in disgust.

Snorting once, Radiance gave his brother a hard shove with his left hind hoof, sending poor Nuance tumbling over into the dirt. Twilight scowled, not much caring for Radiance’s behaviour, and she watched as Beans lifted the knocked-over unicorn colt from the ground. Nuance began wailing at the top of his lungs, and Radiance now looked even more annoyed.

“That was mean, Rad,” Corbie said in an accusing tone to her brother.

“If he had been walking around flat-hooved, he might’ve kept his balance,” Radiance replied. “Serves him right, the little twit.”

Glancing at Gosling, she saw a pleading look on his face, a ‘please fix this’ look if ever there was one. With an annoyed snort, Beans dumped Nuance over Seville’s back, and the little unicorn colt went into full blown meltdown mode, having a tantrum. He beat and kicked his legs against Seville, who let out a patient, longsuffering sigh. Radiance looked up at his brother, snorted once, and then turned away, repulsed.

Corbie was the next to have a meltdown, and she began sobbing while clinging to her father’s neck. Her little wings flapped and her howling cries filled the night with a mournful sound. Corbie might have been small, but at the moment Twilight was almost certain the little filly was louder than the air raid siren. Things had gone horribly wrong and the situation seemed unsalvageable.

Twilight Sparkle felt the first glimmer of fear as she began to realise this might not be so simple after all. At least Radiance was quiet, for now. Spike was clutching her leg, and she could feel him trembling with fear. Spike had been with her during some terrible moments, the little dragon had faced some dark, dark moments with her, never leaving her side, but right now, she could tell, he was terrified.

“I’m sorry, Twilight,” Gosling said, offering up an apology. “Nuance will quiet down if you stick him in a hot tub… well, not too hot, of course. He has to be clean or he’ll freak out and have nosebleeds and panic attacks, and the nosebleeds make everything worse because, well, you know, he’s white and blood stains.”

“Right.” Twilight nodded.

“Corbie will stop crying if you put her head under your wing… if you don’t do that, she’ll just keep crying until she passes out. It’s a pegasus thing, Twilight, I hope you understand.” Gosling moved closer to Twilight, looking frazzled, out of sorts, and a bit sad. “You have nothing to worry about with Radiance, just don’t let him beat up his brother. Whatever you do, never, ever leave the two of them alone in a room with one another. There will be a fight, and you won’t like it.”

“Gotcha.” Again, Twilight nodded.

“Twilight, you’re the best, you know that, right?” Gosling winced while Corbie began beating on his broad neck with her little front hooves.

“Just say your goodbyes.” Twilight let out a laugh—a nervous laugh—and ignored how Spike’s claws were digging into her leg. “Everything will be fine, fine I tell you. I run a school, I think I can look after the Royal Brood for a while.”

“I DON’T WANT MY DADDY TO GO!” Corbie screeched, and every ear present twitched with pain. “I’M NOT GONNA SAY GOODBYE! NOOOOOOOOO!”

Taking a deep breath, Twilight Sparkle called upon her special reserves of patience…

Author's Note

An edited version of this might appear tomorrow morning. Maybe. Here's a somewhat raw copy for tonight, enjoy!

Chapter 3

Twilight Sparkle armored herself with a tough smirk and a schoolmarm’s stern, hardened demeanour. It came natural now, like second nature, even after her long sojourn. She could be a foalsitter… or a nanny… or even a governess, she was sure of it. The Royal Brood wasn’t so scary. Holding her head high, she watched as Spike returned alone, after being sent to fetch Starlight Glimmer.

In his claws, he clutched a note, which he passed to her.

Unfolding it, she held it aloft in her magic, and read its words aloud, “Sorry, had to help with the preparations for the Crystal Cotillion in the Crystal Empire. If you don’t believe that, I ran out of coffee! My wagon wheel broke! I didn’t have the bits for train fare! I lost my gown at the cleaners! I locked my keys in my saddlebags! Sunburst came in from out of town! Somepony stole my wagon! Sumac and Vinyl caused another earthquake! A terrible flood! Locusts! IT WASN’T MY FAULT, I SWEAR TO CELESTIA!”

With her lip curling back into a snarl, Twilight crumpled up the note, set it ablaze, allowed it to burn, and her eyes narrowed into dangerous looking slits. “I have been betrayed by mine own student. I shall deal with her… later…”

Cringing, Spike wrung his claws together. “Twilight, what do we do?”

“Same thing we always do, Spike.” Twilight looked down at her beloved assistant, and saw fear in his eyes. “I boldly go into the face of danger, ignorant and oblivious to the peril ahead, and you do your best to keep me from having a nervous breakdown while I go in further and further over my own head.”

“Okay,” Spike said, and he offered up an apprehensive nod. “You’ve changed, Twilight. I like this new, honest approach.”

On the spot, Twilight made a plan, dubbing it ‘Operation Bedtime.’ “Spike, you’re going to bathe Nuance. Just humour him. He likes baths and you like baths, so work from that angle. He shouldn’t be too much trouble. I am going to go and try and quiet Corbie, because she’s still crying—”

Both Spike and Twilight took a moment to listen to the wailing echoing through the castle.

“—and I think that Seville can put Radiance to bed.”

“Do you think this will work?” Spike asked.

“What could possibly go wrong?” Twilight responded, and she fought to keep the quaver out of her reply. “Now, go on! Look after Nuance. Pamper him with a bubble bath. Do whatever it takes, just try to get him in bed by a reasonable hour.”

“Okay.” Spike sighed, then nodded as he turned about.

Twilight watched him waddle off and she took a deep breath. How hard could it be to make Corbie stop crying? Surely she could quiet the little pegasus filly, and when she did, Corbie could and would be tucked into bed with a loving smooch. Everything would be fine, just fine, and the pegasus trick of calming a little pegasus foal by sticking their head beneath a wing didn’t seem hard at all. In maybe a minute or two—five tops—Corbie would be quieted down and calmed.

“I have a bath-servant.”

Spike didn’t roll his eyes and—somehow—he maintained his seriousness, determined to let Nuance think whatever he might like. So far there hadn’t been a problem, and the colt was gleeful to be getting a bath. This was going to be easy, so very easy, and Spike suspected that, between himself and Twilight, he had the much easier task .

“I demand lavender and eucalyptus bubble bath,” Nuance said and he tossed his head back while letting out a tiny, dignified snort.

Nodding, Spike figured he could do that. He liked lavender and eucalyptus bubble baths himself; something about them was calming after a stressful day. Nuance was following him, the colt a little slow, a little hesitant perhaps, and Spike had a genuine concern about Nuance being hurt after having been kicked by his bigger, stronger brother.

“It’s nice having a dragon servant,” Nuance said, being conversational.

Something almost came out of Spike’s mouth, but then he realised that this was Nuance being nice. The colt was being pleasant enough, and he wasn’t being too snotty. For the sake of peace, Spike decided to just remain quiet and let Nuance talk. This was a task where patience would be rewarded, and when it was done, he would have the satisfaction of a job done well.

“You’re not going to leave me alone in there, are you?” Nuance asked, and there was fear in his voice.

“No,” Spike replied. “Why?”

“I’m not very strong.” Nuance licked his lips, nervous. “If I go under, I have trouble pulling myself up out of the water. It’s scary.”

“I’ll get into the tub with you,” Spike offered.

“I’d like that.” Nuance’s voice now sounded strange, strained maybe. “Once, Rad held me down underneath the water. I almost died. He was punished.”

Spike wasn’t so sure he believed Nuance, but he said nothing as he continued down the hall. Walking past Starlight’s door, he scowled, resenting her just a little for fleeing during a time of crisis. Okay, maybe this wasn’t quite a crisis, but this was a time when having help around was a boon, and now she was off in the Crystal Empire, no doubt snogging Sunburst.

Disgusting.

The sounds that came out of her room when Sunburst came to visit. Gross!

“Here we go.” Spike pointed with his claws at a door. “This is the bathroom for this wing. There is just a bathtub in there. The toilet and the sink is behind the next door over, and there is a door connecting the two rooms. Always knock.”

“The bathroom must be shared?” Nuance came to a halt and stood there, agast.

“Yes. And if you need any help for any reason, you come and find me. Got it?” Spike folded his forearms over his chest and gave the thin little colt a good squint.

“Um, the toilet…” Nuance shuffled his hooves against the floor. “Corbie has a big fat butt and Rad is so much bigger… it isn’t fair!” The colt looked down at his front hooves. “I’m so small, it’s kind of dangerous up there and it is hard to balance on the edge and I—”

“I understand,” Spike said, keeping his voice neutral. “Like I said, if you need help with anything, you come and find me.”

“Thank you.” Nuance lifted his head and stared at Spike with a strange, unreadable expression.

It wasn’t working. Twilight blinked, not sure what to do. She was sitting on a couch with Corbie, who continued to cry even with her head tucked beneath Twilight’s wing. Things were getting snotty and gross under there, which meant that Corbie was getting slimy and gross. She would need to be cleaned up when this was finally over.

If it ever ended.

Like most little pegasus foals, and even quite a few pegasus ponies, Corbie was a clingy, physical creature, one who did not put much stock in something like equinal space. Turning her head, Twilight looked over at Corbie’s glasses, which sat on an ornamental table beside the couch. She wracked her brain, trying to figure out what she was doing wrong even as Corbie’s powerful lungs allowed the foal to continue to wail with considerable volume.

Rainbow Dash too, was a clingy, physical creature, prone to flopping down atop another pony and taking a nap. And according to the book Twilight had read, it was rude to wake a napping pegasus, as they were peculiar and trusting about where they took their naps. There was an etiquette she was still unfamiliar with, and might have even forgotten a little during her long trip.

Much to Twilight’s relief, she saw Seville. The sunny yellow-orange earth pony strode with a quiet confidence, and she hoped that maybe he knew how to quiet Corbie. Being Gosling’s best friend and constant companion, he had to know how to quiet Corbie. When he drew nearer, Twilight lifted her head and gave him a frazzled, twitching smile.

“How is Radiance?”

“Little Rad?” Seville looked as though he was musing over the question before offering his answer. “The little guy was asleep before his head hit the pillow. He is not a night pony. When the sun goes down, so does he.”

“And when the sun comes up?” Twilight felt a prickle of fear.

“Oh, he is there to greet it.” Seville looked Twilight in the eye. “You don’t like sleeping in, do ya?”

Swallowing, Twilight did not reply. When the nights were long, sleeping in was a treat, and sometimes, a necessity. With light, quick movements, Seville lept up onto the couch and settled in. After squirming a bit, he settled into the pony-loaf position, and then focused upon Corbie with a patient, calm expression.

“Crying won’t bring him back,” he said to the distressed filly.

Twilight saw Seville look up, and for a moment, their eyes met. She felt a spark, a tingle, what could only be described as a pang of curiousity. It only lasted a moment before Seville looked away, and she was left wanting, needing to look into those green eyes once more. Just as she was about to say something, maybe even something profound, another pony entered the room.

Pinkie Pie looked a little tired, a bit droopy, and she waved at both Twilight and Seville. Sighing, her hooves dragging, she made her way to the couch and flopped down on the other side of Twilight. She lay on her side, exhausted, and began taking deep, heavy breaths to fill her lungs.

“Sly… he’s a little... boisterous? Is that a good word, Twilight?”

Taking some time to consider Pinkie’s question, Twilight mulled it over, giving it actual thought. Boisterous was a good word, she thought. Conviviality would work too. Sly was a lot of fun to play with, but also exhausting. He kept his mother, Maud, in peak physical fitness. Somehow, Pinkie Pie remained nice and jiggly even with all of the running she did, but it was obvious from how she panted that she was out of shape.

It was then that Twilight realised that Corbie wasn’t crying. It had stopped at some point, and she had failed to notice when. How was this possible? Beneath her wing, she could feel Corbie sniffling and Twilight could feel the filly’s face against her ribs. Everything felt gross, wet, and sticky. Was this what motherhood was supposed to feel like?

“Do you have my spoon?” Corbie asked in a faint, squeaky voice.

“Spoon?” Both of Twilight’s eyebrows lifted.

“Yes, you little knucklehead, I checked your bag. Your spoon was packed.” Seville turned to look at Twilight once more. “Goose entered an ice cream eating contest. Almost gave himself terminal brain freeze. Got third place. His prize was a souvenir silver spoon with the city crest of Tall Tale on it.” Seville paused, his eyes grew unfocused, and he reminisced in silence for but a moment.

“Corbie stole his spoon every chance she got, so one day, Goose, he ties a pretty purple ribbon around the stem of the spoon and he gives it to her, saying she can keep it. Sometimes, she sings to it when she’s missing her daddy—”

“Stop embarrassing me!” Corbie whined from beneath Twilight’s wing.

“I just got done helping to give one foal a bath, and my Pinkie-Sense says another foal needs a bath.” Pinkie Pie let out an exasperated huff, rubbed the side of her face against the couch cushion, and scratched at her ribs with one hind hoof. “I have the itchies. There’s bugs outside.”

“You finally caught Sly. Did he get bored or tired?” Twilight pulled her gaze away from Seville to look over at Pinkie.

“”He stopped to ‘meep meep’ poor Lily and she just about fainted. He felt so bad that he just stood there, looking all sad, and he let us catch him. He apologised to Lily for spooking her. That took most of the run out of him. See, I keep telling ponies that Sly Pie isn’t a bad sort, he’s just… um—”

“Boisterous,” Twilight said, picking up where Pinkie had trailed off.

Pinkie Pie continued to scratch her ribs with her hind hoof, making slow, methodical strokes that went from rib to rib. “Yeah, that’s a good word, I wish I had thought of it.”

Hearing this made Twilight smile. “Pinkie Pie, how about you help me give Corbie a bath, and then we’ll tuck her into bed?”

“Okay, but then, you have to tuck me into bed, not laugh at my onesie pajamas, and read me a story,” Pinkie replied.

“I make no promises about not laughing at your onesie pajamas…”

Author's Note

Next chapter: Fluttershy becomes highly motivated.

Chapter 4

The as-of-yet sunless morning was cool and shivery. Twilight had been awoken by some insistent nuzzling, followed by much begging and pleading to watch the sunrise. Radiance missed his mother—the little guy actually looked quite sad—and watching her sun rise meant a lot to him. How could Twilight say no? Upon exiting her castle, with Spike and Radiance in tow, she had discovered quite a few new additions in the form of guards. Many, many guards.

Now outside, now almost—but not quite awake, Twilight was pleased with the fact that she had a chance to spend a little alone time with Radiance. Out of the three, he was the most enigmatic and unknown. What little she knew of him was a mixed bag. He was an enthusiastic hugger, to the point of being a bit violent because he didn’t know his own strength. Like Nuance, he was a gleaming white colour, but Twilight had trouble telling what colour made his white. Nuance was a pale shade of blue, hence his name, a shade of nuance.

Out of the three, Radiance was the only one that acted like a little adult trapped in a foal’s body, a condition that Twilight was all too familiar with, seeing it almost every day in some of her own fantastic students. The little earth pony colt was yet another tiny adult in a long parade of such foals, and she wondered how frustrated Radiance must get when adults or foals didn’t give him the seriousness he demanded.

“Miss Sparkle—”

“Please, just call me Twilight.”

“Miss Sparkle,” Radiance continued, undaunted. “I can hear the sun rising when it happens.”

That was peculiar, but it was also true. Radiance wasn’t lying to her. Twilight studied him, trying to attune her magic senses to him, and she wished that Sumac was here. Maybe there would be a little study later, if the opportunity presented itself. “Well, Radiance… there is a little filly in the Crystal Empire that can see the colours of magic. She’s blind, otherwise. Magic causes synesthesia and we don’t understand everything just yet.”

“I know what that word means… synesthesia.” The colt sat down in the grass, enjoying himself, while Twilight and Spike exchanged a glance with one another.

Flitting about in the cool, delightful air of the pre-dawn, Fluttershy approached, humming to herself, and appearing to be enjoying the morning. Twilight waved, which Fluttershy returned. The sunny yellow pegasus was sunshine before the sun rose, somehow bringing her own light with her to push back the darkness, but it wasn’t a light seen by the eye.

No, it was a light one experienced, that one felt, and the warmth it cast radiated upon the soul. Fluttershy was a creature of fantastic beauty and grace, and one of the ponies that had been summoned to help when Dim had finally come home in his deplorable, broken condition. Like everything else she encountered, Fluttershy had touched him, leaving him vulnerable. Fluttershy had a knack for taking broken, shattered creatures and making them better.

Twilight wondered what strange magic Fluttershy possessed, and she knew that if she allowed the ink to flow, she would understand. But the ink did not flow, and Twilight kept it suppressed, at least for now, because she enjoyed the mystery that was Fluttershy. There was no point in reading ahead and spoiling the mystery of the wonderful book that was her friend.

“Hiyas, Flutters,” Spike said, sounding sleepy.

“Oh, hello Spike… what are you doing up at this hour, you poor dear? Baby dragons need their sleep.” Wings flapping, her hooves just inches above the grass, Fluttershy cast a guilt-inducing gaze upon Twilight. “Good morning, Twilight. Out to watch the sunrise?”

“Yeah… I was just watching the Royal Brood and little Radiance here wanted to watch his mother’s sun rise up. Say… are you busy today, Fluttershy? I could use a little help—”

“I think I left my stove on, excuse me.”

The most peculiar thing happened; Fluttershy was gone. Just gone. There was a teeny, tiny boom, the faintest of sounds. There was an apologetic rattle that moved through the town, disturbed that it might have bothered somepony at this early hour. It was a polite sound, and Twilight had borne witness to it. It was, perhaps, the strangest sound she had ever experienced. The sound was so faint, so quiet, so gentle, that the birds hadn’t even stopped singing, trilling while awaiting the dawn.

“I think we just witnessed the sonic flutterboom,” Spike remarked, and he flopped over into the grass to lay upon his back.

“Was… was that what... that was?” Twilight stammered, confused. Faint magic lingered in the air, causing Twilight’s senses to tingle. For a moment, she zoned out and allowed herself to become attuned to the perplexing disturbances left behind in the aether, thaumaturgical turbulence. Just as she was about to discern more about what Fluttershy had left behind, a quiet voice broke her concentration.

“Nopony likes Nuance.”

Blinking, forcing her mind to clear, Twilight brought her focus together and stared at Radiance, who appeared sad and wise while he sat in the grass. It was strange, there was a hint of Zecora about him, and something about his demeanour reminded her of some mystical guru. Deep furrows of concentration wrinkled Twilight’s brow while she studied the budding earth pony mystic, and she felt the ink welling up within her.

Biting the inside of her cheek, Twilight made the ink go away.

“You know,” Spike began, “you aren’t exactly nice to Nuance either, Rad.”

“He makes Corbie cry,” Radiance replied, sounding a bit miffed.

“Yeah”—Spike nodded, agreeing with the colt—“but when you beat up Nuance, you make Corbie cry.” While he was speaking, Radiance’s ears drooped, and Spike glanced over in Twilight’s general direction. “Why are you so awful to your brother?”

“He needs to be punished.” Radiance focused his attention on the east, where the sun would rise. “He gets away with everything because he’s so sad all the time and I hate how he is never punished enough.”

Twilight saw Spike glance at her once more.

“Blah blah blah, Nuance is sad, blah blah blah. When I get punished, I actually get punished. When Nuance gets punished, my mothers and my father keep bringing up how sad and awful he is, and he never gets the punishment he deserves. Even when he set Corbie on fire… they just… talked about… how sad he is… when… when…” the little colt was gasping now and sounded on the verge of panic. “He should have been beaten! It’s not fair!”

Rolling over in the grass, Spike got to his feet, then waddled over to where Radiance sat. He sat down beside the colt, wrapped one forearm over the colt’s withers, and Twilight watched the pair while jotting down a few mental notes. Perhaps this visit was more than just a bit of foalsitting… perhaps this situation was being exploited. Perhaps somepony who was outside of the situation, somepony objective, could sort this out.

Twilight Sparkle redirected all of her mental ponypower into planning and development.

Nuance had not come out of his room for breakfast and refused to come out at all. Twilight wasn’t too worried, he was no doubt having a bit of a hard time adjusting. Or maybe he wasn’t a morning pony. Seville seemed extra-troubled about the whole thing, but had remained tight-lipped about it, saying nothing.

Approaching Nuance’s door, Twilight slowed down and wondered about how to best approach this. He was fragile, insecure, and had a raging inferiority complex. She had dealt with some of her own students who had much the same issue, though perhaps not to the degree of Nuance. The little colt was repulsive, almost as much as Blueblood had been in his salad days, though Blueblood had been acting.

“Nuance?” Twilight stood just outside his door, and used her most gentle voice, which was basically her impression of how her own mother spoke.

“Go away, peasant!”

Ears twitching, Twilight analysed the response. Fear, panic, a good bit of phlegm. He was crying in there, and being extra-antagonistic to drive others away. Something had to be very wrong. She stood there, her face now inches from the door, and she closed her eyes so she could collect her thoughts better. She ignored the siren’s cry of her ink-sense, and focused entirely upon her Twilight-sense.

Her Twilight-sense reminded her that Pinkie Pie was a precog, and attuned to everything. Pinkie Pie had said nothing, nothing at all, and in hindsight, had been subdued, looking down at the table while offering no suggestions as to Nuance’s condition. Conclusion? Pinkie Pie knew something, but was hiding it. Why? Seville knew something too, now that she thought about it, but neither seemed to be too keen on spilling the beans.

Why?

“Nuance, I’m coming in,” Twilight said, offering fair warning.

“STAY OUT, PEASANT!”

Twilight paused, her magic pressing upon the door, but she did not open it. “What do you think gives you the right to speak to me like that?”

“YOU’RE NOT EVEN A REAL ALICORN!”

That stung a bit. Twilight bit her lip and choked back an angry response while she thought about the conversation with Radiance earlier. Nuance didn’t need punishment, he needed therapy, which he was getting, but it was darn near impossible to help somepony that didn’t want to help themselves. She wasn’t his parent, but at the moment, she was his guardian, his foalsitter. So, it was time to go in, gangbusters style, a full on breach and clear with a potentially angry unicorn foal on the other side of the door.

Upon entering the room, the first thing Twilight noticed was the smell. Urine, with a coppery twang. With growing alarm, she looked around, saw the yellowed bedding, and then saw Nuance trying to hide in the corner behind a wardrobe. There was blood splatters all over the floor and the little colt was smeared a horrifying shade of ruddy scarlet. Twilight fought to keep from going into crisis mode, and she kept her senses sharp.

Mindful of where she stepped, she began to cross the room while Nuance gave her a hate-filled, baleful stare. His eyes were bloodshot, his barrel rose and fell while he panted, and blood continued to trickle down from both nostrils. Any resentment Twilight felt from his earlier cutting jibe melted into an uncomfortable, unpleasant pity. In the back of her mind, she felt a growing sense of concern that Radiance thought his brother needed to be punished, even when the situation suggested that Nuance was punishing himself.

The sting of tears made Twilight’s eyes blur, and she lowered her head so she wouldn’t tower over the cowering, sobbing colt. “Hey, little guy, are you going to let me help you?”

“NO!” Reaching out with one almost-dainty little blood-stained hoof, Nuance took a swipe at Twilight, forcing her to pull her head back. “Go away,” he whined, his aggression fizzling out.

“Suddenly, a lot of things make sense,” Twilight whispered, and she sat down on the floor, no longer caring about what she might be sitting on. She allowed her ears to fall into a more submissive position, and as big as she was, Twilight somehow no longer looked threatening at all. It was a posture she had spent much time practicing, copying the mannerisms of her mentor.

“I hate you.” Nuance breathed out the words. “I hate you all. I hate all of you. I hate you now because you know… and I hate my mothers most of all.”

Lowering her head a bit more, she asked, “Why do you hate your mothers?”

“Because!” Nuance’s voice became a whiny screech. “They make the servants clean the bedding! Everypony knows! Everypony laughs at me! I can feel them looking at me! Laughing! And those two big dummies did this to me! I hate them! I HATE YOU!” The colt’s heavy breathing caused his nosebleed to go from a trickle back to gushing once more. “I HATE ALL OF YOU SO MUCH!” When the little unicorn foal shouted, blood flecked his lips and even more red spiderwebs manifested in his eyes as the pressure inside of his head increased.

Sighing, Twilight conjured a towel, her heart heavy, and pulled Nuance close to her, ignoring his struggles. When he bit her, savaging her flesh, she let him. He was too weak to do much harm and it didn’t hurt much… not as much as everything else at the moment. Using her magic, she tugged his head free and wrapped the towel around his muzzle, trying to stop the geyser of blood. He kicked and thrashed, fighting her, resisting her, and when she overpowered him, Twilight resented herself just a little bit for doing so, knowing it would only make things worse.

Nuance’s physical weakness made sense now, if he was having extreme nosebleeds like this one, and Twilight wondered if he was perpetually low on blood, or recovering from bloodloss. She needed to do some study so she could understand everything. It might also contribute to his weak magic, and Twilight had to fight to keep her mind focused. Scooping up Nuance, she held him close, ignoring his thrashing.

“I’m going to clean you up,” Twilight whispered to the colt she held, “and then when I am done, I am going to leave you with Spike, because I think the two of you get along well, and then I’m going to come and clean all of this up so you won’t feel embarrassed. Okay? Does that sound okay to you?”

Nuance didn’t say anything, but he did go still. It wasn’t exactly consent, not in the way that Twilight desired, but it would have to do for now. She wanted to give Nuance some feeling of control in this awful, horrible situation, that he at least had some say in how he was treated, some measure of comfort and reassurance. She had never really experienced anything quite like this, and the way forward wasn’t clear at all.

For Twilight, this might very well be her toughest friendship lesson yet.

Author's Note

Ugh, this chapter. :ajsleepy:

Chapter 6

Captain Corbie navigated her ship through treacherous, shark-infested waters, and depended upon her First Mate Rad to guide their way. The dread pirate Nuance had been marooned upon a dragon infested island a long ways away, and while she felt a little bad about that, she also felt relieved. The dread pirate Nuance was a naughty, naughty pirate, and a big ol’ meanie head as well. Deck Scrubber Seville Orange and Poop Deck Swabber Pinkie Pie had joined her on her long ocean voyage as well.

Pinkie Pie stood tall, with one foreleg resting over her keen blue eyes, scanning the horizon. What she was looking for was unknown, perhaps land, perhaps danger, but knowing Pinkie, she would find something. As an act of mercy, Pinkie Pie had kept the poop deck free of its namesake, which was wonderful, because nopony wanted a poopy deck. Ew.

“Arr, beware the Snarkle Sharkle and it’s biting sarcasm.” Seville adjusted his eyepatch a bit, bumped his magnificent seafarer’s hat, (made of recycled newspaper) and being a silly sailor, he booped his captain on the snoot. “She’s a terrible beast and she can be spotted by the bubbles trailing out from behind her in the water.”

“Hey! Rude!”

“Sharkles don’t talk,” First Mate Rad whispered.

“This one does,” an annoyed voice whispered back from beneath the ship. “I’m the Snarkle Sharkle. That implies a certain level of sesquipedalian loquaciousness.”

Oblivious to the danger, Captain Corbie began to giggle.

Raising his head, Deck Scrubber Seville Orange lifted his voice in song. “Oh how I made my mother squee… when I told her I was goin’ off to sea. She did turn to beg and plead, but did not tell me of a sailor’s needs so boldly. In a far away port of call, I kissed a filly, and thus did my lips turn mouldy—”

“Oh gross!” Captain Corbie cried, and for a moment, she worried that she might be seasick. Getting mouldy lips from kissing? That was the worst! “Yuck!”

“You know,” the voice beneath the boat said, “I’m feeling kind of hungry.”

“It is getting kinda close to lunchtime,” Pinkie responded, sounding both casual and oblivious to the obvious danger. “Keep singing, Seville, maybe the whale beneath the boat can be appeased with song. Whales sing, right? Maybe that’s why whales beach themselves… they have nopony to sing with.” The curious pink mare began rubbing her chin while her blue eyes sparkled with glee.

“I’m a Snarkle Sharkle!” The voice beneath the boat now sounded offended.

“Ever since our voyage of love began, your touch has thrilled me like the rush of the wind… and your arms have held me safe from a rolling sea… there's always been a quiet place to harbor you and me. Our love is like a ship on the ocean, we've been sailing with a cargo full of love and devotion. So I'd like to know where, you got the notion… said I'd like to know where, you got the notion—”

“Don’t rock the boat, baby!” Pinkie Pie blurted out as she joined in.

“Yes, do rock the boat!” the voice said from beneath the ship.

“Don’t rock the boat, baby!” Pinkie Pie continued while she waved her forelegs about. “Don’t tip the boat over!”

“This is entirely too silly,” First Mate Rad said as he folded his forelegs over his barrel.

“Party Pooper on the Poop Deck!” Poop Deck Swabber Pinkie Pie shouted as she bounced in place. “Let’s throw him in and feed him to the Snarkle Sharkle!”

“No!” First Mate Rad cried, shaking his head. “I can be silly!” To prove this, he stuck out his tongue just a little, and raised one eyebrow.

“He’s doing his impression of Mom.” Captain Corbie’s wings flapped a few times against her sides, and she sighed at her brother’s attempts to be funny. “At least Mom is funny when she makes that face—”

“Hey!” First Mate Rad’s tongue was slurped in and he gave his sister a scowl.

Captain Corbie let out a cry as the ship lurched. She almost lost her balance, and would have, but was saved by Poop Deck Swabber Pinkie Pie before she tumbled over the rail. Seville was not so lucky, and he tumbled into the sea, right into the waiting maw of the terrible Snarkle Sharkle. The ship lurched again, and then overturned, sending the brave crew into the briny, Snarkle Sharkle-infested depths.

Nuance seemed to be perking up just a little bit, but Spike wasn’t so sure. He was sitting up on his own, but he was also quiet. Spike couldn’t be certain if Nuance was a quiet foal, or if he was plotting something, or he just didn’t feel good enough to hold a conversation. Closing his book, he thought about his list of instructions from Twilight. Obtain consent whenever possible, and do whatever was necessary to make Nuance feel better.

Spike was a firm believer that talking made one feel better. Nuance yawned, having woken up from his nap, and the colt didn’t look like he was shivering, though he was wrapped in a blanket. Fidgeting, nervous, Spike wrung his claws together, and tried to think of something meaningful to say.

“Are you feeling a little better, Nuance?” Spike asked, not knowing the colt well enough to come up with a conversation. Corbie he knew, he and Radiance shared a few things in common, but Nuance remained an unknown.

“Servants should not speak to their betters unless spoken to,” Nuance said in reply.

Blinking with great rapidity, Spike tried to recover from the verbal slap. It was a terrible, awful, almost inconceivable thing to have come out of a foal’s mouth. Spike had dealt with a lot of bratty foals, Twilight’s school had no shortage of bratty, self-entitled little snots that had to be sorted out, and Spike had sorted out quite a number.

But Nuance was something else. Nuance was the Brat Prince, and Spike was mystified on how to deal with him. Sick as he was, pitiful as he was, as helpless as he was, he had still somehow caused a spike of loathing to pierce through Spike. For some reason, he thought of Tarnished Teapot, and how his talent had made everypony hate him. Tarnish’s talent had a purpose though, making him tough enough to survive in a hostile world.

However, Nuance was too frail to even survive a strong breeze, and had no cutie mark, no talent. Keeping his temper in check, Spike said, “You know, you make it very hard to like you, Nuance.”

“I hate you all,” Nuance said in a petulant whisper that verged upon being a whine.

“Why?” Spike asked. “Why do you hate us? For that matter, why do you hate Corbie so much? She does nothing but try to be nice to you. She loves you, she loves you so much and seeing you suffer makes her really upset. Why do you do this?” Much to Spike’s surprise, Nuance began to laugh, a frail, weak sound that had very little volume.

“I hate her most of all.”

“But why?” Spike wanted to know, but he also feared the answer might make him hate Nuance.

“I hate her for how happy she is.” Nuance’s words were almost a wheezing, whining hiss. “I can’t stand her! Why must she be so happy while I suffer? Why must she be loved by so many? Just being near her makes me feel sick. I hate her so much… but I know how to hurt her.”

His guts twisting into knots, Spike found he had to know. “How?”

“I get in trouble,” Nuance replied, breathing out the words, “I get into trouble and I get punished and it hurts her more than anything. Then she gets to feel how I feel. And when she feels as bad as I do, I feel better. If I can’t be happy, then nopony should be happy.”

Spike, who had committed every word to memory, made plans to tell Twilight. He felt disgusted, there was now an intense dislike for Nuance, but also pity. This foal was messed up, and Spike felt a great deal of sympathy for the parents. In his own experience from helping Twilight run the school, a parent could do everything right, but still have a problem foal. Like Olive’s parents, who had done all they could to make her turn out right. At least Olive had been sorted out, and was now a model student with a promising future. Twilight had a knack for sorting a foal out, or finding the means to do so, very much like Celestia did.

Perhaps Nuance should come and stay for a while, but the very idea made Spike shiver.

“I’m hungry,” Nuance whined in a weak, nasal voice. “I demand to be fed.”

“Right.” Spike scratched the side of his face, nodded, and repeated himself. “Right.” He was tongue tied at the moment and having difficulty coming up with anything else to say. Spike had confronted quite a few individuals of questionable morals. He had seen the face of evil when standing by Twilight’s side. In his short life, he had seen much that was troubling, but nothing had prepared him for Nuance. For a foal, a young foal, to behave in such a way, it was unsettling. It ran against the grain of everything Spike thought he knew.

When Twilight Sparkle looked across the table, she knew that Spike had much to say, but it would have to wait. Lunch was simple, but delicious; grilled cheese sandwiches served with tomato soup, and she couldn’t imagine somepony not enjoying this for lunch. Even Nuance seemed to be enjoying himself, though it was hard to tell.

Corbie did, in fact, eat like a bird. With quick, darting head movements, she pecked at her sandwich, nipping off dainty bites, and then swallowed them down with very little chewing. This was distressing, because foals needed to chew, but almost every pegasus that Twilight knew ate this way when they weren’t being competitive.

Glancing at Seville for a second, Twilight found herself distracted and flustered. She pulled her gaze away and stared down into her bowl of tomato soup. The bowl itself was beautiful, a vibrant orange with a glittery glaze, and hoof-crafted, made by Applejack, who was teaching herself pottery. It seemed that with each passing year, Applejack grew more and more canny, more crafty, and took on new skills.

“Are you two gonna kiss?”

For a moment, Twilight had no reaction, as Corbie’s words slipped into one ear and out of the other. She bit off a bite of sandwich, began chewing, and then almost choked when the words registered in her mind. Eyes growing wide, Twilight’s head began its slow turn to look at Corbie, who had her sandwich held between her front hooves, looking sweet, cute, and innocent.

“Do you ever get mommy-wants?” Corbie asked.

A cold chill running free up Twilight’s spine made her shiver. “Corbie, darling, I’ve been meaning to ask, but what do you mean when you say ‘mommy-wants?’”

Blinking behind her big square glasses, Corbie licked some crumbs from her lip before replying, “Mommy wants alone time with Daddy. Go away, cute little Bugaboo-Bump.”

Pinkie Pie began giggling like a demented chipmunk prepared to go out in a blaze of glory whilst in the middle of a sugar high. Seville chewed his sandwich with a neutral expression on his face, but there was something in his eye that revealed his mirth. Twilight’s frogs now had an icy slickness to them, and she could feel sweat tickling her dock as it dribbled through her creases.

“Corbie, darling, what makes you think I should kiss Seville?” Twilight somehow contained her terror, but was all too aware that every eye in the room was focused on her. Even Nuance. And Spike. Spike was the worst, somehow. As her mouth went dry, she lifted up her glass of iced jasmine green tea with lemon and honey.

“Seville sings silly songs about all of the places he wants to kiss you in the shower,” Corbie responded, and her innocent-spoken words destroyed Seville, who coughed, choked, and began to sputter. “I like to sneak into his quarters while he is showering so I can look at his stuff.”

“Is that so?” Twilight fought to keep her breathing steady, and she did not let her face betray her. Right now, at this moment, Twilight Sparkle was princessing as hard as she could to avoid the inevitable freak out.

“Sometimes, I take his photos of shiny stuff, like the new bell in Canterlot Circle.” Corbie sounded a little guilty, and she slumped down in her chair. “It was really pretty and I couldn’t help myself. Sorry. Shiny things just have to be taken and put into a safe place.”

“Hey, I understand that.” Spike nodded, but then before he could say anything else, he fell silent, and he began shaking with laughter.

“So, are you gonna kiss Seville? What about Pinkie Pie? I like watching grown ups kiss… it means the world is safe and good and I like when the world is safe and good and right now, my world isn’t feeling safe and good because all of the grown ups I like to watch kissing are gone and everything is scary and I really hope they are okay.”

“I’m sure they’re fine,” Twilight replied while Pinkie’s laughter filled her ears.

“Mommy is baffled by you liking Pinkie Pie, but she says it is good for you to be forced out of your comfort zone. What does that mean? Is that like pushing a bird out of the nest? Sometimes, Daddy, he shoves me out of the nest when I won’t budge, and I really hate it and so I crow at him and he crows back at me and then Mama Moon yells at us because we’re a distraction, but she’s no better because sometimes she hoots when she’s feeling her inner-bird and wow, can she hoot really, really loud.”

“I know.” Twilight took a deep breath and remembered the night she had been in touch with her own inner-bird, just before the return of the Winter Moon Festival all those years ago. Gosling was cawing, Celestia was trumpeting and honking, Luna was hooting, Cadance was making cooing noises… and then the most embarrassing sounds ever had come out of Twilight’s mouth when she had touched upon her inner-bird. It was just awful and the memory alone made Twilight cringe so hard that she worried about pulling a muscle someplace.

She had been cheated with her inner-bird.

“Rad, will you take a nap with me after lunch?” Corbie turned to look at her brother and gave him a pleading, hopeful smile.

“No.” Radiance’s response was a little gruff, but his expression was one of apologetic embarrassment.

“Why?” Corbie whined, and right away, her lower lip protruded as it began to tremble. “Is it because I’m gross? Do I smell again? Do I have stinky wingpits like Twilight? Are you mad at me? Do you not love me?”

“Hey!” Twilight cried, catching on to what was said.

“Fine, I’ll take a nap with you,” Radiance grumbled while his face turned pink and his ears drooped in surrender.

“Yay!” Corbie began to bounce up and down in her seat. “Naptime! Nesting time!”

“Wait, hold on, do I really have stinky wingpits?” Twilight, feeling just a little self-conscious, waited for an answer, but also feared what it might be.

“Well, yeah! I had my head underneath there, remember?” Corbie made a gookie-face and then began acting like she was going to spew while she kept her eyes crossed. “Smelled so bad I couldn’t stop crying!”

Author's Note

The Snarkle Sharkle...

Chapter 7

Naptime brought peace and quiet, but Twilight still felt unsettled right down to her soul after everything Spike had told her. Now she paced, hoping her nervous, repetitive movements would jog her memory. This was not the calm, relaxing time she had anticipated, not at all, but that was okay. All of this distracted her from what was really bothering her, and that was explaining everything that had happened to all relevant parties. To Spike, her friends, and Sumac’s mothers, who still did not know. At least, she was pretty certain that Sumac would keep a secret, even under intense interrogation.

She could fix everything with ink. This realisation bothered her, as it introduced a level of intellectual laziness. With but a little willpower, she could place the knowledge of everything that had happened into the minds of her friends, editing their stories, so to speak, and even Sumac’s mothers too. They would know, and she could even make a footnote that they were satisfied with knowing, and then this problem would go away.

The problem with Nuance could be dealt with in much the same manner; give his book a thorough examination to determine the exact moment where things went wrong, and then begin editing to fix the problem. Twilight sighed, knowing that this was not a fix, at least, not a good one, and doing things this way would lead to consequences. Little consequences at first, which would snowball, until such a time that the ink had to correct itself, and Twilight figured that she would need to be replaced, just as Eternity had. It was a chilling, gripping thought, and with this in mind, she resolved not to abuse the ink.

“Where does our relationship go from here?” Seville asked while he raised his head up from his work. There was a terrific crackle from his neck, which he rubbed with his hoof, and he glanced over at Pinkie Pie, perhaps seeking some support.

But Pinkie Pie was oblivious and rather quiet as she sat upon the couch, looking at a photo album. Seville blinked a few times, tilted his head, and his neck crackled again, this time sounding somehow worse. Groaning he leaned back in his chair and stared at Twilight, who had ceased her pacing.

“You’ve changed,” Seville began, “and in some ways, you’ve become a bit distant and even more distracted than usual. The paranoid part of me thinks you are pushing me away because there is something about us that bothers you. An even more analytical part of me says you are pushing me away so you only have yourself to blame. You have this thing about tackling the biggest projects in your life, alone, until such a time that you become overwhelmed and it falls upon your friends to rescue you. It’s a self-destructive pattern that I just don’t like about you. When things go wrong, you want the blame to fall on you and never others. You want to be the only one facing the consequences.”

“Yeppers,” Pinkie Pie said while she turned a page and kept her eyes in her photo album.

Twilight’s first thoughts were of Sumac facing his mother in Manehattan, this paralysed her. She was to blame for that, but it was Sumac who had paid for it, and was still paying for it. Her mouth opened to reply, but there were no words, and all that came out was an emotional huff.

“Something tells me that getting involved in a relationship would put a real crimp in your plans, hoarding all of this blame and consequence for yourself. A relationship means a connection. It means having co-conspirators and facing things together, and facing those consequences together.” Folding his forelegs over one another, Seville rested them on the edge of the table and stared at Twilight.

Something about the word ‘co-conspirators’ made Twilight think of Luna and Gosling. The wrong thoughts for the moment ran wild in her head and all she could think about were the shenanigans those two somehow managed to pull off. While Gosling and Celestia had a celebrated romance that was known throughout the land, Gosling and Luna had something… else. Something that defied definition.

Something she herself wanted, and she found herself looking at Pinkie while she corralled her thoughts. Gosling indulged Luna’s mercurial moods and her wacky spontaneity. They went on adventures together, some of which were already transcending into Equestrian legend. Gosling allowed himself to be lead along—he allowed life to happen—and Luna had lead Gosling to places where he would never go on his own.

“She’s gone quiet and I bet her brain needs reset,” Pinkie Pie muttered while she turned another page. “Oh look, it’s Limestone and she’s smiling. Such a nice picture of such a sour sister.”

“I’ve always thought of marriage as a slice of life moment,” Twilight blurted out, “and I suppose for some ponies, it is. But I don’t think I would be happy with a slice of life marriage.” Licking her lips, Twilight tried not to think about how she had blurted out something supremely dorky, and now she had no choice but to keep going. “If, uh, if I was to get into a relationship, and it was, uh, to be categorised in much the same way a book might be, it would be an adventure. I think? Look, I’ll be honest, I just poured my heart out and I have no idea where I’m going with this. I’m talking like a librarian again, aren’t I?”

Seville nodded his head, which caused his neck to crackle once more.

“Oh, that picture,” Pinkie Pie murmured and she seemed to be lost in reminiscing for a moment. “The holiday get together with Maud and Tarnish. Mom and Dad showed up. And Mom, being Mom, she suggested that Tarnish take Limestone as a wife. Ah, that was an interesting holiday.” The pink earth pony let heave a colossal sigh and when she turned to look at Twilight, she grinned. “Mom was so convinced that she was right, ya know? Ah, being a mom.”

“Do you think Celestia sent us Nuance to test our resolve?” Seville asked Pinkie. “A shake test, to see where we fall apart. I don’t doubt for a moment that she’s been waiting for a situation like this one. That mare…” Seville snorted and shook his head. “That mare, she uses everything as an asset for development and improvement. Even her own son.”

“That would suggest some advanced level of relationship between us that Celestia knows about—hey!” Twilight blinked and stomped her hoof. “Did you just try to trick me into revealing my own stance on our relationship?” Eyes narrowed, she glared at Seville Orange, feeling a curious mix of resentment and attraction.

“Did I?” The yellow-orange earth pony smirked, radiating a level of silent sarcasm matched only by Snarkle Sharkles, and then he winked. “So, we are back at the beginning. Where does our relationship go from here, and what do we want from each other?”

“I’m on relationship restrictions.” Pinkie Pie closed her photo album, looked at each of her companions, and then offered up an apology. “Sorry, Rainbow insists. After everything that’s happened, I’m on the rebound and I’m emotionally vulnerable. She’s right, you know, and I decided to trust her on this one. She doesn’t want any of us getting hurt.”

Twilight thought of her own emotional vulnerability brought about by thousands and thousands of years of separation. The book had been a long one to read, and after making some mistakes, she had gone back to the beginning a number of times. How long had it been? Time had lost all meaning during those blurred-together years, and she didn’t have an answer.

“Seville, you need to stop hunching over your work,” Twilight said as she uprooted herself from where she had been standing so she could go over to him. When she was mere inches away, she stopped, hesitant, and she realised that Seville smelled like ink, Windian ink. This ink was high end stuff, somewhat perfumed for a more pleasant writing experience. She sniffed, trying to figure out what the familiar scent was, but she was far too distracted to reach a conclusion.

Seville was one of the few ponies to care about such things as fancy inks, and Twilight didn’t think she’d ever find another penophile, or another fellow papyrophiliac. Distracted, Twilight tried to remember why she had come over here, but the reason escaped her. Seville turned his head, and this time, his neck did not crackle. She found herself looking into his eyes, which were green and inviting.

It was now hard to breathe.

Twilight Sparkle drew the curious conclusion that she was now close enough for a kiss, and Seville was sitting in a chair, which left him at just about the right height. Perhaps because she thought about it, her mouth went dry and all of the muscles along her belly started jerking. She stood there, mouth dry, wanting to lick her lips but worried about what sort of message it might send. Even worse, a new fear manifested for Twilight.

Did her wingpits stink?

It was terrifying to think about, and the anxiety was almost paralysing.

While Twilight was trying to jumpstart her now broken brain, the door slammed open and Spike came stumbling into the room, his claws snagging on the carpet. He gripped the doorframe to keep from falling over, his tail lashed from side to side for balance, and he sucked in a deep breath.

“There’s been an accident!”

Twilight hurried down the hall, her wings fluttering, trying to keep herself calm and collected. She could hear voices as well as crying ahead, and she already knew the nature of the accident. All three siblings had been put in the same bed for a nap together, with minimal protests from Nuance. He was just too cold and exhausted to put up a fight.

“It’s okay, NuNu, I’m not mad… lemme hug you, okay?”

Relief flooded through Twilight. Corbie was so sweet and good, a fine mix of both of her parents. She had her mother’s gentleness and her father’s playfulness. Ears perking, Twilight listened, hoping to hear what might be said when there were no grown ups around. Foals were completely different creatures without adult supervision, much to Twilight’s shock and surprise.

“Get away from me you fat, disgusting birdbrain! Stop trying to hug me!”

“I’m sick of how you treat her! I’ve had it Nuance! I’ve had it with you!”

There was a heavy thud, a pained cry, a frightened scream, and then a muffled-sounding thump of something hitting the floor. It felt like hot, broken glass had lodged itself in the back of her throat and she had to stifle a scream. There was another heavy thump, followed by a much weaker cry, and another ear-piercing shriek.

“I’M SICK OF YOU! I’VE HAD IT WITH YOU AND HOW YOU TREAT OTHERS!”

“Rad! Stop! You’re hurting him!”

“He has it coming!”

“Stop! Please! Stop!”

Twilight struggled to even bring her magic to bear, but somehow she did, and right as she winked out of existence, there was another heavy thud, which was drowned out by the crackle of magic. A filly’s scream poured out of the room and echoed up and down the hallway as Twilight winked herself into the middle of the crisis.

Using her magic, Twilight froze the situation, stopping Radiance mid-blow. The much larger earth pony colt had the much smaller unicorn colt pinned to the floor and was about to punch him in the face again. Corbie was pounding on Radiance, trying to stop him, but the earth pony colt shrugged off his sister’s weak, ineffectual blows.

The stench of urine and fear was thick in the air, along with the overpowering scent of ozone, as Twilight’s magic crackled from her seething, boiling emotions. With her lip curled back into a frightful snarl, she snatched up Radiance, freeing Nuance, turned the little colt around, and held him up at eye level.

“And just what do you think you are doing?” Everything in the room shook from the force of Twilight’s voice while she bellowed with bellicose fury. The colt she held was fearless, utterly and completely fearless, and this infuriated her even more.

“I’m giving him what he deserves,” Radiance responded and he snapped out a foreleg to point in Nuance’s direction. “He NEVER gets what he deserves! My parents won’t punish him right! Nopony will punish him right! And with them gone it falls on me to do what must be done because I’m in charge—”

“No you’re not,” Twilight snapped, interrupting the babbling colt whose words were just spilling out of his mouth. “I’M IN CHARGE!” Grinding her teeth together, Twilight battled to contain her growing fury, and for the first time in her life, she felt the pressing need to actually paddle a foal for misbehaviour. She understood now, and it was an unwanted understanding, a lesson she would have rather not learned.

She was tempted to follow through with her idea, too. Perhaps it would be possible to paddle this poor behaviour right out of Radiance. Twilight’s telekinesis fizzled a bit and sparks flew from her horn while her eyes began to whiten from the thaumaturgical overload. Spike had already scooped up Nuance and was now departing the room with Pinkie Pie and Corbie. Seville however, remained behind, staring, waiting, and watching.

“It’s not your place to punish your brother,” Twilight said, and her voice now had an eerie tranquility to it while raw magic continued to sizzle along her wings. All evidence of rage had vanished from Twilight’s voice, and Radiance, hovering in front of the angry alicorn’s face, now looked terrified. “It never will be your place to punish your brother. It doesn’t matter what you think is fair, and you are never, ever justified in hitting him.”

“Says you,” Radiance replied, his voice squeaky with fear. “I can see he’s worked his spell on you too. You pity him now, so you won’t punish him either. You’re no better than the others! You’re not! You’re going to go soft on him now and he’ll get away with everything! You’re worthless and weak! Some alicorn princess you are, letting yourself be controlled by that weakling!”

“After you have had a bath, you are going into your room, and you will stay there,” Twilight said in a voice filled with soul-curdling calm. “You will remain in isolation and you will think about what you have done. I will bring your meals to you and I will check on you periodically to make certain you are okay. But you are staying in your room. And there will be no watching the dawn tomorrow, because you’re going to be in your room, not watching the dawn as punishment. Do you understand me?”

“He’s turned you against me too,” Radiance spat, and he took a swipe at Twilight’s face with his hoof. “All of this weakness! Can nopony see what is going on? How he is turning us all against each other? Why won’t somepony do something about this? Seville, help me! You have to know what is really going on!”

Arming herself with a horrendous maternal scowl, Twilight stomped out of the room to give Radiance a bath; she couldn’t wait to toss him into his room and lock the door. Saying nothing, Seville followed her, also scowling, and had anypony been observing this moment, they would have seen two distraught parents and one petulant foal in need of a bath.

Author's Note

And some of the bigger picture is revealed. But not all.

Chapter 8

How could everything go so wrong? Twilight couldn’t believe how things had spiraled out of control. She had been trusted with the foals of her mentor, her teacher, and her idol. Even though logic told her that these problems had been going on for a while and Celestia was aware of them, Twilight still felt guilty that everything had blown apart while under her watch. No small wonder that when Celestia left Equestria that Cadance was put in charge, like right now, because Twilight couldn’t even pull off a simple foalsitting job.

The hospital smelled of disinfectant, iodine, and Twilight’s eye-watering funk of shame mingled with failure. Guards milled about, getting in the way, and making quite a bit of noise. Twilight wished that she could send them away, but they had orders that she could not override. The waiting was the worst part, and like the guards, she paced to and fro.

“You know, Twilight,” Rainbow Dash said while she stroked Corbie’s neck and tried to make the little filly feel better. “You’re looking at this all wrong. You are taking all of this the wrong way, Twilight, and you are being way too hard on yourself.”

Pausing, Twilight turned to look at her friend, but she said nothing in response.

“Princess Celestia trusted you to fail—”

“What?” Twilight snapped, cutting Rainbow Dash off, and the corner of her left eye had a frightful twitch.

Holding up her other front hoof, Rainbow Dash waved away Twilight’s interruption. “Princess Celestia trusted you to fail. Not every pony deals with failure very well. I know I don’t. But you… you take failure as an affront, and once you deal with the initial shock of it, you get mad and you dig in. See, that’s the thing, Twilight. For you to really deal with a problem, you have to fail first.”

Sitting in a chair beside Rainbow, Pinkie Pie nodded. “Yep.”

With her wings and ears sagging, Twilight stared at Rainbow Dash, and felt the sting of tears. “That’s the nicest thing anypony has ever said about me. Thank you, Rainbow Dash.”

“Eh, don’t mention it.” Rainbow stroked Corbie’s mane and the little filly let out a shuddering sob. “Are you going to calm down, Corbie?”

“No,” Corbie whined, and she squirmed in Rainbow’s embrace. “The last time there was a punchy-punchy fight like this, Mama sent me to stay with Twilight so she could punish Nuance and Radiance. I’m scared!”

“Well, don’t be.” Rainbow extended one wing, wrapped it around the sniffling filly, and shushed her.

The clanking of armor made Twilight turn around, and she felt her heart leap up into throat. Help was coming and some of the cavalry had arrived. Applejack and Fluttershy had shown up, and Applejack was shoving her way past the guards with a sneering snarl. Fluttershy was far more apologetic, but no less insistent.

“Rarity is catching a train and coming back from Canterlot,” Fluttershy said to Twilight.

Before Twilight could respond, Applejack embraced her and asked, “How bad is it? Any word yet? Was it a scuffle, a squabble, or a slobberknocker?”

“What? What? There’s a difference? I need a dictionary!” Twilight leaned into Applejack’s hug, looking a bit bewildered, and she gave her friend a squeeze.

“Where is Radiance now?” Fluttershy asked.

“In his room,” Twilight replied. “I posted guards at his door.”

“I see.” Fluttershy pursed her lips together. “I’m sorry, Twilight, but I can’t stay. There is a little colt that needs to be straightened out and I think that job falls on me. Expect to come home to a mess.”

“Fluttershy, no, wait—”

“Let her go, hun.” Applejack leaned up against Twilight and held her in place. “Although I reckon it’d be a mercy if’n I took a switch to his backside rather than let her have a go at him. It’d be over faster and there’d be a lot less crying. Flutters is real good at dealing with troubled foals. It’s what she does, Twilight.”

Falling silent, Twilight watched as Fluttershy left, slipping between the guards. She reminded herself that her friend did ‘therapeutic foster care,’ meaning that she often took in foals nopony else wanted. Which made her dislike of Nuance all the more intense, and Twilight made a note to speak to Fluttershy about that later.

Pulling away from Twilight, Applejack got right up in Seville’s face. “Cousin. How ya been?”

“I’ve had better days.” Reaching over, Seville patted the chair beside him. “Have a seat.”

“Naw, I’ll stand, thanks.” Applejack glanced over at Twilight for a moment, frowned, and then returned her attention to Seville. “How’s Aunt Orange? Uncle Mosley?”

“I haven’t talked to them in a while. I never really got a chance to know them that well, Applejack. I was raised on a farm outside the city. Though I will say, now that I’m famous they have lot more interest in me.”

“Yeah, that sounds about right.” Sighing, Applejack’s tail swished from side to side.

Meanwhile, Twilight resumed her pacing, but found the chit-chat soothing. Applejack and Seville connected with family. It was said that Apples and Oranges were as different as could be, but Seville and Applejack had a lot in common. As it turned out, orangebucking wasn’t so different from applebucking, not when you got right down to it. Seville might have chosen a different life, choosing to become a reporter rather than a juice maker, as his cutie mark suggested, but he could still buck a tree like it was nopony’s business. For all of Seville’s sophistication and education, he hadn’t lost his connection to his roots.

Twilight’s own roots connected to a tower in Canterlot, where her mother and father lived. There were several other ancestral homes, but she never really cared much for those, or even had much interest. In a way, Twilight envied both Applejack and Seville. When you said Apple or Orange, you had an idea of what you were getting. Sure, there were bad Apples, and bad Oranges, but there were lots of good ones.

“Princess Twilight—”

Whirling about, Twilight almost knocked the doctor over. “Call me Twilight,” she blurted out while she ventured deep into the doctor’s equinal space. “How is he? Is he going to be okay? Is he disfigured? Tell me what I need to know!”

“Well,” Doctor Horse began, “he is sedated right now. Upon seeing Nurse Redheart, he became quite irate and said he didn’t want any, uh… earth ponies near him ever again. He then attempted to set her on fire with a spell, but thankfully all it did was make her smoulder a bit. She’s fine.” The doctor cleared his throat. “We gave him fluids, because he’s dehydrated and seems to be suffering from a bit of blood loss. His eye is swollen shut and the inside of his cheek has a small, superficial cut. He clearly took a few nasty blows, but he’ll recover with time and good care.”

“Hmm.” Twilight stood there, taking in every word that had been said. “Are you going to keep him overnight?”

“No,” Doctor Horse replied right away while shaking his head. “That colt is messed up in the head, in my most humble opinion. He needs time with those who love him, that is if they can stomach being around him.” The doctor’s eyes narrowed and the corners of his mouth sagged into a weary scowl. “I’m going to send you home with something that will help with the pain and keep him mildly sedated. It’s a liquid, so have him swish it around in his mouth before swallowing. It will sooth the pain in his cheek and his face.”

“And his eye?” Twilight asked, even though she already knew what to do.

“A little ice will help.” Doctor Horse gave Twilight a reassuring nod. “A bag of frozen peas would be ideal.” Lowering his voice, the doctor’s eyes darted around the waiting room, and then in a whisper he suggested, “You know, corporal punishment isn’t a bad thing. Not right now, of course, he’s too sick and frail… but when he’s better, a few loving swats across his little backside with a brush might help adjust that attitude of his. There’s lots of padding back there, lots of solid muscle tissue, and really, all it does is sting a bit.”

“Ayup.” Applejack reached up and pushed her hat back.

Eyes narrowing, Twilight looked the doctor in the eye. “Are you telling me to spank him?”

“It might save him from being punched in the face again.” Doctor Horse held his head high and his nostrils flared. “It might also make him think twice before spewing out all of that tribalist garbage he said to Nurse Redheart.”

“I’ll take that into consideration.” Twilight did her best to keep her face neutral and hold her temper in check. “Thank you, Doctor Horse. I think we’ll be leaving now.”

“Good bye, and good luck. You’re going to need it…”

Returning to her castle, Twilight was met with a frantic Spike, who was left in charge during her absence. He was clutching his tail, squeezing it in his claws, and to Twilight’s eyes, he looked like he had just encountered a grue. She paused, but her friends continued, pushing around her to come inside, and Twilight knew that something was oh so very wrong when Spike didn’t say a word of greeting to anypony.

“Fluttershy,” Spike whispered, and the little dragon cringed. “Fluttershy is angry. Beware!” And with that, Spike, who appeared to be quite unnerved, took off at a run, his clawed feet slap-flap-flapping against the crystalline floor while he sprinted away at marathon runner speeds.

“What do we do with Nuance?” Applejack, who was carrying Nuance on her back asked.

“Oh, I have a few ideas—”

“Rainbow Dash!” Twilight cast a sidelong glance at her friend and her upper lip pulled away from her teeth. “You know, he’s almost as egotistical as you are. It’s no wonder you spend all day flying, the clouds are the only place with enough open space for that big head of yours!”

“Yeouch.” Seville Orange winced while shaking his head. “Beware the Snarkle Sharkle.”

“I totally deserved that.” Rainbow’s face was passive and her ears drooped. “Sorry Twi.”

“Let’s keep Nuance in my study. In fact, we’ll all go there.” Twilight’s lip relaxed a bit, but she did cast one final scathing glare at Rainbow. “We’ll need to fix supper soon, I’m thinking Corbie is grumpy because she’s hungry and it is getting to be about that time. Rarity’s not here yet, so I don’t know who is going to volunteer to calm down Fluttershy, but somepony is going to have to take one for the team.”

“I’ll do it,” Rainbow offered. “Least I can do after the stupid thing I said.”

“Thank you, Rainbow Dash.” Twilight’s tone became cordial once more. “Now is the time to restore order and regain control of this situation. Everypony, let’s sort this out.”

Twilight Sparkle admired Corbie’s resilience. Some foals, no matter what happened, would bounce back if given the right circumstances, and Corbie was one of them. She was talking Seville’s ear off, and much to Twilight’s keen interest, Seville was hanging on the filly’s every word with sincere, genuine attentiveness. It occurred to Twilight that Seville was almost a father to these foals, that he had been there from the beginning to help raise them.

She was so distracted that she did not notice Pinkie Pie creeping up on her until it was too late, and the pink pronker whispered in her ear, “You know, he’s gonna be a good dad. I know what you are thinking, Twilight, and I’m thinking it too. I do feel bad though—”

“Why?” Twilight asked in a low voice.

“We’ll be taking him away from Corbie, Radiance, and Nuance.”

Flummoxed, Twilight hadn’t thought of that until now, and now, sharing Pinkie’s thoughts, she felt just a little bit guilty. With a turn of her head, she glanced over at Nuance, and saw that the little colt was sprawled out in a nest of pillows. He had a dopey look about him, and was in a wonderful mood—a miracle of the sedative given to him in the hospital.

Looking quite sad, Nuance made a surprising announcement: “I miss my mama.”

It was an equinising moment, a reminder that even the bratty, monstrous little foal known as Nuance was still a pony, with feelings, needs, and wants. Moving away from Pinkie Pie, Twilight went over to where Nuance lay, and she flopped down beside him. When she pulled him into her forelegs, the colt made no protest, but just remained limp. One eye was shut and the swelling on the side of his face was immense. Laying on her stomach with her forelegs extended out in front of her, Twilight cradled the malicious little tyrant and felt pity for him.

“You know, you make it very difficult to love you,” Twilight said to Nuance, uncertain of the level of his cognisance. She looked down at him, gazing at his face, and for just a second, she found herself adoring him. He was true to his namesake, a shade of blue so pale it might be mistaken for white, a pale shade of nuance.

“I hate you all.” Nuance sounded drunk and his one open eye had trouble focusing on Twilight. “But I think I hate you less. You may rub my tummy now, peasant.”

Sighing, Twilight chalked that up as a victory. For now, it would have to do.

Author's Note

Next chapter: After hours, the librarian tells a story.

Chapter 9

Nuance was sound asleep and drooling all over Twilight’s leg. She kept him covered beneath a blanket and used a muffling charm over his ears to keep him from being woken up by all of the noise around them. Not far away, Fluttershy was starting to calm down after having herself a good cry, and Spike had come out of hiding to be with Corbie. Now, if only Rarity would hurry up and get here. Twilight sighed and listened to the sound of Fluttershy sniffling while Rainbow Dash wiped her nose.

Out of the public eye, Rainbow was a different pony altogether…

“Flutters, did you learn anything in your uh, discussion with Radiance?” Applejack reclined on the sofa and was holding a goblet of apple wine in one fetlock. She looked relaxed, which was amazing for the situation, but then again, she had raised Hidden Rose and Ambrosia Apple, not to mention all of her time spent with Sumac. Not much phased Applejack anymore. She was now the stoic veteran of the group, battle-hardened, cool, and cunning.

“Yes!” Fluttershy spat out the word like a bite of bad apple and her eyes welled up with tears once more. Whimpering, she crawled into Rainbow’s embrace and clung to her friend. “Radiance grew up in a horrible, horrible place.”

“Uh, say what?” Applejack’s confusion was genuine, and she began to swirl the wine in her goblet. “I done reckon my ears is messed up something awful, ‘cause I just heard you say that Radiance grew up in someplace awful—”

“He did!” Fluttershy insisted. “I asked him where he learned to be the way he is and he told me!”

“Oh.” Applejack blinked once, took a drink, and shuddered a bit from the burn. “Shucks.”

“Poor little Radiance didn’t grow up in a home… Canterlot Castle is a military base. Radiance thinks he’s a little soldier and he learned to be like this by watching the soldiers in prep camp.” Fluttershy sucked in a wheezing breath, held it for a moment, and then blurted out, “He learned this from his mothers and his father! He thinks everything can be fixed with enough hard discipline!”

“Aww… shit.” Applejack hissed out the vulgar expletive and Corbie, who was chatting with Spike, went silent. The orange earth pony mare slapped her thigh, squeezed her eyes shut, and shouted, “Consarnit, Corbie, don’t say that word or we’ll both get our mouths washed out with soap from yer Ma!”

“Nopony can deliver a dressing-down like Princess Celestia,” Rainbow Dash said while she cuddled a distraught Fluttershy. “Sometimes, she comes to the Wonderbolt’s Flight Camp and gives the newbies a little pep talk. She will absolutely rip them raw and work them to death… but she does have a knack for weeding out the weak ones that don’t belong there.”

“But Gosling is so laid back and—”

“The same Gosling that lead the charge into Ponyville all those years ago?” Rainbow eyeballed Twilight and waited for her friend to come to her senses.

Twilight reconsidered her position and thought about all of the times when Gosling wasn’t a laid back pony. He was still a pegasus and he had proven himself in combat a number of times. Rainbow Dash had trained him in hoof-fu. Gosling knew how to break bones in a lot of creative ways, and even more, he knew his way around the training yard, having learned from both Celestia and Luna.

“They’re not aware of the problem,” Twilight said to her friends, sharing the unwanted and unwelcome conclusion she had reached after a bit of pondering. The stark reality of it all only seemed obvious to those living on the outside of the problem, and with her view from the outside looking in, she had a unique perspective.

“Say again?” Applejack turned her head to look at Twilight.

“They live together in a heavily fortified military installation. This is normal for them. They live in one of the most protected places in all of Equestria, and the place where the various watches get their training—”

“The Underwatch is the most violentest of them all,” Corbie said, interrupting. “Radiance loves to watch them train and he likes to follow Mister Balister around the yard. Mister Balister knows how to sort a pony out.”

A crushing weight settled over Twilight’s back as she began to see the scope of the problem. She could feel panic gnawing at the back of her mind, and she looked over at Seville, wondering if he had anything to say. Much to her disappointment, Seville was silent. “You know, this is why I don’t want guards around my castle. I don’t want them scaring or otherwise traumatising my students. I want this to be a healthy, secure, nurturing environment… and not a military installation.”

“Hun, all of Canterlot is now a military installation, due to all them rats and Contagion.” Applejack took another swig of apple wine, leaving her glass about a third full, and then she belched as she pulled it away from her lips “The whole city has been under siege since… since I dunno when.”

“Canterlot has changed. It’s become more militaristic than Cloudsdale and we’re seeing a radical paradigm shift in tribal roles. More and more unicorns are being called into service to fight supernatural threats. The nobles, once merchants and craftsponies, are rapidly becoming the new warrior caste within our society. Many of the young are getting cutie marks for combat. The unicorns of Canterlot live under a constant state of threat with the city under siege and they are adapting, being shaped by their environment.”

“Spike?” Twilight's mouth fell open, and she had trouble believing what she had just heard come out of her assistant's mouth.

“What?” Spike looked at Twilight, blinking, and then continued, “When I go to Canterlot, I sometimes listen to Princess Celestia’s lectures that she gives in her school. She has an amazing awareness of what is going on, and right now she’s doing a signature series that warns ponies about the rise of fascism in Canterlot, just like it’s been a major problem in Cloudsdale.”

“Spike, what I can I say… I am impressed.” Twilight watched Spike almost smile, and then the little dragon shrugged.

“You taught me to strive for self-improvement. So I do.”

There was a groan from Seville Orange, who closed his eyes and allowed his head to sag. Turning her head and casting him a sidelong glance, Twilight could see the pain on his face as these realisations sank in. There were some hard truths that had to be dealt with, and Seville was just as much one of the Royal Brood’s parents as Gosling, Celestia, and Luna. Her heart went out to him, and she wanted to go to him, but doing so would disturb Nuance.

“I’m gonna fix dinner,” Pinkie Pie announced and she bounced up from where she was sitting. “We’re having pancakes!”

Grunting, Twilight pushed her sticky, empty plate away. She had eaten far too much and now, she was going to pay for it. Pinkie’s pancakes sat in her stomach like a lead cannonball and Twilight had… indulged in a few too many sweet toppings. How Applejack was still eating was anypony’s guess, and how Applejack stayed so trim was still a mystery for a mare her age.

Fluttershy hadn’t eaten much of anything, and had only nibbled at some of the fruit on her plate. She looked distraught, out of sorts, and thoughtful. Twilight was absolutely certain that Fluttershy was trying to think of a solution to this problem. Short of moving the Royal Family out of the castle and into a regular home, Twilight couldn’t think of one.

“Where’s Rarity?” Spike asked.

“I’m sure she’s on her way,” Rainbow replied. “She might have had to wait on a train or there could be a problem we’re not aware of. The telegram was sent though, so she’ll be here.”

“Nuance likes Rarity,” Corbie said while she rubbed her tummy. “He says he’s gonna marry her someday.” The filly began to giggle hard enough to make parts of her jiggle and she smacked her sticky lips together. Her square-framed glasses had maple syrup and whipped cream on them, and she was a total mess.

Hearing this, Spike blinked once and then just stared straight ahead in silence.

“And who are you gonna marry when you grow up, you little scamp?” Applejack leaned over and squinted at Corbie, who stopped giggling. “Well?”

Batting her eyelashes, the filly clopped her two front hooves together, and she now looked quite timid and shy. All of her youthful exuberance and gaiety had fled. “I’m gonna marry my Daddy when I grow up.”

Twilight was shocked that nopony laughed. The silence that now filled the room was serious and without mirth. Corbie was still squirming in her seat, and she banged her front hooves together with muffled clops. Even though her own memory of it was hazy at best, Twilight could remember thinking the same thing when she was very small. She thought of how safe she felt when her father held her, the sound of his voice, and she could even remember how he smelled. Without warning, she felt a few tears crowding the corners of her eyes, and she wiped her face with her foreleg.

“You know,” Applejack said, breaking the silence, “I’d be more worried for the little filly that didn’t want to marry her pa when she grew up. In my not so humble opinion, that’d be a sign of something being wrong. The kinda stallion a filly’s father is determines the sort of pony his daughter will take an interest in.”

“Yeah… my Daddy is kinda special.” Pinkie’s blue eyes blinked—a sign of struggle to contain the coming flood—and her smile quivered. “He’s the best…” Turning her head, she glanced over at Seville, and then just sat there, staring, making no effort to hide it. “Hard working, quiet, dedicated, and a fabulous dancer…”

Just as Twilight was about to say something, Spike beat her to it. “Nuance and I have something in common. At least now, we have something we can talk about.”

Tonight would be the night. She had already sent a summons for Trixie, Lemon Hearts, Twinkleshine, and Sumac. Once the little ones were put to bed, Twilight figured that tonight would be as good of a night as any to spill her guts and reveal the ink. It was only a start though; she still had her parents, her family, the princesses, and others that she owed the truth.

Spike was inadvertently assisting her plans by wearing Corbie out with ice cream and treats before bed. Nuance continued to be almost charming, coming around just long enough to demand something before nodding off once more. Twilight felt a growing fondness for him that wasn’t there before and she found herself being affectionate with the little colt.

Rarity had arrived, smelling of soot, smoke, and appearing as though she had fled an active war zone. Frazzled, whining, she had vanished into a bathroom in the guest wing and had not been seen since. For all of her drama, Rarity was still a unicorn, and she could take care of herself in times of trouble. Diamond dogs, harpies, changelings, rats, Rarity had stared down all manner of threats, emerging both fabulous and victorious.

Today was a trying one, no doubt, but some good had come out of it. She had learned things, important things, and these things put everything into perspective. It could also be reasoned that if she could deal with all of this, then it was reasonable to assume that she was ready for motherhood. But to do that, she needed partners. Co-conspirators. Oh, she was in no big hurry, or maybe she was, she had been waiting for eons after all, but she could wait a little longer if necessary.

Twilight suffered a distressing thought; how old was she now?

She didn’t have an answer. She didn’t know. Try as she might, she couldn’t come up with an answer, either. How many times had she made a mistake and had to go back to the beginning of the book? She couldn’t recollect. The years had piled on and she hadn’t noticed. Time became an insignificant thing, devoid of meaning, and she was pretty certain that she had a better understanding of her mentor, Celestia.

Twilight herself was now one of the Celestials of Project Eternity.

Author's Note

Next chapter: a story is told.

Chapter 10

With everypony now present, Twilight felt a growing sense of apprehension. She had to tell them, but what should she tell them? Telling them the whole story would take longer than their natural lifespans, and they would die of old age before she really even got started. Well, except for Spike. The ink flowing through her body told her that Spike would remain with her for a very, very long time. An epoch or more, in whatever form she happened to take.

Knowledge swirled in her mind like hot gasses in a nebula, giving rise to new thoughts and ideas; Spike could be given the ink—maybe not right now—but there could come a time when it would be appropriate. When he matured. At that point in time, Spike could get a promotion, becoming the Assistant Librarian of Souls.

“Corbie is out like a light,” Spike reported, and his words pulled Twilight from her thoughts. “Nuance is sleeping, and so is Radiance. Everything is quiet and the night is ours.” Spike rubbed his distended, swollen stomach, burped once, and then gave Twilight a sheepish grin. “Pigging out on ice cream with Corbie was great. She really needed a nice time after having such a bad day.”

“Yes.” Twilight nodded and sounded distracted, as she was still under the influence of the ink. Overcome with an odd feeling of emotion, she reached out her foreleg, wrapped it around Spike, and with an earth pony strong yank, she pulled him into a hug, needing to feel him near her. He was her first friend and perhaps, the creature she trusted the most.

“I think Trixie wants her answers,” Spike said while Twilight squeezed him, and he pointed over at Trixie, who was sitting in a chair, staring.

Still holding Spike, Twilight turned her head. Her friends were gathered, her closest associates, the ponies she trusted to run things when she couldn’t. All of them had been tested and found true. Even Sumac could be trusted far more than his age might suggest, as he had kept the secret of how he had received his wings from his own mothers.

“Hey, Pebble, I figured out what sort of dinosaur I would be.”

Twilight’s ears perked so she could better hear the soft-spoken words coming out of Sumac’s mouth. She watched as he pulled Pebble closer, and she wondered what Pebble was doing here. Pebble hadn’t been summoned. Twilight sighed, realising it didn’t matter, and she somehow knew that Sumac hadn’t even shared his secret with her. Yes, Sumac could be trusted.

“And what sort of dinosaur would you be?” Pebble asked.

“A lickalottapus,” Sumac replied while he elbowed Pebble in the ribs.

With perfect deadpan response, Pebble looked Sumac in the eye. “That’s news to me, ‘cause I haven’t been licked. Get busy, fool.”

Applejack facehoofed, Rarity turned pink while giggling, laughter erupted from many, and all of this happened while Lemon Hearts shouted, “Sumac!”

The colt cringed, his new wings fluttering, and without looking at Lemon he asked, “Am I in trouble?”

“No.” Lemon began laughing, big deep belly laughs, which made it difficult for her to continue. “That’s some amazing innuendo, and I’m proud of you.”

“Lemon! Don’t encourage him!” Twinkleshine shook her head and fought to hold back her own laughter. “Trixie, help me sort Lemon out.”

Booping Twinkleshine on the snoot, Lemon asked, “Is it time for some good old fashioned ‘easy peasy Lemon squeezy?’”

Unable to contain herself, Twilight began laughing while Twinkleshine’s face turned as pink as her mane. Even Spike was laughing, and this worried Twilight just a bit, as she now wondered about Spike’s innocence. Sumac was looking smug and Pebble was still staring at the colt with a deadpan expression that was a perfect mimicry of her mother.

Still laughing, Twilight could not help but feel that something was missing. “Say, where is Boomer?”

Without so much as blinking an eye, Trixie replied, “Tonight was her support group with Megara and Silver Lining.” She had answered without an explanation, much to the annoyance of many.

“Support group?” Baffled, Twilight’s head tilted with equine confuzzlement.

“Carnivores helping other magnificent predators.” Trixie blinked once, then again, and then added, “I’m very proud of her for being so responsible. Also, I’m sorry, but I cannot tell you more about it. Privacy, ya know.”

“Spike?” Twilight looked down at the dragon in her own embrace.

“Sometimes I attend meetings. I don’t have to talk about it.” With that, Spike went silent.

“Right.” Twilight nodded. “We all deal with things in our own way and that should be respected. Me, I choose to talk about stuff, and oh boy, do I have a story to tell you guys… whew! Heh… it’s gonna be a long story… does everypony have snacks? We’re gonna be here for a while.” A hesitant laugh slipped out and for a brief moment, Twilight worried that she might lose her nerve. Feeling a squeeze of her leg, she looked down, saw Spike looking up at her, and felt the strength to go on.

“—and that’s what happened. More or less. In a nutshell.” Twilight let heave a sigh of relief and her ears twitched to the sound of breathing all around her. She didn’t know how she felt, and she feared the questions that were sure to come, as she wasn’t sure she had answers just yet. Not everything had been put together and she was still coming to grips with resuming her old life.

“I think you need a hug,” Spike said while he wrapped his forelegs around Twilight’s neck and squeezed. The little dragon held on, locking his claws together, and did not let go.

“Sumac tried to stop you.” Applejack’s face had a seldom-seen stern hardness to it and she glanced at the colt out of the corner of her eye. “The stubborn little cuss tried to cripple you.” There was a sharp, deep inhale, and the earth pony mare shook her head. “I must confess, I am bothered by this. Was this temper, or out of control emotion, or what? Is this something we need to fix?”

Twilight was not prepared for this reaction, not at all. “Sumac was doing what he felt was right. He was willing to take this burden on himself to spare me. I’ll not have him punished for something I believe was the right thing. I think it speaks highly of his character.”

“I don’t agree.” Applejack let out a huff and then began chewing on her lower lip. After a moment, she continued, “We talked about this Twilight… that temper of his—”

Sumac cleared his throat. “I’m still in the room.”

“Shush!” Applejack held up a hoof in Sumac’s direction to silence him. “Now, I get that these were difficult and unusual circumstances, but I am still bothered that it happened. For now, I’ll let it drop, but we’re gonna talk about this some more, later.”

Reaching out, Pebble booped Sumac on the snoot with her hoof. “You get into too much trouble without me around. Stop that. Get into trouble with me.”

Rarity, holding a wine glass in her magic, sat in silence, staring at Twilight and Spike. Her eyes glimmered with concern, a certain anxious twinkle, and tiny wrinkles formed worry lines in the corners of her eyes. Rarity’s continued silence spoke volumes and after a time, her eyes narrowed somewhat while she sipped some wine.

Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy continued to cling to one another, cuddling, doing what pegasus ponies do. Neither said anything, and both looked troubled while Rainbow stroked Fluttershy’s neck. Seville was rubbing his temple and Pinkie Pie sat beside him, tapping on her chin with one hoof while rubbing with a circular motion over her tummy with the other.

“Sumac did what he felt was necessary.” Twilight’s words were soft and held no resentment. “And I did what I felt was necessary. Looking back on it, I cannot help but wonder if it was his alicorn-nature manifesting. We have powerful instincts to do things, to take action. It’s complicated, and Celestia and I have talked about this. Cadance ascended young, and then was trained to deal with her impulses and instincts. I was ascended as an adult, and Celestia observed me while I adjusted. It is Celestia’s opinion that it is better to ascend when young, but we have varying opinions on the matter, and that’s fine.”

“That seems like something awfully complicated to say, so little about, so casually,” Seville remarked.

“Well, we are living in a time where the alicorn population is growing.” Lemon Hearts reached over, placed her hoof on her son’s neck, and patted him while she smiled.

“I was smart and focused and I sorted myself out while I had my growing pains, but others haven’t been so lucky—”

“Twilight, you’re talking about the Gosling incidents, aren’t you?” Seville’s ears pitched forwards, angling to point right at Twilight.

“Not in a bad way!” Twilight cringed a little from Seville’s accusations. “Celestia said that male alicorns are fierce protectors and immensely territorial. Gosling is adjusting. It… just… it might’ve been easier on Gosling if he had ascended when he was a colt… about Sumac’s age or so. I think Gosling turned out just fine, but I can see Celestia’s point on the issue. He had a rough time of things.”

Ears pinning back, Seville relaxed a little, but looked troubled. “I’m sorry… I don’t even know why I’m so defensive about it. It… it was a hard time for all of us. Celestia kept reminding us that female alicorns and male alicorns are very different creatures with very different purposes. She’s also immortal and patient and can wait forever for the rough spot to pass while the rest of us are keenly aware of the passing of time.”

“Trixie is feeling a feeling of impending dread. Trixie is quietly panicking. Trixie was already having a hard time raising her son as a sorcerer and now, this happens. Trixie has come to the conclusion that life is not fair. Trixie needs a strong drink.”

Sighing, Twinkleshine shook her head. “She’s regressed back to speaking to herself in the third person again.” Glancing sidelong at Lemon, the two mares exchanged worried looks in a way that only married ponies could.

“For me, it all comes down to this.” Rainbow Dash’s voice was hard and her eyes were flinty. “Twilight, are you okay?”

The question caught Twilight off guard, and the more she thought about it, the more she wasn’t sure how to answer it. Her mind began racing, trying to think of all of the things she could say, to explain herself, to dismiss her own doubts, fears, and feelings. The deluge of thoughts became a flood that washed away her ability to communicate, and she sat there with her mouth hanging open.

“No, Twilight is not okay.” Rainbow rolled her eyes, sighed, and gave Fluttershy a squeeze. “And in true Twilight fashion, she took a job so she could distract herself from her problems rather than deal with them. Look at her, she looks like a fish right now—”

“I do not!” Twilight blurted out. “I am not a fish! I am the Snarkle Sharkle!”

“And I’m a dinosaur—mmmph!” Sumac was silenced by Pebble jamming all of her hoof into his mouth while she pulled him into a headlock.

“You know what we need?” Pinkie Pie asked of nopony in particular.

“What’s that, Pinkie?” Twilight replied, glad that the focus wasn’t on her at the moment.

“A Pebble alicorn.”

“No.” Pebble’s deadpan was firm, unyielding, and somehow commanding.

“No?” Twilight and Pinkie Pie both asked together.

“I don’t want that weakness.” Pebble redoubled her grip around Sumac’s neck while he squirmed and flapped his wings.

“Weakness?” Twilight was baffled by this word, and didn’t understand how becoming an alicorn could be a weakness.

“I am an earth pony,” Pebble stated with pride in her voice. “More importantly, I am a stone pony, like my mother. If I continue to stay as an earth pony, I can continue to refine myself and one day, I will become the greatest earth pony that I can be. But to do that, I have to focus all of my will and all of my concentration on being an earth pony. If I became an alicorn, I’d have to split my attention and focus three ways… or maybe four ways, if you counted the fact of being alicorn as an individual focus. By dividing myself, I would only become weaker. And weakness sucks eggs.”

Applejack began laughing, and it was a smug, self-satisfied sound.

“Don’t take this the wrong way, Twilight… but in a being-an-earth-pony-contest, I would beat you down like the old nag you are.” Pebble’s fierce competitive streak manifested and aggression could be seen in her eyes, but not her face. “It’s no small wonder that all of Celestia’s most powerful magics are earth pony related. She knows what the score is.” She pulled her hoof out of Sumac’s mouth, but kept the squirming colt in a headlock. “My mother and I want no part of this weakness.”

“I say we move this to the kitchen, so we can continue to talk over tea.” Rarity eyed her now-empty wine glass with a sour expression. “I have questions I’d like to ask, but I feel as though they would be better asked in private. Twilight, we’ll have to schedule a lunch.”

Tea sounded good, and Twilight found herself in agreement.

Author's Note

This chapter suffered more than a few reworkings. Sorry for the delay.

Next chapter: Twilight Sparkle discovers just how fast she is.

Chapter 11

Twilight Sparkle awoke to a rather insistent boop upon the snoot along with a fearful voice whining, “It’s dark.” Well, of course it was dark, ponies were trying to sleep. The once-slumbering Snarkle Sharkle kept her sarcasm to herself though, as something seemed to be quite wrong with one of the small, helpless, sometimes adorable sometimes horrible quadrupeds of the equine species she was foalsitting.

With some effort, Twilight ignited her horn and through blurry, bleary, half-open eyes, she saw Corbie standing beside her bed, just as the filly booped her on the nose again. “Whashwrongwishoo?” Twilight whashwrongwishooed in a not quite awake yet voice.

“I have a tummy ache,” Corbie replied, and then she burped.

Something foul slithered up Twilight’s nostrils and it smelled like sour milk, but worse. “Aroogonnabeshick?”

It was a wonder that Corbie could understand Twilight at all, and she replied, “Yes.”

Then, there was a sound. Twilight, for all of her infinite power, lacked the means to describe the noise she heard next, but it filled with her mortal panic. She had battled gods, eldritch abominations, she had walked the many passages of Skyreach, she had seen nations rise and fall, she had once watched an ocean be boiled away, and she had witnessed the wonder of Celestia and Luna engaging in orbital bombardment.

None of those things prepared her for the terror she now experienced, or the sudden awakening of the pegasus nature slumbering deep within her. Twilight moved, and with great rapidity. With a roll-over, a jerk, and a flap of wings, she was airborne in less time than it took to blink, and not a moment too soon either, as Corbie was now spewing up the contents of her stomach right into the spot where Twilight had been laying a fraction of a second before.

Twilight Sparkle was faster than the speed of vomit, and a part of her was pretty impressed with herself. Rainbow Dash might break the sound barrier with the same casual effort as she broke wind—which is to say she did it often and with great frequency—but Twilight was faster than the speed of vomit. Now wide awake, Twilight was certain that she was having a nightmare, as there seemed to be more vomit than what the inside of a small pegasus filly could conceivably hold.

Alas, Twilight Sparkle was not faster than the speed of smell, and it gave her a rousing slap across the face to remind her of how slow she was. “Gah!” she gasped, almost gagging.

Hovering above her bed, Twilight watched in disgusted horror as she tried to think of what to do next. Corbie was still somehow puking—which seemed impossible—and Twilight was forced to wonder just how much ice cream she and Spike had eaten. Trying not to breathe, she waited for the end to come so that she could begin the process of cleaning everything up.

For the first time, Twilight realised that being a parent might have some real drawbacks.

Twilight’s ear twitched when she heard the staccato echo bouncing off of the inside of the ceramic bowl of the toilet. This wasn’t how she imagined spending her night, trapped in a bathroom with a filly that was squirting out of both ends. In fact, this wasn’t how she imagined her future as a parent, either. For some reason, she had envisioned some bright, glorious future, scintillating with promise, raising bespectacled little bookworms that benefited society. Now, that dream had been tainted, befouled, contaminated with spewing, squirting little foals soaking down her bed with unpleasant, unmentionable effluvia.

Corbie had the curious habit of flapping her wings when she spewed or squirted, as if she was pumping out whatever was inside of her. She looked miserable, and Twilight pitied her. It was probably a lot of fun eating all of that ice cream, candied cherries, and syrups of all types. Twilight herself had gone through this, eating far too many sweets, and then suffering the consequences. It had been her father that had stayed with her through that long, never ending night.

Panting, Corbie moaned out the words, “Milk always gives me the pooty-poots…” For a moment, it appeared as though she was going to say more, but then she barfed into a wastebasket set in front of the toilet.

Twilight wondered where Princess Celestia would exile her for this debacle. Nuance had a black eye, Radiance was exploring his inner-fascist, and Corbie was exploding from both ends. Everything was not fine, which made Twilight wonder if Seville and Pinkie Pie would join her on her long exile. But no foals. Nope. Right now there was some serious doubts about squirting another living, breathing, farting, burping, barfing, pooping being out of her backside.

There was an unexpected knock on the door, followed by an even more unexpected visitor. Rarity came in, looking exhausted and not at all like herself. She carried with her a glass of water and a rather large black gelatin capsule. A horse pill, such as it was. She paused just inside the door, her nostrils flaring, and she made a petite, “Ooh,” sound.

“You poor dear,” Rarity said as her sleepy sashay carried her through the bathroom. “I’ve brought you an activated charcoal capsule and some water. Do try to swallow it, it will make you feel better.”

“Charcoal?” Twilight’s muzzle scrunched and she gave Rarity a puzzled look.

“Yes. Charcoal.” Rarity stood there near Corbie, waiting until the filly was ready to take her pill. “You learn a lot when you stay in a city that is under siege. What, with all of the foul gases, noxious miasmas, and the toxic fumes the rats send up from the sewers, quite a few ponies get sick. Everypony carries activated charcoal capsules to help their stomachs.”

While Twilight watched, Rarity stuffed the enormous pill between Corbie’s lips, helped her drink some water, and Corbie gagged a little as the pill went down. With nothing else to do, Twilight waited, wondering if it would work. She recalled that Rarity had arrived in quite a state, and her curiousity overwhelmed her.

“Did something happen today when you were in Canterlot?” Twilight asked.

Yawning, Rarity covered her mouth with one hoof, blinked a few times, then replied, “The Underwatch harpooned a particularly nasty specimen and hauled it up to the surface so the sun would help kill it. It put up quite a fight… and it was right in front of my store. Mistress Rarity does not abide such action, so I was forced to go outside and help clean up my storefront. So I did. So it was done. There was quite a scuffle and much unpleasantness.”

Twilight realised that Rarity had been doing this for quite some time. While Rarity might look like a genteel mare of the upper class, the simple truth was, Rarity was more than capable of throwing down. Together, they had been in all manner of scuffles, and Twilight had never known Rarity to back down from a tussle. Now, her many trips and extended stays in Canterlot made sense. How often did Rarity stay inside of her store in Canterlot, just hoping for a fight to break out? Or a battle?

“There… I am reasonably certain that the activated charcoal will help. Now, darling, Mistress Rarity will help to clean you up and help you feel like a lady again, young miss. Would you like that?”

Corbie gave a weak nod.

“Twilight, darling… go and check on little Nuance. Careful, he’s a light sleeper.” Rarity made a dismissive wave with her hoof to shoo Twilight away. “Go on, I have this. Corbie and I have been friends for a very long time now and I think I can handle this.”

Sighing with relief, Twilight responded with a soft-uttered, “Okay.” Then, she left.

Nuance’s room was dark and as she entered, she wondered to herself if the little colt might have a fear of the dark. It seemed common and reasonable enough, and the little guy might just be trying to hide it. After all, he did live with Luna… a number of reasons popped into her head, but she didn’t pay them much attention when her ears perked to the sound of somepony crying.

It was a soft, faint sound, little more than breathing, but it was crying. Fearing Nuance’s wrath, Twilight, who left the door open behind her to provide a little light from the hallway, approached the colt’s bed. It was a troubling sound, a worrisome sound, and she worried about the repercussions of Nuance feeling embarrassed.

Standing beside the bed, she had trouble telling if Nuance was asleep or awake. He was crying, but unmoving, and his eyes were closed. Well, one eye was swollen shut, but the other eye did not open. Feeling conflicted, Twilight stood there, not knowing what to do. Should she wake him? Leave him sleeping? Did he need his medicine? Was he in pain? Was the hurt caused by more than the injuries to his face? He was so troubled, so little, so fragile and frail.

Nuance had attacked her many times, making a foolish attempt at domination and power. Some of the things he said had hurt, though she’d never admit to it. He was disliked; so much so that it had become a joke, something to laugh at. Even his attempt to be hated had backfired, and Nuance had to know that he was a joke. Now, he was stuck where he was; friendless, unwanted, unwelcomed, and everypony around him couldn’t bear to be near him.

It was a difficult environment to make friends in.

“I miss my Mama.” The words were punctuated by much snuffling, and Twilight felt the hairs along her spine rise when she heard them. Standing beside the bed, she shuffled on her hooves from one side to another, and tried to think about what to say in return. It was harder than she thought.

“My face hurts,” Nuance said, and his voice sounded dry, like rough, crinkling paper.

Lifting the little colt with her magic, Twilight held him close to her neck, hoping to keep him warm so he wouldn’t shiver. The little guy had suffered enough, and she was empathetic to his needs. Something had to be wrong, because he didn’t fidget, fuss, kick, curse, or wiggle to be set free. Sensing opportunity, Twilight hoped to make the most of the moment that she had.

The colt had made silly faces when he had been given the liquid pain reliever, but Twilight didn’t allow herself to laugh. She didn’t want Nuance thinking that she was laughing at him. Soon, the cherry flavoured liquid would take effect and little Nuance would be free from pain. Sighing, tired, but still jittery from adrenaline, Twilight sat down on the couch beside where she had put Nuance. Saying nothing, she picked the colt up, hefted him around, and embraced him.

He did not protest.

“Which one of your mothers do you miss?” Twilight asked, hoping to get inside of Nuance’s head so that she might understand him more. For a time, it seemed as though no answer was forthcoming—Twilight endured the silence while she held the colt—and at last, her patience was rewarded.

“I miss Luna,” Nuance replied, his voice already slurring a bit from the cherry-scented liquid. “She knows my pain… she knows I’m not faking.”

That’s an enlightening reply, Twilight thought to herself and she felt Nuance’s head come to rest against her neck. She said nothing, now felt more like the time to listen, and she began to rub the colt’s back with one hoof while holding him with the other. A curious thought rose into her mind, a distraction, and she wondered how Rarity knew so much about Corbie.

“My other mom does not love me,” Nuance whispered and the colt shuddered with every word he uttered.

Twilight felt a chill and cold prickles made her dock tingle. “What makes you say that?”

“She has an entire school full of little unicorns that she loves and she spends more time with them than she does me.” Nuance stiffened, his muscles tensing, and he added, “Little unicorns that aren’t magical duds and don’t wet the bed. I hate them all.”

How do I respond to that? Twilight asked herself while her heart sank. Every answer that popped into her head somehow sounded patronising. Nuance was in a bad spot, no doubt. His mother was the busiest mare in Equestria, who ran a school, lead a nation, held back the darkness, was raising three foals, had a husband, and to make everything worse, she lived in a fortified military compound that was having a profound effect upon her strongest, most capable son.

She did not see a way to fix this. For just a moment, Twilight Sparkle felt all of the bleak despair that Nuance had to be feeling, and it almost crushed her. Unable to do anything else, Twilight did the only thing she could do. Still rubbing his back, she held on to Nuance, determined to hold him until he drifted off to sleep, and then she would tuck him into bed.

Like Nuance, Twilight Sparkle felt so weak and powerless.

Author's Note

Sorry for the delay... I've been taking a little bit of me time. *GASP!*

Chapter 12

Smooth. Nuance was smooth. Twilight, during her many long years as a teacher and administrator for her school, had noticed that foals had a particular silkiness to their pelt that adults lacked. Nuance felt like silk velvet and Twilight knew that the texture would change with age, becoming a little more coarse. Flurry had started off so soft and silken, but as she matured, her coat became denser, thicker, becoming water-and weather-resistant.

While she held the sleeping colt, Twilight began making a list of what she knew, a report of the situation, and she did her level best to keep her own biases out of it. Nuance had it the worst, being surrounded by the best and the brightest when he felt so weak and inadequate. No doubt, he felt as though he was vying for his mother’s attention with a few hundred students, but not just any students, no. These students were part of Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns, the very best and the brightest that Canterlot had to offer.

And little Nuance wasn’t even close to being on the same level. It had to be crushing.

Then there was the matter of the Lunar League Military Academy, also located in Canterlot Castle, the magical place where authoritarian discipline was law, a factory that churned out soldiers, and Radiance had fallen in love with the pageantry of it all. Twilight didn’t like to admit it, but there was a certain harmonic beauty to a hundred soldiers marching in lock-step, each in perfect sync with one another. She didn’t like the training, not in the slightest, where what little individuality most equines had was hammered out, smashed away, all to strengthen the collective herd. It was something she had an intense dislike for, but she had to tolerate, because she knew it was the foundation of Equestria’s military success.

In the middle of it all was Corbie, who had no aspirations greater than just loving her brothers, whom she no doubt viewed as nest mates. Twilight tried to recall everything she knew about pegasus ponies, the odd flock-herd dynamic unique to pegasus ponies, and everything she had ever learned from her many pegasus pony friends. For having such a tumultuous existence, Corbie seemed happy enough, and she appeared to be well balanced.

Little by little, bit by bit, Twilight Sparkle’s head began to nod while she held Nuance and it wasn’t long before she began to drift off to sleep, losing herself to blissful slumber.

The castle was quiet and Spike was mindful of his movements. With great care, he crept through the halls, making sure his toe claws didn’t click-clack too much on the floor. When he passed by Radiance’s room, the lone guard posted at the door saluted, and Spike gave him a casual wave in return.

Much to Spike’s surprise, he smelled coffee, which made him quicken his pace so that he might hurry to the kitchen. He waddled through the silent, empty corridors of Twilight’s delicious castle, ignoring the siren’s call to sample just one delectable bite, just as he always had done. Oh, he could probably get away with it—Twilight could never stay too mad for too long with him—but it was better to not abuse that trust. Spike had learned his lesson about abusing trust the hard way, and having done it once, it was not a mistake he cared to repeat.

Entering into the kitchen, he found it occupied. Both Seville and Moondancer were here, with Seville standing in the middle of the room, watching everything that Moondancer was doing. While it was not uncommon to find Moondancer lurking about before school started, she was here early. Spike took a mental note of the odd, out of place behaviour, and then noticed that Seville was looking at him.

“Good morning.” Spike waved and was ignored by Moondancer, who was getting ready to make tea. “Moonie, you okay? You feeling alright?”

“Am I a changeling?” Moondancer responded in deadpan, sounding a bit exhausted. “No, I am not a changeling. I am merely a pony with insomnia who did not wish to disturb her rather frail housemate. I came here to do something productive.”

“How’s Adventus?” Spike asked.

“Sleeping.” Moondancer didn’t even turn around to look at Spike when she spoke.

“Seville, what’r’you doing up?” Spike now focused his attention on the sleepy looking pony.

“I’m worried about my best friend.” Seville’s words were soft, thick with honesty, and he sounded a bit hoarse. He drew in a deep breath, let out a low whistle while his nostrils flared, and then he continued, “And well, everything else. The foals. Twilight. Pinkie Pie. There’s a lot on my mind right now.”

The little dragon began to scratch his chin. “You know, Twilight isn’t the hard one to figure out in this relationship, it’s Pinkie Pie. With Twilight, it’s a matter of knowing her interests to get her attention when she gets too focused on something. If you want to get her a gift, she likes Cherished Celestia figurines. Remind me later and I’ll make a copy of the master checklist of all the figurines she has so there won’t be any duplicates. We can make this work… but as for Pinkie, I can’t help you.”

“Waitaminute…” Seville, not quite awake, stared at Spike. “You’re helping me get with Twilight? Why? What you are up to, Spike?”

“Protecting my own better interests.” Spike’s nonchalant reply made Moondancer snort.

“Okay, dragon, what’s your game?” Seville appeared awake now, alert, and aware.

For a moment, Spike considered his answer, and then chose honesty. “For many long years, Twilight was my best friend and playmate. Then the most horrible thing happened. She grew up and I didn’t.” He shrugged and his tail plopped down to the ground with a soft thud. “That’s just the way it is. If I can’t have her back as a playmate, I’ll take the next best thing.”

Eyes narrowing, Seville gave Spike a shrewd, calculating stare, and Spike stared right back. The pair stared at each other while Moondancer continued being productive. The little dragon fidgeted beneath Seville’s piercing gaze, and Spike began to understand why Seville was so successful as a journalist. He was good at staring.

“Look,” Spike blurted out, “I’m not stupid about this sort of thing. I know what you and Twilight will be doing at some point. It bothers me just a bit, but I’m not going to keep you two apart. So I am just going to focus on what I get out of it, okay?”

“It bothers you?” Seville asked.

Spike shrugged. “Just a little.” He shuffled from side to side and his tail swept over the floor. “For a long time, it’s just been us. Together. Against the world. For you ponies, change happens so suddenly and you just embrace it. I think it is because your lives are so short.” Spike scratched his stomach, then snatched up his tail so he could squeeze it. “Change is difficult for us dragons. For us, the erosion of a mountain is about our normal pace. That’s why what Dragon Lady Ember is doing is so amazing, changing all of dragonkind so quickly. Look, it’s complicated, okay?”

“I suspect I understand just a little bit.” Seville gave Spike a nod. “I’ve spent a lot of time learning Celestia’s perspectives, and she can be slow to change as well.”

“That… that… that actually makes me feel better.” Spike shifted his weight, first to the right, then to the left, and he teetered back and forth. “I guess I forgot how much time you spend with Celestia. She’s the pony I go and talk to when things get overwhelming. She understands. Sometimes, it just gets to be too much and she understands.”

“Will you two just get to the bro-hoofing already?” Moondancer’s tail flicked and she let out a snort. “Or better yet, help me fix breakfast. Twilight has a bunch of guests, right? Wouldn’t it be nice if they woke up to a nice breakfast?”

Lifting his head, Seville Orange watched as Twilight Sparkle escorted Nuance into the dining room. His pulse quickened, of course it did, because there was something about watching Twilight act maternal that made the juice press inside of his mind bear down with pressure. Around the table, half-awake ponies yawned and he was distracted by a hoof poking him in his ribs. Turning away from Twilight, he focused his attention on Corbie.

“Uncle Seville?” Corbie had a strange not-quite-awake look upon her face that was both adorable and worrying. Something unknown glittered in her eyes, and she gave Seville another poke in the ribs as she leaned over closer to him. “Psst, hey!”

Lowering his head down, in a low whispered voice he heard Corbie say, “You should kiss her.”

Jerking his head back up, Seville almost fell out of his chair because of the unexpected words, and his front hooves banged against the table while he tried to recover his balance. This almost upset his glass of orange juice, something that Applejack had given him a funny look about. Somehow, Seville avoided disaster, but he wasn’t sure how. Corbie was too much like her father, too straightforward, too extroverted, too brash, and too bold.

This was worse than getting onto a train with Gosling…

“Hiyas, NuNu!” Corbie waved at her brother, but got no reply. It didn’t stop her from waving, and even blowing a kiss.

“Feeling better, Corbie?” Twilight asked while she sat down.

“Yep!”

Seville’s eyebrow lifted and he looked down at Corbie. She seemed fine, so he didn’t say anything, but he did worry. Blinking once, he gave her another quick look over, looking for signs of something wrong. Corbie was near and dear to him, almost as if she was his own daughter, and the idea of something being wrong with her was unsettling.

Coming to a skidding halt as she careened through the door, Pinkie Pie made a breathless announcement. “Radiance isn’t coming to breakfast. In fact, he refuses to come out of his room. He’s kinda upset about not seeing the sunrise, so he says that he’s gonna stay in his room, not eat, and starve to death so you’ll be punished, Twilight.”

Ears perking, Twilight took all of about seven seconds to process Pinkie’s words before she replied, “You know what, I’m okay with that. He can just stay in his room and miss breakfast. He’ll get hungry soon enough.”

“I hope he dies,” Nuance hissed.

“Hey!” Applejack turned a stern eye on Nuance and let out a huff of frustration when the colt sneered right back at her, fearless and undaunted.

Shrugging, Pinkie Pie came over to the table, pronking once, and then sat down beside Seville. He turned to look at her and there was something about her blue eyes that he found intriguing, something he hadn’t noticed before. Now, it could be said that Seville was a bitter Orange, but something about her blue eyes melted his inner cynic in a way he had never experienced before.

“You know, Nuance,” Applejack said to the colt, “You might be a real pain in the plot, but you’re also brave, I’ll give ya that.”

Stony faced, Nuance offered no reaction whatsoever, and after a few seconds of waiting, Applejack turned away, choosing to look at Rainbow Dash instead. Seville watched the two mares exchange a glance, and then they both started giggling. Feeling eyes upon him, he noticed that Nuance was staring at him, and Seville sighed, hoping that the colt wouldn’t start spewing out some awful tribalist diatribe.

“So,” Corbie whispered, “Uncle Seville, where are you gonna kiss her?”

Squirming in his chair, he did not reply. Yep, this was going to be bad: Corbie was not going to let this drop until she got what she wanted. It wasn’t that Corbie was a bad foal—far from it, compared to her brothers she was a paragon of goodness—but she had her mother’s steadfast insistence as well as her need to manipulate the world around her.

Thankfully, Corbie wasn’t quite as good at it as Celestia was.

When Corbie realised that she couldn’t get a reaction from Seville, she turned to Fluttershy instead. “One time, I didn’t obey mommy-wants time, and when I went into the room, Daddy was kissing Mommy on the crotch. It was super icky. Why do ponies do that?”

Fluttershy sucked in wind so hard that she choked, coughed, farted, and almost fainted all at once. Her wings flapped, and her face turned bright, bright red, red as a pomegranate. Rarity tried to slap Fluttershy on the back, but her wings got in the way.

“Corbie, darling, don’t say that.” Applejack’s face was in a mighty struggle, and the corners of her mouth twitched up and down. She shoved Rainbow away when the pegasus started laughing, and she repeated herself for emphasis. “Corbie, hun, you can’t say that.”

“I can’t say that Daddy is a super yucko crotch-kisser?” Corbie’s face contorted from confusion and she sat there, blinking with an almost owlish expression from behind her glasses. “Do you think Mama has kissed his peepee? Sometimes I feel kinda sick when they kiss me now…” While Corbie spoke, Nuance gagged and covered his face with his hooves.

Fluttershy was choking while making wheezing gasps, Rarity had turned a delightful shade of pink from her lower neck upwards, Rainbow Dash was clutching Applejack, Twilight’s mouth hung open enough that her uvula was visible, Pinkie Pie was giggle-snorting, Applejack lost the struggle, and the sort of chaos that Discord might have envied reigned supreme.

Unable to hold it in, Seville Orange began to chortle, and Pinkie fell over to cling to him.

Wearing an apron, Spike entered the dining room, looked around, and asked, “What’s so funny?” He paused for a moment, worried for Fluttershy, and then added, “Breakfast is almost done. Does somepony want to tell me what is going on?”

Author's Note

:pinkiegasp:

Chapter 13

“Okay, Corbie… the teddy bears are having a picnic.” Twilight leaned forwards, one eyebrow raised, and she had a look of mock-seriousness upon her face. She waited, letting the moment build, and allowed just a little of her own inner playfulness to emerge. “Now, tell me, what do the teddy bears bring to their picnic?”

Without skipping a beat, Corbie clopped her two front hooves together and replied, “An apple!”

This of course earned a nod of approval from Applejack, who also sat on the floor, sitting in a rough circle with several others. Not far away, Spike was reading to Nuance, who appeared to be doing a little better today, but then again, it could have been the painkiller. Invoking as much drama as she could muster, Twilight turned to Rarity, drew in a deep breath, and asked her friend a question with as much seriousness as one might ask when inquiring about the meaning of life.

“Rarity, the teddy bears are having a picnic… now tell me, what do the teddy bears bring to their picnic?”

Lifting one well-hooficured hoof, Rarity began tapping her chin, no doubt trying to think of something suitable that the teddy bears could bring to their picnic that was not at all gauche. She sat for a time, causing Corbie to squirm, and Rainbow Dash as well. Seized with inspiration, she pulled her hoof away from her chin with a sweeping flourish and she batted her eyelashes at Twilight.

“Darling, the teddy bears bring apples and biscotti to the picnic!” Pleased with herself, Rarity’s barrel puffed out, due in no small part to the fact that this was the ideal form of competition; no effort, and perhaps more importantly, no sweating was involved.

“Flutter-butter-shy is next!” Corbie blurted out, and this caused Rainbow to groan.

“Nuts, I was gonna say cashews.” Rainbow let out a sigh and resigned herself to waiting.

“Flutter-butter-shy,” Twilight said, maintaining her serious mien, “what do the teddy bears bring to their picnic?”

“Oh… oh, I like this game… it’s non-confrontational.” A demure grin of pure bliss spread over her face, allowing Fluttershy’s radiant beauty to shine. “They bring an apple, some biscotti, and some cheese to the picnic.” The pegasus mare heaved a sigh of satisfaction, and added, “This sounds like this is going to be a nice picnic. I hope it stays that way.”

Lifting her head, Twilight glanced at Seville, who was hard at work on his papers. Even stranger was Pinkie Pie, who was helping him. Twilight figured that Pinkie would get bored soon enough. Her eye lingered for a moment before she returned her attention to the game, which really wasn’t a game, but an important exercise to teach Corbie the value of making and remembering lists. It was never too early to learn all about proper organisation and inventory management.

“Applejack—”

“Yeah, hun?”

“What do the teddy bears bring to their picnic?”

“Oh come on!” Rainbow cried in exasperation. “I was gonna say doughnuts.”

“Dangit, Rainbow, now I can’t say that without lookin’ like I’m takin’ the easy way out!” Reaching over, Applejack gave the blue pegasus a hard shove, which tipped her right over onto Fluttershy, who began giggling while she held Rainbow up. “Yer a no good booger-licker, Rainbow Dash!”

Sticking out her tongue, Rarity made a disgusted sound while making a dismissive wave with her hoof. Corbie’s wings fluttered while she began giggling and she watched as Rainbow Dash tried to recover. In response to Applejack, Rainbow stuck out her tongue, bent it back around, and she was just about to lick her own nostril when Rarity made a shrill vocal objection:

“Rainbow Dash! Don’t you dare go mining for nose-gold in front of Corbie!”

Admonished, Rainbow slumped over, her ears drooped, and she sulked while slurping her tongue back in.

“I’m bringing me some apples, some biscotti, some cheese, and some dewberries.” Applejack cocked her eyebrow like a loaded gun and gave Rainbow Dash a sidelong glance. “And I ain’t sharing none of it with no booger-licker.”

“Noooo,” Rainbow whined, “now I have a hard letter. I can’t think of anything.”

“Rainbow Dash”—Twilight leaned in the direction of her dear friend— “what do the teddy bears bring to their picnic?”

“Ugh!” Rainbow squeezed her cheeks with her front hooves while leaning against Fluttershy, and she made the most ridiculous face ever. From over on the couch where he sat, Nuance burst out laughing, then did his best to contain himself while Rainbow continued smooshing her face like silly putty.

“Enchiladas, Rainbow—”

“Thanks, Pinkie!” Rainbow pulled her hooves away from her face and blurted out the list. “Apples, bananas, cheese, doughnuts, and enchiladas.” While she recited the list, Applejack facehoofed, Rarity cringed, Fluttershy meeped, and there was a rare, synchronised double facehoof from Pinkie Pie and Seville.

Corbie, who sat there blinking, was stunned. With a slow turn of her head, she glanced over at Rainbow Dash, her head bobbing up and down, and in a soft voice she spoke: “And Nuance says I’m stupid.”

Twilight, never one to miss an opportunity, also nodded her head. “What she said.”

Carrying a tray loaded down with food, Twilight Sparkle took a deep breath as she approached Radiance’s door. It was now lunchtime, and she had a hunch that Radiance might be ready to make peace, if not from hunger, then from boredom. She was more than willing to let him keep stewing for as long as he wanted, but she also had a sincere desire to help him, to make things better.

Upon reaching the door, she didn’t bother knocking, but just let herself in, following Applejack’s advice about establishing who was in charge. While the door opened, Radiance turned to stare at her, and from across the room, she could hear his stomach growling. The sound made her ears perk, an action that, which in turn, caused his ears to drop in submission.

“At ease, Private Radiance.” Twilight couldn’t help herself, she meant it more as a joke than actual teasing, but when she said it, she saw an unexpected reaction: Radiance stiffened and stood at attention, the exact opposite of what she wanted. This puzzled her as much as it amazed her, for being so small, so little, so young, the colt stood with a rigidity that would no doubt impress the sternest commanders.

And it was at that moment that Twilight’s intuition began screaming inside of her head, shouting, and cranking the alarm klaxxon. She almost dropped the tray and she felt the breath sucked out of her lungs. The sternest, meanest, most hardcore commander was Princess Luna—Luna, who had favoured Nuance from the time that he was born.

Twilight remembered the moment all too well, as she had been there, and the memory was like a dam breaking in her mind. Celestia was at her most vulnerable, and everypony who was anypony had been there in the event that something might use the opportunity to attack. The tension from that moment all those years ago still lingered in her mind, and she could recall everything quite well. Still wet and messy from birth, Nuance had been snatched away by Luna, and she had said, “We are going to teach you magic, little one, and one day, you will fight for Our great empire.”

Gosling of course, had gravitated to Corbie, saying that he was going to teach her how to be a pretty, pretty pegasus.

And Celestia had said the most puzzling thing not long after giving birth, when Radiance—still unnamed—was suckling: “You… I’m going to teach you the secret to making perfect wagon wheels, someday.”

The tray trembled, and Twilight engaged in a mighty battle to regain her composure while she stared at Radiance, who still stood at perfect attention, his neck bent at perfect regulation angle, as was his dock, and his spine was a straight, rigid rod that went from front to rear. Her intuition continued to howl even as Twilight struggled to hold it together, and she realised, she knew, no matter how perfect little Radiance was as a would-be soldier, he would never have Luna’s attention as a soldier, not until he was much, much older.

Not to mention that Luna was focused entirely too much on magic.

“I brought you some lunch,” Twilight said, her voice quavering, and she was unable to hide it. She tried not to think about how far Radiance might go to get Luna’s attention, to show that he was a perfect, capable little soldier. “I wish you’d relax, I was only kidding with what I said.”

“But I want to join the guard.” Radiance stood, unmoving, almost a statue.

“Why?” Twilight asked, sensing opportunity.

“My mothers and my father always tell me I’m special,” the colt responded, and then he swallowed once, a loud sound in the otherwise quiet room. “But it doesn’t mean anything.”

“Why doesn’t it mean anything?” Twilight somehow managed to set the tray down on the bed without knocking anything over or making something rattle. She felt a cold prickle down below, near her navel, and the inside of her thigh muscles quivered from the growing tension in her body. Something about Radiance’s statuesque posture bothered her a great deal.

“I want to earn it.” Radiance blinked once, and when his eyes opened they shimmered with tears. “I want my mothers to be proud of me like they are proud of their soldiers. That means something. I want it, and I will have it. I’ll do anything to get it.”

For Twilight, it was like a kick to the stomach. Sycophantic behaviour was a trait all too common in equines, the need to belong, to fit in, to be part of the herd, and something about it had always unhinged her. The ponies that didn’t have it were deviants, and she had quite a few deviants in her school as students. It was a trait that she treasured. In Radiance though, there was an obvious deep-seeded need to fit in, to belong, and to have his parents approval not as their son, but as a soldier.

It was terrifying, and Twilight’s innards constant clenching made it difficult to stand still.

There was nothing left to do but take advantage of it, and Twilight knew that she would be drowning her self-loathing with root beer and ice cream later. A bitter taste filled her mouth as she prepared to speak, and her skin crawled while she summoned forth her commanding nature as an alicorn.

“Well then, Private Radiance, you can start by following my orders.” While Twilight spoke, she saw the colt grow even stiffer, starchier, as if that was somehow possible. “As a princess, I command that you not strike your brother again—”

“But I—”

“You do not speak unless spoken to, Private!”

Radiance’s mouth snapped shut with so much force that his teeth clicked together.

“I command that you do not strike your brother again. That is an order. You are going to eat. Afterwards, you are going to come out of your room and you are going to be a model citizen. You will be on your best behaviour. You will do nothing to antagonise your brother, and you will do nothing that will make your sister cry.” Twilight cleared her throat, and felt as though she was about to choke on her own words. “Am I understood?”

There was no response from Radiance, who stood there, stiff, unmoving.

“Am I understood?” Twilight repeated, raising her voice.

“Yes, Princess, you are understood.” Radiance’s voice was now flat, submissive, and there was an undercurrent of pain to it that Twilight picked up on all too well. “I’ll be good, I promise.”

Racking her mind, Twilight dredged up everything she knew about guard training, and then she unloaded with the worst threat she could think of. “Fail me and it will mean demerits. I will deliver your parents a full and detailed report of all of your failings upon their return.” While she spoke, she saw Radiance’s seeming confidence shatter from the impact of her words. He slumped, his ears fell, his spine sagged, and he appeared to be absolutely terrified.

Watching the poor colt cringe, Twilight knew that she had him under complete and total control, in the worst way possible. It was, at best, a temporary measure, and one she hoped to undo as soon as possible. But for now, it was control over a rough, complicated situation. By removing one less thing to worry about, she had added a dozen more. Sighing, she added to her copious mental notes, keeping track of everything that she knew.

She wanted to hug him, to make him feel better, to comfort him, but princesses didn’t hug their soldiers. They were cool, aloof, distant, and for the most part, ignored their soldiers, unless there was something that warranted their attention. Instead, she gave Radiance a hard, commanding glare, hating herself as she did so.

“After you eat, you are going to apologise to Nuance and to Corbie as well for what you did.”

Twilight’s words made Radiance flinch as though he had been struck, and she felt a growing tightness in her barrel from her rising revulsion. Was this the right thing? Only time would tell. For now though, it was control, and control was needed. Nuance was still an uncontrolled element, and she hoped that she could find some way of managing his behaviour as well.

Of all of the ways of getting a foal to behave, this was the worst…

Author's Note

And soon, we shall reach a conclusion... of sorts.

Chapter 14

Once more, Seville Orange found himself having a moment alone with Spike. Being a photojournalist as well as a reporter, it was second nature to ask questions, and Spike knew things. Seville stood watching as Spike cleaned up the dishes from lunch, not because the dragon had to, but because he liked doing it. Seville suspected that it appealed to Spike’s obvious meticulous nature.

“Hey, Spike, if you don’t mind me asking, what’s your take on the girls?” Seville leaned up against the counter and waited, wondering if Spike would ‘spill the dirt’ on his friends. Not that he wanted actual dirt, he was just consumed with a burning curiousity to know more about Twilight and her friends.

Scrubbing at a plate, a look of intense concentration appeared on Spike’s face. “Well,” he began, sounding almost hesitant, “they’re all terrible at being the Elements of Harmony that they are supposed to be.” The dragon’s face took on a peculiar expression. “But maybe that’s the point.”

Eyebrow arching, Seville found this intriguing. “Go on…”

“Twilight started out as a mentally stunted shut-in with intense tunnel vision. She could only see ahead towards some end goal, and her first group of friends were more or less study buddies that she forgot about when she no longer needed them for study. For the longest time, she even took me for granted.” Spike paused for a moment and concentrated while scrubbing a plate with a brush.

“She’s gotten better, but the tunnel vision is still there and anything not in her immediate focus is likely to be forgotten about. Which is why I keep things organised. She’s aware of her shortcomings and she’s asked me for my help, which I actually appreciated. It made me feel better and gave me some meaning that I was lacking.”

“I see.” Seville began taking mental notes, squirreling all of this away for later.

“Then there is Rarity, the Element of Generousity.” Spike stopped scrubbing for a moment, sighed, and then resumed his task. “Don’t get me wrong, Rarity is a nice pony, and she’s a good pony, but like Twilight, she’s too focused on her own goals. More and more she chases after success, and there is nothing wrong with that. She gives her time and her bits to everypony and anypony with a social cause.” Again, Spike stopped, and he worked at a sticky spot left behind by baked beans.

“There’s a but lurking in there, somewhere,” Seville said.

“Yes there is.” Spike nodded. “More and more, we’re resources to her. I don’t think she means to do what she does, but she is very selfish when it comes to her own needs. Everything she does is special. We’re the cavalry that is supposed to come when she calls, but as is often the case, she finds it hard to come to our rescue when we need her. And then she whines about how difficult it is to make time to do things.”

“Hmm.” Seville began to chew on his lip while he digested everything being said.

“And for being the best friend of the Princess of Friendship, Rarity is kind of a pretentious social climber that only wants to make friends with the right ponies so she can exploit them to advance her own goals.” Spike cringed, shook his head, and his tail sagged against the stool he was standing on. “I feel really bad, saying that, but it’s true. It’s been a thing since the very first Grand Galloping Gala we went to.”

Seville was flummoxed by Spike’s insights, and he regretted not asking the dragon to dish out the dirt sooner. Spike knew these ponies, perhaps better than anypony else, and his perspectives were unique, which might be because he was a dragon. Ears perking, he waited for Spike to continue, knowing that there was a lot more to be said.

“Rainbow Dash… Element of Loyalty. And that’s her problem, right there.”

“I don’t savvy.”

“Rainbow is always torn over who she is loyal to at any given moment. The Wonderbolts, Twilight and her friends, Tarnished Teapot and Daring Do… Rainbow jumps from group to group, torn between her loyalties. She feels obligated to be with them all, and she’s always worrying and fretting and no matter who she’s with, she’s always worried that she’s letting somepony else down. Her loyalties are divided, and I don’t think that she’s realised that when you’re loyal to everypony, you’re really not loyal to anypony. Which is why I’ve thrown in my lot with Twilight. I know where my loyalties lie.”

“That’s… quite insightful.” Unsure what else to say, the earth pony began thinking, taking everything in. For being a kid, Spike had his head screwed on straight and Seville suspected that Spike knew far more than he let on.

“Thank you,” Spike replied, and he began to wash the glasses, which had to have the chocolate milk scrubbed out of them. “Pinkie Pie… I love Pinkie Pie… she and I are very close.” The dragon hesitated, perhaps choosing his words with great care. “Pinkie Pie is a lot like the balloons that are her cutie mark… pretty to look at and you know a party is going on when you see them.”

“Mmm hmm.” Seville offered up an encouraging nod.

“But when those balloons pop, the party's over.” Spike dunked a glass into the sink, lifted it, and then jammed the scrubbing brush into it, which caused the suds to foam. “Pinkie is fragile… she can go from happy to depressed in seconds. She can be manically happy one moment and then psycho scary the next. Pinkie Pie has a lot of paranoia, insecurity, and fear. She’s also two very different ponies in one body… something I am sure you will find out all about.”

Seville was about to say something, but was denied the chance when Spike continued.

“Applejack has lied about quite a few things, and while she tries to be honest with what she says, she’s not honest at all with herself or her friends. When there is a problem, she’ll say that she’s fine, or that she doesn’t need help, and she’s too stubborn to ask for help. She’ll lie right to your face and say that she has everything handled, and she’s always taking on more than what she is capable of. Every fall, when it’s applebucking season, she almost kills herself because she is too proud to ask for help. She’s never been honest when it comes to admitting that she’s in trouble or needs help. Rather than face up to a problem, she’ll lie about it and run away, just like that time she hightailed it to Appleloosa.”

“I… see…”

“Applejack is the most dishonest pony I know,” Spike remarked, “and also the most honest. When she lies, you’ll know the truth of the matter. When she says that she doesn’t need help, she does.” Pausing in his task, the dragon turned to look at Seville, holding the scrubbing brush in his claws. “You’re not going to put this in the newspaper, are you?”

“No.” Seville already knew that he planned to keep all of this to himself.

“Good.” Spike returned to washing the glasses from lunch. “It feels good to let this out.”

“I’d imagine that it does.” Seville wondered in silence if Spike’s incessant need to clean everything was some kind of desire to look after his hoard. Did Spike have a hoard? Seville suspected that he did. Having met quite a few dragons, he had picked up a bit on their traits, and every single one of them he had encountered had been meticulous, clean creatures, with perfect, mirror-finished scales, and all of their personal effects were to be found in perfect order.

“As for Fluttershy… she’s the scariest pony I know, and that’s all I have to say about that.”

Something was… up, and Twilight wasn’t certain what it was. Sumac and Pebble had come over, and they brought help—professional help—in the form of Megara. Twilight couldn’t quite put her hoof on why this concerned her, but it did, even if she was grateful for the assistance. Megara was a skilled foalsitter in her own right and she had what some might call a talent for making little ones behave.

Corbie, the loquacious little motormouth, was telling Sumac all about wings, along with Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy. A never-ending stream of information spilled from the filly’s mouth, everything that her father and mothers had told her about how to care for wings. For the most part, Rainbow was just nodding her head and going along with everything said, all while Fluttershy kept creeping closer to Sumac.

Twilight knew what was up, Fluttershy was going to try to cuddle him, but Sumac kept inching away, no doubt aware of what Fluttershy was planning. It was a slow motion race that was so subtle that it could only be compared to shoreline erosion. Twilight suspected that Sumac hadn’t grown up at all in Fluttershy’s eyes. The pair of them had always had an enduring, if somewhat strange friendship, which Twilight knew existed because of a mutual friend they shared: Discord.

Nuance, who was behaving himself, was spending time with Megara and Rarity. Perhaps his apparent fascination with the manticoran hybrid was making him behave, but he sat still while he was being brushed and groomed. Or maybe he was scared. Megara could be a little scary, with her underbite, her polished tusks, and all of her pointy bits sticking out everywhere. Megara meanwhile, was being attacked by Rarity, who had some kind of personal mission to somehow bring Megara’s wild appearance under some semblance of control. The fiery, cinnamon-red mohawk would not be controlled or even contained.

And then, there was Radiance. Twilight looked over to where he was sitting with Applejack, Pebble, and Pinkie Pie. Even though he had been quite distraught earlier, Radiance seemed to be enjoying himself at the moment. Pebble was talking about the great art of Shatterstone and all of the discipline involved, the fine control. Twilight had a hunch that Pebble might have an agenda regarding her choice of discussions.

Perhaps being exposed to new things might help.

While she sat there, pony watching, Twilight wondered what the guys were up to. They had not yet come out of the kitchen, and she thought that it was great that Seville and Spike were spending time together. Getting up from where she sat, she decided to go and check on them to see what they were up to together.

Stepping into the hallway, Twilight almost bumped into Seville and all thoughts of Spike were forgotten. When she looked into his eyes, her mouth went dry and she could feel her lips clinging to her teeth. It was an uncomfortable sensation, and fixing it was out of the question because that would involve making funny faces, and right now, at this moment, she could not make funny faces in front of Seville.

She took solace in the fact that Seville appeared to be as uncomfortable as she was.

“I read a little of your thesis,” Twilight confessed. “I hope you don’t mind.” She had said this because something had to be said, and she wished she hadn’t. It only made things more awkward, and she shuffled on her hooves, wishing she had started with something else to make smalltalk.

“It’s been hard to write.” Seville’s voice sounded subdued to Twilight’s perked ears.

“I agree with it though…” Twilight felt her lips sticking to her teeth while she spoke, and it felt as though there was something lodged in the back of her throat. “Journalists are the defenders of the realm. They do have an obligation to tell the truth and there is so much that could be said about the importance of integrity. Journalists do with ink what politicians do with rhetoric and soldiers do with violence. While opinion has a place in journalism, and some op-ed pieces will no doubt go down in history as being great writing, I agree with your statement that it is far more important for a reporter to present facts in such a way that the common laypony can understand them and form their own opinion. Doing so without slant or bias can be a great service to the empire.”

While Seville stood there, blinking, Twilight felt a hot flush of heat spread upwards from her neck, and she wished that she wasn’t such a dork. Of course, Seville was a dork too, and in a technical matter of speaking, all of this was his fault because this conversation came from his thesis.

“The creation of a new standard is always difficult,” Seville said, keeping his voice low. “I want to create a whole new standard… a series of ethics backed by moral reporting. I don’t see why journalists can’t conform to a standard. Soldiers do it, there are entire books and schools of thought about the expected behaviours of soldiers. Mental health professionals have standards and ethics. Doctors have standards and ethics. We have these great professions that have strong ethical foundations… but not our journalists.”

“This is something you’re really passionate about, isn’t it?” Twilight asked, for lack of anything better to say.

“I watched a group of corrupt journalists lead by a corrupt anarchist topple our country.” Seville’s face contorted with anger for a moment, and there was a dangerous gleam in his eye. “Celestia said that, in hindsight, Mister Mariner’s attempted coup d'état was the single most successful and most damaging uprising in Equestrian history. Backed by his media empire, he controlled how ponies thought, their opinions, their feelings, he had a level of mental control over ponies that rivaled magic, and he successfully brought our empire down. Out of every villain, every evil that has threatened us, every dark force that has opposed us in our modern age, Mister Mariner has no doubt been the most successful. The irresponsible use of ink was almost our undoing.”

The words struck Twilight like a slap, and she stood there, her breathing shallow, thinking about integrity, morals, and being responsible with ink. Seville’s words held a bitter truth to them—ink was a medium of exchange that like compound interest, could topple a nation or end a dynasty.

“In the past, knights have gathered to create orders dedicated to protecting the empire. They created codes of conduct”—Seville paused for a second, licked his lips, and his eyelids trembled a bit—“they created these codes and lived and died by the standards they held themselves to. I hope one day to do the same… to inspire my fellow journalists to hold themselves to a code. I want history… no, I want Celestia to look back and reminisce about the time when journalists came together to defend a nation… and made it better. We have a responsibility and we need to hold ourselves accountable for what we do… our actions.”

With just a hint of shame, Twilight realised that she had been mouth-breathing for quite a while now, and her teeth clicked when she pressed her lips together. She drew in a deep breath through her nose and then made the mistake of looking Seville in the eye right as she did that. She felt a spark, the jolt was so sudden that her mouth fell back open, and she let out everything with a wheeze.

Seville was a complicated pony.

“I want to see you succeed,” Twilight said, breathing out the words more than saying them. “I’d like to help you, if I can… if you’ll let me. Those knightly orders usually had a princess or a prince that patroned their cause. I could do that…” Her words trailed off and she found herself entranced, distracted, staring into Seville’s eyes.

“I could live in service to any cause you patroned,” Seville replied, and he took a step back. “A princess could make a powerful ally… I might actually stand a fighting chance if I had some help.”

Twilight shivered, but did not know why. Little electric tingles danced down her spine, which made her dock tense, which in turn made her tail flag, just a little. It wasn’t much, but she was all too aware of it happening, her body making a subtle invitation, and doing so on its own, unbidden. “You know, Seville… there is something fitting about us helping one another to maintain the integrity of ink…”

Author's Note

He's not entirely wrong...

Chapter 15

The announcement that they were all going out was met with mixed reactions. Twilight had decided that it was absolutely necessary to get out of the castle and go out somewhere, anywhere, and that anywhere would be Dundee Donkey’s Botanical Gardens, a place she had been meaning to visit for quite a time—before becoming one with the Ink—and now was the perfect opportunity.

“I don’t want to go out,” Nuance whined, and the colt let out a petulant whimper to make his feelings known to anypony that might listen and take pity.

For a moment, Twilight thought that Radiance was going to say something, but then she watched the earth pony colt’s mouth snap shut. Good, that was one less thing to worry about. She glanced at Spike, then looked around at her friends, and realised that Nuance was the only real objection. Rarity looked excited, as was Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie and Applejack seemed indifferent, and as for Rainbow Dash, the pegasus mare had a curious look of excitement about her.

Since when did Rainbow Dash take up an interest in flowers, other than eating them?

How curious. How curious indeed. Twilight found herself intrigued by this behaviour. An investigation into Rainbow Dash’s curiousity was in order, and she made a mental note to give it a thorough researching later, perhaps when she had some free time. If she ever had some free time. If anything, it would give her some time to spend with Rainbow, who was becoming increasingly difficult to catch.

It would be nice to have a perfectly normal outing. Yep, perfectly normal. Just a perfectly normal group of friends foalsitting a few perfectly normal foals, along with a few perfectly normal helpers, and surrounded by an entire legion of perfectly normal guards. Gnawing on her lip, Twilight wondered if Radiance, Corbie, and Nuance had ever had a ‘normal’ day. A creeping feeling of doubt suggested they hadn’t.

She would have to deal with it somehow, and Twilight was determined to have a somewhat normal day. See the botanical gardens. Maybe get some ice cream. Burgers and fries? The first twinge of guilt set in—all of the trailing guards would become an inconvenience to others—and Twilight knew that she would be affecting the sort of day that other ponies had.

“No,” Pinkie Pie said, startling Twilight, “no, you don’t get to call this off. We’re going.”

Mouth hanging open, Twilight wondered how Pinkie knew.

“I am onto you, Miss Sparkle… I am your best friend… I know your secrets. Well, most of them, anyhow.” Pinkie smiled, a broad, beaming grin of unabashed affection. “Just let everything happen and it’ll all be fine, just fine.”

“But all the bad things that could happen—”

“Here we go,” Rarity murmured while she rolled her eyes. “We can face down ancient evils together, but a little trip to the botanical gardens becomes a cause for alarm.” Rarity’s lips puckered into a fine moue, and she shook her head. “You know Twilight, when we do our lunch, we should do it in Canterlot. I think a day in Canterlot would be good to jog your senses.”

“I wanna go!” Corbie’s shrill whine made every ear stand up. “I wanna be outside! Outside! OUTSIDE GO OUTSIDE NOW BEFORE I GO KOOKY IN MY COCONUT!”

“Sis,” Radiance said, speaking in a definite ‘indoor’ voice, “too late.”

With a roar, Corbie glomped her brother, trying to knock him over, but it did no good. After getting him in a headlock, she chomped down on his ear, gave it a tug, and then said something about ‘mercy’ around a mouthful of fuzz. Radiance, a stoic, just stood there, not reacting, not saying anything, and he allowed his sister to have her fun at his expense.

“Pegasus ponies,” Rarity murmured, shaking her head in disapproval. “Such brutes.”

Corbie’s assault on her sibling came to an abrupt halt when her glasses almost fell off. With her forelegs still around Radiance’s neck, she began bobbing her head around, looking quite birdlike, and tried to get her glasses to slide back into place. When she couldn’t Rarity helped, sliding them back into the right spot, and then giving them a final nudge to make certain they were level.

“Thank you, Rarity.” Corbie smiled, hugged her brother a little tighter, and then asked, “So, are we going?”

“Yeah,” Twilight replied with a nod, “we’re going. Let’s get ready already.”

In a moment of copacetic understanding, Twilight understood why her mentor, Celestia, didn’t get out much as a family. This was more like leading a parade than a family outing, what with her entourage of friends, her assistant, her helpers, and a troupe of guards, a group of Immortal Solars who had no idea of the meaning of the words ‘a good time.’ The worst part? She could not dismiss the Immortal Solars; they had been given explicit orders to ignore her orders to depart, and Immortal Solars were only loyal to one pony.

Twilight made a mental correction: two ponies. Now they were loyal to two.

But Twilight didn’t care. This was family time. And this was her family. No arguments. Well, except for the guards, which Twilight viewed as party crashers. Their incessant clanking was getting on her last nerve and she pondered casting a silencing spell to make it go away. That was the advantage to being a Twilight Sparkle, you could make things go away. Of course, Trixie Lulamoon made things go away as well, but she did it with high yield explosives and rockets. Which reminded her…

“Hey Sumac, how is your mother’s new design working out?” Twilight asked.

The colt’s head snapped around and he offered a far more detailed answer than Twilight anticipated: “The last launch made it to the lower ionosphere, if Twinkleshine’s tracking spell can be believed. We hit the lower mesosphere, or about sixty miles straight up. Then we had a terminal failure.”

“What’s a mesosphere?” Corbie asked, looking both bewildered and baffled by the word.

“A level of the atmosphere.” Sumac looked down at the pegasus filly who walked abreast with him. “It is above the stratosphere and below the thermosphere. The temperature begins to drop there, and it gets very, very cold. Which is why the rocket blew up, most likely. Lemon thinks that the contrast between the cold and the heat made the metal brittle and all of the vibration made it shatter.”

Twilight was about to say something to add to the scientific discussion, but she was interrupted by a streaky blur that went, “Meep meep!”

The blur paused for a moment as the startled guards began to react, and Sly Pie waved one hoof at Twilight. “Hiyas! How ya doing?”

“Sly Pie, why must you give your poor mother so much grief?” Twilight asked.

The little colt shrugged and his pink forelock bobbed when he shook with the giggles. “Megara wasn’t at home to look after me.” The colt looked over at his big sister, grinned, waved at her, and then looked back over his shoulder. Now scowling, he returned his gaze to Twilight, looking her in the eye. “I gotta go!” And with that, he was off, leaving such a powerful wake behind him that it tugged on Twilight’s mane.

A few seconds later, an exasperated Tarnished Teapot and a snarling Octavia went tearing past, not even taking the time to say hello, off on their eternal pursuit of the colt known as Sly Pie, the Speedy Terror of Ponyville. Twilight watched them and thought about the fact that having foals was a gamble—a risk—and there was no way of knowing what you were going to get… unless you had the Ink, that is. But that would spoil the surprise. She cast a quick glance at Seville, who was carrying Nuance on his back.

It was just the sort of thing a good father would do.

“I keep wanting to experiment on my brother,” Pebble deadpanned. “I suspect if I were to mummify him in duct tape—”

“Pebble Pie!” Rarity squealed in protest.

“—that he would just be free again in five minutes. He can’t be contained, the little rascal.” After a moment, she added, “I think if he were to be mummified in duct tape, he’d be hairless once he did get free. It is a question that needs answering—”

“Pebble!” Rarity cried again, this time her voice was somehow even more shrill and the marshmelodrama had been doubled. “No matter how annoying our siblings are, we do not make duct tape mummies out of them. How rude!”

“You know…” Pebble drew out the words and the left corner of her mouth turned up into a smarmy smirk. “I need to ask Sweetie Belle how she got out of the duct tape, methinks.”

“Pebble! Stop using your mother’s dry wit that you’ve inherited like a sword!” Rarity sucked in a deep breath to keep going, but Sumac beat her to the punch.

“Too far, Pebs, too far. Now you done did it.” The colt’s drawl was a perfect imitation of Applejack, and everypony had a good laugh, including Applejack herself.

Dundee Donkey was a druid whose life ambition was to bring the beauty of nature to city-dwellers. To this end, he had traveled the entirety of the world, gathered the most beautiful, the most curious, the most peculiar, the most unique, and some of the most outrageous specimens that could be found. Then, with Mister Teapot’s blessing and a generous bit of funding, Dundee had created a fabulous botanical garden here in Ponyville.

For Twilight, it was a sign that the world was progressing, getting better, that things were improving, even with the ominous threat of Grogar ever-looming. While the armies moved southward, inching towards Castle Midnight, the rest of the world made good use of the peace, freedom, and security that the army had paid for with service and sacrifice. On a somewhat more personal level, the botanical gardens validated Twilight’s position and her stance as a princess: Celestia focused on pushing and expanding the borders, offering safety, while Twilight focused on maintaining a high standard of living here in the heartland of Equestria.

Patriotism and nationalism were nurtured by giving a soldier a home worth fighting for.

Just outside of the gate, Twilight felt it: the strange magic of the Druid’s Grove was here, right here in Ponyville. With her skin prickling, she began to suspect that Mister Teapot might have an ulteriour motive for helping Dundee get established here. The tickle-prickle traveled up her neck, made the back of her skull tingle, and her ears began twitching as she began to discern the magic, its intent, its purpose. This was a wellspring of magic that Tarnish and his ilk could draw upon for the town’s defense, should the need arise.

Something about the magic awoke her ink-sense and Twilight’s eyes went vacant.

“Twilight?”

Blinking, Twilight recovered herself at the sound of Sumac’s voice.

“Twilight, whatever you’re doing, it’s making my magic-sense go crazy.”

“Sorry, Sumac. I don’t know what came over me for a moment there.”

“I feel it too, Twilight.” Sumac lowered his voice. “The Ink… it did something to us.”

“It sure did…” Twilight’s voice trailed off and she gave herself a shake. She could draw off of the magic here as well, the very magic of creation itself. She felt it rippling through her body, like waves coming in from a heavy incoming tide, or bursts from a pulsar. Sucking in a deep breath, Twilight regained her control and gave herself another shake. She was fine now, everything was fine, and she was looking forwards to having a good time.

Every tree, every frond, every blade of grass, it was as if every plant pulsed with its own magic, not the magic of unicorns, but the magic that made the unique flora and fauna of this world possible. Twilight’s earth pony senses awoke with a scream and she realised that for thousands and thousands of years, she had neglected the development of herself as an earth pony. She treated her wings as a convenience, a means to get from one place to another, but her earth pony aspects had been ignored completely.

And with her earth pony aspect waking up, other parts of her woke up as well—parts she tended to avoid thinking about—and after eons of being utterly ignored, those parts demanded some attention. A frightful—but delightful—electric tingle jolted through her loins, making her stomach clench while the muscles along the inside of her thighs went taut.

For the first time in her life, Twilight Sparkle was in desperate need of a cold shower.

Author's Note

Been taking a little me time. Sorry ‘bout that. Been constructing some new ideas, working on the next arc of Skyreach, and working on an entirely new story idea.

Chapter 16

Rainbow Dash scampered off like a foal, not even flying, and Twilight found herself mystified. Why yes, the flighty pegasus did come down to earth on occasion, and even seemed to enjoy herself. Inside of the walled enclosure there were a number of open gardens and a collection of greenhouses, with everything being divided into sections by hedge walls. Near the entrance was a nice gazebo for resting, and next to the gazebo was a strongbox for donations.

When a young-looking pegasus mare dropped a few bits into the box, Twilight felt an immense feeling of pride that was almost overwhelming. Her ponies, for the most part, were good ones. Even Sly, for all of his antics, was a good pony. He just had trouble sitting still, or perhaps it was kinder to say that he had some excessive energy issues. Either way, Sly’s ability to run was impressive, as there were few creatures that could outrun Tarnished Teapot, marathon sprinter and known hard-to-catch trouble runner-awayer.

Of Dundee Donkey himself, there was no sign. Word had it that the donkey had plant growing magic that rivaled Tarnish’s, and Twilight very much wanted to see a demonstration. She saw a flash of black and white stripes, thought it was Zecora, but then realised it was a stallion. Curious—it seemed that Ponyville had visitors. She turned to say something, but most of her friends were already gone.

All that was left was Seville, Pinkie Pie, and Nuance. Where did her friends go and how did they vanish in such an inspired manner? Oh, Twilight knew what was going on. She knew exactly what was going on. Everypony had different interests that they just couldn’t be patient enough to wait and see together. She let out a huff and shook her head.

“Well,” Twilight said, looking at her companions, “I think it’s just us…”

Standing up on his tip-claws, Spike eyeballed the wooden sign and gave it a read. The Oligarch's Orchid, so named because it only blooms once every thirty years. With a slight turn of his head, he looked at the orchid itself, and saw no sign of a bloom. Just a big greenish-yellow bulb. For Spike, this wasn’t a big deal, not at all, just a mild disappointment. He made a mental note to inquire when the orchid would bloom next and thirty years was no great wait at all—for a dragon.

“I’m gonna be an old mare when that thing blooms again,” Applejack drawled. “I can’t see the point in having it when you have to wait so goldurn long for it to open up.” She looked down at Radiance, who was studying the flower with great interest, and then glanced over at Rarity and Fluttershy, who were speaking to one another in low voices. “I suppose it’s right pretty though, and maybe it’s worth waiting for.”

For a moment, Spike thought about saying, “That’s not long at all,” but he kept it to himself. He had no way of knowing when the orchid might bloom again, but if it were say, a twenty year wait, Radiance would be all grown up and maybe even married, Applejack would indeed be older, along with Rarity and Fluttershy. Of them all, Fluttershy was the oldest, though she didn’t show it. The only signs of her age that Spike could notice were the deep crinkled laugh lines in the corners of her eyes.

In fact, Fluttershy defied aging so well that Spike suspected that Discord might be up to something, but he kept his suspicions to himself and said nothing. It would be awful to make such an accusation about Discord. It would be wrong. It would be insulting to Fluttershy and Discord. The little dragon wondered how the Lord of Chaos was doing and he returned his attention to his friends.

It settled into Spike’s mind that there was no longer a race against time to spend precious moments with Twilight. She would no longer be gone in the blink of an eye. Because of the ink and its curious properties, Twilight would now be around in some form or another, and someday, a long, long time from now, Spike would get to spend time with her as an adult. They now had all of the time in the world.

They could watch the Oligarch’s Orchid bloom again, again, and again if they so desired.

“Dashie is off with Sumac, Pebble, Megara, and Corbie,” Pinkie said to Twilight with a sidelong glance. “Do you think we should be worried?”

Should they be worried? Probably. Was she worried? Not particularly. She stood in the cool shade beside the most picturesque pond she had ever seen, and Twilight just didn’t have it in her to worry about much of anything at the moment. The pond was full of koi, and Nuance was watching them with great fascination.

“I don’t get it,” Seville whispered to Twilight. “Nuance hates being outside. He can’t stand the royal gardens. But he’s enjoying himself right now, I’d bet my curly tail on it.”

“Well, yeah, silly, you’d get tired of seeing the same old patch of dirt day after day.” Pinkie Pie gave Seville a teasing grin, then turned to watch Nuance, who sat in the grass at the edge of the pond, wide-eyed, and enraptured. “Also, my tail is a whole lot curlier than yours, Mister Orange.” She gave her pink, cotton candy fluff a good shake for emphasis, and then was distracted by the sound of Nuance’s somewhat weak laughter.

“Bubbles,” the colt said to nopony in particular, and the koi, they were indeed blowing bubbles in the water. When a large frog plopped into the water, the colt’s head jerked to the left to have a better look.

Mindful of her tail, Twilight sat down in the damp, cool grass, and found it a pleasant, pleasing comfort against her rather warm backside, which she was doing her best not to think about. She was a small quadrupedal terrestrial mammal, and being such a creature, she had needs. Sitting down for a spell, as Applejack called it, was only one such need, and there were others.

“Look!”

She felt Nuance grab her leg, give it a tug, and Twilight peered at the what the colt was pointing at. She didn’t see anything but fish swimming, paddle bugs were skimming the surface, and the sunlight dappled the water as it shone down through the canopy of trees. It was beautiful though, and maybe that was the point. Trying a little harder, Twilight tried to put herself into Nuance’s mindset, how exciting the new things could be when you were small.

Pinkie Pie sat down on the other side of Nuance and made herself comfortable, while Seville sat down beside Twilight. Now, she felt nervous and weird, as he was sitting close enough to be touching. Why was this weird? They had slept in the same bed together. This shouldn’t be weird. They had been friends for a very long time. Gosling had introduced them, and had manipulated them into dancing together.

She turned to say something and Twilight found that her snoot almost bumped into Seville’s. A strange new tension made all of the muscles in her neck tense and she could feel Nuance squeezing her leg, a much needed distraction. Pulling her head back, she gave Seville and herself a little space, and then turned to look down at Nuance, who was looking up at her.

“Are you two going to kiss?” Nuance asked, sounding solemn and sincere.

“What is it with you and your sister wanting ponies to kiss?” Twilight saw the colt flinch a little from her words, so she gave him a reassuring nudge with her leg. “I just want to know. You can tell me, I won’t laugh. Haven’t I shown you kindness?” Her words struck home and she could see that the little unicorn was considering what she had said.

“When bad things happen,” Nuance said in a low whisper while his gaze focused on a nearby guard, “my parents don’t act like they love each other. They change… they act different. They act like soldiers, and they shout out commands, and they’re mean sounding, and everything is scary and tense and I don’t like it… but when the bad stuff is over, they kiss and they’re nice to each other and I can finally relax.”

“So you don’t like the shouting?” Twilight asked.

“No.” Nuance shook his head.

“Have you told somepony?” Twilight felt Seville breathing on her, which made her distracted.

“I told Cadance, and my parents, and Twilight Velvet, and they’ve all told me I need to learn how to cope.” Nuance’s voice became a bit more shrill, a bit more nasal, and the colt drew in a few shuddering deep breaths. “I can’t cope… I just can’t… my mama says I’m not trying hard enough, but I just can’t deal with all of the noise, the shouting, and the angry, scary voices.” The colt’s ears drooped. “I know my mother is sad because of how I am. I’m a big let down with everything I do… or can’t do.”

“Nuance, Celestia loves you—”

“Shut up, Seville, what do you know?” Nuance bit down on his lip for a moment—hard enough to draw blood—and then he continued, “She loves Rad… he’s the little soldier. He can cope. He does just fine when there is shouting and he follows orders and he’s always reminding me of how worthless and weak I am and how fragile I am if I can’t even deal with somepony shouting. I hate him… I hate him.”

Looking up, Twilight found herself staring into the eyes of Pinkie Pie, and she saw tears.

“They don’t know what it is like for me,” Nuance whined and it sounded as though his voice had become stretched thin. “Not even Corbie. When trouble starts, she runs to Daddy, and she clings to his leg, and she just somehow sticks it out because stupid pegasus ponies all flock together and I hate her too… and my dad… he’s always so proud of her for sticking together in times of trouble, and she’s always being praised for being a whiny crybaby, but not me. I hate her. I hate her so much.”

The gravity of Pinkie’s eyes had a powerful attraction, but Twilight somehow pulled her own gaze away so she could look at Nuance. His lip was bleeding—but only just a little—and rage was visible in his eyes. There was a terrifying anger there, an anger that Twilight had not thought possible in a foal.

“Nuance,” Seville said to the colt, and his voice had an uncharacteristic hardness, “the only time that Corbie is a ‘whiny crybaby’ is when you do something to hurt her. When the trouble happens, as you say, and she runs to Goose, she’s scared, but she’s not whining and she’s not crying.”

Nuance gritted his teeth together, and for a moment, Twilight thought that he might start shouting, but the little colt said nothing in return to Seville. She wondered what was going on, and she had a bit of concern for the harshness in Seville’s voice, but she suspected that there were factors she was unaware of, instructions, and no doubt a treatment plan of some sort laid out by Cadance.

One thing was certain: Nuance had just lied to her with as much ease as breathing.

There was no point in being angry, so she let it slide. Nuance was hurt, hurt in ways she did not yet understand, and he was bound to do things and say things that she didn’t like. When she turned her head around to look at Seville, she almost bumped snoots with him again, but this time, she wasn’t distracted.

“You were kinda harsh there, Seville.”

“Necessary,” Seville replied. “Cadance’s orders. Direct confrontation when he bends the truth, lies, or tells a fiblet. She seems to think that he’s getting better about it, but I haven’t seen it. Not yet.” The stallion’s ears sagged a bit, splaying out to the sides, and his head shook from side to side. “I don’t like doing it. I feel bad for the little guy.”

“Hmm.” Twilight returned her attention to Nuance, and found that he was staring into the pond once more, watching the fish. She decided it was best to let the issue drop for now, and maybe, just maybe, they could still have a nice time together. That was her sincere hope, at least.

Unbeknownst to Twilight Sparkle, the rocks were listening to every word spoken, and an unseen figure lurked in the nearby bushes. So distracted was she and so suffocated by the magic of the Grove that lurked within the botanical garden, that she failed to notice the uncurrent of strange, unfamiliar magic all around her. Hidden away, the unseen pony plotted.

Chapter 17

Something about the joy and the wonder that Nuance was experiencing was a balm to Twilight’s jangled nerves. So far on this day of discovery, she had found that she could fly faster than the speed of vomit, Seville was a terrible distraction, she still had the best friends that anypony could ask for, and much to her own dismay, she now felt a terrible dread over the fact that Rainbow Dash had vanished with precious, almost innocent little foals. What awful things might Rainbow teach them?

For some reason that she could not express, it was worrisome.

Just as Twilight’s thoughts were about to coalesce into something meaningful, she was distracted by Nuance yet again, and the little colt seemed to be having the time of his life as he squealed at the sight of the snaredragon plant. The plant, so named because of the snares it used to catch passing prey, was enough to drive Nuance into a state of excitement when it launched out a ‘tongue’ and caught a flying bug.

Twilight herself had never seen anything quite like it, and she too, settled in for a closer look, standing between Seville, who had Nuance on his back, and Pinkie Pie. Nuance was almost hanging off of Seville’s neck, just trying to get a closer look at the snaredragon as it pulled the bug into its thorny maw.

“We don’t have anything like this in the royal gardens,” Nuance said in a somewhat nasal voice that was shrill with excitement. “I thought this was going to be boring and horrible, but this is great!”

“Nuance…” Twilight began, and the single word she had spoken trailed off while she gathered her thoughts. “Nuance, how would you like to get out of Canterlot for a day or two and come and visit me? I mean, on a weekly basis. Not just you, but Corbie and Radiance too.”

“It would be better without them,” Nuance replied, his attention still focused on the snaredragon.

“Well, I think I could arrange for that.” Twilight took a deep breath and dredged the depths of her mind before she said, “I think it would be good for you to get out and see new things. Honestly though, I really do think that you, your brother, and your sister need to learn to stick together.” She did not say the rest of her words aloud, that he was going to need his siblings as he grew, and that all they had was each other. For now, she kept that to herself. Nuance didn’t need to be reminded of the troubles of growing up as royalty, he already knew, and Twilight didn’t want him to feel patronised.

“Twilight, you stay pretty busy, are you sure you can do this?” Pinkie Pie asked, and then she added, “I didn’t mean for that to sound bad, if it did… I’m just worried… I’ll be glad to help so you can make it happen!”

“I think I can make it happen.” Twilight watched as the bug struggled, not wanting to be digested in the thorny maw it found itself in. “My parents were very busy ponies… super busy. They were both working so hard to save the world, and I didn’t even know it. Cadance became my foalsitter, and my best friend, and we went on adventures together, and did things, and she always found time for me. I’d like to do something similar.”

“Twilight, you have an enormous workload with your school. I think things were a little different for Cadance, if you don’t mind me saying.” Seville gave Twilight a sidelong glance, but Twilight, focused on the last moments of the bug, did not see him. “And then there is all you do as a princess, and everything else.”

“Seville, what are you getting at?” Twilight asked.

“I’m just saying, don’t make a promise you can’t keep,” Seville replied, sounding hesitant and uncomfortable. He shuffled on his hooves, and his eyes narrowed. “Look, these three… when there are circumstances beyond what you can’t control, you shouldn’t make promises… these three, they’ve already had plenty of promises broken—”

Twilight seized upon these words, turned her head, and looked Seville right in the eye. “Is that what has happened?”

Seville knew that he had said too much, and he feared that he had broken his best friend’s trust. He could feel Nuance trembling against his neck, the little colt was shaking, and he knew, he knew that he had said too much. Hearing a gasp from Pinkie Pie, he thought about looking at her, but couldn’t. Pinkie had a thing about promises, and Seville wasn’t ready to be raked over the coals.

Yet, with the way Twilight was looking at him, it seemed as though it was going to happen anyway. A careless word had cost him, though how much remained to be determined. Even worse, he had violated his best friend’s trust, and that, more than anything else, bothered him right now.

“If it was anypony else,” Twilight said in a low voice that seemed far too calm for the situation, “I would be upset, but I understand. I understand everything. Celestia, Luna, and Gosling all live in a situation where promises are luxuries and sometimes, due to circumstance, must be broken. Nopony can control when a crisis pops up, or when something happens, there are just so many factors that they have no control over.”

Nuance snorted, and Seville wondered if it was from contempt.

“They are beset on all sides with problems,” Twilight continued, and her head nodded while her expression was one of understanding. “I know all three of those ponies quite well, and I know for certain that breaking a promise has to hurt them.”

“They don’t act like it hurts them.” Nuance spat out the words and his face contorted with rage, something that Seville did not see. “They’re always breaking promises. They’re always saying that they’re going to do this, or do that, or that this time things will be different, and I don’t believe them anymore when they tell me something.”

Seville’s ears drooped and he thought about all of the horrible repercussions that were bound to come about because of this. He might even be booted from his position of trust, and with good reason. His mouth went dry and without even realising he was doing it, he tucked his tail between his legs.

“Nuance, you probably don’t understand this, but your parents are stuck in a situation where they don’t always have control over everything that happens.” Twilight’s voice held a surprising gentleness and a soothing calm. “You and your parents actually have something in common, Nuance, and that is that all of you are in a rough situation where there is very little control over anything. I know how difficult it is to try and think about all of this, but if you tried really, really hard Nuance, I think you’re smart enough to see that you and your parents share some very similar circumstances. You know how frustrating it is to not have control over something, so you should be sympathetic to your parents.”

Seville felt Nuance slump against his neck and the little colt’s breathing quickened. As far as he knew, not even Cadance had tried this angle, and Twilight was in new territory, a new ocean of emotion just waiting to be discovered. Even though nothing was being said, Nuance was responding, Seville knew it because he knew Nuance. He wasn’t Nuance’s daddy, but he might as well be, as he’d been there from the beginning, and had stayed there for every moment, both wonderful and awful. When Nuance had said his first word, Seville had been there. When Nuance had been the first to take a few steps around the nursery and explore his world, Seville had been there, right behind the camera, watching.

“I think that is what being a prince or a princess is,” Pinkie Pie remarked, joining the conversation, and she sounded rather subdued. “A prince or a princess is a special sort of pony that can be put in a situation where they have no control and then they try to make the most of it. Twilight is really good at it, but I think that has more to do with her friends helping her when things get really bad.”

Again, Nuance snorted, and then asked, “Have you ever broken a promise?”

The words made Pinkie Pie slump and she appeared to deflate just a little. A few curls went limp, dangling down. Her blue eyes shimmered with tears for a moment, her nostrils quivered, and her ears bobbed up and down, unsure of where they wanted to be. Seeing her like this, Seville felt his heart being squeezed, and he suspected that he already knew her answer.

“Yeah,” Pinkie Pie replied, and her voice had none of its usual cheerfulness. “I once made a promise that I would wait… forever if I had to, for somepony that I loved. I waited and I waited, and then I broke that promise”—here, Pinkie paused and gave Seville a tearful look—“and then, I broke the promise completely. I stopped waiting and I had to take charge of my own happiness. It was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. But I had to let go, because I was trying to hold on to a promise in a situation where I had no control.”

“That’s awful…”—Nuance breathed out the words, and he sounded sincere—“...I’m sorry.”

“Thank you, Nuance.” Pinkie Pie sniffled and gave the colt a warm, sincere smile.

Seville was shocked and he didn’t know how to respond or what to say. For the first time in a long, long time, Nuance had just shown empathy to another pony, something he didn’t think was possible. He could feel Nuance against his neck, and the little colt’s barrel was hitching. Was he about to start crying? Seville feared the outcome.

First, Pinkie sat down, then extended her forelegs, and plucked Nuance from Seville’s withers. Nuance protested a bit, making a wordless whine, but then he gave up and allowed the moment to happen. Much to Seville’s surprise, Nuance seemed to be connecting with Pinkie Pie, and the terror over revealing the dreadful secret seemed to be subsiding just a little bit.

“You know, if Twilight gets into a situation where she can’t look after you,” Pinkie Pie said to Nuance while she held him, “I could do it. I don’t mind. I like foalsitting and help out Fluttershy all the time. You could get out of Canterlot and spend a day or two with me, if we can get these pesky guards to agree to it.”

“I like having the guards around,” Nuance admitted in a low whisper. “Scary things have happened. The guards make me feel safe.”

“I bet.” Pinkie Pie looked up and Seville could feel her eyes on him, on his neck, where one scar of many was. “Fortunately for you, I know some superheros that help me out and will help keep you safe.”

“Really?” Nuance sniffled and there was a look of keen interest in his eyes.

“Yeah…” Pinkie let out a dismissive huff and then laughed. “They don’t do much to keep their identities safe just yet. They all got together and saved Ponyville from some mud monsters.”

The seriousness and the solemnity of the moment was completely destroyed by Twilight Sparkle, who burst out laughing, big deep belly laughs. She was forced to sit down in the grass beside Seville, and she leaned up against him, almost howling with laughter. Seville didn’t know what was so funny, but he had heard a report during a morning briefing that Princess Flurry Heart had successfully proven herself as a princess during an incident in Ponyville.

“If Nuance hung out with the Wipe-Outs, Celestia would banish me to someplace awful.” Twilight managed to wheeze out the words while almost clinging to Seville for support. “You know, I’m almost tempted to set up a special play date just to see what would happen. Celestia would have conniption fits… you know… I think that’s exactly what all of you need, some time away from your mother. The Sun casts a powerful shadow, Nuance… trust me, this is something I know. I think you need to spend some time with ponies who aren’t royals… well, Flurry is a royal, but she doesn’t act like it the moment she is away from her mother and she gets with her friends. And that is exactly what you need… friends.”

Seville was quite surprised by what Nuance had to say: “I think I’d like to get out.”

Author's Note

Hmm, it seems awful calm...

Chapter 18

“... drinks, and sixty hayburgers.”

“Yes.” Twilight gave a polite nod.

“What are your friends ordering?” the awkward looking teen behind the counter asked.

Twilight’s eyes narrowed in the most dangerous way one could imagine. “I have a small mob of hungry earth ponies, two adolescent foals with bottomless stomachs, a manticore spawn that is an aggressive eater, a dragon, and at least a dozen guards who insisted on coming inside with us. I thought it was fair that I buy the food to make up for the fact that your regular customers can’t get in right now, because they can’t come in.”

The pony behind the counter blinked once. “You can’t fool me, Princess Sparkle… I’ve seen you come in here with just you and your dragon… and you blame the dragon—”

Mouth falling open, Twilight recoiled from the sass, and the earnest, hearty laughter of Applejack made her ears fidget. She shuffled on her hooves, from left to right, and her tail swished around her hind legs. She was too flustered to do proper math and this bothered her a great deal. When she recovered, she somehow managed to say, “And add thirty milkshakes to that order too.”

“Right.” The cashier smirked. “Again I ask, what’ll your friends be having?”

“I dunno,” Twilight replied, “but I’m about to have a real long talk with your manager!”

The young unicorn behind the counter cringed a bit, but didn’t look sorry.

“Say,” Pebble said, sidling up beside Twilight at the counter. “What’s a cutie mark for working in a burger chain look like? Does it look like incurable acne from standing too near the fryolator, or were you born with a plot like that?”

In her attempt to remain silent, Twilight almost swallowed her lower jaw, but her other friends weren’t quite so lucky. Pebble was savage, and Twilight fully intended to pull her aside and have a talk with her. Later. When the time was right. If she could remember to pen it into the schedule. With how busy everything was, she might forget.

“Pebble Pie, I think I love you.” Sumac stood nearby, shaking his head from side to side, and then for emphasis, he clucked his tongue several times and went, “Mmm, mmm, mmm.”

“You better.” Pebble cast a wary sidelong glance at her coltfriend. “I’d snap your spine if you stopped.” These words made Megara and Corbie start giggling.

For a brief moment, Twilight thought about hiring Pebble to fulfill the same position that Blueblood held, a weapon of savage wit to be unleashed upon the public in times of need. It was tempting, and Pebble was at that age when getting a first job was important. Looking the cashier in the eye, she took a deep breath and said:

“Put everything on my expense account, I’m not carrying any bits.”

The pony behind the counter sounded quite meek after his roasting. “Right… I’ll do that.”

Corbie, was a devourer. Twilight watched the little filly as she ate, and took note of just how much food she consumed, which was considerable. She might have pecked at her food, but she did a lot of pecking. She gobbled down more food than both of her brothers put together, eating with a frantic, almost desperate energy. Little pegasus ponies had fantastic metabolisms, from what Twilight could remember, which allowed them to do well in athletics. They needed exercise, and plenty of it.

With her current living conditions, Corbie wasn’t getting much in the way of exercise. She wasn’t allowed to go out flying, running indoors was frowned upon, for obvious reasons, and Corbie still wolfed down every last bit of food within her reach, going so far as to steal Radiance’s hay fries by licking them to claim ownership.

Twilight was seized with an idea, one that paralleled the one already in place for Nuance. Corbie needed to attend flight camp, but given that she was a member of the Royal Brood, that almost seemed impossible… except that Twilight knew a qualified trainer, a pegasus known as Rainbow Dash. Even better, Twilight could help Corbie make some friends, as Sumac needed to attend flight camp. Others could attend flight camp as well, even though they were excellent fliers, such as Megara, who was surprisingly skilled for having grown up in a family of terrestrial quadrupeds. Little Alto needed flight lessons, and he was just the right age for Corbie to make friends with.

Corbie would also be well protected—Megara wasn’t even full grown yet, but she had learned her father’s improvisational fighting style—and this made her a fierce, dangerous combatant. Twilight was loathe to admit it, but Megara’s combat experience—the many, many times she had followed her father out on dangerous field missions—was about to become a foundational cornerstone in Twilight’s coming argument.

At some point, Twilight would need to commune with the ink to determine just what Megara’s cutie mark meant: the severed teddy bear’s head was rather enigmatic to her as a point of scholarly interest, and a point of absolute terror to others who viewed it.

Most other species didn’t need a cutie mark to figure out what to do, they just did what came natural to them. Ponies, and by extension, pony hybrids that developed cutie marks, they needed a cutie mark to tell them what to do. Twilight was uncertain of what this said about her own species, but given how the common pony acted, their behaviour, and how easily most of them were spooked by common things, garden variety every day sort of things, she suspected that ponies, her species as a whole, were no doubt incredibly stupid, and needed a pictograph of sorts to remind them what to do.

Sometimes, the truth was tragic, and this was one of many reasons why Twilight prized individuality.

She dismissed the distraction and instead thought about the fact that one day out of the week was not enough to get the exercise that Corbie needed. No, Corbie needed an extended stay at flight camp, to get in shape, and then she needed to do all of the conditioning and cardio stuff that Rainbow Dash was always talking about—though perhaps in not the same way that Rainbow Dash and Tarnished Teapot went about doing it.

Walking into a monster-infested area while wearing scraps of meat was just plain stupid, and she shook her head at the memory. Rainbow and Tarnish weren’t known as the smartest of ponies, but they might be the most capable athletes that she knew. Still, even with their combined stupidity and the brain aches it caused, Twilight had to commend their friendship. It took some very special friends indeed to walk into an area packed with ravenous beasts while wearing meat scraps.

So distracted was Twilight that she did not notice the mischief starting.

“I think Twilight needs a kiss, Uncle Seville,” Corbie said in a manner most casual, and she then she licked some yellow mustard from her snoot with the curled over tip of her tongue. When the yellow mustard was gone, she slurped up her tongue, and then began to eyeball the remains of Nuance’s fries.

With a slow, slow turn of her head, Twilight began to survey the situation, and she knew, she knew that Rainbow Dash was behind this somehow. Rainbow Dash and her team of Dastardly Delinquents had gone off and plotted something at the botanical gardens. Eyes narrowing, Twilight studied her loyal friend, looking for signs of guilt. Of course, there were none to be seen.

“It’s not that simple, Corbie.” Twilight picked up a paper napkin, wiped her muzzle, and for a moment, a brief moment, she resented the gleeful abandon in the little pegasus filly’s eyes. “It’s actually pretty complicated.” For a moment, her eyes darted to the left, making a quick sidelong glance at Seville, and then she returned her attention to Corbie.

“Bah, kissing is simple,” Megara bellowed, and she twisted her upper body around to face Sumac, who was sitting to her right. “I’m gonna eat your face, okay?”

Before Sumac could respond, Megara the Lioness did in fact, eat his face. Opening her maw, she grabbed Sumac with her paws and then proceeded to stuff most of his muzzle and his face into her open mouth, while somehow not impaling him with her tusks. Then, with slow deliberation, she licked him while the colt tried to squirm away. In mere moments, his face was drenched with slobber, and the various sounds of reaction began to happen all around Twilight; some laughed, and some made disgusted noises.

As for Twilight herself, she was aghast.

When Megara at last began to pull away, she puckered up, pressed her fuzzy lips and her tusks up against Sumac’s snoot, and smooched him, making a loud smack. Twilight was horrified—she could feel the food in her stomach tumbling around like clothes in a dryer—and she couldn’t even begin to process why this act had just violated every single one of her sensibilities.

“Pebble… doesn’t that bother you?” Twilight asked, and she didn’t like how her voice was squeaking.

“Celestia and Luna have the right of it,” Pebble replied, and she turned to look over at her own sister just in time to watch her give Sumac a final lick as she pulled away. “I’m fine, sharing with my sister, and truth be told, I prefer having some backup around to keep Sumac safe. I’m not about to have another Belladonna incident on my watch.”

“That kiss was kinda gross.” Corbie stuck out her tongue and shook her head for a time, before slurping up her tongue once more and adding, “Manticore kisses, I don’t want them.”

“Ugh, your tongue is like sandpaper!” Sumac pulled off his glasses, revealing his eyes, and he glared at Megara. “You licked my glasses, you fiend! You know that I hate that!” When Megara rolled her eyes, the colt let out a flustered huff and mentioned in a threatening growl, “You’ll get yours… I’ll shine a spot on the wall again.”

“That’s fighting dirty!” Megara let out a yowling whine, reached out one muscular foreleg, and gave Sumac a shove, pushing him into Pebble.

“It’s just a kiss,” Pebble said to Twilight in a flat deadpan. “Sumac has kissed a lot of fillies. I’ve kissed a few myself. It’s normal for foals our age.” Eyes narrowing, she continued, “You on the other hoof, never kissed anypony when you were a filly, and now, you’re like ten thousand years old. You need to hurry up, Miss Sparkle, and get a move on with your life.”

The sudden rush of anxiety was almost paralysing. Twilight sat there, unable to cogitate, unable to process everything that had just happened, and she stared at Sumac, who was mopping up his face with a wad of paper napkins. She was shocked to her very core that these foals treated such a special thing—at least, what she saw as something special—with such casual disregard. She didn’t know how to take it, or cope with it, and even though she knew that Sumac and Pebble had been kissing, she hadn’t cottoned on to just how simple it was for them.

“It’s not that simple,” Twilight said to Pebble, trying to refute the filly’s claim.

“Sure it is,” Sumac replied. “Even if you are an introvert. You just have to work up the courage to ask.”

“No, Sumac, it isn’t that simple—”

“Yes it is.” Sumac crawled over Megara, causing her to yowl, and she gave the colt a rough shove to help him over. He tumbled into Rainbow Dash, looked up at her, waggled his eyebrows, and asked, “Hey, you’re the fastest mare I know… how’s about a smooch?”

“You cheeky little… whatever you are.” Rainbow Dash’s ears angled forwards over her eyes, and then stood up when Pinkie Pie began laughing. “You’re covered in manticore slobber. Get out of here!”

“Shot down, and rejected.” Sumac let out a sigh as he turned to face Twilight. “See, that’s the worst that can happen. It stings a bit, but it isn’t so bad.” The colt took a moment to adjust his glasses, which were now free of manticore slobber. “As bad as this is, it isn’t as bad as sitting around wondering what might have happened.”

“Rainbow, you put them up to this!” Twilight spat out her accusation, and she wanted to be angry, but she also knew that Rainbow was just trying to help. Some of her friends were laughing, but she realised that they weren’t laughing at her. Her anger dispersed with a grunt, and she sat there, looking sullen.

“This was Sumac’s idea, actually.” Rainbow gave the colt beside her a shove, pushing him into Megara. “He didn’t tell me that he was going to say that I was the fastest mare he knew though… stop laughing, Applejack!” Turning her head, she shot the orange earth pony a withering glare.

Her green eyes glittering with mirth, Applejack responded, “Can’t fault him for being honest.”

“Ooooh, that’s mean, Jackie, that’s just mean!” Rainbow shook her hoof at her friend and bared her teeth. “You’ll get yours, just you wait!”

Alone in a crowd, Twilight realised that she had a lot to think about.

Author's Note

:rainbowlaugh:

Chapter 19

In Spike’s eyes, Nuance seemed a little stronger, and a little happier. His face, bruised and still swollen, was hard to read, but the colt’s mood seemed better. He sat in a half-full tub and Spike was watchful, mindful of how frail Nuance was. Just because he seemed better was no good excuse to be careless and relax his guard. The little unicorn had both eyes closed and appeared to be quite relaxed.

“Do you need your pain medicine?” Spike asked, and the little colt shook his head from side to side, but made no other effort to reply. Feeling the need talk, the dragon kept going, trying to strike up a conversation. “Did you have a nice day? You seem happier. I bet it was nice getting out and seeing something new, right?”

“Yes.” The word was soft-spoken and difficult to hear over the splashing of the bathwater. Nuance slumped over a bit and appeared to be relaxing. “Today was nice.”

“Well,” Spike began, “I’m glad that you had a nice day. Seems like you’ve been having a lot of bad days.”

“Indeed.”

Something about Nuance’s response made Spike think of Blueblood. The dry, curt responses were all part of Blueblood’s hateful persona, and Spike knew the real Blueblood. Sometimes, they hung out together and made impossible bottles—a fancy term for model ships inside of a glass bottle. Spike liked it for the challenge, it was difficult to do and required a great deal of concentration, as well as fine motor control. Blueblood liked it because it appealed to his meticulous nature. Feeling a bit inspired, Spike made a mental note to ask Blueblood about inviting Nuance to their next get together.

“Everything feels so different,” Nuance blurted out, and the words startled Spike, who jumped in place. “Everything feels so different here. I feel so different here. I don’t know what to make of it.”

“Sometimes, we need a change of scenery.” Spike drummed his claws against his stomach, unsure of what else to say, but feeling a need to do something because Nuance was talking. The little colt needed to open up. He chose the honest, direct approach: “If you have anything you want to say, just let it out. I’ll listen, even if I don’t know how to respond.”

Feeling hopeful, Spike heard Nuance take a deep breath, and he hoped the colt was prepared to say more…

A quick headcount revealed that ponies were missing. Two, in fact. Twilight felt a faint, almost unnoticeable shiver of panic. Foals scarpered off, that is what foals did, and they considered it an accomplishment to vanish from a room full of adults. Under normal circumstances, Twilight would not worry, but this was the Royal Brood. Corbie, the cute adorable one, was missing. Nuance was in the bath and Radiance was having the tangles in his mane and tail brushed out by Rarity.

Rather than freak out about it, Twilight got right to the point: “Okay, where has Corbie slipped off to and where is Pebble?”

“Everything’s fine, hun,” Applejack drawled while she watched Radiance’s futile efforts to get free from Rarity. “I can hear the worry in your voice. Pebble just took Corbie back to her room. I think they’re gonna have themselves a girl talk.”

“Hmm.” Twilight’s lips pressed together, forming a thin line, and deep wrinkles of worry appeared upon her forehead, beneath her forelock. She did not realise it, but for a moment, Twilight Sparkle was the spitting image of her mother, Twilight Velvet. Had she realised it, she might have had a full blown freak out, because every mare fears growing up to become her mother, except for maybe Pebble, who strove to be like her mother in every way.

And that is what worried Twilight. Wickering, she exited the room.

“Normally, ponies knock before barging in,” Pebble remarked while Twilight stood in the doorway. She was holding a brush in her fetlock and was sitting on the bed just behind Corbie, who now gleamed from being brushed.

With a soft, sheepish whinny, Twilight stepped into the room proper and shut the door behind her. She wasn’t sure what she expected, but given that Pebble had developed a rebellious streak and was prone to say things—things a little filly shouldn’t hear—Twilight felt worried. It was painful to realise that she didn’t know Pebble as well as she thought, and it bothered her that Pebble had changed when Twilight wasn’t paying attention.

“Look, we were just having a talk.” Pebble didn’t even bother to look at Twilight while she spoke, and focused on Corbie instead. She returned to brushing the filly, and Corbie made happy little grunts as she leaned into the brush.

“About what?” Twilight asked, afraid, and not knowing why.

“About being fat,” Pebble responded while she ran the brush down Corbie’s neck.

Twilight bristled a bit, and she wasn’t sure that she liked this conversation. “Pebble Pie, you’re not fat—”

“It’s not nice to lie, Twilight Sparkle. You of all ponies should know better.” Pebble blinked once, shook her head from the left to the right once, and clucked her tongue.

“Pebble don’t you even start—”

“Hey, Twilight, you want to explain to Corbie why it is important to lie to ponies sometimes like you did to me?” Pebble asked, cutting Twilight off. “We could do it right now… I’m sure you have that lecture memorised, about how it is necessary to lie for the sake of civility.”

Flabbergasted, Twilight did not know what to say.

“See, Corbie, that’s exactly what I was just talking about. Ponies will lie to you to spare your feelings so they won’t hurt you.” For a moment, Pebble gave Twilight a pointed stare, and then she looked away. “Your real friends will be honest with you, no matter what. Sometimes, it is better to be blunt. To be straightforward.”

“And is Sumac honest with you?” Twilight asked, hoping to undermine Pebble’s words.

“Yes,” Pebble replied without a moment of hesitation. “Sumac will tell me that I’m fat. He’ll say it to my face. But he also tells me that because I’m chunky, that’s the reason he finds me attractive, so I’m okay with that. That’s the value of honesty… when Sumac is honest enough to say I’m fat, I know for absolute certain that he is being honest with me when he says he loves me and desires me exactly how I am. If he lied to me, even once, like saying that I wasn’t fat, that I was fluffy, or something stupid like that, I would always, always be wondering what else he might be lying to me about.”

Twilight Sparkle found herself stupefied, and she wasn’t sure how to continue this conversation. She had just wandered right into a minefield, a battlefield of Pebble’s own choosing, and there was no way to win this skirmish. After some thought, she decided to let this ride, and that she was going to leave Pebble to talk with Corbie, come what may. For all of the times that Pebble tried to be like her mother, right now, she was fighting like her father—with absolute ruthlessness. Perhaps this wouldn’t be so bad, and some of Pebble’s individuality might rub off on Corbie.

“Don’t keep her up too late,” Twilight said while she opened the door behind her. “I’m going to go so the two of you can talk. Have a nice time, both of you.”

Looking solemn for her age, Corbie lifted a tiny hoof and waved goodbye.

Sitting down in a chair, Twilight Sparkle let out a huff, and then sat in silence, alone in a crowd. Pebble’s words had left her shaken, and the past few days had been trying. Still, much had been accomplished. She had a great deal of information that could be coalesced into a fine report, and then, together, she and Celestia, her compeer, could work on fixing everything, or at least make some improvements. Twilight was confident that she had something to contribute to the battle plan, whatever it might be, and she was certain that because of her analytic nature, progress could be made. Cadance was wonderful at what she did, Celestia had done the best with what she had to work with, and Twilight figured that her contributions could create a tipping point.

Things would get better.

Her study, her private study, her chambers, they were full of life. It hadn’t been this way in a while, and Twilight had pleasant memories of when Pebble and Sumac were younger. When they were little, they had stayed with her here, in this place, along with Flurry. But that seemed to be happening less and less. Sumac was too busy with his science projects and snogging. Pebble was already beginning university level assignments, without even knowing what she wanted to do with her life. Flurry had hit the age where there was a huge rush to prepare her for the responsibilities she would have as an adult.

These private chambers got lonesome, with just her and Spike. Awful lonesome. And quiet too. A level of quiet that sometimes, she wasn’t ready to face, so it drove her to go elsewhere, seeking sound along with companionship. Even worse, there were times when Spike was gone, and this place became unbearable.

How terrible it must have been for Celestia to have been alone in that castle…

Her thoughts became murky with ink, and Twilight’s eyes now had a vacant stare to them. She had drifted through an ocean of time, sometimes merged and at one with Eternity. There had been vast periods of loneliness, but the work, the learning, the observation of key events had kept Twilight busy. The things she had seen… multiple occasions where the equine race had almost been driven to extinction, and with the death of the species, the planet would have soon followed.

She had seen entire civilisations rise and fall. Small, insignificant tribes had become vast empires, and then had faded away into nothingness. Great bright shining lights illuminated the world, only to be snuffed out by the darkness. Others had been pulled from the darkness and became a shining beacon of righteousness. And then there were ponies like Dim, who had been pulled from the darkness, but had never quite recovered from it, yet were still necessary in the defense of the great light of civilisation. She had seen so many come and go, the light and dark had ebbed and flowed like the tide coming in and out.

After all of that, Twilight was ready for other things.

Her vision came into focus and she saw Seville, who approached, looking sheepish. Twilight was unable to stop the flow of ink, it had infused into every wrinkle, every crevice of her brain, and it flowed through the fine veins of her eyes, altering her vision. For a moment, she saw many different futures for Seville, all of which came down to the choices that he made.

The choices that they made… together.

A nexus approached—Twilight had a keen awareness of it—an important leaping off point for a great many events. A linchpin moment that spawned entire futures, including some futures that might spring from Twilight’s own loins. She shivered, terrified, overwhelmed by everything, and then, when she blinked, the ink went away along with the haze of precognition.

“Seville, is there something you want?” Twilight asked of the earth pony standing beside her chair. It was almost as if a supplicant had approached her throne, but this was different. Twilight was certain that this was different, it had to be, but she couldn’t say how at the moment. Seville looked terrified, and this bothered Twilight.

She became aware of the fact that the entire room had gone silent, and this bothered her.

The yellow-orange earth pony licked his lips, his tongue darting out and making a quick, sudden movement. His nostrils flared and his tail flicked off to his left. Twilight leaned forwards in her chair, bracing herself by placing her right front hoof on the arm of said chair, and tried to ignore the fact that she was having some trouble breathing.

“You can do it!” Rainbow Dash said in a whisper that was quite loud.

“Shut up, Rainbow, you’ll ruin everything.”

Coughing, Seville managed to get up enough nerve to say, “Princess, your humble servant approaches, hoping for a favour…”

Her left hoof came to rest against her barrel, and her wings now felt too hot and itchy. Twilight realised what was going on, and that she was powerless to stop it. Seville had committed to it, no doubt pushed into doing it by her friends, and turning him away would mean hurting somepony that she treasured as a friend.

“And what might that be?” Twilight replied, trying to sound regal so she wouldn’t spoil the moment, but all that came out was an awkward, almost adolescent squeak, followed by a grunt when Applejack slugged Rainbow Dash to keep her quiet. “What favour does my knight journalist want from me?”

At this point, there was a pony-pile on Rainbow Dash by everypony, to keep her quiet.

“A kiss.” Seville almost choked on the words, and his eyes went wide with alarm when he realised that he had actually said them. His ears began doing a funky, complicated dance, moving up, moving down, rotating, and splaying.

This was an awful lot like when she used to play with her dolls when she was little. The daughter of a noble family, she had grown up on stories of courtly romance and aristocratic affections. She was quite shocked that Seville would approach her in such a manner, in such a way, but this shock wasn’t a bad thing. Twilight often lamented that the courtly romance of the days of yore had gone out of fashion.

Love was just one of many engines of survival.

“Say something, you dork, stop thinking eggheaded thoughts—mmph!” Rainbow was cut off by Pinkie Pie jamming a hoof into her mouth.

“Okay.” Twilight didn’t know what else to say, she couldn’t find anything quite as meaningful as Seville had brought to the table. Sitting in her makeshift throne, she tried to look as princessly as possible as she leaned forwards, tilted her head off to the side, and waited, not knowing what to do next.

What happened next was quite a surprise. Something soft and fuzzy brushed up against her mouth, making her whole body jerk, and she felt an electric tingle that was almost painful. Then, Seville pulled away. That was it. Twilight took a moment to analyse what had just happened, and she came to a dizzying conclusion: she had just been kissed—but it was not the kiss she had expected—and static electricity was a never ending problem for mammals with hairy bodies.

Taking matters into her own hooves, Twilight took a more practical approach to getting what she wanted. Reaching out, she grabbed Seville by the cheeks, pulled him in, and pressed her lips against his. There was another crackle of electricity, an audible one this time that sizzled the lips, and then Twilight realised that she had no idea of what to do next. She lingered, her muzzle smooshed against Seville’s, and she could feel the hot breath from his nostrils against her face. It jolted her senses, and she pulled away with a somewhat slobbery slurp.

That wasn’t quite what she had expected either, but as with anything else, practice would make it better. She blinked once, twice, and then a third time, looking into Seville’s eyes. Something had changed between them, a line had been crossed, and there would be no going back, no returning to how things had been. Their friendship had become something… else, but Twilight didn’t know what it was, not quite yet.

It was the beginning of something wonderful though, she knew that.

Author's Note

Story is almost over... we'll be having the big climatic battle soon, and the villain will do their thing.

Chapter 20

For the second night in a row, Twilight awoke to the sound a frightened filly whining. This time, she awoke ready for action, to fly away at a moment’s notice to escape any potential projectile vomiting. She also remembered that Corbie was afraid of the dark, so Twilight cast a light spell even as she opened her eyes.

“I had a bad dream,” Corbie said while she stood beside Twilight’s bed. “Can I sleep with you?”

This wasn’t quite what Twilight expected, and she lay on her side, staring at the filly who had her chin resting on the edge of the bed. She blinked, her vision fuzzy, and Corbie did not quite come into view, but the floating orb of light over head did reflect off of the spoon hanging around the filly’s neck. After processing the simple request, Twilight responded by lifting up her covers and grunting.

The little pegasus wasted no time, and after rising up, she placed both front hooves on the edge of the bed. Beneath her wing was something white and Twilight couldn’t quite make out what it was. It took a few tries, but Corbie boosted herself into the bed, wiggling and squirming, and then she burrowed beneath the covers.

“Who’s your friend?” Twilight mumbled in her half-awake state.

“Miss Windigo,” Corbie replied from beneath the blankets. After a bit more wiggling, her head popped out and she rested it upon Twilight’s pillow. “Mama Luna keeps her filled with something called ‘soothing herbs’ for me to help me sleep.”

Upon hearing this, Twilight sniffed, and she caught a whiff of something medicinal, but she was too sleepy to figure out what it might be. It was a pleasant smell though, soothing, a cool scent almost like mint. This wasn’t so bad, sharing her bed with a teeny, tiny pegasus foal. Corbie was soft, rather plush, and quite warm, which increased Twilight’s drowsiness. It wouldn’t take long to go back to sleep. Plus, there was that smell. It was sweet, serene, almost like a cup of chamomile tea, but better, stronger.

“This would be nicer if Seville was here—”

“Go to sleep, Corbie.”

“Just saying—”

“Sleep now, Corbie. Sleep.”

“Fine,” the filly huffed. “Good night.”

The mid-morning held a quiet lull that Twilight needed. She wanted to get out again, to do things, to get the Royal Brood outside and having fun once more. Not far away, Seville was working, his brow furrowed, and Twilight found him rather distracting. Rarity was getting ready to leave, because she had to go after receiving an urgent telegram saying that she was needed in Manehattan. Applejack too, was leaving, heading back to Sweet Apple Acres. There was work to be done and she missed her own fillies after having a much-needed break from them. Fluttershy had to go home as well, as she had animals to look after, and Rainbow Dash was already gone. Why? She hadn’t said, but she had just departed with an abrupt suddenness.

It was over. Just like after their glorious trip to Appleloosa for the Friendship Festival, everypony had to go their separate ways. Even Pinkie Pie had to go—but only for a bit—as she had to check in at Sugarcube Corner. Pinkie Pie had promised to return as soon as circumstances permitted.

At least Sumac and Pebble had returned, as promised. Sumac sat at the table with Seville, working on his schoolwork, while Pebble was playing a boardgame with Corbie and Radiance. Nuance was with Spike, and Spike was reading some Daring Do novel, much to Nuance’s obvious delight. Boomer was being well behaved, and was working on her own schoolwork.

The relative calm was shattered when Sumac tossed down his pencil, and it clattered to the table. Seville looked up for a moment, annoyed, and Sumac shot an apologetic glance in his direction. Twilight’s eyebrow elevated somewhat when she saw that the colt was chewing on his own lip, looking pensive, and distraught. Now was the time to intervene.

“Sumac,” she said, beginning her question, “is something wrong?”

“Magic theory,” he replied, grumbling more than whining.

“What’s the problem?”

“My shields.” Sumac tilted his head back and looked up at the ceiling. “I’m supposed to be so strong, so gifted, and so capable, but why are they still so weak?”

Twilight rose out of her chair, and while she crossed the room, she gave Sumac his answer: “Maturity. It comes down to maturity, Sumac. Your knowledge of shield mechanics and your raw ability are second to none. What is holding you back is your age. Give it a few years and when you gain magical maturity, I think you’ll be surprised.”

“I should be stronger!” Sumac slammed one hoof down upon the table and the sudden sound startled everypony present. “I’ve changed… I have these stupid wings now that get in the way and itch and make me sweaty and now I am always too hot, and I should be stronger!”

Halting beside Sumac’s chair, Twilight failed to notice that Nuance was staring and scowling. “You are strong, Sumac… far, far stronger than most your age. However, your patience suffers, and your anger tends to impair your ability a bit, sometimes. Anger isn’t bad, I suppose, but you fail to focus it well.” She watched as Sumac’s expression became sullen, and Twilight’s lips pursed together in concern. The colt had a good handle on his desire for power—he wanted it for all of the right reasons—but his sudden fits of pique were a constant cause for worry.

“All of this work… all of this study… all of these endless hours of reading books and practice.” Sumac’s voice was low and had a waver to it. “I just feel that I should have a bit more to show for it, that’s all. I’m sorry for my outburst. I’ll get back to work now.”

Unseen by both Twilight and Sumac, but noticed by Spike, Nuance’s face contorted into a swollen, misshapen scowl of frustration.

The plan, such as it was, was to go out with a minimum of guards, for a more intimate outing. A matinée was planned, followed by a good walk around the lake for exercise. Nuance was still rather weak, but he had high spirits, and Corbie claimed to still be starving after eating a light lunch. These were minor worries that Twilight knew could be dealt with. Radiance offered no complaints, said nothing, and showed no signs of having a problem.

Plans were good, plans were great, plans were how one took back the world from the creeping forces of disorder and chaos one tiny step at a time. A good plan would take you places, even if you weren’t sure how to get there, and could keep one motivated during rough times. A plan could make or break a pony. The purple pony princess paused, pondering her plan, perplexed, she thought about a plan she had made thousands of years ago to study a strange book with Sumac. That plan had gone to pot and she had been forced to wing it to make it back home.

Then again, that had been Eternity’s plan, and everything had gone the right way, and Twilight knew this for certain, because local reality still existed. Now that, that was some planning, and Twilight knew that at some point, she had to get off of her plush, princessly plot and do some plotting if she ever hoped to step up her game and be like Eternity. Oh, and the things she had to plan, to plot… the Royal Brood needed fixing. A nation needed liberty, peace, and a promise had to be kept, that the future would continue to exist, in spite of whatever it was that Grogar was planning.

Beyond that, Twilight needed to sort out her own circumstances with Seville and Pinkie.

It was a game of plans; Twilight had to out-think Grogar, while still making progress in her own life, even as she was still helping to run a nation. Grogar had helpers, like Catrina, Belladonna, and Dark Desire. Twilight had something of a minor-major epiphany, and she came to the realisation that now, she had the age required, the years of experience needed to combat Grogar. In her old life, she had vim, she had vigour, but she didn’t have much else. Now, she, Celestia, and Luna had the many thousands of years necessary to form elaborate plots that could hold back Grogar. This realisation was comforting, empowering, and life altering.

Once more, Eternity had cheated, and the clever mare had figured out a way for Twilight to advance, to grow, to gain the experience needed to win this war, and she had done so by manipulating time just a teeny, tiny bit. Twilight now had spent multiple lifetimes getting the education she had needed, the hooves on learning, she had spent eons studying magic under the greatest source of magic that had ever existed, or would ever exist.

Such was the power of a plan.

Upon exiting her castle, Twilight’s plan suffered an ignoble death, expiring with the sound of a sonic rainboom. She craned her head upwards and saw Rainbow Dash, who had no doubt been waiting for her to come out with the Royal Brood. With Rainbow were several other Wonderbolts, and an impromptu show had begun.

There was an over-excited squeal of delight from Radiance that made Twilight’s ears lift.

All around Twilight, residents of Ponyville were looking upwards, eyeing the sky, and even some of the guards now had their attention focused skyward. There were five of them up there, and Twilight wondered how Rainbow had pulled this together at what had to be a moment’s notice, because Rainbow was not a pony that made plans, she just did things on a whim, which drove Twilight nuts.

It seemed as though the matinée was cancelled, but Twilight was dead-set on getting some exercise. She led everypony down the steps of her castle, fearful that the little ones might take a tumble because they were too busy looking up, and they paid no attention to the stairs they stepped on. A blanket was already spread out over the grass nearby, along with a bucket filled with ice and bottles.

Rainbow Dash was the very best sort of friend, Twilight knew.

The sight and the spectacle of a Wonderbolts show was enough to wow anypony, and even Nuance seemed to be enjoying himself. He was sitting with her, with one of his tiny, thin forelegs curled around her own, and his head was tilted back so that he might have a better look. The look upon his face was one of wondrous enrapturement as the dazzling display continued and Rainbow Dash performed feats of death defying derring-do.

Out of all of them though, Radiance was having the best time. He clapped his hooves often, bouncing in place, and was unable to sit still. No doubt, the little earth pony colt longed to fly, and Twilight wondered if he wished that he had wings. Most earth ponies were hesitant to leave the ground, and some of them hated it. Twilight glanced over at Pebble for a moment, and then thought about how some of them adjusted to it, even if they were uncomfortable with it.

“She’s about to do a Buccaneer Blaze!” Radiance squealed, his voice squeaky with excitement. “There she goes! There she goes! She’s doing it!”

Twilight could appreciate the Buccaneer Blaze for technical reasons; it was a complex move that was entertaining to watch, but she was more engaged by the physics involved. Rainbow Dash, in the midst of said Buccaneer Blaze, dealt with gravity six or seven times greater than normal, and most ponies would pass out or succumb under these conditions. Rainbow pulled through—in fact, she showed no signs of the strain at all—which made the sight all the more amazing to witness. Twilight was certain that at the worst point of the maneuver, all of the blood had to be in her best friend’s hooves, and very little was left in her brain, but that was okay, it wasn’t as if Rainbow got much use from her brain in the first place.

“How does she do that?” Radiance asked while he prodded Pebble, his fellow earth pony.

“She’s Rainbow Dash,” Pebble deadpanned. “She probably bucks gravity harder just getting out of bed than most of us will do in our lifetimes.”

“Here comes the Flying Backbreaker!” Sumac shouted, and his wings unfurled from his sides while he pointed upwards with his left front hoof.

Tensing, Twilight always worried when Rainbow did this, as it was dangerous. It was a move forbidden to all of the other Wonderbolts, because most ponies who did it died doing it or were left paralysed. It was a massive burst of acceleration, followed by a thirty-five degree turn to go backwards, going from belly to the ground to back to the ground. The action tended to whip out the hind legs, and frequently snapped the spine of a pegasus pony trying it just above the pelvis. Cringing, Twilight watched, but was almost unable to do so.

With effortless ease, Rainbow did the Flying Backbreaker, she went streaking off, and even somehow snapped off a rainboom as she did her death defying, spine shattering thirty-five degree doubleback turn. It was awe-inspiring as much as it was terrifying. As amazing as it was, as awesome as it was to witness, Twilight knew the truth: Rainbow Dash was going to have a sore back for the next few days, and would probably be seen in the spa.

Overhead, the Wonderbolts were slipping into formation, a flying V-wing. Twilight was distracted by something brushing up against her, and when she looked, she saw Seville, looking sheepish. There was something about his eyes, something wonderful, and it made her heart go pitter-pat. For a moment, the display above was forgotten. Twilight wanted to unfurl a wing so she could place it around Seville’s neck, to hold him closer, but wings in general were hot and itchy and she wasn’t sure that she wanted Seville to be hot and itchy, because it was rather warm outside and just the right conditions for a pony to be hot and itchy already.

Twilight wasn’t sure what to do with her pegasus complications…

The Wonderbolts were contrail weaving now, creating broad, vivid bands of colour intertwined in the sky, and overhead, a heart took shape. Twilight lifted her head just in time to see it, and she could hear Corbie gushing about it, though she did not make out the words that the filly was saying. From the ground, it looked as though the Wonderbolts were flying so close together that their wingtips were touching.

When the heart was completed, a cheer went up, a loud, boisterous sound created by the residents of Ponyville, and it took Twilight Sparkle several long seconds to realise why they were cheering. Her little ponies… they were cheering for her. A self-conscious rush of sphincter-clenching terror overtook her and when she looked around, blinking, she could see quite a few ponies staring not at the sky, but at her and Seville.

Word traveled fast, perhaps too fast, or maybe she was just being oblivious again.

Feeling a tug on her leg, Twilight looked down and saw Nuance looking up at her. Her heart gushed for a moment, she felt terrible about his swollen face, and his ears were splayed back against his head. He appeared to be about to say something, though he looked a little hesitant. She waited, attentive, wondering what he was thinking.

“You should kiss for them,” Nuance whispered.

“Why?” Twilight asked as her wingpits suddenly became sweaty.

“To let the peasants know that everything is okay and that you are happy,” Nuance replied, and there was no trace of malice in his voice. “Most of them are just big foals… that’s what Mama Luna says, and they have the same wants and needs as us little foals.”

Twilight contemplated the meaning of Nuance’s words, knowing what she knew about him, the Royal Brood, and how they all liked to watch their parents kissing. The appeal of watching the various royal families became apparent, things gained clarity, and Twilight knew that there was some truth in what Nuance had said: ponies just wanted to know that everything was okay that whatever crisis was taking place had been settled.

Every aspect of life had to be made somewhat available for the public to scrutinise, it seemed, and being a royal meant giving up most of your privacy. Turning to face Seville, Twilight began to wonder if she could do it, if she could endure this, and all that came along with it. If she settled down, if she had foals, it would create endless complication, just as it had done for the Royal Brood. Falling in love was an invitation to disaster, and for the very first time, Twilight Sparkle understood, she knew, she gained a sudden, almost painful clarity of why Celestia had been terrified about falling in love with Gosling. Twilight now faced that same terror, and her first instinct was to run away, to seclude herself inside of her castle and never come out ever again.

Romance was perilous, and creating a family was a hazard.

Author's Note

The original version of the chapter actually had them going the movies. It was awful, and it sucked, and I hated it, and I kept rehashing it over and over and over and each time it got worse. That is why there was no update yesterday. This chapter I feel, brings more to the table, progresses the plot, and more importantly, for reasons that will be made clear in hindsight, brings us closer to our major confrontation. Radiance is having a perfect day and is happy...

Chapter 22

The storm, it seemed, had blown over. There had been a bit of a kerfuffle, or an almost-kerfuffle, and Twilight felt that it was important to note that this actually qualified as an actual kerfuffle by definition: a conflict that takes place due to conflicting or differing views. And the Royal Brood had conflicting views, that much was for certain. Now, after ice cream, everything seemed calm and good.

Nuance seemed to have some fascination with dragons, some affinity, as his interactions with Spike and Boomer were quite different than his exchanges with his siblings or others. The colt had said that the bouncing up and down while walking had made his face hurt, and Twilight had no reason to doubt him. He seemed subdued, almost pleasant while he chatted with Spike and Boomer. Twilight’s only lingering concern was that both Nuance and Boomer were known pyromaniacs, or at least known firestarters. Boomer’s were unintentional, for the most part, as she was a gassy little dragoness at the best of times, and as for Nuance… Twilight shook her head.

After getting what she felt she was owed, Corbie was content and seemed happy. There had been no arguments from her about the ice cream or the toppings, no last minute haggling, she remained a creature of her word, which Twilight was certain was something she got from her parents. There had been some worry that the little filly might make some last minute revisions to their bargain.

As for Radiance, he seemed okay. He didn’t seem angry at all. His anger was like a rain cloud that came along to wet all over a picnic, and then just blew away. More than anything, this worried Twilight, who had some experience with this sort of thing. Holding it all in and not finding a healthy outlet for release was a serious problem, and perhaps one of the worst issues the students in her school had: repression. Sumac also dealt with this problem, but he was getting better. He had healthy outlets for his frustrations, like archery, long distance running, and getting into the worst sort of trouble imaginable with Vinyl Scratch.

Every colt needed a hobby.

The only thing missing from making this serene moment complete was Pinkie Pie. Twilight reflected upon this with Seville in full view, admiring his work ethic while she pondered the current state of domestic bliss. She didn’t wonder how the pieces fit together, no, she wondered why the pieces fit together. There was so much that she just didn’t understand yet, and she was desperate to know, to understand, to have everything figured out. It was with some bitterness that she realised that she knew and understood more about the mysterious workings of the ink than she did about romantic relationships. The ebb and flow of magic, the streams of magic, she was now connected to them, a part of them, one of the very sources of them.

But love?

Love was mysterious and baffling.

It was also beautiful and desireable.

Love, Twilight realised, was rewarding ponies for doing the right thing. The sweet, heady rush, the flutter in one’s heart, the giddy feelings of anticipation, that static crackle, that electric tingle, all of those desirable, pleasurable feelings, all of it was scoops of ice cream after laps around a lake. Ponies were bound to procreate anyway, the species had to continue, but making that physical act of procreation rewarding, making it feel good, making it something ponies want to have happen, and all of the emotion that went along with it, love really was rewarding ponies for doing the right thing.

Sighing, she looked over at Pebble and Sumac. They were in love. Destiny, the ink, it had brought them together, as the ink tended to do when it needed threads of fate to intertwine. The ink, the very medium of life, the universe, and everything, it too relied upon a reward, and graced Sumac and Pebble with happiness for going along with the plan. She sighed again, her heart feeling heavy, and she could feel the ink flowing through her, revealing the reality of all she saw.

The room vanished with but a single eyeblink and everything became something else. Instead of her private quarters in her castle, she was someplace else. Someplace familiar, some beautiful, magical place shrouded in night. After just a blink, she found herself in Lulamoon Hollow, staring at Sumac and Pebble. They were older now, much, much older. They were grown now. Sumac was tall, skinny, and wearing some sort of elaborate coat with long tails. His white shirt was immaculate, and he had a black ribbon tie. Pebble was the opposite, wearing something bright, cheery, and her clothes were a bit rumpled, as they tended to be.

Twilight realised that Sumac was working, or about to be, and with a kiss that lingered, he said his goodbye to Pebble. In the background was Lulamoon tower and the dusk apple orchards. Somepony was going to die soon, and Sumac was departing to spend a little time with them in their final hours. This was the future that the ink was trying to preserve, the happy reward for doing right.

When she blinked again, the idyllic scene vanished…

When she opened up her eyes once more, she saw a different future. It took her several seconds to realise that she was in the Crystal Empire, standing before a foreboding obelisk of a tower. The entire thing thrummed with strange magic, but not bad magic. She knew this place, she had been here, she had been inside, the resident of this strange tower held the most curious title of ‘Vizard’ and more than anything else in the whole wide world, he wanted to be left alone in his tower, in peace, so he could battle the mental illness that threatened to consume him.

A lone caller stood outside of the reinforced steel door, knocking with his hoof. The mists of precognition parted, and Twilight saw him, but she had trouble recognising him. He was familiar, so much so, the blue mane, the blue eyes, and his coat… such a pale shade of blue that it appeared to be white. Gasping, she realised who it was banging on the Vizard’s door, and she felt afraid. Two of the most nastiest, most volatile, most unpleasant ponies that she knew were about to say hello.

“No…”—Twilight breathed out the word in horror—“no, this is a horrible future…”

The door opened, revealing a much older Dim, who wore a dreadful scowl. “You!” He did not sound happy, and his eyes narrowed. “You,” he said again, “why has your shadow darkened my door after I warned you to never return?”

From somewhere unseen, Twilight’s ears perked at the sound of feminine giggling.

“Kommissar Dim, Hero of the Dragon Wars, I have come to call upon Quiet—”

“Nein! Dim shouted, and then he slammed the door in Nuance’s face with a bang.

The colt, soon to be on the verge of adulthood, licked his lips, raised his hoof, and with his ears pinned back in terror, he knocked once more upon the massive steel door. When Twilight blinked, the scene vanished yet again, and she found herself elsewhere.

“Twilight?”

It took several seconds before Twilight could respond. She blinked in rapid fashion, trying to recover, she felt strained and exhausted, as if she had just performed some great feat of magic. Her insides felt hollow, empty, and she knew from these symptoms that she had not just had a flight of fancy, a daydream, she had channeled the ink. She shook her head from side to side with enough force to make her cheeks flap, and then she almost felt okay, but she would need to eat soon.

The advantage of a paper body was, it didn’t need food, making it an ideal conduit for ink.

“Twilight, your eyes turned black with ink,” Sumac said, and the colt had a worried scowl upon his face. “Are you feeling alright?”

“I’m fine,” Twilight responded, “I’m just fine.”

Sumac didn’t seem satisfied with the answer. “You know, I have ink too—”

“Fine, I feel a little out of sorts,” Twilight confessed, “but I’ll be fine.” Now, on top of everything else, she felt annoyed. She stared at the alicorn colt, Eternity’s last act of defiance at a hostile, unforgiving universe, and she felt a strange sense of pride that Sumac had just called her out. He was going to be okay. The little pronker was going to grow up and be okay. He was going to be a good Apple.

“I think you need a hug.” Corbie got up from where she sat, and began to move closer to Twilight. “I’m gonna fix it and make everything better.”

“You fat, gross, stupid, four-eyed freak, hugs don’t always make things better.”

The cold viciousness of Nuance’s words cut Twilight to the bone. She was shocked to be hearing them, how he had said them, and all she could do was sit there, stupefied, stymied, stunned from shock. It wasn’t ink that boiled over within Twilight, but blood. A searing hot flash of anger ignited within her body, and then her ears were far too hot, her throat felt dry, parched, and it felt as though she was roasting over a fire.

Corbie burst into tears, tripped over her own front hooves, took a tumble, and banged her chin against the floor. Radiance snarled, a big scary sound coming from a small colt, and his eyes narrowed with rage. With a flap of his wings, Sumac scooted over to where Corbie had fallen, and was already trying to comfort her even as he picked her up off of the floor.

Somewhere in Discord’s realm, a package of feces appeared in the lost and found…

“You horrid little monster!” Twilight was on Nuance in a second, she towered over him, her wings out, and her eyes blazed with righteous fury. “Why would you do this? WHY? You were happy! You were having a nice day! It was peaceful, serene, calm, and NICE! This is why nopony likes you! This is why nopony wants to have anything to do with you! This is why everypony hates your guts, don’t you understand that?” Her voice rose in pitch and fury with every spoken word, and then, when she boiled over, she asked, “WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS?”

Seville’s voice had a surprising softness and calm. “Twilight…”

“TELL ME, NOW,” Twilight barked while Nuance cowered in fear beneath her, “WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS?”

“Because Radiance was having a good day and he didn’t deserve it,” Nuance squeaked while trying to look as submissive as possible.

“Twilight, come with me, please. I think you need a timeout.” Seville was beside her now, looking concerned, but still had a soft, almost passive expression.

For a moment, she hated him, resented him for suggesting that she needed a timeout, embarrassing her in front of the foals, undermining her authority. But then, she realised, he was right. Rage and anger became shame, and her ears slumped. She took a step back from Nuance, who was crying now, terrified, shaking with fear so hard that his teeth were clattering.

“Come with me, Twilight,” Seville said, still calm.

Grinding her teeth together, Twilight allowed herself to be led away by Seville.

When the guilt hit, it was intense. She had yelled at Flurry once, having lost her temper, and it was something she still regretted to this day. Almost crying, she felt like throwing up, and her whole body jittered with adrenaline. Knees weak, she leaned against Seville, her heart aching, wondering how and why she had allowed herself to lose her temper like this.

“He has this effect on ponies.” Seville whispered the words, and the sound was soothing. “Even his mother, Celestia, has lost her temper on more than one occasion and yes, she has screamed at him. Nuance was actually proud that he had broken his mother’s serenity, and when Luna heard him boasting about it, taunting Radiance, she tore him a new one too. So this happens.”

Twilight could not respond.

“This is what he does, Twilight.” Seville kept his voice low and he sounded troubled. “This is how he controls things. Sometimes, it’ll just come right out of the blue with no warning, no rhyme nor reason. He always seems to know just what to do to make everypony become unchained. I’m sorry that this happened. Are you going to be okay?”

She felt the sniffles coming on, and tears, hot and salty, stung her eyes. She shook her head from side to side, her throat too hot and parched to say anything. The faint sounds of Corbie crying in the other room bothered her more than words could ever express, and as for Nuance, Twilight wondered if she would ever recover his trust. Or maybe he never trusted her to begin with. The notion bothered her, and the first tear fell, having broke free of its prison.

“I’m a failure as a foalsitter,” Twilight murmured as she pressed up against Seville.

“Don’t say that.”

“But I am.”

“Twilight, Nuance is really good at what he does—”

“And so am I,” Twilight responded, whining. “I’m supposed to be this wonderful, patient mare, and I just blew it.” She was about to say more, but was cut off by a high pitched scream that made her ears shoot straight upwards towards the ceiling. Terrified, she bounded away to find out what was going on in the other room.

Just as Twilight was coming through the door, Pebble poked Radiance with a jewel-encrusted rod that glowed with an eerie green light. Radiance, upon being touched with the rod, let out a grunt, his eyes squeezed shut, and he toppled to the floor in a heap. Pebble stood over him, bipedal, holding the rod in her fetlock. An expression of grim determination could be seen on her face, and she turned her head to meet Twilight’s gaze.

“Pebble!” Twilight hollered. “What did you do?”

“What was necessary,” she replied in a calm deadpan.

Twilight quailed, and for a moment, she was certain that she was going to throw up. Nuance was bawling, Corbie let out another shriek, and Radiance rolled around on the floor, clutching his head while his body convulsed. All of them were victims of the perspective shift stick, which Pebble still held. At this moment, Twilight was certain that she was going to lose her mind, and she began to sputter, unable to make a single word.

“And now, for my sins, I shall partake in this punishment myself.” Closing her eyes, Pebble twirled the rod around, and then conked herself on the noggin with an audible crack. Right away, she responded, and she fell over, crashing to the floor with a heavy thud, now beyond the realm of punishment or scolding. The rod tumbled from her grasp, clattered on the floor, and rolled away.

Twilight gibbered. The center had not held and everything was spiraling into anarchy. Spike stood near Nuance, clutching his cheeks, looking panicked, while Boomer was doing much the same. Sumac looked guilty, but not scared, and he tried to comfort Corbie while giving Twilight a defiant glare.

“He’s not faking.” Radiance moaned the words as he rocked from side to side on the floor. “He’s not faking… he’s not faking… he’s not faking…”

The rolling perspective shift stick came to a stop against the leg of a chair.

“Nuance, I’m sorry!” Radiance’s reedy whine was shrill and filled with pain.

Blubbering, Corbie picked herself up off of the floor, almost stumbled, but recovered, and then she made her way to her brother’s side. She sat down, pulled Nuance up, overpowering him with ease, and pulled him into the sort of embrace that only a sister could offer. Nuance squirmed, wiggled, and turned away, but he did not escape. While he did nothing to return his sister’s affection, he did not shove her away, nor did he insult her to injure her. After a bit more struggle, he went limp, and allowed Corbie to hold him.

Twilight’s mouth fell open, and she couldn’t quite process what had just happened. The ramifications of everything that had just taken place were out of her reach. Each of the triplets had just experienced what it was like to be the other, a peek inside of each other's’ heads, and out of every pony (and dragon) present in the room, Pebble Pie now knew the Royal Brood better than anypony else, perhaps even their parents.

“How did this happen?” Twilight asked while she eyeballed the dreaded magical rod. “That was locked up… Sumac, did you—”

“I did it!” Spike blurted out. “I got the key to unlock the cabinet where you had it locked away.” The little dragon cringed, and for a moment, he looked quite young.

“Spike… why… why would you do this?” Twilight looked her most trusted assistant right in the eye, wondering what could have possibly motivated him to commit to this betrayal of trust.

“Pebble made a very convincing argument,” Spike replied, and his claws flexed with worry. “She made a very convincing argument and she was right!”

“Spike…” Twilight let out an exasperated huff.

“If you are going to punish anypony, punish me.” Sumac strode forward, still defiant. “This was my plan and I set everything into motion.”

“Sumac Apple!” Twilight found herself almost shouting again. “What gives you the right?”

“These.” The colt spread his wings and he raised his head high. “I felt it in my bones, Twilight, this… intuition. It was too strong to ignore and too powerful to resist.” The colt cleared his throat. “You’re still so predictable, Twilight. When Pebble took Corbie back to her room, you followed to check up on them, just like I knew you would. That gave me a chance to get into the cabinet after Spike gave me the key. I took the rod out of the cabinet and stashed it into some place with no wards, so I could conjure it up when the time was right.”

“Nuance, I’m sorry,” Radiance bawled, and he twisted his head around to look at his brother and sister. “Never again… I’m sorry… I’m so sorry…”

Gasping, Pebble rolled over with her eyes squeezed shut. “As bad as Nuance is, Radiance, you are the worst. At least Nuance secretly feels ashamed and guilty… but you… you were heartless. Remorseless. You disgust me.”

“I’m sorry!” Covering his eyes with his forelegs, Radiance began to sob in earnest, terrible body wracking sobs, and his cries filled the room with a pitiful sound.

Everything had fallen apart, and now, Twilight needed a plan to clean everything up.

Author's Note

There is an epilogue coming...

Epilogue

There was a faint clatter as Pinkie Pie placed the saucer and the teacup down upon the table in front of Twilight Sparkle. She had carried it in her mouth, as earth ponies tended to do, and even with much care, some of the tea had sloshed over the side of the teacup. Under most circumstances, this would bother Twilight to no end, which was why she made the tea most of the time, but not tonight, not now. For now, it was nice to have somepony taking care of her, and she decided to let her annoyances go.

A little spill was nothing to fret over.

“The porcelain always makes my teeth feel tingly,” Pinkie remarked while she pulled her head away with her eyes focused on the saucer in question. She sniffed at the rising steam, smiled a tired smile, and with a turn of her head, she looked at Twilight, who sat on the floor beside the low table. “I’m sorry you had a bad day, Twilight.”

Looking into Pinkie’s eyes, Twilight realised that she had left a task undone. Lifting a foreleg, her horn flared with sudden light and using her magic, she pulled Pinkie closer. She wrapped her foreleg around Pinkie, squeezing her, taking comfort in her soft, squeezable plushness, and the pink mare smelled delightful, like a bakery.

She was still covered in a bit of flour.

Before Pinkie could protest, before Twilight could over think what she was about to do, she kissed her friend with a short, quick peck. The kiss had been aimed for the lips, but landed on Pinkie’s snoot instead. Still holding Pinkie, Twilight realised that both of them were now shaking, trembling, and she could feel Seville’s eyes boring a hole into her.

“What was that for?” Pinkie asked, and her voice was almost fearful.

“I just wanted to say thank you for the tea,” Twilight replied.

“Oh.” Pinkie’s eyes glimmered in the faint light. “I need to give myself a reminder to bring you tea more often.”

When Twilight let go, she did so with regret, and true to her nature, Pinkie was a fleeting creature. She bounded away, humming, off to fetch a plate of treats, leaving Seville and Twilight alone in the room together. Pinkie wasn’t gone for long, and returned with a platter piled high with midnight munchies. When she was done putting the food on the table, Pinkie plopped her plush pink posteriour down upon the floor with an exhausted huff.

“I still can’t believe that Spike did what he did,” Twilight said as she stared down into the gentle brown depths of her tea.

“Are you upset?” Seville asked, his voice cautious, and it was clear that he was hesitant to poke his nose into Twilight’s private affairs. It had been a trying day and tempers were still frayed.

“No, actually.” Twilight’s ears drooped and the corners of her mouth sagged with weariness. “I’m actually proud of what he did, but I am never, ever, under any circumstances ever going to tell him that.”

“Why not?” Pinkie leaned forwards over her tea and rested her forelegs upon the table’s edge.

“I want him to live with what he’s done without knowing if he has my approval.” Twilight’s brow furrowed and she looked thoughtful. “It’s complicated. I’m hoping that he’ll feel good about this, I guess… I dunno”—she shrugged—“but I want him to reach that destination on his own. Without my assistance.”

“You want Spike to show a bit of responsibility and independence.”

“Yeah, Seville, I suppose I do.” The weary sag on Twilight’s face increased as she lifted up her teacup and held it near her lips. “I don’t want him to do things that he thinks are right to gain my approval, I want him to do things he thinks are right because of his own convictions. Does that make sense?”

“Yeah, actually.” After a moment, Seville added, “Even if you don’t agree with it?”

“Especially if I don’t agree with it.” Twilight took a slurp of tea, licked her lips, and then continued, “I want Spike to know that it is fine if we disagree on things and he won’t be in trouble. Just so long as some good comes out of what he does. I can be objective, when I need to be.”

“So, do you think some good will come out of what’s happened today?” Seville asked.

“That I don’t know.” Twilight looked at her companions, first Seville, then Pinkie.

“Well…” Seville sighed out the word, and then he kept going. “Nuance never lets his sister cuddle him like that, and while he wasn’t exactly affectionate, and he kept himself turned away from her, he wasn’t nasty and he didn’t push her away. I’d call that progress, and I’m pretty sure that Cadance will see it as such.”

“Plus, I have my lists compiled of all of the stuff that should be done long term.” Twilight blinked and her sagging mouth was pulled into a smirk. “I hate to admit it, but Sumac gave us the short term boost we need to enact a long term plan. I don’t know if I trust his alicorn instincts just yet… they haven’t been refined and I remember how squirrelly I was, but this wasn’t a total disaster. I think much can be recovered from this.”

With a soft squeal of happiness, Pinkie Pie began gobbling down tiny, dainty teacakes from the platter, eating them one right after another. Twilight watched Seville, who watched Pinkie Pie, then, much to her surprise, Seville reached over, grabbed Pinkie, and pulled her close. Seeing them together, Twilight felt a peculiar sensation, a good feeling, but she didn’t know what it was.

“Would you like to try again?” Seville asked. “I mean, we had a fling, and somehow, our friendship survived. Do you think the fire will burn if we light it?”

“Do you have some matches?” Pinkie licked a glob of what might have been cream cheese from her snoot while giving Seville a wink. “We had ourselves an awkward little fling, didn’t we? In some ways, it made things worse for me—”

“Worse?” Seville now looked worried, rather than amorous.

“While a good roll in the sheets is nice and all, that wasn’t what I was after. I wanted something a bit more permanent.”

The worried expression upon Seville’s face relaxed and Twilight took another slurp of tea. Pinkie’s eyes traveled downward, and she tilted her head a bit to peer down into the shadowy depths that existed between her body and Seville’s. In her barrel, Twilight’s heart was busy doing Rainbow Dash loop-the-loops, much to the dismay of the rest of her organs.

“I could give you permanency.” Seville’s words had a quaver to them, and Twilight found it difficult to keep slurping her tea. “Look, I want things to work. Even with all of the trouble that Gosling, Celestia, and Luna have, they’re making it work, and I think we can do the same. But it’s going to be hard.”

“Yeah.” The pink mare nodded and slipped her foreleg around Seville’s neck. “Yeah, things won’t be easy for us, that’s for sure. That scares me a bit. At least we’re all good friends though, and that makes it easier.”

“Pinks, you’ve changed.” Seville tightened his grip a bit, which make Pinkie squirm.

“I had to grow up,” she whispered, “and it’s been really, really hard. Speaking of hard… you better keep your rolling pin in the drawer, Mister.” Pinkie lifted her gaze from the shadowy depths between her and Seville, and she looked him in the eye.

For Twilight, it was a struggle not to drop her teacup, and she spluttered a bit.

Giggling, Pinkie extracted herself from Seville’s embrace, and with a look of regret evident upon his face, he let go. She slipped away, scooted over a bit, and returned to where she had been sitting. Then, she resumed eating, but slower this time, and she had a peaceful, serene expression upon her face that made Twilight’s blood go pounding through her veins. Well, that and the word ‘rolling pin.’

“R-r-rolling pin?” Twilight managed to stammer while she set her teacup down for safety.

“Oh, Twilight…” Pinkie’s words were light and airy and she somehow said them around a mouthful of cookie. “Earth ponies, Twilight… earth ponies.”

“Um…” Twilight began chewing on her lower lip, and she squirmed in place.

“Don’t worry, Twilight, it’s not dangerous.” Pinkie swallowed her mouthful of cookie. “If it was dangerous, or if it hurt, there wouldn’t be so many earth ponies running around.”

For Twilight, Pinkie’s self-evident logic was not reassuring. The idea of intimacy itself was terrifying, daunting, and everything involved in it seemed like too much to deal with as it was. Somehow, she picked up her teacup and she began taking great, desparate slurps, feeling a need to drink as much of the comforting liquid as possible.

“I think… I think I understand my best friend just a little better,” Seville blurted out, and he averted his own eyes, staring down into his teacup. Lowering his head, he too began to drink his tea, lapping it up from his teacup.

Taking a deep breath, Twilight did her level best to let out all of her worries with a forceful huff. Those were all things she would have to worry about… later. When the time was right. She didn’t understand what Seville had just said, and she wasn’t about to ask either, but she had an idea. She was a regal princess, but she was also a warm, feminine body. She exhaled again, trying to expel her thoughts before she became flustered.

“The castle is quiet.” A million thoughts filled her mind, and Twilight wondered how many times her own parents might have said that their tower was quiet after she and her brother had been put to bed. The quiet of the night was the only time that her parents had to themselves, and she had a much greater understanding of that now, after having looked after the Royal Brood.

It was then her mood shifted, and Twilight felt fine. She had dealt with this crisis, and the world hadn’t ended. As bad as it was, it could have been worse, and in the end, everything was more or less okay. Now, the castle was quiet, she was with two ponies with whom her friendship was growing into new territory, and a quiet voice in the back of her mind suggested that this night was the first of many, and that perhaps, a family wouldn’t be so bad, even if there were days like this one ahead.

She swallowed the last of her tea, put her cup down upon the low table, cleared her throat, and then she said to her companions, “I’m tired, and I am going to bed. I wouldn’t mind your company, if I could have it.” She paused, trying to gage their reactions, and added, “Seville, Pinkie, I’ve shared a bed with each of you before, and I’d like to do so now. I don’t want to be alone. I’m not asking for anything to happen… I just don’t want to be alone.”

Seville looked at Pinkie, and Pinkie looked back at Seville, and then both of them turned to look at Twilight. Some unspoken agreement was made, Twilight felt it, she could sense it, it was like the static charge that built up in the air just before lightning struck. She could feel her very soul sparking when she looked at her companions, and she knew, even without the ink, that this was just the first night of many. There was no big hurry to do anything, or to rush anything.

There was certainly nothing to worry about.

In the wee hours of morning, Twilight Sparkle once again had a visitor. Pinkie Pie was a warm, fuzzy lump beside her, and it was extra toasty beneath the blankets tonight, making it difficult to rouse herself from sleep after being booped on the nose. She already knew the booper, but she didn’t yet know the reason. After much struggle, she opened just one eye and her horn glowed with a faint light.

“Can I sleep with you?”

No reason given, just the question. Twilight let out a half-awake, half-asleep groan, she felt Pinkie stirring beside her, and the bed shifted. The bed was a bit crowded, three ponies tended to do that, but there had to be room for just one more. She was rather small, after all, and cuddly. Twilight lifted up the blankets with a grunt, and a rush of cold air made her shiver as she broke out in goose bumps.

“Get in,” Twilight murmured, “it’s a quaint Trottingham tradition.”

Author's Note

And so, it ends.

Chapter 1

Twilight Sparkle was surprised to see Gosling standing before her. He was tall, he was pretty, and he appeared to be rather apprehensive with the way he pranced around. She was even more surprised that she had cut herself off from the ink so well; she had no precognition that Gosling was even coming. Things were getting better, getting easier; with each passing day, she settled more into her old life, as strange and as comforting as it was.

“So, Sumac, eh?” Gosling smiled, but it did not hide his apprehension, and some of the feathers on his wings fluffed out, perhaps because he was feeling a bit too warm due to his nervous, fidgety energy. “I always knew that kid had it in him.”

“I always knew that you had it in you,” Twilight replied, and her own warm sincerity almost made her voice crack. She pointed, and watched as Gosling’s eyes crossed while looking upward at the gleaming white horn growing from the white patch on his forehead. “Though I wish that Shining Armor and Blueblood would change their minds.”

“They want to show the world that unicorns can make a difference,” Gosling said to Twilight while he refocused his eyes to look straight ahead.

“And what about you, Gosling? What made you go through with it?” Twilight was as curious as she was sincere—she had never asked this question before and she wanted to know the answer.

“I wanted to show that a pegasus can make a difference… and that hard work is rewarded. Look, I get why Shining Armor and Blueblood wish to remain the way they are and I respect them for that. I don’t wanna diminish what they’re doing. But I also think they could be doing more, but I don’t mean that in a bad way. There is just no good way to say what’s on my mind, so I am going to shut up now.”

“I understand.” Twilight nodded and took a step closer to Gosling, wanting to be closer to another pony, as she was still shaken by her eons-long sojourn. “What you, Shining Armor, and Blueblood did was very brave—”

“Twilight, they did the fighting… I was useless—OW!”

Without even thinking about it, Twilight’s wing flew out and she gave Gosling light but startling slap across the face. She was shocked—stunned by her own reaction—and a bit spooked by how much she had changed during her long journey. Before she could even process what she had done, she started speaking, and the words just spilled out of her mouth.

“You were not useless! Shining and Blueblood did the fighting and you did the diplomacy! The Lord of Shades was defeated and the Grittish Isles were reclaimed. You… you brought the ponies of those isles together and you made them happy! You made them trust one another again! You drove away the dark shadow that lurked in their hearts!”

“Ow…” Gosling rubbed his cheek with his wing, not so much hurt, still alarmed by Twilight’s reaction. “You’ve changed, Twilight. There is something different about you.”

Feeling a little panic, Twilight continued, hoping to draw attention away from herself. “You’ve become the Alicorn of Happiness. Who knew that the silly rubber duckie on your hindquarters would have so much meaning? Everywhere you go, you push back the shadow and leave others happy. You helped to save the Grittish Isles, not just from evil, but also the ponies from themselves.”

“And that is what I came to talk to you about,” Gosling said as he folded his wing back against his side. “I have to go back and save the Grittish Isles again. Look, I know it is sudden, but Celestia, Luna, and I have been asked to return as mediators. The new government is having some growing pains. They’re asking for help now before it becomes a big problem, or worse, Grogar’s shadow comes creeping back in. Mister Teapot’s druids have done a lot to remove the taint from the land, but there is still a lot of negative energy and bad magic left behind.”

“So you need to go on a trip?” Twilight asked.

“Yes.” Gosling nodded his head. “And we need a foalsitter. We were going to ask Cadance and Shining Armor, but… uh… well, the uh, Crystal Cotillion is coming up and—”

“Nuance.” One of Twilight’s eyebrows arched while she said the distasteful word, and she saw Gosling nodding while looking somewhat ashamed.

“Yeah.” Gosling shuffled around on his hooves, his wings flapped against his sides, and he looked up at the massive tree stump hanging from the ceiling because he could no longer look Twilight in the eye. “Yeah, my son has some behavioural issues, and there was that little fight with Skyla, and she totally thrashed him.” Looking disturbed, the upset father focused his eyes on Twilight once more. “Is it wrong that I’m happy that my son got his plot kicked?”

Twilight was too stunned to say anything in response and she stood there with her mouth hanging open.

“I mean, I was kinda hoping that it would fix him… you know, his attitude problem. It fixed Skyla… I mean, she’s a bookworm and a little egghead and who would have thought she was capable of violence? I mean, I know Cadance was shocked and proud of her daughter, because let’s face it, up to this point, Skyla’s never even raised her voice and it isn’t healthy for a foal to be that meek.”

“I did… not… know that Skyla got into a fight.” Twilight, numb from this information, didn’t know what to say, or which response was appropriate. She knew that there had been a squabble, but an actual fight… from Skyla? From Flurry, a fight would be expected, but Skyla… Twilight couldn’t even imagine it happening. “I’d be happy to foalsit for a while… that’d be great.”

It would be great. Twilight needed an excuse to hole up in her castle and take some downtime. Corbie and Radiance were no real trouble at all, and Nuance could be wrangled. She could call in help—favours—and even better, she could call in friends. Seville and Pinkie Pie would be ideal foalsitting companions, and they could all spend a little quiet time together.

“I’m nervous about going back to the Grittish Isles,” Gosling confessed, and a dark cloud passed over the sunshine of his face. “A lot of bad things happened there. I grew up there… in a sense, I guess. I came into my own as a communications officer. And I guess I did show the entire world that I was more than a pretty playboy pegasus. While Blueblood and Shining Armor were whooping ass on the Lord of Shades, I ended the civil war with nothing but words. I still don’t know how I did it, Twilight, and I keep wondering if it was some kind of fluke.”

“I seem to recall that you talked a greater darkness elemental to death.” Twilight did nothing to hold back her snide sarcasm, it was how she showed that she cared. “And right now, you’re talking me to death.” She let Gosling hang for a few seconds, then added, “You know, if you need to talk, we can.”

“A lot of bad things happened,” Gosling repeated, and his eyes twitched from side to side. “Just like when I followed Luna into that stupid house to recover Moon Rose. I’m just some wise-feather pegasus from the Broncs… I don’t deal well with dark, spooky stuff.”

This time, when Twilight’s wings unfurled from her sides, it was to hug Gosling. She pulled him in, overpowering him with ease, and she rubbed her neck against his. He resisted only for a moment, then gave in, returning her embrace with his own. Stretching her body as much as possible, she pointed her muzzle upwards towards Gosling’s ear.

“You married Dark and Spooky, and as I recall, she gave you a sliver of her soul.”

“And now I have a thing for horror movies and spiders… ain’t that somethin’.” Gosling squeezed Twilight with his wings and shook his head. “Cadance said I would notice changes. She wasn’t kidding.”

“When will you be bringing the foals by?” Twilight asked, eager to do a little foalsitting.

“Later tonight?”

“That’d be fine.” When Gosling began to pull away, Twilight stopped him, and she looked up into his eyes. She felt the potent magic of the ink rising up within her, but she resisted, pushing it back. “You have a knack for bringing ponies together… it is a natural extension of your talent. You brought the sisters together… they are truly one once more and it is obvious to anypony that looks at them. They are restored. You’ll help patch things up on the Isles too. Just be yourself… and keep Beans and Toast close. The time for fighting is over, but the battle of diplomacy has begun. This is your arena.”

“Thanks, Twilight.”

“Don’t mention it. I’ll see you later tonight, okay?” Twilight let go, and while she gazed into Gosling’s eyes, she saw some potential-precognitive flashes of the future that rose into her vision, unbidden. It took a few blinks to clear her vision, and she gave Gosling a reassuring smile. “Go with the Sisters and heal a troubled nation, Gosling.”

“I’ll do my best,” Gosling replied.

And with that, Twilight backed away, smiling.

Pebble and Sumac were awfully cute together, so much so that their sweetness might cause tooth decay. The little filly had been downright clingy with Sumac since his change, and even now, she followed him around the room with a fretful look upon her face as he went from place to place, putting books back on the shelf. At some point, she and Rainbow Dash were going to have to teach him how to fly, but Twilight did not know when. The Crystal Cotillion would be here soon, and she doubted there would be enough time before that.

Rainbow of course, had responded to Sumac sprouting wings the same way she reacted to everything else: she bought him a shirt saying, ‘Rainbow Dash is my wingpony.’ On one level, it irked Twilight that Rainbow didn’t take this with more seriousness, but then again, what more could be expected from Rainbow? Sumac was now just another potential flight-buddy to show off with.

And maybe it was better that way. Sumac wasn’t treating it as a big deal, so maybe Rainbow Dash shouldn’t either. But it was a big deal, and at some point, the various alicorns of Equestria would have to come together to welcome Sumac into their ranks, though perhaps not as a prince. Celestia was hesitant to commit to such an action, and respected Sumac’s wishes on the subject.

“Spike, do we have three bedrooms ready for our three little guests?” Twilight asked.

Squirming, Spike gave Twilight a soured expression. “Can’t we just throw Nuance into the cellar somewhere? We need a dungeon of some sort I think—”

“No!” Twilight replied, shaking her head, and she fought to keep from smiling.

“I have all of the shinies locked up,” Spike reported. “The kitchen staff know to keep the doors locked and the silverware counted. Corbie’s room has a nightlight so she doesn’t get scared. I think I have everything covered.”

“Fantastic.” Twilight gave Spike a nod. “You’re the best, Spike.”

“I know,” the little dragon replied with a casual shrug.

A heavy sigh escaped. She still had not told him yet, her number one assistant, and Twilight felt a little guilty. At some point, she had a lot of explaining to do. Spike was suspicious, because she kept giving him random hugs, and he wasn’t a stupid dragon. He was on to her, but he hadn’t said anything—yet. Spike was giving her space until she was ready to spill the beans.

“Do they itch?” Pebble asked while she followed along behind Sumac.

“Yes.” Sumac nodded, adjusted his glasses, and reshelved a few more books. “They’re also hot and now I suffer from embarrassing smelly wingpits.” Pausing, Sumac began pulling down some books he needed, and he levitated these to a stack of books waiting on the table. “Twilight, I think I’m closer to a breakthrough understanding about magic and harmonic frequency. Since the uh, change, I’ve been having all sorts of ideas and Vinyl is creating equipment so we can conduct experiments.”

“No earthquake machines!”

“That was an accident!” Sumac whined, and his ears drooped. “Sheesh, you make one little mistake…”

“Mistakes…” Twilight let the word slither off of her tongue. “You and Vinyl… and your mistakes… the blamethrower—”

“That was Vinyl’s idea!”

“—caused no end of chaos in Ponyville. And do I even need to bring up the perspective shift stick?”

“That was my idea and I’ve said I was sorry. Many, many times now. Look, it seemed like a good idea at the time, because of when I was younger and I found myself inside of Vinyl’s body. It gave me understanding about being somepony else.” Sumac let out a weary sigh and shook his head. “I didn’t mean to scar Big Mac and Applejack for life—”

“Big Mac has an explicit memory of foal birth!” Twilight’s wings unfurled and she fought to keep from laughing, though she was doing a poor job of it. “Twins! Big Mac remembers birthing twins!”

“Well, Applejack kept saying that she didn’t understand her brother and she wished that he’d just open up about things,” Sumac said in his own defense.

“There are things that siblings should never, ever learn or know about one another,” Twilight deadpanned.

“Wait… hold up… I just realised something.” Pebble held up one hoof to pause the world around her. Panic, annoyance, and fear was visible upon her chocolate-brown face. Her ears stood erect, then sagged, then stood up once more, and then pivoted forwards in the universal sign of equine alarm.

Twilight waited while feeling her gut muscles tighten with growing dread.

“Spike mentioned Nuance…”

“So he did,” Twilight replied, and her frogs began sweating. Spike was frozen now, cringing, and Twilight knew that he knew that he had blown it. A simple careless mention of Pebble’s least favourite name and pony.

Saying nothing, Pebble moved with astounding speed while she rose up into a bipedal stance. Hind hooves clattering, she snatched up a startled Sumac, darted behind a shelf, and vanished. She was just gone. Twilight stood there, her mouth agape, and it took her several long seconds to realise what had just happened. When she did, she stomped her hoof against the floor with futile anger. Pebble had just jaunted, the peculiar form of teleportation unique to earth ponies.

“Nope.”

Hearing the voice, it took Twilight several confused seconds to realise her own castle was speaking to her, a manifestation of Pebble’s magical talent to make rocks talk. The rotten little filly was using Twilight’s own castle to send the message, rather than say it face to face. The sudden betrayal made Twilight stew in her own juices and she felt a hot flush of resentment go creeping up her neck, making the long march to reach her face.

“Nope, nope, nope!”

“Ugh!” Twilight let out a grunt of frustration and stomped her hoof again. Without backup, this was going to be far worse than she thought. Gritting her teeth, she prepared herself for the worst, while hoping for the best. Maybe Nuance would be well behaved. It could happen. “Ooooh, Pebble Pie! How could you!”

Author's Note

Wee! Adventure!

No, slice of life.

Wee! Slice of life!

Chapter 5

Frazzled, unsettled, and more than just a little disturbed, Twilight Sparkle yanked both Seville Orange and Pinkie Pie into a private room with her, and then shut the door. She studied their faces for a time, reading every wrinkle, crinkle, and crease, only to discover that neither of them could look her in the eye. Of the two of them, Seville squirmed the most, and his hooves clicked against the ground as he shuffled. He might be kind of handsome, but that wasn’t enough to get him spared.

“Look, Twilight,” Pinkie Pie began, “my Pinkie Sense isn’t perfect. Like right now, it is telling me that something is very wrong and that you are angry. With me. But I don’t know why.”

“Nuance wet the bed,” Twilight said, keeping her voice down. “Nuance wet the bed and I discovered that there was quite a bit that I wasn’t told. Now, I am trying to get down to the bottom of this. He wet the bed and I am worried by everything I’ve found out so far.”

“I know that he wet the bed.” Pinkie nodded while she spoke, and her tail swished around her hind legs.

“He also had a major nosebleed,” Twilight added, and her voice went even lower from sympathy for Nuance's shame.

“I… didn’t pick up on that.” Pinkie Pie seemed rather subdued, and her face became downcast. “I only picked up that he was panicking. Seville told me to let you handle it.” While she spoke, Seville drew in a deep breath, and held it.

“Why?” Twilight asked, looking into Seville’s face. “Why wasn’t I told?”

“Because Celestia wanted you to form your own opinions and conclusions without the introduction of outside bias!” Seville blurted out with uncharacteristic volume and speed. “We’re all too involved and too close to the situation, that’s what Cadance said, and she and Celestia both agreed that you might deal with this better if you were allowed to draw your own conclusions without being told anything at all about what is going on.”

“I see.” Twilight relaxed a little, causing both Seville and Pinkie to let out sighs of relief.

“You’re a different kind of princess,” Seville continued, “with different instincts and a different approach. Celestia admitted she doesn’t know what to do on this issue. She’s had a lot of foals before, but they’ve always been raised by nannies and an army of helpers. And uh… well, uh… um… I don’t know if I should be talking about this. I don’t have permission.”

“So Celestia took a more hooves-on approach for maybe the first time and found things were a bit more complicated than she anticipated.” Twilight paused, reflecting upon her own words, and she drew upon her own senses. “Things have spiraled out of control and the perfect opportunity presented itself for Celestia, Luna, and Gosling to dump the Royal Brood on me. Now I am left to sort out this mess.”

“More or less.” Seville nodded and his expression seemed apologetic, but it was hard to tell. “Luna said that you would say something like this.”

“You know what?” Twilight smiled so hard that laugh-lines crinkled the corners of her eyes. “I have this. I am the Princess of Friendship, and if anypony can get those foals to be friends with each other, it’s me. This will be a piece of cake. But I am going to need your help.” When Twilight looked at Seville, she found that she had his eye contact, and then, when her head turned in Pinkie’s direction, she found Pinkie’s blue eyes staring back at her. Returning her attention to Seville, she asked, “I’m going to need at least some information to work with, but I will respect the process and will try to form my own conclusions without biases.”

“I’ll do what I can,” Seville replied, and he sounded relieved.

“Alright then… for today, we need to focus on a few things to get started…”

Spike found himself worried about Nuance. It was odd, this worry, and the little dragon didn’t like it. Nuance wasn’t talking at all, he wasn’t saying anything, he wasn’t being bossy, or monstrous, or mean. Perhaps that was the most worrying sign that something was wrong—the little unicorn wasn’t being a snot. The colt had been bathed again this morning—this time by Twilight—and was at the moment wrapped up in a crocheted throw blanket, shivering. Moving with slow caution, Spike put down the saucer and the cup of tea on the table next to the couch.

“You’re supposed to drink this special tea,” Spike said to Nuance, and the colt shot him an icy glare in return.

“I can’t,” Nuance replied, and his voice sounded frail… strained even, to Spike’s ears.

“Why not?” Spike asked. “Does it taste gross? Is it bitter? It smells weird, like it’s metal or something. It’s some kind of red tea I’ve never seen before.”

“I can’t make my magic work right now,” Nuance muttered as his teeth clattered together.

“Oh.” Spike blinked once, pondering this information, and then climbed up onto the couch, his scales snagging a bit on the fabric. Sitting down, he got himself comfortable, pulled Nuance a little closer, and he ignored the fussy sounds the colt made. Picking up the cup of tea with his claws, he held it in front of him and gave it a sniff. It really did smell like metal… like… iron… and maybe copper? Turning his head, he looked Nuance in the eye. “Tell you what. How about I hold this for you, and you drink it? It’s hot, so you’ll get warmed up. Seville said it wouldn’t be a problem to get you to drink it.”

The colt gave the dragon a wary stare and said nothing.

“Seville also said to remind you that we have the ways and means to pour this down your throat,” Spike said to Nuance, and he shook his head. “I’d rather not do that. It seems mean and you look like you’re having a hard morning.”

“Fine, dragon, I’ll drink it if you’ll hold it.” Nuance slumped over against Spike, going limp, and then just remained there, taking shallow breaths and not moving. “You’re very warm.”

“Well, I’m a dragon,” was Spike’s deadpan reply, and he felt the claws of worry raking against the back of his mind. The little unicorn colt was ice cold, the parts poking out from beneath the blanket, and this caused Spike no end of alarm. Was Nuance sick? Did the little colt catch something? He somehow seemed even frailer and weaker than last night, when Spike had given him a bath. With but a thought, Spike began stoking his internal fires and he raised his body temperature as he began to blow on the cup of tea, which was still steaming.

“Let’s see if we can get you warmed up…”

Moving with absolute silence, Twilight Sparkle shut the door to the room where Spike and Nuance were. The colt was sleeping, wrapped up in a blanket and curled up against Spike, which was just what she wanted. As for Spike, he had a good book. So far, everything was going as planned, more or less. Twilight knew with absolute and total certainty that Spike would follow through with the simple instructions she and Seville had given him: keep Nuance company. Spike was her most trusted assistant for a reason. Sure, he made mistakes every now and then, but when it mattered, he could be trusted to do the right thing.

She moved through her private study while trying to wrangle her thoughts, and there was just so much to think about. Not just the situation with the Royal Brood, but everything. While she paced about, Radiance paid her no attention and kept his nose in his textbook, Fun Physics for Kindergartners. Even though doing his schoolwork wasn’t required, the colt had insisted, and who was Twilight to refuse? It kept him quiet and occupied, and Twilight needed quiet right now if she was going to make a plan. That was why she had sent Corbie outside with Pinkie Pie, because Corbie had explosive bursts of loquacious verbosity.

Seville had taken over her desk and her table, which she didn’t mind. Someday soon, he was going to be a Doctor of Journalism, which Twilight thought was just perfect for a pony that had a cutie mark that was an orange press for making juice. While passing by the table, she had to fight the urge to spell-check his papers, knowing that it would irk him to no end if she did that while he was working on them. It drove her crazy that he did not spell-check as he wrote, but only afterward, when his writing was finished. She hated him just a little tiny bit for this habit, which she was certain that he only did to drive her to distraction. But alas, she couldn’t just wander over and start spell-checking, no matter how right it was for her to do so.

That was how fights started, but the temptation was just so strong.

Sitting down in the soft grass, Pinkie Pie watched as Corbie fluttered her wings. The filly didn’t get to play outside as much as she should, and this bothered Pinkie a great deal. Corbie’s very existence raised all kinds of troubling questions for Pinkie—like when she grew up, what would she do then? She lived under constant protection now to keep her safe, but what about when she was an adult?

No matter Corbie’s age, hurting her would be a way to hurt her mother, Princess Celestia.

Not too far away, some of Twilight’s students played, and it made Pinkie Pie sad that Corbie wasn’t allowed to play with them. They didn’t have clearance, and if they came too close, one of the nearby guards would swoop in to intervene. Other foals could be rough, or not play nice, or might be mean, or any number of things. Ears perking, Pinkie watched as Corbie began to follow after a ladybug.

The smile on Corbie’s face made Pinkie Pie feel much better about everything.

Mid-pronk, the filly let out a huff and sat down in the grass, breathing hard, but still smiling. Her wings continued to flap, teased by the breeze, and her bright eyes focused on Pinkie Pie. “I’m having a wonderful time!”

“Are ya?” Pinkie’s ears leaned forewards, angling out over her face.

“I’m a little worried about my brother, but yeah. This is nice!” Sitting on her bottom, Corbie began clapping her two front hooves together while she bounced in place. “The royal gardens are nice, but I really don’t get to see other ponies there. Here I can see so much of Ponyville. It’s great!” The little filly, who needed her askewed glasses adjusted, began to turn her head so she could watch whatever caught her attention.

“One time, I got to visit Mister Teapot in his house, and that was nice, but this is better.” Corbie looked up for a time, squinting at the blue sky, and then continued pony watching the citizens of Ponyville. The sun glinted off of a silver spoon hanging from the filly’s neck, but was covered when she wrapped her forelegs around herself so she could give herself a hug.

Then, Corbie began to giggle, and Pinkie Pie felt a growing sense of dread.

“Are you and Twilight dating?” Corbie asked while her head tilted off to one side.

“I’m not sure yet,” Pinkie replied, being honest. Her mouth went dry, and no wonder, all of the wet that was in her mouth was now all over her frogs. How did that happen, anyhow? “We’re just extra-close extra-special friends.”

“Why?”

Pinkie shrugged. “Right now, we’re both at a point in our lives where we want something.”

“Oh.” Corbie nodded and then she straightened out her glasses. “What do you want? Do you want Seville? He’s my uncle and he’s really nice. Daddy says that Seville is his brother even though they’re not related. How does that work? Can you just claim somepony as your brother and sister? If you can, does that mean you can get rid of a brother or sister? That worries me because I think Rad would get rid of NuNu if he could, and if that happened, I would be really sad. I like having two brothers and I’m a really lucky filly, aren’t I? I think Sumac needs a sister and was telling Moon Mom that maybe he could borrow Skyla as a sister for a while? What do you think? Is it okay to borrow a sister? Can I be borrowed? What if I don’t wanna be borrowed? What if Skyla doesn’t want be borrowed?” Corbie came to an abrupt stop, sucked in a deep breath, and then let heave a sigh while saying, “It’s nice to talk and not have Nuance screaming at me to shut up.”

“I bet!” Pinkie Pie grinned at the little motormouth, who reminded her of her sister Limestone. “Say, what would you like for lunch, Corbie?”

Author's Note

Next chapter: beware of Twilight Sharkle.

Chapter 21

Love could not be contained by checklists, or point by point plans. It was a vast, unknown sea that could be mapped out, there were no stars to navigate by, there was only action and the experience. And, much to Twilight’s terror, she was in love. She was in love with her longtime friend and one of her best friends, although that was a bit more confusing somehow, as she sensed that it was a different sort of love, which made the experience all the more difficult to process.

So, it was with much caution and hesitation that Twilight Sparkle allowed love to happen. Love was quite different than the crush she had experienced, as this was a love reciprocated, returned, it was a love that went in both directions, that gave as well as received. And it was glorious. So much so, in fact, that it almost made up for the terror and panic it caused.

Like the cheese quesadilla that had once been her greatest fear, she found love satisfying.

Even though she worried about all of the things that might happen, or could happen, or probably would happen, even though she was scared of the consequences, Twilight decided it was time to let go and just allow this to take place, come what may. Leaning over a bit, she rested her weight against Seville, and found him to be a sturdy support. He was a veteran of this life and its hazards. Seville had endured train rides with Gosling, he had seen battle, had survived assassination attempts, he was all too aware of the risks. None of what might happen was strange to him, or unknown—in short, either through accident or on purpose, Seville had been groomed to deal with this sort of life.

So, Twilight made the choice to trust him, she had to trust that he knew what he was getting himself into, that he knew the consequences, the risks, the dangers, and wanted to proceed anyway. She wasn’t pulling him into an unfair situation that would drastically upend his life, no, she was seeking a seasoned and accomplished accomplice that knew exactly what he was getting into.

It was safe to fall in love with him, to do so without the fear that she would ruin his life.

Overhead, the Wonderbolts were wrapping up their show with rapid formation changes, an impressive display that Twilight had trouble focusing on. She was far too distracted and happy to pay attention, and she reveled in what she knew to be a most wonderful, most perfect moment. Nuance was behaving himself while clinging to her leg. His touch, his weight was pleasing to her, reassuring for some odd reason that she could not comprehend, and being this close to Seville was electric. There was something about the experience as a whole that she craved, that she wanted more of, and she didn’t want this perfect moment to end.

Rainbow Dash had done just the right thing. Leave it to a pegasus to create just the right atmosphere. Leaning against Seville, she looked up at her friend, distracted, thankful for having a most excellent wingpony. Overhead, the Wonderbolts were waving, showing off, and saying goodbye. Down below, all of Ponyville seemed wowed, but of all of the astonishment filled faces, Radiance was the one that seemed the most taken with what he had seen. Twilight just so happened to look at him at just the right moment, at just the right time, when his eyes shimmered with tears.

For some reason, Twilight thought back to that magic moment during the Summer Sun Celebration, when order and beauty had left a profound impact upon her. That was a long, long time ago, and she had grown so much since then. Perhaps Radiance was having his own life altering moment, who knew… a cutie mark might be soon to follow, though Twilight wasn’t sure how being an earth pony applied to this situation. Anything was possible though.

“Can we get ice cream?” Corbie asked, startling Twilight, who was lost in her thoughts.

“I… dunno…” Twilight drew out her words, hesitant, because she wanted Corbie to get some exercise.

“We’ve been good.” Corbie’s eyes seemed large behind her glasses, and so far, her face remained neutral. She wasn’t using weaponised cuteness, at least, not yet.

“You should be good for the sake of being good,” Twilight replied, shaking her head, “and not for the hope of a reward.”

“That’s dumb.” Corbie looked thoughtful for a moment, and it was obvious that she was struggling to come up with something better. “If we get no reward for being good, then why be good? If I’m good, I want something for it.”

Twilight wasn’t sure where to start. The grammar of the response irked her, but the idea that Corbie expected payment for being good bothered her quite a bit. Feeling eyes upon her, she looked down and saw Nuance looking up at her with an unreadable expression upon his face. Were pegasus ponies natural mercenaries and if so, why hadn’t she found out about it?

“Tell me, do your parents pay you for being good?” Twilight asked, fearing the answer.

“If they know what’s good for them,” Seville grumbled while he turned and looked away.

“Daddy says that diplomacy is the art of rewarding ponies for doing good.” Corbie blinked, and for a moment, there was something about her that was very much like her father. “I’ve heard him say that ponies want to be good, but sometimes they need, um, what’s that word...”—the filly wore a blank stare for a moment while thinking—“motor-vacation?”

“Motivation?” Twilight leaned her head down a bit to look Corbie in the eye.

“I think it was motor-vacation, but okay.” When Radiance snorted, Corbie ignored him and remained focused upon Twilight.

“Okay,” Twilight began after deciding to deal with Corbie in a more diplomatic manner, “there is something I want from you. Are you ready to negotiate?” When Spike began to chortle, Twilight shot him a scathing glance, but the dragon did not stop. She was about to say something else, when Seville started to chuckle as well, and that was the moment when Twilight began to feel annoyed.

“What are your terms?” Corbie asked.

Twilight blinked, taken off guard. She was the one that needed to be in control, but Corbie had just beaten her to the punch, and was now the one dictating the pace of things. This would not do. She realised that Corbie really was her father’s daughter, and while she wasn’t the smartest little filly, she was canny. Just what was Gosling teaching her? Or what if this was Celestia’s doing? Or Luna? Twilight hoped that she wasn’t in trouble, or in over her head. Shaking her head from side to side, she realised that worrying was unnecessary, and there was no way that she could lose, because she was in charge.

“I’m waiting.” Corbie’s ears stood up and the little filly looked quite attentive. And cute. Dangerously cute.

“We’re going to go for a walk around the lake,” Twilight said after she pulled herself together and she refused to be distracted. Now, Sumac was sniggering, and she made a mental note to increase his homework by a magnitude. She saw Corbie’s ears sag and for some reason, she now felt guilty for even suggesting it. Oh, Corbie was good. Gosling pulled this nonsense all of the time, and Twilight had difficulty dealing with it each time it happened.

“And then I get my ice cream?” Corbie clopped her front hooves together, and then gave Twilight a hopeful look.

A shrewd grimace appeared on Twilight’s face, a reflexive action from dealing with ponies like Gosling and Sumac for far too long. She had to make Corbie come around to her way of thinking somehow, to make her motivated to do this. She had an idea, and she thought that it just might save this situation.

“Yes, you will get one scoop of ice cream for every lap you take with me around the lake.”

“Hmm.” Corbie contemplated Twilight’s offer while the others present continued to laugh, much to Twilight’s ever-growing annoyance. “Toppings?”

“Toppings count as a scoop—”

“Four toppings count as a scoop.”

“No.”

“Three.”

“No.”

“Fine, two, but if you don’t say yes, I’m not walking.” Corbie’s eyes narrowed and she attempted to stare Twilight down. “Toppings are just little things, like sprinkles and nuts and stuff. I should get what I want.”

“Okay, fine, fresh fruit, if you get it, doesn’t count as a topping,” Twilight said, trying to bargain. “You can get all the fruit you want, but candied fruit doesn’t count.”

The filly’s ears angled forwards and she gave a little nod of her head. “I’ll agree, but only if you follow the same rule. Oy vey, this alte kaker, she hondles.”

“Corbie!” Seville snapped, and he was no longer laughing. “I’m telling your father!” His words made the filly flinch just a little, but not much.

“What’d she just say?” Twilight demanded, feeling out of sorts.

“Give me a lap around the lake and I’ll tell you,” Corbie offered.

Seville leaned over, placed his muzzle next to Twilight’s ear, and then told Twilight what the little filly had said. Her mouth dropped open in shock, her eyes widened, and even as she became angry, there was a part of her that wanted to laugh. She kicked her amusement down the stairs to the basement of her mind while her eyebrows furrowed downwards. “Why I oughta make you run a lap around the lake, you little stinker!”

Twilight’s words had the opposite effect of what she wanted, and Corbie began giggling.

The laps around the lake were just what Twilight needed. A bit of exercise was good for clearing one’s head and getting the blood flowing. Radiance seemed to be enjoying himself the most, having pulled ahead with Sumac and Pebble. As for Sumac and Pebble, they kept flirting with each other, which made Twilight worry about inappropriate behaviour, and she kept an eye on the two of them. Boomer, who slunk along on all fours, kept pace with Corbie. Twilight, along with Seville, who was carrying Nuance, brought up the rear. As for Spike, he was in the lake, swimming, having abandoned them to do his own thing.

The path around the lake had been covered in gravel, the good kind, made of rounded stones. Nopony liked walking on the sharp kind of gravel, except for maybe Maud and perhaps Pebble, but Twilight didn’t know for certain. One thing was for certain: most of the gravel around the lake had been made by Maud and Pebble. Twilight still remembered the dust cloud.

“Twilight?”

Turning her head, Twilight glanced at Seville, who kept pace beside her. She also saw a guard, who kept pace a few yards away, and she could hear his armor jangling. Seville appeared to be struggling, trying to say something, and for such an erudite pony that worked with words, he was having a hard time making a sentence.

“Twilight, I realise that this might be a little forwards, but at some point, I have to take you home to meet my parents,” Seville managed to say after claiming victory over his internal struggle. “I’m a bit worried about it, actually. No… no… no… I’m scared silly about it, if I am to be honest.”

“Seville, don’t be a silly pony.”

“Twilight, you don’t understand… they’re poor. They’re farmers—”

“Applejack is a farmer,” Twilight interjected.

“No…” Seville shook his head. “Twilight, they don’t own the land they farm. We’re relics of Equestria’s fading feudal era. They’re serfs… of the lowest type. We came with the land. We’re not at all like the aristocratic Oranges that live in Manehattan”—for a moment, Seville’s eyes flashed with frustration and a bit of anger—“we’re the workers that keep them wealthy. I mean, we’re all family and they’re nice enough to us considering what we are, but I…” His words trailed off into a frustrated, flatulent raspberry.

“And you think that this would bother me?” Twilight asked.

“It bothers me!” Seville blurted out, and his raised voice caused several of the guards to turn and look. “It’s why I left the farm! We were poor! We didn’t even have electricity… and now that I have money, my parents don’t want it! They’re so stuck in the mindset of what they were raised to do… they don’t want things to improve or get better… they like being serfs. They say that life is less complicated and they don’t have to worry about payments, or balancing the books, or paying taxes, or doing anything but work the land! Money is a complication that frightens them! They’re not intellectuals and I’m scared about bringing you home because you’re so much higher up in the caste system than we are.”

“Seville,” Twilight said, and her voice was soft, “for one thing, we no longer use the words ‘caste system,’ as we have grown past that as a society—”

“Some ponies still cling to it, embrace it even, and I haven’t said a single, solitary word to my parents about my hopes of getting with you because I don’t know how they would react! They’re bumpkins!” While Seville was speaking, his eyes cast a sidelong glance ahead at Sumac, and then he focused once more on Twilight Sparkle.

Taken aback, Twilight almost stumbled, but recovered. Nuance had a strange look upon his face while he clung to Seville’s neck. Try as she might, she could not make out Nuance’s bizarre expression, and the more she looked at it, the more it bothered her, because she did not know what the little enigmatic colt was thinking.

Seeing Seville’s distress, Twilight decided that it was time for a distraction bomb. “You know, Seville, it’s not fair.”

“What’s not fair?” Sure enough, Seville looked baffled.

“You’ve met my mother and father.” Twilight made her face look as serious as possible. “You are, no doubt, one of my mother’s friends, one of her inner circle. You’ve filmed that documentary with her about how our government works, and the reformation that we’ve endured as a nation. You know her better than I will probably ever know your parents, and I’m a little jealous.”

“Jealous?” Seville’s mouth fell open. “Are you kidding me, Miss Sparkle?”

“Would I do that?” she asked, and she did her best to look innocent.

“Yes,” he replied without so much as a second’s hesitation.

“Harumph!” Twilight tossed her head around, and then snorted.

“You know, working with your mother, it’s been great.” Seville turned to stare ahead, and his hooves made crunching sounds as he trotted alongside Twilight. “For the past few years, she’s told me so many embarrassing stories about you. She loves to talk about you, you know.”

Aghast, Twilight felt the skin of her stomach begin crawling. Her mother did what?

“She told me all about your Sol Benedictionem, when you received the blessing of the sun and were recognised as a noble heir to your house.” Seville was grinning now, and mischief twinkled in his eyes.

“Noooo…” Twilight felt her stomach doing flip flops. “She didn’t!”

“She did.” Seville began sniggering and kept his eyes focused straight ahead.

“No, she didn’t!” Twilight was mortified. She didn’t remember the incident, as she was too young, but it was a story that she dreaded her mother telling. It was usually enough to drive Twilight right out of the room, or make her behave as a filly, or just make her go and hide in the closet in shame. It was the worst story, and Twilight wished that she could strike it from existence.

“Your mother says that the day of your Sol Benedictionem was the day that she knew that Princess Celestia was truly a great ruler, and that was the day that your mother pledged her service to the betterment of the empire. She really loves to tell this story.”

“Noooo!” Twilight shook her head from side to side. “No! No! No! Gah!”

“What happened?” Nuance asked.

“Don’t you dare tell him!” Twilight demanded.

“A conundrum,” Pebble deadpanned from up ahead. “Does the born serf obey the direct command of his princess, behaving as a submissive lesser, or does he rise up and claim equal hoofing?”

“Pebble Pie, shut your pie hole!” Twilight did her best impression of Applejack, but felt it was lacking. Her ears were burning and she was almost certain that it was, in fact, possible to die of shame. “You pretentious little social climber, you’re the special somepony of a member of the landed elite!”

“I know, and it feels good to pull myself up out of this mire I was born into.” Turning back to face Twilight, Pebble had a smug look upon her face, the mother of all smug looks, it was the smuggiest of all smug looks that had ever been smugged. “Some of us live to escape it.”

“Gah, Pebble, you’re so frustrating!” Twilight’s voice was more whine than anything else, and it galled her that Sumac was laughing at this exchange.

In a low voice, Seville responded to Nuance, and there was no trace of laughter in his voice. “Little filly Twilight had the stomach flu, but nopony knew it just yet. When it got to the part where Princess Celestia had to kiss the spot where the umbilical cord was, Twilight exploded out of both ends. Your mother, Nuance, bless her soul, continued the ceremony as if nothing had happened, and she didn’t so much as raise an eyebrow, because that’s how strong her dedication to ceremony and tradition are.”

“Oh.” Nuance sat there, and his ears drooped.

Twilight expected Nuance to laugh, to gloat, but he didn’t. This wasn’t the reaction she expected at all. The little colt looked… sad. The embarrassment of the moment was forgotten, and she tried as hard as she could to get inside of the little colt’s head. Of course he knew the shame of being laughed at, of having embarrassing stories told about him.

“Nuance, you okay, little buddy?” Seville asked.

“I’m fine,” Nuance replied, not sounding fine at all. “You shouldn’t laugh at Twilight.”

“I’m not.” Seville drew in a deep breath, glanced at Twilight, and then worry began to creep over his face.

“I want to go home.” Nuance paused, then kept going: “I don’t want to be out in the sun. I want to lay down. I don’t feel good.”

“Nuance, you’re not even walking.” Radiance scowled back at his brother, and then snorted. “You’re faking it, you little weakling, and it isn’t fair that you’ll be getting ice cream without having to work for it.”

“Hey, Radiance, tell me something,” Pebble said, cutting in before Twilight could respond. “How does somepony fake getting punched in the face by their brother? Tell me that, will you?”

Twilight saw it. She saw it and it scared her. Rage. Pure, inarticulate rage, and Radiance’s face was now turning a frightening shade of red. For a moment, she was almost certain that Radiance was going to attack Pebble, and the little colt began to splutter because he was too angry to make words happen.

“Do it, Radiance,” Pebble said as she came to an abrupt halt on the path, which made everypony else come to a stop as well. “You’re a big strong pony when it comes to beating up weaklings, but I think you’re all talk and bluster. You’re just a bully, and I think having your posh little plot kicked would do you some good. Beating up your brother proves to everypony just how big and strong you are, right? Do you really think that you can prove yourself by doing—”

“Pebble, that’s enough.” Twilight’s tone was one of calm command.

“Just saying.” Pebble stared at Twilight, defiant. “Lock him into a room with Flurry and let nature take its course. I bet Skyla could take him too.”

“Pebble, stop.” Twilight’s voice was low, calm, but also gritty and tense.

“Fine.” Pebble bowed her head. “I’ll stop. I’ve made my point, and I suppose that will have to be enough.” Turning her head back around, she resumed trotting once more, leading the way,

“Are we still going to get ice cream?” Corbie looked worried. “I’m owed some ice cream. I did laps.”

Sighing, Twilight realised that it was time for this excursion to end. “Yes, Corbie, you’ll get your ice cream, and then we’re going home. Come on, everypony, let’s hoof it to the ice cream parlour, and let’s try to have a nice time. No more fighting, bickering, or making hurtful accusations about our brother.” She focused on Radiant as she spoke her final words, but he ignored her, as he was still staring at Pebble, seething, furious.

Things hadn’t quite worked out as planned.

Author's Note

This chapter had to be chopped apart and fixed a few times. It had references to the movie that never happened, and so does the next chapter, which is partially written. We are moving to the endgame, people, and our villain is currently plotting.