Fox Tales

by jademaehara

Rating: teen
Tags: Spitfire, Twilight Sparkle, Drama, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Romance, Original Character, Octavia, Comedy, Bon-Bon, Adventure
Length: 13705

Twilight Sparkle is single. Rarity wants to know why when Ponyville has so many eligible mares and stallions.

Canterlot was her home for the first sixteen years of her life, and yet Twilight hardly ever talks about it with her friends. Now she's approaching her eighteenth birthday, and she still isn't talking. But above all of that is the fact that she remains a single mare, with seemingly no intention of finding a special somepony, either in Canterlot or in Ponyville.

Hearts and Hooves day is coming up, and Twilight isn't showing any interest.

Rarity decides enough is enough, and she's going to find out why.

Even if it changes everything she thought she knew about Twilight, the Princesses, and Equestria itself.

........................

Additional character tags: Princess Cadance, Scootaloo, Vinyl Scratch, Lyra, Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, Batpony... actually, you know what, literally everypony. Yup.

........................

Published 2022-03-15 17:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2022-03-15 17:00:00 UTC

Ponies Are Talking

“Darling…”

“Rarity, no. We’ve talked about this.”

“But darling, you simply must…”

“No!” The white unicorn pouted as she continued to run the brush through her friend’s tri-coloured mane.

“All I’m saying, darling, is that you have been in Ponyville now for more than a year, and I have yet to see or hear you express even the slightest romantic interest in any stallion or mare here.” She reached out with her magic and snatched her mane straighteners from the sideboard. Heating them up almost instantly, she clamped them around the lengthy mane in front of her and continued her work.

“Hearts and Hooves day is less than a week away, and I am determined to find you somepony to spend it with! A beautiful young mare such as yourself should not spend such a day on her own, cooped up in a library surrounded by dusty books!” She pulled the mane straighteners up a little too roughly, eliciting a slightly pained grunt from the purple mare below her. She winced.

“I’m sorry darling, I didn’t mean to…”

“I know Rarity, it’s ok.” The purple unicorn sighed. “Do you mind if we talk about something else? At least whilst you’re doing my mane?” A smile flicked across Rarity’s face as she lowered the mane straighteners once more.

“Of course darling,” she said lightly. “All the more to talk about at our lunch date today.”

Twilight Sparkle, Ponyville librarian and personal student of Princess Celestia, and currently in the middle of having her monthly coat-and-mane beauty treatment, sighed heavily. This was going to be a long day.

……….

“This is going to be a long day.”

Swift Shield, private 1st class in the Equestrian Royal Guard, wished he could say such a thing out loud as he stared at his current charge. Princess Celestia, the co-ruler of Equestria, and one of the most powerful individuals on the planet, was staring at a wall. She had been staring at the wall for the past 10 minutes, never once breaking her gaze as maids, other guards, and occasional palace worker trotted past, each one bowing slightly as they did so. Swift Shield had stood by her side, as was his duty as her personal guard, and watched as the Princess seemed to become more and more enamoured with a single patch of the blue corridor wall. Swift himself had examined the wall for approximately 5 seconds, and had found nothing to warrant his interest. Whilst he was aware that his Princess did not have any pressing engagements for the day, he still wondered, ever so briefly, if maybe, just maybe, she was having a little breakdown. Of course, he thought, anypony who had lived for at least a thousand years had every right to act a little strangely every now and then, and Princess Celestia was no exception. He just wished she didn’t have to pick such an open area to do it. If, of course, that was indeed what was happening. Maybe she saw something in the wall that he couldn’t. An imperfection in the design. A secret message carved into the painted plaster. Or maybe she was reliving a memory from hundreds of years ago.

“Or maybe, she’s just going a little doolally.” Swift Shield did not say these thoughts out loud. The last guard to voice those kinds of thoughts had still not returned from his posting to the northern border.

“Private Shield.” Swift Shield’s thoughts were interrupted by the soft voice of his Princess. He snapped to attention as she spoke, though her gaze remained on the wall.

“Yes, my Princess?”

“Tell me.” She turned to face him, a thoughtful look in her ageless eyes. “Do you think that this wall is painted Prench blue or sky blue?”

……….

“You do know that they’re just different names for the same colour, right?” The Thestral harrumphed as her companion crossed his arms in front of his chest.

“No, they’re totally different!” she said, looking back at the wall. “Ocean grey and military grey are completely different from each other. I just can’t tell which one this is.” She stretched her leathery wings out wide before folding them back against her body.

“This is driving me crazy. I’m going to have to ask the ponies who painted this,” she proclaimed, turning from the wall and walking towards the doorway leading out of the spacious guard quarters they had been walking through, her much taller companion letting out a sigh as he followed her.

“Silver, I’m fairly certain the ponies that painted that wall are long gone,” he said, watching her long, midnight-blue tail swish from side to side as the Thestral trotted along. “That paint is meant to last at least 200 years before it needs to be touched up, and it certainly hasn’t been done recently.” He increased his pace; his longer, bipedal stride quickly bringing him level with the grey-furred Thestral. He flicked her barrel lightly with his golden tail.

“Besides,” he said, looking down at Silver Moon. “I don’t want to waste one of my precious days off looking for a painter that may have been dead for decades.” Silver paused, and look up at her companion, her eyes wide open and pleading. Her lower lip wobbled ever so slightly.

“But… I’m your wife… and I’m going to go mad if I don’t find out whether it’s ocean grey or military grey… you have to help me…” Tears gathered in the corners of her eyes.

“Help me Sif… you’re my only hope…” The figure standing next to her sighed and knelt down. His long, golden tail folded around his waist. His neck-length blonde hair fell forward slightly in front of his face, flowing around the two long, peaked fluffy ears that rose from his head and swivelled in the direction of his wife. He reached out a hand and let the smooth surface cup her cheek; rubbing gently as he drew her forward and planted his pale lips onto her own, slightly furred mouth. He held her there for a second before slowly drawing back and staring lovingly at her. And then his other hand came down in front of her muzzle and flicked it, causing her to jump backwards in shock.

“No.” He stood up to his full height as Silver glared up at him, rubbing her nose where his finger had made contact. “I love you, and one day, I promise, we will find out the exact paint colour used on those walls.” Her expression lightened considerably.

“Today however, we have something very important to do.” He started walking down the hall whilst Silver gave a flap of her wings and jumped up onto his back, wrapping her forelegs around his shoulders and nuzzling the back of his neck.

“Like what?” she said softly, lightly nipping his ear with one of her fangs. He chuckled and patted one of her forelegs with his hand.

“It’s a surprise.”

……….

“I hate surprises.” The white unicorn with the dual-toned electric blue mane let out an exasperated moan as her grey-coated earth pony companion crossed her forelegs haughtily in front of her.

“I’m serious Vinyl, there is a time and place for surprises, and the day before I am due to play with the Canterlot Orchestra is not one of them. Whatever this ‘surprise’ is, it can wait.” Vinyl sighed and tapped her hoof rhythmically on the table.

“No Vinyl, I don’t have the time.” More tapping.

“Vinyl, there is no such thing as ‘too much practice’.”

Tap tap tappity-tap tap.

“I do not see why you need me to go with you to meet your marefriend.” Vinyl thumped her head softly onto the table, being careful to avoid digging her horn into the soft wood or damaging her purple-tinted glasses.

Tappy-tap-tap.

“Don’t ‘But Tavi’ me, Vinyl Scratch.” Octavia Melody delicately lifted her cup of tea and took a sip; the silver bracelet on her foreleg glinting in the morning light, reflecting the light onto Vinyl’s sunglasses for a brief second causing the young unicorn to blink.

“Now, tell me honestly Vinyl, why are you trying so hard to get me to come along on a date with you and Lyra?” Vinyl sighed. This was not going to plan. She knew her best friend could be stubborn sometimes, and that she tended to be a little… snobbish, for lack of a better term, but to be like this when Vinyl had been asked to ensure that Octavia was there…

Tap. Octavia paused, the cup halfway to her mouth.

“What?”

Tap

“Vinyl, what do you…”

Tap tap-tap. Silence as Octavia stared at her friend. Vinyl stared back. After a few seconds the Earth pony sighed and lowered the cup to the table. She slipped down from the chair and walked around the table before nuzzling Vinyl softly on the cheek.

“I’m sorry Vinyl,” she said quietly. “I shouldn’t have asked.” She kissed the young unicorn gently on the cheek, causing Vinyl’s face to turn a soft shade of pink.

Tappity tap tap-tap. Octavia laughed as she turned away and jumped back up onto her chair.

“Yes Vinyl,” she said, reclaiming her cup of tea. “I promise that I will act surprised.”

Tap-tap. Octavia rolled her eyes.

“And I’ll buy you a slice of your favourite pie.”

……….

“The pie is ready!”

“Pinkie…”

“And the macaroons!”

“Pinkie, will you just…”

“The cupcakes are iced and ready!”

“PINKIE PIE!” The garish pink pony froze in the act of reaching to turn the tap on to wash the remaining icing from her front hooves, before turning to look at the exasperated blue mare who had been trying to get her attention.

“Yes Mrs Cake?” Cup Cake gestured with her hoof; sweeping it around the kitchen, indicating the stacks of freshly-baked pies, cupcakes, brownies, pastries, cakes, and other baked products sold by the small shop.

“What do you call this?” Pinkie’s eyes slowly wandered around the room.

“Umm… chocolate cake, double chocolate brownies, twelve different types of cupcake, honey-butterscotch…”

“Yes Pinkie, I know what they are, dear. I would like to know why you’ve baked so many things this morning when I only asked you to…”

“Oh!” Pinkie’s fluffy pink mane deflated ever so slightly and her ears drooped. “I’m sorry Mrs Cake, I forgot to tell you. Can I have the next ten days off please?” Mrs Cake took a couple of steps back as her eyes widened.

“What?”

“Please!” Pinkie’s eyes started to water. “That’s why I’ve baked so much today - something really important is going to happen today and I’m going to have to stay with Twilight and the others for the next week until Hearts and Hooves day and I’ll be going to Canterlot to meet…”

“Pinkie Pie!” The pink earth pony shut her mouth and Mrs Cake raised a hoof to her forehead.

“Pinkie sense?” A nod. “Well dear, if there’s one thing I’ve learned by now, it’s not to argue with your Pinkie sense, so…” She was cut off by Pinkie launching herself forward and pulling the older mare into a tight hug.

“Thankyouthankyouthankyou!” she said, letting go of the now bedraggled Cup Cake. “I won’t be called until later this afternoon so I can keep baking all morning and then Rainbow will come by and tell me Twilight wants to see me and then…”

“Pinkie!” The hyperactive pony once again shut her mouth. Cup Cake sighed once more and looked around the kitchen and the stacks upon stacks of baked goods. Then finally she looked back at Pinkie and smiled.

“We’d better start on the special Heart and Hooves chocolates, seeing as though you’re not going to be here.” Pinkie’s grin widened, and she dove once more into the fray.

“I’ll get the strawberries!”

……….

“Ok, so that’s two strawberry shortcakes, one sweetie drop, and one chocolate cornet.” The young colt in front of the counter nodded happily as the older mare nosed the bag over to him.

“That’ll be three bits please.” His mother smiled down at him as he pushed a small portion of his birthday money across the counter to the cream-coloured mare with a curly red mane.

“Thank you ma’am!” He took the bag in his mouth as the mare smiled at him.

“You’re quite welcome, young stallion,” she replied, causing the colt’s mother to giggle as his cheeks flushed slightly.

“Now remember, don’t eat them all at once,” his mother said as she started to shepherd him out of the door. He nodded, his mouth full of bag, before the two of them trotted happily out of the shop. The mare behind the counter smiled once more, and turned to the younger aquamarine-furred mare who had been sitting patiently by the counter.

“Sorry about that Lyra.”

“That’s ok Mrs Eclair.” Lyra raised herself up off of her haunches. “It’s nice to see the store is doing so well.” Cream Eclair laughed and waved a hoof at Lyra.

“I’ve told you to call me Cream, dear,” she said, turning towards the door into the kitchen at the back of the shop. “Bonnie! Lyra is here!”

“Coming!” A muffled voice was heard by both Lyra and Cream Eclair as the former smiled at the latter.

“I mean you are practically family you know,” Cream said, turning back to the young unicorn who started adjusting the small, white saddlebags she was wearing. “You and Bonnie have known each other for what, fifteen years now?”

“Sixteen actually. She came to my 5th birthday party. Bought me one of those ‘Smarty Pants’ dolls that were all the rage back then.” Eclair laughed.

“Ah yes, those. Fancy certainly hit the jackpot with that particular toy.” At that moment a cream mare came trotting in from the kitchen; her navy blue and pink mane bouncing as she walked over to Lyra and briefly nuzzled her neck.

“Ready to go?” Lyra nodded and gestured to her saddlebags.

“I figure we hit the market for an hour or so, maybe check the record store to see if they’ve got the latest delivery of the album, then we should be about on time to meet up with V and T.”

“Oh, are you seeing Vinyl and Octavia?” Cream interjected. Bon Bon nodded.

“Yup. Then we’re off to the castle for the afternoon.” Cream’s smile lifted once again as she glanced at the sparkling silver earring hanging from the tip of her daughter’s ear.

“Hmm… in that case, you’d better take these.” She leaned under the counter and grabbed a small bag with her mouth before depositing it in front of Bon Bon. “There should be one for each of you.” Bon Bon smiled and gave her mother a small hug.

“Thanks mum,” she said, as an aquamarine glow surrounded the bag and lifted it from the floor. “And thank you Lyra,” she continued as Lyra moved the bag into her left saddlebag. Cream smiled once more.

“Just remember to have fun today Sweetie,” she said, causing Bon Bon to cringe slightly at the use of her least favourite nickname. “Say hello to everypony for me.”

……….

“Hi everypony!”

“Hi Mr Soarin!” The light blue pegasus smiled at the dozen or so young colts and fillies sitting in front of him. Ever since the Wonderbolts had started allowing groups of young fans to come and watch them practice, Soarin had found himself more often than not the appointed foalsitter for the little ponies. Not that he minded; whilst he had to make up the practice time later on in the day, he absolutely loved the time spent with the foals as they stared wide-eyed at his teammates going about their normal practice routines. Of course, it didn’t hurt that the same foals then cheered all the louder for him during the proper shows. The only Wonderbolt who was cheered more was Spitfire.

“She deserves every one of those cheers and more,” he thought as he fluffed his wings slightly and prepared to start his well-practiced speech.

“Ok then colts and fillies, in a minute we’ll head into the practice grounds. You’ve picked a good day to come, nearly all of the Wonderbolts are here today!” Cheers came from the gathered foals.

“Now, who can tell me the name of their favourite Wonderbolt?” A chorus of names came from the young ponies.

“Soarin!”

“Fleetfoot!”

“Spitfire!”

“Surprise!” He held up a hoof to stop the clamour.

“Well, I’ve got good news for you. They’re all here today.” More cheers. “And if you’re really lucky, they may even come over to say hello.” Soarin smiled once more at the cheers. All of the Wonderbolts loved their fans, and he knew they would all make time during practice to come over and meet the colts and fillies. He clapped a hoof on the floor.

“Ok then, follow me!”

Soarin led the group of foals out onto the edge of the practice field; the colts and fillies being kept moving and in line by the two teachers who had accompanied them, and were having to work hard to herd the excitable foals into a group. The practice field the Wonderbolts were using had been built specifically for them by Princess Celestia five years ago, as a place where the stunt group could practice before their shows in Canterlot rather than have to fly from their normal practice grounds in Cloudsdale. As Soarin walked over to the spectator area he smiled softly to himself, as he remembered the day it had opened. The day he had officially become a Wonderbolt, along with Spitfire and Misty Fly. A lot of things had changed that day.

“Especially for her,” he thought as he watched the foals make themselves comfortable on the grass; their expressions already ones of joy and excitement as they watched the other members of the Wonderbolts doing their warm-up exercises in the centre of the practice ground. Soarin’s eyes roamed over his colleagues as he picked out their captain and his fellow flight lieutenant. Spitfire and Fleetfoot were sisters, though no-pony would have guessed based on their radically different coat and mane colours. If Soarin had been given a bit for every time he had been asked if he and Fleetfoot were related because of the slight similarity in their colours, he would have been a very rich pony.

Of course, the look on their faces when he explained that she was his marefriend was worth enough by itself.

Soarin pulled his gaze away from Fleetfoot’s toned figure and turned back towards the group of foals.

“Ok fillies and colts, looks like everypony is just about ready to start. So tell me, who wants to see the Wonderbolts fly?!”

……….

“Ugh, I wish I could see the Wonderbolts fly!” The light-blue mare with the polychromatic mane stamped her hoof in frustration as she looked up at the promotional poster attached to the wall of ‘Quills & Sofas’. Her butter-yellow coated friend looked up at the poster.

“What’s stopping you from going?” she asked in a quiet voice. “It’s the day after Hearts & Hooves day, right? That means you don’t need to work.” The other mare waved a hoof dismissively.

“No can do Flutters. Tickets for this sold out ages ago. It’s a special performance where couples got priority or something, so I didn’t even get a sniff of a ticket.” Fluttershy looked down at her hooves as her ears flattened slightly.

“But… Rainbow, you know the Wonderbolts right? Couldn’t you… you know… maybe…” Rainbow Dash, self-proclaimed fastest mare in Equestria, smiled and shook her head.

“I wouldn’t ask for favours like that Flutters,” she said, patting the other pegasus gently with a hoof. She looked back up at the poster.

“One day, it’ll be me up there anyway. Then I’ll be going to all the shows!” She laughed, a motion copied in a much quieter way a few seconds later as Fluttershy perked up a little.

“Oh, we’d better get to Applejack’s stand before the lunchtime rush starts,” she said softly as she started trotting towards the marketplace, Rainbow floating along beside her with soft flaps of her wings.

The marketplace was already starting to fill up when Fluttershy and Rainbow arrived a couple of minutes later. They quickly spotted the orange-furred earth pony as she deftly moved a new bucket of apples from the small cart behind her to the stall; a small line of ponies waiting for the restock, their bits at the ready. The two friends waited patiently in line until they came face to face with their favourite farmer.

“Howdy Dash, Fluttershy!” Applejack’s smile was wide as she saw her two friends approaching. “Mighty fine day we’re havin' today Dash. Y’all did a good job with clearin’ the clouds this mornin’.”

“Meh, could have done it quicker,” Dash said, secretly overjoyed at the praise. “We’ve got a rain shower scheduled for tomorrow. Somepony told us it’s easier to plant the summer crops in damp earth so we’ve adjusted things this year.”

“Well, whichever pony said that sure knows what she’s doin’,” Applejack said with a smirk. “Why, ah’d like t’ meet that pony someday.” The three ponies chuckled softly.

“Anyhow, what can ah get ya both today?”

“Um… I’ll take three apples please,” Fluttershy said, reaching into her saddlebags for a bit. Applejack nodded and carefully picked out three large red apples from one of the baskets. She gently dropped them in Fluttershy’s saddlebag that the yellow pegasus presented to her, before gratefully taking the bit clutched between Fluttershy’s teeth.

“Thank ya Fluttershy,” Applejack said before turning her attention to the other pegasus. “Y’all want anythin' Dash?”

“Nah, don’t want to ruin my appetite before lunch.” Rainbow did a quick loop-de-loop in the air. “And I am really looking forward to lunch today!”

“Oh, is today the day you’re meeting up with Sassaflash and Caramel?” Fluttershy asked as she fastened the straps on her saddlebags.

“Ah hear those two are plannin' t’ make everythin’ official on Hearts n’ Hooves day this year,” Applejack chimed in as she served another pony. “Looks like Ponyville’ll be gettin’ another married couple, an’ another stallion that won’t need t’ leave town durin’ the summer heat.”

“Yeah.” Rainbow landed lightly and tapped her hoof on the ground. “I don’t want to get my hopes up much, but I’m hoping that Sassaflash is going to ask me to be her best mare. We grew up together in Cloudsdale, and even though we have different jobs here in Ponyville we’re still pretty close.” A mischievous smile came to her face, and she looked up at Applejack and Fluttershy.

“Besides,” she said with a smirk. “It’ll be great to be part of a wedding like that. After all, it’s not like any of my five best friends are getting married anytime soon.”

……….

“Cutie Mark Crusaders Wedding Planners, go!”

“What’s that honey?” The three little fillies froze as the door to Scootaloo’s room opened and the kindly face of a middle-aged mare appeared. She took a couple of steps into the room; a smile on her lips as the three crusaders guiltily dropped back onto their haunches.

“Did I hear something about a wedding?” the burnt orange mare continued as she looked between the three young mares. “Now don’t tell me one of you little dears is getting married. Scootaloo?”

“No, Aunty Syrup,” the orange pegasus said hurriedly. “We… it wasn’t…” The mare turned to the next filly; an earth pony with yellow fur and a red mane held back with a large bow.

“Applebloom?”

“No ma’am,” Applebloom replied with a squeak. Maple Syrup smiled once more and looked at the final member of the group, a white unicorn with a two-toned pink and purple mane.

“What about you Sweetie? I’m sure Rarity would be proud of you.” Sweetie Belle shook her head rapidly.

“No Mrs Syrup, I’m not getting married. I’m too young.”

“Quite right dearie.” Maple sat down in front of the three fillies. “So, what gave you the idea to try and get your cutie marks by planning a wedding? I mean, none of you are getting married, and I know that Scootaloo would never, ever say something that was meant to be kept a big secret from everypony in Ponyville until a certain pony said it would be ok.” She looked over at the young pegasus who turned away and refused to meet her gaze, her cheeks rapidly darkening. The three fillies started fidgeting as they sat there in silence for a few seconds.

“It was my fault!” Sweetie Belle threw herself in front of Scootaloo and looked up at Maple Syrup. “I kept asking Scootaloo about her trips to Canterlot and who she went with, and she started telling me about her dad and what he did over there, and about…” Maple held up a hoof and gently pressed it to Sweetie Belle’s lips; tears forming in the eyes of all three young ponies.

“It’s ok honey, none of you are in any trouble.” She removed her hoof from Sweetie’s mouth and gently patted her on the head.

“Scootaloo, did you tell your friends the secret?” Scootaloo nodded sadly.

“Yes Aunty,” she said softly. “I was so excited, and I know you said not to tell anypony, but… but it’s my dad, and I want him to be happy, and…” This time tears did start to fall from Scootaloo’s eyes, prompting her two friends to quickly wrap themselves around the young pegasus and pull her into a three-way hug. Maple Syrup sighed as she leaned over and gently nuzzled Scootaloo’s forehead.

“I understand dear,” she said. “I know it’s big news, and maybe it was a little unfair to make you keep it a secret from your friends. However.” She placed a hoof under Scootaloo’s chin and gently lifted her face so they were looking at each other.

“You can’t tell anypony else, ok? Not until you’re told to by your father.” Scootaloo nodded and her expression brightened. She wiped a hoof across her cheeks.

“I promise Aunty,’ she said, as she took a couple of steps forward and hugged the older mare. Maple smiled and put her hooves around Scootaloo; bringing her close and nuzzling into her mane.

“That’s my good little filly.” She and Scootaloo released each other. “Now,” Maple continued, clapping her hooves together. “Who’s up for some lemonade?”

……….

“Just a lemonade for me, thanks.” Rarity looked at Twlight disapprovingly.

“Darling, please don’t hold back. You know these lunches are always my treat to you. Why not have something a little… fancier?” Twilight smirked.

“Sorry Rarity, I’m not wearing the right pants for that.” Rarity paused for a second as her brain processed what Twilight had said, before slamming a hoof down on the table and letting out an extremely un-ladylike guffaw, causing the other patrons of the cafe to jump slightly. The white unicorn immediately blushed and let out a small cough to try and cover her embarrassment.

“Well, on to different matters then,” she said, looking back over at Twilight. “Darling, I feel I have to apologise for what I said to you this morning.” Twilight opened her mouth to protest but Rarity quickly continued.

“What you do with your love life is none of my business, and as long as you are happy with where you are right now, then I am happy for you. Can you forgive me, dear Twilight?” Twilight sighed heavily.

“Of course I forgive you Rarity,” she said softly, gazing at the other unicorn. “And… I want to apologise as well.”

“Darling, why in Celestia’s name would you need to apologise to me?” Their conversation was briefly interrupted by the arrival of their drinks and their ordering of lunch. After they had both taken a sip of their respectives beverages, Twilight once again looked at Rarity, a slight blush to her cheeks.

“I’ve been thinking all morning about… things,” she said quietly. “There’s something I haven’t told you and the girls. I’ve been… well, to tell you the truth, I’ve been scared to say anything because I don’t know how you’ll all react.” A look of horror spread across Rarity’s face.

“Darling, we’re your friends! No matter what you had to tell us, we would never think any less of you or judge you badly for it. No matter what.” She moved a hoof across the table to cover Twilight’s own.

“Now what’s this big secret of yours? It can’t be anything bad. Forgive me darling but, you aren’t exactly the type to have a nasty secret in your closet.” Twilight giggled slightly and gripped on to Rarity’s hoof.

“Not here,” she said. “I want to tell all of you, together. This evening, if possible. We can have dinner at the library, then I’ll talk to everypony. How does that sound?” Rarity smiled.

“Darling, that sounds wonderful. Just remind me to bring some tissues. From the sounds of everything so far, I think I’m going to need them.”

..........

“AAAACHOO!” Sifr sighed as he pulled another tissue from the packet in his pocket and handed it to Silver.

“Prosit.” The thestral gratefully blew her nose into the tissue before throwing it into a nearby waste bin. She sniffed.

“Stupid hay fever,” she said, taking another bite of her mango. “I guess I’d better make an appointment with Breeze to get my shots. It’s a little early this year.” She shuddered slightly. Sifr reached over and scratched her lightly behind one ear.

“Awww… does my little Moon need me to hold her hoof whilst she gets her shots?” he cooed. Silver slapped his hand away and glared at him as he smiled at her, before ripping half of the mango apart in one bite. As they emerged into the sunlight Sifr raised his hand to shade his eyes as he cast about for the mares he and Silver had arranged to meet. A Royal Guard in shining silver armour edged with bronze trotted up to them as Silver finished her mango.

“Sifr No Mae. Decurio Primus Silver Moon.” He bowed slightly. “Your herdmates and guests were invited to join Princess Celestia in the triclinium. I’ve been sent to escort you there.” Sifr nodded as Silver gulped down the remnants of the desecrated mango.

“Thank you lieutenant,” he said formally, nodding to the Royal Guard. “We place our safety in your hooves.” The Royal Guard bowed once more, then reached up and pulled his helmet off, smirking as he did so. He ran a foreleg across his forehead, wiping off the sheen of sweat that had built up. It wasn’t a hot day by any means, but fabric-lined metal on fur was never the coolest combination.

“Shouldn’t that be the other way around?” Sifr grinned as he held a fist up in front of the guards chest. He bumped it with his hoof.

“How have you been, Treacle?” Treacle Tart, lieutenant of the Bronze Dragoons division of the Royal Guard, smiled up at the taller biped and the hovering Imperial Guard.

“Not bad,” he said, attaching his helmet to the backplate of his croupiere. “Just got back from Fillydelphia. Armor sends his regards by the way.”

“He and Princess Cadance are coming back soon aren’t they?” Silver said as she landed in front of Treacle. She shared her own hoofbump with her fellow guard; reports of animosity between the Royal Solar Guard and the Imperial Lunar Guard were always greatly exaggerated in the various newspapers in Canterlot, the two forces having forged an almost unbreakable bond centuries ago. Whilst there may have been rivalry, and even personal enmity on occasion, the two forces had long worked side by side even before the Lunar Diarch had returned. The group started walking back across the small courtyard towards the main palace and away from the Wonderbolt practice grounds where Silver and Sifr had previously arranged to meet their herdmates.

“Armor is. Princess Cadance, probably.” Treacle glanced up at Sifr. “She said if she wasn’t able to make it then she expects you to go to her.” Sifr let out a short laugh.

“Mares.”

“Hey!” Silver pushed herself against his leg. He smiled and flicked her flank with his tail. “Don’t tell me you don’t want to see Princess Cadance as much as she want to see you,” Silver continued, nonplussed. “I swear, if she and Captain Armor weren’t…” She was cut off as a hand locked itself around her muzzle, and a pair of black-pinned, golden eyes appeared directly in front of hers.

“Not. Another. Word.” Sifr’s voice was soft, without malice, but Silver’s ears still flattened slightly and she nodded. He smiled, kissed her softly on the forehead, then released his grip on her muzzle. Silver glared at her husband for a second, before a strange look came over her face and she scrunched up her muzzle.

“AAAACHOO!”

……….

“Here you go honey.” The pink alicorn gratefully took the proffered tissue from her white-furred, blue-maned coltfriend and blew her nose. She looked around for a second before levitating the tissue into a nearby waste bin.

“Thanks Shiny,” she said, smiling at Shining Armor. “Sorry about that. I just had to sneeze all of a sudden.” Shining laughed.

“Must mean somepony is talking about you.”

“I thought that was when your ear started burning.” Cadance looked at Shining quizzically. “That’s what Aunty Celestia says. She says it gets quite annoying when she’s trying to get to sleep sometimes.” Shining’s face scrunched up a little in thought.

“Why would ponies be saying her name late at night?” Cadance looked at him with slightly wide eyes before bursting into laughter.

“Oh Shiny, you’re so precious!” She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. “I’ll explain later. Right now, let’s get moving. We’ve got to meet the Mayor in ten minutes.”

……….

“Good afternoon Miss Mayor.”

“Good afternoon Miss Sparkle.” The pale Earth pony mare smiled as she gave Twilight a quick hug. “And let me say, congratulations.” Twilight blushed slightly as she pulled away.

“Thank you, but…” Mayor Mare held up a hoof to stop her.

“Don’t worry, I won’t go spreading the news,” she said, causing Twilight to relax slightly. “Though I would certainly advise you as a friend that you should tell the other Element bearers sooner rather than later. I’m sure they’ll all be happy for you.” Twilight smiled and nodded.

“I came to the same conclusion this morning,” she said, taking a seat opposite the mayor of Ponyville. “They’re all coming over to dinner tonight, and I’m going to tell them everything. I’m hoping they’ll want to come to Canterlot and help with the preparations for the party, and since I’m not going to be in Ponyville for my birthday, I wanted to stop Pinkie Pie from setting anything up in secret!” Mayor Mare laughed.

“I’m glad to hear that.” She reached under her desk and pulled out a folder. “So, I assume you’ve come regarding the house?” Twilight nodded and opened her saddlebag; levitating out a small envelope, she placed it in front of the mayor.

“Here’s the deposit. Princess Luna said to tell you that if you had any trouble withdrawing that amount of bits from a bank to come directly to the castle one evening and she’ll sort everything out for you in night court.” The mayor nodded and mouthed the envelope into her desk drawer.

“I will admit, I’m surprised that Princess Luna has offered to pay for this for you,” she said, opening the folder in front of her. “I would have expected it all to go through Princess Celestia, given that you are her personal student.”

“Princess Luna wanted to do it as thanks for freeing her from Nightmare Moon, even though I told her she didn’t have to. Apparently, she saw what we did as a debt she had to pay, and this is her paying off my part of it. She told me, ‘Now that I have no debt to you, we can be friends as equal ponies’, whatever that means.” Twilight’s ears flattened slightly, and she looked down at the desk.

“She didn’t owe me anything,” she said softly. “I’m so thankful for what she is doing, but part of me feels so guilty that she felt she had to do this. Maybe I wasn’t a good enough friend to her to start with…”

“Twilight, stop.” Mayor Mare reached out a hoof and placed it gently on Twilight’s shoulder. “I’m sure Princess Luna didn’t mean it like that,” she continued once Twilight raised her head. “Just accept this for what it is. A gift, from a friend. A big gift, but a gift nonetheless.” She smiled. Twilight returned it with a weak smile of her own.

“Besides.” The mayor leaned back into her chair. “It’s not just any gift. It’s a gift to you on the most important day of your life, and a gift for those who are sharing it with you.” Twilight laughed.

“Thank you, Miss Mayor. I hope the others feel the same way.”

……….

“And I can’t fight this feeling anymore... I’ve forgotten what I started fighting for...” The music suddenly cut off, causing Sifr to jerk his head up from the book he was reading; his eyes meeting the larger ones of the aquamarine mare as Lyra’s hoof moved away from the volume button on the radio.

“REO Coltwagon. Really?”

“They do good stuff.” Sifr turned back to his book as Lyra dropped down next to Bon Bon, who was silently reading another book whilst pressing herself against Sifr’s side as they lay on the wide, padded bench. She acknowledged Lyra’s presence with a quick nuzzle before turning back to her book.

“They’re good, but they’re no Ponytonia,” Spitfire said as she took another bite of her cupcake before continuing to browse the Wonderbolt evaluations that Fleetfoot was hoofing her.

“That’s all well and good, but give me ‘Cello Sonata Number 3’ by Beethoofen any day,” Octavia chimed in from opposite side of the room as she continued to polish her large instrument with a small cloth.

“Tap tap-tappy tappy-tap-tappy tap tap-tap tappy-tap.” Octavia’s mouth opened wide as she stared at Vinyl Scratch in shock.

“Vinyl, how could you think that! I’ve a good mind to…”

“Pfft, you old mares,” Silver Moon interrupted as she lounged on the bench next to the currently-unlit fireplace. “Scratch has got the right idea; she’s just got the wrong band. Neighpalm Death is where it’s at. Those stallions can REALLY get the juices flowing.”

“Husband. Herdmates. All present.” Bon Bon rolled her eyes as she glanced over at Silver. “Besides, not a single one of you has mentioned Dobbie Fillyams. Leaving Take Trot was the best thing he ever did.”

“And when was his last song released?” Lyra flicked Bon Bon’s ear with her hoof, causing the other mare to let out a small growl. “No, Neighlor Swift is top for me. I know she’s been a bit… weird, recently, but still. ‘Cake It Off’ was just brilliant.”

“That song is 3 years old.” Sifr didn’t look up as he spoke, just started to run his hand slowly through Bon Bon’s mane. “She’s not done anything decent recently. No, you want the best mare right now?” He closed the book with a snap and placed it on the floor.

“Songbird Serenade.” All the ponies in the room stopped what they were doing, their eyes going slightly unfocused, before a disgruntled murmur of agreement came from all of them. Before Sifr could take advantage of his brief victory over the mares, the door to the triclinium opened and a Royal Guard trotted in. He saluted briefly to Sifr, before moving to one side and slamming the butt of his spear into the ground.

“Really Private, I know you are concerned for my welfare, but you must learn to relax occasionally.” The honeyed voice of Princess Celestia entered the room, shortly followed by the alicorn herself. All the ponies present got to their hooves and bowed; Silver gracefully rolling off the bench and landing on the floor, whilst Spitfire and Fleetfoot put down the papers they were reading and adopted a similar position. Sifr got to his feet, being careful not to knock Bon Bon and Lyra as they jumped down from the bench. He walked over to Celestia as the diarch took a couple of steps forward, before gently wrapping his arms around the Alicorn’s neck and pulling her into a brief hug. She rested her head on his shoulder for a second before pulling back.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t here when Lieutenant Tart brought you,” she said in her normal, relaxed tone, as the Royal Guard private standing next to the door gave Sifr a pointed and slightly confused look. “A matter of national importance was brought to my attention that couldn’t be ignored.”

“I wouldn’t call finding the original painter of that corridor and having him tell you the exact shade of paint he used ‘a matter of national importance’, Princess,” Treacle Tart said as he entered the room behind the co-ruler of Equestria.

“HA!” Some of the ponies jumped as Silver let out an exclamation and leaped up onto Sifr’s back; she ended up on eye level with the Princess who had to take a small step backwards in surprise.

“So, tell me.” Silver’s eyes were shining. “Was it military grey or ocean grey?”

..........

Twilight slowly raised a hoof to her face and let out an exasperated sigh.

“It’s just a colour Rarity,” she said, watching as her friend levitated multiple pillows in her magic field, carefully examining each one.

“Darling, nothing is JUST a colour.” Rarity dropped all the pillows bar one, that she then proceeded to start fluffing up. Satisfied, she lay the pillow on the floor and jumped on top of it before settling down onto her stomach.

“See? Now doesn’t this lovely pillow compliment my coat far better than that terrible green one?” Twilight simply nodded, tired of arguing with the fashionista. She looked around at her circle of friends; the other five mares all laying on their own pillows as they continued to digest the meal that Spike had cooked for them all. The young dragon himself was currently lighting candles around the room to add to the light coming from the blazing fire in the hearth.

“So sugarcube, now that dinner’s done with, y’all ready to tell us ya story?” Applejack smiled contentedly at Twilight.

“We’re just waiting for one more…” A knock on the door interrupted Twilight, and she quickly trotted over to the door and opened it.

“Hi Mo… I mean, Twilight.” The voice coming from the door caused all the inhabitants of the room to look around in surprise, as Scootaloo came trotting in, a purple scarf wrapped around her neck. She smiled at the other ponies as Twilight closed the door, before turning to the young pegasus and gently removing her scarf with her magic.

“Hi everypony!”

“Scoots?” Rainbow Dash fluttered up from her cushion and landed next to Scootaloo. “What are you doing here?” Before Scootaloo could answer, Twilight walked up to her side.

“She’s here because she’s a very important part of my story,” she said softly. To the surprise of the other ponies, Twilight leaned down and gave Scootaloo a quick nuzzle.

“Come on Scootaloo, you can sit on my cushion,” she said, leading the pegasus over to the cushion closest to the fire as Rainbow returned to her own pillow. Spike lit the last candle with a gentle breath of fire before he waddled over to his basket by the fireplace next to Twilight’s cushion. He and Scootaloo smiled at each other as they passed, before he jumped into his basket and sat down. Scootaloo waited for Twilight to get settled on her cushion before joining the older mare; sliding in so her back was resting against Twilight’s stomach, and causing another wave of looks from the other five Element bearers.

“Umm… ok, this is a little weird,” Rainbow said. “What has Scoots got to do with all of this? And… why is she cuddling up to you?”

“Ooo! Ooo! Maybe Twilight and Scootaloo are dating, and that’s the big secret!” Twilight rolled her eyes at Pinkie as the pink pony started bouncing on her equally-pink pillow.

“Umm… I’m pretty sure that’s not true,” Fluttershy said, glancing at Twilight and Scootaloo. “That… wouldn’t be right…”

“Are you kiddin’? Ain’t no way that’s happenin’,” Applejack added. “Ma sister would’ve said somethin’.” Twilight giggled and waved a hoof.

“No girls, it’s not that,” she said. “But… ok, look. First of all, the reason I asked you to all clear your diaries for the next week or so is because I want you all to come to Canterlot with me, and meet… somepony.”

“Oh my.” Rarity sent a half-lidded gaze in Twilight’s direction. “Could this be a certain, very special somepony?”

“Ah ha! That’s why she’s never been interested in any of the stallions around here!” Rainbow shouted triumphantly. “She already had somepony in Canterlot!”

“Well…”

“But that don’t make no sense,” Applejack said, looking at Rainbow and Rarity. “Twilight said it was some big secret that she didn’t want t’ tell us about. She woulda told us all about a special somepony if she had one, right?”

“Umm, well he’s not exactly…”

“Oh! Maybe it’s a mare!”

“So? Why would that be a big secret?”

“Girls…”

“What if it’s somepony famous, and she’s been sworn to secrecy?”

“Excuse me…”

“Ooo! What if she’s seeing a married stallion, and she’s now pregnant, so she needs somepony to cover for her and help her look after the foal…”

“Ok, that’s it!” All conversation stopped as Twilight’s horn lit up and a loud bang echoed through the library. Once she was sure she had the attention of the other ponies, and after calming Scootaloo down from the shock of the loud noise, Twilight let out a large sigh.

“First of all, yes, this is about why I haven’t been interested in romance here in Ponyville,” she said, looking pointedly at each of her friends. She sighed and mumbled something under her breath.

“Ok, look, I’ll start with the most important bits, and then we can go through each one, ok?” The girls all nodded, whilst Spike lazily scratched his belly. Scootaloo looked up at Twilight expectantly. The mare herself took a deep breath and closed her eyes.

“I am… engaged,” she said softly, her eyes slowly opening. “I will be getting married the day after my 18th birthday, in Canterlot.” She looked up at her friends, their eyes all slowly widening as they stared at her with rapt attention.

“To add to that, not only am I getting married, I am marrying into a herd.” This caused eyes to widen even further, and a couple of jaws to drop.

“A herd with four other mares, and a single stallion, who happens to be Scootaloo’s father.” Jaws were now dropped all round, whilst Scootaloo beamed with pride.

“The stallion in question… is not a pony, but he is somepony you will have heard of.” Twilight took another deep breath.

“His name... is Sifr No Mae.”

Author's Note

Well. Where to start...

(i) Canon settings as much as possible up to the end of Season 7 (ie. the mane six have now had their parents established inc. names etc.) - the only conflict I have so far is Bon Bon's name. It's Bon Bon. Not Sweetie Drops. I just prefer Bon Bon.

(ii) I'm English. Very English. Therefore expect some extra "u"s and quite a few "s"s replacing "z"s. These aren't spelling mistakes.

(iii) This is my first ever MLP fanfic. I'm starting out by posting the first few chapters all together at the beginning, then I'll continue it as I can. Any criticism is welcome. Praise is optional.

(iv) If you don't understand certain references, I'm sorry. I was born in 1981, so take that as you will.

(v) It's pronounced "C-fruh no my", with "C" being a short "SEE". The short form is "Sif", rhyming with "if".

You're... what? Huh?

“His name... is Sifr No Mae.”

The clock ticked. The fire crackled. The candles flickered. Spike yawned. The five mares facing Twilight and Scootaloo were silent; their eyes wide, their jaws dropped.

“Umm…” Scootaloo looked up at Twilight. “Mom, I think you broke them.” Twilight sighed as she hugged Scootaloo a little closer.

“Don’t worry,” she said softly. “They’ll recover soon. We’ll just wait.” Her voice seemed to break the spell in the room as Rarity’s eyes returned to normal and her jaw slowly shut.

“A… herd?” Her voice was quiet. “Darling… you’re really joining a herd?” Twilight smiled and nodded.

“With… four other mares?” Another nod. “And this… Sifr stallion?”

“Who is Scootaloo’s father. Yes Rarity.” The white mare gave a small nod, and then her horn lit up, and Twilight and Scootaloo found themselves flying across the room and into the waiting forelegs of the marshmallow pony.

“Darling, I’m so happy for you!” Rarity’s voice snapped the other mares in the room out of their daze, and Twilight and Scootaloo found themselves buried under another four ponies as they hugged the unicorn and pegasus.

“Umm girls?” Spike said after a minute or so of hugging. “I think you might want to let them go. Scootaloo looks like she’s about to faint.”

After apologies has been given for nearly crushing the young pegasus, the mares returned to their pillows and settled themselves down once more. All except for Pinkie Pie, who started to bounce around the room.

“Party! Party! Party! Party! Part…” She was abruptly silenced by a haze of purple magic, before being gently levitated over to her pillow.

“Pinkie, I know you’re excited, and I promise that you can throw lots of parties because of this.” Pinkie’s eyes widened as Twilight’s magic dissipated. “However, for now, I’ve got a lot of explaining to do, so let's just talk, ok?” Pinkie nodded her head rapidly.

“Okie dokie lokie!” Twilight gave her a grateful smile and then turned to the rest of the girls.

“So, that’s my big secret,” she said. “As I said before, I’d like it very much if you could come to Canterlot with me tomorrow to meet Sifr and the others, and then stay for my birthday and the wedding. For tonight though…” She stretched out and lay down on her cushion. “I’m happy to answer any and all questions.” Rainbow’s foreleg immediately shot up.

“Is this ‘Sifr’ pony the fox dude who walks on two legs?” Twilight rolled her eyes once more.

“Yes, Sifr is the ‘fox dude’ you’ve heard of,” she said patiently. “Officially he’s the pony in charge of security when important ponies visit the palace. Unofficially… well, it’s a long story.” Surprisingly, the next foreleg that was raised came from the yellow pegasus sitting next to the stairs.

“Umm… what species is he?” Fluttershy asked quietly. “I’ve seen pictures of him, and I’ve never seen any other creature that looks like him. I know he has ears and a tail like a fox, but…” Twilight smiled once again.

“You won’t find anything else that looks like him because he’s the only member of his species on our entire planet.” Eyes widened once again at Twilight’s proclamation, but she continued.

“I guess now’s a good time to tell you how I met him,” she said. “And how he arrived in Equestria in the first place.” The mares all pricked their ears forward as Twilight took a deep breath.

“It was about six years ago,” she began. “Princess Celestia was about to close the day court for the afternoon break…”

……….

“Thank you Princess. We appreciate your intervention in this matter.” The two ponies bowed low in front of their monarch. Celestia returned the bow with a nod of her head.

“Go in peace, my little ponies,” she said in her soft, regal voice. “My blessings upon you.” The large doors swung open as the two ponies departed, before slowly closing once more. Celestia let out a sigh and turned to her advisor.

“Kibitz, are we done for the afternoon?”

“Yes Princess.” The pale unicorn jotted something down on his parchment before rolling it up and sliding it into his saddlebag holder. “The next meeting is not until 6pm.”

“Excellent,” Celestia replied, elegantly standing from the throne and stretching her legs out. “That gives me time to…” A low sound made her stop and cock her head slightly. Kibitz’s ears pricked forward as he looked around.

“Princess, do you hear that?”

“Yes,’” Celestia replied absently. Then quietly, to herself, “It can’t be…” The sound increased in volume, enough now that the guards were beginning to react and look at each other. As the volume increased so did the pitch, and Celestia’s eyes started to widen.

“Guards, evacuate the throne room immediately!” She strode down the steps and began charging several spells as the guards ran towards the door. “Kibitz, seal the door with the emergency magic seals. It is not to be opened until I give the all clear, is that understood?”

“But, Princess…”

“Now my little pony!” The sound had almost reached deafening levels as Kibitz ran through the slowly closing doors. He turned to see a flash of light surround his monarch. Just before the doors closed he caught a glimpse of gold surrounding Celestia and a large shield at her side.

“My Princess…” He closed his eyes and took a deep breath as the doors closed with a bang. “Activate the emergency seals! No pony is to dispel the seals until I give the order! And somepony find Captain Aegis and have him rouse the rest of the Royal Guard!”

……….

Celestia stood in the centre of the throne room; her gaze fixed firmly on a glowing ball of light that had appeared just as the doors to her place of governance had shut. There had been a reason that she had had Canterlot castle built in this place, on the side of a mountain. In essence, a final defence measure. If all else failed, not much could survive a trip down the side of a mountain surrounded by thousands of tons of rubble. Her taiyou armour surrounded her like a second skin; the light plate armour having been crafted to commemorate her ‘victory’ over Nightmare Moon by a Neighponese smith nearly a thousand years ago. Imbued with her own defensive spells, she knew of no weapon in Equestria that could pierce it. Floating on her left side was her sonne schild, a large round buckler emblazoned with a fiery sun. It had been made at the same time as the armour by Waffen Meister, a stallion from old East Germaneigh who had declared it his last, most exceptional work. No direct offensive spell, bar one from Celestia herself, could ever hope to penetrate it.

As the ball of light in front of her brightened, and the sound grew even more piercing, Celestia hefted her weapon. This was of her own making, created from the very source of her magic, and containing the tiniest fraction of her own soul mixed with a portion of her mothers’. A spear, blazing white, carved with intricate motifs down the shaft and ending with an elongated leaf-shaped blade. Unbreakable, unstoppable. When it was created, Celestia had named it Caelestis Phalarica, or in standard Equestrian, Divine Lance. It was now pointing directly at the rapidly expanding ball of light as it hovered in Celestia’s magic.

“Why now…” she muttered to herself. “Why after all these millennia… I thought Mother closed the portal permanently…” As she spoke, the screaming noise suddenly stopped, and there was quiet. She braced herself slightly as the ball of light rapidly expanded before a bright flash stole her sight for a millisecond. A bang echoed through the throne room along with a sudden vibration as a small shockwave passed over Celestia. The flash faded and her sight returned, revealing a creature that she wished she would never see again kneeling on the floor in front of her.

Bipedal. Smooth skin. A blonde mane. Two long, orange-brown furry ears standing proud of its head. A thick-furred tail, much thicker than that of a pony, of a similar colour that faded into white tips. Clothes of black and red covered the majority of its body as the stallion (male, Celestia reminded herself) slowly rose. His piercing green eyes focused immediately on Celestia and the weapon she held, and the Princess felt a drop of sweat form on her brow at his gaze. The eyes moved away and looked around the throne room as his tail flicked around. Celestia took a step forward; a new shine enveloping the spear as it moved with her, along with her ornate shield.

“We do not know how thou hast arrived here,” she said, utilising her Royal Canterlot Voice for the first time in a century. “But thou art unwelcome. Leave, and we shall allow thee to go unharmed. Stay, and face thy death at our hooves.” The male slowly, lazily, turned his head to meet Celestia’s gaze as his ears flicked. His eyes shifted once again to her spear and shield before falling once more on her, but he made no move. Celestia, not wanting to lose the initiative, and not wanting the trickle of fear she was feeling to show, took another step forward.

“What say you, Kitsune?” That brought a reaction, as a small smile passed across the face of the creature standing in front of her. He shifted his feet slightly, and Celestia took a step back in surprise. Where his hands had been empty, they now held a glowing green bow with an ethereal string; two dark red arrows already nocked and half drawn.

“Avatar.” The Kitsune’s voice was light, cheerful, with a serious undertone. “Bring it.”

……….

“Woah, time out!” Twilight paused and her brow furrowed as Rainbow spoke. The pale blue pegasus held up a hoof.

“Why did he call Princess Celestia a… what was it? Avatar?”

“Yes,” Twilight said, taking a sip of her fresh cup of tea. “To us, Princess Celestia is an Alicorn. A pony with the traits of Earth ponies, Pegasi, and Unicorns. That is also true of Princess Luna and Princess Cadance. However, even though the three of them are Alicorns, they are totally different to one another.”

“How so darling?” Rarity piped up. “I know they have different cutie marks and are skilled at different types of magic, but one pegasus is the same as another in terms of species, correct? How are the three princesses any different?” Twilight chuckled quietly.

“Well, to start with, Cadance wasn’t born an Alicorn. She was born a pegasus and became an Alicorn when she found her talent. Plus she’s only a few years older than me, whereas both Princess Luna and Princess Celestia are much, much older.” The other mares nodded in understanding.

“Ah ain’t never seen Princess Cadance, but ah’ve heard she’s quite the looker,” Applejack said. Twilight smiled.

“She is,” she said softly. “And she plays a very important part in the story. We’ll get to her later.”

“So… Avatar?” Rainbow prompted. Twilight nodded.

“Right. So Cadance is different to Princess Luna and Princess Celestia, and even though they are sisters, the two princesses are also really different from each other. The biggest difference being that Princess Celestia is an Avatar, and Princess Luna is not.”

“Ok, but sugarcube, what in tarnation is an Avatar? Y’all ain’t told us yet.” Twilight sighed before taking a deep breath.

“Right,” she said, looking around at her friends. Scootaloo had drifted off to sleep along with Spike, so the six mares were the only ones awake as the fire continued to crackle in the hearth.

“To tell you everything about Avatars and Kitsunes would take all night, so I’ll give you the short version, ok?” Nods all around. “Right then.” She cleared her throat.

“Avatars are rare. Really rare. Like, take all of the millions and millions of creatures on our entire planet, and you’ll literally have no chance at finding another Avatar. What’s important though is that any creature could be an Avatar. So it could be a pony, a griffon, a minotaur, even an ant. Any creature has a chance at being born an Avatar. It also doesn’t run in families. Princess Celestia’s parents were not Avatars, and as I said, neither is Princess Luna. With me so far?” More nods, although the one from Rainbow Dash came a little after the others, and Pinkie’s nod was so enthusiastic that Twilight wondered if she had even been listening.

“Now, a long time ago, an Avatar who lived a very long life realised that there were other beings like him, and he set about finding them. After a few of them had been found, they started calling themselves Avatars. That’s where the name comes from.”

“So they weren’t known as Avatars from the start?” Twilight shook her head.

“Like I said, they were many different creatures from many different places. Now, very quickly they found out that whilst most Avatars were good, friendly and peaceful, there were some that were bad and wanted to harm other creatures.”

“That sounds… mean…” Fluttershy lowered her face a little, allowing her long, pink hair to fall forward as she gazed down at the floor. Twilight nodded.

“Right, so the good Avatars wanted to stop them. The problem was that there were so few Avatars that if even one of them was hurt, or even killed, it would be really bad. And the bad Avatars didn’t think twice about killing their own. So, the good Avatars created an entirely new species; one that had a lot of power to help them fight the bad Avatars, and were also not limited by numbers since the Avatars could create more. They called members of this new species ‘Kitsune’. Still with me?”

This time, only three of the mares nodded. Rainbow sat there looking confused, whilst Applejack scratched her cheek with a hoof.

“So…” Rainbow said after a few seconds. “Princess Celestia… created the fox dude?” Twilight sighed and banged her head softly on the cushion she was laying on.

“No, Rainbow, she didn’t.” As the blue pegasus opened her mouth to speak again, Twilight cut her off with a raised hoof.

“Look, this is really complicated, so don’t worry, ok? I’m trying my best, and I promise that you’ll understand it at the end. And if you have any questions, you can ask me, or Sif when you meet him, or even Princess Celestia. Just trust me, it will all make sense eventually.” Rainbow nodded, looking relieved.

“Y’all keep calling these Avatars ‘creatures’, not ponies,” Applejack said suddenly. “What happened to them, if there ain’t any of ‘em around now, ‘part from the Princess of course.” Twilight thought for a few seconds.

“Well. no-pony really knows,” she said. “And to be honest, that’s a good thing.”

“Darling, why is that a good thing?” Rarity asked. “Based on what you’ve been saying, shouldn’t everypony know where they are in case they are attacked by one of the bad Avatars?” Twilight shook her head.

“That’s the problem,” she said quietly. “There are hardly any good Avatars and Kitsunes anymore. Something happened, a long time ago. That’s why Princess Celestia and Sif reacted so badly to each other. They each thought the other was bad. Princess Celestia thought that Sif was working with the other Avatars and had been sent to either kill or capture her. Sif thought that Princess Celestia was like every other Avatar he had heard of; that she suppressed her subjects, was cruel, and was taking advantage of ponies by pretending to be an all-powerful Goddess. All of that… because there are so few good Avatars and Kitsunes left that the chances of two of them encountering one another is ridiculously small. And in a true battle between an Avatar and a Kitsune, there’s only going to be one winner. The one who is still alive at the end.”

……….

Celestia dropped the remnants of her shield; her faded magic no longer able to hold the weight of the mangled shard of metal that had once been a pony’s pride and joy. Ethereal light bled off her rent and torn armour, spells that had held together for a millenia unravelled and destroyed in minutes by the creature that now stood before her, his bow raised, an arrow nocked. Her weakened legs finally gave out and she collapsed to the floor, trying desperately to keep her spear aimed at the Kitsune in front of her. After a moment, it fell, and clattered to the ground as her magic gave out completely. Tears fell from her eyes as she looked up at the Kitsune, hatred filling her gaze.

“Why?” She managed to croak a single word as she stared at the Kitsune in front of her. He looked back at her for a few seconds before sighing, and slowly lowering his bow. It disappeared a moment later, once again in an eye-blink that Celestia missed.

“An odd question to ask, for an Avatar.” He began to walk slowly around the throne room, taking in the stained glass windows, the fine stonework, the throne itself. Celestia tried to keep her eyes on him but she barely had enough strength left to turn her head.

“Most of your kind would be pleading by now.” The Kitsune continued to talk as he walked. “Offering bargains. Threatening revenge. Promising riches. The concept of ‘why’ never occurs to them; so deep-rooted is the idea of your superiority over all other races, that you just couldn’t comprehend that a simple Kitsune could possibly be a threat to you and your rule.” He stopped in front of Celestia, and squatted down so he could look her in the eyes.

“The ‘why’ is simple,” he said, his voice lowering. “To stop you. To show the population you control that you are not a God, or an all-powerful being. To free them from you, because you and your kind are evil. That is why.” He slowly rose back to his full height and turned away.

“Not that I expect you to understand of course,” he said, walking towards the throne. Celestia remained silent. “Now, I have a deal to offer you.”

“A deal?” Celestia whispered, closing her eyes, her brain churning as she finally began to understand what was happening. And how wrong she had been. The Kitsune stopped roughly in front of the area in which he had initially appeared, and turned back to Celestia.

“In a moment, I’m going to open those doors,” he said, indicating towards the sealed doors behind him. “I’m letting you decide if you want to be here. In my experience, Avatars are not treated well by the people they’ve enslaved when they’ve been knocked off their pedestal.”

“And… if I decide to not be here?” Celestia could feel herself weakening as her power somehow continued to drain away; the light from her spear dulling slightly as her magic sought desperately to heal the internal damage she had suffered during the fight. The Kitsune shrugged.

“Then I’ll open the portal to wherever you choose,” he said. “Unlike your kind, I don’t kill indiscriminately. In fact, I don’t kill at all, even when it is deserved.” He looked at Celestia as she closed her eyes, seemingly deep in thought.

“Well? Your decision Avatar. Stay, or leave?” Celestia’s eyes slowly opened, and she looked up at the Kitsune.

“Was it Miko or Tama?” The Kitsune suddenly went very still; his wandering tail freezing as his ears flattened slightly.

“What did you…”

“Your mother,” Celestia interrupted, her confidence in her new assessment of the situation increasing exponentially after seeing his reaction. “Was it Miko, or Tamamo No Mae? You definitely aren’t Yuki’s child, she made it very clear she didn’t want children. If Miko was your mother I’d expect your fur to be a lighter shade but there’s always a chance your father was particularly dark-furred. On the other hand, you match Tama’s fur colour almost perfectly, and she did say how much she was looking forward to starting a family one day.” The Kitsune was silent for a few seconds.

“I take back what I just said.” The bow appeared in his hand once more. “I don’t know where you heard those names, but after what you just said, I can’t let you leave here.” An arrow flashed into existence; unlike the previous blood-red arrows, this one was an oily-black.

“My arrow, or the mob.” Celestia smiled weakly.

“Well, that confirms it,” she said softly. “Tama always did have a flair for the dramatic.” She felt the last of her magic drain away, and something in her body let go, but she didn’t take her eyes off of the figure standing in front of her, his bow raised, the arrow aimed at her chest.

“Greetings, son of Tamamo No Mae,” she said as she tasted blood in her mouth. “My name is Helios Solis Celestia, daughter of Theia Euryphas and Yparion Stellios, who served as the personal diakonos to Hesiod Nyx, and who gave his life to ensure the safety and escape of the three surviving Inari from Oraboruk.” Her eyes closed as she lost the strength to keep them open.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered as her vision darkened. “I should have asked you your name first.” The last thing she felt was a soft touch of warmth on her shoulder. And then, nothing.

..........

There was silence in the room once more, as the five mares opposite Twilight all stared at her with a mixture of shock, horror, and in one case, a stuck-out tongue and googly eyes.

“Pinkie, what are you doing?”

“Whaaat?” Pinkie shut her mouth and giggled. “Everypony else was staring at you so I thought I’d join in!”

“Are you tellin’ me, that the stallion y’all be marryin’ soon, nearly killed Princess Celestia?” Applejack stammered, preventing Twilight from replying to Pinkie. “And… y’all are just… ok with that?” Twilight sighed.

“I know it sounds like what Sif did was bad,” she said softly. “But trust me on this. Celestia would have killed him if she had been able to.” Rarity opened her mouth to say something but Twilight swiftly continued.

“To protect us, she would do anything. That includes killing somepony she thought was a danger to everything on Equus. In the end though, the whole situation turned out to be quite different.”

……….

Celestia awoke with a gasp as awareness came flooding back to her. She frantically tried to raise herself from her current position laying on something incredibly soft, but found a hoof blocking the way.

“Shhh, calm down Princess. Everything is ok.” She heard the comforting voice of her personal physician a millisecond before his grey-bearded, blue-furred face entered her view.

“Take it easy.” The Chineighs pony lowered his hoof and pressed a wing against Celestia’s forehead just below her horn.

“Bones? The throne room, my ponies, the Kitsune, I need…” She was cut off by the same wing slapping her on the nose.

“Celestia, calm down,” Ma Koi said, frowning at Celestia’s casual use of her personal nickname for him. “Like I said, everything is fine. If you would just stay put for a little, I’ll call Captain Aegis and Mr Kibitz for you and they can explain what has happened in the past hour.” Celestia slowly nodded.

“It’s only been an hour?” she asked, settling back down onto the mattress; taking a second to look around, she realised she was in her own bedroom, with two guards standing either side of the doors. Ma whispered to one of the guards who nodded and slipped out of the room, before the elderly stallion turned back to Celestia.

“An hour since the doors to the throne room ceased to exist at least,” he said, taking a wooden tongue depressor out of his medical bag. “Now, say ‘ahhh’.” Celestia rolled her eyes as she opened her mouth and allowed Ma Koi to poke around. He nodded and removed the length of wood. Rummaging around in his bag he pulled out a small penlight and turned back to Celestia.

“Remarkable,” he said softly as he shone the light into Celestia’s eyes one after the other, his remarkably dexterous wings making light work of the task of holding the miniature torch.

“Āiyā. Not a single injury remaining,” he mumbled as he dropped the penlight into his bag. “Whatever magic he used is far in excess to what any of our unicorns could manage.”

“Bones, please stop talking to yourself and give me a summary of my current health if you would.” Ma Koi frowned once again.

“Fine,” he grumbled, sitting back on his haunches. He cleared his throat.

“By the time I was summoned, Nurse Chapel had compiled a list of your injuries. I won’t go into them, but suffice to say, they were sufficient to kill a normal pony many times over.” He sighed.

“She was crying, Celestia. She couldn’t do anything for you. Her magic was somehow being reflected when she tried to do anything more than scan your injuries. We brought you in here, hoping that your own healing abilities would keep you alive for long enough for us to call the rest of the Royal physicians.” Celestia was silent as Ma Koi shook his head.

“That creature… I don’t know what he did, but I do know the results.” He looked up at Celestia. “The reason Nurse Chapel’s magic wasn’t working was because of the large amount of foreign magic already in your system. That magic not only kept you stable; it then supplemented and amplified your Alicorn healing abilities to such an extent that the damage done to you was healed, in full, in less than an hour. Normally, I would have given you a 50-50 chance of survival, followed by at least a month of recovery. Instead, you went from almost dead to perfect health in an hour.” Celestia nodded slowly.

“And the Kitsune who did all of this? Where is he now?” Ma Koi snorted.

“I’m a doctor, not a Royal Guard,” he said. “Ask Captain Aegis. Last thing I saw as we were bringing you here was the Captain and twenty Royal Guards surrounding him.” At that moment, the doors to her bedroom opened, and Captain Aegis walked in, flanked by another Royal Guard and Kibitz, who trotted over to Celestia.

“Princess, it’s so good to see you awake,” he said, his calm exterior clearly under threat from the joy and worry Celestia could see in his pained expression. “We had feared…”

“I’m fine Kibitz, thank you,” Celestia said, leaning over and briefly nuzzling her personal advisor. “Right now however, we have a very important matter to resolve. Captain Aegis, your report please.” Aegis paused for a second before losing his stalwart posture and slumping slightly.

“Princess, first of all, please forgive us for failing to protect you,” he said quietly. “We failed in our duty to…”

“Captain Aegis,” Celestia said sternly. “It is the Royal Guard’s duty to follow my orders without question. My orders were to keep the doors sealed and let nopony into the throne room until they were opened. Did you allow anypony into the throne room from outside?”

“No Princess, but that…”

“Did you attempt to enter the throne room yourself?”

“Of course not Princess, but we should…”

“Then Captain Aegis, I fail to see where you have failed in your duty to me.” Celestia smiled at the head of her Royal Guard. “Rho, no more of this. Please. Tell me what happened after my… altercation.” Rho Aegis nodded, regaining some of his bearing.

“We were waiting outside of the throne room, as per your orders,” he began. “I had ordered the deployment of the Guard throughout the castle, and had the on-duty contingent with me. We also had the six battlemages maintain a shield perimeter around the entrance to the throne room. A good thing we did, as about 15 minutes after the seal was activated, the doors… well, they just disintegrated. I’d never seen anything like it. One second the doors were there, the next… dust in the wind.” Celestia smiled.

“Very poetic Captain,” she said with a hint of cheekiness. Rho Aegis reddened slightly and gave a slight cough. “Please, continue.” He nodded.

“The first thing we saw was the creature…”

“Kitsune,” Celestia interrupted. “Members of his species are called ‘Kitsune’.”

“The Kitsune,” Aegis corrected himself. “When he saw us, he said, ‘There has been a misunderstanding. Your Goddess is hurt, but I have helped her and she will recover quickly. Take her somewhere comfortable.’. That is when we saw you on the floor behind him. I will admit that I was so angered by what this… Kitsune had apparently done to you, Princess, that I attempted to subdue him immediately.”

“I take it you weren’t successful?” Aegis snorted.

“If you define having my magic reflected back at me and finding myself pinned to the floor as ‘not successful’,” he said, to which Celestia giggled. “However,” he continued. “The Kitsune did not attack any of us or interfere as the doctor and nurses moved you out of the throne room, and made no attempt to leave the shield I had the battlemages erect around him.” Celestia nodded.

“I understand.” Taking a quick look around the room to make sure that Ma Koi had left, she gracefully rose from her prone position and regained her full height in front of the captain and the other ponies in the room. Spying her regalia and crown hanging from the ponyquin in the corner of the room, she floated it over and attached it to the various points on her body; the crown being the last piece of the ensemble to fall into place. A brief flash confirmed that all the pieces were locked in place and she turned back to Captain Aegis.

“Where is he now? I assume you placed him in the dungeons?” Rho Aegis shook his head.

“Princess, I wish he was. I wish I could have locked him up there and waited for your recovery to deal with him. But…”

“But…?” Aegis sighed.

“Whilst he was quite peaceful and made no aggressive moves towards us, he was less than responsive to our… suggestions that he accompany us to the dungeons. Therefore, I assigned 2 battlemages and 6 guards to accompany him at all times. He did agree not to leave the castle, and also to stick to the less populated areas as suggested to him by the guards.” Celestia sighed.

“Well, he seems reasonable at least,” she said. She smiled down at her Royal Guard Captain. “Thank you Rho. You’ve done well, my little pony.” She looked around the room. “As have you all. Now, I believe I should reintroduce myself to our visitor. Our first meeting was plagued with misunderstandings, and led to the current situation. No blame is to fall on him, as I was the one who threatened and attacked him first. I promise you all that it will not happen again. This Kitsune is a relative of an old and dear friend of my mother and father, and once we have laid some ground rules, he is to be welcomed to Equestria for however long he decides to stay.” All the other ponies seemed a little shocked at Princess Celestia’s announcement but they all bowed their heads in acceptance.

“Now,” she said, her horn lighting up. “Let us find our errant guest then, shall we?”

……….

“So, you’re Princess Celesta’s personal student?”

“Princess Celes-TI-a. And yes.” The little purple filly raised her nose slightly and stuck a forehoof into the air. “I’m going to be the best and smartest unicorn ever!” Sifr smiled as he reached over and ruffled a hand through the filly’s mane; acutely aware of the six guards around him tensing slightly as the filly giggled and rubbed her head into Sifr’s hand.

“Well, you’re already the cutest unicorn ever. Can’t you be happy with that?” The filly blushed and pawed the chair she was sitting on with her hoof.

“You… think I’m cute?” Sifr nodded, before reaching his tail around and tickling her on the nose. Her face scrunched up.

“Aaa…. ACHOO!” The force of the unexpected sneeze caused the filly to fall backwards off the pillow she was sitting on and land on another pillow that had, somehow, appeared under her to stop her hitting the floor. The guards blinked and looked at each other, whilst the little filly clambered to her feet.

“That was cool!” She trotted over to the pillow Sifr had sat down on and jumped onto his lap, putting her hooves on his chest as she stared up at him.

“How did you do that? You can do magic? Where’s your horn? Why can’t I see anything glowing? When…” She was quieted by Sifr putting a finger on her lips.

“Too many questions little filly.” The purple filly frowned and dropped back down to sit on his lap.

“My name isn’t ‘Little Filly’. It’s Twilight Sparkle.”

Author's Note

(i) I know the Avatar and Kitsune thing isn't very well explained - I didn't want to interrupt the flow of the story too much. The next chapter is a special one where Twilight gives a full explanation of Avatars and Kitsunes, and what happened to them.

(ii) I imagine even this early in the story that people are going to be put off by how powerful Sifr appears to be. This will be addressed, so don't give up because of it.

(iii) Scootaloo - I know, I know, overdone trope. Trust me on this one, you'll like my take on it. It's much fluffier than most.