Author's Note

Hey, everyone!

Not deadge here

K thx, enjoy

Chapter 3: Names and helping out.

Celestia entered the dining hall and saw the other two already sitting, “you could have waited for me, you know?”

“I’m sorry sister, I just got too entertained on my conversation with Remilia,” Luna replied in defense.

“You shouldn’t apologize for something you had no fault at, Luna. It was her fault for staying frozen behind,” Remi remarked getting a look from Celestia at which she felt very satisfied.

Celestia let out a tired sigh before composing herself, “in any case, what are we having today for breakfast?” She asked Luna thinking she already ordered for them.

She did not expect her sister’s answer though, “Strangely enough, nopony came to receive our order yet.”

“Why am I not surprised?” Remilia said with a sigh herself, getting even more on Celestia’s nerves.

Luna felt bad due to the good impression she gave to Remilia was slowly worsening on her head, “Don’t worry Remilia, I’ll call somepony!” she said in a rush.

She was about to leave until Remilia held a hand up to signal her to stop.

“What is it?” Luna asked with a raised brow.

Remilia grew a cheeky smile, “Sakuya,” she called.

Before they could even blink both princesses saw a new being present standing just next to Remilia, it was a silver haired woman dressed in a blue French maid outfit.

She was just there standing with her eyes closed as if waiting for something.

Celestia opened her mouth to say something.

“Red tea and I’m in the mood for some millefeiulle,” Remilia spoke before Celestia could.

“And your guests, Mistress?” Sakuya said without changing her expression.

“What would you two like? Don’t be reserved, Sakuya will attend you to the best of her abilities,” Remilia surprinsingly adopted a more carefree and nice attitude.

Luna took Remilia’s word to heart and ordered something for herself, Celestia was hesitant though.

“Sister?” Luna asked with confusion as to why Celestia didn’t order anything.

Seeing the fidgety princess Remilia decided to ease the mood more, “Princess, I may not sympathize with how you do things and I really enjoy watching your reactions, but…” she softened her features, “I didn’t come here to cause mayhem or destruction, therefore no one under my orders will do anything of the sort either. I just want to have a nice time in the world my little sister enjoys being around so often,” she ended with a little smile which Sakuya and Luna mimicked.

“So, everything until now has been a prank?” Celestia asked with confusion.

Remilia using her left arm to support her head, mischievously looked at the solar princess, “Princess, I’am the Scarlet Devil, due to my noble heritage is blatantly obvious that I like to make fun of others from time to time,” she gave a playful wink in her direction.

Celestia deadpanned, but she finally was able to feel at ease with this clarification.

“That said…” Remilia adopted a more serious tone, “I still will not tolerate any kind of insubordination or mockery towards me regarding my current appearance, in the likely case of that occurring…” she spawned Gungnir in her index finger and balance it perfectly on it, “I will proceed to discipline whoever did it, is that clear?”

Luna gawked in awe at the bloody spear that Remilia just manifested.

While Celestia felt nervous again, “I understand your point Miss Scarlet, but could I please ask you to consult it with us before you do so? I’m unaware of what discipline exactly entails, so I’am just trying to be assured of my ponies’ wellbeing in case they commit such a mistake,” she tried to reason with the little vampire.

Dissipating Gungnir, Remilia thought about it while tapping her chin with a finger, she gave a small nod to herself, “Alright, Princess. I will humor you on this, after all I told you I just want a good, relaxing time for as long as I’m here. So if annoyances can be avoided, that’s much better.” Lazily resting against her chair she flashed a satisfying smile.

“Oh!” She suddenly said while jumping up, surprising the princesses.

“Is something the matter, Remilia?” Luna asked with some concern.

“It’s nothing bad, I was just about to ask if Sakuya can have access to your cooking installations?” Remilia gestured towards her maid, who was still patiently waiting.

They blinked a couple of times, “Oh, of course Remilia. She can use our installations as she seems fit,” Luna was the one to reply.

Celestia flared up her horn for a moment, “It is better if I call somepony to guide her there, then.”

“Very much appreciated you two,” Remilia gave a thankful nod and after Sakuya got Celestia’s order she swiftly left the dinner hall with the chef that was called to guide her.

“She’s a very stoic maid, isn’t she?” Luna curiously asked.

“I would say, she gives more of a professionalism aura, it looks like she takes her job very seriously,” Celestia pointed out.

Remi let out a giggle, “it’s interesting how everyone that meets Sakuya gets the same impression. She’s very strict with herself that much is true. But, she’s also very caring when you look past that cold exterior she likes to put up during duty time.”

“It reminds me to how Lucky Star was when she worked as a maid here in the castle. I would assume you two know each other, right Miss Scarlet?” Celestia asked.

“Lucky Star? Who is that?” confused, Remi asked while tilting her head to the side.

“That would be the pony name Konata took when she arrived in Equestria,” Luna clarified.

“Ooooh, that’s right. She lived here for a short while didn’t she?” Remi got a nod from both princesses in response, “Yes, we do know each other and if you got a similar impression from her when she worked as a maid, then she most likely took inspiration from Sakuya, I have no doubt about it.”

“Now since we have some time before breakfast. First of all…” Remi looked at Celestia, “Princess, is it alright if we drop formalities? I don’t think it’s necessary between us at this point.”

This took Celestia by surprise, but smiled nonetheless, “Of course, should I address you as Remilia, just like Luna does?”

“Either that or Remi, whichever you find more appropriate,” Remi said nonchalantly, “So, should I call you Celestia then?”

Celestia nodded in approval but had something to add, “Either that or Tia, whichever you find more appealing, Remi,” she winked at the implication of pet names being used.

“Oh you do have nicknames, so which is Luna’s?” Remi asked with curiosity.

Luna was about to answer but Celestia beat her to it, “Lulu.”

“Tia!” Luna protested.

But that didn’t stop Remi’s snickering, “forgive me for laughing, I didn’t expect your nickname to be that way, but that’s kind of cute actually. So I’ll be calling you Lulu too, if you don’t mind.”

Luna softly sighed, “If that’s what you want, you can Remi. I just wanted to be the one to say it, that’s all.”

Then something popped in Remi’s mind, “now that we are talking about names, I have a question.”

“What is it about?” Celestia inquired.

Remi got into a comfortable position on her chair, “I noticed pony naming conventions are formed by two words that could be vaguely related to the mark on their flanks, I’m unsure if there are exceptions generally but that’s what I noticed.”

“Yes, that is correct. The exceptions depend on the family and the individual itself, but it’s true that ponies often obtain Cutie Marks that resemble their name,” Luna explained in some detail.

“I see… but does that mean you are also exceptions? Your names are formed by a single word plus your title as princess and I don’t think Princess is part of your names,” Remi replied as she tried to rationalize why that would be the case.

“Your train of thought is also spot on,” Celestia complimented as she developed her point, “The reason for our names to sound out of place is because as you said Princess is not part of them and also because it is not our full names. When we took over as princesses of Equestria, the need of our full names was decreasing as time passed to the point we stopped using them whatsoever, since everypony just referred to us as Princess.”

“That makes sense, but what are your full names then?” Remi questioned.

Celestia brought a hoof to her chest, “Celestia Sunshine.”

Luna mimicked her sister, “Lunaria Moonshade.”

Both of them looked at each other before flushing a bit in the cheeks and then started giggling.

“What is so funny?” Remi raised an eye-brow at the exchange.

Luna waved a reassuring hoof, “It is nothing, really. It has just been so long since we actually said our names that we almost forgot the other’s for little bit.”

“But I have to admit it is refreshing to be able to say it once again,” Celestia admitted with nostalgia.

The three of them exchanged smiles as Sakuya entered the dinner hall with breakfast ready. The rest of the time was spent with small talk and enjoying a nice meal together.

After breakfast was done the princesses decided to show Remi around the castle together with Sakuya silently following some distance away, it was still too early for day court so Celestia was free to join them.

Finishing over the hallway containing the glass windows depicting historical events of Equestria, they passed by the guards’ training area.

“This looks interesting,” she said prematurely as she started to see some issues, “well… kind of…”

“Majesties! What a pleasant surprise to have you coming around,” a male voice called and bowed, lifting his head he noticed the little vampire, “who’s our guest?”

“Captain, this is Remilia Scarlet, a very important guest from the other world we made contact with some time ago,” Luna introduced her.

“Shining Armor, captain of the Royal Guard, it’s an honor,” he introduced himself as best as he could.

Remi noticed his mark was a sparkling shield, then shrugged ‘close enough, I guess’

“Samewise captain Armor, but I’m not actually from Álfeimr,” she stated, getting a surprised look from the princesses, “the world I come from is called Gensokyo, I’am a vampire and the head of the Scarlet Devil Mansion for over five hundred years by now.”

“That said…” she paused as she gave a critical stare to the training area, “is this really the training to become guards? It seems lacking and uncoordinated to say the least.”

“Emm…” as Shining was about to reply purple teleportation happened.

“Miss Remi!” Rainbow popped out of the purple flash and immediately saluted the small vampire, “I just got told what happened, is everything ok?”

“Rainbow!” Twilight called a bit exasperated and with a disheveled mane, “Manners!”

“Sparkle, Rainbow. What a pleasant surprise,” Remi greeted in a polite manner, “as for your question Rainbow, yes. All is well, Patche is investigating to resolve this at the moment.”

“Welcome my little ponies,” Celestia said from behind, “what brings you here today?”

The messy princess of friendship just noticed her mentor, “Princess Celestia!” then Princess Luna, “Princess Luna!” then her older brother, “Shiny!”

She then grabbed Rainbow by the withers in a nervous stupor, “Oh ponyfeathers… what did we just interrupt Rainbow!?” she yelled as she vigorously shake Rainbow.

“Wait…” Remi started as she pointed at Twilight, “Is she…”

Twilight then released Rainbow, the dizzy mare falling on her back before quickly recovering. Then Twilight put her hooves in her head.

“Having…” Remi continued with a more concerned look.

Then the hyperventilation came to the friendship princess.

“A panic attack?” Remi finished, as she saw the purple pony starting to have a meltdown.

“No, no, no, no, no…” Twilight murmured as she backed away against a wall bringing a hoof to her racing chest.

“Twi/Twilight/Twiley!” everypony yelled as they tried to approach suddenly, only to be stopped by Remi and Sakuya.

Rainbow backed away as she felt something.

“What are you…” the rest tried to protest.

“Silence,” Remi ordered, as she was in the front looking at Twilight she turned her head to look at them for a moment, they flinched at the menacing glare she was giving.

‘What is this pressure?’ all of them thought at once.

Remi approached the winded alicorn princess, she then gave a nod to Sakuya.

“Captain, I suggest you tell your troops to stop their training and stay away, Princess Sparkle needs silence right now,” Sakuya coldly stated, “and some space to breath, please back away as miss Rainbow timely did,” she finished with a nod of approval to the prismatic mare.

They understood the situation and nodded, then did as they were told.

Remi sat beside Twilight and just held her other hoof in her hands as she gently caressed it with a serene expression.

Words weren’t necessary as she just needed to create a comforting ambience. Focusing her aura she tried to do just that.

‘Even though I told you that you did not need to worry about my situation… you still poked around to try and help out,’ Remi thought as she found some new respect for the pony in front of her, ‘you have changed since the first time we met, Sparkle. For that… I’m grateful.’ She ended her train of thought with a gentle smile.

Twilight’s breathing changed from erratic to more steady as time passed, changing her pained expression to a more relaxed one.

The rest could feel the change of atmosphere, it’s was soothing and peaceful. Rainbow gave a knowing smile and closed her eyes to bask into the feeling that Remi was giving out.

Finally after what seemed like an eternity, but was instead just a couple of minutes. Twilight was breathing normally, enough so she could reopen her eyes to see everypony worriedly looking at her, then her gaze fell on the one beside her.

Remi still holding Twilight’s hoof slowly opened her eyes to look at her, “welcome back,” she gave a short pause, “Twilight.” Getting a wide eyed reaction from the princess, “You should take it easy for a little moment,” she suggested while ruffling her mane.

As her job was done, Remilia stood up and started walking towards the rest of the group but she suddenly felt hooves around her body bringing her into a hug and a head resting on her shoulder. Remilia’s face sported a look of surprise for the first time.

Sakuya’s left eye twitched, the ponies on the other hoof were slack jawed at this turn of events, especially Rainbow.

“Thank you…” Twilight muttered weakly.

Smiling once again, Remi patted the distressed mare’s head, “there, there.”

That said, moments passed and the hug didn’t seem like it was ending anytime soon, Remi was starting to think it was overstaying its welcome.

Rainbow landed in front of them as Twilight continued snuggling Remi, “Emm… Twi, I don’t know if you realize what you’re doing right now,” she started.

“But could you please let go of me?” Remi finalized with hint of annoyance.

“Eh?” Twilight finally seemed to wake up from whatever trance she was in, then she noticed she was holding something at which her eyes looked slightly to the left. The realization hitting her like a sack of bricks as she started sweating bullets. She very gently placed Remi on the ground and hastily face planted the floor, “I’m sorry!”

Remi smirked with a lifted brow, “What am I going to do with you? You silly pony,” she said with a shake of her head. “It is alright, do not worry yourself with this. Just do not make a habit out of it,” Remi decided to let it pass, as she wasn’t exactly mad it just took her by surprise.

After this situation ended in a happy note, Twilight reassured everypony that she was alright. Training resumed shortly after.

Remi watched disappointingly, “Rainbow, how effective are they at defending anything?” she asked with genuine curiosity.

“Honest? Not much,” Rainbow replied in a flat tone.

“That bad, huh?”

“Hey, I take offense on that!” Shining tried and failed to defend his methods, if the deadpan stares Remi and Rainbow were giving was any clue.

“Miss Remi…” Rainbow lowered at eye level with her, “why don’t you, give them a hand?” she ended with a smirk and a wink.

“Hmm,” Remi did some quick thinking, then returned the smirk in kind, “you’re evil, Rainbow,” she said pretty much accepting Rainbow’s idea which filled the prismatic mare with excitement.

“Captain Armor,” she called for the still offended stallion, getting his attention, “I shall take over training right now, if you don’t mind.” She said matter-of-factly.

“Wait, I don’t intent to be rude, but do you know about military training? I wouldn’t want our guest to be hurt by playing over here,” he replied in what he thought was the nicest way possible.

“Oh ho~ this one has some spunk into him,” Remi was starting to get some devious ideas.

“Please don’t hurt him…” Twilight pleaded from behind them.

“Wha…” Shining was about to say something but Rainbow interrupted him.

“Are you kidding me, dude? I know you felt it too, Miss Remi’s overwhelming aura. But you still want to defy her decisions?” Rainbow argued, knowing pretty well what Remilia was capable of.

“I did notice, that’s why I can’t have the one who helped my little sister getting hurt here, if she doesn’t have combat experience,” he shot back in a reasonable way.

Remilia floated in front of Shining Armor with a mischievous smile, “why don’t you spar with me then, captain?” her smile growing bigger showing more of her fangs, “that way you can make sure I don’t hurt myself.”

After some thought Shining nodded, “Alright, don’t worry I’ll go easy on you.”

Remilia’s eyes slightly sharpened before quickly changing her expression to one of smiley innocence, “thank you, I appreciate it.”

Everyone surrounded the arena that was going to be used for this spar session, some with anticipation, some with worry.

As Remi made her way towards her side of the arena, “I’m going to have some fun~” she sang as she passed in front of Rainbow, Twilight and the princesses.

“Uh-oh,” both ponies that knew her had a bad feeling, this got a confused reaction from the princesses.

Before anything started, two airborne mares that were heading towards the castle just noticed the commotion, “that looks interesting, let’s check it out!”