Standing Next to the Princess
“Pa!” Big Mac turned and looked up from the basket of apples he had been leaning down towards to grasp the handle with his teeth. His son was rushing up the path from the entrance to the acres, his gamboge mane flopping as he trotted. He’d been having a growth spurt and was a little unsteady at the moment.
“Eeyup?” Mac trotted forward languidly, his much longer legs matching the colt’s frantic pace as they closed on each other.
“There’s a stranger asking for you at the gate.” He looked over his shoulder behind himself. “Ah don’t rightly know what she wants. Talkin’ funny.”
Mac processed his child’s statements. Whoever was at the gate, it wasn’t Flim or Flam. He’d trained his wife and child to recognize those two. It also wasn’t any of his friends or his sister’s group’s friends, since his son had met almost all of those. Of course, that almost was doing a bit of work. It was simply impossible for him to meet all of Twilight, Rarity, or Pinkie’s friends.
He considered the likelihood as he trotted to the entrance. Rarity had a great number of friends that might have out-of-town accents, but he had no idea why any of them would show up unannounced on the farm. Pinkie likewise had a wide variety of friends from all over the planet. He couldn’t even predict the odds of anything Pinkie would be involved in. Twilight was the other big outlier. She did rule Equestria, after all. Her friends likewise spanned the planet. It was quite possible Twilight had directed one of her friends or subordinates to see his sister for some reason.
At the gate awaited a bat-winged pegasus – chiropteran, he corrected himself – mare in dark silver armor. The mare had a bored expression, and seemed to be taking in everything around her without focusing on himself approaching. That was puzzling, that she saw him but was trying to pay attention to her surroundings as much as him. “Ma’am.”
“Greetings.” The mare bounded into the air and flapped languidly, hovering to bring her eyes level with his. He couldn’t place the velvety accent, but it sounded exotic. “I’m Moongazer, head of the advance group of the guard’s princessal protection detail. Princess Twilight Sparkle shall be attending Hearth’s Warming here, and we’re here to do a full security survey so we can have arrangements in place before the Princess arrives.”
A number of thoughts went through his mind. The first was that the mare seemed to take Twilight spending the holidays at the Acres as a given, as though he had no control over it due to her rank. Or perhaps Applejack had already agreed to it. He hated to acknowledge the passing, but Applejack had inherited the matriarchy along with the shawl. Sweet stars he missed Granny.
He shook his head and moved to the next thought. The mare had said “we” and that implied an “us” since she sure wasn’t a princess. There didn’t seem to be any other visible ponies.
Perhaps she picked up him looking around. “Ah, you’re probably wondering who the ‘we’ is. Ghost Dancer is here with me for thaumic surveying, she’s around here…” The mare’s ears twitched to and fro, but from her frown she didn’t seem to hear what she was seeking. She took a breath and assumed a stance like she was bellowing at the top of her lungs, but he couldn’t hear anything. She then turned to a patch of empty space nearby. “...there!”
The chiropteran ascended a ponylength, then pumped her wings and dove hard onto seemingly empty space. She collided with what appeared to be nothing, rebounding and grabbing an object that appeared to weigh quite a lot, based on how it affected her motion.
After a moment the invisible object resolved itself into a light-gray unicorn mare with a slightly darker gray mane and tail. He noted she was wearing the suit-collar typical of Manehatten businessmares.
“Oy, Moony, you don’t have to do that.” She shook the chiropteran off her as she complained in her Bridleway accent. “That’s no good for my digestion. Ugh.”
Big Mac pondered his reply to all this. He wasn’t going to speak until he was certain of what to say. “Uh huh.” That seemed safe.
“You sound skeptical, fair enough. Here’s my badge and ID if you want to be sure I’m a real guard.” Moongazer dipped her muzzle under her wing, and withdrew something from a discrete pocket concealed under the flexible armor there.
Mac inspected the proffered item, a piece of synthetic leather which had a badge pinned to one side and a window which enclosed a laminated paper card on the other. It certainly looked official. He really should say something. “Ya’ll need to talk to Applejack.” That would at least get them out of his mane.
“Well of course, she’s the one who invited Twilight here.” Moongazer began to trot forward. “Lead the way!”
That was good, at least they or Twilight weren’t being incredibly presumptuous.
He hoped this wouldn’t turn into a big brouhaha.
“Wow, that’s amazing.” Princess Twilight could have been looking out over the homestead at Sweet Apple Acres. She half expected to see Applejack about to greet her. Intellectually, however, she knew that she was standing in one of the old cavernous (literally) storerooms under the palace, built into the rock of the mountain. Overhead, brand-new electric lights blazed down onto trees that she knew had been planted into shallow soil by the palace gardeners. The barn and barn-shaped house were reconstructions based on photographs.
It was the new guard policy to prepare for royal visits with a training exercise, and Twilight had decided to take some time to see it in action. The kirin, earth ponies, and others who had put this together were masterful. She was really getting her money’s worth on the security improvements. As much as she loved Celestia and her brother, a more practical-minded approach was paying dividends. Already at least one attempted royal kidnapping had ended with the perpetrator put away before even catching sight of her. It was even perpetrated by credible creatures!
At her request, she’d be playing herself today. Normally an actor or fellow guard would assume her role with the addition of stilts and prosthetic wings and/or a horn.
She trotted forward up the path towards the acres, greeting “Applejack” who turned and trotted off to the side of herself. Behind her followed two guards, a pegasus mare who hovered slightly over her and a male yak who naturally had enough bulk to completely shield her.
At that moment, the enemy struck. Shadows moved over her and she turned her head up to look. The first dragon slammed into the pegasus and sent her sprawling, turning to fire a blast of flame towards “Applejack” at the same time.
The second dragon breathed a steady stream of fire at the yak, which set his fur alight and caused him to drop and roll around to put it out.
The dragon flicked Twilight’s horn as she charged a spell, then slashed at her face with the other claw. Twilight flinched backwards, but this allowed the first claw to swing back around and grab onto her neck. The dragon pushed her backwards, then brought the other arm around to press the claws into her throat.
“Terrorists win!” Smolder shouted. Twilight gasped for breath as the dragon released her grip on the alicorn. “You’re getting soft on that throne, professor!”
“Well!” Twilight huffed. “It’s been a few decades since the Battle of the Bell, it’s not like villains crawl out of the woodwork every six months or so now.”
A team of medical ponies began rubbing the yak with cream to treat any burns he’d sustained. Twilight knew they had to make the scenarios realistic, but that might have gone a bit too far. He seemed in good spirits, though.
“Well.” A voice came from behind them, harsh and judgemental. “What have we learned?” Guard Captain Fizzlepop Berrytwist was somehow looming over a yak three times her height, glaring up at him. Her aluminum prosthetic horn looked sharp and dangerous, like a spearhead with wicked barbs, and contrasted greatly with the friendlier-looking light purple armor she wore in her role as head of Twilight’s princessal protective detail.
“Yak learn to look around more quickly.”
“Yak also better adjust his armor properly, if you’d seen them coming you could have shifted the protective spell to full fire resistance.”
Twilight frowned. Mentally adjustable enchantments were a new tool that was becoming available due to the increased aluminum production, but they were still cumbersome and required a great deal of concentration. “I don’t think you can fault him too much. With so little time to react it’s a wonder he didn’t get hurt.”
Fizzlepop turned to her. “Boss, that’s well and good, but this is training for the worst case scenario. There’s no replacing you, so we have to get this perfect.”
Twilight nodded. “I don’t like thinking of myself that way.”
Fizzlepop laughed. “Open up your eyes, your majesty. That’s the way Equestria thinks about you.”
“I know, I know.” Twilight sighed as she trudged back to the starting area as they prepared to reset the exercise. She wondered what they’d be hit with this time.
“Oh Tartarus no.”
For the first and only time, Big Mac was glad Granny Smith wasn’t with them anymore.
He knew exactly how it’d end if somecreature had dared to tell her she wasn’t allowed to cook for a guest: in blood, with her being carted off to Tartarus in a muzzle and straitjacket.
Applejack seemed likely to visit the local constabulary for assaulting an agent of the crown herself, at least if the rage on her face was anything to go by.
“I will not be bossed around in my own kitchen by a bunch of Canterlot bureaucrats!” Applejack pulled the stomp that punctuated that sentence, meaning that the floor flexed but did not splinter.
Big Mac turned back and forth between his furious sister and the nonplussed guardsmares. The unicorn one was subtly moving behind Applejack, and her corona was dimly lit. Or maybe that was a trick of light. He’d seen Ghost Dancer’s corona and it was difficult to spot even when fully lit.
Regardless, it seemed likely that she was readying herself to intervene if things got out of hand.
The ‘discussion’ between Moongazer and Applejack had not been going well.
“Our chef will be sure to mimic everything you’re doing. Twilight won’t know the difference, even your own mother wouldn’t be able to tell!”
Big Mac fought back a wince. He’d heard worse choices of words, but usually coming from Rainbow Dash or two yellow unicorns whose names started with ‘Fl’. He needed to defuse this before someone really did get sent to Tartarus in a muzzle and straightjacket. “Hold on a minute.”
“Now you listen here, missy!” Applejack didn’t hear him. “I’ve done far more for Twilight than any of your fancy-pants Canterlot cooks, I’m on her council and y'all know it, I should be the one cooking for her all the time if you feel that way.”
“It’s required by statute. I can’t take the law into my own hooves.” Moongazer wasn’t any less stubborn, merely less demonstrative in her anger.
He needed a solution, some form of compromise. It was a long shot, but he’d take it. “Who’s the chef?”
“Normally I’d say I’m not at liberty to talk about something like that, but Applejack is on the council and all, and I’ll let her vouch for you. We’ve got a few options based on scheduling. Creme Dela Creme, Lemon Meringue, Creme Soda, Apple Kebab…”
“Apple Kebab from Appleoosa?” Big Mac hoped as hard as he could.
“Yeah, know her?” Moongazer stared at him with her nocturnal eyes opened all the way in confusion.
“Ooooh!” Applejack had picked up on what he was thinking. “She’s our second cousin. If you can bring her I’ll let her cook I guess, if she follows my lead properly.”
Big Mac could hear the chiropteran guard mutter something under her breath that was likely to be highly derogatory and possibly sufficiently prejudiced to bother Twilight about it, but he decided to avoid making a fuss. This time.
In the old days, Celestia would take the journey to Ponyville in an open-topped chariot pulled by a small number of guardsponies.
Twilight would love to do that, if circumstances would allow her.
First had come the expansion of the bureaucracy as she’d increased the power of the central authority. She was followed at all times by a number of aides to keep her appraised of all issues she might need to know about (which increased daily, it seemed), along with an additional number needed to maintain lines of communication allowing her to reach anycreature on the continent in minutes. Enchanted diary scribes, scryers, radio operators, telegraph operators, flying messengers. She had a staff and she dearly missed being able to make things work with only Spike and herself back in that old library tree.
The second thing that had come along with improvements in communication was an increase in press activity. Reporters flocked around her like seagulls around discarded food. Dozens of reporters followed her everywhere, because as the leader of Equestria everything she did was, by definition, important. Unable to get rid of them, she reached detente by providing them with guidelines in exchange for access. That meant she had to provide transportation for ‘her’ reporters.
The final change had come as a result of security. After the attempt to poison her via blowgun (apparently over a dispute with the Forbidden Jungle ponies and settlers encroaching their lands) had come uncomfortably close to succeeding, they’d insisted she travel in enclosed vehicles.
Thus, the three identical airships carrying her entourage towards Ponyville. Outside, the typical winter snows were falling, and she could see Cloudsdale moving its path southward to continue to bring winter further down the country.
An idle fancy reminded her that these were indeed some of the very same airships the Storm King had used to invade Equestria back then, now refurbished in her style and colors. The sinister outline could still be recognized if the lighting was right, so she’d tried to avoid returning to Canterlot at night or in foul weather.
Still, as Celarno would say, no point in wasting perfectly good hulls.
Ponyville being her occasional home away from home, there was a guard presence there ready to protect her at all times, even if they hated it when she showed up with little to no warning. Luster Dawn’s transfer had resulted in Fizzlepop giving her an extremely polite dressing down for the breach of protective protocol.
She’d only been able to spend five Hearth’s Warmings in Ponyville since taking office, and Starlight had hosted all of those at her old castle. They’d never been able to justify having it at Sugarcube Corner or Carousel Boutique when those were within a couple minutes trot, but the Acres was a good distance away so Applejack had agreed it was worth the hassle of having the guards take over things.
Down below said guard presence was visible, with the path from the main road to Sweet Apple Acres covered in tiny purple spots that she knew were each a guardspony or guardscreature. A line of dim blue along the border of the Acres represented the uniformed police, drawn primarily from Canterlot since Ponyville’s police force wasn't nearly large enough. Beyond them were a scattering of other colorful dots. She felt that she’d been doing a good job so far, and there didn’t seem to be evidence to the contrary, but there were always those who wanted a little more attention to their cause or themselves.
Why do I have to be such a production? She missed the old days constantly, before she had to be hauled around by a machine of state. She tapped the floor. In this case, it was somewhat literal. No wonder Celestia retired as soon as she thought I could handle it. I hope I can make it 1111 years.
The three airships swung about and came down for a perfect simultaneous landing on the fallow field behind the house.
She could see her hosts through the porthole in the side of the airship as the ramp lowered and Fizzlepop and her crew moved down the stairs at what she considered a ‘dignified’ pace – fast enough to slightly outrun a casual walk, but not fast enough to make it look like you were trying.
The commander of the advance crew, Moongazer, saluted Fizzlepop and had apparently reported no problems, as the guardstallion behind Twilight whispered “We’re ready.”
Twilight walked sedately down the ramp with an earth pony guard in front and a minotaur one behind her. There were so many ponies and other creatures down there, but she had far more colleagues than friends now. At least she was able to keep things comfortable with her immediate subordinates and the princessal guard. “Hello, everycreature.”
“Greetins, Twi!” Applejack trotted up, the earth pony guard stepping to the side to allow her to pass, then hoofbumped Twilight. “That gets harder every year, first you wouldn’t stop getting taller, then I wouldn’t stop getting older.”
“Applejack, so glad to see you.” She turned to the next group of ponies approaching. “Mac, Sugar Belle, junior!” Big Mac’s son jumped up and Twilight caught him with her magic, flipping him over and nuzzling him under his forelegs. She flipped him end over end and he landed on her back.
“Whee!” The colt wobbled slightly as he tried to hold his grip on the alicorn’s broad back, and Moongazer discretely flapped up and nudged him into alignment.
“Moongazer.” Twilight turned to her guard. “How’d the advance go?”
“Very well, princess!” The chiropteran bowed formally. “Some slight difficulties here and there, but they were smoothed over.” Applejack raised an eyebrow and smirked. In the background, Apple Kebab had come down the airship’s ramp with the rest of the staff and waved to Applejack.
“How’s Rarity doin’ this year?” Applejack turned to address Twilight.
“She might miss our get-together. The negotiations are taking longer than we thought, but she’s confident she can save Hearthswarming for everycreature involved, even if not herself.”
“That’s a shame.” Applejack ducked her head and shook it. “Ah get avoiding a general strike is important, though.”
“Rainbow Dash should be able to make it at least. I can make her be here on time if I have to.” Twilight giggled a little at that, but Applejack didn’t laugh with her.
“Course, I can make her be here on time too. And Ah reckon Ah’m the one with more make if you get my drift.”
“Of course.” Twilight nodded to Applejack, then continued. “I’m sure Pinkie and Fluttershy will be along soon enough.”
“So just the family, and us minus Rarity this year.” Applejack seemed a little melancholy.
“Applejack, this is already a production. Do you really want me cramming dozens more guests into your house?”
“Mnope!” Big Mac realized he’d interjected after he said it. He didn’t really want to talk, but his treacherous instincts had done it for him. “This is worse’n a reunion already.”
“Ah, Big Macintosh!” Twilight turned to him. “I haven’t had any chance to talk to you face to face for a while. I got your letter about the reviews of Machinations of the Third Camelaeid Dynasty and I must say I disagree. The reviewers should consider the effects of policies on the present day in a work which…”
“Madame Princess!” A guardspony pegasus in courier uniform trotted up to Twilight. Big Mac was disappointed, he had been hoping to discuss literary criticism. He loved his sister, but her appreciation of higher learning was just… nope.
Twilight’s aura gripped the message he held in his muzzle and brought it up to her face. “Is this Tin Pot again? Ugh. Of course it is, why do I even ask? Take a memo, tell him if he presses his claim to the Sandbar-wich Islands it legitimizes Princess-emeritus Celestia’s claim to Musa Peninsula under the same merits, and that we’ll be happy to provide moving services for all his stuff. Don’t send that verbatim, tell Rosehip to rewrite it so it sounds appropriate. Then send the third or fourth fleet, whichever is closer to sailing readiness, to do a patrol of the islands. Let him know we’re thinking about him.”
Big Mac sighed. Perhaps it would be better to conduct such discussion over paper instead. He didn’t enjoy speaking much, and Twilight was likely to be interrupted by any manner of official business. “We can talk later, there’s some other ponies to say hi to.”
“And other creatures.” Summer Rain, Apple Bloom’s Kirin “friend” chimed in. Mac wished Bloom would commit to a partner already. He was grateful he didn’t talk as much as he did as a teenager, he might have said that out loud at some point if he did. Or maybe said it out lout. I should write that one down.
The younger stallion chatted with the princess while he began to move back towards the house. Guards were fanning about to observe everything going on, and he knew it was going to be an interesting Hearth’s Warming.
“Everycreature get inside!” Mac was not enjoying the start of the day of Hearth’s Warming Eve. A wall of guard flesh pressed the family and guests into a ball in the kitchen while something was going on outside. He could hear shouts and magic through the walls. Behind him he could feel Twilight’s wing pinned against his side trying to open. She’d always been a pony that ran towards danger, but now she was considered too precious to risk.
He looked up and could see Twilight’s head looking outside leaning over him. It was quite a spectacle, he couldn’t normally look up to a pony unless they were flying. It was humbling. Also, the angle gave him a great view of her horn. Mmmm. That’s quite a horn. I love Sugar Belle, but sometimes I wonder what would have happened if I’d ever told Twilight what I thought of her.
The sounds outside died down. After a moment’s pause he could see Moongazer had an earpiece headphone in one ear and had folded the other down. “It’s ok princess, was just a colt high on conspiracy nonsense who tried to rush the back perimeter from the Everfree.”
The press of guards backed off and everypony – everycreature, Big Mac reminded himself, re-established their personal space. “Is he alright?” Twilight leaned down to look Moongazer in the eyes. Of course that was her primary concern, she always looked after the welfare of everypony. Everycreature.
“We had to stun him, he wouldn’t stop running. He’s being looked at now but is probably going to be ok.”
“The press is out there, so I hope everycreature looked good.” Twilight turned to the aide who’d just spoken up.
“I’m sure they followed all protocols, right Moongazer?”
“Yes ma’am. Fizzlepop is out there taking charge of things, we’ll hold him for a bit pending a psychological evaluation.”
“That figures.” She smiled and turned to Big Mac. “Sorry. It’s just, even only one in ten thousand ponies is a little loopy, there’s still thousands of them. And many of them focus on me because I’m out there and important and I get talked about a lot.” She shook her head. “Celestia tells me it wasn’t as bad for her because communications and travel being harder meant ponies usually only thought about her when she was in town.”
Disruption resolved, it was time to get on with the holiday.
At least the play went well. Twilight stretched as she stood. Rainbow had arrived and Fluttershy showed up to reprise Pansy, and the family had enough unicorns now to fill out the cast. Summer Rain had taken the narrator role with Spike off handling things with the griffons. The barn had a stage setup for past Apple Family reunions, so it had been a simple matter to fit everycreature in, even if reporters had been stuck in the back and the lofts. She was glad none of them were theater critics.
Still, she couldn’t fault the performance. Mac’s son had made an excellent Clover, and Sugar Belle was a great Platinum.
It occurred to her that she hadn’t actually had a chance to greet Rainbow, she’d arrived in such a hurry that she’d gone straight to rehearsal.
And almost got tackled by my guards. Everycreature originally thought identifying herself by the sonic rainboom was a joke, but no it was not. Glad to see she’s still got it.
“Rainbow!” Twilight waved to the pegasus as she shrugged off her tinfoil costume armor.
“Boss-mare!”
Twilight frowned. “Please don’t call me that off-duty.”
Rainbow launched into the air to look her in the eye. “Well, at least I’ve gotten you to stop calling me ‘Captain Dash’ in front of our friends.”
Twilight nickered. “That was part of a bet, Rainbow. I had to refer to all of you by your titles for a month after Discord beat my score.”
“But Fluttershy…”
“Doesn’t actually have any official titles, I had this argument with Discord.” Twilight put her hoof down gently, being aware the barn they’d used to hold the play had been replaced a dozen or so times during her years in Ponyville, let alone however many times it had been since.
“Discord schmiscord…” Rainbow flipped her Wonderbolt jacket off the nail it was hanging on, then flew into it as it passed overhead, putting it on perfectly and, with one shake, getting it to parade straightness.
“Rainbow! Don’t let him hear you say things like that.”
“Yeah, he’s right behind me, isn’t he?” Dash groaned with her expression flat.
“Well, not quite,” replied her jacket.
“Bori. I should be on the list.” It was dark outside the farmhouse, except for the hornlights and flashlights of patrolling guards. Chiropterans flew overhead in formation with other creatures chosen for their excellent night vision, and the property was locked down like a bank vault.
Three flying reindeer had been intercepted at the perimeter bordering, and were being given a check.
“Yep, she’s on the list. Along with Aurora and Alice.” A bored-looking buffalo nudged a comically undersized clipboard he was carefully holding in front of his face. A headband with a small battery-powered red light provided just enough illumination to read by.
“Well, we’ll have to inspect the packages.” A tan unicorn stallion lit up his horn in orange. “Looks clear.”
“Well, well.” All eyes turned to the scarred unicorn trotting up. “I honestly thought you three were mythical.”
“Captain Fizzlepop.” The unicorn stallion saluted. “Everything seems to be in order here.”
“Yes, yes.” Fizzlepop turned and looked over the three reindeer. “I’m just surprised you brought Twilight something physical, doesn’t seem your style.”
“It’s a thing that’ll make sense later.”
“Oh, one of those. Yeah, I love cryptic life advice as much as the next creature.”
The reindeer shrugged in unison. “She is still Celestia’s student,” the old-looking one said.
“Well, if your stuff gets cleared and you’re on the list there’s no reason for you not to come in.”
Fizzlepop seemed to vanish into the gloom as she trotted off. The reindeer pranced up into the air carrying their packages, leaned in through a farmhouse window opened by a guardspony, and deposited them under the tree. Job done, they took off into the night sky.
“Well, that’s the fourth set of mythical creatures I met on this job,” the buffalo said to the unicorn.
“You should hear the old-timers talk. The last decade of Celestia’s reign was crazy even if it wasn’t as unrelentingly busy. Did I ever tell you why they call it Nightmare Night?”
Hearth’s Warming Morning began before dawn for Twilight. News had arrived that the fourth fleet had come upon attempts by Tin Pot to seize the islands and had driven them off by their presence. After a great deal of discussion with guard captains and the navy secretary (via enchanted journal) it was decided that any further action could be forestalled until the holidays ended, since Tin Pot had no stomach for a direct confrontation. The prevailing theory was that he’d deliberately timed this to hope to catch Twilight’s decision-making apparatus on holiday and present a fait accompli in the next year.
A second message indicated Rarity had managed to conclude negotiations to the satisfaction of all parties last night, but would likely have to wait until the next day due to the lack of transportation on the day of Hearth’s Warming.
“Presents!” Big Mac’s colt cared not for the lofty and complicated machinations of the adults. He wanted one thing and one thing only now.
Everycreature managed to cram themselves into the living room as the foal appointed himself gift-passer in chief, taking a seat at the base of the tree and the edge of the gift pile, reading the labels and hoofing them over.
“This one’s forrrrrr… the princess!”
Twilight’s aura lifted the box and brought it to her. “Hmm. No note, I wonder who that could possibly be.” Twilight’s wink was extremely exaggerated. Wrapping paper and tape parted in a display of dazzling care, each could be re-used if necessary. “It’s a book. Summoning Rituals and You!”
Twilight jumped up and danced in place, an alarming prospect from an alicorn that towered over everycreature present except the yak and buffalo, and caused the house’s frame to vibrate in a fascinating manner. “It’s supposed to be lost to the ages, this is the only known copy anywhere in existence!” She stopped, then glared out a window, on a compass heading that would, by great circle route, lead directly to Musa and the place of the Dictator Tin Pot. “I will have to make time to read it.” Everycreature present hoped that she didn’t mean that literally.
“Another for the princess.” Twilight opened another no-note gift, this time containing a set of special chalks, made with mystical alchemical reagents.
As she pondered that, the third gift she’d received from the Gift Givers of the Grove was hoofed over to her. Inside was a brass bell with elaborate geometric designs on the surface. Twilight’s eyes lit up. “Bell, book, candle! It’s all the ingredients for a summoning ritual.”
Standing up and turning around, when done by an alicorn, automatically clears some space. Twilight levitated a piece of chalk as she held the book open to a specific page, then began to draw a diagram on the floor. “Big Mac, Rainbow Dash, could you give me a hoof in a second?”
“Sure!”
“Eeyup!”
Twilight finished reproducing the spiral-circle of triangles that hurt everycreature else to look at, then levitated the bell over the center of it and rung it. A pinkish tear in the fabric of reality appeared, then slowly grew to the size of a pony’s head, wobbly, indistinct, and translucent.
“OK, both of you stand there, forming an equilateral triangle. Yes, there. Good. Now, put your right forehoof in and think of Rarity.”
The three of them reached forward and closed their eyes. For a moment, everycreature held their breath. Then…
“Hello, darlings!” Rarity was standing behind Twilight, as if she’d been there the entire time. Big Mac gazed cautiously at the space where the pink tear had been, not sure how or why that had worked, whether he wanted to know, or why Rarity hadn’t appeared in the center of the circle like he’d expected.
“Rarity! The Gift Givers of the Grove have given me Hearth’s Warming with all my friends!” She paused. “Oh, and a super-valuable rare book. But mostly the first one.”
“Of course. Well, that negotiation has left me exhausted. I’m surprised I’m able to be decent at this hour. I was just about to go and see if there was some sort of forlorn hope airship run.”
“This is great! C’mon, help me summon Spike! Then we’ll reverse-summon him later to send him back to the Dragonlands.”
“Of course, dear. Once Pinkie and Fluttershy get here this afternoon we’ll have the whole gang together again. I’d try summoning Luster Dawn, but she’d forget her own family if we didn’t give her time with them.”
All good times must come to an end. Big Macintosh watched as the guardsponies finished breaking down the last of the portable checkpoints they’d installed at the edges of the property. Hearthswarming had passed, and with it the princess’s vacation, such as it was, was coming to an end.
“Was it a nice time for you?” He looked up into Twilight’s face.
“Yes, it was.” She looked out at the airships preparing for launch, taking her back to her world of constant responsibility. She’d never really escaped it, but she’d come close.
“We should do this again sometime.”
“Yeah we should. Were you surprised Applejack let anypony else cook and serve me too?”
“Nah, the advance team prepared things.”
“Ah, good. I’ll be sure and let them know I appreciate all their work.”
I was the one who defused that. But she doesn’t need to know. “Ah appreciate it too.”
“I’ll tell them that too.”
Big Mac and Twilight hoofbumped, then parted. Applejack and Rainbow came up to give her a hug before she departed, but Big Mac watched from a respectful distance. Sugar Belle came up to him to watch the departure, and he nestled up against her as they watched the princess’s retinue file into the airships and depart.
That was quite something. Having experienced Twilight’s presence over the years, I feel remarkably privileged to be able to say I’ve been in the presence of history like that. Even if it was just a ‘simple’ holiday.
Author's Note
Written for ROBCakeran53 as a part of Jingelmas 2020! For more information about Jingelmas, check out our group.
The drama of the presidential election in the US inspired me to re-read Standing Next to History, Joseph Petro's book about his experiences as a US Secret Service officer with Ronald Reagan and others.
Between that and my santee having written for Admiral Biscuit's Not-A-Contest, this story offering a glimpse into the pony equivalent of a "workplace" that is always with you, regardless of whether you want it or not.
