Author's Note

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Chapter 40: The Tree of Laughter

What.

“What?”

“Yeah, uh, can I come in? It’s,” he shivered, wrapping his arms around himself and rapidly rubbing back and forth. “Really cold out here and I’m not the biggest fan.”

“Oh, I don’t know if…” I had no idea if Fluttershy would be okay with letting him in or not. Of course, she knew of him, but hadn’t met him because of…everything. Though, she had mentioned wanting to meet him at some point, so maybe it’d be fine? “Ok.”

“Thanks.”

I stepped away from the door, letting Dark enter as he shut it behind him. He just stood there for a few seconds, shuddering in what I guessed was warmth before tilting his head back and scanning the room. He began settling on a chair right in front of the couch, before quite literally sinking into it with a loud groan.

“Oh wow, it's been a hot minute since I actually sat down in a chair this comfortable.”

“Maybe you should get one?” I suggested as I made my way back to the couch, picking up the mess of a blanket and swirling it together until it resembled ice cream with a hole in the center; made just for me.

I fit in perfectly, wrapped in an artificial hug made of cloth. It didn’t have that intimacy that a real hug carried, but it was warm, so it shall do.

“Eh, I don’t know what I’d use it for. At least, not anything I don’t already use my bed for: reading books, napping, contemplating existence, the usual.”

He laughed like he told a joke. Maybe he did and I didn’t catch it.

We sat there in awkward silence for a few minutes, most of it I spent just holding the blanket around me like a cape. It didn’t break until Angel wandered into the room, munching on a carrot with half-closed eyes and not a care in the world. He took one look at me, then glanced at Dark, shrugged his shoulders, and turned the other direction.

What I’d give to know what was going on in that adorable little head of his.

“So, Canterlot,” He said as he tapped against the arms of the chair, eyes still lingering on where Angel just was. “Do you think I can come with you?”

“Uhm, I’d probably have to send a letter to Luna first, but probably.” I pursed my lips, the thought of asking Twilight to send a letter to Luna for me filled me with lead-laced dread. I hadn’t had time to even think of what to say to her, not like I’d come up with anything even if I had all the time in the world. “Why do you want to come?”

I was close enough to Dark to see every muscle in his face grow rigid, his jaw clenching up as his eyes darted away. He sharply inhaled, closing his eyes and whispering something wordlessly to himself before opening them again.

“I want to see my family.”

There was a sincerity in his voice so visceral I could taste it; it haunted my tongue like the distant memory of a food I’d only ever had once.

I gripped the edges of the blanket, pulling it closer to my chest.

“Are you sure you want to do that?”

The question came out without having to think about it, like a reflex I didn’t know I had. While he tried to hide it, I saw him flinch at the question; like he didn’t expect it to come from me, or just didn’t want to hear it in general.

“I…have to, sooner or later. They probably just think I’m dead at this point, which is fine honestly. But, I have a sister now, who’s going to go through all the stuff I did; prodigy or not.”

Realization crept its way to the forefront of my mind as my stomach sank.

“...You’re moving back to Canterlot with your parents?”

“What? No! No, no.” His voice cracked as pupils turned to pinpricks, leaning forward in his chair. “I just want to visit, let them know I’m ok, and talk to her. Let her know that I get what she’s going through, what she’s going to go through. Let her know that there’s someone out there she can write a letter to or just someone who…understands. That’ll be a weight off both of our shoulders.”

My heart constricted, and then just as quickly relaxed, like a cramp that left as soon as it came. For a moment, I sat there and breathed, letting go of my blanket and rubbing my chest with my free hand.

“So you’re just going to visit? Are you sure that’s a good idea?”

“Did you…” His eyebrows furrowed, stroking a very small beard. “Ever go back to your family after you ran away? Or at least think about it?”

For whatever reason, I completely forgot that I told him that in the first place; it felt so far away. I should have expected that question, yet it startled me. I let go of the blanket completely, letting it fall to the couch and partially to the floor.

“Once.” I let my head fall to my chest, my legs joining them as I lifted them off the floor. “I went back to them once.”

“Really?” his posture stiffened, his mouth slightly falling open. “How’d that go?”

Tragically.

I swallowed that word before it had the chance to leave my mouth, knowing full well the elaboration I’d have to do if I let it out.

A ghost of the raw anger I felt as I directed Asriel and I’s body back to my village peeked over the depths of my mind, threatening to infect me once more with its putrid heat. I dug my nails into my legs, just deep enough to hurt but not to draw blood.

It was another bad habit of mine I needed to break.

“I regret it with every inch of my body.”

“Oh.”

“But,” I couldn’t help but smile a bit. “If I’d never done that, I would have never ended up here.”

“So it was a good thing?”

That question hovered in the air for a while as I tried to figure out how to answer it, at least without losing my temper. I could never call what happened ‘a good thing’, as tempting as it would be to justify my own actions. Even so, there was a smidge of truth in that statement.

As much as I hated to admit it, some part of me was glad that I died; just not the method.

“In some ways, it was for the better, yeah.” I muttered, feeling my cheeks puff as I held my breath. “But I wouldn’t do it again.”

“You regret it, but it was a good thing, but you wouldn’t do it again?” Dark scratched his head as he tilted it, placing one leg over the other. “I’d ask you to elaborate, but I can tell that it’s not something you want to talk my head off about.”

I buried my head deeper into my knees, trying to hide as much as my face as I could manage.

“Sorry.”

“No, don’t apologize.” He shook his head. “I get it. It’s not my business. If you wanna talk about it, you’ll tell me.”

I went to say something, only to instead nod. I didn’t know what to say to that, as per usual.

I heard a creaking noise at the top of the stairs. I couldn’t help but fearfully look in the direction, though I wasn’t sure what I was afraid of. There was nothing there.

“Alright, then I guess I better go get ready. I gotta tell Bulk I’ll be out for a few days and I won’t be able to spot for him this week.” Dark made his way to the door, adjusting his backpack as he looked back at me. “When are we leaving?”

“Um, around noon at the town hall. Luna should be sending a chariot.”

“A chariot?” He blinked. “I’ve never ridden in one before, neat. Anything I should bring?”

“Hmmm,” I droned, tapping my fingers against my legs to the tune of the umbrella song. “A second set of clothes, I’ll probably be there for a day at least. Need to talk to Luna, Celestia, and Cadance, and probably Shining too regarding—'' I choked as the image of the amulet appeared in my mind. “Something.”

Dark’s eyebrows wrinkled as he moved a step closer, looking down at me and opening his mouth before closing it.

“Alright then. I guess I’ll be going then.” He opened the door, stopping halfway through as he peered over his shoulder at me. “You know, Char, I can handle a lot of things. If you give me the chance.”

I placed my teeth on my lower lip, about to bite into it before halting myself.

“I know.”

With that, I was alone again in the room. For a few minutes, at least. I once more heard that creaking sound from the stairs, this time seeing Fluttershy walk down. She didn’t so much as glance at me, focused entirely on each step she took down the stairs with what I could only describe as a…sodden expression.

She sat down beside me, wordlessly extending her left wing and embracing me with it.

“Good morning.”

Fluttershy barely responded, scrunching her eyebrows as she stared at a spot on the ground.

“You never told me that you ran away from your first family.”

It wasn’t said in an accusatory or even angry tone, it was just stated. I could feel every muscle in the wing wrapped around me tense up as she said it, curling around my shoulder and holding me tight as she pulled me just a bit closer.

I hadn’t? I guess not if she was bringing it up. I had told her about my life before here, about resetting, but not about my first family. If they could be called that. I hardly even thought of them in the first place, so much as talked about them with anyone.

The fact that I brought them up with Dark at all was still a mystery to me.

“It wasn’t important. It still isn’t.”

“Then why did you tell him instead of me?” Fluttershy’s neck shrank, the color sapping from her face.

“I didn’t tell him anything other than that I ran away from my family because,” Should I tell her? Did I have the right to? It wasn’t my secret to give, but I promised no more secrets with her.

With bated breath, I spoke.

“He ran away from his. Dark is from Canterlot, originally.”

Fluttershy blinked, pressing her lips together as her eyes flickered.

“Oh.” Her face grew slightly red, cheeks resembling my own for a few fleeting seconds. “I’m sorry then, I overreacted.”

“It's ok.”

“Well,” she cleared her throat, her chin dipping down as she loudly swallowed. “H—he seemed nice.”

“He is, I think.”

It was odd, despite the awkwardness between us in that moment, I didn’t actually feel uncomfortable. Not even where there was silence did I feel that tingle in the back of my mind that told me I needed to say something, to keep the conversation going.

I was content to just be around her.

I hadn’t felt that since Asriel.

“Do you have any plans before you have to go to Canterlot?”

She eventually spoke normally, retracting her wing and standing up; I missed it immediately.

“I have to talk to Twilight and Pinkie; I didn’t get to yesterday. While I’m there, I need to send a letter to Luna about bringing Dark with me.”

“And when do you have to do that?”

I looked around the room for the clock, eventually spotting it in the form of a wooden bird’s nest.

“Two hours.”

“Perfect.” Fluttershy smirked, gesturing to me with her wings to follow her as she trotted towards the kitchen.

Angel was sitting in there, nibbling away at a carrot twice his size. He saw me behind Fluttershy and chittered something, raising an eyebrow when she started opening various cabinets and pulling out what looked like…ingredients?

“Chara, I think more than anything, you need a hobby. Aside from reading, that is. And since you like pastries so much,” she set a jar of peanut butter, a glass of sugar, a roll of cookie dough, and then a tray of eggs on the counter. “I’m going to teach you how to bake!”

“To bake?” I walked up to the ingredients, picking up the jar of peanut butter and reading it for no real reason. I watched Toriel bake tons of times, but I never paid particular attention to what she did exactly other than mix things and put them in the oven. “Could I…make my own butterscotch cinnamon pie?”

Just a tingle of excitement sparked up my throat, a ghost of the pie’s taste lingered on my tongue, and I felt a wave of hunger hit me.

“That’s the end goal, yes. That being said,” she turned to me, raising a wing and curling it. “If you don’t want to ruin it for yourself, save it for special occasions, ok? Think of it like cake; you only make it for parties, which aren’t that common. Well,” Fluttershy chuckled, her eyes drifting as her mind went somewhere else. “Outside of Ponyville, that is. For now, we’re going to start with something simple.”

She opened one of the drawers, reaching in and pulling out a notebook dotted with dozens of butterflies on a yellow background. Fluttershy opened it and began to skim through the pages, inevitably stopping on a page and showing it to me.

“Cookies!”

“Cookies?” I took the book, reading the page she showed me which was written in a steps format with four words at the top that grabbed my interest. “‘Magic Peanut Butter Cookies.’ Fluttershy, I don’t think my kind of magic can make cookies.”

She actually laughed. I felt my ears burn.

“No, Chara, that’s just the name. It’s because the peanut butter is in the middle. And, it just so happens that they’re Twilight’s favorite.”

“Twilight’s favorite cookies are Magic Peanut Butter? And that’s what you want me to start baking with?”

“Mhm, unless there’s something else you’d like to start with?”

She innocently blinked, smiling as she began preparing the ingredients.

“Fluttershy, did you…” we exchanged a very brief look, one that confirmed exactly what I was thinking.

“Thank Pinkie, not me. “

I smiled back.

It was one of the few times it didn’t hurt.

Baking was…much easier than I expected it to be; it was like reading a book in a way. Although, that could very well be chalked up to how well organized Fluttershy had written down the steps. A lot of it was really just multitasking, a conglomeration of waiting and preparing to do more waiting and doing something while waiting.

I ended up telling her more about Canterlot, about Luna and Cadance and even Lumi, whom I neglected to mention I’d be bringing to her cottage when I got back from my second trip. I wanted that to be a surprise, a good one like Cadance said it would be.

She told me about everything she caught up on with the others, about what they’d been up to and doing while they were apart. It was nice to hear her laugh again, to see her smile again, so genuinely.

Every now and again, her eyes would pan over to my face, her smile would waver, and she’d just…stare. It only lasted a few seconds or so, but I could see the flicker of fear on her face. Then, she’d shake her head and go back to smiling.

I didn’t like it, yet I couldn’t ask for more.

Now, I held a small box with half a dozen cookies in it, standing in front of Golden Oak. It was still warm as I kept it under my arm, my free hand stuck outstretched right before knocking on the door.

I had no doubt Pinkie and Twilight were inside just like Limestone said, which was only half of the reason for my reticence. Spike was likely in there as well, and I hadn’t hardly seen him since…my first magic surge, and then before I left for Canterlot. I seriously doubted that that was entirely by coincidence, not with how terrified he was after seeing me.

What a first impression to make. Hopefully, he likes Magic Peanut Butter cookies as well.

Finally, I forced myself to knock on the door; a panicked rap that ended up being much louder than I would have liked. There was a piercing silence, and then the sound of scraping against the floor as Spike moved towards it. He opened it, first with a smile and then with a half-grimace as his eyes glistened with recognition.

“Oh, Chara. Hey.” He rubbed his head, taking a few awkward steps back to either get out of my way or because he didn’t feel comfortable being close to me; I chose to believe it was the former. “Pinkie and Twilight are inside talking about classic literature, of all things.”

Spike tilted his head in and gestured behind him, presumably at Pinkie and Twilight. I couldn’t see them, so that must have meant they were up in her room talking and Spike was managing the library in her stead.

“I—”I went to say something, only to realize nothing I’d say could really help. He was Twilight’s assistant, I have to make things right with Twilight before I have any chance of him not being afraid of me anymore.

The idea of someone fearing me…was disgusting.

“Here.” I reached into the box, getting one of the cookies and offering it to him. “I baked these, this one’s for you.”

He raised an eyebrow, slowly reaching for it before grasping it in his claws.

“Huh, is this…Magic Peanut Butter?” he took a single bite into one of the edges, a bit of peanut butter gooping out. “It is! Sweet, I haven’t had one of these in forever; the few times Twilight gets them she hoards them all to herself. Thanks so much!”

He beamed at me before proceeding to devour the cookie before my eyes. There were crumbs everywhere, to which Spike immediately noticed and began bouncing back and forth on his legs in strife. The creature from myth zoomed off somewhere, muttering something under his breath I don’t think Twilight would be very pleased to hear.

As I walked towards the back of the library, I noticed him come back with a mop and bucket, going straight to work.

I felt just a tweak of guilt, but it was buried under the bit of satisfaction at seeing someone enjoy something I made.

I’d never actually been up to Twilight’s bedroom before, despite the countless hours I’d spent in the library itself. She’d come down from it numerous times just to talk to me, but never invited me up. Whether that was because she didn’t like me enough to invite me up there, or the idea just never occurred to her, was a toss-up.

“...don’t know, maybe Spear Shaker was just a shared name of many writers. Or, maybe, just maybe, he misspelled it a few times? It’s not that strange.”

I heard Pinkie say as I made it halfway up the stairs.

“For any other pony in that period, sure, but Spear? The inventor of dozens of words of the Equestrian lexicon that we use to this day? Who wrote so many classics that modern literature is still being influenced by the stories he wrote and told? No way in Tartarus!”

Twilight practically yelled, lightly stomping her hoof as she came into view. She was standing in front of her bed, pacing back and forth beside a window. Pinkie laid on her stomach at said bed, kicking her feet with her head propped up on her hands with a huge grin.

“Really? I know I’ve misspelled my name a few times.”

“What? How? It's just ‘pink’ with an ‘ie’ at the end?”

“Eh, I forget the ‘I’ sometimes.” Pinkie rolled her eyes. “I mean, come on, you’ve never misspelled your name?”

“No!”

“Not even once?” She leaned her head forward, half-closing her eyes in a faux-leer. “Reaallllllyy?”

“Never!”

“Hmmm, I don’t know if I believe you.” she stroked a beard that wasn’t there.

“I promise that not once have I—”

That was the moment Twilight noticed me, blinking and then her eyes flickered in my direction. I saw the enthusiasm drop from her face as she fully turned towards me, her arms tensing up as she held them close to her chest.

“Chara,” she leaned away from me, drawing back and making herself smaller. “I thought you’d be back in Canterlot by now?”

Pinkie’s smile twitched, just barely noticeable, but it was still there. She stayed facing Twilight, her eyes peering at me from their corners, then dropping down to the box I was holding.

“I am, in about two hours or so. I wanted to come by first and,” I reached for the box, opening it and offering the remaining cookies to Twilight. “Bring you these. Fluttershy’s started teaching me how to bake.”

Pinkie perked up, glancing at the cookies and then at Twilight, as if gauging her reaction. Similar to Spike, her face lit up along with her horn, levitating the cookies up to her face to get a closer look.

“Are these…Magic Peanut Butter?” She tried to hold back the excitement in her voice, but I could make it out with a just barely restrained quiver.

“Yes.”

“These are my favorite, I only have them when Pinkie makes them for me.”

Pinkie reached up, snatching one of them out of Twilight’s magic and taking a generous bite out of it.

“Swilly, that’s because if yu eat them all the time, they won’t be as schpecial!” She tried to say with her mouth full, clearly having mastered the art as she was almost completely understandable.

“I know! There just,” she held all of the cookies around her head, spinning in a circle just waiting to be consumed, except for one she kept floating just a few inches away from her mouth. “Hasn’t been a good special occassion in a while. Are you sure it's ok for me to eat these?”

“I’m sure; I made them for people to eat. And, well, just to make them.”

Twilight stared at the warm pastry in front of her, leaning forward and taking a considerably smaller bite than Pinkie had. The second that she did, there was a smile on her face and a sparkle in her eyes that I hadn’t seen in so long.

It reminded me of the first time we met.

“Oh wow, these are splendid!”

Before saying another word, she devoured it in a series of small bites until her face now had a few artificial freckles on it. She glanced at Pinkie to say something, only to pause when Pinkie giggled and pointed at her own face, then gestured to Twilight’s. Twilight furrowed her eyebrows as she saw her reflection in the window from the corner of her eyes, briefly blushing before floating over a napkin and cleaning herself.

“They’re pretty good; especially for your first time.” Pinkie consumed hers whole, leaving not a spec behind. “Though, they are cookies; pretty hard to mess up. It’s the baking equivalent of making cereal wrong.”

“It’s strange, why is Fluttershy teaching you to bake instead of Pinkie?” Twilight asked as she turned back towards me. “Not to say that Fluttershy is bad per se, it’s just that Pinkie bakes for a living and Fluttershy bakes to pass the time.”

“She said I needed a hobby.”

Pinkie chuckled, her eyes bouncing from Twilight to me.

“Seems pretty obvious to me.” Pinkie sat up, crossing her legs and leaning towards me. “You’ve been gone awhile and she missed you, so now she wants to spend more time with you to make up for it!”

My ears burned as her words, brimming with absolute confidence, hit my ears with an intensity that made me stumble. I fumbled to say anything, dipping my head as I twirled one of the strains of my hair.

“That’s probably true. I missed her too.”

“Regardless, why did you come here?” Twilight cleared her throat, stepping forward and standing just a few feet away from me. “As much as I appreciate the cookies, I doubt that’s the only reason. We’re the only ones you haven’t talked to since you’ve been back, right?”

Right to the point, as Twilight as ever.

Pinkie’s smile fell entirely, replaced with a frown that I was becoming all too familiar with.

“I…” the warm air didn’t make me any more relaxed as it filled my lungs. You’d think I’d have thought of something to say on the way here, but my mind was just as blank as a canvas. “I want you to give me a chance.”

“No,” Twilight’s voice was steady, spoken with a firmness that I’d rarely heard from her. “I’m not going to hand you forgiveness on a platter like they did. I—”

“That’s not what I’m asking for!”

I couldn’t hear it again. That same spiel about what I did and how awful it was, how I betrayed them.

I knew that better than any of them, and I didn’t want to keep being reminded of that.

I’d never move on from it that way.

“I don’t want…” I grit my teeth, feeling my words tremor as I struggled to keep my voice half as strong as I wanted to. “Empty forgiveness. I know it’d be empty, because what I did was horrible and it did hurt you, all of you. That’s why I was in Canterlot in the first place, that’s what I spent days there trying to do; forgive myself. And I,” all the talks with Celestia, all the advice they gave me, the resets I went through just to get here; I finally told someone the truth.

I couldn’t let that be for nothing. Even if Twilight couldn’t find it in herself to give me a second chance, I’d prefer that honesty over her giving me something she couldn’t.

“Can’t. I haven’t earned it. I can’t forgive myself, but I can try to be better.”

I wasn’t enough for my first family, and I couldn’t be good for my second.

This time, I had to be better.

I closed my eyes, asking myself how things might have changed if I’d just realized this sooner.

“That’s all I’m asking of you.” I raised my chin, straightening my spine and clenching my fist as I tried to force myself to stay as still as I could. I looked her right in the eyes, ignoring the igniting sensation in the back of my brain that came of it. Her ears flicked back as her pupils constricted, taking a single step back. “To let me try.”

I kept expecting Pinkie to say something, to intervene, to try to ease the tension. Instead, she just watched patiently.

It was almost unnerving.

After minutes of bone-breaking silence, Twilight recomposed herself, looking once more at Pinkie before turning back to me.

“The reason,” she gulped. “I sent you to Canterlot, was because we didn’t trust you, Princess Celestia didn’t trust you; and her letting you come back here doesn’t change that for me. I respect her more than anypony in Equestria. She decided you weren’t dangerous, and that’s fine, but I can’t just be ok with you now; even if I want to. You hurt me, hurt my friends! You broke a promise; you murdered for us when you didn’t need to. And I can’t…”

Twilight’s lips trembled as she glanced away, her eyes squeezing shut as she pressed her legs together.

“Accept that, accept you. Not as you are, as you were.”

There it was.

Rejection.

I had expected it, I could taste it on my tongue like a word I couldn’t quite remember. Even so, it was so bitter; I could feel my eyes tearing up.

It hurt.

It hurt the same way smiling did.

I wanted to cry.

But I didn’t, not in front of her.

I stifled whatever noise was trying to force its way out of my mouth, digging in my heels and holding my lips as tightly closed as I could. I was about to spin and make my way out, unable to handle any more, before Twilight spoke again.

“That being said, I can tell you’re trying to change.”

I could tell by the way she took a long breath there was more to say, so I held mine.

“Well, everyone is telling me you’re trying to change; Princess Luna, Cadance, and even Princess Celestia vouched for you. The day you come back we all get together again when we haven’t in days. I’m sure we would have done that on our own eventually, but I know you tried for that. And I just…” her eyes hovered over my hands, perking up just a bit. “What’s with the glove? Are you—”

Her eyes fell to my wrist, panic hit me like a green fireball as soon as our eyes met again.

“You never told Fluttershy, did you?”

I reflexively tried to hide it, moving my sleeve over my hand; maybe I needed a second glove? Pinkie followed Twilight’s stare, turning her head to face me as her eyebrows drew together in what I thought was confusion, then they pulled apart as she grew still.

Her lips moved, but she didn’t make a sound. I think she said my name.

I couldn’t bring myself to face Twilight, and that was an answer enough.

“Of course not.”

She scoffed, and I felt a twinge of pain in my chest.

“I meant to, really. But then…” I placed my hand over my glove, tracing the outline of the symbol that was underneath. “Everything happened.”

“Sorry, but it’s hard for me to just believe that. I asked you to do something, and again, you didn’t do it. How am I supposed to believe that you’re trying to change if you’re doing the same thing?”

“I’ll tell her today. Twilight, please.”

Twilight’s mouth pinched together as she took a step back, turning around and peering out the window. I opened my mouth to say something, but I caught Pinkie shaking her head back and forth and stopped myself.

So, I waited.

I couldn’t help but give in to my curiosity, scanning the room to see what kind of state she kept it in. Unsurprisingly, it was as neat as the library tended to be. Everything had its place: every book in the bookshelf was as straight as it could be, missing only one. The nightstand had a lamp perfectly in the center, not a speck of dust visible. There was a beanbag in the corner, with a very small, dragon shaped imprint in the center that told me who it was mainly for.

It didn’t take me very long to spot where the missing book was, lying in the windowsill just in front of her with a star bookmark sticking out of one of the last pages. I couldn’t see her face, but I could guess that she was staring at it out of the corner of her vision.

Eventually, she lowered her head, took in a deep breath, shuffled her hooves, and turned to face me.

“Ok.”

“Ok?” I repeated, just a smidge of hope tainting my voice.

“Ok…” for one reason or another, she couldn’t face me. Looking instead in Pinkie’s direction, as if searching for support. “I’ll give you the chance to earn my forgiveness.”

I felt like I was in those tunnels under the rock farm again, nostrils filling with that stale air that reached deeper into my lungs with every inhale. Then, when Twilight said that, it was as if I was tasting fresh air for the first time.

“Thank y—”

“To be clear, you don’t deserve it.”

And then that air turned to ice.

“On this, I agree with Rainbow: but I’m not doing it for Fluttershy. I’m doing this…I’m doing this for me!” She stuttered just a bit, tapping a hand against her chest as she tried—and failed—to hold a firm stare. “My friends are going to mess up sometimes, and I have to forgive them. If I can’t do that, then I’m the bad friend.” Twilight cringed, her face pinching as she clenched her teeth. “Besides, Princess Luna got a second chance and she’s done nothing but make the most of it. What kind of pony would I be if I couldn’t do that for someone who was my friend?”

The ‘was’ hurt more than I expected it to.

Not that she was wrong for saying so, it just….made me very briefly consider telling her everything.

It took just as briefly to realize how bad of an idea that would be.

“I understand.”

I couldn’t put any enthusiasm in my voice, as much as I tried. It came out as mild as always.

“Good. Then, I think I’m going to spend today reorganizing my books. Unless there was something else?”

“Uhm, there is, actually.” I reached into my backpack, pulling out the page of my journal I had ripped out. I raised it in front of my face, feeling it gently slip out of my hand as it was encapsulated in Twilight’s magic. “I need to send a letter to Luna. Can you do that for me please before I go to Canterlot?”

“Oh, a letter?” Twilight initially hovered it up to her face to read it, only to shove it down once I told her what it was. “I can do that; shouldn’t take more than a minute if I bring it to Spike now.”

Twilight made her way to the stairs, letter in tow before stopping and turning to Pinkie.

“Sorry to cut things short, Pinkie. You can tell me about your ice cream flavor ideas next time!”

“Yeppers! No problem.”

There was a short-lived moment of awkwardness between us before Pinkie got off the bed, making her way towards me and just…standing there for a second. She tilted her head, lips parting despite no sound coming out.

“Chara, I—” She literally bit her tongue, forcing whatever she was going to say to come out like someone had slapped their hand over her mouth. I waited for her to say something I could understand, only for her to outstretch her hand and place it on top of my head. Patting it as gently as she had before; though I was the only one who’d remember that.

“Thank you.”

Then, it was gone.

She looked like she wanted to say something else, holding it in for whatever reason. Pinkie waved at me, walking down the stairs soon after Twilight.

As soon as I was alone, I brought my hands to the spot her hand was at, tapping at the center with my fingers.

It was even warmer than before.

“Holy crap, you’re getting the V.I.P treatment, huh?”

Dark sat down in the golden chariot, more than enough room for him and the backpack he brought which was the size of my torso.

I joined him on the other side, taking my own backpack and placing it in my lap; more just to have something in my hands than anything.

“Not really. They’d do the same for anyone coming from Ponyville to Canterlot I think.”

He gave me a sideways glance, raising a single eyebrow.

“Uh, no? Chara, most ponies who go to Canterlot do so on train. They don’t get a private chariot ride straight there.”

“Doesn’t Twilight?”

“Twilight is Celestia’s personal student. She’s, like, the exception of exceptions.”

“Oh…”

Was it really that abnormal? A lot of the ponies did stare at me each time I left and came in with it, but I just kinda assumed that was because of me; not the chariots themselves. Was it really that special of a thing?

I didn’t have time to ponder on that anymore as the pegasi attached to the front of the chariot started running, soon taking off and lifting into the air. I preemptively tensed up, gripping the edges of the chariot as the wind stung my face in patches.

Dark wasn’t so prepared, getting pushed back into his seat with his backpack smooshing like a marshmallow. His lips pulled back and flapped in the wind, showing his teeth as he tried to fight against it. His eyes slowly turned to me as he tried to force his mouth open, only for the chariot to curve and clench them shut.

“D—don’t,” I said with my teeth closed, squeezing my backpack as tightly as I could as I felt each vertebrae in my spine vibrate. “Talk. Bugs.”

I tried, and failed, to point at my mouth.

I think he understood. At least, he didn’t try talking again.

Once we landed and the very air wasn’t trying to fuse us with the seat of the chariot, I glanced around to see that there were many more guards to greet us than I expected there to be. Last time, there had just been two. Now there were at least half a dozen, two of which approached the chariot as soon as it screeched to a halt.

“Wow, that was…” Dark shook his head, running his hand through his mane as he hopped off the chariot; briefly losing his balance as he held on to the chariot. “Intense.”

I got the strangest sense of deja vu.

Once I joined him off the chariot, I recognized the two guardsponies who approached us immediately as Brash and Luster.

“I take it this is Dank Moon?”

Dark frowned at that, scratching his head as he grimaced.

“Uhm, my name’s Dark Moon? Not D—”

“Yeah yeah, whatever. Come on, Princess Luna managed to get you a guest room beside Chara’s, I’ll take you to it while she speaks with the Princesses.”

Brash began escorting Dark inside, going down the opposite direction Luster was taking me. Soon, he was out of my sight, and I was left with the familiar tension that was being in Luster’s presence.

“I don’t even get the chance to unpack?”

“No.” Luster’s voice was more stern than usual. I couldn’t quite place it, but there was this underlying authoritative tone to her voice that I would have attributed to anyone else except her. “The princesses, along with captain Shining Armor, wanted to speak with you as soon as you landed.”

I gulped.

“All of them?”

“All of them.”

Instead of the throne room like I’d expected, Luster took me to the dining room, where the three princesses waited for me on the opposite side. I was guided to the seat across from them all, with Shining and Cadance sitting just a few chairs away from me.

She did a poor job of hiding her wretching as soon as I entered.

What grabbed my attention—and my fear— more than anything is what sat on the table in a glass container right in front of Celestia.

The Alicorn Amulet.

“Chara,” Celestia glanced down at the amulet, then at me with that terrifyingly impossible to read expression of hers. “We have much to talk about, it seems.”