BPT: Two Heads... Aren't Easier Than One

Late into the morning, Midnight and Twilight, along with Spike and their students, Sunburst and Starlight, were in the library, discussing the schedule. Captain Firestorm of the Harmony Guard, along with his lieutenants, Nightling, Lyra Heartstrings and Avalanche, as well as the Harmony Guard's Royal Smith and Armorer, Terra, were in attendance as well.

Apart from the Council of Friendship, these individuals made up Midnight and Twilight's "royal staff" in the Castle of Friendship.

"Alright, everypony," Twilight started off, levitating a pointer stick to the markerboard, "Princess Celestia and Prince Sombra are due to arrive today at noon. They're taking a week off and decided to have a family vacation here in Ponyville to relax with their son, Prince Sol."

"So who's holding the fort in Canterlot Castle?" asked Firestorm.

"Princess Luna, along with a team of trusted advisors and delegates," answered Midnight. "She also has one Astral Ink personally assisting her."

"Haha, is it just me or has Princess Luna been spending a lot of time with Astral Ink?" Starlight tittered to Lyra and Nightling, the both of them joining her in giggling like schoolfillies.

"Well, he is an astronomer," Midnight shrugged but smiled too, "I've heard them go on and on about constellations, movements of celestial bodies, the composition of nebulae, but they do seem really happy spending time together."

"In any case, Canterlot will be fine, Firestorm," assured Twilight with a clearing of her throat, "Moving along, the family is coming here to relax and enjoy themselves and while they don't want some big event tradition requires we do a gesture to honor them. I have some ideas, but I'd like to hear what you all think."

"Well, uh... if it's alright, I wouldn't mind crafting something as a gift to them," offered Terra. "I've been so busy with armor improvements and research into the geo crystals I haven't taken the time lately to craft some new jewelry."

"That sounds nice, Terra, but we'll need something else as well," Twilight gently insisted, her OCD rearing its ugly head yet again, "something a little... bigger?"

"Twilight..." Midnight said with a low tone, a gentle reminder to his wife.

"It doesn't have to be some big- bonanza or something!" Twilight protested, "Just something... well, not a party but definitely a grand gesture."

"Well, in that case, my Princess," Firestorm stood up, "I would like to volunteer the Harmony Guard for this 'grand gesture'. As it so happens, I've been running some training drills and we've been practicing our first ever military march."

"Military march...?" Twilight echoed and already finding the suggestion oddly appealing.

"Indeed, every military force needs one," Firestorm looked proud, "a show of strength, courage, determination! That though we are many, we are one unit, standing together to serve and protect our charges."

"That sounds like a fine idea, Captain," agreed Midnight. "The Harmony Guard's first-ever military march! Is it finished or...?"

"Well, I'd like to run a few more practice drills to be sure," Firestorm considered but furrowed his brows confidently, "but other than that it pretty much is done. Once we're ready, we'll get into position and start on your command."

"Excellent! You do those practice drills and-" Twilight was instructing when Spike BELCHED and out of his mouth burst a small gout of dragonfyre that quickly extinguished, revealing a message. Taking it and undoing the seal, Twilight said, "It's from Princess Celestia! Hold on, everypony...

"'Dear Twilight and Midnight,

"'My husband and son will be arriving in Ponyville by noon. However... we will not be coming as Celestia, Sombra and Sol. We will be coming as a regular family of unicorn ponies, as we wish to have as relaxing and enjoyable a family vacation as possible, which we cannot if everypony in Ponyville knows who we really are. So, we've decided to glamour ourselves and we'll pretend to be family friends visiting you in the Castle of Friendship from out of town.'

"Huh. That's a first," commented Twilight.

"Well, it kinda makes sense, Twily," Midnight reminded her, "remember when Celestia came to visit at Sugarcube Corner and everypony - Including you - made a big deal out of it and even the mayor caused that visit to be cut short?"

"And then Fluttershy took Philomena and what a mess that was..." Twilight remembered tiresomely. She was just glad that Spike's pet phoenix, Peewee, was so much better behaved than that feathery fiend Celestia had for a pet. Taking a deep breath, Twilight read the rest of the letter:

"'So, for the duration of our visit, I will be Miss Sunny Cheeks, my husband is Shady Mane, and our colt is Bright Smile. We'll come to the castle ourselves and give you the codeword 'kaleidoscope' to confirm our identities. We look forward to visiting with you and having a nice family vacation.

"'Best wishes,
"'Princess Celesta aka Miss Sunny Cheeks

"'PS, my husband chose my alias because I lost a coin toss...'"

It was at that moment Midnight, Spike, Sunburst, Terra, Firestorm, Nightling, and Avalance all burst into gutbusting laughter, uttering things like "Sunny Cheeks?!", "PRICELESS!!", "That's hilarious!", and "Oh my Goddess!!" and snorts and chortles and guffaws of outrageous amusement, which Twilight struggled to speak over.

"MMPH!!" Sturdy Birch grunted as he stretched out a kink in his back while welcoming the sunshine. He and Bottom Bet had checked into the local inn, the Nesting Pegasus, where they'd enjoyed a good night's sleep, but the earth pony still had an achy back from carrying their package such a long way.

Bottom Bet stepped up to his stallion's side, saying, "Sorry the spa was closed when we got here, big fellah, but lookit the positive side! We just gotta meet our contact, he'll give us our tickets and we'll be on the next airship to our pay!"

"Ugh, the sooner we get this over with the better..." Sturdy sighed and they made their way to the Ponyville Airfield.

The Airfield had become modestly successful. Ponyville had about five airships, three of which were for commercial travel, the other two for transporting cargo. The fact not a lot of travelers came to Ponyville made their skies rather clearer of airships coming and going than Canterlot or the other large cities in the nation. But the service still enjoyed enough income to stay in business even though it was more expensive yet faster than the Ponyville Express.

As the two ponies approached the building where travelers bought tickets, they noticed somepony there. He was an earth pony too, with a marble white coat, ashy black mane in a handsome style, he wore shades, a lapel, and had saddlebags on so they couldn't see his mark. He was standing beside a posterboard that had their cutie-marks, a lumber log with a saw cutting through it and a dartboard with three darts on its lower left side, drawn onto it.

Realizing this must be their contact, they approached him and he spoke softly, "Sturdy Birch and Bottom Bet?"

They nodded and Sturdy gestured to his saddlebag, "We got the package right here."

"Excellent, but I'm afraid you can't leave just yet," the contact replied, looking vigilant but they couldn't see his eyes through his shades. "There are some... issues, so you're gonna have to stay here for the rest of the day."

"What?!" Sturdy grumbled while wincing from the strap of his saddlebags tightened around his belly, "We're supposed to take the next airship from Ponyville to wherever this thing needs to go! Shouldn't we-"

"Look, it's not up to me!" the contact whispered harshly. He reached under his lapel and pulled out what appeared to be tickets, "Here, you need to take this airship at this time, got it?"

Sturdy and Bet accepted the tickets but Bet noticed, "Hey! This airship doesn't leave until late tonight! What're we supposed to do until then?"

"I dunno, relax? Mingle among the locals?" the contact sighed irritably before getting ready to leave. "Look, I gotta go now! Just keep a low profile, be here to take that airship to your destination, and take care of the package!"

"But what about-" Bet tried to ask more but the contact hurried off in a brisk trot, leaving both stallions to sigh wearily. They shared a look and Bottom Bet seemed so apologetic, that Sturdy hugged him close.

"Hey, it's alright, we... we'll just enjoy a nice day," Sturdy assured his little mane.

"Honestly, big guy? I..." Bottom Bet looked like a colt who'd been scolded into guilt, "I want this to be over with. For all my dumb decisions to be over with, my past to be over with!"

"Bottom, listen," Sturdy gently held Bottom Bet's withers and gazed into his stormy gray eyes with his own forest green eyes that were furrowed and determined. "It's like you said, we're almost there. We'll get on our airship tonight, deliver this package, get paid, and then finally, we'll find the perfect place and settle into our new home, together."

Bottom Bet found reassurance and smiled a little at his big earth pony, and they touched foreheads, enjoying this tender moment... until Sturdy groaned a bit and reached for his back.
"Urgh, those beds were fine, but this darn krick in my back won't leave me alone!"

"Hey! This means we have time to check out that spa," Bottom Bet suggested, and immediately Sturdy's demeanor lit up. "I'm sorry for being a gloomy colt, but maybe this is a blessing in disguise."

"If that spa helps my back, then absolutely," Sturdy nodded with a grin. "C'mon, let's go check it out."

Sturdy held out his foreleg and Bet gladly accepted it and they made their way back into the Ponyville streets. They hadn't really taken it all in yesterday evening, but now that they had the rest of the day to enjoy themselves before leaving on their airship tonight, the two realized what a nice place Ponyville was in the middle of a nice sunny day. It wasn't big and crowded, like the larger cities of Canterlot, it had a positive atmosphere, the air was fresh and clean and smelled of flowers, good foods cooking from nearby restaurants, and the locals were out and about, smiling and waving to each other and to the couple as they passed them by.

Sharing a look, they both knew they were thinking the same thing - Perhaps, if there was one available, they could find a cabin here or around Ponyville.

"Oof/Oh!" Sturdy grunted as he bumped into somepony and they looked to see it was a unicorn stallion of pale gray, with a navy blue mane, green eyes, and a cutie-mark depicting a broken rock, revealing geode crystal inside. With him was a golden-white unicorn mare with a reddish-pink mane with a sunny yellow highlight, fine flanks that sported a sunflower for a cutie-mark, and her eyes were pinkish-purple.

Hanging from a foal-carrier strapped to her barrel was a little unicorn baby with a golden coat, creamy white mane, and his bright and curious eyes were bluish-green.

"Oh, please excuse me," said the unicorn stallion politely as he was levitating a few bags of luggage in his red aura. "My family and I are on our way to meet somepony so we can settle in and start our first family vacation!"

"You've bumped into my husband, Shady Mane," the mare spoke up before blushing slightly as she said, "I'm Sunny Cheeks, and this little ray of sunshine is our son, Bright Smile."

"Oh! So you're new to town too," Bottom Bet responded with a friendly smile while Sturdy stifled a chuckle from hearing Sunny Cheeks' name, "My coltfriend, Sturdy Birch, and I are just passing through, but we found out our flight won't leave till tonight, so we're just gonna stick around and explore the town for the day. Oh, and I'm Bottom Bet."

"Pleasure to meet you, gentlecolts," Shady offered a hoof and Sturdy accepted it, and was surprised by what a strong hoofshake Shady had for a unicorn. Especially since the ex-logger pony was taller and bulkier (and fatter, to his mental chagrin).
"I understand life doesn't follow a schedule but sometimes the detours are what makes life so interesting and experience possible."

"Heh, that's a very interesting way of looking at it," smirked Sturdy when his back ached on him again. "Urk! Uh, sorry to cut this short, but..."
"Yeah, my big pony here needs a masseuse like yesterday," Bottom Bet positioned himself beside his stallion, in case Sturdy needed support.

"Oh, you poor thing," Sunny Cheeks opened her saddlebag opposite the side of her barrel to which her baby was strapped, and levitated out a hooful of gold Bits. "Take this to the Ponyville Spa and ask for the deluxe treatment and massage."

"Oh ma'am, we can't accept your money!" Sturdy hesitated, but then another pain in his back caused him to wince so that he couldn't stop Sunny cheeks from putting the Bits in his other saddlebag.

"Oh, we insist," Sunny cheeks assured, "Besides, we make it a point to do at least one good deed a day."

"Well, if you're sure, thank you!" said a grateful Bottom Bet as gently patted Sturdy Birch on his withers. "C'mon, big daddy, the spa's a'callin'."

"Urf, thank you, and have a good one," Sturdy groaned while waving as he was led away by Bottom Bet.

"Bye-bye," waved little Bright Smile in the carrier on Sunny's side, causing his mommy and daddy to smile warmly at him.

"Do you want to look around Ponyville before we go to the Castle of Friendship?" asked Shady to his wife.

"No, dear, we promised Twilight and midnight we'd arrive by noon," Sunny gently insisted, "and you know how Twilight keeps a tight schedule."

"Very well then, let's go," Shady Mane shrugged and they continued on while Sunny cheeks couldn't help gazing back curiously, but she no longer saw Sturdy Birch or Bottom Bet. Shady noticed and asked,"Something wrong, love?"

"It's probably nothing, but..." Sunny shook her head no, "Oh, I'm probably just imagining things.

"What do you mean?" Shady raised a confused brow.

"Well... when we spoke with those two," Sunny brought up, "I thought I sensed something... familiar, but it was only for a brief moment. Oh, maybe my mind is just playing tricks on me."

"Well, after we see our students at their castle," Shady gently nuzzled his wife, "all you have to do is relax, unwind, and enjoy our family vacay."