Yes, Your Highness

Yes, Your Highness

Chapter 3: Night of the Fire

"A true friend never gets in your way unless you happen to be going down." - Arnold H. Glasow

♪~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~♪

(Ponyville Library, Dusk.)

“No! NO! How could this happen!?”

There were fires everywhere in front of Twilight’s eyes. Everything was burning! Lights around her flashed in a brilliant red, and wailing sirens screamed at her about what she already knew. The black oily smoke from the fires stung her nostrils and brought tears to her eyes. She winced away from the picture, unwilling to look at what was happening in front of her.

It was a disaster.

She had tried her best to fix it. Control the damage, and try to avoid taking more. Repair something here, and put out another fire there. But in the end it had all be for naught. Without warning the flash of another explosion blinded her eyes, rocked her senses, and rung painfully in her ears. Now her engines had been destroyed. The fires were still spreading, and soon they could consume everything. And they were the least of her problems!

Her trusted companions were already dead; the first fires consuming them as they had tried to put them out. It had all spiraled downward after that, and in revulsion to her failure she searched her mind to think of anything she could have done differently.

Were there any options left? What could she have done differently!? No, what SHOULD she have done differently!

A second explosion interrupted her thoughts, and the panel in front of her showed that the oxygen generator had been destroyed. Now there was nothing left, nor anyone alive to try and fix it.

Perhaps, she lamented, it had been doomed from the start.

She had been completely and utterly outwitted. She gave an involuntary shutter from remembering the fear and horror she had felt from being ensnared in a lethal trap. Only realizing too late, how futile her resistance had been. So too, the gravity of her loss was beginning to weigh on her heart. How could she have known, she lamented again. She had tried everything could think of. Tricks and tactics. Strategies and cunning plans. Diversions and ruses. It had all been for nothing, and she could feel her heart and mind sinking along with the horrific scene in front of her.

“Guess what? It’s closing time Twilight,” a voice in her ears mocked. There was no compassion or mercy in his voice, and she even sensed a little glee from enjoying her suffering.

“Any last words before I finish you off?”

In memory of the fallen, Twilight stiffened her voice. She planted her hoofs down firmly too, and forced herself to sit upright. Even if the her world was ending, she would not give in! The prized personal student of Celestia would not give up!

“Do your worst,” she spat. “You may think you’ve won, but--”

“Okay!” Spike interrupted happily.

Twilight spluttered incomprehensibly, and watched two magic missiles from her little dragon brother’s ship streak with a magnificent glare across her screen and slam into the hull of her spaceship. With a wrenching groan, the flaming battered wreck that was her pride and joy only minutes ago finally exploded. The H.M.S. Celestia had been annihilated, by the untouched S.S. Rarity. Slowly the jagged wreckage drifted apart in space, and the choking smoke that had once filled every compartment spewed outward with tremendous force. As if it were taunting her, the S.S. Rarity pushed through the flaming smoke and debris unimpeded, with its pure-white paint unmarred, showing no signs of the brutal battle it had just waged.

It was over, and they game they were playing repeated that fact to her in bright red lettering.

Hours of careful planning, resourceful tactics, and elaborate strategies had been for nothing! NOTHING! Spike had gone with a (stupid) self-described plan of “shoot-more-dakka.” Whatever that meant. Twilight didn’t even know! How could her little brother, who couldn’t remember what jewels in his collection he had eaten earlier in the day, completely outwit her in a strategy game!? How!?

But facts were facts: she had lost, and Spike had won.

“Buck,” Twilight grumbled.

Rainbow Dash had been right, this stupid game was rigged.

Glaring one last time at both monsters responsible for burning three hours of her life, she telekinetically yanked the game cartridge out from its slot in the base of the crystal ball she had borrowed from Pinkie Pie. The crystal ball had been placed on the central library table, in lieu of the handsome stallion bust normally seated there. Searching for a moment, Twilight pressed a small button on the crystal ball’s stand. Quicker than expected, the magically projected atmosphere of the room began to evaporate, and her world turned back into her beloved Ponyville library once more.

She sighed contently, being happy to have the familiar shelter of books over the blackness of space. It was not as if she didn’t love to gaze at the stars, or anything else in the universe for that matter. But there was something about being in a place where her mentor’s sun was no different from any other star, that made her uncomfortable.

Space was large. Too large, she decided. It was a place where anything could go wrong.

So terribly, terribly wro--

“Hey!” Spike yelled, still across the library where he had been playing. “Twilight! What’d you do that for!? I never got to save my victory!”

“Oh, Spike. We both know you won, so what does it matter?” Twilight said, trying to keep a straight face. “It’s just a game, afterall.”

“Just a game, huh?” Spike rolled his eyes, crossing his arms in protest. He hadn’t been hatched yesterday, that was for sure. “Yeah, I bet you’ll say that to everypony when they ask who won.”

“Oh, Spike.” Twilight rolled her eyes, and with a little magic pushed open the blinds covering the windows and let the sun flow in once more. To her surprise and annoyance, the sun was already being lowered into a position to be set just over the horizon of Ponyville. She really had burnt through an entire afternoon playing one game with Spike. Begrudgingly, she decided make a mental note about the time-stealing properties of the game (similar to books of magical theories about defying the laws of thermodynamics).

“Hey, Spike?” she turned around to look at him, and saw him stretching himself out before heading to the kitchen. “Does the sun seem brighter to you?”

“Brighter?” Spike shook his head, “Are you sure it’s not just because we’ve been in the dark for a few hours?”

“Hmm, maybe,” Twilight mumbled back, unconvinced. She squinted at how bright the sun seemed to be, even while setting. Maybe something was going on in Canterlot? It was a little known secret, but Celestia had once confided to her that the intensity of the sun could change depending on her mood. Was something amiss?

“We didn’t get any letters from the Princess while we were playing, did we?”

“Uh, why would you think that?” Spike called back from inside of their kitchen.

Twilight could hear the hesitation in her little brother’s voice. “Spike? Are you not telling me something?”

“Well, there might have been...one.”

“WHAT!?” Twilight felt her heart jump, “Spike! How could you!?”

“I didn’t want to stop playing,” he confessed, coming back around into the library wearing the apron he usually donned while cooking. Casually reaching into the front pocket of the apron, he pulled out a neatly folded letter in an envelop. Even from a distance, she could see the red wax of the royal-seal holding it closed.

“And besides, I was kicking your butt real good.”

“Oh, very funny,” she said, snatching the letter out of his claws with her magic. Spike gave an indifferent shrug, and went back into the kitchen to continue preparations for their dinner.

Resisting the urge to tear it open (incase another Equestria-ending crisis was just on the horizon), Twilight found herself staring at was hovering before her. What she held was much different than the usual scrolls she had become accustomed to sending and receiving, to and from her mentor.

It was a letter, sealed into a pristine white envelope.

It showed no signs of being crafted from wood pulp or any natural material, like the (slightly aged) scrolls she had stocked in the library. It immediately reminded her of the color of her mentor’s flawless coat and feathers, and she wondered for a minute if it had really come from the castle in Canterlot. But when she turned it around, the unmistakable red-wax royal-seal had been pressed onto its closing folds. Nopony would dare counterfeit or impersonate anything that bore the mark of Equestrian royalty.

...Right?

So without another thought on the subject, Twilight ripped it in two and extracted her prize.

“To my beloved student,” she began to read aloud.

♪~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~♪

To my Beloved Student, Twilight Sparkle,

I apologize for this sudden letter, but I have a delicate matter I would like you to oversee.

It has come to my attention that my baby sister (and possible company) will be paying you a visit later tonight. I am not sure what it is that she will be visiting for, or how long, but I ask that you please let her stay in the Ponyville Library until she wishes to return to Canterlot.

Please write back to me if she chooses to speak about what is on her mind. I am disappointed that my sister is unwilling to come to me to discuss her grievances, but I am sure what you and your friends have done to win over her trust during Nightmare Night last year was no simple feat.

Since there is only room for you and Spike in the library’s upper floor, I have made arrangements for basic furnishings to be delivered to the library’s basement. I am aware that you are currently using the basement for arcane experiments, but it is my hope that you will be able to find new (temporary) homes for them.

Should my sister find a reason to stay in Ponyville for a longer period of time, I will look into other options around Ponyville for her to stay.

Best of luck,

Princess Celestia.

P.S.: Please order something from the Cake family tomorrow that my sister would enjoy over tea. My treat, of course.

♪~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~♪

“Oh no,” Twilight shook her head in horror. She read over the letter a second time, and then a third, and a fourth, and a fifth, but the future refused  to change. She looked around at the library, and could see a million things she and Spike had put off doing for a later date. Window curtains and furniture covers in need of a washing, top shelf books collecting dust, and some cobwebs along the ceiling to name a few.

“No, no, no, no... This can’t be happening! She can’t come HERE! It’s not--”

“Knock knock! Package delivery!”

Twilight whipped her head around, and peered out her window again. At her front door she could see a gray-coated mailmare pegasus with a familiar cutie mark. Not wanting to keep her waiting, she took a deep breath to calm down and trotted over to the door to opened it.

“Ditzy?” she asked. Ditzy Doo nodded happily, holding out a clipboard for her.

“Magic package delivery!” Ditzy said, cheerfully. She then reached over to fish out a pencil from her mailbag, and held it up for Twilight to take with her magic. “I can’t believe that it’s from Princess Celestia herself! Do you get a lot of things from her often?”

“Oh! No no,” Twilight shook her head. It had never occurred to her, but now she wondered if the question lay in the air around Ponyville that the princesses were supplying her means of income to live in the library. It was true that Celestia had arranged for a stipends to be paid to her for maintaining the library, but it was hardly anything extravagant.

“I just get letters, really. Spikes sends them and receives them magically.”

“Oooh,” Ditzy nodded in understanding. “Well, she should try sending them through the postal service! I don’t lose that many letters. Anymore, anyway.”

“I’ll try to do it more often,” Twilight wrote her name down on the dotted line where it told her to sign. With her magic she handed it back to Ditzy, who promptly stuffed it back into her mailbag. “Thanks for the delivery, Ditzy.”

“Nooo, problem Twilight!” Ditzy smiled back happily, giving her a mock salute. She then turned her head in confusion. “Or do I need to call you Lady Sparkle now? Your older brother married Princess Cadance, right? Does that make you royalty too?”

“No!” Twilight quickly shook her head, giving Ditzy an awkward smile. It had taken her over a year to get everypony in Ponyville to just see her as the local librarian, and not some mare of nobility because of her apprenticeship to princess Celestia. After the royal wedding, there had been another wave of artificial respect from everypony in Ponyville now that she was legally Princess Cadance’s sister-in-law.

“No titles for me...I just want to be Ponyville’s librarian, and that’s it.”

“Ah, I get’cha,” Ditzy winked at her knowingly. “Can’t handle the fame, huh? Yeah, I don’t think I could handle it either if tens of thousands of ponies I don’t know suddenly wanted to worship me either.”

You don’t know the half of it, Twilight thought to herself. Looking around, she noticed that Ditzy was hovering in the air with only her mailbag at her side.

“Uh... Ditzy? Where is my package?”

“Package? Oh! It’s a magic delivery, Twilight! So--” she stopped, and blinked in confusion. Twilight raised an eyebrow, wondering if Ditzy had just noticed that there had been no package for her to deliver with the invoice from the start. “There wasn’t anything at the post office, just this invoice to get you to sign.”

“It’s fine, Ditzy. The princess will probably send that stuff later tonight with her magic.” Twilight read over some of the fine-print on her receipt, as she went to close the door. “Thanks for the delivery, Ditzy!”

“No problem, Twilight! Have a good evening!”

Twilight let out a small sigh, and glanced over her invoice receipt one more time. What she had failed to notice, was the creeping shadow that was silently walking down the stairs from her bedroom. Without even a trace of noise, it slipped from one piece of furniture in the library to another until it was right behind the unwitting librarian.

"HEY TWILIGHT! What did you get?!”

“GAH!”

With the agility of a cat, Pinkie Pie watched her egghead friend jump into the air with such force that she almost plowed into the library’s second floor. Wrapping her limbs around one of the support beams, she looked around frantically for her unexpected intruder. Bellow her a perky pink earth pony grinned up at her with her characteristic smile, all while steadily bouncing in place.

“Pinkie Pie!?” Twilight gasped.“When-- How-- What are you doing here?!”

“I used your bedroom balcony door, silly.” Pinkie smiled, looking up at Twilight who was still clinging to a wooden beam in the ceiling. “You know, what do they call it?”

“...Breaking and entering?”

“Yeah! That one!” Pinkie beamed at Twilight even brighter, as she began snooping around all of the corners of the library. “So what did you get? It was a package from the princess, right? Do you have another thingy to study about friendship? Are we all going to go on a giant adventure? Do we have to go save a long-lost kingdom? And what’s Spike cooking for dinner?”

“No Pinkie, nothing like that.” Twilight used her magic to gently levitate her down to the floor of the library. Looking around, she picked up the receipt from her delivery and showed it to her. “Just some stuff to accommodate a special visitor later tonight.”

“A special visitor?” Pinkie turned her head in thought, and then gasped. “Princess Luna is coming to visit!?”

Twilight did a doubletake, staring in disbelief. “Pinkie, how did--”

“PINKIE! I told you not to go in before I got back!”

“GAH!”

For the second time, Pinkie watched the Element of Magic almost smash through the ceiling of her home. The second time was too much for pink pony, and she burst out laughing and fell over onto the floor. Next to her, Rainbow Dash landed swiftly and looked up at Twilight who was giving dirty glares to the both of them.

“You know, you should lay off the coffee Twi,” Rainbow snickered looking up at her. “You’re jumpier than Rarity’s cat.”

“I am NOT jumpy!” Twilight shouted, as she quickly used her magic to land herself softly on the library floor. “Why is everypony breaking into my home tonight!?”

“I am not breaking in; I’m returning the book I checked out,” Rainbow defended, standing up and putting her forelegs on her hips. Pulling out a book from the saddlebag she was wearing, she floated over to the returns shelf and slipped the book in.

“See? Returned on time. But Pinkie totally was, though.”

“Yep! I can break into everypony’s home in Ponyville! Like a ninja!”

Twilight groaned, and brought her hoof up to her forehead.

“Look, gals. There’s something really important I have to do tonight. So whatever it was that you wanted to do will--”

“Are you throwing a welcoming party?” Pinkie interrupted.

“Huh? Why would she do that?”

“Because Princess Luna is coming to visit!”

“Wait, what?” Rainbow looked at Pinkie disbelievingly before looking over at Twilight who nodded. “Really? Just like that? She’s just going to drop in during the middle of the night?”

“Well of course, Dashie!” Pinkie said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. “When else would she visit?”

“I don’t mean that! Of course I know that she watches the night and all that jazz, but it sounds weird to just have a princess randomly visit right before Hearthwarming, right?”

“Look girls, I know it’s not exactly...normal,” Twilight admitted, finally having calmed down completely from being surprised thrice. “But I think that it’s really important that she doesn’t know that we know that she’s coming. So please, don’t go telling everyone in Ponyville about this!”

“But can go we tell Applejack, Rarity, and Fluttershy?” Pinkie pleaded. “Like...right now?”

“No! I mean-- Yes! But not...well,” Twilight shook her head. “No! Don’t tell anypony yet!”

Looking around the library, Pinkie waited a moment.

“...Can I tell them now?”

“NO! This is going to be a secret, and I want it to stay that way!”

“Aww, but that’s no fun.” Pinkie sighed, and scratched at the floor.

“Yeah, Twi.” Rainbow grinned Pinkie’s way, with a glint of mischief in her eyes. “That’s so boring. Princess Luna secretly visiting our little town? I think everyone in Ponyville should know about this. And maybe that fastest flyer in Equestria could tell them all before sundown.”

“Don’t. Even. Think. About it.” Twilight growled, and rolled her eyes as Pinkie and Rainbow both burst into a fit of giggles from getting a rise out of her. Groaning from her friend’s foalish antics, her attention returned to the despairing look at the state of the library around her. How many times had she stopped herself from being lazy, and not let herself put things off until tomorrow. For it to come back to bite her the one time--!

“What am I going to do... This place isn’t presentable for royalty!”

“Huh? Why not?” Pinkie looked around, and Rainbow started to mimic Twilight’s fretting body language.

“For one, all of the curtains and drapes need to be cleaned--”

“Oh, you don’t have to worry about that!” Pinkie said, quickly rushing over and putting a foreleg over Twilight’s shoulder. “You can use the spare clean set in the mayor’s storage closet.”

“The mayor? Mayor Mare?” Twilight said, confused. “Why would she have--? And how do YOU know that?”

“Remember Twilight,” Pinkie grinned as she struck a pose. “Ninja! And besides, I can just pick them up on the way back from Sugarcube Corner. You were gonna’ get something Luna would like to eat, right?”

“Then what about--”

“SPIKE!” Pinkie screamed, causing Twilight to cringe from standing right next to her.

Turning around the corner from the kitchen wearing a white connoisseur's cap and matching apron, Spike glanced out at everypony. “Yeah? What’s up?” he asked, expertly flipping the grilled field greens sandvich in small frypan in his claw.

“Permission to execute plan number forty-two!”

Spike casually looked at Pinkie Pie who was bouncing in place with baited breath, then his older sister who was (to put it lightly) very confused, and then to Rainbow Dash who gave him an calm and cooler nod that she was ready as well. He readjusted the chef’s hat on his head with the spatula in his other claw, before giving an approving smile.

“Okay. Initiate plan number forty-two.” He said, flipping the sandvich in the frypan one more time and walking back into the kitchen.

“Okie dokie lokie! Dashie! Get ready!” Pinkie trotted over to the library’s front door and opened it, ignoring Twilights questions of what was going on. Rainbow in return went over to the door leading to the library’s basement, and opened it.

“Wait! Stop! What is going on!?”

Rainbow whipped out her flying goggles and put them on, and Pinkie braced herself on the ground.

“Get set...!”

“I said stop! What is--WAUGH!”

Before Twilight could lodge another word of inquiry (probably to be followed by protest), Pinkie burst out the door and Rainbow dashed into the library’s basement with such force that the entire library shook. She returned in a whirling blur of colors just as fast a moment later, with two large linen cloths in both hooves and a small bucket filled with wood polish clenched in her mouth. Stopping only for enough of an instant shoot her friend a confident grin, she threw the contents of the bucket into the ceiling with a large splash. Twilight nearly screamed in horror, desperately trying to collect all of the books in the library into a giant pile she could shield with her magic so they wouldn’t get ruined. But the Wonderbolt worshiper was quicker than her friend’s magic, and the cyan pegasus took to the air in the library flying in circles to create a miniature whirlwind. Starting from the top and slowly descending down, she ran the cleaning cloths in both hooves over every surface of the library’s walls until she reached the floor. By the time she was finished, gravity had kicked in and the remaining wood polish landed on the floor with another splat. And again before Twilight could say anything, with super-pony agility Rainbow flew with her hooves across the floor around and under furniture leaving no spot untouched.

Stopping only for a second to admire her work, Rainbow flew back down to the basement and up again to deposit the dirty rags in a laundry basket, before landing silently next to Twilight who had just remembered to close her jaw.

“I’m back!” came a shout from the library’s front entrance, and Pinkie Pie burst in with several boxes on her back and a bag in her mouth. “Spike! What’s our time!?”

“Not bad, not bad at all.” Spike walked in from the kitchen, laying out four plates on the library’s center table. Unphased by everything that had happened, he walked back in the kitchen and returned with a pile of grilled sandviches.

“But I think Rainbow left some polish on the ceiling, so that’s going to be a penalty.”

“Aww, Dashie!” Pinkie whined, bouncing over to the table.

“Hey! I did Fluttershy’s part too!” Rainbow defended, taking to the air just to seat herself at one of the spots on the table. “I should get time off, not added on!”

“I’ll just have to inspect your work closer after dinner,” Spike walked back into the kitchen one last time, coming back out with a bowl of assorted gems. Pulling up a seat and sitting on it, he looked over at Twilight who hadn’t moved or said a word the entire time.

“Hey, you coming Twi? Dinner’s ready.”

Still stunned by everything that had just happened, Twilight glared at them with all the indignity she could muster.

“Did you three plan this?” she asked, her voice carrying a deathly calm.

Spike swallowed nervously. Pinkie and Rainbow looked away too, taking large bites out of their sandviches to excuse themselves for not saying a world. “Well, I wouldn’t say planned so much as--”

“HEY! Twilight! Ah think there’s--... Uh, excuse me? Am Ah interrupting somethin’ gals?”

“Applejack!” Pinkie cried, jumping out from her seat and rushing over to the orange earth pony. “You just missed it! We actually got to do plan forty-two!”

“What? Ah shoot,” AJ stomped her hoof down on the library floor as she entered. “Y’all told me that we’d only go with plan forty-two together! Ah bet Rainbow didn’t want to wait, did she?”

“Hey, don’t blame me!” Rainbow shouted from over at the table. “It was Pinkie’s idea!”

“Huh. Guess Ah should have known,” AJ said, before freezing from Twilight’s icy glare at her.

“Really, Applejack?” She continued to glare at her. “You too?”

“Ah-heh, um,” AJ tipped the brim of her stetson down as a shield, and shot her a fragile smile. “Now hold on now Sugar Cube. It’s not what it, uh, looks like. Ah promise you, Ah can explain!”

“Oh come on Twilight, chill out!” Rainbow laid back with a sandvich in her mouth, using her wings to let her over on her back. “Now you don’t have to worry your big egghead about tonight!”

“Tonight? Wait, is somethin’ important happenin’ tonight?”

“Oh, yeah! AJ doesn’t know yet! But... I think Twilight wants to keep it a boring secret.”

“A secret?” AJ turned to Twilight who was busy taking calming deep breathes. “Uh... Ah don’t mean to pry Twi, but is it somethin’ serious we ‘ought to know about or...?”

“Nah, nothing like that,” Rainbow reached out for another sandvich. “Kind of normal for our egghead, when you think about it.”

“Come on AJ, Twi! Come grab a sandvich while they’re still hot!”

“Woah now, everypony! Wait a darn’ minute!” AJ shouted, putting her hoof up for Pinkie to stop and shook her head. She glanced over at Twilight too, who seemed to be at a safe level of composure. “The offer is mighty generous of ya’, but Ah I didn't come for chit-chat! Ah have somethin’ important to tell y’all, and it’s the reason Ah came ‘ere in the first place!”

As quickly as she had entered, she ran back to the entrance of the library and pointed her hoof out toward something unseen by everyone else.

“Y’all see that? Ah think the Everfree forest is on fire!”

“WHAT?!” Everyone shouted together, as they all bolted from their positions to look outside.

♪~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~♪