Unforeseen Consequences - Chapter 17


                                            >Eris always had a weird fixation on coincidences. She liked to go on little rambles about them whenever she wasn’t talking about the next scam, or a prank she made, or some exotic place she read in one of her magazines. That was her favorite topic, coincidences and perspectives.

                                            >These conversations were now ringing in your head like a phone. It was just weird that you have had to perform so many escapes in the past few days, each time for a different reason.

                                            >The first was the orphanage, the intent was to get away from the company and rescue Eris. Second escape was less planned, and it had more to do with you being freaked out of your mind by this new world.

                                            >The reason for the third and current escape was much simpler: Being grounded frickin’ sucks and you wanted to explore more of this giant castle.

                                            >You were sure that Luna and Celestia were gonna be upset for this, adults are like that in your experience, but there was no turning back now.

                                            >Everything was perfectly set in place. The door was opened, those two guards weren’t paying any attention to anything besides their chatting, the target, a flower pot not too far from your position, was picked.

                                            >More importantly you already had the book in your frickin’ mouth and ready to be thrown. To heck with this, you’d deal with the consequences later.

                                            >You took one last aim at the flower pot and threw the book at it with all your strengths. Then, you closed the door immediately.

                                            >Judging by the unmistakable sound of broken pottery, it was a perfect hit. Seconds later, you heard hurried hoofsteps and the voices of the guards passing by the room. Time to do some escaping.


                                            >The very moment that you re-opened the door, Cherrywood pushed you to a side and flew out of the room at an honestly impressive speed.

                                            >How the heck did she do that? Were her wings rocket-powered or something? Seriously man, you’ve seen airships way slower than her.

                                            >Things went much slower on your side. Unlike Cherrywood who had less tact than a bulldozer, you took the extra time in making sure to cover any tracks by closing that stupid door.

                                            >Luckily, those two guards were taking their merry time in investigating the mystery of the broken flower pot. You couldn’t help but to ask why. It was just a frickin’ broken piece of pottery, no need for them to examine it for that long and in so much detail.

                                            >Definitely weird, but there was no time to keep thinking about it. You galloped to the intersection at the end of the hallway, where Cherrywood was impatiently waiting for your arrival.

                                            >She pushed you down into this new hallway. Immediately after, she started to scold you in a thankfully low volume, “What in the wide world of Equestria was that?! Are you seriously that slow or you just want us to get caught?!”

                                            >First she ditches you and now this? Screw that, man! You ain’t gonna even bother with her garbage. No, you simply trotted past Cherrywood and went down through this hallway.

                                            >You heard her growl, along with some angry words but you didn’t care. That girl could hug on a cactus. You simply continued walking down the hallway.


                                            >That is, until you saw an angry gray blur in the corner of your eyes. When you turned around, that crazy girl was already hovering in front of you, wings outstretched in an honestly imposing way.

                                            >Cherrywood was shooting a glare that would put fear in the bravest heart. Her small yet sharp fangs were fully visible and her muzzle contorted in anger, “*HISSS* Hey! I asked you something, you big dumb-dumb!”

                                            >How did a filly this fluffy managed to be so frickin’ scary was beyond you. However, you ain’t one to back down. You gulped down your fears and faced this fluffy demon.

                                            “Man, why don’t you look on a mirror before calling me dumb? I had to stop and make sure that stupid door was closed so those guys wouldn’t know we escaped the moment they turned around!”

                                            >It was amazing how quickly and casually Cherrywood went back to her relatively normal self. She scratched her chin and murmured, “Oh, right. Didn’t think about that. Guess your smell is making me almost as dumb as you.”

                                            “Would you stop with that?! I wanna see if you smell like frickin’ roses after… ARGH!”

                                            >She cut you off by using one of her wings to deliver a swift slap to your face. Then, she growled, “Who cares about your dumb excuses?! Just keep your mouth shut and follow me! But not too close. I don’t want to throw up my lunch.”

                                            >In any other situation, you’d have told her to kiss your flank, however, she flew away before you could say anything. At the very least she was doing that sick thing with her ears rotating like radars.


                                            >Feeling nothing but contempt and hate towards this filly, you followed her to the end of this surprisingly long hallway. At least it gave you the time to actually appreciate how beautiful the inside architecture of the castle was.

                                            >Wallpapers of vibrant purple colors as well as the thick red carpet complimented the golden linings of each pillar and arc in the ceiling. Along with the occasional drawer and shelf, there paintings of all kinds, which ranged from masterfully done landscapes to non-sensical stains, hanging on each wall.

                                            >At the end of this hallway, you found a large window where the light irradiated like if you were nearing the end of a dark tunnel.

                                            >You were naturally drawn to the window. To heck with that girl and her complains. You wanted to know what lied beyond it. Funnily enough, what you saw were the back gardens.

                                            >One question immediately popped into your mind: how many bits went into this place, man? These gardens weren’t that large, at least not like you imagined, but geez, something this beautiful must cost a fortune.

                                            >It was absolutely mind blowing how each flower, tree, resting area and pond, looked just perfect from up here. Even the stupid hedge maze was cool as heck.

                                            >You actually wanted to go into the darn thing now. It looked like an actual fun challenge to take despite how unnecessary its existence felt.

                                            >Maybe they cut costs in the security department? There was no guard patrolling the place, at least no one you could see from your position.


                                            >Impressive as it was, you simply had to move on. Cherrywood really wasn’t stopping for anything and it ain’t like you couldn’t explore the back gardens once you were there.

                                            >You followed Cherrywood down a nearby ivory staircase which led into the second floor of a really large two-store hall, and based on the noise, a very crowded one at that. Still, there were no guards to be seen.

                                            >First thing you noticed is that the second floor was more like a big hallway connected by a suspended wooden bridge right in the middle. That, and that the walls were covered with really tall shelves.

                                            >Man, it sucked hard that none of the shelves had any books in them, but rather a lot of boxes and those thick ring binders that you saw back at the patrols’ office.

                                            >Kinda frustrating how you couldn’t see the lower floor due to all of these wooden railings. They were just too tall for you, man.

                                            >Cherrywood flew over to the bridge, with you following right after. Then, you peeked over the railing so you could know exactly what you’d have to deal with to get outta the hall.

                                            >Didn’t really take you long to realize how tight the security of the castle was. Man, the company’s orphanage had nothing on Luna and Celestia. The place was crawling not just with guards placed at the many doors and couple of entrances.

                                            >If that wasn’t bad enough, there was also a plethora of other ponies in there. Some were dressed in formal attires coming and going while carrying stacks of documents on their backs.

                                            >Would you look at that? Finally something that was similar to your old world. Too bad it had to be bureaucrats. At least these ones still looked like they had souls.


                                            >What you couldn’t understand was this pack mares dressed in weird black dresses with white aprons. They cleaned every piece of dirt they could find or carried plates with food, beverages, and even papers on them.

                                            >Whatever the heck these mares were supposed to be, one thing was certain: Luna and Celestia really liked to spend bits on really weird stuff, man.

                                            >Leaving all this non-sense aside, you had two big problems now. The tight security and that Cherrywood decided to ditch you. Frickin’ girl was nowhere to be seen.

                                            >You adjusted your goggles and let out a tired sigh. Then, you rested your forehead against the railing and started to angrily muster.

                                            “Of course. Of course she bailed on me! Gosh darn it, man! Why I can’t change this girl for someone Scrappy?! Better yet, just give me Scrappy! That guy is a million times better than that psycho!”

                                            >Better yet, why you couldn’t change Cherrywood for Eris? There was no doubt in your mind that your big sis would’ve already taken you to those gardens without any of this garbage.

                                            >She wasn’t here, though. You had to solve this problem on your own and the first step to do that was to figure out how to get to the first floor.

                                            >Luckily, you actually had options for this. Four of them to be exact. Each corner of the hall had a staircase. Too bad that all of them had a guard in place.


                                            >In the off-chance you managed to sneak past any of them, you’d then to have between one of the two exits, each located at the opposite side of the other. Both had a couple guards stationed and both led to huge hallways.

                                            >Even if by some miracle you managed to sneak past everyone, then there’s still the fact that without Cherrywood serving as the guide, you wouldn’t know where to go next.

                                            >There was a positive to all of this, though. You quickly discovered that Cherrywood was also trapped inside the hall.

                                            >She was flying very close to the ceiling, away from the vigilant gaze of the guards and the clueless staff ponies below. Judging by her face, that girl was completely clueless as to what to do. Good, screw her.

                                            >You were gonna work your own escape and it’d be glorious. The problem is, how were you gonna do that? Just getting to the first floor presented a problem due to the guards stationed at each staircase.

                                            >Let’s assume that you somehow managed to pull the trick. How were you gonna get out of the hall while unnoticed? Disguising yourself among the crowd like you always did at the slums was impossible here and there were just too many ponies that’d spot you right away.

                                            >All of this is without even factoring in how the heck you were supposed to find that dining room without Cherrywood. Given the size of the castle, and the fact that you couldn’t ask anyone for directions due to the risk of being sent to that room, this could take a century to achieve.


                                            >No matter where or how you looked at the problem, you were stuck with only two options: Either you continued with an impossible task, or you pulled off and waited in the room until wherever Luna and Celestia were finished with their jobs.

                                            >You neither knew nor cared about what Cherrywood was gonna roll with, or if she had even realized this fact, but the answer was crystal clear for you.

                                            “Screw that, man! I ain’t gonna give up! I’ll find a way outta this stupid hall even if it kills me!”

                                            >You rested your back against the bridge railing and let out a tired sigh. What could you actually do? Nothing will work until those guards are gone or…

                                            “Meh, I’ll just distract everyone with something big. It has worked so far. Now, what can I use for that? Those shelves would make a lot of noise, but they look way too heavy for me to… AH!”

                                            >You were startled by a hoof tapping your shoulder. Naturally, you thought that it was a guard whom had discovered you. A chill ran down through your spine as you slowly turned around to face your capture.

                                            >However, all of this evaporated the moment you saw not a guard, but Cherrywood sitting close to you with a huge smile on her face, “Scared you, didn’t I?”

                                            >You still hated this girl, but it would be a lie to say that you didn’t feel a huge relief that it was her. Not just because you weren’t captured, but well, she came back.

                                            “W-What? I’ve no idea what you’re talking about, man. I never ever get scared! I’m just that cool! Yup, I was just surprised to see you here. Thought you ditched me for a moment there.”


                                            >Cherrywood’s smile became a full grin as she started laughing so hard that a couple tears appeared in the corner of her eyes, “KeKeKe! What’re you talking about, dummy? I totally dumped your dirty flank! Nah, I just came back because I couldn’t find my way out and figured you came up with something. And look, I was right!”

                                            >Man, you took all back. A platoon of guards would be better than Cherrywood. She was the frickin’ worst.

                                            “Gosh darn it, man! I already told you to quit with the smelly business! No, wait! Why the heck should I let you into my plan after that stunt? You suck!”

                                            >Cherrywood rolled her eyes. Her smile had disappeared and instead was replaced with a much more stern expression, “Oh, puh-lease! You’re dumb but not that dumb! You still need me, and you know why”

                                            >Your ears dropped and a sigh escaped your lips. She was right, no point in arguing against the obvious. Cherrywood knew the castle and had the strength of a gorilla. The exact two things you needed the most.

                                            “I hate you so much!”

                                            >The two of you didn’t waste any time in dashing towards the closer shelf and started pushing it forward. It didn’t really took long to realize how stupidly heavy the thing was.

                                            >Cherrywood’s face quickly became filled with sweat. Without stopping her efforts, she turned to you, speaking only in little grunts “Hnnng! You know, this would be a perfect time to use some of your magic”


                                            >You weren’t far off from her situation. The sweat on your face was so much that some droplets started to leak inside your goggles. As you started using your entire body to push the shelf, you hurriedly answered her.

                                            “Don’t look at me, man! Hnnng! I’ve no idea how magic works!”

                                            >Cherrywood looked like she was about to pop out a blood vessel. Her face was completely red and the sweat started to extend to her whole body, “What?! But you’re a unicorn!”

                                            >Due to all the sweat accumulating inside of your goggles, you had to remove them from your face and wore them on your neck. Then, you barked back to her.

                                            “For your information. I didn’t know magic was still a thing until a couple days ago! Hnng! So unless you know how to cast a frickin’ spell then shut up and keep pushing!”

                                            >Cherrywood started to frantically flap her wings. Only thing she accomplished was to sprinkle her sweat on you, “Why the hay should I know that? Bat ponies don’t have horns, dummy! Hnng! Wait!”

                                            >Cherrywood’s face, while still red like a hot iron, adopted a super excited expression, “There’s this annoying girl I know, right? Hnng! She’s the best at magic in my school and she always says…! Hnng! She always says that you must focus super hard and think on moving stuff! So do that!”

                                            “Oh, man! That sounds like something I’d come up with for a scam! Hnng! But it ain’t like we have other options left, so screw it!”

                                            >You stopped pushing and closed your eyes. First thing you tried to do was to clear your mind out of any thoughts except moving the shelf as well as to try to block anything that could interfere with it.


                                            >The task wasn’t easy, not a single bit. There was too much noise in the hall, your body itched due to all the sweat, and you couldn’t stop thinking about how dumb this whole idea seemed to be.

                                            >After what felt like a couple minutes of standing there like a complete idiot, you could hear Cherrywood saying stuff like, “You’re doing it wrong!” and “I bet I could do this in no time!”

                                            >Her complaints were aggravating to say the least, but they actually helped in a weird way. More than anything else in this world, you now wanted to make that filly eat her own words.

                                            >While you had managed to actually being able to concentrate, a couple more minutes passed without any result. As you again thought this was a waste time, something happened.

                                            >You started to have a headache, a very bad one. It felt like your skull was splitting in two. The world quickly faded into darkness. You weren’t unconscious, though. What the heck was going on?

                                            >There was something else besides the pain. An electrical feeling running through your entire body and ending on your horn. It didn’t hurt, but the sensation alone made you want to quit with this.

                                            >“Whoa… think… working…!”

                                            >You tried to open your eyes and rub your sore head but no matter how much you tried, not a single limb would move. Something heavy had latched onto your horn. Maybe that was the cause?

                                            >“What are you…? Hey…!”

                                            >You were terrified. You wanted the pain and the electricity to go away. You wanted to get rid of whatever that heavy thing was. You wanted to do all of that, but you couldn’t.

                                            >“Stop it!”


                                            >Almost as if the heavens had answered your call, you were brought back to reality by a powerful buck on the face. First thing you did after opening your eyes was to take a huge gasp for fresh air and take look at your surroundings.

                                            >Cherrywood was very close to you. She had this shocked expression on her face and was frantically moving her lips, but it’s like there was this haze inside your brain that prevented you from understanding a thing she said.

                                            >You watched how Cherrywood flew in circles above you. The expression on her face quickly shifted from shocked, to annoyed, and finally went red with rage. She started to yell and emote violently.

                                            >Cherrywood gave you a few hard shakes, but after getting more frustrated, she raised a back hoof and promptly bucked your face once again.

                                            “AGH!”

                                            >The impact sent you rolling back a couple meters, and could have been more if you didn’t end up crashing against a railing. You quickly jumped back up on your hooves and yelled at Cherrywood.

                                            “GOSH DARN IT! THAT HURT, MAN! Wait, I’m back to normal! Holy blazes, not only you have a gorilla strength, and weird radio ears! You also have healing… huh?”

                                            >Your ears perked up by all the noise coming from the first floor of the hall. While you couldn’t distinguish exactly what was being said, you heard lots of yelling, murmurs, and hurried hoofsteps.


                                            >After rubbing your sore face and whipping off a couple of blood droplets from your muzzle, you raised an eyebrow at Cherrywood and coyly asked.

                                            “What… what the heck happened, man?”

                                            >Cherrywood angrily poked your chest so hard that you almost fell on your butt. Her eyes looked like they could pop out of her skull at any moment, “What else?! You happened, dummy!”

                                            “Me?! What the heck are you talking about, man?! I was just trying your lame advice on… sweet heavens!”

                                            >You had to rub your eyes to make sure this wasn’t a dream. Part of the bridge had been destroyed, allowing you to see the charred remnants of the shelf firmly encrusted into the hall’s floor.

                                            “Are you serious?! Oh, man! Please tell me no one got hurt. Luna and Celestia will haul my flank back to the orphanage if… AGH!”

                                            >Cherrywood smacked you once again and firmly grasped your head to get your attention. Not for too long, though. She made a “yuck” face and frantically cleaned her hooves on the wall.

                                            >She then flew in direction to one of the staircases and motioned you to follow her, “Everypony is fine! Now shut up and get those dirty hooves moving!”

                                            >While you wanted more answers and to make clear that you ain’t rich enough to afford fancy baths every single day. She had already flew downstairs. Only thing you could do was to follow her.

                                            >You galloped down to the first floor of the hall, where instead of the complete chaos that you imagined, you found a somewhat calm crowd surrounding the destroyed shelf.

                                            >All of that yelling actually came from the guards asking everyone to stay calm. Most of these guys had formed perimeter between the shelf and the crowd, while the rest struggled to remove the shelf.


                                            >This frickin’ world was truly something else. If these were the slums, there’d be a whole platoon of violent patrols complete with airships using pressurized water to disperse an angry mob.

                                            >Amazing indeed, not to say incredibly useful too. Everyone was so busy with the shelf to even notice two foals galloping down one of the hall’s exits.

                                            >As Cherrywood and you galloped at full speed towards the dining room, you couldn’t resist the urge of asking more details.

                                            “So, you said that it was me who slam dunked the shelf, right? It ain’t like I’m calling you a big, fat liar, it’s just that I wanna know how’s that even possible. Seriously, man; this whole thing is killing me inside.”

                                            >Cherrywood extended her wings and started hovering above you. She then looked at you right in the eye and shrugged, “With magic, I guess? One moment your icky horn glowed like a lighthouse, and the other… BAM! The shelf caught fire and got shot into the sky like a cannon ball!”

                                            “Holy blazes! I dunno why I was so scared, that sounds frickin’ awesome! And you’re telling me I did it? That’s sick, man!”

                                            >Cherrywood’s face lightened up like the city at night as she frantically flew in frantic patterns, “And that’s not even the best part! You should’ve seen the look on everypony’s faces! KeKeKe! They were so scared that…!”

                                            >However, she abruptly stopped in mid-air and went completely silent. Her eyes darted back and forth like a hunter searching for its prey. Which is to say, she was being weird.

                                            “Now what? Don’t tell me we took the wrong frickin’ exit, because I ain’t doing that magic show… again?”

                                            >You noticed her ears were doing that sick radar-like rotation, again. Moments later, her ears were locked in place and she dashed to hide under a nearby drawer.


                                            >Well, there was probably a good reason for her to do that, so you followed her lead. While there were other pieces of furniture to choose from, you specifically hid under the same drawer as her just to make her angry.

                                            >Amid little hisses, Cherrywood covered her nose with one hoof and tried to push you away with the other, “*Hiss* Get away, stink lord! This is my hiding spot, go find your own one!”

                                            “How about you make me, fluff-brain? I like this spot, and I’m gonna…”

                                            >Out of nowhere, Cherrywood held your muzzle tight with her hooves. Not a second later, you heard the sounds of hoofsteps and hurried voices coming in your direction. It was a small group of guards joined by those weird mares in black dresses rushing towards the hall.

                                            >Same thing continued happening during the rest of the trek. Cherrywood’s ears perked up, the two of you would hide, and then a group of ponies showed up a few minutes later.

                                            >You hated to admit it, but Cherrywood was the biggest and probably only reason as to why no one ever noticed you. She might a massive pain in the flank, but that hearing of hers was golden.

                                            >Eventually, the two of you found yourselves in front of two large blue doors. Each had small golden stars, plates and cute cartoons of cakes engraved onto them. Above them hung a small banner that read in super fancy letters “Royal Diner”.

                                            “Geez, man! All of this for just a frickin’ place to eat food. I swear you can smell the bits being burned here.”


                                            >Cherrywood grunted and impatiently pushed you to a side, “Duh! What else did you expect? This is a castle, you dummy! It’s supposed to be fancy!” she then placed her hoof on the golden doorknob and sighed in relief, “Thank the moon that this is over. I don’t think I’d have been able to stand your smell or listen to… oh, come on!”

                                            >She pulled doorknob several times, each harder than the last, but no dice. The stupid doors wouldn’t open no matter what.

                                            >You walked to her side and leaned your head closer to the doorknob, then, you gave her a huge smirk.

                                            “What’s the matter, fluff-brain? Why don’t you lock-pick the door? Oh, wait! You can’t.”

                                            >Cherrywood pulled the doorknob one last time before placing her forehead against the doors and sighing, “I hate you so much.”

                                            >After letting out a small chuckle, you pulled out the lock-picks from your mane and put your hooves to work. Amazing attitude that you ended up throwing over the board after several failed attempts.

                                            >Frustrated and annoyed, you bit one of the doorknobs and pulled from it as hard as you could. Needless to say, it didn’t help at all.

                                            “Open up, you stupid thing!”

                                            >What the heck was up with these doors? They had way more pins than any other lock you’ve ever encountered. It was like trying to open a frickin’ safe.

                                            >Your eyes darted back and forth in search of another way to get it. Idea that quickly proved worthless as the only things to see here were hallways that went to who knows where and pieces of furniture that were too heavy to lift, or too weak to put a dent on the doors.

                                            >So if taking a different route to the back gardens was a no go, then you’d need to find something that could help you out with the lock-picking. Thankfully, you had just that in the form of Cherrywood and her amazing super hearing.

                                            >It ain’t like she was busy with other stuff. That girl was just sitting there doing nothing but rotating her ears and angrily staring at the ceiling.

                                            “Hey, fluff-brain!”

                                            >Cherrywood grunted before slowly turning to you with a disgruntled expression on her face, “What do you want, stink lord?”

                                            “Listen, this is gonna be a weird question, but I really need to know. Do you hear any funny sounds when I’m lock-picking?”

                                            >Cherrywood raised an eyebrow and got back on her hooves, “Are you talking about those “tick-tick” noises? Because they’re super annoying.”


                                            “Yeah, that’s exactly what I’m talking about! Think you can tell me when those noises become a click or something like that? Because we can always call quits if you’re too lame for this.”

                                            >Your words clearly offended her pride, because Cherrywood immediately started hovering above you with an angered expression on her face, “What kind of dumb question is that?! Of course I can! That’s like the easiest thing ever!”

                                            >Even with your combined efforts and a complete lack of interruptions from the guards, it still took around ten minutes of trial and error to finally get that satisfying “click” of an unlocked door.

                                            “Frickin’ finally! Thought we were gonna be here all day. Who the heck though to make these doors so tight, man? It ain’t like we’re breaking inside a bank.”

                                            >With a frown on her face, Cherrywood stretched her limbs and groomed the fluff of her ears, “That’s because you’re dumb. This is the ROYAL diner, not some cheap kitchen. If you’re going to be Princess Luna’s son then better get used to all of this security.”

                                            “No need to tell me twice about it, fluff-brain. Did you see how many guards were at that hall? It’s insane, man. This castle is almost like a fancy fortress.”

                                            >Cherrywood nodded with huge pride, “Of course it is! My mom’s in charge of making it that way!”  She then flew past you and placed her hoof on the doorknob, “You just wait until we get to the back gardens, stink lord! It’s going to blow your mind!”

                                            “Hey, you sure that there won’t be any guards behind that door?”

                                            >With a more playful attitude, she rolled her eyes and energetically opened doors from pair to pair, “Of course not, dummy!  This is the ROYAL diner! Nopony enters except… for… the princesses… oh, no.”

                                            “Oh, man! You gotta be kidding me! We were so close!”

                                            >Standing at the frame of the door were Moonlight, Luna and Celestia; and while you had many, many questions, one thing was certain: None of them looked particularly happy.


                                            >Cold sweat ran down through your face as you took a couple steps back like a scaredy cat. Your mind desperately worked as fast as it could to come up with a new escape plan.

                                            >No matter where you looked at, all the cards were stacked against you. Cherrywood was out of the game; she didn’t even dare to look at the three mares.

                                            >You knew from first hoof that trying to outmaneuver Moonlight was a fool’s errand. That’s how you got grounded in the first place.

                                            >Heck, that mare didn’t have to a darn thing! You’ve seen Luna using her magic to move the frickin’ moon without breaking a sweat. Catching a colt like you would be super easy for Celestia and her.

                                            >After cleaning the sweat off from your face, you sat down to face the harsh reality. There was no way to pull a comeback from something like this. Not even with a miracle.

                                            >Only thing you could now was to bit your lips and endure what would be without a doubt, a punishment for the ages.

                                            >However, and against all of your expectations, Luna broke the silence with a giggle. One so pure and beautiful that brought hope to your distressed heart.

                                            >With a joyful smile, she trotted on her place like a filly and hugged Moonlight, “I must confess that there were some doubts in my mind, but this idea of yours worked out perfectly! Once again, congratulations are in order for your more than impressive skills.”

                                            >Moonlight in turn replied with a gentle roll of her eyes and a relaxed smile, “Luna, I’ve told you this like a thousand times: we’ve been friends for a while now, no need to be so formal, and on that note…”

                                            >After breaking the hug with Luna, Moonlight gazed Celestia with more professional attitude, “I was just joking back there, princess. You don’t need to pay me anything. Just knowing that I was useful is enough for me.”


                                            >You and Cherrywood looked at each other with total bafflement. What the heck was all this about, man? Discord’s shenanigans made more sense than them.

                                            >Celestia let out a small sigh, despite her face being painted with a cordial smile, you could see a hint of annoyance in her eyes, “With all due respect, Captain Moonlight, I’ll have to decline your kind offer. I take huge pride in paying all my bets, so you can expect that bottle of “Starfall” wine to be at your desk first thing in the morning. As an added bonus, I’ll give you a small piece of information: My dear sister has had the habit of speaking like a generic diplomatic letter since we were fillies, and I’m not sure she plans to stop any time soon.”

                                            >Luna narrowed her eyes and puffed her now red cheeks, “Quite the comedian that you turned out to be, Celie. At least I take solace in the fact that I do not go around picking up slangs that became outdated decades ago!”

                                            >Celestia raised a hoof as her cordial smile turned into an arrogant half-smirk, “It’s not my problem that you can’t... hold on.” She abruptly stopped mid-sentence before turning her attention to you and Cherrywood, “We still have things to explain.”

                                            >Noticing Cherrywood’s and your confusion, Celestia laid on the floor so she could meet you both at eye level. She then smiled and chuckled, “I’m sure you two must have a lot of questions right now, so I’ll be blunt: You’ve been had by none other than Captain Moonlight… with the explicit consent of my dear sister and myself, of course.”

                                            >Naturally, you and Cherrywood immediately responded at the same time with a loud, “WHAT?!”

                                            >Celestia let out a small laugh before getting back on her hooves, “Captain, could you please do me the favor?”

                                            >Moonlight combed her mane and calmly shrugged, “Not a problem, princess. Alright, kids! Here’s how the deal goes. I knew you little rascals weren’t going to stay put in that room, so I simply told the guards to be aware about two foals galloping around the castle and to rail-road them to the royal diner in case it was necessary.”


                                            >Cherrywood scratcher her chin and raised an eyebrow, “But I came up with that idea on my own! The guards didn’t do anything!”

                                            >With a motherly smile, Moonlight chuckled and caressed the filly’s mane, “I was also counting with that, sweetie hiss. Why do you think I locked you up in that room? It’s close enough to make the royal diner viable, but far enough to not make the whole thing obvious.”

                                            >Scams were nothing new to you, and there were a lot of elements in this one that just didn’t seem physically possible or made no logical sense. As scary as she was, you simply had to ask Moonlight about more details.

                                            “Hold up, something ain’t right here! How the heck did you manage to tell every single guard in the castle, and Luna and Celestia about this? I’ve seen those helmets, and I don’t think they can carry any radio, and even if they could, I’ve also seen how crazy good Cherrywood’s hearing is, I’m sure she would’ve heard a radio message. That’s not it, though. Why would everyone agree to do this? Why did you even do all of this?”

                                            >Cherrywood tilted her head back and gave you a deeply confused look, “What the hay is a radio? No wait, who even cares at this point? We already lost, you dummy!

                                            >Moonlight lovingly patted the head of the filly, “Don’t be so harsh, sweetie hiss. There’s nothing wrong with asking questions.” She then lowered her head and used it as a sort of lever to place the filly on her back.

                                            >After giving Cherrywood a small kiss on her forehead, Moonlight turned to you with such a wide grin on her face that her long, sharp fangs were fully visible, “In fact, I think it’s wonderful that you noticed all of that, little dude. Makes me even more excited to train you.”


                                            >If that wasn’t scary enough, Moonlight laughed in a creepy way, “Oh, don’t be like that, little dude! It’ll be fun… if you survive that is.” After giving you a wink, she shrugged, “But seriously, I’ve no idea what a radio is. I used a signaler to let everypony know about the joke.”

                                            “A what now?”

                                            >Moonlight rolled her eyes before using her hoof to produce a small, purple gemstone from her armor, then, she tapped it with her other hoof, “See this cute little thing? Each time you press it, it’ll make every other signaler in a certain radius and attunement to produce a little light.”

                                            “Man, that’s cool! Kinda less useful than a radio, but still cool. So, every guard in the castle has one, right?

                                            >Moonlight nodded, “Yup! The princesses have their own too, and would you look at that! It seems like I’m getting a message!” Just like she said, the little gemstone started blinking in clear patterns, “We have a certain code to communicate with these light signals. Right now I’m being asked if you two made it safely to the diner room.”

                                            >Moonlight pressed the gemstone in a weird succession before putting it back inside her armor, “And I just told them that everything’s A-OK. Now, why would I do this? Because I wanted the two of you to have some fun while the adults were working. Why would the guards agree to join the game? All of them wanted to make up for that terrible “welcome party” they gave you. Satisfied?”

                                            “Kinda? I mean, don’t get me wrong. This whole ruse and that signaler-thing are frickin’ awesome, but how the heck you knew that I was gonna use magic during the escape? Because that feels pretty random to me.”


                                            >Moonlight let out a tired sigh as her face adopted a more serious tone, “That wasn’t planned at all.” Then, she extended her wings and took off of the floor, “Now if you excuse me, I have to help clean the mess you two made.”

                                            >As Moonlight flew past you, Cherrywood didn’t waste her opportunity to say her parting words, “See ya, stink lord. This was somewhat fun, but I still hate you!”

                                            “Right back at you, fluff-brain.”

                                            >Last thing Cherrywood did before turning her back on you was to stick her tongue out at you. Gesture that you of course replied to.

                                            >With the fluffy menace gone, your mood skyrocketed. Finally, you’d have more time to spend exploring Canterlot with Luna and Celestia. Or that’s what you thought.

                                            >Luna immediately turned to Celestia and whispered, “You know what to do, Celie.” After getting a nod from her sister, she quickly flew past you, calling for her friend, “Please, allow me to be of help, Moonlight.”

                                            >Your ears dropped as you observed the two mares going down the hallway. You didn’t mind the change in plans, it’s just that… Luna didn’t even say goodbye. She must have been too disappointed to even look in your general direction.

                                            “I totally screwed up, right?”

                                            >You felt Celestia’s hoof playfully tugging your shoulder before she rubbed your cheek against hers, “Everything’s fine, my dear Resonance. It’s not like you can control your magic yet, and besides me having to pay some extra bits, nopony got hurt. Now come, I have something to show you.”


                                            >You were taken to a balcony located at the top of the tallest tower in the castle. Perfect place to admire the sunset over Canterlot and the beautiful land of Equestria that extended beyond.

                                            >Celestia sat by your side. From her long horn emanated a powerful golden aura which subtly rippled as the setting sun started to disappear behind the distant mountains.

                                            >She was truly something hard to explain. Her face had a calm and almost over-confident expression, but it’s like she hid an unfathomable wisdom at the same time.

                                            >There was just this weird vibe that you had never felt before. Like you were small, almost insignificant in comparison to Celestia.

                                            >Once the sun was almost gone and the first stars of the night sky appeared in the sky, Celestia’s magic extinguished. Then, she extended one of her long wings and covered you with it.

                                            >You flinched and even tried to move away from her. It wasn’t out of malice or spitefulness, though. The real reason was that this type of actions were completely new to you.

                                            >It ain’t like Eris did something like this with her much smaller wings… and your parents never really cared for affections.

                                            >However, it just took Celestia a single smile to make you understand. It’s amazing how she could warm your entire being with something as simple as a smile.

                                            >Amid giggles and small caresses, Celestia gave you a small wink and playfully said, “Relax, I won’t bite, promise. Just want to have you close to me. It works better for our apology, I believe.”

                                            >Confusing words to say the least. A mystery that only increased by a subtle, but noticeable hint of depression in her face.


                                            >Like clockwork, your mind started to work on theories to explain this situation. It went from the results of her meeting to a different explanation: Your own actions throughout the day.

                                            >What started as nothing but a simple recapitulation, turned quickly to questions that put real fear in your heart: What if this day had just been a test? What if you failed and thus, the adoption was going to be cancelled?

                                            >When putting every piece together, this seemed like the most logical conclusion. Celestia and Luna were these bigger-than-life rulers of a magical kingdom while you were nothing but a stray dog who came from some slums.

                                            >Maybe they simply wanted someone on their level. Maybe Discord would appear at any moment and say “Enjoy the view because you’re going back home”.

                                            >Maybe you should’ve known better about getting your hopes up when not even your real parents wanted you.

                                            >The prospect was terrifying but there was no point in staying silent. Like Celestia said, “only dumb questions are the ones not asked” and you weren’t the type of pony to cower and wait for the worst.

                                            >However, you weren’t the type of pony who does things bluntly and without thinking. You were gonna play cool and smooth like a detective from your books and get the most answers that way.

                                            “I don’t get it, lady. Apologize for what?”

                                            >As the rising moon started to bathe Canterlot with its pale light, Celestia retracted her wing and looked over her shoulder.

                                            >You turned around to see Luna entering the balcony. Her face, partially illuminated by the dwindling magic of her horn, had a similar hint of sadness to her sister.


                                            >Luna elegantly sat by your side, she simply patted your head and sternly replied, “I believe the answer is quite obvious, Resonance.”

                                            >The levels anxiety that you felt were unbearable. Your original strategy simply couldn’t happen anymore. You wanted answers and it didn’t matter how you got them.

                                            “No, it ain’t! Maybe I’m just dumb but nothing about this makes a lick of sense! Why do you gotta apologize? What the heck is going on?!”

                                            >Completely surprised by your response, Luna and Celestia looked at each other and nodded in agreement.

                                            >The one to take the responsibility of giving the bad news was Luna. She stood up, completely towering over you as her eyes firmly locked on you.

                                            >You thought on escaping, but where? More importantly, why would you even do that? It’s clear they were gonna tell you the hard, cold truth. Only thing you could do was to prepare for the worst and move on.

                                            >What you got instead was the actual opposite. It was the warm sensation of Luna lovingly caressing your cheek with hers and the feeling of her soft embrace.

                                            >Any trace left of fear and doubt in your heart was quickly dissipated by Luna’s soothing voice, “What is there to understand, dearest Resonance? We failed in keeping you company during your first day in Equestria. The best thing we can offer is the promise to improve in our shortcomings.”

                                            >There was the answer that you wanted so much. There was the proof of how unbelievably stupid you were in doubting them. Man, you really didn’t deserve them.

                                            >Tears started to run through your face. Not daring to look up to Luna and Celestia, you quickly wiped your eyes and took a step back.


                                            “I’m the one who should be sorry… I-I thought that you were gonna…”

                                            >Celestia cut you off immediately with a kind yet stern tone, “Keep those ideas out of your mind, Resonance.”

                                            >She placed her hoof under your chin and raised your head to look you right in the eye. She had this fire in her eyes that you couldn’t explain, “No matter what happens, we won’t give up on you. I’m sorry, Resonance, but you’re stuck with us.”

                                            >Not giving you a chance to reply, Luna quickly hugged you and overwhelmed you with all kind of loving caresses, “Let go of your fears, my child. We shan’t go away.”

                                            “I-I don’t know what to say.”

                                            >Celestia placed her forehead against the side of your head and ran her hoof across your back, “Then don’t say anything. Just enjoy the moment.”

                                            >You thought on the parents that abandoned you. On all those sleepless nights that you spent thinking on how their love might have felt like. This, however, surpassed any wild supposition that you had ever imagined.

                                            >Finally, your mind took you back to Eris. To your beloved sister. Wherever she was, and whatever she was doing, you deeply hoped for one day to share with her the immense happiness you had found in Equestria.