Author's note: I hate mornings.

Chapter 18: The Observation

Welp, seems that Twilight has invited me to a brunch with the girls, and Celestia. Now one of two possible things is going to happen: either Twilight goes manic, or Twilight passes out.

I was on my way to the brunch at Sugercube Corner when I saw Rainbow doing something birdbrained: She was trying to annoy the stationed guards.

"So... what do I have to do to get to be one of the Princess's royal guards, anyway? Is the pay good? Hellooo! Anybody home?" Rainbow said, trying to get some reaction. Seeing that they weren't doing anything, she decided to make faces and babble, "Wah-wah! Ooh, you're good…Too good. I'm bored."

That was rather short lived.

I approach the guards so that I could enter the brunch when Fluttershy arrived there as well.

"Phew. Made it," Fluttershy said as she tried to enter, but was stopped by the guards' wings.

"Halt!" said the first guards.

"Who goes there?" added the second one.

"No one. Never mind. I'll go home," Fluttershy said, turning to find me behind her.

"It's all right, sirs. They are on the list," Twilight called out from the shop.

Fluttershy and I entered the shop. Hm, they have really decorated this place.

It looks like they pulled out the stops on getting ready for the Princess's brunch, with all banner, and the streamers.

I saw near the back of the room sat Celestia, with a large private table that people were gathering around.

"Thanks, Twilight," Fluttershy said.

"I'm so glad you two could make it. It wouldn't be the same without you," Twilight said, leading me and Fluttershy to our seats.

"Sorry I'm late. I had to finish taking care of a patient first," Fluttershy told Twilight.

"Oh, you and your tender loving care of little animals. I just know Princess Celestia is gonna love that about you. I mean, I hope she will... I mean, of course she will!" Twilight said, showing her first sings of a manic episode, the twitch.

"Wow, Twilight. I thought I was the only one who got nervous at social gatherings."

"She is right Twilight, you look ready to break," I added.

"Oh, it's not that. I just want the princess to approve of my friends," Twilight explained. Approve of your friends? Careful Twilight, that could end some friendships if all that matters is Celestia's approval.

"But she's met us all before," Fluttershy argued.

"Not me she hasn't," I said.

"She has read about you in my letters. But this is the first time she's spent any real time with all of you. I want everypony to make a good impression," Twilight answered.

"Well, I'm sure you have nothing to worry about. Besides, it's just a casual get-together, right?" Fluttershy asked.

Knowing the others, casual is not possible. It is either crazy or unpredictable.

"Don't touch me!" I heard Rarity shout. Why did she and overdressed outfit? "Watch the dress! Careful, you're gonna spill that on me! Oh, oh, that looks delicious. What is it? Oh, does it stain?! Keep it away from me!"

"Or... perhaps not that casual," Fluttershy admitted.

I continued to look around the room, and saw Applejack, and her dilemma.

It seems that she is trying to have good table manners, but is leaving herself unable to choose what is correct to eat.

"Uh... which is the salad and which is the appetizer again? And which am I supposed to eat first? Oh, never mind. I'm not hungry," Applejack said, giving up on figuring it out.

"It's okay, Twilight. So our friends' manners aren't perfect. I doubt the princess will even notice," Fluttershy said, trying to comfort Twilight.

"Whoo-hoo!" Speaking of manners, here's Pinkie.

"Cupcakes, candies and pies, oh my!" Pinkie said, hitting herself with a pie," Oooh! Chocolate fountainy goodness!" Why would you dunk your head in chocolate? Then Pinkie appeared next the Celestia, "You gonna eat that?!" Pinkie asked, then eating the food off Celestia's table.

I then saw Mrs. Cake then drag Pinkie away from the table by her tail.

"Hey!" Pinkie called out.

Well then… They may be socially awkward, but they are entertaining to watch.

I then watched as Celestia played some kind of tea mind game with Mrs. &Mr. Cake.

"Oh..." Twilight said, trying to hide herself behind our connecting table.

"And what about you, dear? Fluttershy, is it?" Celestia turns to ask her.

"Me? Oh yes, Your Highness," Fluttershy said, oddly brave.

"I understand from Twilight Sparkle's letters that you enjoy tending to the needs of woodland creatures," she continued.

"Yes, I love to take care of animals."

"As do I. As Princess, I care deeply about all creatures, great and small."

Suddenly there was a cough from the empty cage behind Celestia. What the?

"Nothing means more to me than the well-being of all my subjects," Celestia said, ignoring the cough.

Suddenly, some sickly looking turkey creature flew appeared in the cage.

"Ah, Philomena, my pet. You're awake. Do say hello to our gracious hosts," Celestia said to the bird, but all she got was some coughs, and hacks from the animal.

"Oh... my," Fluttershy said. Why would you bring a sickly animal around an animal obsessed caretaker?

"She is quite a sight, isn't she?"

"I... I... I've never seen anything like it," Fluttershy said, looking nervous now.

"Ah, and you must be Chrome, I have read about you in Twilight's letters as well," Celestia said, noticing me.

"It is nice to meet you Celestia," I said with a simple head nod. But also gaining a gasp from Twilight.

"Chrome you can't talk to the Princess like that," Twilight said.

"I see no issue, where I am from you state the last name of the individual, not the title," I said with a shoulder shrug.

"Hmm, Twilight has told me quite a bit about your unusual perspective on the world," Celestia continued. Unusual Perspective? This coming from a manic unicorn. "And that you tend to have some insight of how to help you friends."

"I have no insight, I simply tell them what I see from my perspective, and let them decided what must be done."

"Oh? And what do you 'perceive' about me?" Celestia asked with a smile.

"Well since, I don't know you on a personal level, I can only tell you from what I understand from word of mouth, and my own interpretation."

"Well then, let's hear it."

By now, Twilight was staring intently at me.

"Very well then. Firstly I have come to understand that the reason you have come into power, was not by your magic, intelligence, or leadership. You came into power due to your ,and your sister's, use of the Elements of Harmony," I explained. The room fell silent as the ponies around listened.

"Now the issue about the Elements of Harmony. From what I have come to understand, you, yourself have a limited knowledge of what the Elements can do, since whenever they were used, it ended in a different result, ranging from the petrification of the Chaos Spirit, to the banishment of your own sister. I know this due to the different actions the Elements have done on the latter. When they were used on Nightmare, instead of repeating their actions, they removed the 'evil' from her."

By now, many of the ponies were looking at me opened mouth, and Twilight was hiding under the table.

"The finally thing that I have come to understand is you have fallen out of Harmony." This caught Celestia by surprise.

"What do you mean that I have 'Fallen out of Harmony'?" She asked, and offended by my guesses.

"Celestia, you were once able to use all the Elements before, yes?"

"Yes, but they stopped working after my sister's actions."

"Celestia, the Elements are just a tool to an ends. The reason why they stopped working wasn't because of your sister's actions. It was because you didn't meet the requirements to weld them anymore."

Celestia's eyes went wide at this.

"So I wonder, what changed in you Celestia? We all know that your magic remains, so it can't be that. What happened? Did you become a liar? Or maybe you fell into a depression? Maybe you are a traitor for banishing your sister to the moon? Or did you not do your actions for you people, and did it for selfish reason? Was it the desire to be cruel? Who knows? Maybe it is a combination of them. But as it stands, you have fallen Celestia, maybe now with your sister, you can find what loss," I finished my little speech.

All around me were stunned ponies, and a princess that was unable to meet my gaze, and examining herself. The only noise to be heard was of Philomena's coughing.

A guard then approached Celestia, and whispers something in her ear.

"Really? Well, if I must... I'm sorry, everypony. I'm afraid I have to cut the party short. The mayor has requested an audience with me. Royal duty calls. Thank…Thank you for a wonderful time. It's been a joy getting to know you all better," Celestia said, still bothered by what I said.

Celestia then left the shop with her guards. Well then, that was odd.

I looked around, and saw that all of the ponies were still staring at me. Since I had no reason to stay, I decided to leave, and go back home.

Back at home, I found that Nyx had the Crusaders over.

"Hello Nyx, I am back," I said when I approached them in the living room.

The four looked over at me, and the Crusaders gasped.

"It's the Creepy Pony!" Scootaloo shouted

"Creepy Pony?" Nyx asked, looking at me, the understanding what happened.

"Ya, what are you doing in Nyx's home? Are you here to do something evil to her?" Applebloom asked.

"Wait, girls," Nyx said, trying to get the girl's attention.

"Well we aren't going to let you take her!" Sweetie Belle added.

"Girls!" Nyx said, running over to stand infront of me, "I think there has been a mistake. I know this pony."

"Huh?" the girls asked, confused.

"Yes, this is not a Creepy Pony, it's my dad," Nyx told them.

"What? Your father is the Creepy Pony?" Scootaloo asked.

"In my defense you thought I was creepy for picking up Nyx." I stated.

The Crusaders then huddle together, and started whispering to each other. They then break it up after a few seconds.

"We are sorry for thinking that you were a Creepy Pony Nyx's father," Sweetie Belle apologized, and the others agreed.

"No problems here girls, just glad Nyx has some friends, especially since you lot tried to defend her from what you thought was danger," I said.

"So dad, how was the brunch with the Princess?" Nyx asked.

"Meh, it was rather the same old stuff, just with her there," I said, shrugging my shoulders.

"So it was a disaster from the start?" Nyx asked. I think I am starting to rub off on her.

"Yeah, and you should expect Twilight to arrive soon to talk to me."

"Alright dad," Nyx said, as she and the girls went back to doing whatever they were doing before.

I then move to the kitchen. Hmm, what kind of tea does Twilight like?

By the time I had set up the tea, and a small snack, a knock came from the door.

I move to the door, and open it to an angry purple unicorn.

"Chrome, what you did was out of line!" Twilight yelled at me. I decided to just walk inside, and for her to follow.

She continued to berate me for my speech while we walked to the table, and sat down.

I let Twilight continue to rant at me. I watched as the subconsciously eat the snacks, and had some tea.

When she finally finished her rant, I decided to finally speak.

"Twilight, Celestia asked me to tell her how I saw things, and if I couldn't refuse due to her rank. And before you say that I should of said something different, that would mean lying to her, so I was at an impasse, and told her exactly what she asked to her," I explained to her. This caused her just pout, because she knew I was correct.

"Fine, you did as you were asked, I can't blame you for that, but your speech about her was quite unkind," Twilight huffed.

"Twilight, I said what I did without the input of emotions from me. If I included my own, personal thoughts, then I would have told her that I pity her."

"Pity her? Why would you pity the Princess?"

"Twilight, you must remember that she is an 'immortal', so she has had to witness the death of so many of her friends, and loved ones. To her, the only constant in her life was her sister, and when she was forced to banish Luna, she had ripped hew own heart out. I don't know what kind of pain she feels from that, but I don't wish that pain on the worse of ponies," I continued.

"Wow… I never really thought of her like that," Twilight said, saddened, "You know, you have a unique mind for anypony that I have met."

"Never said that I was a pony," I admitted. Might as well give her something to remove her mind from that.

"Wait? You're not a pony, but you look like one?" She said, indicating my body.

"Twilight, you are looking at clothing, not myself."

"If you are no a pony, then what are you?"

"I was a human," I told her.

Right as soon as I said 'Human' Twilight jumped up, and balanced on the lamp.

"A human? You mean you are one of those evil chaotic creatures?" Twilight ask in fear.

"Twilight, I am not evil. I have proved that numerous times, and the fact that you fear me is rather hurtful," I said

"How can I trust you? Humans are supposed to be deceivers, and want nothing by pain and violence!" She shouted.

"Twilight, do you even have any idea how narrow minded that is? You believe that you can judge me based on nothing more than rumors and myths," I said, gaining anger in my voice. Twilight was couldn't meet my eyes now.

"Sorry, I was just scared," she admitted, and got off the lamp.

"It is alright, next time, just go by your own experiences, not what others say," I said, calming down.

"Alright, well… thanks for the tea and snacks," she thanked me, before moving to leave.

"Where are you heading?" I ask.

"I'm going to check up on Fluttershy, she kinda left the brunch rather quickly."

"Alright, I'll come with you. I got nothing better to do," I said, following her out.

As we passed through the living room, I saw Nyx alone, reading. I guess the girls left.

"Nyx, I am off to Fluttershy's, want to come?" I offered.

"Yes!" She said, and came up do walk next to me.

The three of us headed to Fluttershy's, and Twilight was the first to reach the door, and let Fluttershy know we arrived.

Nyx and I followed her inside, and saw that Philomena.

"Hi, Fluttershy! I just wanted to drop by and say thank you so very much for making such a good impression on the princess today... " Twilight started before noticing the bird, "What is Celestia's pet doing here?!"

"I couldn't leave the poor thing there. She needed my help," Fluttershy argued.

"Oh no. NonononononoNO! This is bad," Twilight said, entering manic mode again.

"How could I just walk away and not do anything?"

"But... but... she doesn't belong to you!"

"I had to do something."

"Without telling anypony?! Without asking permission?!" Twilight shouted, causing Fluttershy to look away.

"But..."

"I know you had good intentions, but you have got to return Princess's pet!"

"But..." Fluttershy sighs "You're right. Okay, let's..." Philomena coughs, "…go"

The two ponies then put the dying turkey bird into a basket to hide it.

"Dad, I don't think this is going to end well, that bird looked really sick," Nyx told me.

"I think you are right Nyx, but these girls do tend to come out of a problem rather unharmed," I told her.

"If we hurry, we can put her back before anypony even realizes she's missing," Twilight told us, and went to open the door. When she opened it, two guards were standing there.

"We were told we could find Twilight Sparkle here," the first one stated.

"We regret to inform you, miss, that the royal pet has gone missing." The second one added. Do those two need the other to explain? I mean, can't one deliver a message? Even Derpy is better than these two.

"Really? You don't say!" Twilight said, giving a nervous laugh.

Suddenly the bird coughed, and Twilight, and Fluttershy coughed to cover it up.

"It's that dry night air?" Twilight lied to the guards

"But it's daytime," Fluttershy added.

Ok, these two are bad liars.

Before Twilight could continue talking, I began, "Sirs, would the bird in question be a pinkish looking turkey?"

The first guard turned to look at me, "Yes that is the royal pet. Have you seen it?"

"I saw a pony take a bird like that, and exit from the Sugercube Corner's back door, and headed to off towards the Everfree," I told them.

The guards looked at one another, and gave each other a nod.

"Thank you for your help," the second on said, and the two left.

Twilight then close the door quickly with her magic.

"Phew..." Twilight said in relief. She then noticed Fluttershy heading towards the door, "What are you doing?!"

"Going to return Philomena, remember?" Fluttershy answered.

"We can't now!" Twilight said, blocking the door.

"Why not?"

"You have no idea what the princess is gonna do if she finds you're the one who took her pet, do you?!"

"Do you?

"Well... no. But it can't be anything good. She might banish you from Equestria. Or throw you in a dungeon. Or banish you and then throw you in a dungeon in the place that she banishes you to!"

"Would she really do that dad?" Nyx asked me.

"No, Twilight is just in her manic phase. Celestia wouldn't risk removing one of Twilight's friends," I explained to her.

"Okay. Granted that probably won't happen, but do you wanna take any chances?" Twilight asked.

"All that really matters to me is that poor little Philomena here gets well," Fluttershy said. She has her heart in the right place.

"That's very noble of you. I'll write to you when you're banished. Unless I'm banished too somewhere there's no post office. Then you'll have to write to me. Deal?" Twilight told her.

"Please, Twilight. You just have to help me get Philomena healthy and then we can return her to the Princess. And everything will be fine." Fluttershy said, but Twilight was still unsure.

"Fluttershy, I will help you. I understand that your heart is in the right place, and what kind of friend would I be if I left you alone while you are troubled?" I asked, looking at Twilight.

"Did you give her any kind of medicine?" Twilight sighed.

"I tried to, but she wouldn't take it," Fluttershy admitted.

"Then you have to MAKE her take it," Twilight groaned, " You can't be such a pushover, Fluttershy! You need to show this patient who's the boss. Make her straighten up and fly right!"

"She can't fly."

"No excuses!" Twilight said, holding up a orange pill.

"Twilight, I wouldn't do that if I were you," I told her.

"What? Why?" she asked.

"Because if you give her the wrong medicine, you might make or sick or worse," Nyx answering for me.

Twilight sighs, "Okay, what else?" She said looking at Fluttershy.

"Uh... well, she keeps pulling her feathers off. The ones that haven't fallen out yet from all her coughing, I mean," Fluttershy told her.

Twilight's answer was to put a cone around the bird's neck to prevent it from pulling anymore feathers out.

"There you go."

Philomena then laid on the ground, trying to remove the cone.

"I don't think she likes it," Fluttershy states.

"Tough love, baby. You want her to get well, don't you?" Twilight said, getting up close to Fluttershy.

"Dad, I don't think this is going to work," Nyx whispered to me.

"I don't think so either. We should leave before they do something drastic," I whispered back.

Nyx then hopped on my back, and the two of us left the girls to heal the turkey.

The two of us ended up seeing the girls again, as they went running pass us in the street.

"I wonder what happened now," I said as I ran after them.

"What are you two doing? Are you having a race? Oh, can I play?" Oh hey, there is Bird Brain, "One, two, three, GO!" And there is goes.

The girls ended up meeting the others at the waterfountain.

"Excuse me!" Fluttershy said, as she somehow got under Pinkie.

"Hi!" Pinkie said.

"Beg your pardon!" Twilight said as she lifted up Rarity.

"Put me down!" Rarity called in distress.

"What in tarnation?!" Applejack asked.

"Let me guess you girls loss—" I started

"The princess's pet bird!" Called out on of the guards nearby.

We followed where he was looking to, and saw the bird on top of the fountain.

"Philomena, come down from there! You'll hurt yourself!" Fluttershy shouted.

The turkey then started to do some overdramatic death routine, and fell from the fountain.

"I'll catch you!" Fluttershy said, running to the turkey's falling body.

Right before the bird could even reach the ground, it burst into flames, and became a pile of ashes. Wait… burst into flames? Pile of ashes? Oh for the love of….

"Dad, is Celestia's pet dead?" Nyx asked, with a little worry in her voice.

"No, it is just running through its cycle" I told her.

"Cycle?"

Fluttershy was holding the remains of the bird, and crying.

"What is going on here? Twilight?" Celestia asked, arriving at the scene

"Yes, your Majesty, there's been a terrible accident," Twilight was the first to speak.

"It's all my fault," Fluttershy admitted.

"No, Princess. Fluttershy didn't know any better. It was my fault."

"I'm the one who did it."

"But you were only trying to help."

" Some help I was."

"Will ya let me do this? She'll go easier on me."

"But it's my fault!"

"No, it's my fault!"

"No, it's my fault! Wait, what are we talking about?" Pinkie asked.

"Thanks for trying to protect me, Twilight, but... Princess Celestia, I'm the one who took your pet bird. I really was only trying to help the poor little thing. Then I was gonna bring it right back to you, honest. So, if you wanna banish me and then throw me in a dungeon in the place that you banish me to, then that's what I deserve," Fluttershy said.

"Celestia, I think you should end this bit," I called out to her. Celestia looked at me, then walked towards the pile of ashes.

"Oh, stop fooling around, Philomena. You're scaring everypony," She told the ashed.

The out from the ashes, came the newly reborn Philomena. The surrounding ponies gasped, and awed the phoenix's rebirth. Philomena then landed on Celestia's back, and gazed at the ponies.

"Idon't understand! What is that thing? What happened to Philomena?" Fluttershy asked.

"This is Philomena. She's quite a sight, as I said. But nothing unusual for a phoenix. Isn't that right, Philomena?" The bird squawked in response.

"A... A phoenix?"

"A phoenix is a majestic and magical bird. While it appears healthy and happy most of the time, every so often it must renew itself by shedding all of its feathers and bursting into flame," I said, remember reading about them in the library.

" And rather melodramatic, if you ask me. It then rises from the ashes, fresh as a daisy. All just a normal part of the life cycle of a phoenix," Celestia continued, " I'm afraid mischievous little Philomena here took the occasion to have a little fun with you, Fluttershy. Say you're sorry, young lady."

Philomena give squawk of apology.

"So... aren't you gonna banish me? Or throw me in a dungeon? Or banish me and then throw me in a dungeon in the place that you banish me to?" Fluttershy asked.

"Of course not, my little pony. Where on Earth would you get such an idea?" Celestia asked her.

Twilight found the ground to be very interesting.

"I guess I have some imagination."

"Fluttershy really did do everything she could to try to take care of Philomena for you," Twilight told Fluttershy

"And I do appreciate that your heart was in the right place, child. But all you had to do was ask me and I could have told you Philomena was a phoenix and saved you all this trouble," Celesta told them.

"I know. I shouldn't have jumped to conclusions. Next time I'll ask before taking matters into my own hooves," Fluttershy admitted.

"Should I write you a letter about that lesson, Princess?" Twilight asked.

"No, that's quite all right. I think I can remember," Celestia replied.

Philomena then took off flying again, and placed one of its feathers into Fluttershy's hair.

"It's beautiful. Thank you, Philomena. No hard feelings," Fluttershy told the bird with a smile.

We then saw Rainbow go up to Philomena, and began to whisper something to the bird. The bird then went down to the guards, and began to tickle them with her feathers, causing them to laugh.

"Yeah!" Rainbow called out in victory before laughing, and soon the others followed.

After that episode had ended, I decided to tell Celestia one more thing. With Nyx on my back, I approached her before she got on her chariot.

"Celestia, I have something I wish to speak to you of," I called out to her.

Celestia stopped, and looked a little uncomfortable, and so did the girls.

"Celestia, while what I said, is what I think, it was an observation without emotions. While what I said was true, you must understand that is not what I believe you are. When I see you, I see a pony that has been through many hardships, from fighting enemies of monstrous powers, to being cursed with immortality. I mean no disrespect when I say to you, that when I see you, I just see a pony that makes mistakes, enjoys her friends, and wishes nothing more than her sister to be happy. Celestia, to me, you are just another pony," I told her.

When I finished, Celestia seemed a little happier. I guess when you are seen as a 'god' ponies tend to treat you as if you are no longer one of them.

With that, I turn and left to walk back home.

"Dad, you are a really nice pony," Nyx told me from on my back.