Chapter Twenty-Three – Twilight Sparkle

Twilight had managed to remain calm during many situations. She had walked into and out of the Everfree Forest without so much as a single scratch. She had led Cerberus back to his home in Tartarus, returning with only a single scratch. She'd fought hydras, and manticores, and Nightmare Moon. But when she saw her brother point a weapon with intent to kill at one of her friends, she found it hard to keep calm.

"Shining, STOP!" She screamed. The white stallion flinched when he heard her screams. The spear was slowly lowered, but stayed pointed at the blue pegasus.

"You're fantastic at first impressions." Frostburn said nervously and sarcastically. His eyes were still wide with fear. Shining gave him a nasty glare, but Twilight was sure that comment came more from social ineptitude than hostility.

"Twily, this is the same pegasus who burned down Ponyville, right? The one everypony is looking for?" Shining still hadn't released his grip on the weapon. Earlier Twilight had tried explaining the situation to both him and Princess Cadence. After her description of the hellfire, Shining Armor had kind of stopped listening. He did start to listen again, right in time to hear about Frostburn's attack on Princess Celestia.

"Just calm down big fella." Applejack said. "Frostburn's alright once ya get to know 'im."

"It's true Shining. But you have to give Frostburn a chance, none of this was his fault." Twilight said, wary that her brother still had his weapon aimed somewhat at the red maned pegasus. "Will you put the spear down?" The lavender unicorn asked him.

Shining Armor snorted, but graciously set the spear off to the side. Frostburn gave a smile that was somewhere between awkward and innocent. Twilight felt a lot of tension that still needed to be diffused. Hoping a change of subject would help she asked, "Where's Pinkie Pie? I could have sworn you were partnered with her."

Applejack allowed herself into the palace along with –much to Shining Armor's dislike – Frostburn. "She went off to tell Rarity and Rainbow that the searchin' was over." Twilight cringed at that. She was pretty sure those two would be at each other's throats by now, despite her best wishes that they would reconcile.

"Small talk aside," Frostburn said. "Applejack promised me answers when I agreed to come here."

Twilight eyed Applejack, curious about just how much information had been shared already. The orange farmer gave a nonchalant shrug that told her absolutely nothing. "You deserve to know what's going on." She said, motioning them both to follow her. They did, and the four of them made their way to the parlor in the next room. Shining Armor continued his death stare at Frostburn the entire time, making the blue pegasus visibly nervous. At least he had left the spear by the door.

Inside the parlor, Twilight saw Fluttershy had dosed off by the fireplace, wrapped in a blanket. Princess Cadence was sitting in a chair, also by the fireplace, sipping a cup of hot chocolate. When the four came in, the Princess looked up.

"Hello everypony. Is this the pegasus you were telling us about, Twilight?" Cadence asked getting up from her seat.

"Yes, it's him." Twilight said. Cadence walked over and inspected Frostburn.

"Careful, Cadence." Shining Armor said. "I still don't trust him." Princess Cadence laughed innocently.

"Oh you." She said playfully tousling Shining's mane as if he were just a colt. He grunted disapproval, but blushed all the same. "I don't think you look all that dangerous." The Princess said, turning to Frostburn.

"Thanks." He said, smiling. He was probably happy that a stranger finally trusted him. Twilight nudged Fluttershy awake, the yellow pegasus' eyes fluttering open before she sat up quickly and alert. She yelped out of surprise when she saw Frostburn, but settled down before he noticed her.

"Frostburn I know you want answers, but I think we should wait for everypony else before I tell you everything." Twilight said.

"Pinkie, Rainbow, and Rarity already know the prophecy." Applejack said. Frostburn – along with Shining Armor and Princess Cadence who were equally caught unaware – turned to AJ in confusion.

"Prophecy?" Shining asked. "Twily you didn't mention a…"

"I was waiting until we found Frostburn before I said anything." Twilight said quickly. She didn't want her brother any angrier than he already was due to Frostburn's presence. "But I suppose I can go ahead and tell you all everything now." Frostburn found a comfortable spot on the ground and prepared to listen. Shining Armor and Princess Cadence chose to stand. The purple mare launched straight into telling everything that had happened after Frostburn had flown off, which was convenient because that was where she had left off from her explanation to Shining and Cadence. Using her expert descriptive skills and memory, Twilight managed to get in every detail. So much detail, that Applejack and Fluttershy didn't feel the need to interject anything.

Frostburn's face transformed into shock, disbelief, and finally horror as he was told the prophecy by Twilight. To prove it was true, Twilight produced the prophetic scroll she had "borrowed" from the Canterlot library. Frostburn, Shining, and Cadence each took a turn at scouring the scroll.

Twilight had left out the parts about Rainbow Dash running off to find him, or the cyan pegasus' fight with Rarity from her recounting. She just got a look from Fluttershy when those points in the plot came up that told her to skip over them.

As the story caught up to the present, Frostburn looked like he might throw up. Cadence and Shining seemed to have handled it better though. Twilight ended with the airship landing in the Empire and the Sergeant's hunt for the icy-blue pegasus.

"I… I…" Frostburn struggled to say something.

"You're not going to run away again, are you?" Fluttershy asked him suddenly. He shook his head. "Good. I don't think Rarity would have liked that."

Rarity? Twilight thought. Doesn't she mean Rainbow Dash? The purple mare asked herself.

"But if I don't leave, won't you eventually have to take me to that Sergeant guy?" Frostburn asked. It was a legitimate question, but even Twilight didn't have an answer for it. In fact, she had been putting it off, because she was worried that an answer would never come. There was silence for a while. Frostburn shifted nervously.

"I'll write to Princess Celestia." Cadence said. "I'll just say that Frostburn isn't in the Crystal Empire, and likely went south. We'll work on decoding the prophecy in the mean time." Applejack, Fluttershy, and Frostburn seemed to think it was a good idea. Twilight wasn't so sure. The last time they had kept her teacher in the dark, things hadn't turned out so well.

Before she could voice her contempt about the idea, she saw that Cadence had already wordlessly left the room. Applejack yawned loudly.

"It's gettin' kinda late. Ah'm goin' ta hit the hay." She declared. Shining Armor indicated the door to the nearest guest room, and the orange mare tiredly walked to it.

"I hope the others are okay." Fluttershy said. Twilight realized she hadn't even been worrying about the absence of her other friends. She stared wistfully out the window, which by now could only show inky darkness of Luna's night.

"They'll be fine." She assured Fluttershy. The yellow pegasus smiled with relief. "In the mean time, I want to work on this cryptic prophecy." Twilight levitated the scroll up to her, and unrolled it. Her brother joined her, looking at the rhyming lines of the apocalypse with only mild interest.

Frostburn clearly looked uneasy being in the scroll's presence, but Twilight wasn't looking at his mannerisms. She was only focused on the blue and red scroll in front of her, which is probably why she didn't hear the opening sound of the palace's front doors. It was probably also the reason why she only looked up when a cyan pegasus kicked open the parlor doors.

"Dashie, don't be rude… at least knock first." A pink mare said. The cyan pegasus didn't acknowledge her.

"Frostburn!" Rainbow Dash screamed with a mixture of giddiness and anger. Before Frostburn could react, Dash had tackled him to the floor.

And that's when Rarity walked in. Next Chapter: Ghost in a Crowded Room Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 16 Minutes