Chapter six

The bell rings as the door is opened to Sugar cube corner. A bouncy pink pony with a pink mane and balloons as a cutie mark comes hopping in as she goes to see who her guests are. “Welcome to Sugar Cube Corner-!” she manages to shout from behind the counter, not even realizing who is in front of her until she opens her eyes. When she does the mare chokes up after seeing Twilight, Cadance, and the two kids there with them. Bouncing over the counter right up to her friend’s face she embraces the Princesses in her hooves and lifts them clear off the ground. “I’m so happy to see you both!!!” she screams as they fight to catch each breath, “you two need to come by more often I mean-!”

“Pinkie…Pie…” Twilight tries to get her attention as she gasps.

“-I mean with you studying to be a Princess in Canterlot and Cadance with Shining-”

“Pinkie…” Cadance tries also, watching the overly excited pony continue to go.

“-And if I don’t see you two then we may not be as good of friends that we used to be and go on as many adventures and-”

“Pinkie Pie!” the Princess yell in unison finally managing to get her attention as Pinkie lets them back down to the ground. The three of them listening to the snickers from the kids.

“Woops! Sorry about that girls.” Pinkie pie scratches the back of her head.

Out of the bunch she surely is the most hyper of them all, like a constant sugar high coursing through her system with no end in sight (considering where she works after all). Always willing to try and get another pony up and out of the dumps, she represents the element of laughter, for good reason. Turning her attention to the other foals on the ground as she picks them up in her hooves giving them a much lighter hug as they return the favor. “And you brought these precious little angels with you!” she awes under her breath, “how adorable. They’ve certainly grown sense I last seen them. They look just like their parents,” she beams as Havoc in a snap teleports and lies across her back to giggle with the party pony.

“It’s great to see you aunt Pinkie,” Rosebud rubs nestles her cheek in to Pinkies own. The kids have always viewed Twilights closest friends as family themselves, seeing as how they’ve all known each other sense they were born. Even though they may not get to see the extended family often, it’s a welcome treat when they do.

“It really is,” Havoc tacks on to his sister’s comment while leaning over top her curly mane in to her face, “I like seeing another pony as silly as my daddy,” he and his sister giggle while the Princesses roll their eyes.

Pinkie just swipes him out from in front of her and gives him another hug, “and if you learned anything from your dad, then I’m sure you are just as fun to have around as him,” she looks back at the other mares in the room while the youngsters wiggle in her grasp. “The rest of the gang are supposed to be here a little later. Can I treat you to some cupcakes!?” she pulls out a fresh batch seemingly from thin air. Holding the tray in front of them all as the alicorns take a single cake and nibble on it. The pair lick the icing off their lips as they sit down in the booth and watch Pinkie give the kids a few servings of the sugary treats.

Cadance leans over to Twilight and whispers in her ear, “it’s going to be fun trying to get them to sleep later on tonight.”

“I know what you mean,” Twilight answers, taking another bite of a cake, “then again I’m sure we’ll have our own sugar rush going on. Not to mention the great coffee they have here.”

“Let’s just see to it they don’t get ahold of that,” Cadance starts to chuckle to herself. Seeing the two siblings play with the energetic mare in the store. Although technically its closing time, thanks to Mr. and Mrs. Cake that own the place being so generous, they allow Pinkie to entertain her friends when she likes, so long as the mess is cleaned up that is.

Havoc glares up at his sister in the rafters of the store after flying up there with her wings, now just content in sitting there mocking him as she nibbles on a cupcake all to herself. It’s not the matter that there are still a few more of them on the tray behind the little colt, it’s the fact that his sister has one, and he wants part of it. It’s a sibling thing. Though between the two of them, Havoc was always sort of better when it came to magic.

“Ack!” Rose starts to spit out pieces of the treat after she takes a second bite, looking back at the sweet and seeing that it has been turned to dirt right in her very hooves, “That’s not fair Havoc!”

“And you aren’t sharing,” he snickers back at her, “besides… this isn’t fair,” With a simple crack of his neck, Rose feels the weight of the cake in her hooves grow tenfold as she drops it to the ground. Now landing with a mild ting from the now solid metal cup cake.

“That’s cheating,” Rose starts to pout.

Though much of this is just humor to the adults in the room as they watch the siblings go back and forth. While they may play with one another like best friends at times, they are siblings after all. “They aren’t going to get in a magic duel with one another are they?” Pinkie asks the two from across the table, “because as cute as that would be. I really don’t want to have to explain to Mr. and Mrs. Cake what happened to their shop.”

“Oh no I’ve seen these two go back and forth with one another before,” Cadance starts off before Twilight goes from there.

“It’s actually quite interesting. Rosebud takes after her mother in the respect of it seems her magic that she manages is neutral or can benefit herself or others rather well,” the mare of magic responds while the three take their eyes off the kids for a second, “Then on the other hoof, Havoc seems to have picked up just a tad of unruly magic from his dad, which comes in handy to play after his name. Each of them tries to outdo the other in their own little way. Though I think a magic duel is out of the-”

The sound of a slight yelp from the colt in the room beckons each of them to turn around after Twilight gets cut off. Looking back only to see Havoc laying on his face after trying to get up for a second time from the ground, a clear layer of ice magically formed from under him at the hooves of his own adept sister while she giggles in the rafters still as he slips and slide across the surface. Happily sticking her tongue out at him from her post. As comical as that may be, the three older mares know that a sibling fight would be bad news to tell their mother upon their return.

“Okay you two,” Twilight says calmly as she gets up from the booth, “your mom and dad really wouldn’t like having a report of a fight in the bakery now would she,” with her horn aglow Twilight lifts Havoc up to his feet as she turns her attention to the sister, “Come on before one of you gets hurt.”

“Awe… auntie…” she groans. Once though the foal sees the stern look on her face, the foal knows the gig is up and flutters her way back down to the ground. Havoc takes the opportunity and uses his magic to lift the cupcake off the ground and turn it back to normal before snapping it in two for them to share.

“Truce?” he passes her half over.

“For now,” Rose giggles with him.

“Besides mom did said to watch our sweets,” he snickers at her.

“And you’re listening?” Rosebud questions her brother.

“Well dad said it too, but he did have this to follow,” he explains while winking his eye several times.

This time though Cadance steps up to the plate, “you should always listen to your parents. They are there for a reason after all… though Discord I still wonder about every now and again,” she whispers that last line under her breath while she and the adults share a chuckle to themselves before Cadance turns towards Pinkie. “Then again how long do we have before the others arrive exactly?” she asks Pinkie.

The mare thinks back to what her friends told her when they made these plans originally. “Let’s see… Fluttershy is at her cottage and has to tend the animals first, Spike doesn’t close the library till later as Twilight would know, Rarity has her own shop to close up, Rainbow dash is clearing skies before anything to get ready for tomorrows cloud coverage, and Applejack has a few more trees to buck as she harvests the apples…. So I’d say about forty two minutes, and fifteen seconds.”

Twilight and Cadance look at one another from the rather precise answer and shake their heads at their friend’s antics knowing full well that although Pinkie doesn’t seem right in the head all the time. For the most part, she is there still.

Seeing as they have some time, the group heads outside out on the tables for guests. Pinkie and Cadance share a pot of coffee with one another, probably the last thing Pinkie needs at the time, as they chat. While Twilight plays with the foals nearby.

“Twenty six…” Twilight calls out from behind the door to the shop, “twenty seven…twenty eight…twenty nine…thirty! Ready or not here I come!” she bursts through the door looking around for any sign of the twins as they play hide and go seek. “I’m going to find you,” she taunts, flapping her wings and taking to the sky to look around. Knowing full well that the twins didn’t stay in the boundary that she set earlier. After all, they’re kids.

Meanwhile her adult friends stay down watching her try her best to find them.

“She loves those kids,” Pinkie beams as she watches Twilight flap left and right looking around.

“That she does,” Cadance adds, “I mean they look up to her like they would me or Luna.”

The aerial princess pans her head back and forth across the border of where they set the limits. Soon eyeing a white horn peeking through a bush below her as she silently flies down to her. “Hmm… I wonder where Rosebud is,” Twi pauses for a moment. Picking up on the slight giggles coming from the hedge, reaching her hooves down in to the bush rustling them about. She gets hold to the squealing young foal and pulls her out of hiding. The daughter rocks back and forth upside down as she dangles in Twilights grasp until the older princess finally puts her down in her fit of laughter.

“You found me!” Rosebud beams before the smile turns upside down, silently wishing she picked a different bush.

“And you were outside the area we were supposed to stay in,” Twi points out to the young one as she now lowers her head knowing she’s in the wrong.

“Sorry Twily… there were no good spots to hide where you set.”

“It’s okay Rose,” she rubs her muzzle against the foals own like she’s seen Celesta do numerous times, “come on now, help me find your brother.”

The foal jumps at the opportunity to help rat her brother out, literally, as she and the lavender Princess take to the sky. However, Havoc is nowhere to be found. The mare of magic even goes to the extent to cast an x-ray spell on her eyes to try and look through the whole town in a two block radius, but no matter where she looks, the little colt can’t be found. A small shiver starts to trace up her very spine after calling his name out several times and not getting an answer. Even his sister is looking everywhere she can think that he would hide. “Havoc this isn’t funny anymore!” The mare yells out as she starts to fly about more frantically, but in doing so Twilight isn’t really looking at where she is going most of the time as she scans the ground.

Running right in to another Pegasus pony in the sky. The two quickly recover to find that Rainbow Dash has joined the party, albeit slightly painfully as she rubs her head. “Ahh…” she groans. Feeling the pain course through her head, “nice to see you too Twi.”

The Pegasus pony is in charge of keeping Pony Ville’s weather in check. Being the element of loyalty she, remains there for her friends when they need her. Having powerful wings, sky blue coat, with as one may guess a rainbow mane (as well as a rainbow lightning bolt as a cutie mark). She more than lives up to her name, in more than one way, as being one of the fastest fliers in all of Equestria.

Twilight sees her friend through her own wincing, “sorry about that less than stellar greeting. It’s great to see you two Rainbow,” they give one another a light hug midair, after letting go she fills in her Pegasus friend on her frantic nature at the time, “then again I’m trying to look for Havoc after a game of hide and seek that he is take very seriously.”

Rainbow starts to look around for the little guy, “you brought that tike with ya?” she asks after nearly always getting a laugh from the young foal in the past from her own pranks, “so is-” she gets cut off as Rosebud flies up next to the, beating her little wings.

“I found him!” she shouts at the two urging them to follow her.

“Well that answered my next question,” Rainbow snickers as she and Twilight fly back down to Sugar Cube Corner and find the son sitting there at the table with Cadance, Pinkie, Rarity, Fluttershy, Applejack, Spike and Rarity. All the while acting like nothing’s wrong. Twilight gallops up next to him, seeing Havoc laugh and carry on with the others.

“Where were you?” she starts to question in a panic, “how long have you been sitting here?”

Havoc can’t help but laugh at the genius of his simple plan as he tells his aunt what he did, “I knew you were going to look all around Ponyville for me, so I hid in the most obvious place that you would never think to look… right where we started,” he says proudly, “I walked over here while you were counting and talked with Pinkie and Cadance.”

“It’s true,” Cadance backs him up, “he was here the whole time. Even after you burst through the door to find his sister.”

“His dad must be so proud of him,” Pinkie starts to giggle, “He can make a pony lose their mind without even a hint of magic.”

Twilight stands there bewildered by this, just giving her party friend a glare from across the table. Pinkie even going to the point of hoof bumping the little foal as they both almost hit the ground in a fit. Applejack, the country girl of the bunch, starts to snicker at the corkyness of this. Being the element of honesty, she’ll tell it to ya straight. Even if it may not be the best thing to hear at the time. As one may suspect she has a trio of apple on her flank. With orange coat, and long blond hair. With always a cowgirl hat atop her head when she can, she’s a sweet southern bell that is a sight for many sore eyes.

“I think it’s just a hoot yur were bested by a foal,” she giggles. Even getting Rainbow to fall in to the same laughter.

The young Princess simply puts it off to the side and shakes her head. Soon following the bunch is and Pinkie calls them. Sitting around a large dinner table that she set up with nearly any baked dish you can think of she made it for them, somehow in record time. They take their seats, the two Princesses sitting on either side of the foals to take care of them. AJ next to RD, Fluttershy sat next to the host (Pinkie). With Spike sitting next to his long time crush, Rarity.

Rarity, the resident fashionista of Ponyville, is as gorgeous as one may suspect. Pristine white coat, her beautiful, long, purple, curled hair only complements the similar color eyes she possesses. The diamonds on her hip only add to the fact that she deals in fashion every day, but the high life style she may like in no way shape or form means she is stuck up. After all she represents the element of generosity, and will gladly deal self-sacrifice to help a friend. “Well I have to say the house looks magnificent” the beautiful pony states, “fitting for a Princess as it should be.”

“Thank you Rarity,” Twilight blushes a bit at the over the top key of her dwelling that you can nearly see from the window here in the bakery.

“I assume the lessons you’ve been learning with Celestia are going quite well?” Fluttershy tags on. The shy pony, as one may guess. Is a friend to all of them and one of the kindest ponies you will meet, which makes sense seeing as she is the element of kindness, although one may only see this if they get her out of hiding long enough to talk to. Having three butterflies on her back side as a cutie mark, it goes without saying she loves animals and takes care of Ponyville’s own various critters when she has do. “Seeing as you don’t come home till later at night, right?”

“Yes she does keep me for most of the day,” Twilight sighs on that simple matter, “on the bright side I have a break here and there. Which allows me to catch up when we’re all free. It’s just luck that Cadance was coming down also for a few days and she brought the kids along with her.”

The two younger ones in question smile at their Auntie in pure innocents from their earlier actions of almost giving her a heart attack while outside. While Fluttershy simply just leans over top the table and looks at the little ‘angels.’

“Awe… they’re adorable,” she says still feeling a tear well up in her eye at the sight of them while her heart and cheeks warm fast with blood. “How is their magic treating them? I mean, both their parents are very skilled in that field,” she asks out of curiosity.

Twilight recalls all the times she has seen Celestia and Discord having to contend with a random teleportation spell, or the bolt of magic shooting out of Roses horn here and there, or a copy of Havoc going missing when the real one is lounging in his bed. They have gotten it under control very well sense their early years as newborns where the random spells were just by accident. Though now they know how to use their little gifts to their advantage. “Oh it’s going a lot better than when they were younger. Though now they know how to mess with others and use it to help them… thanks to their father.”

Havoc grins slyly as he keeps eye contact away from the alicorn in the room. Knowing full well that he loves to use his little copying spell on more of an occasion than any other, it’s just the one he’s best at. Even if there was that one time when Havoc first perfected it and sent his mother on a wild goose chase through the castle. He never lived that one down with his sister when he had to write ‘I shall not play tricks on mom and dad’ a hundred times, without the use of any magic.

“What kind of spells or things has Celestia been teachin’ ya anyway?” AJ asks as she takes a bit out of an apple fritter.

“Terrifying evil ones that nearly explode at your feet,” Spike mutters under his breath, getting an elbow nudge from Rarity, as they lock eyes for a moment and blush at one another. Twilight also picks up on the comment and can’t help but snicker at him.

“We’ll all sorts. Right now were on past leaders and also spells that were once used for evil by some of those leaders,” she recalls the kings and queens of old. Many of the tyrants, enslaving legions for their personal gain. “A lot of them are just downright evil and have no purpose in them other than to cause pain,” she pauses for a moment to take a sip of her coffee, “but then there are a few that if you tweak the enchantment just right, it can help actually.”

Cadance brings up a crucial subject at hoof that, for the first time of the night, is being mentioned In front of her friends. “Also on top of this,” she gleans at Twi, rearing up her hind legs readying for a kick under the table to her sister in law, “tomorrow a guard from the Crystal Empire is going to be sent here. To act as Twilight's personal body guard, just as a precaution. Also to be her assistant in whatever she may need,” she throws in there, metaphorically kicking the hapless mare in to the street of an on rushing carriage. While at the same time Cadance moves her own legs to the side of the chair, to avoid the on rushing hoof from Twilight, only to be followed shortly by a death glare from the mare, “after all having a guard around in a town where nothing really happens would be pointless if that’s all he did. So he’ll help her out much like Spike always did.”

The others freeze after the words are processed in their heads. All eyes turn to Twilight who still sits there, her own eyes wide, with a tart half way in her mouth not even a bite taken out of it yet. ‘She did not just bring that one up,’ the thought passes through her mind, ‘why here… why now?’ she winces suddenly feeling all the blood rush to her face. Twily glares over at her fellow Princess seeing the devilish grin across her face still looking innocent as can be. A momentary thought of how she could get away with murdering her in front of her friends passes through her head, but then again the kids are there, and she wouldn’t do that in front of them. Then the questions start to fly…

And the idea of homicide becomes all that much better.

“Who is he?” Fluttershy asks.

“When did this happen?” AJ questions.

“What’s he look like?” Rarity is the one to pose the question.

“What’s his name?!” Rainbow shouts.

“When will we meet him?” Pinkie contorts.

All her friends’ fire off asking question after question waiting on an answer, as the alicorn in the spot light sits there and wonders how she is going to get through this night now that the proverbial cat is out of the bag. ‘Oh dear… this is going to be a very, very long night.’ Twilight lowers her head a bit at the table, looking across to Cadance there who only leans back slightly in the chair as Rose sits on her lap, ‘using a foal as a shield… coward.’ she takes a deep breath as she tries to answer them all the best she can, “I don’t know who he is girls, nor what his name is, or even what he looks like. All I know is the subject was brought up yesterday before I left Canterlot. Celestia and even Luna said that having a guard is just piece of mind. Considering as a Princess, in training of sorts, I’d be a high target for any enemy they may have. I mean it makes sense… however” she points over to Cadance who sits there with a grin plastered on her face, “that one there is the pony who knows who this guard is, but she is refusing to tell me.”

Cadance places an acquitted hoof across her chest, “oh you mean me?” she plays if off, “I am simply trying to help out my sister in law.”

“Then why don’t you tell me who it is?” Twilight asks.

“Because the moment I tell you who it is, you will probably try to talk Celestia out of it,” Cadance lets on with a wink. Wondering just how many guards Twilight has really met in the past to have not put it together of who it is yet. “Seriously, Twily… he meets all the things you asked for and you are ‘comfortable’ around him. It will be just fine.”

“Ughhh!” Twilight lets out a deep grunt, seeing as she isn’t going to get anywhere with this. “Well then I guess I’ll have to wait till tomorrow.”

Spike leans over and rests a reassuring claw on his shoulder to comfort her, “for what it’s worth. He’ll probably be just as nervous as you are.”

“How do you figure?” she implores.

“Well right now it seems like that whoever it is,” the dragon explains simply by pointing to every single mare there, “He’s going to be swarmed by our friends and questioned nonstop till his ears bleed.”

“And what about you there, Spike?” RD asks him after engulfing a whole cookie in one go, “Aren’t you going to talk his ear off?”

“Me? Na, I just want him to be good to Twilight,” Spike chuckles in his deep scaled throat before cracking his knuckles on the table, “after all if he is rude to her in any way, he can learn what it feels like to free fall from ten thousand feet.”

“And if he’s a Pegasus?” Fluttershy asks.

“Being set on fire can fix an attitude problem real quick.”

Rarity starts to giggle, if not uneasily, at the protective nature that he holds for the pony who hatched him. “Spiky-wiky does have a point there, though with what he said first,” the mare says pinching one of his cheeks, “the royal guard is sure to be lost at first in a new town. Perhaps you should show him around Twilight? It may easy some of the tension you may feel with having a random colt in your house, and give you time to get to know him better.”

They are all unaware the fact that while they have been talking about this. Cadance has been thinking it all through her own head, ‘considering she already knows of him… just not a lot. It may open up even more doors between them. How does she not realize who I’m talking about? You’re one of the smartest ponies I know Twilight, you can do this math problem in your sleep. This is just going to be a bigger surprise then I thought,’ she ponders, almost playing matchmaker between them. “See now? Rarity has a great point there,” Cadance says trying to push the subject, “it’s all going to work out. Just you wait and see.”

“I have a feeling I’m going to regret trusting you on that matter,” she rolls her eyes at the other Princess. “I don’t have a choice in the matter… besides,” she brings up her previous thoughts, “if he is a Royal guard, then he should at least be respectful in my own home.”

‘Try that…and kind, loyal, brave,’ Cadance adds to what Twilight said in her head, ‘…oh and even handsome too.’

The time ticks by as the friends banter back and forth about the guard to come. Eventually changing the subject over and over again as the night goes on. The sugar rush in each of them though starts to die down as they each can feel the night starting to take them farther in farther in to the abyss. Havoc yawns and props his head against his sister’s head as she does the same leaning in to one another. Spike is starting to feel the night get to him as he stretches his arms up and around Rarity. The white unicorn smiling at him for the rather corny movie time move and nestles her head in his side as she copies the foals and yawns herself.

“Well I think it’s about that time of night,” Applejack gets up from the table as they all start to follow her lead.

“I’m with AJ on this one,” Rainbow says with her, “it’s been a blast seeing all of you.”

The groups starts to say their goodbyes as they part ways for the night. Pinkie being the only one who seems to have energy at this point as she cleans up, insisting she can do it herself, which none of the others question as she bounces up and down in and out of the kitchen carrying plates and cups galore. While the rest of them fall out in to the streets.

“It was great to see the twins again,” Fluttershy give them each a kiss on the head as they are slouched over Cadance’s and Twilight’s back, out cold from a sugar coma.

“I’m sure they were glad to see you as well Fluttershy,” Cadance giggles, “I’ll have to get Celestia and Discord to come down here again sometime and bring them along once more.”

“That would be just great…” Twilight says with a casual smile on her face as she goes back to and old subject of the day, “then I could interrogate her on the guard that is to be here tomorrow.”

“You aren’t going to let go of that are you?”

“Not a chance at all.”

Rarity steps out in to the night sky and picks up a slight chill in the air as it nips under her coat and leaves a trail of goose bumps riding across her skin and even a chatter in her teeth. Spike pops out of the store and waltzes right up next to her without even needing an invite as he can see the cold mare shivering. “Spikey?” she bats an eye lash at him, “would you be a dear and walk home with me tonight? It can be a lonely, albeit short, walk and it is on the way is it not?”

Spike is grateful for the dim light so she can’t see the red cheeks that he is getting, “not a problem, Rarity,” he answers calmer than he would have a few years ago, after much practice. Putting a wing over her relative small form, with a single tug he pulls the unicorn in closer to his body, always enjoying the chance to help this sweet mare when he can.

“Hmm… for being cold blooded you sure are quite warm,” she points out to him. Running a graceful hoof over his chest as she nearly buries her cheek against his side.

“Yeah… funny how that works out,” Spike answers scratching the back of his head, knowing full well it’s the sudden increase in a heart rate of having the pony of his dreams next to him, especially when some of his dreams have come true, but their friends don’t need to know that. As they walk off in to the night they get the same looks and stares they have gotten for quite some time now.

Cadance nudges Twilight, “are those two,” she tries to gesture her hooves in a way to explain it, “you know…”

Luckily she picks up on what her friend is trying to say, “That is a subject that they have bounced around for quite some time now. Something clearly is going on between them, but they leave us all in the dark for the most part,” she answers while they step off and head back to Twilights new home in the middle of the night.

Reaching the house she opens the door and the two step in. Immediately taking the kids up to the guest bedroom (one of them) and tucking them in for the night. Twilight and Cadance gives each of them a kiss on the head as they wish them goodnight. Then leaving the room to let them get some sleep. The two Princesses close the door to the little angel’s room, quietly walking down the hallway. “They look so precious when they sleep,” Twilight smiles at her sister in law.

“Almost like your brother when he sleeps,” Cadance winks at Twilight, before watching her just shake her head after getting several very bad images in her mind. “Ahh… I really should get to sleep now. Seeing as I have to get them back to Canterlot tomorrow, then head back to the Crystal Empire to see Shining.”

“Will you stay to see the guard at least?” Twilight asks her.

“Already planned on it,” Cadance says sincerely. Mostly because she wants to see the look on Twi’s face. “On that note. Good night Twilight, I’ll see you in the morning.”

Twilight wishes her goodnight as well, before returning to her own room and climbing in to the bed. Already trying to put tomorrow out of her mind for what it may come to.