Twilight awoke with a snort, sending various items falling off her in all directions. Blinking a few times, she raised her head to see Trixie pouting at her.

"You just cost me twenty bits. I hope you're happy."

"What? How?"

Fleur giggled as she trotted towards Twilight, carrying a tray in her magic. "Trixie bet me she could stack more than ten items on you before you woke up. She only got to seven."

"Oh. I'm glad me sleeping is so amusing to you."

"We got to get our kicks somewhere," Fleur said cheerfully as she passed the tray to Twilight. "Nothing fancy, just bread and jam."

"Thanks." Twilight said before digging in. As she sat there Fleur started to tidy up around the house, which seemed to perplex Trixie.

"Why are you cleaning? This isn't your house."

"Clearly you have never lived on the good graces of others Trixie."

"And you have?"

"Sure. I may have spent most of my young life living on the streets, but once I got to Equestria that didn't really work. I ended up travelling around a lot before being taken in by a nice couple in Manehatten, where I was talent spotted to be a model by Prim Hemline. But until that happened I did my best to not abuse their generosity, just as I don't want to abuse the generosity of Grammaw who took us in, took care of Octavia, gave us somewhere to sleep and fed us for no benefit to herself at all."

"Okay, okay, sheesh."

Twilight swallowed hurriedly, almost choking as she did so. "Where is Grammaw?" she managed to say once she had recovered, helped by Trixie enthusiastically smacking her on the back.

"Out," Fleur replied. "Said something about 'confronting the rumours that pillock Stump has probably spread.'"

"Ooooo... I hope that means what she says it means."

"And what does that mean?" Trixie asked, arching an eyebrow.

"It means she knows I'm an alicorn."

"What!?" Trixie and Fleur shouted in unison.

"And she knows we're from Equestria."

"What!?"

"And that we're on some kind of mission. Thankfully I managed to hide what kind of mission from her."

"Twilight!" Fleur cried, exasperated. "Just what were you two talking about last night!?"

"I'm sorry okay! It started out that she knew I had wings. You'll have to ask her yourselves how, but she knew. She then went on to say that the last alicorn seen in Mareitania was four hundred years ago, leading some big rebellion."

"That can't be true," Fleur said with a frown. "When I heard the stories I was told it was Celestia that led the rebellion, but obviously that wasn't true. I thought the entire thing was just made up after I went to Equestria and found out Celestia is a princess there. That's why I never bothered to tell anypony."

Twilight nodded. "Grammaw thought it was Celestia too, and I didn't do anything to correct her."

"Trixie has no idea what you’re talking about..."

"Oh... right."

"Huh," was Trixie's reaction once they finished recounting the story to her. "Trixie is confused though. How could a white alicorn that looked suspiciously like Celestia have led this rebellion if the white alicorn that actually is Celestia has never set hoof in Mareitania."

"Exactly," Twilight agreed. "That's what I was trying to find out. I asked Grammaw if there was some kind of written history about it, but apparently the Duke at the time banned all writings on it. If it is written down it's in High Rock Keep, which is when Grammaw got suspicious of me because I had no idea what that was."

"It's where the rulers live, even Trixie knows that."

"Well I didn't, okay? Anyway, Grammaw said the only other place it might be recorded is in 'the caverns,'" she said with hoof quotes. "How was I supposed to know that by 'the caverns' she meant the caverns of Maretania?"

Fleur facehooved. "Twilight, places in countries are rarely named after the country they're in."

"I know. I'm no good at this secrets and lies thing, and acting like I know something when I don't is totally alien to me. I mean I'm trying, but this really isn't something I'm used to. Anyway, Grammaw said that in the caverns there's some kind of dog people, by which I guess she means diamond dogs, and that they keep a record of everything that they call the long story."

"Oh. That." Fleur shook her head. "I wouldn't pay any attention to something like that. The long story is just that, a story. Our time would be better spent on things that definitely exist."

"Yeah, I know. I'm not saying we should rush off to the caverns, but should we happen to be near them it might be worth having a look."

"Okay, I suppose so. But what are we going to do in the meantime?"

"Wait until Octavia's better mostly. Right now though I'm going to go check on her, then have a little talk with Celestia."

-0-0-0-

Twilight cracked open the door to Octavia's room and looked down at where Octavia lay sprawled in front of the fire, and was faintly surprised to see Octavia looking back at her.

"You're pretty. A big pretty princess," Octavia said, looking like she was proud of herself for saying so.

"That's... well... thank you Octavia, but you know you're not meant to talk about that."

"A pretty pretty princess, with wings! Pretty pretty wings..."

"Are you ok? Do you need anything?"

"Thirsty."

"Okey dokey..." Twilight spotted a pitcher of water and a glass on the bedside table and set about filling the glass before she spent a few moments thinking about how she was going to do this. In the end she picked Octavia up so that she was leaning back in the crook of her leg, doing her best to not squirm at the fact that Octavia was dripping with sweat.

Holding the glass to Octavia's mouth with her magic she let her drink until the glass was empty, and was about to put her down when Octavia mumbled "More." So she repeated the process just for Octavia to ask for more again. Repeating the process a third time, she was relieved when Octavia didn't say more, and that she was able to put her down.

"Twilight?"

"Yes Octavia?" Twilight said, fully expecting to get a thank you or another comment about being a pretty princess.

"I need to pee."

"For crying out loud..." She looked under the bed where a chamber pot was waiting for just such an occasion, and pulled it out, giving it a cursory glance because she'd rather not think about what she was about to do.

"This is so wrong."

Twilight pushed the chamber pot back under the bed, where she hoped she could never have to see it again. She sat down next to Octavia and was about to ask if there was anything else she needed when she noticed Octavia had fallen asleep again. A strange feeling came over her then, a feeling that she could only describe as parental concern, and she felt oddly compelled to stroke Octavia's mane. "Is this how Celestia feels all the time?"

Shaking the feeling off she clambered onto the bed and teleported the speaker stone up from her bags downstairs before pressing her horn to it and activating it.

"Hello? Twilight? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine Princ- Celestia."

"And Trixie?"

"Trixie's fine too."

"Oh thank goodness, I've been worrying since we last talked."

"Sorry, I would have got in contact sooner but we've been a little busy, what with the breakout and escaping Stalliongrad and Octavia falling ill and all that."

"Falling ill? You mean she got worse?"

"Yeah, we had to leave Stalliongrad in a hurry as you probably know, and she insisted on coming with us. She collapsed and we had to get her somewhere safe. Long story short we carried her to the village of Hoof-Ridge where we've taken shelter with an elderly mare who's taking care of her."

"I see. This mission doesn't seem to be getting off to a good start. I hope she gets better soon."

Twilight sighed and shook her head, forgetting that Celestia couldn't see her. "I know what you mean, but we're not giving up. Actually there's something I want to ask you."

"Of course Twilight, anything."

"Did you happen to lead a rebellion here in Mareitania about four hundred years ago?"

"I- what?"

"Did you lead a rebel-"

"No no, I understood you Twilight. It's just that question was a bit surprising. I can assure you I have never led a rebellion anywhere, let alone somewhere I have’t even been. Where did you even get that ridiculous notion?"

"Grammaw, the mare we're staying with, said that there was a rebellion led by a big white alicorn about four hundred years ago. She thought it was you but I thought it best to ask you and make sure it wasn't you before I put my hoof in my mouth even more than I already have."

"Put your hoof in your- Twilight, is there something you should tell me?"

"Grammaw knows I'm an alicorn."

"What? How? Did you tell her?"

"No, she guessed. She can sense magic in others and apparently alicorns make a bit more of an impression than unicorns. She confronted me about it, and she is a hard lady to keep secrets from."

"Oh Twilight... Did you tell her anything else?"

"She figured out we're not from around here since she kept talking about places that a proper Mareitanian would know about. But she has promised to keep it a secret and shared a secret of her own with me so I do believe she's being genuine."

"You need to be more careful Twilight. You can't risk exposing your secret in case the wrong ponies find out."

"I know, and I will be, but you know how bad I am at lying."

"I always thought it was one of your more endearing qualities." Twilight could hear the affection in Celestial's voice as she said that. "Do you have anything else you wish to ask me? If so make it quick since I'm in court with a large collection of ponies watching me talk to a rock."

"Do you know of anything or anyone that could fit Grammaw's description of the pony that led the rebellion."

"Only one, but she's from stories that were old when I was just a child. The Lady of the North."

"Who's that?"

"I'm not sure, she has many descriptions and all of them are different, except for being a big white alicorn. Some of them call her a goddess, others call her the first alicorn. There are others that say she birthed the sun and the moon. I'm not sure whether they meant me and my sister, or the actual sun and moon when they say that, since one of those is preposterous and the other simply untrue; Princess Platinum was our mother."

"She was? Really?"

"Yes, and I know you'll have questions about that, but I'm afraid they're going to have to wait because I really must be going. I'm sorry I couldn't be more help Twilight."

"You've told me all I needed to know for now Celestia. I'll be in touch soon. Bye." There was a fizzle from the stone as the spell ended. "Princess Platinum was their mother..." she said quietly to herself. "How about that."

"The Great and Powerful Trixie demands to know... do you have any fours?"

"Nope. Go fish."

When Twilight went back downstairs she found that Fleur and Trixie were playing go fish, a past-time that she had no wish to join in on. "Got any news?" Fleur asked her once she had robbed Trixie of all her queens.

"Other than Celestia didn't lead the rebellion, no, not really. She said the only other individual that matched that already vague description is someone called the Lady of the North. Do you know anything about her?"

"The Lady? She's like a religious icon to a lot of ponies around here. Like zebras and others from foreign countries treat Celestia like a goddess and the living avatar of the sun, ponies in Mareitania treat the Lady like that. Always thought it was a bit silly myself."

"Is that all you know?"

"Pretty much. The stories used to say she was our protector, and that she kept eternal vigil from the horrors in the north. That is until she disappeared. Shortly after that, apparently the windigos came and the exodus happened."

"Trixie is getting pretty sick of vague and unhelpful stories. All I want is somepony to say 'go there and it'll all make sense.' All this stuff about rebellions, ladies and long stories doesn't help us do what we came to do."

Twilight wanted to argue, but Trixie couldn't have been more right, which irked her for some reason. "You're right. Once Octavia's better we'll pack up and head to Prance like we planned, and get to doing what we're supposed to be doing. Anything else is just a distraction."

"Nothing wrong with the occasional distraction Twilight." Fleur said without taking her eyes off her cards. "If we happen to be near something that one of us wants to look at, I see nothing wrong with doing so."

"I know, I just feel like all we've done so far is get into trouble and run away a lot. It'd be nice to feel like we're making progress."

"It’s not even been a week yet. Give it time."

Twilight took a cleansing breath and was about to say something when there was a muffled thump and some cursing from the front door. She got up and opened the door to see Grammaw lying spread-eagle on the ground. "Well don't just stand there gawking, help me up!"

Twilight picked her up in her magic and floated her inside. "Are you hurt?"

"Naw I'm fine, just some dang fool hooligans chucked some water outside my door. Happens everytime I helps a unicorn, and yet, when they come to my door needing help its always 'oooh Grammaw, I don't feel well,' or 'help me Grammaw, I was careless at work and chopped me leg off with an axe.' Ungrateful bastards."

The three ponies shared a look. "And what about those rumours?" Fleur asked.

"Just the usual stuff; Grammaw's a filthy unicorn lover and she's been bewitched to do their bidding, while at the same time demanding payment in blood for helping you, 'cause I'm a witch and witches apparently do that sort of thing." She spat into the fireplace, "A pox on the lot of them, 'cept they'd probably expect me to fix 'em up after."

"And Stump?"

"Him? He went to the pub, got pissed, fell on some ice, broke his leg and got frost bite on his privates 'cause he lay down in the snow too long. What'd ya think took me so long this morning?"

"Really?" they all asked in unison.

"Naw, but it'd be nice if it did, the bastard. Di'nt spread no nasty rumours, which is a pleasant change. Guess you girls musta made a good impression. Anyhoo, one of you go get me something hot to drink." Fleur did so, being the most courteous of them, as Grammaw made herself comfy in her armchair.

Twilight pulled herself up onto the sofa near Grammaw while Trixie looked through Fleur's cards and groaned. "Grammaw, what do you know about the Lady of the North?"

"That old story? Nothin' but a load of old hokum. You pay no nevermind to what anypony says about her. She disappeared centuries upon centuries ago, and she ain't coming back."

"Oh, so you're not one of those who pray to her?"

"Pray to her? What for? I could pray for deliverance like some folk, but they're never very specific 'bout where they're being delivered from and too. "B'sides, open worship of her is against the law, since prayin' t' somethin' with wings an' a horn don't work well with the idea of earth pony superiority. Thanks," she said to Fleur, who passed her and the rest of them a mug of something hot and steaming. "Now I don't want to hear no more talk about this. It's my 'ouse an' I don't need no Lady to deliver me from it."

"But you called Celestia a goddess last night."

"That's 'cause she's real. I can believe in things that are real."

Trixie clasped her hooves under her chin. "It’s talk like this that makes me understand why Princess Luna did what she did a thousand years ago. Where's the love for Luna?"

"Who's Luna?"

The rest of the day passed largely without incident. It had taken them a while to explain who Luna was, although they may have omitted that Luna was Celestia's sister, and may have left Grammaw with the impression that Luna was the sole ruler of Equestria. And that she definitely wasn't the reason the sun disappeared for a while a couple of years ago, despite her being in charge of the moon. Overall they might as well have said that she was Celestia's immortal pet cat for all the difference it made to Grammaw. Twilight had threatened to throw Trixie off the roof if she mentioned Princess Cadence as well.

After that they spent most of the day doing very little, apart from the hour they spent hiding upstairs while Grammaw had tea with an elderly stallion, which had left the three ponies wishing they could bleach their brains because of the amount of smutty jokes and rampant flirting that was going on.

After that they sat around some more, with Grammaw offering to teach them strip poker. A game where everypony wins as far as she was concerned. They declined her offer to teach them, the least reason of which being that they weren’t wearing clothes.

Finally the evening came around, with a whole day spent doing nothing which made Twilight feel restless for some reason. Normally she solved most of her problems in a day or two, and sitting around here was making her feel like a bit of a failure. She also missed her friends.

Just as she was about to start wallowing in abject misery, there was a creak from the door to Octavia's room followed by steady hoof steps on the stairs. All of them watched the stairs with rapt attention, rather than get up and help, which means they were unable to do anything as Octavia got to the fifth step from the bottom and tripped on the blanket she had wrapped around herself.

"Ow," she said once she had gracelessly slid to the floor, her rear still resting on the stairs.

Jumping into action, by means of not moving a muscle but rather using her magic, Twilight picked Octavia up and floated her over to the sofa and sat her next to herself. "Are you okay?"

"By dose herds a bid now," Octavia said before rubbing her nose with a hoof, causing it to create a rather disconcerting crunching sound. "Just ab I was darting to feel bedder."

"Better? Already? That was quick."

"That's earth pony constitution for ya, nothing like it," said Grammaw before she bustled over and placed the front of a hoof on Octavia's forehead. "Temperature's still a lil high, but give it another twenty four hours an' you'll be right as rain."

Twilight lit her horn and a glow encompassed Octavia's nose, making her yelp in pain. When the glow faded Octavia sniffed and said in a more normal sounding voice, "You really need to tell ponies when you're going to do stuff like that Twilight."

"Sorry, did it help though?"

"My nose no longer hurts and I no longer sound quite so ridiculous, so yes, it did. Thank you. Also, I'm sorry about this morning, I-"

"Don't mention it."

"But I-"

"Really. Don't mention it."

"Oookay then. So... who's the nice mare? And what's happened while I've been out of it?"

"So you've sat here doing nothing, while at the same time have managed to give away most of our secrets. Wow. Bravo ladies."

Trixie harrumphed indignantly. "That's some cheek coming from somepony who spent a day and a half just lying on a floor. Do you even remember getting here? Because I do, and I had to spend four hours in the snow, loading firewood into a cart for it to happen."

Fleur shushed Trixie, who proceeded to fold her legs and go into a sulk. "Ignore her Octavia. Yes we haven't done much because our options were very limited until you got better. Frankly dragging a feverish and delirious pony around in the snow isn't a very good idea."

"Granted, but you could've... I don't know... done some fact finding or something?"

"Not a lot of facts to find in a tiny village in the middle of a forest."

"Village in the middle of a forest? You mean we're not in Prance? Huh, I must have been truly out of it to miss that."

Twilight glanced at Trixie who had gone from sulking to pouting at the wall before pulling the map out of her bag and passing it to Octavia, taking care to highlight where they were. "We're about quarter of the way to Prance, we think, and it’s going to take us a couple of days walking to get there. Add to that the time it's going to take 'til you're one hundred percent and... well... we're in no rush, let’s put it that way."

"Actually," Grammaw chimed in, "ya might not have to walk it. The traders caravan comes in tomorrow and ya might be able t' barter passage on it. Least until Octavia's well enough to walk."

"But what about the whole 'almost everypony hates unicorns' thing," huffed Trixie. "He might take one look at us and decide to... I don't know. Something bad anyway."

"Not everypony hates unicorns," Grammaw chided. "Besides you're only bartering passage fer Octavia so she don't have to walk, an' she's an earth pony so no problem there. The rest of ya will have to hoof it, but lots o' travellers walk with the trade caravans fer the protection."

"Protection?" Trixie piped up, alarmed. "As in guards? Because that might not be such a good idea."

"Why? You not in trouble are ya?"

"Not significantly no," said Fleur. "We might have run into a little... inconvenience... in Stalingrad, and they might be interested in asking us a few questions."

"Yeah," muttered Trixie, "like where we would like them to shove our horns once they cut them off."

Twilight and Fleur looked to their own horns, which were considerably bigger than Trixie's. "I think we have more reason to worry about that than you," said Fleur.

"Are you saying my horn's small?" No one answered but they all gave small, almost imperceptible nods.

"A little dehorning never hurt nopony," Grammaw said with a sniff. "At least nopony who had to do it anyway."

"What is that supposed to mean!?" Trixie cried before Twilight covered her mouth with a hoof and shook her head very meaningfully.

"I wouldn't worry about it anyway," Grammaw continued, as if Trixie hadn't said anything. "Law enforcement is pretty lazy and doesn't really move outside its jurisdiction, not less you've murdered a buncha earth ponies. Murder a dozen unicorns and they're liable to shake you by the hoof. Anyway what I'm saying is that news of you being wanted prob'ly ain't left Stalliongrad, so as long as ya don't go back there, yer fine."

"You mean I'm not going to be grabbed and dehorned soon as I enter Prance?" Trixie said as she wore a relieved looking grin.

"They might, but not fer the reason ya think. They might just not like the look of ya."

"What!?"

"Heh heh! Don't worry yerself none, I'm just teasing!"

"What kind of sick country is this where the inhabitants make jokes about mutilation and dismemberment?"

"The kind of country where it’s been going on fer centuries and its either laugh or cry. In any case, Prance is pretty laid back compared to Stalliongrad, so you'll be fine. Now I'm going to bed, I wanna get up early fer the traders and t' make sure they ain't going to just rob ya fer the fun of it."

"Goodnight," the others chimed.

"I'm going to bed too." Trixie said once Grammaw had departed. "This could be my last chance to sleep in an actual bed for a while and Trixie doesn’t intend to waste it."

"Ok, but you're sharing it with Octavia tonight. I think she should get at least one night in a bed." said Fleur.

"Eww, she's all ill and roasty. And sweaty. Most definitely sweaty."

"Aww, I didn't know you liked cuddling up with me so much Trixie," Fleur teased. "We can do it again some other time."

"Octavia's fine. Come on Octavia, we're going to bed."

"Oh... okay. Goodnight."

"Goodnight Octavia, goodnight snugglebunny."

"Shut up Fleur."

There was silence as Trixie and Octavia headed upstairs. "I like Trixie. She's so much fun to tease," Fleur said once they were gone.

"But you don't like her that much right... I mean you weren't being serious?" Twilight asked, demonstrating her obliviousness to emotion.

"Why? You jealous?" Fleur said with a wink, before giggling at Twilights' flustered look. "You girls are too easy. No I don't like you, Trixie or Octavia in that way, so you don't need to worry."

"Saving yourself for Fancypants?"

"Actually Fancypants and I aren't dating. It's all a publicity stunt."

"A publicity stunt? Really? Why would you pretend to go out then?"

"Because from a business point of view we look good together. Canterlot's richest philanthropist, and me, its hottest model. It'd be a match made in heaven if he wasn't a closet homosexual and if I had any interest in him in that way. Don't get me wrong, we've been friends for several years and I do care for him a lot, but it’s not love, not even close."

"Oh, I see. So are you allowed to see other ponies or are you..?"

"Celibate? Oh no, he has his lover that he sees in secret and as for me, I'm currently between stallions. Unofficial stallions anyway."

"Oh, okay. Well I guess we should... uh, go to bed or something..." Twilight said, not feeling particularly comfortable with where this conversation might go.

"Wow Twilight, you really know how to give a girl an invitation. Too bad I'm not that type of girl."

"What!? No! I mean we should go to bed. To sleep! We should go to bed to... uh... sleep. Yes, sleep." Fleur leaned toward Twilight and looked her straight in the eye, her own eyes half lidded.

"Twilight..." she said in a voice that would make anyone go weak at the knees and stand to attention at the same time.

"Yes Fleur?" Twilight said in a voice that had more cracks in than a broken mirror.

Fleur said nothing but leaned in a little closer, before suddenly darting in the rest of the way and licking Twilight on the end of her nose. "Goodnight Twilight!" she said gleefully before extinguishing the lamps with her magic and making herself comfortable on the sofa.

Twilight pressed a hoof to her nose, stunned by the sudden change of pace. "G-goodnight Fleur," she squeaked before trying to make herself comfy.

"Twilight?"

"Y-yes Fleur?"

"If you tell anypony Fancypants’ is gay, I'll kill you."

"Right."

"And if you tell anypony it was me that told you, I'll make it slow and painful."

"Gotcha."

"Oh, and Twilight?"

"Yes?"

"No touching yourself in the night. I don't want to hear it and you might accidentally kick me."

"...!"

"Goodnight Twilight."

Author's Notes:

I'm not using Celly's and Luna's backstory from journal of the two sisters. Not because I have anything against established lore, but because it was boring as sin.

Also, go play the horse-game demo on equidev.net, never before has a pony had a choice of so many socks to fight in.