Twilight Sparkle was surprised to see Gosling standing before her. He was tall, he was pretty, and he appeared to be rather apprehensive with the way he pranced around. She was even more surprised that she had cut herself off from the ink so well; she had no precognition that Gosling was even coming. Things were getting better, getting easier; with each passing day, she settled more into her old life, as strange and as comforting as it was.

“So, Sumac, eh?” Gosling smiled, but it did not hide his apprehension, and some of the feathers on his wings fluffed out, perhaps because he was feeling a bit too warm due to his nervous, fidgety energy. “I always knew that kid had it in him.”

“I always knew that you had it in you,” Twilight replied, and her own warm sincerity almost made her voice crack. She pointed, and watched as Gosling’s eyes crossed while looking upward at the gleaming white horn growing from the white patch on his forehead. “Though I wish that Shining Armor and Blueblood would change their minds.”

“They want to show the world that unicorns can make a difference,” Gosling said to Twilight while he refocused his eyes to look straight ahead.

“And what about you, Gosling? What made you go through with it?” Twilight was as curious as she was sincere—she had never asked this question before and she wanted to know the answer.

“I wanted to show that a pegasus can make a difference… and that hard work is rewarded. Look, I get why Shining Armor and Blueblood wish to remain the way they are and I respect them for that. I don’t wanna diminish what they’re doing. But I also think they could be doing more, but I don’t mean that in a bad way. There is just no good way to say what’s on my mind, so I am going to shut up now.”

“I understand.” Twilight nodded and took a step closer to Gosling, wanting to be closer to another pony, as she was still shaken by her eons-long sojourn. “What you, Shining Armor, and Blueblood did was very brave—”

“Twilight, they did the fighting… I was useless—OW!”

Without even thinking about it, Twilight’s wing flew out and she gave Gosling light but startling slap across the face. She was shocked—stunned by her own reaction—and a bit spooked by how much she had changed during her long journey. Before she could even process what she had done, she started speaking, and the words just spilled out of her mouth.

“You were not useless! Shining and Blueblood did the fighting and you did the diplomacy! The Lord of Shades was defeated and the Grittish Isles were reclaimed. You… you brought the ponies of those isles together and you made them happy! You made them trust one another again! You drove away the dark shadow that lurked in their hearts!”

“Ow…” Gosling rubbed his cheek with his wing, not so much hurt, still alarmed by Twilight’s reaction. “You’ve changed, Twilight. There is something different about you.”

Feeling a little panic, Twilight continued, hoping to draw attention away from herself. “You’ve become the Alicorn of Happiness. Who knew that the silly rubber duckie on your hindquarters would have so much meaning? Everywhere you go, you push back the shadow and leave others happy. You helped to save the Grittish Isles, not just from evil, but also the ponies from themselves.”

“And that is what I came to talk to you about,” Gosling said as he folded his wing back against his side. “I have to go back and save the Grittish Isles again. Look, I know it is sudden, but Celestia, Luna, and I have been asked to return as mediators. The new government is having some growing pains. They’re asking for help now before it becomes a big problem, or worse, Grogar’s shadow comes creeping back in. Mister Teapot’s druids have done a lot to remove the taint from the land, but there is still a lot of negative energy and bad magic left behind.”

“So you need to go on a trip?” Twilight asked.

“Yes.” Gosling nodded his head. “And we need a foalsitter. We were going to ask Cadance and Shining Armor, but… uh… well, the uh, Crystal Cotillion is coming up and—”

“Nuance.” One of Twilight’s eyebrows arched while she said the distasteful word, and she saw Gosling nodding while looking somewhat ashamed.

“Yeah.” Gosling shuffled around on his hooves, his wings flapped against his sides, and he looked up at the massive tree stump hanging from the ceiling because he could no longer look Twilight in the eye. “Yeah, my son has some behavioural issues, and there was that little fight with Skyla, and she totally thrashed him.” Looking disturbed, the upset father focused his eyes on Twilight once more. “Is it wrong that I’m happy that my son got his plot kicked?”

Twilight was too stunned to say anything in response and she stood there with her mouth hanging open.

“I mean, I was kinda hoping that it would fix him… you know, his attitude problem. It fixed Skyla… I mean, she’s a bookworm and a little egghead and who would have thought she was capable of violence? I mean, I know Cadance was shocked and proud of her daughter, because let’s face it, up to this point, Skyla’s never even raised her voice and it isn’t healthy for a foal to be that meek.”

“I did… not… know that Skyla got into a fight.” Twilight, numb from this information, didn’t know what to say, or which response was appropriate. She knew that there had been a squabble, but an actual fight… from Skyla? From Flurry, a fight would be expected, but Skyla… Twilight couldn’t even imagine it happening. “I’d be happy to foalsit for a while… that’d be great.”

It would be great. Twilight needed an excuse to hole up in her castle and take some downtime. Corbie and Radiance were no real trouble at all, and Nuance could be wrangled. She could call in help—favours—and even better, she could call in friends. Seville and Pinkie Pie would be ideal foalsitting companions, and they could all spend a little quiet time together.

“I’m nervous about going back to the Grittish Isles,” Gosling confessed, and a dark cloud passed over the sunshine of his face. “A lot of bad things happened there. I grew up there… in a sense, I guess. I came into my own as a communications officer. And I guess I did show the entire world that I was more than a pretty playboy pegasus. While Blueblood and Shining Armor were whooping ass on the Lord of Shades, I ended the civil war with nothing but words. I still don’t know how I did it, Twilight, and I keep wondering if it was some kind of fluke.”

“I seem to recall that you talked a greater darkness elemental to death.” Twilight did nothing to hold back her snide sarcasm, it was how she showed that she cared. “And right now, you’re talking me to death.” She let Gosling hang for a few seconds, then added, “You know, if you need to talk, we can.”

“A lot of bad things happened,” Gosling repeated, and his eyes twitched from side to side. “Just like when I followed Luna into that stupid house to recover Moon Rose. I’m just some wise-feather pegasus from the Broncs… I don’t deal well with dark, spooky stuff.”

This time, when Twilight’s wings unfurled from her sides, it was to hug Gosling. She pulled him in, overpowering him with ease, and she rubbed her neck against his. He resisted only for a moment, then gave in, returning her embrace with his own. Stretching her body as much as possible, she pointed her muzzle upwards towards Gosling’s ear.

“You married Dark and Spooky, and as I recall, she gave you a sliver of her soul.”

“And now I have a thing for horror movies and spiders… ain’t that somethin’.” Gosling squeezed Twilight with his wings and shook his head. “Cadance said I would notice changes. She wasn’t kidding.”

“When will you be bringing the foals by?” Twilight asked, eager to do a little foalsitting.

“Later tonight?”

“That’d be fine.” When Gosling began to pull away, Twilight stopped him, and she looked up into his eyes. She felt the potent magic of the ink rising up within her, but she resisted, pushing it back. “You have a knack for bringing ponies together… it is a natural extension of your talent. You brought the sisters together… they are truly one once more and it is obvious to anypony that looks at them. They are restored. You’ll help patch things up on the Isles too. Just be yourself… and keep Beans and Toast close. The time for fighting is over, but the battle of diplomacy has begun. This is your arena.”

“Thanks, Twilight.”

“Don’t mention it. I’ll see you later tonight, okay?” Twilight let go, and while she gazed into Gosling’s eyes, she saw some potential-precognitive flashes of the future that rose into her vision, unbidden. It took a few blinks to clear her vision, and she gave Gosling a reassuring smile. “Go with the Sisters and heal a troubled nation, Gosling.”

“I’ll do my best,” Gosling replied.

And with that, Twilight backed away, smiling.

Pebble and Sumac were awfully cute together, so much so that their sweetness might cause tooth decay. The little filly had been downright clingy with Sumac since his change, and even now, she followed him around the room with a fretful look upon her face as he went from place to place, putting books back on the shelf. At some point, she and Rainbow Dash were going to have to teach him how to fly, but Twilight did not know when. The Crystal Cotillion would be here soon, and she doubted there would be enough time before that.

Rainbow of course, had responded to Sumac sprouting wings the same way she reacted to everything else: she bought him a shirt saying, ‘Rainbow Dash is my wingpony.’ On one level, it irked Twilight that Rainbow didn’t take this with more seriousness, but then again, what more could be expected from Rainbow? Sumac was now just another potential flight-buddy to show off with.

And maybe it was better that way. Sumac wasn’t treating it as a big deal, so maybe Rainbow Dash shouldn’t either. But it was a big deal, and at some point, the various alicorns of Equestria would have to come together to welcome Sumac into their ranks, though perhaps not as a prince. Celestia was hesitant to commit to such an action, and respected Sumac’s wishes on the subject.

“Spike, do we have three bedrooms ready for our three little guests?” Twilight asked.

Squirming, Spike gave Twilight a soured expression. “Can’t we just throw Nuance into the cellar somewhere? We need a dungeon of some sort I think—”

“No!” Twilight replied, shaking her head, and she fought to keep from smiling.

“I have all of the shinies locked up,” Spike reported. “The kitchen staff know to keep the doors locked and the silverware counted. Corbie’s room has a nightlight so she doesn’t get scared. I think I have everything covered.”

“Fantastic.” Twilight gave Spike a nod. “You’re the best, Spike.”

“I know,” the little dragon replied with a casual shrug.

A heavy sigh escaped. She still had not told him yet, her number one assistant, and Twilight felt a little guilty. At some point, she had a lot of explaining to do. Spike was suspicious, because she kept giving him random hugs, and he wasn’t a stupid dragon. He was on to her, but he hadn’t said anything—yet. Spike was giving her space until she was ready to spill the beans.

“Do they itch?” Pebble asked while she followed along behind Sumac.

“Yes.” Sumac nodded, adjusted his glasses, and reshelved a few more books. “They’re also hot and now I suffer from embarrassing smelly wingpits.” Pausing, Sumac began pulling down some books he needed, and he levitated these to a stack of books waiting on the table. “Twilight, I think I’m closer to a breakthrough understanding about magic and harmonic frequency. Since the uh, change, I’ve been having all sorts of ideas and Vinyl is creating equipment so we can conduct experiments.”

“No earthquake machines!”

“That was an accident!” Sumac whined, and his ears drooped. “Sheesh, you make one little mistake…”

“Mistakes…” Twilight let the word slither off of her tongue. “You and Vinyl… and your mistakes… the blamethrower—”

“That was Vinyl’s idea!”

“—caused no end of chaos in Ponyville. And do I even need to bring up the perspective shift stick?”

“That was my idea and I’ve said I was sorry. Many, many times now. Look, it seemed like a good idea at the time, because of when I was younger and I found myself inside of Vinyl’s body. It gave me understanding about being somepony else.” Sumac let out a weary sigh and shook his head. “I didn’t mean to scar Big Mac and Applejack for life—”

“Big Mac has an explicit memory of foal birth!” Twilight’s wings unfurled and she fought to keep from laughing, though she was doing a poor job of it. “Twins! Big Mac remembers birthing twins!”

“Well, Applejack kept saying that she didn’t understand her brother and she wished that he’d just open up about things,” Sumac said in his own defense.

“There are things that siblings should never, ever learn or know about one another,” Twilight deadpanned.

“Wait… hold up… I just realised something.” Pebble held up one hoof to pause the world around her. Panic, annoyance, and fear was visible upon her chocolate-brown face. Her ears stood erect, then sagged, then stood up once more, and then pivoted forwards in the universal sign of equine alarm.

Twilight waited while feeling her gut muscles tighten with growing dread.

“Spike mentioned Nuance…”

“So he did,” Twilight replied, and her frogs began sweating. Spike was frozen now, cringing, and Twilight knew that he knew that he had blown it. A simple careless mention of Pebble’s least favourite name and pony.

Saying nothing, Pebble moved with astounding speed while she rose up into a bipedal stance. Hind hooves clattering, she snatched up a startled Sumac, darted behind a shelf, and vanished. She was just gone. Twilight stood there, her mouth agape, and it took her several long seconds to realise what had just happened. When she did, she stomped her hoof against the floor with futile anger. Pebble had just jaunted, the peculiar form of teleportation unique to earth ponies.

“Nope.”

Hearing the voice, it took Twilight several confused seconds to realise her own castle was speaking to her, a manifestation of Pebble’s magical talent to make rocks talk. The rotten little filly was using Twilight’s own castle to send the message, rather than say it face to face. The sudden betrayal made Twilight stew in her own juices and she felt a hot flush of resentment go creeping up her neck, making the long march to reach her face.

“Nope, nope, nope!”

“Ugh!” Twilight let out a grunt of frustration and stomped her hoof again. Without backup, this was going to be far worse than she thought. Gritting her teeth, she prepared herself for the worst, while hoping for the best. Maybe Nuance would be well behaved. It could happen. “Ooooh, Pebble Pie! How could you!”

Author's Notes:

Wee! Adventure!

No, slice of life.

Wee! Slice of life!