[canterlot castle]A tiny twilight...? (semi-private, PM for possible invite)

[Ashton]

Scootaloo looked bat at the castle with a very sad look on her face "she doesnt have the money or time for Twilight Time anymore..." she whimpered "... maybe if I find a way to get her some bits she will be able to do it again!"

 

-----

 

A filly entered the city, making her way towards the castle. Her fur was a mostly-uniform shade of purple, and her mane and tail were perfectly purple and pink, though seemed a little too long for her size, also the horn sticking out of the mane seemed a little large and seemed to move a tiny bit whenever she walked... to the sacual eye, it was perfect, though she would ahve to be eitehr very carefl or very lucky if anything went wrong

 

"HALT!" said a guard as she approached the palace "Who goes... Twilight?"

 

The filly looked up "I need to get to the archives, I need a very special reversal spell..." she said

 

the guard smiled and rolled his eyes motioning the filly on into the castle "just be quiet, it's getting late, Celestia and luna will both be grumpy"

 

The filly nodded as she headed up the stairs, she looked at the clock, she ahd to plan this carefully, she knew celestia should be going to bed right about now, so she needed to slowly make her way, after all celestia was the richest pony in the land, she woldn't miss a couple thousand bits, and Twilight clearly needed it! Without ehr help scootaloo would never earn her cutiemark! ... well and she didnt want to see her adult-friend so upset and crazy... well crazier than normal at least...

 

On the bright side, two guards didn't so much as bat an eye at the filly... did twilight REALLY have so many spellcasting issues that the guards didn't question anything she said anymore??? she made her way towards the sisters' private dorms, celestia probably had the key in her room, so as soon as she princess was asleep......... scootaloo grinned, she's dolve twilight's problems and she'd get twilight time back, and maybe even earn her mark while doing it! Though she wondered what a financially-saving-a-princess-and-regaining-her-tutoring-cutiemark would possibly look like.......

[DerpRavener]

It was the end of a fairly uneventful day for Princess Celestia.  She was on her way back to her chambers from the castle library.  She'd accomplished what she needed to for the day earlier than she expected.  She could have simply retired for the day, but she'd had something on her mind.  She carried a few books in hoof as she returned to her chambers, with which she intended start some light research with the relatively little time left in her evening.

 

She paused however, as she turned down a hallway a short distance from her chambers, spotting a familiar looking filly.  Or perhaps the filly might have if Celestia didn't know her student so well, she mused.  While it wasn't out of the question that her former student might look similar to that from a magical accident, Twilight had other means to contact her and would have done so if she thought necessary.  Further, after only a moment's scrutiny some failings of the disguise showed through: a few spots of orange were visible on the filly's pink coat, and her horn wasn't quite flush with the movements of the rest of her head, to name a few.  Fortunately,  given the state of the disguise it was was more likely to be part of a prank than any serious harm, though Celestia still mental note to have some words with the castle guard all the same.  Either she would have to hoof out some reprimands, or guard training and practices were in serious need of revision.

 

That could wait however, given the lack of apparent danger and the uneventful day, Celestia was simply curious for the moment.  She began to walk towards the filly.  “You are a long way from home,” she said gently, leaving it unclear whether or not she recognized Scootaloo, “What brought you all this way?”

[Ashton]

Scootaloo was VERY glad her face was turned away from celestia, her eyes snapped open and her teeth clenched, though the princess might have seen her ears go tense... Scootaloo gulped, she thought Celestia was already in bed, possibly asleep even... this was SO not going to end well... maybe if she really, really, really, tried, and celestia was really, really, really sleepy, she would get the princess to just give her the key... oh snap! there was no explanation for why Twilight would need the key to the treasury! um... That's right, the royal archives where the old spellbooks were kept! Of course it would be a lot harder to try to fence ancient spellbooks than it would be gold and gems and stuff... oh sweet celestia, she hoped celestia didn't look in her saddlebags and find the candlesticks and vase she'd nicked... after all she had known this wasn't a 100% chance of success so she'd grabbed a half dozen knick-knacks she'd passed that looked valuable... Scootaloo took a deep breath, 'come on you can do this!' she said 'and if you pull it off your pretty much guaranteed a cutiemark in acting!'

 

She turend around "Princess!" she exclaimed, smiling like she was glad to see the alicorn, though the smile was a little too wide and forced, even if it was easy to see through, it also was clear scootaloo was giving it her all "I just... well I had a magical miscalc-in-ulation with mal-giant mutation manifes-ion" she said, trying very hard to use big words she had heard twilight use, and trying to sound as smart as the purple alicorn -even if she knew that was basically impossible- "I was practicing my age spells, you know in case I ever have to face another threat like mean-trixie and her alicorn amulet, but something went wrong... I didn't want to bother you, I was just on my way to the royal archives to find a spell I can use in this little cutiemarkless form" she said sadly, a little of her own personality showing through "But I forgot my magic doesn't work, so I need a key" she smiled big again, trying to act innocent... and completely missing the point that if 'twilight' couldn't use magic then no spellbook would help her... or the fact she's mispronounced so many words... or that she wasn't even speaking in twilight's usual manor for a good 90% of that talk... but then she was too busy being scared and hoping she was just good enough and celestia as just tired enough that she'd buy it... the last thing scootaloo wanted was to become the next mare-in-the-moon... and no doubt an alicorn as wise as celestia could smell that fear...

[DerpRavener]

Celestia gave the filly before her a hard look.  The truth was, the castle library wasn't actually that difficult to get into, generally speaking, even for the general populace.  It just required the right permissions.  The only places which one would require a key for were those containing more dangerous or sensitive information.  Disguising as a princess to get into the restricted sections made a troubling amount of sense.

 

There was still something odd about this reason given, however.  Celestia had clearly caught the filly by surprise, and the response had a clear air of improvisation to it.  This filly would have to work a lot harder in future, if she wanted to be convincing.

Celestia decided to play along for now, at least to an extent.  She was certain there was more to be learned before she confronted the filly, and she could keep an eye on the little pony in the meantime, ensuring she didn't hurt herself or others.  It might even be a nice diversion.

 

Hay, Celestia could even have a little fun with it.  “I don't think a key would do do you much good,” she began, the public parts of the archives are still open, and the restricted sections have more than simple, mundane locks keeping them secure.”  The obvious implication was that without magic, 'Twilight' would need more help than just a borrowed key to get in.  With a wry smile Celestia added, “But you already knew that, of course.”  She made a show of thinking for a moment.  “If you really need to get inside, I suppose I could take you.  It was been a slow day, and it has been too long since we've spoken face to face.”  She started to turn back down the hallway she came from, in the direction of the archives, and keeping an eye and ear out for the reaction of the filly beside her.

[Ashton]

Scootaloo gulped as beads of sweat began running down her face as celestia turned towards the now-empty alcove where scootaloo had nicked a vace from, small beats of sweat ran down her face, turning purple and only further revealing the orange fur beneith "Th-thats alright!" she said "I can probably get one of the guards to let me in! They have to have access in case of intruders anyway, right!" she laughed though it was a very nervous laugh "I'm sure your tired and I shouldn't be bothering you like this, I was just in a rush and didn't think this through!" the first true words the filly had said today...  "Sorry to keep you from your rest, have a nice night princess!" she said as she turned and ran, her bags clinking and clacking from all the stolen vases, statues, small paintings and candelabras she had stached in there... no doubt her back-up-plan in case she didn't make it to the treasury...

 

((it'snice to have an RP partner who forces me to think like this, so often I can predict my partner's moves so precisely that I can plan miles ahead, thank you ^_^))

[DerpRavener]

As Celestia started to turn around, two things happened simultaneously.  First, the alicorn paused as her gaze swept across an alcove where she was certain there was a vase just recently.  Second, 'Twilight' made an effort to scamper away, though she was noisily laden with a number of objects she'd secreted away into her saddle bags.

It took Celestia only a moment to realize what was happening, and when she did she burst out laughing.  It was a mild relief that the filly wasn't after something more dangerous, as well as a reminder about times long past.  “Ahh, it's been so long since I've found a thief in the castle.”

 

Just as the filly had almost made it to a turn in the hallway, Celestia's horn flared to life and a golden aura gripped the filly's overburdened saddle bags, which stopped dead in their tracks.  I might be possible for the filly to wriggle free if she was determined enough, but she certainly wouldn't be escaping with her loot.  

Celestia began to walk toward the place where the filly, and though her size might have been intimidating, her demeanour wasn't.  Though apparently not quite as well guarded as she'd thought, Canterlot Castle was still a fortification, and so she couldn't yet say why it would be chosen as a target for petty robbery.  “I'm relieved to see that the archives weren't your actual goal, but it leaves me wondering.  Why is it that I find you in our castle tonight?”

 

[Glad I could provide.  Can't say I've ever experienced that myself, but then I tend to think a little differently than most people I know, which probably works pretty well in this case.]

[Ashton]

Scootaloo did wiggle around, the horn and wig falling off her head, but she didnt' struggle too much and after a moment sighed in defeat, though she looked scared again when Celestia spoke "thelastfewweeksattwilighttime,twilighthadusreadbooksthentellherwhatwereadwhilesherepairedstuffinthecastleandthenlastweekshecanceleditforoneweek,andnowthisweekshesaidit'scanceledindifferently,whichIthinkmeansforever!Shedoesnthavethetimetohelpusfindourtallentsbecauseshe'ssofarbehindonallherbillsthatsheandtrixieandspikearealwaysoutlookingforjobsandbountiesandstuffsoherkingdomdoesntfallappart,IthoughtmaybeifIgatheredupenoughbitsthenmaybeshecoudlpayoffherdebtandshewoudlhavetwilighttimeagainbecausewithoutitI'llenverearnmycutiemark!" she panted hard, having said all of that in a single breath, still very scared "And your the richest pony in the world, I knew you wouldn't miss a few statues or necklaces or bags of bits!" she looked scared and pitiful, in fact the cape she was wearing was now wet in the back where the terror had been too much for scootaloo...

 

The last few weeks at twilight time, twilight had us read books then tell her what we read while she repaired stuff in the castle and then last week she canceled it for one week, and now this week she said it's canceled indifferently, which I think means forever! She doesnt have the time to help us find our tallents because she's so far behind on all her bills that she and trixie and spike are always out looking for jobs and bounties and stuff so her kingdom doesnt fall appart, I thought maybe if I gathered up enough bits then maybe she coudl pay off her debt and she woudl have twilight time again because without it I'll enver earn my cutiemark!"

[DerpRavener]

Now the floodgates were open, and all of a sudden Celestia went from having too little information to too much.  Evidently she'd scared the filly, which was unintentional though unsurprising under the circumstances, and now the young pony was babbling out sentences almost faster than Celestia could hear them.  Fortunately a few centuries of politics had left her prepared for ponies speaking quickly, though even with that it took her a moment to process what the filly was talking about.  She held up a hoof, motioning for the filly to settle down.

It started with...Twilight having them read books?  Celestia vaguely recalled mentions of a trio of fillies in some of the friendship reports, but the filly had sped on before she had time to muse on it. There was something about Twilight cutting them off, and struggling to deal with dept, and cutie marks were involved...

 

Even if it was incomplete, Celestia managed to gather a working understanding of things at least.  If  the filly's last statement were any indication, as well as the evening's activities, the central issue was Twilight having financial issues.  “I suppose,” Celestia had to admit, “that as targets go you are not completely off the mark.  I would happily let go of money going somewhere it was truly needed, to a point.  Though that does not excuse thievery.”  Celestia adopted a serious expression as shs spoke the last sentence.  There was a proper order to things, and it was only in times of dire need that she wished break it.

Though, that wasn't the only thought on her mind at the moment.  Her expression softened.  “I happen to know that Twilight is a very capable pony.  She was doing quite well without any interference from me, as I recall.  What happened with the library?”