Unforeseen Consequences - Chapter 34

>A new day dawned upon the kingdom of Equestria, and while all my mornings are a marvelous sight, this particular dawn deserved an award. How could it not? I made sure that everything from the warm royal oranges that painted the sky, to the more subtle yellows and whites that added that exquisite nuance that made ponies start their day with a smile on their face, were absolutely and unquestionably perfect.
>Moments like these put my mind in a state where I could easily wander into a more personal and secret space. One that, while it held the important business in regards of my kingdom’s well-being as the utmost priority, it liked to venture into more fantastical plains that some would consider out-of-character for a pony of my caliber.
>I could’ve stayed in my own little world of fantasy, drama and adventure for hours on end if it wasn’t for a voice as smooth as silk, as gentle as a summer breeze and as firm as steel bringing me back into reality with a friendly, and loving greeting, “You might want to consider closing your mouth while daydreaming, Celie”.
>The voice belonged to none other than my sister Luna, and just like every morning she had sneaked inside my room with no reason other than to startle me. It didn’t bother me though, this was a small tradition we have kept ever since we were fillies living deep within the Everfree Forest.
“Good morning, little sister. I hope you aren’t feeling too tired, we’ve a great day ahead of us”.

>My semblance remained unmovable like a tall mountain, not because Luna’s little prank failed or anything like that, as a matter of fact it had never lost its effectiveness despite all these years. I’m just simply and plainly the best at hiding my reactions.
>This is a talent that I developed and refined throughout the centuries to the point of perfection, and while the need to use it for regular everyday interactions was something that drove me insane, I’ll also admit that it has many usages in both my line of work, and of course, in little things like making my dear sister feel incredibly frustrated.
>My point could not be better illustrated than by the change of tone in Luna’s voice. She went from this confident and slightly sultry speech to a rushed mumbling, “Yes… I am very well aware of today’s significance.”
>It’s never wise to push the boundaries of what’s supposed just a small teasing, especially with a… more temperamental pony like Luna. I nodded to her and motioned to come closer.
“Sorry if it came off the wrong way, I just wanted to know how you were feeling. Pray tell, do you want to see the sunrise with me? I swear it has been centuries since the last time we did it”.
>Luna shrugged off whatever was left of her frustration and accepted my little invitation to sit by my side. A few moments of silence went by before Luna took a deep breath and smiled with all the yearning in the world, “There is a modern saying that I think would perfectly describe my feelings at this moment… time sure flies by, huh?”

“Definitely, it’s hard to believe that we’ve had Resonance for a month now. Feels like just a couple days if you ask me”.
>Luna nodded as a little mischievous grin started to appear on her face, “Did you remember to make the schedule for today or were you simply too occupied with those fancy pastries we received yesterday?”
“Please, who do you think you’re talking with? We start with a nice breakfast at what I think is the best café in Canterlot, then we move to Canterlot library, then to that restaurant you love so much, then we see some monuments I’m dying to show to Resonance, and we finish the day with a nice visit to your favorite spa. Every single detail and potential risk has been factorized to make sure that this will be one day to remember!”
>There was no reply from Luna, instead she simply clicked her tongue, shifted her eyes to the city below and went completely silent. Now, I’m what many would call an expert in ponies. No matter how hard they try to hid things from me, I could always read them like an open book. Luna was no exception, in fact I’d say she’s the pony I could read the best.
>It was little more than child’s play to infer the thing that bothered was related to Resonance. However, when it comes to my sister, you can’t just go straight to the point. You must start with a proving question and then let her work the rest.
“Is there something in your mind, my dear sister?”

>Luna clicked her tongue and turned to me with an almost child-like concerned face, “Maybe… it’s just… I am not entirely convinced that you have considered everything, Celie. Ahm… How do I put it? You did not consider an activity our dearest Resonance would choose to do, or at least that is the perception that I get”.
 “Wha-? Of course I did! That’s why we’re dedicating an important part of the day on revisiting the Canterlot library! You remember how excited Resonance got the first time, right? That colt loves reading almost as much as Twilight does”.
>Her response came in a very polite, yet direct tone, “While that is indeed true”. She walked to the balcony’s rail and leaned her body against it, “Resonance has spent most of his time reading books, I believe that we should change the visit to the library for something else that he would love to do”.
>Comments like that is why every morning I thanked the universe to have Luna as my partner. She was always so careful in being as proper as possible while retaining a laser focus on the elements that my ideas lacked.
“Hmmm, I really didn’t put it in that kind of perspective. Very well, Luna, I’m not a fan of last-minute changes, but we’ll have to make a few adjustments to our schedule!”
>Luna eagerly nodded as she clapped her hooves together, “Eeeeee! I cannot wait to see our child’s face! Pray tell, what do you have in mind, my dearest Celie?”

>Her whole reaction put a smile on my face, sometimes I tend to forget how child-like some of my sister’s mannerisms can be. That said, her question ended throwing me off guard.
“Well… he likes reading, but we already ruled out a visit to the library… Luna, my dear sister! Why don’t you take it from here?”
>There was a slight hint of panic on Luna’s face, but she was quick to hide it behind her usual regality, “Do not look at me, I was hoping that you would have a solution already. You have always been fantastic at that role, Celie”.
>I knew exactly why Luna threw those compliments, it was nothing more than an obvious strategy to avoid giving a real answer. It was the exact same thing I was trying to do too. I forced a smile on my face and narrowed my eyes at her.
“That’s… not wrong, but since you’re the one who goes into his dreams every night, then you should know what he likes better than I do. It’s pretty simple logic, no need to argue there, my dear sister”.
>Luna was clearly not giving up either, she locked eyes with mine as an obviously forced smile creeped its way into her face, “I am actually inclined to disagree your statement, my dearest Celie. As I have told you in multiple occasions, Resonance’s dreams are comprised of some of the worst nightmares I have ever seen in my life. However, I do seem to recall that our dearest son…”
 “Luna, do you have any clue about what he likes besides reading”.
>A sigh escaped her lips as she dropped her head in defea, “I have not the slightest idea, Celie”.
 “Yeah... me neither… this is bad”.

>My sister has always been quite theatrical, especially when emotions took hold of her better judgment. Case in point, she had already started to frantically fly back and forth across my room, her face contorted in shock, “Oh goodness, we do not even know our own son! We are the worst parents in the history of Equestria!”
>I was probably much more scared than my sister, but I am a little proud in admitting that I was a little more subtle in my way of acting, or rather, I knew how to keep my emotions numb enough so I could still think.
>The next time Luna flew close to me, I caught her with one precise swing of my hoof and brought her closer to me.
“Calm down and listen to me! Here’s what we’re going to do: We’ll go to Resonance’s room…”
>“Temporary room…” Luna quickly corrected me despite her terrified state of mind, “We have yet to fully complete the preparations of what will be his permanent bedroom”.
“Right… and we haven’t even gotten half of it… anyway! We greet Resonance and then we just continue with the big special day that we promised him last night. It’s as simple as that!”
>Luna pushed me away and gave me that little judgmental stare that I’ve hated with a burning passion ever since we were fillies, “That is just going to make everything worse, Celie. We should just apologize for our lack of parental skills and hold a long interview with our son!”
“It’s way too late for that!”
>“But…!”

“Luna, listen to me… You’ve told me about his nightmares, you know firsthoof how much abuse and abandonment that poor colt suffered back in that Tartarus of a world! If we bluntly admit our failures to him, then he might get the idea that we neglected him too… Can you imagine the pain that would cause to his already distressed heart? I don’t, and I honestly don’t want to! That’s why we have to be more subtle in our approach and the best thing we can do, not for us but for him, is to greet our kid with big smiles on our faces and pretend everything’s fine. Then… then, I’ll figure something out from there”.
>She opened her mouth and raised her hoof, but after struggling a couple minutes to come up with any argument, she finally replied with a fairly tired tone in her voice, “Sweet stars, this is Manehattan all over again!”
>Maybe it might sound mean, but I didn’t really care. My hoof was already set on the doorknob and my mind was completely focused on finding a way to make Resonance tell us his preferences without us really asking.
“And is going to turn into Phillydelphia if you don’t start moving. Come on, Luna, our son is waiting!”


>We arrived to Resonance’s bedroom about ten minutes, and not only I still was out of ideas but Luna’s anxiety grew so much that it became hard to me to hide my own distress. Luckily, we didn’t have to go inside the room just yet. There were faint but clear sounds of a conversation going on at the other side of the door, and I’m not sure if this was sheer dumb luck or if the universe had sent a gift, but nonetheless this was a blessing that granted us a few more minutes to get ahold of ourselves.
>Making heads and tails from the conversation was in all honesty a too high of an ordeal for my honestly not spectacular sense of hearing, especially considering that I was standing about two or three meters away from the door. That said, I could definitely distinguish two voices: Resonance and a filly.
>Now, Luna’s has always enjoyed of much sharper senses than mine, or anypony else for that matter. I’m pretty sure that in a different scenario, she would not only have been the first one to detect the conversation, but I understood that, given her current state of mind, my sister simply wasn’t paying any attention when she placed her shaky hoof on the doorknob.
>Of course, as the older sister it was my duty to rectify this small, unintentional mistake in such a way that it didn’t felt insulting. So, I gently placed my hoof over Luna’s and leaned closer to whisper into her ear.
“Hold on Luna, we can’t just interrupt like that”.

>Luna nervously took off her hoof from the doorknob and turned to me with both confusion and anxiety in her face, “Interrupt what exactly, Celie?”
 “Friendship, of course! Take a listen”
>Slowly but surely, Luna realized the event happening at the other side of the door. That’s all it took for her to shrug off her worries and lighten up in joy, “It seems like the little Cherrywood paid a visit to our dearest son! Eeee! This is wonderful, Celie… but is it right to eavesdrop like this, though?”
>By that point, I already had my ear pressed against the door in a desperate attempt to satisfy my curiosity. What can I say? A little gossip every once in a while hasn’t hurt anypony. So I simply shrugged off Luna’s question with a dismissive hoof.
“Well, we can stay here for a few more minutes, or simply ignore this golden opportunity to learn more about our son. It’s your choice, my dear sister”.
>Luna pondered for a second, then she sat by my side and started to cast her own magic on the door, “...This spell should prevent those two from hearing us. Is there anything else that I can be of assistance, Celie?”
>I couldn’t help to give my sister a big hug, even in something as silly as this, she still committed to be the best partner anypony could ever ask for.
“What would I do without you, Luna?”
>Luna gently pushed me to a side, and shook her head while trying to hide her own glee, “You can show me your gratitude later, Celie. We have a job to do!”

>I eagerly nodded to her before placing my ear against the door. At first there was absolute silence, making me afraid that we had been discovered… or that age had finally caught up with my sense of hearing, but it just took a few more moments for my fears to be dissipated.
>The voice that broke the silence was squeaky, almost nasal voice. That must have been that Cherrywood filly, and judging by the tone, she was unconvinced by something, “…you sure this is right?”
>A slightly raspy, and somewhat high-pitched voice answered back. It was Resonance, and he sounded a fair bit more excited than his friend, “When the heck have I told you a lie, man? These answers are a guaranteed A+!”
>Luna and I let out a small chuckle, we’ve always found Resonance’s… unique way of speaking to be incredibly amusing. Not in a mocking way, but rather as one of the many cute personal traits that he possessed.
>Going back to the conversation, Cherrywood audibly sighed before providing a less than enthusiastic response, “Know what? I don’t care, whatever gets me out of all this stupid homework is fine to me”
>“C’mon, it ain’t that hard! It’s just a buncha simple fractions and grammar things”.
>“Maybe to you! This stuff makes my brain melt, and it’s so, soooo boring! I just don’t get it, how can you make not having school feel this boring?”
>Ah yes, another poignant reminder that I had to suspend classes at my school for the third time this year. This isn’t really something I enjoyed to do as it just generates a less than subpar education to all the students who deposited their trust in me.

>There’s also the fact that the move never failed to cause massive backlash from the students, teachers, parents, and those pesky tabloids that starve for controversy. It was an all-around bad situation but a necessary one considering half the kingdom was still rebuilding itself after Tirek’s attack three months ago… and all the bizarre events that have occurred since Resonance arrived to Equestria.
>I shook my head to get rid of any grim thoughts and placed all my attention back to the conversation. This time, it was Resonance who sounded a little disappointed, “I hear you man, I could’ve died from boredom these past days too. Feels like I’ve been stuck in one of those fancy little boxes that old weirdos like so much”.
>I pressed my ear even harder after hearing those words. I thought my son had everything he could ever want in here, why would he ever say that?
>In all of the innocence that characterizes childhood, Cherrywood ignored all the terrible implications of Resonance’s statement and instead asked with a slightly confused tone, “How the hay can you say that when your parents are the princesses?”
>“Well… it ain’t like those two have that much time to hang out with me, ruling an entire kingdom is a whole lotta work, y’know?”
>My heart sunk after hearing those words, it’s true that my job demanded a great deal out of my time, but that was no excuse to neglect my own son… and the fact Resonance saw my failure as a normal thing just made me feel like pure scum.

>Considering the pained look in Luna’s face and how hard she was clinging to my hoof, it was safe to say she felt equally as terrible as myself.
>“I guess so? Still doesn’t make any sense, though. Seriously, your home is a huge castle! There’s enough stuff here to keep anypony entertained for weeks or years!”
>“I mean, the castle’s cool and everything, but there’s a whole lotta parts that I don’t think I can go to, so I usually stick to my room, or the gardens”.
>“Parts you can’t…? What are you even talking about, dumblord?”
>“C’mon fluffbrain, have you ever seen those huge as heck doors at the entrance hall? I’m talking about the ones that are always guarded by these two mean looking guys. The ladies have never taking me there and I ain’t gonna take a risk with those jerks until I’ve got the clear! Same goes for most of the castle”-
>“That’s… That’s the throne room. You seriously have never gone there?”
>Luna started to frantically pull my leg as she buried her face on my chest, “Celie, I told you we never took him to the throne room”.
>I slapped my face and tried my best to not break through the door and beg for forgiveness.
“Oh goodness, how low can we go?”
>Resonance replied with a genuine sense of bafflement, again like everything about this situation was supposed to be normal, “They have a throne room?”
>“Well, duh! This is a castle and they’re the princesses, what else did you expect?”
>“Cut me some slack, man! It ain’t like we had any of those things where I come from!”
>“Have you ever asked them what’s at the other side of those doors?”

>“Well… no?”
>“You’re super dumb, you knew that?”
>“What?! No, you’re the dumb one here!”
>That marked the beginning of a thrilling and incredibly elegant discussion about the overall mental power each foal had. It was a bit hard to keep up with it due to its fast paced nature, but it went something like this.
>“No, you’re dumb!”
>“No, you!”
>“No, you!”
>“Oh, yeah?! At least I know the castle better than you do!”
>“You talking big for someone who can’t even do fractions!”
>“Ugh, that’s why I hate you!”
>“Well, I hate you more!
>“You wish! I hate you 100 times more!”
>“Nuh-uh! I hate you…!”
>I had heard these childish arguments countless times, it’s something that you have to deal with when you own a school and actively participate in its activities. However, this was the first time where I felt completely enthralled by these type of interactions, so much that I listened with great joy while they went on and on with the same circular logic.
>This high minded debate lasted for a good ten minutes before those two became too frustrated to continue and instead opted to simply not talk to each other anymore. It was by this point where I was ready to throw the towel and just accept this plan wasn’t going to work. Luckily, Cherrywood came to my rescue.
>After a few minutes of stubborn silence, Cherrywood spoke like if nothing had happened, “… So, what did you use to do?”
“For what?”
>“You know, to pass time in that other world. Had to be different from what you do now, right?”
>“Eeeh… that world sucked so hard, man. Most of my time went to making sure I had enough to not starve, y’know? Usually I’d set shop at an alleyway to scam some suckers outta their bits, and when that didn’t work, I’d go to the market and scam some suckers outta their groceries. There was this one time when…”
>I stood up with great determination as I urged my sister to do the same. After I firmly placed my hoof on the doorknob, I turned to her and said with a huge smirk on my face.
“Well Luna, seems like we finally got ourselves a plan!”