Strained Relationships
While Flurry was outside with her Marendelle cousins and trying out different things to get her cutie mark, Skyla found Blaze and Nova in the library. She saw that the two teenaged ponies were at opposite ends of the oblong room looking through some books on his/her side.
Skyla shook her head, thinking the two of them would never put aside their differences on their own. Even if they didn’t fall in love, they should at least be friends. Their parents were good friends, so why couldn’t they? It was strange to Skyla how Aunt Sunset and Starlight Glimmer were friendly to each other, but their kids wouldn’t even give each other a second glance.
Nova came across a book, opened its pages, and ended up frowning. “That’s odd… I never heard of this spell before.”
Skyla came up to her and asked, “What spell?”
“The Spell of Eternal Youth.”
Skyla’s eyes widened. She had heard of that somewhere before. Then, a very vague memory appeared in her head. She recalled her mother talking about the spell to her Aunt Sunset and how it was on Starlight and Sunburst. She also said that only true love’s kiss could break it.
She told Nova what she knew and that caused Blaze to look up from his books with intrigue.
Nova gaped, “You mean my parents had the Spell of Eternal Youth on them?” She briefly looked into the book and gasped, “But that’s a dark magic spell!”
“Seriously?!” Blaze came over in shock.
Nova magically lift the book, “It says so right here!”
Skyla was surprised, too. When her mother and Aunt Sunset were discussing about the spell, it didn’t sound terrible at all.
“But Mom and Aunt Sunset weren’t upset about your parents having the spell on them.”
Nova motioned, “It says here that true love’s kiss can break the spell. Maybe…they didn’t have to worry because my parents were true loves, and when they shared their first kiss, the spell broke.”
Skyla nodded, “That’s most likely what happened.”
Blaze inquired, “But the big question is how did the spell get on your parents?”
Nova suggested, “I think an evil unicorn of sorts cast it on them. My parents are powerful and knowledgeable on magic that could have been used on them as a revenge scheme.”
Blaze scowled, “That’s a pretty pathetic revenge scheme, if you ask me. Being immortal is hardly retribution.”
Nova countered, “Not if it means seeing the ones you love pass on and you have no way of joining them.”
“Okay, yeah, but the spell can be broken by true love’s kiss. Since your parents were in love, it would have been pointless to cast it on them.”
Nova stood quiet. She didn’t want to admit it, but he had a good point.
Skyla pointed, “I guess we’ll never for sure until you ask your parents, Nova.”
“But…what if they don’t want to tell me?”
Skyla shrugged, “Then I guess you’ll never know.”
Blaze spoke up, “Now, wait a minute. My mom and your mom know about the spell, right? So if they know, then other members of our family must know, too.”
Just then, Asher’s head leaned into the doorway and said, “Hey, guys. Supper’s almost ready. Better get your hooves washed.”
After Asher left, Nova asked, “Do you think we can bring up the Spell of Eternal Youth during dinner?”
Blaze answered, “Well, let’s chance it.”
Skyla advised, “But be subtle.”
At the dining hall that night, the table held many a delicious meal courtesy of their chef. The royals and Nova ate with such delight that the pale heliotrope unicorn almost forgot bringing up the Spell of Eternal Youth.
Flurry said to her family and friend, “…but when Apple Butter saw that I was sad, she sat on a whoopee cushion to cheer me up.” Her family giggled with her at that. She then continued, “So even though I haven’t got my cutie mark yet, I know I’m lucky to have helpful and creative cousins like you.” She gestured at the Marendelle cousins when she said that. “Marendelle’s also lucky to have you guys, too. There’s so much you can do to help them.”
Skater smiled, “Thanks for boosting our self-confidence, Flurry. The Crystal Empire’s sure lucky to have you as their princess.”
It stung Skyla when she heard the words “their princess”. She thought, Am I not their princess as well?
Blaze, attempting to bring up the subject of the Spell of Eternal Youth, said woodenly while forcing a smile, “Hey, Nova. Have you eaten – I mean, read any good books today?”
Nova, picking up on his cue, nodded as she played along, “Oh, yes! In fact, I came across this one spell. It qualifies as dark magic, though.”
Starling asked as she set her fork down, “Oh? What is it?”
Both Nova and Blaze said with hesitation, “The…Spell of Eternal Youth.”
Silence then befell the dinner table as the royals had wide eyes and surprised expressions.
Apple Jewel asked uneasily, “Why are you interested in it?”
Seeing how nervous Blaze and Nova looked, Skyla answered for them, “I told them that Nova’s parents were under the spell and that’s pretty much it.”
There was silence again until Discord said, “Wait. You mean…?” He then let out hearty laughs as he banged on the table. He then continued while recovering from his laughing fit, “You mean they never told you?”
Screwball hissed, “Dad, no! You’ll be opening a can of worms.”
Discord held an unopened can and said, “No. This would be opening a can of worms.”
He used his talon to open the can and flailing worms emerged from the container. Everypony groaned and gagged when they saw the slimy annelids.
The worms repeated in high-pitched voices, “Starlight cast the spell on herself! Starlight cast the spell on herself!”
Suddenly, Screwball knocked the can out of her father’s claw.
Discord cried, “Ow!” He rubbed his claw as he said, “Well, that was a little uncalled for.”
Nova, shocked by the revelation, said, “But…why? My mother wouldn’t use dark magic like that!”
Discord explained, “She would if she didn’t want to become an old sourpuss like her not-so-great-uncle Star Swirl the Bearded.”
Starling said, “We should let Starlight and Aunt Sunset explain the rest.”
This time, it was Blaze’s turn to be surprised. “Mom? What does she have to do with this?”
Whirl groaned as he facehoofed, “Way to go, Star.”
Discord had transferred the magic from the small hand mirror to the large mirror in what was once his and Fluttershy’s apartment. When Sunset and Starlight’s faces appeared, Skyla, Blaze, Nova Rose told the whole story.
Starlight facehoofed, “Oh, dear. I was afraid something like this would happen. We were going to tell you when the time was right, but since it’s now…”
Blaze said, “Guys, you can’t keep us sheltered forever. We need to know the truth.”
Nova added, “And to be honest, I’d feel better hearing it from you two rather than anyone else.”
Skyla glared at Discord, “Namely Uncle Discord.”
Discord sheepishly grinned as he blushed.
Sunset took a deep breath and said, “Okay, here it is. When Celestia was pregnant with Twilight and me, she got very sick.”
Blaze said agitatedly, “Mom, we’ve heard this story before!”
Starlight countered, “Yes, but do you know what else happened?”
After being silent for a few moments, Blaze groaned, “All right. Go on.”
Sunset nodded before she continued, “The phoenix that Sombra took to the castle was Starlight’s pet Sunburst.”
Nova asked in surprise, “You named a phoenix after Daddy?”
Starlight answered with a small but dreamy smile, “Well, yes, I did.” Her smile faded as she continued, “I was so upset when Sunburst was taken that I swore revenge on the royal family. When the twins turned one, I took Sunset from the palace and made her family forget she ever existed. I raised her as my own for many years before Sunset found out who she really was.”
Blaze then shouted, “Are. You. Kidding me?! Grandpa takes a phoenix and you steal Mom away from her family?!”
Sunset asked, “Well, how would you feel if something you loved got stolen?”
Blaze answered in shame, “Not very good, I guess.”
Starlight said calmly, “That was how I felt. I had so many heartbreaks in my life that kidnapping your mom seemed like the best solution for me, only it wasn’t.”
Nova was shocked from hearing the truth about her mother and tears welled in her eyes. She uttered, “I just…can’t believe you’d do that!” When Nova started to cry, Flurry wrapped her left wing around her best friend to comfort her.
Starlight’s heart broke from seeing her daughter in tears like that. She kept much of her past a secret for fear of hurting Nova. However, she knew that the truth was going to hurt anyway. There was nothing she could do now but hope that Nova would soon put this behind her just as Starlight had. But right now, the kid was going to have to get through the pain first.
Starlight said, “I know this is a lot for you guys right now. It’s going to take some time to heal from this.”
Blaze scornfully scoffed, “Me, especially.”
Sunset softly said, “I know, kiddo. I know.”
After Starlight and Sunset’s images faded from the mirror, there was only silence until Flurry tried to lighten the mood, “Well, I can definitely say that this has been one mind-blowing experience.”
Blaze grumbled as he began to walk out the apartment, “Yeah. Too mind-blowing for me.”
In their guest room, Skyla was looking at herself in the mirror while Flurry was getting ready for bed.
Flurry Heart exhaled, “Whew! What a day, huh? First, our Marendelle cousins come over and then we find out that Starlight kidnapped Sunset and raised her like a daughter.”
Skyla agreed as she fiddled with her mane, “You said it.”
Flurry noticed that her sister was in front of the vanity mirror and said, “Skyla, that’s the second time I’ve seen you in front of a mirror this week. The last time you looked at yourself in the mirror at times other than in the morning was during the Royal Summit.”
Skyla nervously chuckled, “Oh, heh-heh. I…haven’t really noticed.” She cleared her throat and said, “So, um…It’s certainly interesting how Starlight and Sunset have quite a past, don’t you think? It makes sense now why Blaze and Nova are at each other’s throats a lot.”
“Yeah. If there was any bad blood between Aunt Sunny and Starlight in the past, it must’ve gotten passed down to their children. Shame, really. I thought Blaze and Nova would make a cute couple.”
“Well, they still can be. It’s just going to take a lot of time.”
“I don’t know. Blaze seemed really angry with Starlight and Nova was hurting a lot about her mom’s past. If I know Blaze, he’s not the type to forgive easily. The pony who did him wrong would have to re-earn his respect, even if it’s not as much as before.”
“Hmm…” Skyla said. “That would be true.”
“It’s going to take a miracle to get them to even make eye contact with each other during the Crystal Gala. Knowing Blaze, he won’t want to look at Nova and her parents for even a millisecond.”
“That’s not true. He would still talk to Professor Sunburst. You know, Blaze shouldn’t have to put the blame on Nova. None of this was her fault.”
“Right. She just came across that book by chance and this happened.”
“If anything, I told them about Nova’s parents being under the Spell of Eternal Youth. I didn’t know how much hurt it was going to cause.”
“Well, it would’ve hurt anyway, no matter how old they were.”
“You’re right. They would’ve found out eventually.”
“It’s still not as easy, though.”
“No. No, it’s not. But the least we can do is be there for them. For our cousin and our friend.”
“And Uncle Discord. Screwball was pretty mad at him.”
Skyla gave a small chuckle, “I noticed.”
“It must be the hormones. Otherwise, she wouldn’t be so mad at him. I’m going to ask Discord to train me tomorrow. That’ll take his mind off his daughter’s grudge.”
“Just make sure he doesn’t open another can of worms, literally and metaphorically.”
Flurry chuckled, “I know. The can of worms he did open during dinner made me lose my appetite.”
“I think the same can go for everypony.”
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Okay, a few things. First, the group dynamics of the two sisters plus Blaze and Nova. From what I've seen so far, it seems like Flurry and Nova are BFFs with each other while Blaze and Skyla are more of the loners of the group. Blaze is the cool, aloof, and grumpy loner whereas Skyla is the high-strung, overly serious, somewhat supercilous loner. Blaze also seems like he's the most emotionally out of touch of the group, but I think Blaze is the way he is because he's the only boy in the group. Skyla, on the other hand, is like that one 12-year-old that's still stuck sitting at the kids' table. Poor filly is trying way to hard to prove that she's mature.
Secondly, for a filly who has trouble understanding her own worth, Flurry Heart is really good at putting value into others. I'm surprised that she hasn't gotten a Crusader's cutie mark yet.
7860286 Hey, wanna start an emoji betting pool? One trollestia emoji and one mustache!Spike emoji says that the main villain is trapped in a magic mirror.