• Published 30th Sep 2012
  • 18,174 Views, 2,114 Comments

The Study of a Winning Pony - Ponibius



Twilight Sparkle gets assigned to study the insanity that is Cloud Kicker's life for a sociology report. It's just a matter of surviving her circle of crazy friends, paramours, and disappointed family members to do so.

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Home, Sweet Canterlot

The Study of a Winning Pony

Chapter 16: Home, Sweet Canterlot

I woke up to find Pinkie Pie standing over me with a big smile on her face.

Goood mooorning, Twilight!”

I let out a shout of surprise at the unexpected morning greeting. “Pinkie! What are you doing?”

“Saying good morning to you, duh!” Pinkie hopped off my bed, grinning the whole way. I was still getting my thoughts in order as I stumbled through the sudden jump-start my friend had just put my brain through. “Because I know you’ve been all saddie-waddie lately. So I was thinking, you know what Twilight needs? A great morning to start a great new day. So Spike and I have been making you a super-duper breakfast that’s guaranteed to put a smile on your face to start the day.” Her smile became all the wider as she leaned her head towards mine. “There’s gonna be pancakes!

I ran a hoof across my face as I tried to process everything. I touched the bandage covering my one eye. Right, that had happened. And it seemed Pinkie wanted to put me in a good mood before I headed out to Canterlot. Fair enough. I wasn’t completely thrilled with Pinkie sneaking into my house to surprise me, but that’s Pinkie for you. A certain level of comfort zone violation came with being friends with her, or even living in the same town as her. Ponies might have been a bit madder at her if not for the fact she only seemed to break into their houses to throw them a party or, like this case, make breakfast.

Sometimes I wondered if the reason so many ponies in Ponyville didn’t lock their doors was because it was unlikely to do anything against their most likely trespasser: Pinkie Pie. Either that, or the statistically nonexistant crime rate. At this point, it could go either way.

All things considered, I could wake up to worse things. “Sounds good, Pinkie,” I said patiently. “Just ... give me some time to clean up before I head downstairs. Alright?”

Pinkie Pie’s smile lost none of its luster at my request. “Okie dokie lokie. I just wanted you to wake up now so that everything would still be warm when you came down for breakfast. Cold pancakes are sad, and you don’t need anything else to make you sad right now.” That we could both agree on.

Her smile took on a mischievous edge and she took a moment rub a hoof through my mane. “Also you have bad bed-mane. So you better get to work on that. See you downstairs!” With that, she hopped her way down to the kitchen.

It looked like it was going to be one of those days.


Admittedly, the breakfast Pinkie and Spike had made was really good. It was almost criminal not to enjoy strawberry pancakes with plenty of whipped cream and syrup. The two of them really had outdone themselves. That’s not exactly hyperbole. The two of them had made more pancakes than the three of us could possibly eat, at least if we were an ordinary pair of ponies and one baby dragon. I was pretty sure Pinkie ate her own body mass’s worth in pancakes. Part of me was horrified, while the other part was semi-resigned to the seemingly supernatural eating habits of my friend.

It was nice to start out the morning right, if a bit oddly. You really can’t go wrong with pancakes, after all. Given all the craziness I had been going through as of late, just sitting down and enjoying a nice meal with Spike and Pinkie was a welcome change of pace.

But the meal did come to an end and it was time for all of us to go. Pinkie had work at Sugarcube Corner, and I had my visit to the hospital before going to the train station with Spike. So we made our goodbyes and departed from the library.

Thankfully, my trip to the hospital wasn’t too bad, all things considered. My bandage was removed and I was given a thorough examination. While the whole experience had been long and laborous, my eye seemed to have recovered just fine. Big surprise, that was a massive relief to me. The gash I had suffered on my cheek still felt tight when I put stress on it, but that would probably get better with time, and the swelling was pretty much gone at this point. Even if there was still a bit of bruising, it could have been worse. Much worse.

At least I could start to put that awful night behind me, for the most part, anyways. There was still that unresolved mess with Cloud Kicker, but at least I would have some time away from Ponyville to get my head on straight. Hopefully time and distance would be the cure I needed to figure out exactly what I needed to do. Granted, it wasn’t going to be all fun and games in Canterlot, since I was planning on looking into some things. Finding out you might have a half-sister wasn’t exactly the most thought-calming thing to learn.

My examination at the hospital done, I picked up Spike to go to the train station. When we arrived, I saw Rainbow Dash waiting in line to buy tickets with Sparkler and Dinky.

Dinky’s eyes immediately brightened when she saw me and she lept from Dash’s back to gallop the distance between us. She nearly barreled me over when she tackled me with a hug, and Spike was forced to grab my mane to keep from falling off of me. “Hi, Miss Twilight!” The little hug-automaton nuzzled my chest lovingly. “I’m super happy t’see ya, ‘cause that means we’re gonna be able t’see Grandma an’ Grandpa an’ Uncle Cirrus. Oh! And it also means I get t’see you too.”

I gave Dinky a warm smile as I returned the hug. It was hard not to be wrapped up in her enthusiasm. “Glad I could help. And it’s nice to see all of you, too.”

“And what about me?” Spike said in a half-pout. He never really liked to be excluded from things.

Not breaking her hug, Dinky looked around my chest to see Spike. “I didn’t see ya Spike. I’m sorry, but you’re kinda hard for me t’reach from here. So how ‘bout I hug Miss Twilight super hard so thatcha can feel it up there?”

Even Spike’s snarky heart was softened by the display of cuteness and he snickered as Dinky squeezed me tighter. “I guess that’ll work.”

Rainbow Dash put some bits on the train station ticket counter and turned her head towards me while she waited for her tickets. “Hey, Twilight. Heard you were taking Derpy’s kids to Canterlot for her. I’d have done it myself, but things are pretty crazy at work right now with Tornado Day coming up.”

“Don’t worry about it.” That did remind me that I was going to have to work to get a bunch of stuff ready for that day when I got back. All the stuff with Cloud Kicker had nearly made me forget about it. This is why I made schedules: so I didn’t forget the important stuff. “I was already planning on going to Canterlot. So when I heard these two needed an adult escort to get there...”

“I could’ve done it,” Sparkler grumbled. “M'old enough to take the train on my own, and s'not like I can't keep an eye on Dinky for a few hours.”

I could see the reason for her grumblings. Given she was reaching that young adult phase of life where you were a full-fledged adult in some ways, but not quite in others. Being an older teenager could be frustrating like that.

Dash snorted and put Sparkler in a headlock. She held onto her struggling goddaughter while giving her a good noogie. “Oh stop being so mopey. You know your mom’s just looking out for ya. Besides, Twilight’s pretty cool. Nowhere as cool as me, but still cool.” She shot me a confident smirk. “For an egghead anyways.”

“Thanks, Dash. I’m feeling the love,” I said sarcastically.

Dash shrugged, letting go of the struggling Sparkler so that she could pick up her goddaughters’s tickets from the counter. “Eh, it’s what I do. Just one of those things I do for my friends due to how awesome I am.” Dash had a way with modesty. Namely by avoiding the concept entirely.

“So, um...” Dash took a couple of steps away from Derpy’s kids to speak to me more quietly. “How’s the...” She made a vague motion around her eye.

“Oh, it’s fine,” I said softly so as to not be overheard. “There’s nothing wrong with the eye, thankfully.”

Dash let out a long, relieved sigh. “Good, I was worried.” Her expression went from one of relief to a grimace of anger. “I’d give every bit I have for five minutes with Sticks and Stones.” She clapped her front hooves together and ground them together. “They’re just lucky the gendarmerie got to them first, or I’d make them really regret hurting you.”

I rubbed at my forehead, feeling a rising pressure there from a topic I did not want to get into. “Could we not talk about it anymore? I’m fine, and would like to move forward now.” I felt Spike give me a hug around the neck, reminding me of another reason I didn’t want to talk about the whole Sticks and Stones thing. Spike didn’t deserve to be worried by stuff like this.

Dash’s anger evaporated into concern and she folded a wing around me and Spike. “It’s cool. We’ll go ahead and drop it.”

“Thanks.” I nodded and stepped up to the ticket counter to buy me and Spike a ticket. Dash took the moment to make sure Sparkler and Dinky were ready to head out, and that they had their luggage and everything else.

"Dinks, make sure you go to the bathroom before we head out." Sparkler said. "S'not something you want to try and deal with on the train. You remember the line last time?"

“I’m a’kay, Sparky,” Dinky answered without a second thought. She opened one of her saddlebags and looked inside it, probably to double-check something was still there, and then closed it. “And I got Favorite, so they won’t hafta stop the train so I can get my blankie.”

And now I suddenly had the image of Dinky asking the train conductor to stop the train and go back just so she could have her favorite blanket. She might actually be cute enough to pull it off, but it was probably best not to try and find out. Ponies might get angry if the train was turned around. Though one look at the bundle of adorableness might dissuade that anger.

The whistle of our train could be heard from the horizon, meaning it was time for all of us to get ready to board. “You got everything you need, Spike?”

Spike snorted. “Duh, of course I do.”

“Well then,” I said as the train pulled into the station. “Let’s go home to see the family.”


“Um.” Dinky stuck her tongue out of the side of her mouth as she looked over her cards. “Ya gotta five, Spike?”

Spike grinned. “Nope, go fish.”

“Aaaw, I don’t like goin’ fish.” Dinky looked at the deck with trepidation. “It means I gotta pull a card.”

“It’s okay, Dinky.” I gave her a patient smile to encourage her. “Take your time and do it just like I showed you.”

“A’kay, but don’t laugh if I mess up again.” Dinky scrunched up her face in concentration. Her horn glowed in the yellow of her magic and soon the deck of playing cards was engulfed by a field of her magic. Slowly, the top three or so cards started sliding off the top of the deck.

“Careful,” I cautioned. “You only want to draw one. Picture yourself just grabbing the one card on top, and then actualize it with your magic.”

Dinky did a soft little groan, born out of either frustration or from the attempt at fine control of the telekinesis spell. The top card of the deck lifted up and slowly floated Dinky’s direction. But her magic field fluctuated for a brief second and she crumpled the card in half.

“I’m sorry!” Dinky’s mouth dipped into a sad frown. “I didn’t mean t’break the card!”

“Don’t worry about it, Dinky.” I lifted up the crumpled card with my own magic, and with a quick repair spell the card was as good as new. “I got this deck specifically so you could practice fine telekinesis control. And besides.” I gave her a playful rub on the head. “It lets us play a fun game while riding on the train, right?”

“I guess,” Dinky said resignedly. She placed a hoof on the card to drag it over to herself.

I would have prefered if she had done that with her magic, but I was going to let her get away with that for now so that she had a little bit of time to mentally recover from what was technically a failure. I had come up with this little exercise to help Dinky practice her telekinesis while still having fun with it. Telekinesis, like many spells, was a spell that only practice would let you get better at. I didn’t really want to push how much Dinky could lift yet, not at her age. So instead we were working at fine control. A deck of cards was pretty cheap and easy to replace, so even if Dinky completely destroyed the deck beyond repair somehow, it wouldn’t be any kind of major loss.

The game itself wasn’t terribly interesting to me given I could memorize what everypony had based on what cards they asked for. It wouldn’t have been hard for me to eventually win with that kind of advantage. There was still a factor of luck, but I likely had an above average chance of winning if I applied myself. Though watching Dinky and Spike childishly play off of one another was pretty amusing. Those two were definitely acting like this was a contest. But my main goal was to help Dinky with her magic, and on that front she was slowly getting better from the practice.

If I had to guess, based off the way Sparkler was absentmindedly monitoring the game, she was probably just enjoying spending time with her sister. It was probably a relief to her that Dinky wasn’t getting bored and wanting to do something more energetic in the constricting space of the traincar. Children could be cute and fun, but they also took a bunch of energy to keep up with.

Considering the game wasn’t particularly mentally taxing to keep up with, I decided to strike up a conversation with Sparkler to help pass the time. It also doubled as an opportunity to practice those social skills I had been working on since coming to Ponyville. Why have one reason for doing something when you could come up with several productive reasons for doing so?

I gently nudged Sparkler in the shoulder to catch her attention. “So, you and Dinky have any plans while you’re visiting your family?”

“Mhm.” Sparkler asked for a six from Spike and received one, much to Spike’s consternation. “Gramma and Grampa are planning on taking us to some museums or something like that. We’ll also probably do the usual stuff, like go out to eat and play some board games at their house.”

“Oh! And go t’Game Stable!” The mere thought of going to Game Stable caused Dinky to lose her concentration on her levitation spell, and her cards fell, scattering in a half dozen different directions. I wasn’t too concerned with Dinky’s troubles with telekinesis at this juncture. Learning how to keep up a telekinesis spell was just one of those things you had to learn to do as a unicorn, and it namely took practice, practice, and more practice.

“Stoopid telekene—telaken—floaty magic.” She grumbled and went through the process of regathering her cards.

I smirked at Dinky’s trouble with pronunciation, remembering all too well my own trouble at trying to pronounce new words at her age. “Sounds good.” I could have probably picked up the five Dinky most likely had, but decided to be nice to the youngest pony of our group. Instead she asked Sparkler for a ten, which she didn’t have. “You were also going to see your uncle?”

Sparkler smiled at the mention of her uncle. “S’why I was so happy to hear we were gonna be able to go to Canterlot, even though Mom was too busy to take us. Uncle Cirrus is gonna take me to see a DJ-Pon3 concert!” She gave an excited, high pitched squeal that made my ears flatten.

Dinky rubbed at one of her ears. “Careful, Miss Twilight. Talkin’ about DJ makes Sparky all squeaky.”

“No kidding?” Spike grumbled. “I remember when Twilight did that when she got to meet Jade Singer to get one of her books signed. I thought my ears were going to bleed the way she was screaming and jumping around.”

“Ha-ha, Spike.” So maybe I was a bit excited to have a book signed by one of my favorite authors ever. I think I had the right to let myself go just a little bit. But still, I prefered to move the conversation away from an incident that caused an entire bookstore’s clientele to stare at me. “So, Sparkler, who's DJ-Pon3?” The name did sound familiar, but I couldn’t remember why off the top of my head.

Sparkler jaw fell agape, like I had just asked her who Princess Celestia was. “How do you not know about Vinyl Scratch? She’s only the best musician in all of Equestria—no—the world! I mean she only makes the best dubstep ever. Not to mention electronic music, and ... well, everything. Everything she does is awesome. And Uncle Cirrus bought us tickets to go see her tomorrow! I can’t wait.”

Her saddlebag lit up with her magic as she pulled out a rolled-up poster. I also couldn’t help but notice, with a bit of satisfaction, that Sparkler was indeed becoming better with her energy control. Seems that gem I had given her was just the trick she needed.

Sparkler unrolled the poster for all of us to see, her excitement clear to anypony that saw the big grin on her face. “And I’m so gonna get her autograph and put this up in my room. That would make this trip absolutely perfect!

I blinked a couple of times as I stared at the poster. On it was a white mare with a two-tone blue mane, covered in wrap-around glowsticks. She looked to be running a record player and was having the time of her life. “DJ-Pon3” was scribbled in a bold font across the top of the page.

And she looked like a dead ringer for a female version of my big brother.

To say the least, that was a bit creepy. I remember back when I was a filly how I once teased my brother with the idea of turning him into a mare with a spell, and even threw up an illusion of what he would probably look like if I did something like that. I wasn’t really serious about doing something like that given it was just some harmless childish teasing, but I couldn’t deny that my illusion from all the way back then looked like the mare on this poster. Not to mention looking at that poster made me immediately think about what Cloud Kicker had said about a DJ who looked like my brother. Some of those details I tried not to think about too hard given the possible familial relationship, but others were staring me right in the face right now.

Multiple questions churned in my head. Was this the pony Cloud Kicker had mentioned before? There were certainly ponies who looked very similar but didn’t share any immediate familial relationships. Could she really be my sister, or was this just a really freaky coincidence? Was my dad conducting an affair? Did my mom have any idea? I had heard rumors of my father’s ... extracurricular activities, but I had dismissed them to be nothing more than that, rumor. I had heard my share of superfluous rumors such as the one that I was Princess Celestia’s daughter, or some clandestine project to create some sort of super unicorn, so it wasn’t hard to just tone it all out as the usual Canterlot rumormongering. But as much as I wanted to dismiss my talk with Cloud Kicker, the rumors of my Dad’s activities, and Vinyl’s physical similarities to Shiny as just a coincidence, the idea just kept nagging at me.

I figured I would be looking into this in Canterlot—even if I hadn’t quite thought out how I was going to go about investigating whether I had a half-sister. I could potentially ask this Vinyl Scratch, DJ-Pon3—or whatever she was called—if she knew anything. Though I had a feeling that would be easier said than done. But I’ve saved the world a couple of times or so, so I wouldn’t put this matter into the impossible category. Which, upon contemplation, really shows how skewed my perspective has become over the last couple of years.

I felt something poke my knee, and I snapped back to reality. “World to Twilight. You still in there?” Spike poked me in the knee again and gave that frown he gave me when he was feeling particularly put upon as my assistant.

I shook my head. “Yeah—yeah, I’m good. Just thinking, is all.”

Dinky poked at my other knee and made me wonder how long I had been out of it for the both her and Spike to get in on the act. “Good, ‘cause you were looking rilly spaced out. You kinda looked like Scootaloo when she’s rilly bored an’ not payin’ attention, an’ then Miss Cheerilee asks about what she’s teachin’ and then Scootaloo will pretend she was payin’ attention an’ stuff, but she wasn’t so she looks rilly silly in front of the class.”

“If you say so.” I shook my head once again to help clear it. I really needed to keep from zoning out like that.

“Could be worse. It coulda been like Sparky, ‘cause she gets all cootie-faced whenever she talks ‘bout Ratchet.” Dinky made a gag face that made it pretty clear she disapproved of the whole ‘special somepony’ thing.

"Cootie-faced, huh?" Sparkler reached out and pulled Dinky into a headlock. "C'mere, you—your brain needs a massage."

Dinky squealed as her older sister started to noogie her. "Gaah! Miss Twilight, halp! Sparky's gonna bald my mane!" She attempted to squirm out of her older sister’s grip, scattering the cards from the game around the floor as she did so, but her efforts were in vain.

“Sorry, Dinky, but I know better than to get between two siblings when they’re like this.” While the antics of Derpy’s daughters helped lighten my mood, they couldn’t prevent me from thinking about what that poster had potentially revealed to me. “So Sparkler, you said that Vinyl was performing tomorrow?”

“Mhm.” Sparkler let go of her sister and the two of us went about picking up the scattered cards so that they wouldn’t bother the other passengers. We had already gotten enough looks from everypony else to make me more than a little self-conscious of Sparkler and Dinky’s roughhousing. “Why do you ask?”

“I’m considering seeing if I might like dubstep.”


I stepped off the train at the Canterlot train station with Sparkler and Dinky in tow and Spike riding on my back. I glanced around the crowd to try and find one of the ponies I was looking for. The three of us kept moving forward as to not block the door of the train. That type of thing always annoyed me. It’s so inefficient and rude to just stop walking in the middle of any doorway while other ponies were trying to get through too. It also didn’t help that a decent number of ponies had gathered outside of the door and were unhelpfully making it harder for ponies to exit the train in order to meet whoever they were meeting sooner.

We eventually reached a point where the crowd became thinner, and I spotted one of the ponies I had hoped would be there to greet us. Mom smiled as she waved to catch my attention. Dinky was riding on Sparkler’s back, so I nodded for Sparkler follow me and we made our way to my mom.

Mom engulfed me and Spike in a big hug as soon as I was within reach. “Twilight, Spike, it’s so good to see you two!”

“Good to see you too, Mom.” I nuzzled her neck and felt the familiar light gray fur of her coat.

Spike gave Mom another squeeze. “Yeah, great to see you again.”

Mom broke the hug and straightened the long white-and-violet striped bangs of her mane. Looking at her, she looked like she always had to me, a older mare with a matronly aura and a steady core of kindness underlined with strength. “How are you doing? Are you feeling alright?” A worried frown creased her face and she reached out to stroke the cheek that had been injured the other night. “When I heard about what happened...”

Being reminded of the incident with Sticks and Stones and the worry it probably put my parents through made it feel like there was a pit in my stomach. I couldn’t help but feel at least a bit guilty over being hurt. Big surprise, my parents and brother didn’t like hearing about all the danger I had gotten into since coming to Ponyville. Not that I put myself in mortal danger on purpose. It’s not my fault when little things like Nightmare Moon returning and Discord escaping happened. Okay, so maybe things like getting turned into stone by a cockatrice could have been prevented. But how was I supposed to foresee a piano was going to fall on my head studying Pinkie Pie’s Pinkie Sense?

I instinctually gripped my mom’s hoof with my own. “Hey, I’m fine, really. The doctors said I’ve made a full recovery. Nothing to worry about.” I felt Spike hop down from my back and wrap his arms around my leg. Endless night, I hated how much all of this affected him.

The worry dissipated slightly from my mom, though I could still feel some tension from her as she squeezed my hoof back. “If you say so. Just be more careful in the future, okay? I hate hearing that you’ve been hurt.”

I nodded. “I’ll try, Mom. Promise.” If I kept going at this rate, Celestia was going to give me my own guard to keep me safe.

Having given me a suitable amount of attention for the moment, Mom turned back towards Spike and gave him his own little hug. I did have to give my family credit for treating Spike as another member of the family. That meant a lot to me given how big a part of my life Spike has become. “And how are you doing?” Mom asked.

Spike hugged back. “I’m doing good. And I’ve learned some new cooking recipies I would like to show you later, if you’d like.”

“How could I say no? I can’t think of a single meal of yours that disappointed.” Mom gave him a teasing poke. “Well, except that one time you served us that one with a few too many minerals in it.”

“That was by accident,” Spike grumbled. “I forgot I had crushed up gems in that casserole.”

I moved to let a pony move through us before giving Spike a playful nudge to the shoulder. “And did no favors to our teeth,” I teased. Spike muttered something under his breath and looked down at the ground, shuffling his feet in an embarrassed fashion. I nuzzled him to help him feel not so bad. “It was just the one time, silly. You know we love your cooking.” That compliment seemed to help lift that dark cloud from his head at least a little bit.

“And while we’re on the topic of food...” Mom reached into her saddlebag and pulled out a hoof-sized sapphire. “I have a little gift for our little Spikey-wikey.”

Whatever foul mood Spike might have been getting into was immediately dispelled at the sight of the gem and he licked his lips. “That for me?”

“Sure is!” Mom levitated the gem over to Spike. He grasped it and eagerly started sucking on it, making pleased murmurs when he did so.

I fixed my mom with a disapproving frown. “Mom, you’re going to spoil him. I have a very specific diet set for his gem intake.” I couldn’t help but notice that Spike had put the sapphire further into his mouth while giving me a disapproving glower. No doubt he didn’t want to be separated from his new gem.

Mom waved dismissively. “It’ll be fine, dear. Besides, I don’t get to see him nearly often enough. Isn’t that right, Spike?”

“Mhm,” he agreed while Mom gave him a motherly nuzzle. He also didn’t take the gem out of his mouth. Probably to keep me from snatching the gem away from him if I wanted to. Not that I was likely to at this point for all the good it would do.

I let out a long sigh. “Fine, he can have the gem.”

With that settled, Mom looked behind the two of us to see Sparkler and Dinky watching on. “And who are these two?”

“Oooh! So you’re Miss Twilight’s mommy?” Dinky leapt from Sparkler’s back to land on the ground, and without missing a beat, ran over to stand before my mom. “Hi! My name’s Dinky Doo! I’m learnin’ magic from Miss Twilight. What’s your name? ‘Cause I don’t wanna just call ya Miss Twilight’s Mom.”

Mom chuckled and lowered herself closer to Dinky’s level. “My name is Twilight Velvet.”

“Mom.” I gestured towards my charges for the day. “This is Dinky Doo, and her older Sister, Sparkler. They’re both Ditzy Doo’s kids. I wrote about them.”

She nodded and smirked down at Dinky. “So you’re the student my daughter’s decided to start teaching? She’s written all about you and you’re just as precious as she said you were.”

“Yah-huh!” Dinky nodded enthusiastically, not failing to miss the opportunity to meet and greet a new pony. “Miss Twilight’s teaching me all sortsa stuff, even if her silly-bus is kinda boring. But a buncha the other stuff is rilly cool. She’s the bestest teacher in Ponyville!” She took a moment to touch a hoof to her lips in a contemplating gesture. “Um, except for maybe Miss Cheerilee, my teacher at school. She’s really great too, and I love them both. So ... can I say they’re both bestest?”

“I think that would be fine,” Mom assured her. She looked up at Sparkler, and something flashed in her eyes. “Hm, so you’re Dinky’s big sister, are you?”

Sparkler stepped aside of a pony trying to brush past us. “That’s me. S’nice to meet you, Missus Twilight. Er.” Biting her lower lip, she looked between the two of us. “Would it be okay for me to call you Missus Velvet? Gonna be a bit awkward to call both of you ‘Twilight.’”

Mom nodded. “Of course. And ‘Duchess Velvet’ or just ‘Duchess’ should be fine, too.”

Sparkler’s eyes widened at that. “Wait, ‘duchess’?”

“Whoa! Does that make you a rilly important pony?” Dinky asked.

Mom smirked. “Somewhat,” she said cryptically. “I may have had a lunch or two with Their Highnesses.”

“Well, a duchess is the second highest rank of nobility in Equestria, short of being a princess,” I explained. But I was quick to add, “Not that you should treat her differently from anypony else, of course. Except you should treat her with respect considering she’s a duchess. So make sure to treat her with the respect her titles demand.” My mouth started running as I tried to figure out how best to explain this to the two of them. “But she’s still a pony, but also she’s my mom, and—”

Mom put a hoof on my shoulder and made an amused chuckled. “I think they get the point, dear. I’m sure the two of them will act like perfect ladies.”

I felt my cheeks start to flush. “Oh, right.”

“Um.” Dinky shuffled a hoof along the stone of the train station floor. “Can I still hug ya?”

Mom opened a leg invitingly. “I don’t see why not.”

Dinky did so.


Introductions out of the way, we all made our way towards the home of Derpy’s parents so that we could drop Sparkler and Dinky off there. I figured that would be the most responsible thing to do, and thankfully Mom was more than understanding. It was pretty obvious that the two of them wanted to see their grandparents. Especially Dinky, who kept asked her beleaguered sister how close we were and how much longer it would take to get there.

While I had grown comfortable in Ponyville, there was still a big part of me that missed Canterlot. There was just so much that Canterlot had that Ponyville simply didn’t between the larger libraries, stadiums, opera houses, and so on. And despite the city being perched along the side of the mountain, efforts were taken to have plenty of small gardens and parks throughout the city to give it a welcoming and cultured atmosphere. Also, the view is pretty great. It’s a little hard not to look down from the mountain and take in the sight of all of Equestria. Not that I planned on moving back anytime soon, but it was nice that the city was close enough to visit now and again.

The white marble streets of Canterlot had their usual bustle of ponies walking from one place to another. I wouldn’t describe the generally narrow streets as crowded, but they were certainly more busy than the wide streets Ponyville had.

Deciding to strike up some conversation while we followed Sparkler, I turned to my mom. “So where are Dad and Shiny?”

Mom stepped to allow a pony to walk between us before replying. “Your father will be meeting us for lunch after we’re done here. Shiny is busy right now, but he was hoping to be able to see you later this evening. But we’ll just have to see.”

“Oh.” I couldn’t help but feel a bit depressed over not being able to see my big brother right away.

It was good to hear that I would be able to see Dad, but it was sounding like Shiny might be too busy to see me today. That was the problem with him being the Captain of the Guard, it meant he always had something that needed his attention. So he had to prioritize between some fire that needed to be put out at work and seeing his little sister. Probably why he hadn’t been able to see me in Ponyville yet. He was a stallion in high demand. I should hopefully be able to see him sometime while I was in Canterlot.

“Bummer. I was hoping to get to see Shiny again.” Spike sucked on his gem before continuing. “At least we’ll get to see your dad, Twilight.”

“Yeah, that’s true,” I acknowledged.

Mom gave me an encouraging nudge to the shoulder. “Buck up, you know your big brother wants to see you. He just has a very demanding job. Besides, he told me there was something important he had to tell you.”

“I know.” I sighed. “So what is it he wants to tell me?” I doubted it could be a promotion. Little hard to be promoted higher than the commander of all of Equestria’s armed forces. So I was a bit at a loss what he wanted to tell me about.

“Oh, that’s for him to tell you.” She smirked at me conspiratorially. I suspected Mom had gotten good at that smirk from being a Royal Magus. Being secretive about information was pretty much a pastime of theirs. It could also be very frustrating to deal with Mom. She was kind of like Princess Celestia in that she liked to hold onto information tantalizingly close to me but just out of reach.

“Can’t I just know now? Pleeease?” I gave Mom the sweet smile I reserved for when I wanted something from her. Sometimes it worked.

“No.”

And sometimes it didn’t.

She kept right on grinning at me. “Don’t worry, you’ll find out soon enough.”

“Fine,” I grumbled.

The smirk slowly faded from Mom’s face as we walked a little bit in silence. “So you ready for tomorrow morning?”

Knowing what she was talking about, I nodded slowly. “Yeah.” My ears flattened and that was all I wanted to say on the matter.

“Hey, I’m here for you.” Spike wrapped his arm around me neck to hug me.

“I know you are.” I nuzzled him, feeling comfort from his presence.

Sparkler’s ears perked and she craned her head back towards us. “You two planning something tomorrow?”

Mom smiled at Sparkler pleasantly while waving dismissively. “Just a little family thing you don’t have to worry about, dear. You concentrate on having fun with your family over the next couple of days.”

Sparkler puckered her lips as she gave the two of us a examining look. “If you two say so...”

Before Sparkler could say anything else, Dinky sprung up to stand on Sparkler’s back and pointed. “Oooh! Oooh! There’s Gramma an’ Grampa’s house!” She hopped down from Sparkler’s back and ran towards the home.

Calling the Doo home a house seemed to be a bit of an understatement. The narrow, three-story building was more of a small manor, at least by Canterlot standards. Space wasn’t cheap in Canterlot given the city was perched on the side of Mount Avalon. Most ponies in the city lived in apartments or condos, or on the second story of the building that housed their business. It was usually preferable to spend one’s bits on improving their living space or taking advantage of all the restaurants and forms of entertainment the capital of Equestria contained.

So the fact that Derpy’s parents owned a building meant they probably had a good chunk of money to their names. That seemed a bit at odds with the humble Ponyville mailmare I knew, but it is true that every pony has a story. Maybe I would ask Derpy about it someday when it seemed appropriate.

Dinky was vigorously knocking at the door by the time the rest of us had caught up with her. Sparkler gently grabbed Dinky’s hoof to keep her from drilling a hole through the door and gave her a smirk. “Careful, Dinks. I think they probably already heard you.” Sparkler's head tilted as she noticed a piece of paper stuck to the door. She pulled it down to take a closer look.

Dinky craned her neck to try and get at an angle where she could read whatever was written on the paper also. “What’s it say, Sparky? Come on, tell me.”

“Give me one sec. Sheesh, Dinks.” Sparkler grimaced and lowered the paper. “Bummer. Seems Grampa had something come up at the last minute at work and had to take care of it. He says that he’s gonna try and get back as soon as possible, but it could take him all day.”

Dinky’s lips puckered into a pout. “Aaaw! That’s no fun. I wanna see everypony.” After a second she added, “And go t’Game Stable.”

“That isn’t too much of a problem, is it?” Mom asked.

Sparkler shook her head. “Nah, Mom gave me the key to the place.” To make her point, she pulled out said key from her saddlebags and proceeded to unlock the door. “Grampa said for us to come in and wait for him.”

Looking through the doorway, I could see a well-furnished foyer that only confirmed earlier evidence that the grandparent Doos did seem to have a fair bit of wealth. I even saw some Zebrican artifacts hanging on the walls.

I rubbed my chin as I thought over the situation. “What about your grandma?”

“Busy with a prior commitment today.” Sparkler made an annoyed sigh and put her key away. “Something about meeting an old friend or whatever, but we already knew about that.”

“Sorry to hear about that, girls,” I said, offering sympathy. That was a shame to hear, especially given how despondent Dinky now looked. Sure, it was probably only going to be a few hours before they were all reunited, but the small things can be pretty crushing when you’re a kid.

Mom looked between the two of them and I could almost see the wheels turning in her head. “Sparkler? Dinky? How about you come with us to get lunch? Maybe we can even take you to a few places to pass the time. I know it’s not the same as seeing your family, but it would let you get out and do something around Canterlot instead of being cooped up in your grandparents’ house.”

Dinky’s face immediately brightened at the proposal. “Can we, Sparky, can we? Miss Twilight is rilly nice, an’ so’s Spike an’ Missus Duchess.”

Sparkler rubbed at the back of her neck as she thought the idea over. “I don’t know. I don’t want Grampa worrying about where we are.”

“It’ll be fine, dear. You two won’t be alone with us here, and your mother knows that you’re with Twilight.” Mom’s horn glowed and a quill and inkpot popped into existence. Her horn continued to glow and I could feel her casting an additional spell over the sheet of paper. “How about you go ahead and leave a note for everypony. I’ve cast a spell on paper so that the next time somepony picks it up I’ll know about it. If your grandparents come back before we do, we’ll know to come right here to drop you off.” Her mouth turned up with a maternal smile that certainly made it easy for me to trust her.

I gave Sparkler my own welcoming smile, liking the idea the more I thought about it. “Yeah, we could have some fun around the city. I can think of a few places you two might enjoy.”

After a few moments of thinking and looking into her pleading sister’s eyes, she nodded and started writing. “Okay, I guess this should be alright. At least as long as we come back before nightfall.”

Dinky hopped around excitedly. “Yay! Thanks, Sparky.” She hugged her sister as Sparkler slid the letter under the door.

Sparkler pulled herself from Dinky’s hug and levitated her sister onto her back. “Yeah, yeah. Just be good for everypony, okay?”

Dinky nodded enthusiastically. “You betcha!”

All things considered, it looked like it was going to be an enjoyable afternoon for all of us.

Author's Note:

My apologies for the long hiatus. Life in general hadn't been kind to me getting any writing done over the last few months. I assure everyone, I am very committed towards completing this story. Now that personal life issues have subsided, my writing rate is getting back up, and I should be able to write chapters quicker and more consistently now. In fact, the next chapter of Study is already in the works.

Also I would like to thank my editors Chengar Qordath, Comma-Kazie, and JakeTheGinger for all their help. And also to my prereaders Luminary, Swiftestshadow, Infinion, Pegasusnumber 5, Cryosite, Hopeless Appraisal, 621Chopsuey, Nekonyancer, Web of Hope, Rodinga, Llyander, ZaneSkelton, and Malefic Scholar who put a ton of effort into reading over this chapter and making sure it's presentable.