//------------------------------// // two // Story: A Mother Remembered // by Foals Errand //------------------------------// Twilight kept her eyes squeezed tightly for several more seconds before slowly opening a single eye and glancing around. Things seemed to be back to normal. The tree was still glowing, but in a far more sedate manner. Twilight released the breath she had not even realised she was holding and opened her other eye to see Celestia staring at the trunk of the tree. Twilight opened her mouth to ask what she was looking at, only to quickly close it again. Curled up at the trunk were two tiny pony foals. Twilight hesitantly took a step forward to take a better look at them. The larger foal seemed to be protectively curled around the smaller one. It had a pure white coat and a soft pink mane, while the smaller foal had a dark blue coat with black blotches on the flank with a light blue mane and a touch of curls at the ends, and both foals had small stubby horns poking through the fringe covering their foreheads. Twilight couldn’t help the smile pulling at her lips, for they were just so cute and fluffy she wanted to nuzzle both of them. What sweet little unicorn foals... But where did they come from? “Tia, aren’t they… Tia?” Twilight turned to see her trembling. “Tia, what is it? They’re just two unicorn foals.” Celestia slowly shook her head and took a nervous step forward. “Their backs.” Twilight frowned. “What do you mean ‘their backs’?” Celestia took a deep shaky breath. “Twilight, look at their backs.” Her ears splayed back as the request came out far more forceful than she had intended. “Please, Twily?” Twilight crept another step closer to the sleeping foals and carefully inspected them. What is it Tia is seeing that I’m not? They have their soft foal coats, their normal stubby horns, their fluffy wings… Twilight’s eyes grew by at least two sizes; the foals had wings! “B-but that’s not possible, is it? I mean, you and Luna are the only born alicorns right? I mean, Cadance and I... we ascended.” Celestia simply stared at the two foals. Her lips formed a thin line as her horn glowed with golden energy, slowly lifting the two alicorn foals on her back. “This is not the place nor the time to discuss them. Let’s get these two back to the palace and away from the Everfree Forest.” Twilight nodded with a shiver; the faster they were able to leave that accursed place, the better in her opinion. With that decided she fell in step behind Celestia, who had her wings positioned to block any light from waking the two on her back. The tender steps she took brought a smile to Twilight’s lips as she recalled being in the same position as the foals. Having worked herself far too hard and falling asleep into her book, Celestia would simply lift her onto her own back and carry her back to her bed before tucking her in, no matter who happened to be there or who saw. Celestia never bowed to etiquette when it came to that. Celestia stopped suddenly at the top of the stairs with her ears flayed back. “Twi-twilight?” Twilight snapped back into the present at the sound of Celestia’s voice. Her eyes widened as she took in the sight around her. Where the Palace of the Royal Pony Sisters should have been was covered in tall trees. A sweet smell filled the air, unlike anything Twilight had ever even imagined. She shook her head and looked around, patches of sunlight streamed in through the canopy of the forest and Twilight felt her ear flick as she heard something. She closed her eyes and listened, and a few moments of silence went by before she heard it again; it was a bird call. Twilight swallowed hard before returning her gaze to Celestia. “Tia, what is going on here?” Celestia simply shook her head as if she didn’t feel she was able to speak. To see the Everfree Forest like this once more... Something clearly must have occurred, but as for what exactly happened, she wasn’t at all certain. She carefully shifted her weight before remembering the foals on her back. Guiltily, she looked towards Twilight. Twilight took a moment to glance at Celestia’s back; the foals were still fast asleep. Well, that is helpful at least, though I doubt they’d be able to tell us much about what is going on... If they know anything about it at all, even. “You stay here, Tia. I’m going to take a look and see if I can figure out what is going on.” Celestia gave a firm nod, though her eyes reflected the fear she was feeling. Fear for Twilight, for her sister, fear even for Equestria. Twilight took care to take a few steps backwards before allowing her wings to spread. Flapping a few times to get her momentum up, she jumped straight up, catching a small breeze with a few more large flaps until she was above the canopy. Spotting a large enough cloud, she let herself land on it and took in her surroundings. It was awe inspiring. Miles... For miles she could see beautiful fields, rolling hills, and trickling streams, but it made no sense, none at all! Ponyville should be right there, and the train station should be over there... The tracks were there, though there aren’t even marks in the grass to show that they were ever there in the first place! Twilight felt her legs give way as she collapsed onto her belly. Gone? A-are we in the future? Has time eroded everything? That makes little sense! Frustrated, Twilight forced herself to stand and turned to look at Canterlot, or at least she would have, had Canterlot been there. Twilight’s hoof went to her mouth. “G-gone…” Canterlot was gone completely; it was as if it had never even existed. Twilight gulped back the tears that were threatening to fall and took several deep breaths in the familiar method Cadance had taught her. In and out, Sparkle. In and out... Once she felt less likely to burst into tears she took a closer look at what she was seeing. She cocked her head as the sun caught Mount Canterhorn just right. “It’s sparkling, as if it’s covered in… gems!” Twilight’s wings extended in surprise. We aren’t in the far future, we’re in the past! Way in the past, possibly even before the Windigos… Twilight laid back down on the cloud, turning onto her back to stare up at the blue sky. “Alright, think... Obviously the Tree of Harmony brought me and Tia to the distant past for a reason. What could it be, though? Th-there was that awful blinding light, and then the foals were there. That’s it, they must be connected!” Twilight frowned while rubbing her temples with her hooves. “But that makes no sense since those foals are alicorns! The only born alicorns in history are…” Twilight stopped suddenly as she brought the foals’ features to the front of her mind. “The largest one is white with a light pink mane, and the smaller one a dark blue with black blotches on her flank and light blue mane. It… it is. There’s no other explanation; those foals on Tia’s back are Tia and Luna. Could they have just been born? No, not born. Not the way I was, at least. The Tree of Harmony created them.” Twilight chuckled. “Well, Tia and I had been discussing adoption once we got married... I just never thought we’d be adopting her younger self.” Twilight climbed to her hooves and dived off the cloud, allowing her wings to catch her as she glided back down to where Celestia was still waiting. She was stock still, other than her horn being covered in a golden glow, ready to take out any beast which ventured too close. “Tia?” Twilight quietly said to get her love’s attention, but also to hopefully not be hit with the spell she had on standby. Celestia turned her head a bare amount with only her left eye focusing on Twilight before she sagged in relief, her horn ceasing to glow. “Oh, Twily, you had me so worried! I feared something had happened to thee!” Twilight couldn’t help it as her lips curled into a smile. “I’m fine, Tia, though you must have been very worried; you’re starting to sound a bit like Luna.” Twilight’s eyes unconsciously drifted to the dark blue foal upon Celestia’s back, whom she now suspected… no, that she now knew was Luna as a baby. Celestia blushed a touch. “Alright, yes. I was very worried about you, Twilight. Everything here just seems so off. Did you discover anything?” Twilight swallowed hard and nodded. “Yes, Tia, I did. Well... that is, I’m almost certain of it. Oh Harmony, Tia, we are in the past!” Celestia stared at Twilight “T-the past? That’s not…” The shock caused her mane to cease flowing and fall limply against her neck. Twilight took a step forward. “Tia. Tia, it’s alright; there’s no sign of any danger. In fact, I-I think that we may be even before the windigos came here.” Celestia nodded weakly. Her eyes visibly glazed over after a few moments of shallow breathing. Celestia glanced back at the sleeping foals on her back and watched as their fluffy feathers ruffled softly in the gentle breeze. She gave a small shiver before repositioning her wings to better block the cool wind from bothering them. She cocked her head and frowned. There was something about the foals on her back... “Do you have any idea how we got here, Twilight?” Twilight glanced down into the chasm they had emerged from not that long ago. Celestia followed her gaze and nodded. “I think… I know that there can be some other possibility, but why? For what reason did the Tree of Harmony need to send us back to this time? I just…” Her eyes caught sight of the older foal’s pink mane being blown in the breeze in a very familiar manner. She felt a chill over her entire body as her legs trembled. “No… It…” Twilight took a step towards Celestia. “Yes, Tia. I’m certain those foals are you and Luna.” Twilight was barely able to catch the foals in her levitation field as Celestia’s eyes rolled back and she lost consciousness. “Celestia! Tia... Tia!”