//------------------------------// // Reunion // Story: A Scratch On Shining Armor // by BaeroRemedy //------------------------------// “Every parting is a form of death, as every reunion is a type of heaven.” -Tryon Edwards “What a quaint little town.” Vinyl couldn’t help but agree with Sky’s statement. The little thatched-roof cottages and clear blue skies filled with pegasi flitting about made the little village feel almost idyllic. In a way, she could see herself settling down somewhere like here at some point in the future.         “I prefer the city,” Shining said as he looked around, a slight grimace on his face. “It’s too quiet, not enough going on.” Vinyl thought that Twinkle would appreciate a lighter workload than he had in Canterlot, that he would admire the relative serenity of a small town. Then again, he was a bit of a workaholic. He always seemed like he needed a project to focus on or something to do.         “Not enough dark alleys to skulk around in, Twinkle? You need a shady character to tail?” Vinyl ribbed the guard a little, it was a good way to return to form after her little episode on the train.         “I just prefer my environments a bit more active than this.” Shining trotted forward and the two mares followed. “I have to check in with the Mayor before we go see Cedar.” Vinyl shot him a look, she wasn’t too keen on waiting. Apparently he had eyes in the back of his helmet, because he responded to her worries pretty quickly. “It’s procedure, if an on-duty guard goes into a town where they aren’t stationed, they have to check in with local leaders and explain their presence. Otherwise ponies might panic.”         Vinyl saw the ponies of the town out of the corner of her eye, they were definitely giving the trio a wide berth and wary glances. It was weird thinking that these ponies weren’t used to seeing a guard, a truly foreign thought to Vinyl. Guards were, especially now, an integral part of her life.         “Why don’t you go do that and give me and Sky the address?” No offense to the Mayor of Ponyville, but Vinyl was not to keen on spending time in a small office in the middle of a town in the middle of nowhere. “It’ll save us all a little time.”         “I’m not leaving you two alone.” Twinkle stood firm, his brow creased in defiance. “For this whole trip, you’re both staying in my sight. No exceptions.” Out came the inner authoritarian in Twinkle, the true form of the guard. “I’ll make it quick, then we’ll go see Cedar and get this reunion on the road.”         “It’s fine. A little while longer won’t hurt,” Glory chimed in with a smile, just like always. “Let’s make sure we do this right, not rushed.” Now, if Vinyl had this trip her way Glory wouldn’t be talking right now, in fact she wouldn’t talk for this whole trip.         “Yeah, alright. Let’s get that over with then.” Vinyl pulled her bag up in front of her and fished her tinted sunglasses from the pockets. They weren’t for the sun today, they were to hide the ever-increasing knitting of her brows and the irritation that would be visible on her face otherwise.         The trio of ponies continued through the town. Twinkle was the one leading, with Vinyl at his side and Glory trailing behind them both. In a better time, a better world even, Vinyl would be coming here for a weekend trip of relaxation from some boring normal job. Maybe she would be coming here with Glory and Lily and without Twinkle.         Something tugged at her heartstrings with that thought. It wasn’t a sense of longing like she had hoped, but a sense of undeniable sadness. She thought that even an inkling of a more normal life would bring a fluttering sense of hope. What was it that caused the sense of loss in that happy thought?         Her eyes were drawn to the statuesque guard at her side, and the various feelings his presence conjured. Their relationship, while strained at the beginning, had grown into a very complicated affair. They had been at each other’s throats a few times, but they had also been there for each other when they needed it most. They had shared in pain, from reliving her own painful memories to being in the same room when Shining had given up his love.         They were tied together through pain, now. They had shared in it, comforted each other and offered kind words and open hearts when the other needed it most. It was something that allowed her to see Twinkle as something more than just a guard, it let her see him as a true pony, even as a friend.         Hell, it felt like he was the only real friend that Vinyl had had in a long time. Since Glory, at least. He was the only pony who had gone out of his way to care about her, to ask about her life and actively try to help her. Sure, he was being paid to do it as part of his work but now it seemed like it was more personal, like he genuinely wanted to help out of the kindness of his heart.         It was infuriating.         For years she had tried not to let anypony get too close. Even those few ponies she had tried to date, those that had gotten far enough had never been let in on her more personal matters. So this guard shows up because the government said she needed to be helped, he worms his way into her life and dredges up old memories.         But she just couldn’t hate Twinkle. No matter how hard she tried, no matter how much she tried to think about all of the stuff he stirred up…she just couldn’t hate him. They were too close now, she had seen him in his most equine moments. She had seen him in pain and hurting, and she couldn’t put out of her head just how easily he had pushed it aside for her sake.         “Not much of a town hall, huh?” They were now standing in front of a circular three story building. It was simple and wooden in its construction, humble just like the structures around it. “This is a guest home in Canterlot at best.” Well, the Canterlot elitism wasn’t going to help anything. It wasn’t very becoming of Shining Armor, but she supposed some things never changed among Canterlot ponies even if they were decent ponies.         “I like it, it’s simple,” Glory chimed in, much to Vinyl’s chagrin. “It’s just right for the town.” A few seconds of silence followed, then Glory spoke up again. “So you just go in there and talk to the Mayor and we’re good to go?”         “Yeah.” Twinkle looked at them both, his gaze trying to discern some unknown meaning. “Look, if I leave you two alone for like five minutes will you be alright? I’m sure you don’t want to come into some politician’s office just to hear me talk, so I want to know if I can trust you two alone.”         “Yeah, we’ll be good,” Vinyl responded, talking for the first time in what seemed like forever. “Go do your thing, Twinkle.” Vinyl propped herself up against one of the wooden supports outside of the rotund building. The guard started towards the door, but stopped himself to look back at the two mares.         “We’ll be fine, Shining.” Glory put a hoof on Shining’s shoulder and gave him a smile. “You go ahead. We’ll be right here.” That seemed to calm him, because the guard went into the building and left the sisters alone together.         Minutes passed in uncomfortable silence before Glory broke it. Vinyl was happy to just sit and ponywatch the time away, but it seemed that the pegasus had other ideas.         “Why do you call him ‘Twinkle’, Vinyl?” That was honestly the last question that Vinyl expected. With everything that was about to happen, she asks a question about nicknames? Nothing about what Lily might think, how they might approach this or anything?         “It’s a nickname, Sky. I don’t need a reason.” Vinyl shot a glance at Glory, who was just standing on the steps of the building nervously fluttering her wings. “I just came up with it to get under his skin.” Vinyl rolled her eyes and muttered under her breath. “Kinda didn’t work…” Evidenced by the fact that Twinkle was still around and helping.         “Well I think it’s cute,” Glory said with a smile, that irritating smile. “Like a little pet name you would give your coltfriend.” Glory was just trying to get a rise out of Vinyl now, and Vinyl knew it. That did not stop Vinyl from responding.         “Are you being serious right now? I mean, Twinkle is Twinkle. He’s a huge nerd who wears armor.” Vinyl pushed herself off of the support that she had been leaning on. “I mean, sure he’s helped me a lot but he’s a friend. Just a friend.” Vinyl leveled a glare at her sister, which was quite ineffective given it was hidden behind her overly large sunglasses.         “I’m not trying to tease, Vinyl. I was just observing that you two are close...closer than anypony else is with you. One could…” Glory searched for words. “...construe certain things from an outside point of view.” Glory lowered her voice just enough so that Vinyl could barely make out her words. “Not a bad thing, either.”         “Listen-” Vinyl started, only to be cut off by a door opening. Out of it, came Shining Armor carrying a few pieces of official looking paper. Vinyl saw her out and took it, glad to be done with the matter. “-How’d it go in there, Twinkle? We good?” She might talk to Glory about this later, that depended on what happened in the next few hours.         “Yeah, the mayor was pretty understanding. He wished us luck and even comped us a room at a local hotel.” He held up the pieces of paper. “Official statement that he’s covering the charges. I just have to give them to the owner and they’ll take care of the rest.”         “Really? That was awful nice of him.” Glory commented, looking up at one of the upper windows of the building. An older pony with a slicked back gray mane, a bushy silver mustache, and a warm smile was standing at the window. He raised a hoof and waved to the group, which all three of them returned. “What’s his name? I should send him a letter when I get back home.”         “Mayor Rich. Stinking Rich, I think was his full name.” Shining seemed to have mixed feelings about the pony’s name based on his tone. Vinyl wasn’t going to give the Mayor any flak, though. He did them all a favor, and that earned him a good spot in her book.         “Well let’s just hope Mayor Rich gave us a hotel room with a stocked minifridge, huh?” Vinyl nudged Twinkle with her hoof. “Celestia knows we’ll all need it after today.” Vinyl’s joke about alcoholism didn’t go over too well, seeing as how she was met with a stifling silence. “Whatever, let’s just get going.”         “Yeah, I think it’s about time to get this show on the road,” Twinkle conceded and began walking. “We’ll drop our stuff off at the hotel after we see Lily. I’d rather not delay this any longer.” Vinyl agreed and started after the guard, Glory bringing up the rear of the group once more.         The walk across town and to the home of Cedar Mulch was a short one. Five minutes at most. But to Vinyl it felt like a lifetime. After all, this was the culmination of six years of a lot of pain and searching. The conclusion to so much strife and turmoil all hinged on the coming hours.         It was almost too much.         Almost.         Vinyl was going to tough all of this out for her own well-being and nothing else. Not even for Twinkle’s approval or Sky’s peace of mind. This was about her and her own feelings now. Nothing could change that now.         The home of Cedar Mulch was a lovely little thing. Thatched roof standard, sure but it was the landscaping that made the house pop. Various flowers of all colors of the rainbow sprung to life beneath windows and in little fenced off sections in the small area around the house. Two bushes were trimmed expertly to connect in an archway that surrounded the front door of the abode. All in all, it looked like a gardener’s paradise, no surprise there given the stallion’s name.         “Nice house,” Twinkle commented as he walked up to the door. Vinyl removed her sunglasses, shared a nervous look with Sky and then promptly followed Twinkle up to the door. The guard knocked on the door exactly twice, both sounds sharp and deafening. In fact, the act was near frightening for Vinyl. This was it.         The moment was finally here.         “Shining Armor, I suppose?” A dark green stallion with a shaggy brown mane opened the door, and studied the trio. He didn’t look but ten years older than Vinyl, but the weight of those years showed heavily on his face. Specifically the bags under his eyes and slight wrinkles forming at the corner of his dark brown eyes.         “Yes sir. Cedar Mulch?” The green stallion nodded. “Pleasure to finally meet you, sir. Thank you for allowing this visit, you have no idea how much this means.” Shining flashed that winning smile of his, which the other stallion returned with a wary look.         “Is that the mother and aunt?” He nodded his head at Vinyl and Sky. It didn’t feel like a kind gesture, not one that Vinyl liked directed at her at least. Shining nodded in return. “Guess I can’t leave kin waiting outside.” His tone lightened and Cedar flashed a half smile. “C’mon in, all of you.” He stepped aside and opened the door.                 The interior of the house was not much different than the exterior. It was covered in plant life wherever there was space to put it. Potted plants sat in front of windows, holding flowers or vines that reached out and grasped little knicknacks. In almost every corner, a fern sat, soaking up the sunlight that poured through the windows.         “Am I glad I don’t have allergies…” Vinyl remarked. The whole place absolutely reeked of the floral decorations, making the usually pleasant scent nearly unbearable. The group was directed across the plant-cluttered living room to a bright yellow couch that sat opposite the main window.         “Yeah, sorry about that. Me and the girls are always growing something for somepony. It gets a bit hectic around this time. Ponies want something to brighten up their homes through the autumn and winter, you know.” Cedar busied himself, moving various little plants out of the way of his guests.         “Girls? Like, plural?” Vinyl was not one to let little things slide, especially now. She felt a little nudge in her ribs from Sky, but didn’t pay it any mind. She wanted answers, now.         “Yep. Besides Lily, I’ve got my twins: Roseluck and Daisy.” Cedar took a seat in a recliner near the window, sighing as he sat down. “Speaking of, figured it might be smart to get something out of the way real quick.” The stallion picked up a picture frame in his hooves, which had been sitting on the windowsill behind a plant. “The girls...they think they’re triplets. I ain’t ever told them that Lily ain’t their sister by blood.”         “Oh dear…” Not the words Vinyl would’ve used, but she agreed with Sky’s sentiment as a whole. That little tidbit did complicate things a little more. Now they had to shatter a little filly’s worldview?         “Yeah, it’s going to be….rough.” Cedar conceded, struggling to find the right word. Again, Vinyl would’ve used harsher words but for now, she was just going to observe. “We’ll get to that soon, first I want to talk about you two.” He pointed a hoof at the two mares sitting by each other on the couch. “I’m gonna guess that you’re the mother based on color.” His gaze and hoof landed squarely on Sky, who straightened her posture under the scrutiny.         “Yes, that’s me. My name is Skyward Glory, and it’s nice to finally meet you Cedar.” She gave her best smile, but Vinyl saw through it like it was freshly polished glass. Inside, Sky was ready to break. “I also wanted to say thank you for taking care of Lily for so long when I couldn’t. You have no idea how much that means to me.”         “About that.” Cedar relaxed in his chair, but his gaze did not waiver. “I’m not going to berate you for what you did. I’ve made sure she’s been taken care of, raised her like she was my own and tried to forget how I found her, but I have to ask why.” Cedar had a much better temperament than Vinyl expected. She had been waiting for him to snap at Sky and tell her she was a bad mom, or even tell her she did something wrong.         “I-” Sky’s eyes looked around, searching for comfort or answers in the surrounding foliage. “I was in a bad place back then...Lily’s father, Rusty, he left me when he found out I was pregnant and my parents had died shortly before she was born.” She choked on a half-sob, but pressed on. “I-I made a foalish decision out of grief, and I’ve regretted it every day since...I just want to try and make things right.”         “I don’t reckon that’s going to happen,” Cedar stated bluntly, earning shocked looks from both Twinkle and Sky. Vinyl found that she was agreeing with the statement even before she heard the reasoning. “You can’t just come into a life out of nowhere, drop a couple of bombshells and expect it all to be alright. Especially with somepony as young and sensitive as Lily. Now I’ll do my best to mitigate everything, but I can’t make any promises.” Cedar took a deep breath and furrowed his soil colored brows. “Now back to the ‘why’. I’m sorry to hear all of that, and I can’t even begin to know how rough that was on you, but I want you to know that it wasn’t easy on us either. My wife, Celestia rest her soul, passed away during the birth of the twins...I was just coming home from the hospital to get some things…” ---- Six Years Ago         Cedar trudged through the rain, each step heavier than the last. Every drop of water that fell on his coat added another pound to his soul and slowed his progress. It was like the world had come down and even the sky was weeping for him now.         The worst part was that he felt so numb to it all. He couldn’t cry, he just couldn’t bring himself to shed any tears. Part of him relegated that to the fact that while his wife had passed, he had still been blessed with two beautiful daughters. A blessing and a curse balanced each other out, waiting on some kicker to put the ball into one court or the other. He sincerely hoped that it would be in the good column, because he couldn’t stand to be sad.         Either way, he kept going through the rain. His body wanted to slow down, but he wouldn’t let it. He had a duty to keep going now, a reason to be strong. He had to be strong for his girls now, there was no way he could slow down for even a second.         He drew closer to his home, briefly worried that if the deluge did not let up it might drown a few of the smaller plants or even flood one of his lower gardens. Quickly he pushed that thought away and focused on what he needed.         As he drew nearer to his home, through the lashing rain and harsh winds he saw something laying in front of his door. It looked about the size of a package, but through the weather it was hard to tell. As he got closer, a sound was heard over the rain, wailing. An almost familiar kind, too. The kind he had been around for most of his day.         It was a foal.         Paternal instincts took over and he rushed to the door. Sure enough, on his doorstep and swaddled in a soaked blanket was a little foal, no older than his own at this point. The poor little thing was just crying in the rain, abandoned by whoever had brought her here. ----         “I brought her in and made sure she was okay.”  Cedar had his gaze still focused on Sky, unwavering and harsh. “Poor thing couldn’t have been out there for no more than five minutes. Rain didn’t soak her to the bone, so I wasn’t too worried but I was worried enough to take her to the hospital with me. Mayor Rich expedited the adoption paperwork, made it all official within a week.”         “You never thought to look for her parents at all?” Twinkle piped up now. “Standard procedure with an abandoned foal is to contact the Guard and put out a search for the parents.” For once, Vinyl was a little happy that Twinkle was a stickler for the rules. It meant that a question she wanted to ask was about to be answered.         “No offense, but I kinda figured that if the poor thing was abandoned that her parents didn’t exactly want her anymore. The Mayor agreed, seeing as he was the one who offered to set up the adoption.” Cedar shrugged. “Procedure doesn’t mean much if the ones who are supposed to enforce it don’t care about it.” Ooh, she would have to use that one on Twinkle. That would surely get under his skin in some way.         “I’ll remember that when I talk to the Mayor.” Twinkle responded, a bit of gravel to his voice.         “How about you?” Cedar turned his head to Vinyl. “What do you think about this, Aunt No-Name?”         “Vinyl Scratch,” she started. “I agree with you, for the most part. I don’t expect everything to turn out great here, I just want to make sure she’s living a good life.”  A half-truth to be sure. She did want to make sure that Lily was doing alright, but she did want things to be alright. She wanted things to turn out fine in the end even if it was implausible. “But I want you to know that I never had a say in this...if it was up to me, I would’ve raised her. If Sky would’ve tried talking to me, I think we could’ve sorted it all out.”         “I’m sorry that it didn’t go that way.” Cedar looked at a clock on the wall and stood up from his chair. “The girls are going to be home from school any minute now, and I figure I should explain to them this mess when they arrive.” The gardener started towards the front door. “You just hang tight and I’ll talk to them and try to explain before I bring them in.” All three of the ponies nodded silently as Cedar left the house.         “I-If I would’ve talked to you, really?” Sky punched Vinyl in the shoulder, to which VInyl replied with a glare. “I told you, I couldn’t talk to you! You weren’t there to talk to! What was I supposed to do?”         “Gee, I don’t know…” Vinyl started off, tapping her hoof against her chin. “Maybe not go and do something stupid like abandon your infant daughter in a rainstorm in the middle of nowhere?” Vinyl was not going to take any of this anymore, she was going to firmly correct the record here and now to get this nonsense out of the way. “I was gone for forty-five minutes to celebrate with my coltfriend. You’re telling me it’s my fault for being gone less than an hour? For trying to have one good moment after the sea of awfulness that was mom and dad dying? I couldn’t even celebrate one little thing because you couldn’t handle being alone. Yeah, and Uncle B says I’m the self-centered one.”         “I-I can’t believe you…” Sky started, looking for words and shaking her head. “We’re finally settling this, and you choose to be petty.” Vinyl’s jaw tightened as she restrained herself from biting back at the comment. She wasn’t going to take this abuse, this blatant blame from somepony who was meant to take it all. All Sky had earned now was Vinyl closing up.         “Alright, let’s lock this down for now.” Twinkle finally stepped in after the conversation had all but ended, again showing his poor timing. “We can throw blame around later. For now we need to focus on what you two are going to say to Lily when she comes in here and after Cedar speaks to her.”         “I suppose an apology would be in order, from both of us.” Vinyl shot another white-hot glare at her sister. They didn’t need to apologize, only Sky needed to. All VInyl would say is...well, she didn’t know what she was going to say.         “I just want to know if she’s happy,” Vinyl decided on. “That’s all I need to know.” Vinyl just wanted to know if somepony got out of the mess six years ago okay. If at least one pony did, then maybe the whole situation wasn’t whole bad. If just Lily was doing okay, then that would help Vinyl start to reconcile that part of her life.         “Okay, guess we’ll wing it,” Twinkle mumbled just loud enough for Vinyl to hear. She could sympathize with his frustration, but she had to put it aside for now. She would find some way to make all of this up to Twinkle somehow.         The front door to the house opened, allowing the late-afternoon sunlight to pour into the room. The trio of ponies looked up, their collective breath being held for the moment of truth. Cedar came in first, a look of apprehension plastered across his face. He was followed by a line of three smaller ponies.         The first one was a cream colored filly with emerald eyes and a velvet mane. She smiled at the three ponies on her couch and waved at them. He second one was a pink filly also with emerald eyes and a lime green mane. This one gave the three ponies a wary glance and attempted to keep her distance the best she could.         The final filly came in, her coat a pale pink and her eyes and mane both golden and shining in the sunlight. This filly, Lily, moved behind Cedar and looked at the ponies on the couch through his legs with slight terror, as if she knew what was coming.         “Girls, these are our guests: Shining Armor, Vinyl Scratch, and Skyward Glory. Say ‘Hi’ to them.” Cedar’s voice was not calm, it was shaking with a certain unalienable sadness. He knew what was about to happen, and he wasn’t looking forward to it one bit.         “Hello.” All three fillies said in unison, each of their voices holding different tones as they did so. Vinyl was more focused on Lily’s, though. Quiet, shy and small. Even the thought of her being sad or scared made Vinyl want to tear up, it was just hard to listen to.         “I’ve never seen a real guard before!” Rose spoke up, happily bounding over to Twinkle. “Your armor is so shiny! Can I touch it?” Rose reached out a hoof to the golden plates that the guard wore, but stopped her hoof before actually making contact.         “Rose-” Cedar began to admonish his daughter.         “No, it’s fine.” Shining waved a hoof at Cedar, then flashed a wide smile to Rose. “Of course you can!” The filly put her hoof on the gold plating and let out a little ‘ooh’ as she did so. “This isn’t just regular armor, either,” Twinkle said, a bit of wonder in his voice. “It’s magic armor that can keep me safe from anything.”         “Really?” Rose said with an awe-filled little gasp. “Like anything?”         “Yep, anything.” Shining ruffled Rose’s mane with his hoof and gave a smile to the filly. “It even protects me from being sad.” Vinyl cracked a small smile at that. How could she not? It was a little endearing, and it helped build up that mythos of the ‘unbreakable guard’.         “R-really…?”It wasn’t Rose that spoke up this time, instead it was little Lily from behind Cedar’s legs. As soon as the attention was on her, she shrunk behind her father’s legs and avoided all eye contact.         “Let’s all sit down.” Cedar interrupted the little conversation and ushered his daughters over to the recliner across from the couch. He got up first and allowed his foals to crowd around him in the chair. While being crowded, none of the ponies seemed to mind. “Now, we have to talk about some stuff, alright?”         Cedar took a deep breath, and then sighed. He looked to each one of his little fillies with a smile, then looked to the three ponies on the couch across from him with a slightly sadder smile. Vinyl couldn’t even imagine how hard this must be, to say something that could tear your own family apart. It was unimaginable the amount of internal strife he must be going through.         “We’re family, okay? We always will be, no matter what. You’ll always be sisters, and I-” Cedar closed his eyes and clenched his jaw before continuing. “-I’m always going to be your dad, alright? No matter what.” Vinyl couldn’t see all of their faces, but she could feel the worry coming off of the triplet’s from across the room. “I-we are still a family, no matter what.” He repeated once more, to both himself and his family.         “Please don’t cry, Daddy.”  Daisy was the first one to respond to her father’s distress. The little pink filly nuzzled her father’s chest, something that was quickly followed by her sisters doing the same. “It’s gonna be alright.”         “I know...I know.” Cedar hugged his daughters and gave them a sad smile. “This is just a little hard.” The stallion took a few deep breaths, steeling his nerves for the incoming bombshells. “Lily, I love you so much and you will always be my daughter and you will always be part of this family no matter what...but I’m not your real father. That mare over there, Skyward Glory, she’s your mother. She left you here when you were little because she couldn’t take care of you…”         The look of pure sadness on the face of Lily when she turned to look at the trio of ponies, it broke Vinyl’s heart on a level she didn’t know possible. She hated being affected by one pony, she hated how one little action by one little pony was enough to shatter her. Tears were now forming in Lily’s, Sky’s and Vinyl’s eyes, each one a little more devastated than the last.         A heavy silence filled the room. It formed an uncomfortable connection between the two groups. Lily was searching Vinyl and Sky’s eyes for some hint of a lie or a sick joke. Instead, she only found the same inexorable sadness that filled her own soul.         “I’m so sorry.” Sky broke the silence, her voice quivering.         “B-but she’s our sister.” Daisy spoke up again, looking to Lily and then back to her father. “Right?”         “Of course she is.” Cedar pulled Daisy and Rose close. “This, or anything else, will never change that. She’ll always be your sister, no matter what.” Cedar was going to hammer that point home, Vinyl could hear it in the way he was basically pleading with the fillies. It was going to be a mantra in the household for a long time.         Lily was still focused on Sky. She slowly got down from the chair and took a few steps towards her newly-found mother. Sky was as still as a stone, her eyes never leaving Lily, but that didn’t stop the tears.         “A-are you really my Mommy…?” Lily took a few more steps, apprehension radiating from the small filly.         “Yes...I am.” Sky fought her quivering jaw and forced it into a smile. “I never thought I’d see you again…” Sky stood up then crouched to meet Lily on more even ground. “H-how are you…?”         “I don’t know.” Lily looked at her hooves, as if ashamed of her undecided feelings. “I’ve never had a mommy before.” Lily took another small step forward, one that made Sky fluff her wings in excitement.         “You have no idea how sorry I am about that, Lily. When you were born…” Sky searched for a simplified explanation to give Lily, something that wasn’t confusing. “...I wasn’t happy with myself. I didn’t think I could ever make you happy, so I did something foalish...and I’m so sorry.”         “It’s okay.” Lily mumbled, looking back to Cedar. “Accidents happen.” Cedar nodded and gave her a smile. “We just have to say sorry-” The little filly turned back to Sky. “-and then the other pony is supposed to say ‘I forgive you’ because it’s rude to not be nice when somepony says sorry.”         Neither Sky, nor anyone else in the room, was expecting what happened next. Lily rushed forward, her eyes closed and hugged her estranged mother as tightly as her small frame would allow her to. Sky sat stunned for a second, and then wrapped her hooves and wings around Lily and returned the 6-year-late embrace.         “I forgive you.”         The words seemed to lift an unseen weight off of Sky’s back. Her posture, even while hugging Lily, improved. A certain air of true energy started to seep from the mare, and she exuded a certain happiness that could not be expressed in mere words.         “Th-thank you so much...thank you.” Sky kept Lily in her embrace, which the filly seemed to be returning with gusto. It was truly a heartwarming scene.         Vinyl didn’t need to see anymore.         Quickly and quietly, Vinyl stood up from the couch and made her way to the front door. She opened it and exited the abode, Twinkle not even a foot behind her. Once they were both outside and the door was closed, she took a deep breath and focused on the distant city of Canterlot. That was where home and normalcy were, not this place.         “What are you doing?” Twinkle asked, getting in front of her and dominating her field of view. “You can’t just walk out like that, Scratch. We’re trying to get some healing done here.” His brows were furrowed, but he didn’t look angry. He was more concerned than anything. “Scratch, what’s wrong? I thought this would make you happy…”         “It’s just…” Vinyl started to think about what to say, but decided that wasn’t a good idea. Thinking about ways to justify it to Twinkle was frustrating. So she was just going to come out and say it. “..I don’t think Lily should forgive her, Twinkle.” The guard opened his mouth to protest, but Vinyl cut him off. “I just can’t even think about forgiving her, I don’t think it’s even possible.”         “Scratch, you have to forgive her. It’s the only way forward through this mess.” Shining pleaded, even going as far to take off his helmet so he could look at her unobscured. “How can I say you’re rehabilitated if you won’t even forgive your sister when she’s earned it?”         “Because maybe it’s not the forgiveness that’s the important part.” Vinyl spoke without anger or sarcasm, just the simple truth that she understood. “I know Lily is fine now. I know she’s in a good loving home and I know she’s being cared for. I know that Sky is sorry for what she’s done.” The next words did not hurt Vinyl to say, in fact they felt quite liberating. “I don’t have to forgive her to move forward, Shining. I just finally have to accept that it happened and it’s over now.” She gave him a little smile. “I think that’s all I ever needed.”         “She deserves to be forgiven, Vinyl. You’ve both been through so much, you both need each other now more than ever. If you don’t forgive her, how can you expect to be there for her or vice versa?” Shining was desperately trying to see Vinyl’s way of thinking, she could see that. He hadn’t been through enough to see the logic, though. It was visible only to those with thoroughly broken hearts and shattered trust.         “I don’t think some things can be forgiven.” Vinyl turned her gaze to the cloudless sky overhead. “I don’t know, maybe I’m just a horrible pony in the end, but I think that sometimes it’s okay not to forgive. Hell, I don’t know if some things can or should be forgiven.” She could feel the look Twinkle was giving her, she knew the feeling well at this point. “I can move past it, I can accept it. I think I can be her sister again, but I don’t think I can ever forgive her for that. It’s a scar now, not an open wound like it was.” She looked at Twinkle again, her smile turning sad. “We have to take those small victories, because sometimes another loss might just be the end of us.”         “I don’t agree, but if you think you’re better off now than you were...well, I’ll take it.” He sighed a deep and long sigh. “If you think you’re healed, even a little bit, then I’ll take it as a victory. If you’re happy with the outcome, then who am I to argue?”         Vinyl could tell that Twinkle was not happy with the result in any sense. He would much rather have an entirely happy ending rather than one where he had to make concessions. Vinyl understood that, but he just had to accept this lesser victory.         “I’m gonna hang out here. You can go back in.” Vinyl turned and looked at the door. She didn’t need to go back in there anymore. She wasn’t the one that needed it anymore, now that was Sky’s burden to be lifted. Whenever they were done, then maybe Vinyl would join them. For now, she was at peace.         “I think I’ll stay with you. Y’know, to give them their space. I don’t really have a place in those kinds of family matters.” Twinkle propped himself up against the house and stared into the middle-distance, thinking about who knows what.         “Hey, Twinkle?” He refocused his attention to Vinyl. “Thank you, for understanding and for everything. It really means the world to me.” Sincerity wasn’t Vinyl’s most studied topic, but she was trying her best.         “You’re welcome, Scratch. It’s been my pleasure helping you, I want you to know that.” She didn’t doubt that one bit, the stallion genuinely seemed to like helping others and that was something special.         All in all, Vinyl chalked the day up to a win. The little reunion going on inside of the house was all she needed to justify that. It had to be paradise for Sky, and Vinyl was finally okay with letting her have it.