Twilight closed her eyes and smiled as she opened the door to her castle, letting in the warm summer air. Today was a big day, maybe not for anypony else, but it was certainly one of major importance to her nonetheless. Wrapped up in the comfortable, balmy breeze, she completely missed the two ponies standing in the doorway, looking at her slightly confused.
"Are you going to let us in, honey?" laughed her mother, Twilight Velvet.
Twilight let out a chuckle herself. "I'm so happy you guys could make it! Between taking on Starlight as a student and saving Equestria, I barely get to spend time with my parents!"
"You're a busy pony now, sweetheart, but we wouldn’t miss this for the world," her father, Night Light, declared.
"I made oatmeal!" exclaimed a voice from behind the lavender princess. "Enough for everypony to have seconds!" Twilight Velvet smiled, hearing the familiar boyish voice. Spike emerged from behind Twilight Sparkle and beamed as he saw Twilight's parents. They may not have been his blood parents, but he always liked to think of them as such.
"Hopefully you didn't burn it this time, champ," Night Light said, walking over to him and giving him a fatherly smile.
"I've gotten much better! Dragon fire oatmeal is going to be a big hit!"
As everypony migrated to the dining hall and settled into their seats, Twilight Velvet noticed somepony she hadn't seen before—a light pink pony with a mane similar in color to her daughter's, but with a striking aquamarine stripe running through it. The pink pony caught her gaze and gave her a nervous smile.
"Starlight Glimmer, right?" Twilight Velvet asked her warmly.
"Y-Yeah! I'm learning friendship lessons from Princess Twilight. It's an honor to meet the ponies who raised my teacher," Starlight concluded with a slight bow from her chair. Night Light looked at his wife and then to Starlight.
"She was quite a handful. I've never seen a filly who would actually look forward to studying!" he laughed "She went missing once—"
Twilight's face became red and she interrupted. "Please don't tell this story!" she pleaded.
Night Light simply laughed and continued. "She was missing for four hours one night. We had the Guard searching the park, the malls, the library. But we never found her."
"So where did you find her?" Starlight asked, cocking her head in confusion.
Twilight Velvet smiled and began to finish her husband’s story. "The back yard, sleeping in a tree," she stated with a giggle, causing Twilight's blush to grow deeper. "We had told her she needed to sleep for school, but she decided that finishing her book was more important, so she snuck out into the back yard and hid. Gave Night and I a real scare in the process. Shining was the one who found her. She was the cutest thing sleeping up there!" Starlight let out a small snicker.
"Mooom!" Princess Twilight protested.
"But you were so cute, honey!" Velvet replied, trying not to laugh.
The ponies and Spike finished their dragon fire oatmeal. Once the last bowl was clean, Spike and Starlight gathered all the bowls and spoons and left for the kitchen.
"It's so nice to see you again, Twilight" Night Light said.
"You've grown up so much since that night you slept in the tree," Velvet remarked, with a sad but proud grin.
Twilight quickly got out of her chair and rushed over to their side of the table, giving both of them a huge hug. "I wouldn't be where I am now without the ponies who raised me! I love you guys!"
The family held each other for some time. It had been too long since Velvet and Night had seen their little filly, only she wasn't a filly anymore. She was a princess now—the princess of friendship—no parent could be more proud. The embrace slowly faded as a loud, desperate knocking came from the front door.
"It's probably Pinkie, she knows of all the get-togethers going on. I'll be right back," Twilight said, trotting over to the door. As she approached it she heard a loud thud, as if something heavy had collapsed right outside. "Pinkie Pie, I swear, if this is a party cannon..." She threw the door open to find nothing like what she expected. On her doorstep lay a wounded pegasus. One of her wings was badly hurt.
"Oh Celestia no!" Twilight screamed. Her scream was heard by her parents, who were at the scene in an instant. Velvet gasped at the sight of the pegasus.
"Is... Is she breathing?" Velvet asked.
Night Light pushed them both out of the way and knelt down next to the wounded pony. "She's barely breathing," he said, looking to Twilight. "We need to get her inside. Twilight, go find any medical supplies and have your student call for help.” Twilight nodded and teleported away. "Velvet honey, help me levitate her inside."
"Okay," Velvet replied in a serious tone, her horn already glowing. Slowly, the pegasus began to levitate upwards, surrounded by two different color auras.
Twilight teleported back to find the injured pegasus resting on the couch in her living room and her parents a bit winded.
"Are you guys okay?!" Twilight asked.
"Yeah," Night Light replied, panting a bit. "It's just been a while since we had to use our magic to lift a fully-grown pony."
"Starlight is on the way with a doctor. Is... Is she still..." Twilight began. Night Light carefully knelt down to the pony’s mouth again and could hear faint breathing. He turned to Twilight and nodded in assurance.
A worried look spread over the princess’ face. “What could have done this?” she thought to herself, looking the pegasus over once more. There was a sizable burn on her back right leg. Her fur was covered in dirt and dried mud. Her right wing was the most gruesome—missing most of its feathers and riddled with deep cuts—she’d almost certainly never fly again. Moments later the door to the castle swung open.
"Over here!" Twilight yelled to the three medical ponies that burst in. Starlight Glimmer brought up the rear of the group and ran over to Twilight's side. Twilight recognized one of the three as nurse Red Heart.
"We need to get her back to the hospital as soo—" Red Heart began, but was cut off by the unknown pegasus laying on the couch.
"E-Everfree... Unspoken..." was all the pony could muster before slipping back into her coma-like state. Quickly, nurse Red Heart gave the pegasus a shot of some kind of green liquid.
"She's in a lot of pain. This should help her relax and hopefully stay under while we transport her to the hospital," Red Heart asserted, as two more medical ponies, both roughly the size of Big McIntosh, rushed into the room carrying a stretcher between them. The medical ponies lifted the pegasus slowly and carefully onto the stretcher and made their way back outside, followed by everypony else besides one: Velvet.
"Mom?" Twilight called from the castle door. Velvet looked up at her daughter as if she'd seen a ghost.
"Coming, Twi."