Mystic Spiral stood at the front door of his childhood home, just a day after returning from Manehattan. After visiting his old hangouts, and learning the fate of two of his old friends, he came to realize that his life in the city wasn’t as special or exciting as he once thought. And so here he was, finally willing to talk to his parents and find out why they moved to Ponyville.
He grimaced as he thought about the grudge he’d held for so long, the anger he felt at his parents for leaving the big city and moving them all to Ponyville. His anger stemmed from leaving his old friends behind, but knowing that two of them became criminals, he couldn’t help but wonder what his life would have been like had he stayed in the city. Would he have turned out bad too?
It was with some reluctance that he knocked on the door, and after a few long moments, it opened to reveal his younger sister, Avant Garde. “Hey Mystic,” she greeted him, moving aside to let him in. “What brings you by?”
“I need to talk with Mom and Dad,” he replied, stepping inside the house.
She snorted as she closed the door behind him. “Yeah, that doesn’t sound foreboding at all…” she muttered as she turned toward the stairs, to call up to her parents. “Mom! Dad! Mystic’s here to see you!”
They heard the sound of movement above, and a moment later their parents came down the stairs to greet their son. “Mystic!” his mother, Jade Blossom, called out as she trotted over and gave him a hug.
“Hi Mom,” he greeted her as he returned the hug and nuzzled her.
“It’s so nice to see you again,” she told him as she slowly broke the hug. “You hardly come by to visit.”
He winced, feeling a pang of guilt. It was because of his ongoing grudge that he didn’t visit. “Yeah… I’m sorry about that.”
His father, Snapshot, chuckled as he patted Mystic on the back. “Oh, it’s no problem. You’re a grown stallion with a life of your own. Bet your band must keep you pretty busy, huh?”
“Oh, yes, how’s that going for you?” his mother wondered.
“That’s why I came to talk to you guys,” he replied, going into the family room to sit down on the couch. “We just got back from performing a show in Manehattan, over at the bar Sundancer works at.”
“That must have been exciting,” his father said.
“How’s she doing?” his mother asked, wondering about her niece.
“Sun’s doing well,” he replied. “She enjoys the work she’s doing at the bar, and the owner seems to like her a lot. She’s also living together with her boyfriend, and says they’re getting pretty serious.”
“I’m glad to hear that,” said Jade. “Perhaps we’ll have a wedding to attend soon, hm?”
“Maybe,” Mystic replied, not quite as excited about his cousin’s relationship as his mother was.
“So, how’s the old hometown?” Snapshot wondered.
“That’s actually what I came here to talk to you two about,” said the younger unicorn. “I took Jewel—who came with us to Manehattan for support—to see some of my favorite hangouts, and I realized that the city wasn’t like how I remembered it.”
“How so?” his mother asked.
His brow furrowed as he answered, “Well, the thing is, I always thought my life in the big city was fun and exciting, but during my little tour I realized that my old life in Manehattan wasn’t all that special.” He hesitated for a moment, before admitting, “All these years, I’ve held a grudge against you two for taking me away from my life and friends in Manehattan. I was angry at you for moving us to this quiet, boring town. Only now do I see how stupid I was…”
“Honey…” said Jade, looking sadly at her son. “We… We didn’t leave Manehattan to punish you.”
“We moved to Ponyville so we could all have a better life,” his father said.
Mystic frowned, nodding as he told them, “I saw for myself that life in the city wasn’t as wonderful as I thought it was. Could you please tell me why we moved here? I was too young and too angry to listen to your excu—reasons for leaving Manehattan, back when we first moved here, but I’m willing to listen now.”
His parents looked at one another for a moment, before his mother spoke up, telling him, “Well, there were several reasons for us to move out of the city. For one, the apartment we lived in wasn’t big enough to house us all and have room for my sculpting, and we found that it was better to buy a house in another town than to try upgrading to a bigger apartment in the city.”
“And that’s another thing; the big city wasn’t exactly a great place to raise you kids,” Snapshot told him. “We had to escort you kids everywhere because the streets were too busy to let you go out on your own, and there weren’t many places for you to just go out and play. Sure, there was the park we went to, but not much else.”
He motioned to the town beyond, and told his son, “We knew that in a town like this, you and your sister could go out on your own and play for hours. Ponyville is quiet, and safe, and we didn’t need to watch you all the time. I remember how you two would play all day, and come home for dinner, and your mother and I didn’t have to worry about you. That couldn’t have happened in Manehattan.”
Mystic nodded as he thought back to his childhood. “Yeah, the old park seemed pretty small compared to what I was used to here. I never realized how lucky I was to have the wide-open spaces around Ponyville until I saw the park again.”
“See? There was plenty of good that came from moving out here,” Snapshot said.
Jade frowned, and said, “Though that good came at the cost of losing your old friends. We knew that would be painful for you, and we hoped in time you’d forgive us.” She grimaced as she looked away. “It seems we were wrong, though… I’m truly sorry for that, Mystic.”
Mystic shook his head, telling her, “It was probably for the best, anyway. I mean, yeah, they were good friends, and I missed them when we moved… But, as Silver told me a while ago, I never would have met Jewel, or my bandmates if I stayed in Manehattan.”
He snorted in bitter amusement. “It’s funny; I held onto this anger for years, and it blinded me to everything I gained by moving here to Ponyville.” He looked sadly to his parents. “I’m sorry for holding onto this grudge. I know now that you only wanted a better life for me and Ava. Can you ever forgive me?”
His parents looked at each other, before turning to Mystic and smiling. “Of course we can; you’re our son,” his mother said. “I wish you would have talked to us about all this sooner, but I understand why you didn’t; you were just a colt when you were pulled from everything you knew, and you obviously thought we didn’t care. It makes sense that you would have been angry with us, but at least you now understand that we did all this to give you and your sister a better life.”
“I take it that grudge was why you never visited?” his father asked.
Mystic nodded slowly. “Yeah… Couldn’t stand being around you two for long,” he admitted. “I promise I’ll visit more often.”
“Well, why not stick around for lunch?” Jade suggested. “We’d all love to hear about your trip to Manehattan.”
He smiled, thinking about everything that had happened in his hometown, from the visits he paid to his old hangouts to the engagement of his two bandmates. “Yeah, sure, I could eat.”
Snapshot grinned. “Great! Your mom’s cooking, so you’re in for a treat!”
Jade snorted and shoved her husband. “Since when did we agree that I was cooking?” she asked as she headed toward the kitchen
“Well you know I’m a terrible cook…” he replied as he followed her there.
Mystic chuckled at his parents’ playful banter as he followed along behind them. There would certainly be a lot to talk about, between visiting his old hangouts, to his bandmates getting engaged, to his performance at the bar.
The thought of the bar brought forth another memory, causing his heart to skip a beat and his face to grow hot as he remembered the kiss he shared with Jewel. W-well, maybe they don’t have to hear about everything that happened…