//------------------------------// // Chapter 8 // Story: A Monstrous Family Reunion // by drnkntst //------------------------------// Chapter 8 Barbara and Steven Lachance were strolling through the streets of Canterlot. The Elements and Chris had been busy the past few weeks, planning the wedding and following honeymoon, leaving them with nothing to do. “Oh, pardon me, sir,” a unicorn said with a bow, after he bumped into Steven’s leg. “No, no. My fault. Wasn’t looking where I was going,” Steven answered. The pony bowed again and trotted along his way. Steven turned to Barbara, “How do you like that, Barb? I’m a ‘sir’.” “Yeah, yeah.” A sneer came to her face as Steven stepped into a puddle outside a flower shop. “Your socks are wet, sir.” Steven groaned and shook the excess water off. “Damn, and Fancy Pants just gave me these shoes too.” They continued their walk, Steven grimacing with every other step. He chuckled to himself, “At least now I can see how fancy my shoes are. Would have ever thought that the two us would be the kind of people who would be called sir and be given fancy shoes?” Barbara laughed. “No, I never did. After that horrible day, I never thought about much aside from what happened to our little boy. You know?” “Yes, I do. I’m just thankful that we not only found him, but that he found someone who could take care of him.” “Yeah,” Barbara leaned her head on Steven’s shoulder. “They really do love him, don’t they?” “Yes, we do,” came a feminine voice from behind them. They turned to find Twilight Velvet and Night Light behind them, a few shopping bags floating beside them. “Your boy has been a delight to all of us these past few years and we were so happy to have him with us.” “Indeed,” Night Light agreed, “and we were even happier when he found you two.” The four continued to walk for a little while more, finally deciding to take a rest at a nearby café. The two ponies were enjoying some daisy sandwiches while the humans were picking through their salads, both missing the taste and smell of a simple drive-through hamburger joint’s cheap junk food. They also couldn’t help but think about the benefits of those options no longer being available. “I’m glad to see that you two have adapted to life here in Equestria so quickly,” Velvet said. “It was weird at first,” Barbara commented, “but we had a lot of people helping us, yourselves not withstanding.” “Well, you are family after all,” Night Light offered. “Chris is our nephew and you are his parents.” “Okay, that’s another thing,” Steven said. “You keep calling him your nephew. Why is that? I mean, we get that Celestia adopted him, but I didn’t think you were related to her in any way.” “Oh, well you see,” Velvet answered, “we’re not related to the Princess. I mean, our son did marry her niece not too long ago, and we’re hoping for a grandfoal soon, but we’re not blood relations.” Night Light took over. “We were introduced to Chris right away. It wasn’t easy at first, to be perfectly honest. I mean, your species are predators and we aren’t. For all we knew, that little boy could have been waiting to attack us and eat our own children. Shining Armor, our son, was the first one to approach him. The two of them got along almost immediately. I think their friendship was the reason that Shining pushed himself so hard to become Captain of the Royal Guard.” “What about your daughter?” Barbara asked. “Our little Sparkler? She had a hard time of it for a while,” Velvet answered. “I think she still blames herself over the whole thing. I’ve never known anypony before who would actually make a checklist for making a checklist.” “Wait, wait, wait,” Steven raised an open hand. “Blames herself over what thing?” The ponies froze. They both realized what had just been said. They looked to each other and shared a brief moment of panic. Finally, they both turned back to the humans sitting across from them. Night Light spoke up. “I think we need to speak with Princess Celestia.” Several moments and one line long line of very upset upper-class ponies later, the humans and Sparkles sat with Celestia in the throne room. Some maids had brought in some cushions and beverages so they could be as comfortable as possible while discussing this sensitive subject. They tried their best to ignore the soft snoring coming from Luna, who had been teleported into the room by Celestia and had yet to be woken from her slumber. “Now,” Celestia began, “I understand you have questions about Christopher’s arrival here in Equestria.” “Yes,” Barbara answered with a slight growl, “we have questions about how our little boy was taken from us.” Velvet and Night Light winced at the venom in her voice, but Celestia managed to keep her hurt contained. “Very well. We are all gathered here to clear up any questions so that we may move on. I hope that we may be able to remain a family afterwards.” Steven spoke up, “Celestia, I believe my wife and I have been more than reasonable and accepting of all of this.” He spread his arms to indicate the world around him in general. “We just want to know what happened that day.” “I will reveal everything that happened on that day, and I only ask that you follow our sons example and forgive those involved.” Barbara crossed her arms, “We make no promises, but we’ll try.” Celestia’s head drooped, “That’s all I can ask.” Her horn came to life, transforming the room around them into an empty, cloudy space. Picture windows slid up from the floor, depicting scenes from throughout Equestria’s history. There were ones that showed events that were common knowledge, like Nightmare Moon’s rise and Discord’s fall. However, there were many that depicted what appeared to be family moments. There was a young Celestia galloping through the fields with her little sister and a large, very pale red alicorn mare with auburn hair flowing. There was one of the sisters, a little older, standing before two gravestones, tears flowing down there faces as they tried to stand proud. But the one that stole the focus from all the others, was the one showing a bawling young boy clinging to Celestia’s barrel as she roared orders to her guards, shielding the young Christopher with her wing. “This,” Celestia said while looking upon the window with a small smile, “is the day may life changed forever.” Her horn lit up again and the window expanded until they were standing in the field beside the pair of memory phantoms. The sound of young Chris’s crying and begging for his mother echoed around them. “My baby,” Barbara cried as she ran to embrace her son, only to pass through the phantoms and nearly fall to the floor. “I’m sorry, Barbara, but this is merely an image. Not even with all my magic, can anypony bring the past to life.” There was a polite cough from Velvet. Celestia managed to not roll her eyes. “Yes, one can travel back a week or so for a brief time,” she looked toward Velvet out of the corner of her eye, “but not sixteen years. Luna might be able to help you see him as he was in your dreams, but that’s as much as can be done.” Barbara walked around the image of her son, watching as he clung to another who he now called his mother while he begged for her to return and save him. It hurt her to know that she wasn’t there for him then and she couldn’t be there for him now. She sat beside her husband, sniffling as she wiped away tears. “I’m sorry,” Celestia said as she turned back to the image, “I didn’t mean to bring up such horrible feelings, but I felt that you would understand the situation better if I showed you the facts rather than simply recount them verbally.” Barbara nodded as Steven wrapped his arm around her shoulder. “We understand, Celestia. Please, continue.” “Very well.” The image around them blurred and reformed. This time, it showed Celestia and an equally large, black alicorn. Celestia appeared to be pleading with this new pony while tears streamed down her face. “This is the point where my life changed forever.” She looked up towards the pony gloating upon the dais. “The pony you see before you is one Nightmare Moon. She was a, for lack of a better word, monster that took over my own sister, Luna. Sadly, the events that happened this night were brought about because I was too busy worrying about my own life to realize that my sister was being tortured by her own subjects completely ignoring her hard work on presenting them with a beautiful and safe time to rest while they practically worshipped my days and myself. Even now,” Celestia indicated the other two ponies in the room, “her subjects fear her.” Barbara and Steven looked at Velvet and Night Light to see them shaking in wide-eyed terror at the image. They looked back to Celestia when Steven asked, “While this is… awful, I fail to see what this has to do with our boy.” The image blurred and began to show Celestia with one stallion after another. Each time, she appeared to be more and more heart-broken and angry. “I had always wanted a family of my own. Unfortunately, because of my station, every stallion that I attempted to form a meaningful relationship with could not see past my crown and what that could mean to them. They were cheaters, liars, and two-faced who I do not miss. However, when Nightmare Moon came about, I had to banish my own sister to the moon forever, thankfully, that turned out to only be one thousand years. That event in my life meant that I had to put all my focus on the running of the country, not my own desires. It didn’t change my desires for a family, though. Sadly, one day…” Celestia trailed off as a new image appeared. It was off a saddened princess sitting in a doctor’s office. She had clearly received bad news, as tears had been streaking down her semi-stoic face. It was an image that, for Barbara, needed no explanaition. “You can’t have children anymore, can you?” “No, Barbara. I cannot.” Celestia took a deep breath. “my dreams were dashed that day. After careful consideration, I decided to make a family for myself. I invited my remaining extended family to spend time with me in my new home, Canterlot Castle. I formed a school for gifted unicorns. I even took on an apprentice from time to time.” Several young unicorns flashed by in different images from different time periods. “Finally, one young filly showed the most potential I had ever seen.” A tiny Twilight Sparkle appeared, bouncing around in a tight circle while a newborn Spike lay in a nearby straw nest, sucking on his own tail. Velvet stood and approached her ruler. “Um, Princess, are you certain about this?” Barbara and Steven looked upon the concerned faces of Velvet and Night Light, confused. Celestia nodded once, “Yes, Miss Velvet, I am.” The room returned to the open field from the first image, only without a weeping Chris. Instead, it was only Celestia and young Twilight Sparkle. “…and just focus on that object and picture it before you. Then, channel your magic and…” an apple popped into existence before past Celestia. “That is all there is to it.” “But, Princess, is it’s so simple, why are we practicing all the way out here?” “Because, dear Twilight, if one with as much power as you isn’t very careful, they can do some serious damage to those around them,” Celestia answered, ignoring the audible gulping coming from the guards nearby. “Now,” she vanished the apple she had previously summoned, “do you remember the summoning spell I showed you?” “Yes, your highness.” “Good. Now, focus.” Celestia stood back and watched. Twilight was clearly struggling. She strained under the stress and sweat was pouring off her. “Calm down, Twilight. You are trying too hard.” “Unngh!” Twilight was not listening. A small orb of purple light formed around the tip of her horn. “That’s it. But you need to calm down,” Celestia warned. Twilight grunted under the strain. “I… can… do… this…” Her horn glowed brighter and brighter. “Twilight! Stop! That’s too much!” Again, Twilight wasn’t listening. Instead, she yelped and opened her eyes to show that they were shining with a bright, white light. Her horn glared suddenly in a blinding flash. A ball of light appeared before them and grew. “Guards!” Celestia ordered sharply, “Fall back to a safe distance!” She looked back to Twilight. “Then keep going!” As the guards galloped away, desperate for a nearby ditch, boulder, of suitably deep cavern, Celestia prepared a defensive shield spell. Suddenly, the ball of energy exploded outward and instantly ceased. Once everyone’s eyes adapted to the normal light conditions, they could see a small child looking around and crying in terror. The image stopped and faded away. Celestia spoke up, “And there you have it. That is exactly how your son came to our world.” “So it really was just a magical accident? Why didn’t you tell us?” Steven asked. “We didn’t want you to be angry with our Twilight,” Night Light answered. “What did you expect from us?” Barbara asked, annoyance seeping through her voice. “Did you really think we would march down to Ponyville and take out years of pain and suffering on your daughter because of an accident from when she was just a kid?” “Well, we…” Velvet started. “Do you really think so little of us humans?” “No, no. Of course we don’t,” Night Light responded. “We were just… uncertain.” “Look,” Steven said, “obviously we’re upset about this whole thing. Our son was ripped away from his mother’s arms, almost literally. We were accused of murdering our only child. Our lives spiraled into a nightmare that only began to level off a few years ago. Then, our lives get thrown into another spiral as our son suddenly appears from thin air, with giant fucking wings, and takes us to a world filled with magic and talking animals and tells us that these animals are his new family. Now, his animal family is telling us that their daughter was the one that caused us all this grief and life of misery. Why would we be mad?” The ponies began to defend their actions, but Barbara interrupted. “Look, we know there was no malice in anyone’s actions and it was all an accident, but we can still be mad about it.” The room fell into a heavy silence only to be broken by a soft giggle from Celestia. All eyes turned to her. “I’m sorry,” she raised a hoof in defense. “I do apologize about that, it’s simply that you remind me of somepony.” Her horn came to life again, and the room once more changed to a different time and place. This time, it showed an angry young Chris sitting on the floor and hugging his knees. Next to him sat a phantom Celestia with her wing wrapped around the boy who was clearly distraught. “What’s this?” Steven asked. “This is the day I told Christopher the same information. He was also very angry and very sad. I was worried that he would try to get revenge on young Twilight, but he didn’t do anything to her. Instead, he told me something. Do you have any idea what that might be?” Steven answered, “No.” There was a bit of a growl in his voice. “He told me that his daddy told him to never act out in anger because you’ll only regret it later. I was so proud of him that day. He never once did anything to hurt Twilight or make her feel bad. For her part, Twilight has done everything in her power from that point onward to make sure she never hurts anypony else because she wasn’t being careful. “That’s true,” Night Light added. “I’ve personally witnessed our girl make a checklist to prepare for making a checklist.” “Look,” Barbara said, “we’re not going to go after Twilight our do anything to upset our boy or his wedding. This is just a lot to take in.” The doors to the room slammed open, allowing the entrance of one Prince Blueblood. “Aunty, I need some bits for a little trip to Las Pega-oh, the creature’s parents are here.” Blueblood turned to walk back out of the doors he came through. “Please, let me know when the room has been fumigated.” Steven was about to do something physical, when a light shown briefly from the direction of Velvet. At the same moment, the carpet beneath Blueblood’s hooves glowed the same color as it shifted ever so slightly to the right, causing the prince to collapse to the floor. The ‘oomph’ that echoed around the chamber changed Steven’s mood entirely. Barbara’s mood also changed but only when she looked back to Celestia when she spoke. “Oh my. Are you alright, Nephew?” she asked with an almost hidden smirk as the prince grumbled ot of the room with a disguised, pompous limp.