//------------------------------// // Birthday Troubles Part 2 // Story: The Struggles of Running a Book Store // by arcanica_scripta //------------------------------// Even after all these years, they haven’t changed a bit! Arcanica was running through the streets of Ponyville doing her best to not break down into tears before she got home. She heard Bookworm calling to her but didn’t wait for her. Wanting to be home, she ducked into an alleyway and used the Shadow-Walking spell, consequences be damned. With the much shorter distances in the plane of shadows, she was able to reach her apartment almost instantaneously. Charging out of the shadows of her closet, she threw herself onto her bed and buried her face in her pillows. They just had to come back into my life, didn’t they? “Big sis! Where did you go?!” The small orange filly had lost her sister after she turned a random corner, so was left to simply yelling for her from the street. “Hey, Bookworm, was it?” She turned around and saw three of the ponies from her sister’s party heading her way. Leading the way was the white pegasus with the pink and green mane, followed closely by the nice white unicorn and the bouncy pink earth pony. The three stopped in front of her and caught their breath. “Are you alright?” Tears that she had tried fighting began welling up in her eyes. “No… mom and dad were screaming at Arcanica and now I dunno where she went and… and…” “There, there, little one, don’t worry.” The nice unicorn pulled her into a comforting hug, letting her cling to her as she hiccupped from keeping her sobs down. “We’re your sister’s friends. We’ll find her.” She smiled at the other two mares. “Right, girls?” “Right!” affirmed the pegasus with a smile. The two looked at the pink mare. “Pinkie Pie?” She sniffled a bit as they realized her mane looked slightly deflated. “I… I wanted to make Arcanica happy today, but that party made her sad…” The white pegasus put a comforting wing on her back. “That’s why we’re going to find her. To make sure we cheer Arcanica up.” Getting a nod, she withdrew her wing and looked at the two unicorns. “Alright, let’s get going. She’s probably holed herself up in her apartment after this.” Getting affirmations, she took the lead once more as they resumed running to the book store with the young filly in tow. “Why?” After glaring at them for several minutes and being tempted to use The Stare on them, Fluttershy finally broke the silence between her and Arcanica’s parents. “Why did you treat Arcanica like that?” “Like what? Our child?” Fluttershy became even angrier, but Twilight cut in before she could open her mouth. “I think what Fluttershy meant was, what happened between you all to make Arcanica resent you so much?” The older mare rolled her eyes and scoffed. “We tried raising her to be an academic, to be proud of her intelligence, but she was opposed to listening to us every time we tried helping her. She ran off, and we went on with our lives, end of story.” “Mend, darling, I think they meant wanted a proper explanation of our daughter’s childhood issues, not a summary of it.” “Well then they should say so, Marks.” “Alright well let’s not get too off topic. Start with her as a foal, since that seems to be where a lot of this is coming from,” provided Twilight. “Fine.” The mare sighed heavily. “My husband and I met during our final years at Canterlot University. We hit it off rather well over our shared passion for the pursuit of knowledge. After we graduated, he and I got together and eventually, nature found its way and gave us Arcanica.” Her husband took over for her. “Now, our respective careers should be of note here. While my wife, Mended Heart, pursued a career as a doctor, I found my calling in molding young minds as a professor at the local school in Seaward Shoals. Were one of us to be in one of those fields, it would have been one thing, but for both parents to be in such demanding fields was unheard of. Nevertheless, we had Arcanica and brought her up in an environment that encouraged the pursuit of knowledge.” “Well that doesn’t seem so bad,” admitted Twilight. “So, this is all over her wanting a creative career rather than an intellectually challenging one?” “No, it isn’t.” Mended Heart glared at the purple unicorn. “We’ll get to that if you would kindly let us continue our story.” She smiled apologetically before signaling for the two unicorns to continue their story. “Now, as we were saying, we encouraged Arcanica to pursue knowledge emphasized the importance of hard work above all else. “We tried enrolling her in Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns when she was a filly, since her magic had always acted up and done the most interesting things. Thankfully, she was able to pass the practical portion of her particular exam and passed the written portion with less-than perfect marks. Her grades were still worthy enough to get in, not that she appreciated it.” “So how does her going to a boarding school and not liking it have to do with why you’re so angry about it?” Rainbow Dash was regretting not going with Rarity, but knew she had to be there for Fluttershy. “Because of how she squandered the opportunity!” explained Marks. “After one semester, she was on the verge of being dropped out of the program!” He rubbed his forehead as he remembered his daughter’s academic struggles. “When we were contacted by the school over it, they explained that she was never focusing in class. She was constantly day-dreaming or drawing all sorts of strange, unnatural monsters.” “And when she wasn’t doing that, she was busy writing stories instead of taking notes and was struggling to complete even the simplest of exams,” complained Heart. “Not to mention her magical abilities were nowhere near where they needed to be to complete the assignments, let alone learning the spells she was being taught.” “Well of course not.” Twilight pawed the ground. “Most of the foals who go to Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns have already earned their Cutie Marks or know that they’re incredibly talented in magic. Just doing strange magic isn’t grounds enough for somepony to naturally excel there.” “But she could have tried to apply herself better!” Mended Heart’s nostrils flared in annoyance. “If she put in the effort, she could have done better in class.” “Did she even want to go to the School for Gifted Unicorns?” asked Fluttershy. “Did you ever bother to ask her whether she wanted to be put into such an advanced program?” “Why should that matter?” Marks scoffed at the foolishness of the question. “She would have thanked us for giving her such an opportunity if she had applied herself.” “But it’s not what she wanted!” Rainbow Dash cautiously put a hoof on the yellow pegasus’ back to get her to calm down. Even after being friends for years, she had never seen Fluttershy get so angry before, not even when they had to deal with the dragon. “Why couldn’t you bring yourselves to care that your daughter was unhappy? Why didn’t you listen to her?” “Because she was talking nonsense!” snapped Heart. “She was going on about wanting to tell everypony stories for a living and write stories. That’s not a justifiable career, it’s a foal’s dream!” “But it’s what Arcanica wanted.” Twilight stepped in while Rainbow Dash pulled Fluttershy back, trying to comfort her and get her to calm down. “And she’s done well for herself following her passion.” When the two older unicorns scoffed or rolled their eyes, she sighed. I sure have my work cut out for me. “Please, Darling! It’s your friends, let us in!” Getting no reply, Rarity sighed before turning away from the door to the other three ponies. “Well, she’s not answering me. So unless we go up there ourselves, I’m afraid we’re out of luck.” Blossomforth nodded before pulling her wing back from comforting Bookworm. “Well fortunately, Arcanica gave me a spare key to her shop.” Retrieving the key, she opened the store up for them before leading the way in. “The door to her apartment is this way,” she told them. “Wow, my sister works here?” “No, she owns this place.” Blossomforth smiled at the amazed look on the young unicorn’s face, happy she was at least finding some degree of excitement despite what was happening. “Arcanica runs the shop itself, I help out so she’s not stretched too thin between running the shop and writing.” “Wow…” The group of four approached the door to the back room, with Rarity realizing something important. “Um… Blossomforth? Not to sound rude, but… you do have a key upstairs, right?” She chuckled at the question. “No need. Arcanica actually doesn’t use a key on this one. You just need a unicorn to get in.” She pointed a wing at a small silver peg in the center of the door. “If you rotate this coat hook counter-clockwise, the door will unlock itself. Nopony would ever think to do something like that and only unicorns can rotate it while opening the door.” “Oh my, that’s actually quite clever.” Rarity’s horn lit up before twisting the hook in the proper direction. “Oh, it’s spring loaded to re-lock itself. I’d imagine Twilight would have a field day with this.” “We don’t have time for this!” Bookworm shoved the door open as soon as Rarity finished rotating the hook. “I’m coming, Sis!” “Bookworm, wait!” The three mares followed her in as she began climbing up the stairs. “We don’t know what kind of mindset Arcanica is in right now!” Bookworm ignored them and continued until she reached the top of the stairs. Pushing open the door, she ran into what looked like a dine-in kitchen. “Sis? Are you here?” “Go away!” came a yell from down the hallway. A door slammed, implying the older sibling was trying to isolate herself. “Bookworm, darling, you can’t just run off like that,” huffed Rarity as she made it to the top of the stairs. She looked around the kitchen area before looking at the other two mares. “So, any guesses which room she’s in?” “Her yell came from down this way.” Ignoring Rarity’s requests, she made a beeline for the hallway. “Come on!” The three followed her to the end of the hallway where she was listening to the sound of sobbing from the other side of the door. She hesitantly knocked on the door. “Sis?” “I said go away!” The four of them flinched at the anguish in the unicorn’s voice. “Arcanica, darling…” Rarity went up to the door and gently placed a hoof on it. “Please, we’re your friends. We care about you… Your sister cares about you. Let us in, please? Even if we’re just a shoulder to cry on it couldn’t hurt to have somepony to talk to.” “Leave me alone!” Arcanica sounded even more distressed. “I want to be alone! I want to wallow in… whatever it is that ponies are supposed to wallow in!” The sobbing resumed inside as the mares flinched. “Oh dear, she sounds bad.” “She almost sounds like you…” Pinkie pointed out in a sedated tone. Now that they were hearing their friend’s sobs, her bad mood returned full-force. “Pinkie!” “Girls, now isn’t the time!” snapped the pegasus. “Arcanica, please let me in. I’m here for you.” She didn’t get a response, so she let the mares lead her to the sitting room. “What are we going to do?” “Well, I suppose the first thing we need to do is just get her to talk to us again.” Blossomforth was pacing while Pinkie Pie and the two unicorns sat on the couch while Rarity was trying to comfort Pinkie. “Bookworm, did you ever see her arguing with your parents before?” She shook her head. “No. I heard them yelling the night she ran away from home, but whenever they did argue it was after they thought I went to sleep. They never mentioned their arguments whenever I was around.” She sighed as she looked at her sister’s friends. “Even when she ran away from home she never told me about their arguments.” “Well unfortunately, I never truly argued with my mother and father,” lamented Rarity. “Pinkie?” She shook her head morosely. “No. Mama and Papa let me leave when I discovered I wasn’t cut out for the family business as long as I visited when they needed me to.” “And my parents encouraged me to leave the nest when I grew up, so none of us have a starting point.” Blossomforth dragged a hoof down her face as she thought over their situation. “Well good for you, you didn’t grow up with control freak parents.” They looked up hearing the sarcastic quip and saw Arcanica glaring at them, her eyes puffy from her crying. “But it’s not just me arguing with them that led to me running away.” “ARCANICA!” The four quickly pulled her into a group hug, happy she was at least out of her room. “What made you come out?” “Hearing you four talking in my sitting room is a bit of a distraction while I’m wallowing in my own misery,” she told them tiredly. She wrapped a foreleg around her sister as she was guided to the couch. “But to answer your questions, it wasn’t the arguments that led me to run away. It was how they treated me that caused the arguments.” “What do you mean?” Bookworm looked up at her older sister, her eyes filled with concern. “How did Mom and Dad treat you?” “Like a failure,” she muttered. Rarity placed a comforting hoof on her other shoulder, causing her to sigh. “They spent years always telling me that what I wanted to do was stupid, yelling at me for ‘not applying my intelligence properly’, or for ‘holding myself back’. When I got my Cutie Mark after publishing my first short stories, they were furious that I was wasting my time chasing fantasies and day dreams rather than pursuing academics.” “But… that’s nothing like what Mom and Dad are like with me.” “Oh? That’s probably because of how much I yelled at them when I ran away.” She gently brushed her sister’s mane. “But didn’t you ever wonder why I stopped writing to you? I stopped because they wrote to me that you didn’t need a terrible role model in your life and to never write to you again.” “What?! But, you stopped replying to my letters. You stopped writing to me around my birthday the year after you left. That was why I stopped writing.” Her eyes were widened in shock at how much she was misled. “I thought you just didn’t care about me anymore.” “I’d never forget your birthday, Book. I had sent you a present that year. I imagine Mom and Dad found the present before you did and reacted badly.” She hugged her sister close. “I sent you my first proper book. I had hoped you would get it and realize how much I cared, but they sent it back to me telling me to never contact you again.” “What was so special about your book?” she asked in confusion as she blinked back tears. Arcanica smiled before looking at one of the bookshelves in the room. Using her magic, she grabbed a perfectly preserved copy of the first book she had written before giving it to her little sister. “Cries of the Ether,” she read aloud. Opening to the first pages, she gasped at the dedication. “For a certain bookworm, who always made me smile.” She set the book down before hugging her sister tightly. “Um, Arcanica?” The sisters looked at Rarity as she nervously smiled. “I’m sorry to interrupt this touching moment, but I wanted to apologize for what we did.” She sighed as her smile fell. “We shouldn’t have invited your parents here without asking you about them first.” Arcanica sighed as she let go of her sister and gave the white mare a hug. “It’s fine, Rarity. It had to happen at some point. I guess there’s only so much running somepony can do before their past catches up with them.” “Arcanica?” She looked at the pink party pony, her mane still deflated. “I’m… I’m sorry my party made you cry.” She hiccupped. “I… I should have-” The red unicorn walked over and hugged her. “I don’t blame you, Pinkie. You genuinely tried your best. Thank you for at least trying to help me.” The pink pony quickly hugged her back as tears flowed freely from her eyes. The other three joined in the hug as Pinkie clung to her friend, happy to have been forgiven for her mistake. “If you’d like, darling, we can talk this all out before going back to Sugar Cube Corner. Maybe talk your feelings out so you’re in a better head space?” She nodded, making Rarity smile before she guided the unicorn back to the couch. “Now, just start wherever you feel comfortable.” The two older unicorns were seated at a table speaking quietly between themselves. The remaining Elements, joined by Applejack a short while ago, hoped they had given their friend’s parents enough to think about. “She shouldn’t forgive them,” muttered Fluttershy. She took a long sip from her milkshake after Rainbow Dash pushed it closer, hoping the chocolate would calm her down. The three were still shocked at how angry their friend had gotten over Arcanica’s childhood. “After how they treated her as a foal…” “Sugarcube, Ah get where yer comin’ from, but she can’t hold onta that kinda anger forever.” Applejack sighed as she ran a hoof through her mane. “They’re family, and family has gotta stick together.” “But will she even want to forgive them?” Or us, for that matter? Twilight was the most nervous out of all of them. The last thing she wanted was for their friend to hate them over a mistake they had made while trying to mend their friend’s family situation. “I mean, she’s had years of nothing but anger at them. If none of them have tried to ever work it out, will either side even be willing to fixing things?” “We can only hope.” Rainbow’s answer was cautious lest she anger the other pegasus. “Everypony, we’ve returned!” declared Rarity as she proudly walked into the bakery. She was followed by a cheerful Pinkie and a smiling Blossomforth. “Rarity! Oh thank Celestia you’re- Wait… Where are Arcanica and her sister?” She smiled at Twilight before gesturing to the door. The doors pushed open before the two sisters walked in together, a gentle smile on the red unicorn’s muzzle. “Arcanica!” The other four Elements gasped before rushing to hug the author, much to her annoyance. “I don’t need a group hug. I’m not dying here,” she joked as she accepted a nuzzle from Fluttershy. “I’m fine, girls. Really.” “Arcanica.” The group of friends moved aside so she could have a clear path to her parents. “I believe we need to talk,” Mended Heart said in a reluctant manner. “Just the three of us.” “Anything you want to say to Arcanica, you can say to me!” Bookworm left her sister’s side to stand defiantly before her parents. Mended Heart went to tell her to butt out, but her husband stopped her with a raised hoof. “She’s in the middle of it too, Heart. Her and Arcanica’s… friends.” He looked at them all as they stood with their friend. “They deserve to know everything that’s happening.” She wanted to argue, but simply sighed in resignation before accepting the maroon stallion’s suggestion. “Arcanica, I believe an apology is in order. From both of us.” Her eyes widened. “Father…” “We wanted you to be more successful than either of us,” he continued. “Your mother and I had grown up in environments that encouraged us to put academics before anything else. We didn’t grow up like other ponies, and simply saw what we were doing as natural. We simply assumed you would accept it like we had, but I see now that was simply not the case.” He chuckled dryly. “It only took us years to ever figure it out.” “Father… no, Dad… I understand you two wanted me to succeed.” She sighed. “It’s just, I saw how you two treated me and my grades, but compared to everypony else? I was that one filly whose parents were beyond strict and didn’t let her do anything.” Twilight wrapped a foreleg around her neck to comfort her, an act she accepted. “When I saw how everypony else’s parents treated them, I started to think you two didn’t love me.” “Of course we did!” snapped Heart. “We did… we just, didn’t see anything wrong with how we had raised you. All we knew was to push you to surpass what we had achieved. To prove we were right to… to…” “To what? Have me?” “Not simply have you.” Marks was quick to reinsert himself into the discussion. “But to have you when we did. To prove that… we were right to even be together.” “Now wait just a gosh darn minute,” interrupted Applejack. “Ya’ll mean ta tell me that Arcanica here…” “Yes,” he affirmed. “Arcanica is the reason we even married one another. Neither of us wanted to give up our aspirations but we were scared we couldn’t raise a foal as well as we could. I’m sorry we never told you, Arcanica, but we were worried that if you knew-” “I’ve always known, Dad.” The two unicorns looked at her in shock. “Your sister told me after Book was born. I just always assumed that was why you two treated me the way you did. To make the most out of a mistake.” “Arcanica…” Mended Heart ran forward and pulled the shocked mare into a hug. “You weren’t a mistake!” She choked back a sob. “It was all on us. You weren’t the one responsible. You had no reason to think that!” “Mom…” “She’s right.” Marks gently coaxed his wife to let their oldest go. “It wasn’t your fault that we had you. And I don’t regret making the decision to raise you. It was our mistake to think we could raise you the way we did and not have it blow up in our faces.” “We simply wanted to be positive that we weren’t wrong to stay together. We had to compromise our own careers for you, and… well, I suppose we put some of our anger on you for our own foalish behavior. We never wanted you to hat us, but in the end, that’s all we did.” She wiped away her tears before placing a hoof on her daughter’s shoulder. “Could you ever forgive us for what we did? For all the years of anger?” Arcanica was silent for a moment. She looked to her seven friends before sharing a look with her sister. She closed her eyes before shaking her head. “No. I don’t think so.” They gasped before she held up a hoof. “At least, not right now. But, I want to. But most important of all,” she looked at her parents and blinked back the tears, “I just want my parents back.” “Sweetie…” The two older unicorns pulled their daughters into a hug. None of them fought their tears as they held each other close. “We’re so sorry. We really am.” “I know, Mom. I am too.” The seven mares watched with tears in their eyes at the family’s hug. Fluttershy smiled at her friend. You’re a bigger mare than me, Arcanica. I wouldn’t have given them the chance. The red unicorn disengaged from the group hug before smiling at her friends. “Come on, you girls. Isn’t this supposed to be my birthday party? What’re you all doing just standing around?” “Yes!” cheered Pinkie as she pumped a hoof. She pulled her gramophone out of… somewhere before throwing a record on it. “Let’s get this Family-Saving Birthday Party started!” The next day, Arcanica was standing at the Ponyville station with her family. “Well, I guess this is farewell.” High Marks smiled at his daughter. “Take care of yourselves. I don’t want Book to turn out the way I did.” “Actually, that was something we wanted to talk to you about.” Mended Heart shared a look with her husband. “Since it’s been so long and was our fault you two fell out… Bookworm?” “Yes, Mom?” She smiled at the orange filly. “How would you like to stay here with your sister? You know, make up for the years apart?” “You mean it?!” She squee’d as she nodded. “That would be awesome!” “Arcanica? Would you mind letting your sister stay with you?” She looked at her beaming sister with a smirk. “Well, assuming you do your chores and don’t burn my house down, I see no reason as to why my little sis can’t crash with me.” “YES! Thank you both so much!” She gave her parents a bone-crushing hug, causing both to laugh at her excitement. She quickly galloped over to her sister and clung to her side. “Thank you, sis!” “We’ll send her belongings as soon as we get home,” promised their mother. “Thanks. That’ll give us enough time to convert my guest room.” She let go of her sister before hugging her parents once more. “Bye, Mom. Bye Dad. Take care of yourselves.” “Goodbye, Arcanica. We love you.” “Love you, too.” Dear Princess Celestia, Today, I learned the true importance of one’s family. Sometimes, we may fight with our family and loved ones. When we do, there’s a chance that we may hurt the ones we love, or they might hurt us. That hurt can cause us a lot of pain if we let it fester, and in some cases even tear that family apart. However, if we were to come together and talk out our pain and work our problems out, we can fix our bonds and become even closer. I would have never learned this on my own, but after seeing the damage an argument did to Arcanica’s family and how close they are now that they’ve made amends, I can see now just how important somepony’s family really is. In fact, I’ll be writing to my own family as soon as possible just to make sure my bonds with them never fall into such a state. Your Faithful Student, Twilight Sparkle The elder Princess smiled as she rolled up her student’s report. “Oh, Twilight. It warms my heart to know you’ve learned this particular lesson. “Sister, are thou in here?” Luna entered the room and smiled when she saw her sister. “Ah, we have found thee. The chefs have informed us that supper is ready for us.” “I’ll be right there, Luna. You go on ahead.” She nodded before turning and taking her leave. “Oh, Luna?” She stuck her head back in. “Yes, sister?” Celestia smiled at the younger alicorn. “I love you, you know that, right.” She smiled back. “I love you too, sister.”