//------------------------------//
// Revelations 
// Story: Twilight's Family 
// by ApexSixtail 
//------------------------------//

Just a note to avoid confusion, this whole story takes place during season 2, but before the finally.


	
Twilight Sparkle smothered Twinkle Star’s face in kisses as Twinkle Star squirmed in her forelegs. “Stop, Mommy, you’re tickling me!”
Twilight did stop kissing the filly, but instead of letting her go, Twilight sank down onto the ground and held Twinkle Star in a tight embrace, just drawing strength from her presence.
“Mommy, are you OK,” the young filly asked.
“I am now,” Twilight said as she continued the hug. “I thought I lost you.”
“I’m sorry, but I was just over at Ruby’s house.”
Twilight leaned back and held the filly at foreleg’s reach. “I’m not mad with you going over to play with your friend. I think Grandma can tell you that she wished I had done more of that when I was your age.” Twilight let a small sigh as she thought back on her childhood. Then focusing back on the present, “No dear, what really upset me was that you didn’t ask either me or your grandma permission to go. If you would have just asked one of us, I’m sure that we would have let you go play with Ruby at least for a little while.”
“But I did ask! I asked Grandpa.”
“Asked Grandpa what?” A blue unicorn stallion with a dark blue mane trotted up to the group.
“Hey, Dad, the little stinker here said you gave her permission this morning to go over to Ruby Scepter’shouse this afternoon.”
“No, what I said when she asked was that if she asked her mom or grandma when they had gotten up that I’m sure she could.”
Twilight shook her head softly and looked down at Twinkle Star again, “My daughter has perfected selective hearing.” The three adult ponies shared a light chuckle, with the stallion messing up Twinkle Star’s mane. A quiet throat clearing reminded the family that they had guests.
All four family members turned to look at the five mares standing near them off to the side. “Yeah, hi. We’re still here,” Rainbow Dash reminded them rather bluntly.
“I’m guessing you girls have a lot to discus, so if you’ll excuse us, we’ll leave you alone.” The two older ponies made their way to the door and let themselves into the house.

After they were gone, Twilight looked at the five mares and gave them a nervous smile. “I guess I have some explaining to do,” Twilight said with a sigh.
“Oh, you think?” Rainbow Dash said sarcastically
“Dash!” Applejack reprimanded her.
“Well, she does, and why does everypony always feel they have to chastise me?” She asked lifting up off the ground and crossing her forelegs.
“Because you always go about things with all the subtlety of somepony trying to get a high gloss shine out of a metal platter using 80-grit sandpaper.” Rarity felt the need to answer Dash’s question.
“Girls, please cut it out, your scaring little Twinkle Star.”Fluttershy spoke up loudly enough to get stop the argument before it got started, but not too loud as to scare Twinkle Star more. They all looked at the little filly whom was starting to try and hide behind her mother’s forelegs.
Fluttershy got down on her knees and in a soft voice said, “It’s ok, the fighting has stopped, you don’t have to hide anymore.” She cooed.
Slowly, Twinkle Star came out from behind Twilight’s legs and sat just in front of them. Twilight gave a nervous chuckle, “Normally she’s not this shy. She saw one of my dad’s clients scream at him for an hour about something that wasn’t even my dad’s fault. Since then she gets scared when ponies start arguing.”
Rarity leaned over and whispered something to Fluttershy, who had gotten up off the ground. After Rarity finished, Fluttershy looked at Twinkle Star, “Our friends have something they need to discuss with your mommy, is it alright if we go around back and play with you toys?” 
Twinkle Star looked up at Twilight as if asking if it was alright. “It’s alright dear, Fluttershy is a good pony, she won’t hurt you. Go show her all your toys while Mommy talks with her friends, OK?” Twinkle Star nodded and started to head to the back yard, Fluttershy following close behind.
Once the two were out of earshot, Twilight started to plead, “Look, I’m sorry I-“
“Hup, the time for explanations will come shortly. First I need to know a few things.” Rarity interrupted Twilight with a stern tone. Twilight settled on her rump, looking like a school filly who was about to get scolded for breaking a major rule.
Seeing the fearful and distraught expression on the purple unicorn’s face, Rarity raised Twilight’s chin with her hoof. “First off, let me say that you will not be losing any friends today. I’m sure the reason you hid her from us is not a purposely malicious act.” A visible relief washed over Twilight’s features. “That being said, I still need to know some things. First, is she truly your filly?”
“Yes, she is my own flesh and blood.” Twilight answered.
“Next, do you know who her father is?” 
Twilight looked shocked that Rarity could ask such a question. “Yes, I do!” Twilight said forcefully.
“Does he know he has a daughter?” Rarity continued her questioning.
“Yes!” Twilight, still upset about the last question, said just as forcefully as the previous answer.
“And is he any part of her life?”
“Yes, Rarity, he is. Now if you would just let me tell the story, you will learn all the answers you want.”
“Geesh, and you said I was abrasive,” Rainbow Dash shot in, earning a glare from everyone.
“Ok, Rarity, now that you’ve had your chance to pick Twilight’s story apart, I would like to actually hear Twilight’s recollection of things,” Applejack said as she walked over and put a leg over Twilight’s shoulders.
Giving Applejack a grateful glance, she turned back to the group who had gathered around to better hear her.
“Well, to fill in the blanks, Twinkle Star’s father was a student tutor of mine named Star Shine. We first met in the library when I was thirteen. He asked me if he could borrow one of the books I was studying from. We didn’t get to know each other until Princess Celestia made him my tutor in teleportation spells. Over the next two years, we got really close to each other and found ourselves falling in love. Shortly before his seventeenth birthday, he got—”
“Seventeenth birthday, but that would make him…” Rarity interrupted.
“Yes, two years older than me, but the more we got to know one another, the less it mattered.  Now as I was saying, shortly before his seventeenth birthday, he found out that he had been assigned an apprenticeship. We were saddened that he was leaving, but also excited because that is what he always wanted. So the night before he left, we went out on a final date slash good buy celebration.  We went out to dinner, and then went dancing. At the end of the night, as we were walking back towards the palace, he suddenly got down on his knees and proposed.”

“He did what?” All four other ponies exclaimed in unison.
“He asked me for my hoof in marriage.”
“So you’re married?” Applejack asked the question that they all were thinking.
“No, no, no, no; betrothed, yes, but not married.”
“Be-whated now?” Pinkie Pie asked.
“Betrothed, it is another word for engaged,” Rarity answered.
“Well, why didn’t she just say engaged then?” Rainbow Dash asked
“Come on Dash, with her vocabulary, she probably knows about fifty words for being engaged to be married.”

“Carrying on then, well when we got back to the palace, I invited him up to my room, where we talked about the future, and made plans. Well, one thing lead to another, and the next thing I knew, it was morning. I helped him get his things to the train station and saw him off.”
“The first month he was gone, we would write letters to each other each week. I told him about my studies with the Princess, and he told me how the mage he was apprenticed to, a wizard named Walking Stick, would give him all these hard chores like cleaning the basement of his house, removing a bees’ nest with a stick, weird tasks like that, which had nothing to do with magic. Well, toward the end of our first month apart, I started becoming sick in the mornings. Concerned, the Princess had her physician give me a checkup. Needless to say he found out the cause of my morning sickness. My parents were upset, Princess Celestia was saddened. Shining Armor was furious.”

“Wait, who’s Shining Armor?” Applejack asked.
“I haven’t mentioned my brother to you girls before?” Twilight asked. The rest of the group shook their heads no.
Twilight looked sheepishly at her friends, “I guess that was another thing about my family I forgot to mention.”
“You know, for a pony that has problems keeping secrets, you sure do have a lot of them,” Pinkie Pie remarked. Twilight gave her a small glare. “Well it’s true.”
“Alright then, on with the tale,” Rainbow Dash prodded.

“Oh, yes, well, like I said, Shining Armor was furious. In fact, he traveled up to Calpony to confront Star Shine. After what I’m sure was a heated debate, Star Shine came back to Canterlot. There was a big meeting with me, him, my family, his family, and Princess Celestia. All the details came out about how I had ended up pregnant, that we were engaged, and our plans for the future. After everypony had gotten the anger out of their system, we all sat down and came up with a modified version of our plans. I was going to keep the foal, and Star Shine was going to continue his apprenticeship. After the birth, my parents would help me raise the foal so I could continue my studies. Once Star Shine finished his apprenticeship, Princess Celestia would assign me a field study in the same community where Star Shine would be employed.”
"When it came time to give birth, Star Shine came back to Canterlot to be with me during the delivery. As you can guess, I gave birth to the most precious little filly. Her name was my idea. I wanted something that sounded close to Twilight to keep with my family’s tradition, and I also wanted part of her dad’s name in her name. Once Twinkle Star was old enough to be away from me for a good share of the day, I resumed my studies with Princess Celestia. We kept it from Spike at first because we were afraid of how he would react. I guess we never did find the right time to introduce him to Twinkle Star.”
“While Twinkle Star was a baby, Star Shine came home every few weeks to spend time with us. Once she had gotten a little older, I would teleport us up to his place in Calpony. “

“But why didn’t you bring her to Ponyville when you moved there?” Rarity asked.
“At first I was afraid that you girls would judge me for having her. I had never had as close of friends as I have with you girls, so as much as it pained both Twinkle Star and myself, my parents and I decided to keep her in Canterlot. I was going to tell you when I got to know you better, but…”
“The time just never seemed right,” Rarity finished her thought.
Twilight lowered her head toward the ground and sighed. “I understand if you girls don’t want to be my friends anymore.”
Rarity quickly raised Twilight’s chin with her hoof. “I said it before and I’ll say it again, you won’t be losing any friends today. I can understand you fears, darling. You were an unwed teenage mother, but you are one of the lucky ones. It sounds like this Star Shine is one of the few colts who get a filly in trouble and actually stays with her.” The rest of the group chorused in agreement as they moved in for a group hug.
During the hug, Twilight felt a little body press up against her forelegs. She looked down to find Twinkle Star smiling back up at her. “Mommy gets to keep her friends.” She cheered.
Twilight scooped her up so she could be a proper part of the hug. “Yes, I will.”
After a second, Twilight’s eyes popped open, “Wait, where’s Fluttershy?”
As if to answer her question, Fluttershy came around the corner of the house and quickly walked up to the group. “I’m so sorry Twilight, but she wanted to play hide and seek. I only agreed if she promised to stay in the yard.” Fluttershy apologized.
Twilight gave a questioning look at her daughter, who shrugged her shoulders. “I am still in the yard, Flu’ershy never said which yard.”
Twilight rolled her eyes as the rest of the group chuckled. “You’ve been spending way too much time with Uncle Shining.”