//------------------------------//
// 55 - Never Give Up 
// Story: Sunburst to the Rescue 
// by David Silver 
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Twilight held up a hoof. "One moment, please. We need to discuss this."

Moon Dancer was in no particular shape to really stop them. "Go ahead. I'll be here..."

"I will be back, promise." Twilight moved purposefully for the door, Sunburst at her side. They didn't share words until they had fled the building together.

Sunburst let out his breath once they were a few steps away. "That was not what I expected..."

"Nor I..." Twilight glanced towards the dilapidated hut. "But I made this, in part..."

"You made your decisions, she made hers." Sunburst reached out to poke Twilight right on the chest. "I know Starlight kinda... lost it for a while, but that was her decision, not mine."

"But you didn't throw her aside for having feelings." Twilight hiked a brow. "At least that's not how I heard it went down."

"She also didn't propose we make up for lost time by getting married." He lifted his shoulders. "Look, I'm not trying to talk bad about her. She's in pain, I get that. I want to help, but I do have to insist that this isn't your fault."

Twilight smiled timidly. "I know I could just say that, and it'd be mostly true... but that isn't really how I do things. Sunburst, why don't we invite her?"

Sunburst's ears went up with a widening of his eyes. "To herd?!"

"No! No, I mean, to visit, get out of this hut, be with us, not alone? Just as friends, nothing more." Twilight looked towards the house and the unicorn it contained. "She's probably really worried right now, half expecting us to just... walk away."

"A small part of me thinks that might not be a terrible idea... but we aren't like that." He sighed out that last bit with a half-smile. "Do you think it'll help?"

"I... don't know, but leaving her here to regret and wallow sure sounds bad." Twilight returned to the door they had fled from. With a raised hoof, she clopped on the door. It opened before she could come in for the second strike.

"Twilight! What a surprise!" There was Moon Dancer, freshened up with a false smile, clearly trying her best to look representable. Her glasses were curiously missing, and her hair was let down, looking like Twilight's, if in different colors. "How can I help you?"

Twilight canted her head at her partial doppelganger. "Moon Dancer... nice to see you?"

"Very nice." She glanced past Twilight at Sunburst and back. "So... you've made a decision?" She was smiling, full of hope, ready for misery.

Twilight held up a hoof in front of Moon's face. "Let's be clear from the start. You want to be with us, not with us."

Moon lifted an ear curiously, but didn't argue.

"Let's return to your initial... proposal." Twilight cleared her throat as she sat up tall. "If we did assemble a herd and you did accept an omega position, that would entail that you would not have any romantic involvement to begin with. While a member of the family, you would not reproduce. That is how omegas work."

She raised the same hoof again, putting it over Moon's mouth just as she was about to object. "However! In these enlightened days, we already have a position for someone who is family, but not that kind of family..."

"We do?" Sunburst had joined at her side, looking between the two mares.

"Of course." Twilight nodded firmly. "They're called friends, and far less often expected to reside at the bottom of the social totem pole."

Moon Dancer's jaw twitched softly before she shook her head. "I understand... You'll be going now? Have a safe trip," she sighed out in defeat.

Twilight set a hoof on Moon Dancer's shoulder. "Moon, would you care to come with us, as a friend? We could use another pair of eyes on our studies, and you'll get to see Ponyville, meet my other friends, who are also dear and treasured parts of our family, and maybe could become part of yours?"

Moon blinked softly, looking off balance. "You... mean--" She reached out a hoof of her own, but poked Twilight right on the nose instead of resting it anywhere. "Sorry, I really should get my glasses back on."

Sunburst drew the glasses over with a glowing horn. "Here you are." He gently set it on the mare's nose. "I think the idea sounds lovely. I never had the chance to meet you, as a pony. " He reached up, prompted to adjust his own glasses. "And her friends are great, a little overwhelming at first, but they grow on you."

"If... you say so. I mean that! Um..." She shrank back a little. "Let me get some things." She was gone, but for what seemed like just an instant, returning with a little bag slung over her back. "Ready."

Twilight smiled faintly. "First step, we meet the girls and finish today. After that, you get to meet my parents. I don't think you ever have met them before? Another thing to fix." She turned and began leading the way.

Sorrow had given way to hopeful futures.





That evening, Velvet and Night were surprised when three ponies returned instead of the two they expected. Velvet's eyes were on Moon Dancer, examining the mare. "Hello there, miss..."

"Dancer, ma'am." She dipped her head gently. "I'll be visiting with them." She pointed towards the couple. "Nice place." Her eyes were drawn to the various memorabilia, spending far more time looking at Twilight's keepsakes than Shining Armor's. 

"Oh don't call me that." Velvet stuck out her tongue, watching the new mare. "I'm not old enough to accept that. I'm Twilight Velvet, but you can go with just Velvet, unless you want to confuse the other Twilight in the room."

"I'm Night Light, but Night's just fine," added her husband with an easy smile. "So you're a friend of theirs?"

Twilight quickly bobbed her head as she hopped up onto the couch. "I've known her since the school days."

"We were inseparable," sighed out Moon Dancer, forcing a smile. "It's nice to be here."

"Let's play a game." Night plucked out a box among many from a shelf. "Pastures and patties! It's been too long." He set it on the dining table. "Just the thing for while we wait for dinner to be done."

So the game was played. Sunburst and Moon Dancer both seemed intent on figuring out the right move statistically. Velvet gladly rushed ahead, taking whatever move struck her fancy without looking back. Night Light already had a plan, the paper it was on looking well-worn from many games. Twilight was the moderate for a change, considering each move briefly before pushing her piece along.

Night arrived at the goal first, but the game didn't end there. He seemed just as happy to watch everyone else race to get second place. His well-tested plan for victory was not to be toppled that day, but he didn't rub it in.

Sunburst and Moon Dancer were neck to neck for second place, each within three places of the other as they inched towards the end. The chance squares both of them had been avoiding. They seemed to be bad as often as good, and were hard to plan around.

Velvet had no such reservation, tripping over half of them on her meandering path. "Ooo, what did I get." She floated up a card from the top of the chance stack. "Switch places with the pony most ahead, huh." Suddenly Sunburst was in last place, and she was out in the lead. "Woo!"

The two older ponies wore the first and second place prizes, with Moon Dancer trotting in at third place. "That was fun." Velvet hopped to her hooves. "Let's check on dinner."

Moon willed her glasses off, cleaning them idly. "Excellently played. That was poor luck, not a lack of skill."

"You did good too, congratulations." He offered a hoof towards Moon. After a brief pause, she reached and their hooves met with a soft clop.

"Great game you two." Twilight was putting the game away, willing each piece back into the box exactly where it belonged. "But I'm ready for dinner. Is it ready?"

It was, and they ate, gathered around the same table with less games involved and more dinner plates. The food was tasty, but Velvet seemed to be paying less attention to her food. "Moon, I can't help but notice... you keep looking at them."

Moon went rigid, caught in the act.

"If you're a friend of Twilight, think of me as a mother."

Sun laughed softly at that. "You are eager to expand your collection of foals, Mom."

"Any day I can," she sang out with a grin. "Now out with it, Young Mare."

"Oh, well..." She brought up her hooves to rub against one another. "It's still... surprising, that they're an item."

"Oh don't even tell me about it." Velvet snorted softly. "I was quite shocked too, so I feel you there, girl." She patted Moon's shoulder, missing what other emotional knots the unicorn was facing. "They're both happy though, so let's be happy with them. Are you two getting eloped after this?"

Twilight and Sun both went a deep red instantly. She recovered first. "Mom! Why would I do that?"

"Carried away with the passions of youth?" Velvet grinned at her daughter. "Please invite your mother. She'd be really sad to miss that happy day."

"Mother... Really... Should that day arrive, you will all be informed long beforehoof so you can make proper travel arrangements." Twilight willed some food onto a fork, then to her mouth.

Moon Dancer suddenly chimed in, "Have you ever considered why we do that?"

"Do what?"

Moon Dancer pointed at the fork held in Twilight's magic. "Technically, nothing stops a unicorn from directly taking food in their magic and putting it in their mouth. It's not as if our magic could become dirty, or get dirt on our food. We literally gain nothing, directly, from the act."

Twilight frowned at her fork, rubbing her chin thoughtfully. "Hmm..."

Sunburst raised a hoof suddenly. "I know! It's to fit in with other ponies."

Moon Dancer smiled with satisfaction. "That is part of it, but not all of it. It became a status symbol to have them, then a status symbol to have better ones. A fine set of china meant you were a unicorn of means, buying something you didn't strictly need. To a unicorn, they are one of our earliest luxury items."

"I've read about that," suddenly interjected Night Light. "They used to say different cutlery added different flavors to food, with suggestions like 'always use steel for pasta'." He laughed softly. "Mostly a bunch of phooey if you ask me, but it's good to plan these things out."

Some of the tension that had hung in the air gently broke, conversation starting to rise and fall more naturally. Moon Dancer had succeeded at wiggling her way into things, and the dinner finished without any odd events.

Then came bedtime. After-dinner drinks and chat over, both of Twilight's parents wished them a good rest, and went off towards their own bedroom. Twilight led the way towards her room. "It may be a little crowded today, but not as much as you'd fear. At one point, I shared this room with Shining before they got us seperate rooms. If I can manage with him, I'm sure the three of us will be fine." She willed the door open into the darkness, lightning a candle a moment later.

Moon Dancer stepped in with wide eyes, looking around the sacred and unknowable vault that held Twilight so long ago. She circled slowly in place, taking it all in with mute amazement.

"I looked the same way," admitted Sun with a smile. "It's something else, isn't it?"

The room was full of decorations from Twilight's fillyhood, a peek into that past that couldn't be seen otherwise.

Twilight was blushing at having ponies gaping at her old stuffed toys and things. "Enough of that, ahem. Let's get some sleep. We have a train to catch tomorrow."