//------------------------------//
// Chapter 55 - Sort Of Close 
// Story: Twilight Daylight: Psera, The Legend of Legends 
// by thedarktome 
//------------------------------//

After Dawn had her little escapade with First Light inside of her mother's office, Queen Arcadia was directed back to the Royal Suite with her family. The Princesses respected her privacy and left her to her time. Her home. Her husband's home before it was hers, and Dawn's home after she was born. The best location in the castle, according to her.

She was proud to see that the garden out front was still fresh and blooming. It had obviously been trimmed recently. Twilight nuzzled Madun under his chin as they approached the Guarded door to their home. "I can't remember the last time I was here," she whispered.

Madun stopped at the door and let Dawn open it. He looked down to his wife with love in his eyes and replied, "The last time you were here was when... Eh, who cares? You're here now and this is where you're staying for the rest of the day. So go on, get in there." He playfully used his wing to nudge her in and got a stuck out tongue in return. Then strolled along behind her and shut the door.

Everything was the same as she remembered it. Nothing had ever changed. Well not too much. There was a large LiVAM now in the living room that Dawn was getting prepped in front of on Twilight's left along with...

Twilight gasped and teleported over to the bookcase now shelved with Dawn's sports trophies. She pointed to them with eyes on Madun. "What happened to my books?!" She shouted.

Of course that would be the first thing on her mind. "Two years after, Dawn started winning trophies and we needed room."

Twilight, Madun and Fresh Dawn ignored the LiVAM's current channel setting and eyed the many trophies around the room. The entire room. Most of them were gold, but some were silver and bronze.

"Oooh," Twilight fawned. Then smiled down to Dawn and asked, "And just what are you a professional at?"

Oh yeah! She gets to brag! Finally, dad never lets her. He's always, "Stay humble and be a good sport."

Dawn threw one hoof over the side of the couch and acted all cool. "Yeah, I'm a... I'm a professional at Hoofball, Tennees, and Slide Skating." She rubbed one hoof on her coat with a smirk on the LiVAM.

Big shot, huh? Twilight thought. She passed by in front of Dawn and slid her wings onto the couch. Then set herself down on it and trained sneaky eyes on Dawn. Who was staring at something else however. How exactly does she hide her wings? One second they were there dragging the floor, the next they were gone. Hiding or something behind or underneath the couch. Maybe.

Dawn shook that to the side and asked her, "Are you sure you don't like sports?"

Twilight sighed and turned to the LiVAM while she answered. "Well every now and then, sweetheart. As a Queen, I didn't have a lot of time to actually sit down and watch a game. There were always meetings, traveling, court, law and order, inventions, taxes, issues that needed to be solved—WHAT WAS THAT?!"

Dawn jumped from the sudden yell and followed her mother's hoof to the LiVAM. Someone had gotten tackled before they did a replay of that same stallion jumping into the air, then getting bunked back to the ground by someone who flew right on top of them. "How in Psera did he do that? Who is that, that was an amazing play, great work out there! Who is that?"

When Twilight started tapping her hooves together in applause with a huge grin, Madun had to bite his lip and shake his head. It was always like this back when Dawn was a little filly. Twilight would say she wasn't into sports. But if you were to sit her down in front of a LiVAM for ten minutes alone and come back, she would be wearing her favorite team's merchandise with face paint she got from somewhere cheering.

Dawn curled her lips in and stared her mom in the eyes once she calmed down. Well calm down was more like an accelerating rollercoaster of embarrassment. Twilight blushed and cleared her throat to continue what she was saying before. "As a Queen, I had to—"

Madun bumped his head in and clarified, "Your mother doesn't watch sports too often, but when she does she turns into Psera's favorite cheerleader." Twilight used her magic to zip Madun's big mouth shut. Now why did he have to go and say that to their daughter? Hopefully she can live it down.

Red with embarrassment is the only word that can describe Twilight's current face now. She stammered, "W-Well, I think I've had enough sports." Then stood up and made her way to the kitchen.

Oh so her wings were... Under the couch? Dawn gave up trying to figure it out. How could her wings fold like that? Magic maybe? Madun sighed and left Dawn to do her thing in exchange for following Twilight. If there was something she didn't recognize, then he would make it quick for her to understand.

He didn't have much to worry about since everything in here was the same though. The kitchen, the stove, the counters, the glass table with Twilight's favorite flower she buried her muzzle in, and a calendar. A large kitchen for a small family of three.

Madun placed a wing on her back as she slowly straightened up from the flowers. Then leaned her head up and shared a nuzzle with him. "I'm tired," she whispered.

Madun nodded once they separated and replied, "I'll take you to bed." Then began guiding her to their bedroom. Dawn just listened to the movements with her ears. But her mind was on school. So she finished the project, but got something even better than finding something not a lot of ponies knew about Queen Arcadia. She found the Queen's lost portal and managed to get the Queen out. Dawn found her mother after all these years. Yeah, she passed.



Just like Madun said, their bedroom was literally the same. Dawn's room had a door closed for some reason, and Twilight decided to respect her daughter's privacy. It wouldn't be right for her to go peeking in Dawn's room while she was watching her shows and had been absent for ten years of her life.

Twilight would get sad each time she saw a picture of Dawn with Madun. And there were enough of those around the house, let alone their bedroom. They made an entire path there through the hallway.

Twilight paid it no mind at the moment. Instead, she dropped down on the bed's red comforter, hogged it by spreading her wings and limbs then finally dozed right off to sleep. The bed was so soft. Oh Narmeelah it was so soft and dare she say so inviting. The last image Twilight had was of the photograph of herself, Madun and little filly Dawn on the dresser on what was supposed to be her side of the room before she the darkness of sleep embraced her.

Before her eyes opened again. A nightmare. It had to be a nightmare. She couldn't move. Everything was purple. She couldn't breath. She couldn't see anything but Maheera Dark with her eyes closed and body spread out in front of her. She started to panic. Deep breaths, Twilight. Deep breaths. It was all a dream. It had to be, right? None of this is real, none of that was... Now she was confused. Her heart rate was speeding up. Her magic was sparking. She had to get out of here. She had to get out of here now!

"Twilight..." Who was that? It sounded like Madun. But he wasn't here. Oh Narmeelah, more hallucinations. It was driving her insane! "Twilight... Twilight, wake up, you're having a nightmare... Twilight!"

"Mom, wake up!"



Twilight took a very loud deep breath and shot straight up in the bed. She was sweating with scared wide eyes trained on the open bedroom door. Madun was leaning over from her left side wearing a cute little red "Best Dad" beanie with a fire orange puff on the end.

Dawn was on the right side looking up at her from the edge. And all over the Suite, the lights were constantly flicking on and off. The room was trembling and a commotion could be heard going on outside the door.

Twilight gasped and immediately cut her magic to cease the flashing and trembling. It must've activated during her nightmare. A rare occurrence, but can happen.

Madun placed a wing on Twilight's back and rubbed it up and down with soothing energy. "You were having a nightmare," he whispered. Twilight took a deep breath and dropped her head in her hooves. "You were trembling with the castle."

Well at least this was real. Her being free from the portal and being alive, that is. She muttered into her hooves with a drowsy voice, "What time is it?"

"Nearly ten," Dawn answered. She crawled over the sheets and over to her mother before she was pulled into a hug they needed. Dawn's mane smelled of strawberries. A sweet that Twilight was strangely craving. Dawn was very much real. And no science could say that she wasn't.

After a few minutes of family intimacy, Twilight sighed and let Dawn go. "I'm going out for awhile," she whispered.

Madun reached out and placed a hoof on her shoulder before she could make any moves out of the bed. "Are you sure now is a good time?"

Twilight chuckled and kissed his cheek. "No better time like the present. Besides, I need to visit my lab before tomorrow. I'll be fine and I'll bring two Guards with me." Madun sighed with uncertainty, but did let her get out of bed and make way for the door. The Guards would assure her safety.

He and Dawn watched her disappear from sight through the bedroom door. Then glanced up and down to each other. She probably had some inner demons she had to take care of. Or something else. As long as she had her security.


~✶~


The door to the suite nudged open and out stepped Queen Arcadia with sluggish movements to her steps. The area outside of the door was dark. The light above the Garden-slash-playground casted down onto the grass and flowers.

The four Guards on their night shift turned their sights to the door when she stepped into view and took a mighty yawn. "Good evening," she whispered.

They bowed and replied in their own ways. Then rose back on their hooves with smiles on their faces. The Captain nodded to her and stated, "It's great to have you back, your highness."

"The feeling is mutual, my fellow Pseratep."

"Mom!" Twilight looked behind her at her approaching daughter in a pair of pajamas. A standard pink pair of bottoms with a shirt cut open in the sides to allow room for her long wings. She stopped beside Twilight and stated with a firm hoof, "I'm going with you."

Twilight swiftly raised her wing in front of Dawn like a giant curtain and denied her access. "No, Dawn. You need your sleep for school tomorrow."

"Mom, tomorrow is Saturday."

Twilight turned her mouth into a small "O" and stuck her tongue in her cheek to disguise her embarrassment. "Well... I-I just woke up, I have no idea what day it is."

Of course, Dawn knew that. And there was no way she was going to tease her about it. Not her own mother. Maybe her friends, but not her mother. Her extremely highly respected mother who is the equivalent of a revolutionary boss.

Dawn used a hoof to lower her mom's wing and retorted, "I'm still going with you."

"You need your sleep, Dawn."

"We do not need our sleep," she argued. Then raised her head high and walked around her mother's wing.

"Dawn!..." Twilight sighed and grumbled, "Fine. I need four guards to follow, we're heading to my lab. I have something she needs to see anyway."

The Sergeant nodded and sent out the orders while the Queen and her daughter made their way towards the offices. This were one of those times when the Castle was entirely quiet. When the halls only contained lingering staff and guards. With the only sound being their hooves on laminate flooring.

When they entered, Twilight used her magic to start scanning the surfaces contained in the castle. The dark halls held little light thanks to the small circular ceiling lights above. So her wide beam of magic from her horn looked like a bright laser show by the time their guards arrived.

Dawn slowed and watched her skills in action. The light danced on the walls, the ceiling, the paintings. The magical energy provided them with real lights.

"What are you doing?" She asked.

Twilight smirked to Dawn with a glance and answered, "I'm scanning for runes. There's no telling what... If there are any dangerous spells lying around."

She didn't have to say what she was fearful of, Dawn already knew. She sighed and deadpanned, "You're scared of Queen Tarsafani."

Continuing their journey, Twilight stopped her scanning and faced Dawn to clarify. "I'm not scared of Tarsafani. I'm fearful of her intentions. There's a fine line between the two." Twilight went back to scanning while they moved past the rooms holding the Royalty of the world. Twilight could hear the snores of Shining in there. She missed that.

Dawn decided to move past her mother being slightly on the offensive and changed the environment to something much better. She smiled and queried, "Hey, is it true that Princess Celestia can raise the sun?"

Twilight sighed when a memory crossed through her mind. A pleasant one she would never forget that painted her own smile on her face.

"...yes," she whispered. "When I was your age, I watched Celestia raise the sun from afar. At the top of the Castle in Canterlot inside my library, I would peer through a telescope and watch her each morning on each Summer Solstice I've seen. Until I actually got there. Then I watched it all up close. It was truly magical. She was graceful and full of peace. Then when Princess Luna returned as Nightmare Moon and we reformed her back to Princess Luna... Well that's a story for another day. Or perhaps she can tell you. She's watching over the dreams of the Ponies in Equestria right now on one of the balconies above."

Dawn gasped and whispered, "She can watch dreams?" Her eyes glanced around carefully with discomfort. She wasn't really comfortable with ponies poking into her nightmares, no matter how interesting it was.

They turned a right and started making their way for the Guarded throne room. Good thing to see the Elite Guard hasn't lost their touch. She couldn't wait to see Secretary Manny.

Twilight switched back to the conversation and reassured Dawn, "Don't worry, she doesn't invade the dreams of Psera, only Equestria. An impressive feat from hundreds of miles away from their coastline. Tell me about yourself, Dawn. What things do you like now?"

Twilight turned another right and led their group of six down the hall heading to her office. Dawn wondered if the rotating sun in there was still blasting with warmth and light. Or did it turn into a moon or something at night. She answered, "Well I like sports—like I told you, I like to talk and delegate, read, study, and magic. Well... Attempt at it anyway."

Their trip ended once they stopped at the quiet guarded doors to Twilight's Office. She faced Dawn with a smile and stated, "It's a good thing that you like to study. But remember not to study too hard or you may miss out on life. Just because I'm the strongest mage in the known world doesn't mean I read my way up this high." Twilight used her magic to open the doors to the office. Then stepped in first before they followed behind her.

Just like the hallways, this area was lit only by small translucent lights in the ceiling, the glowing paths on the ground leading to the garden, and the doors leading into Twilight's actual office. Other than that the area was serene and peaceful. Dawn was pretty sure she could just sleep in the garden here.

The six of them quietly walked up to her doors and used her magic to push them open. Just as Dawn suspected, the room changed. From a blinding sun to a beautiful blue star that sent a shiver down Dawn's back. The room was a lot cooler with it in the middle of it.

Crickets chirped and the grass waved to an invisible wind that they walked through. Dawn swore she saw fireflies too.

Twilight used her wing to nudge Dawn and ordered, "Hold on for a moment. I want to give you something." Then walked 
with haste towards her desk. "When you were born, I realized then and there that my citizens were going to expect great things from you. Just like how they expect great things from me. The Child's Burden, I call it." Twilight walked behind her desk and pulled open a drawer. Then used her magic to pull out a steel block with no opening on it. Just a regular ol' block of steel.

After she closed the drawer, she walked back to Dawn and held it out invitingly. But what was Dawn supposed to do? It was literally a huge brick! Twilight nodded her head to it and whispered, "Go ahead... Touch it."

Dawn eyed the block in trepidation, but did lift her hoof and pressed on the top. A single bright line ran across the sides for a moment that forced Dawn to cover her eyes. Then dimmed. It was a suitcase. A steel suitcase with gold latches that Twilight flipped with her magic to reveal a book. A thin book with a fancy design on it bearing a title: "Your Inspiration".

Twilight lifted the book out and clarified, "When I was your age, times were much harder for me than the average pony. Yes, I was in school, but I tackled things that were real challenges. Where I was supposed to fail but actually passed. And what gave me the knowledge and push were quotes from some of my favorite ponies. Authors, musicians, lyricists, scholars, inventors, you name it. I put all of their quotes in this book."

"Oh!... How nice." Dawn smiled and flipped through it for a moment. She already had enough books but this one was... Sort of special?

Twilight gently laughed. "I can see you don't need it now, but you will one day. I promise."

Dawn patted the book against one hoof with thoughtful eyes trained on the cover once more. This was a really sweet gift now that she thought about it. "Thanks, mom," she whispered.

"You're welcome. Now come on, let's get your learning supplies." Twilight walked past Dawn for her bookcase while the question built in Dawn's head.

"Learning Supplies?" She repeated. Dawn turned her body around and watched Twilight lay her hoof on "The Sanctuary." The same book Dawn touched to get the door open. Unlike when Dawn does it, it immediately shifted open. She'd have to wait a few seconds to get it to do that whereas her mother waited no time.

The door was opened to both her, her mother and their guards. A steel closet with nothing inside that they walked into. Then they were descending once again. While they moved, Twilight glanced down to Dawn for a moment. Then back to the falling walls in front of them. "So you found this on accident?" She asked.

Dawn nervously scuffed her hoof and answered, "Well... Yeah. My friends and I were searching through your books to find out information about you for a project and we found that book."

Twilight nodded then stepped out of the elevator into the chaos. When they rescued her from here, everything was exploding. They had activated her security runes. This was a location that no one was really allowed in but her. But here they were, now her daughter knew about it. Twilight wasn't prepared to see the damage done.

When she stepped out into it, she gasped and held a hoof up to her mouth. Every single thing was out of place! All of the binders holding her spells were littering the ground below, there were holes in her walkways, and the Mecrah Portal was generally a mess. Maheera was still inside of it, but the purple mass was pretty much done for. It was just a mess down there. Completely awful.

Dawn peeked through the rails and seethed through her teeth. That was going to be a disaster to clean up. "Well I had to reorganize anyway." Dawn shot her head back up to Twilight when she made that statement. "My lab was becoming a little unorganized. Follow me."

Twilight started moving towards the far left for one bookshelf holding all of her spells. While chaos reigned abundant all around them, this one barely looked damaged if at all. The texts were lightly burned, but not to the point where they had holes in them.

Dawn caught up to her mother and stared at how high it goes. At all of the colorful texts that Dawn had a suspicion weren't really... There, so to speak. And Twilight proved that when her magic surrounded the entire bookcase, and the colorful books were slowly replaced with black ones. All of them were black, looked brand new as if they were restored with words on the spine in Ponish.

Twilight grabbed a large number of them and started stacking them next to Dawn with a hoof to her chin. "Okay, you're going to need Teleportation, maybe some transfiguration if you progress well," she muttered. Moreso to herself than anyone else around her. "Maybe some—Oh! Yes, yes, you'll need this. An entire list of formulas."

Formulas? Dawn asked in a nervous fashion, "Mom, what do you mean... Formulas?"

Twilight placed the last binder on top of their stack of fifteen and answered, "Well magic is more than just concentrating, it requires different fusions of spells. A transfiguration spell is one of the many harder ones to try and requires you to know five spells that align with each other to change one subject to another."

"So magic is overly complicated then," Dawn deadpanned.

One more binder, and Twilight grinned and assured, "It may seem like it at first. But talking about something doesn't necessarily do it any real justice. For instance. To teleport with another pony and objects they require teleportation and transfiguration spells. Not to mention mental strength. And they both require true focus. But once you learn it..." Twilight teleported both her, Dawn, and the books back over to their guards patiently waiting away from sight. They never saw the Dark Magical tomes she had stashed away. "You'll be so comfortable with it, it'll be like second nature."

Dawn looked around her environment then flicked her ears up to her mother. "What..." Twilight giggled and started the trek back to the elevator with Dawn hot on her hooves. "How'd you do that?" She demanded. "Come on, tell me!"

"I'll teach you soon. But not tomorrow. I want to get to see how much Psera and my birthplace has grown."

"I'm showing you around."

Twilight slid to a stop and eyed Dawn trot around to face her. "You're giving me a tour? That's very sweet but I'm sure you have a whole day planned. Your father told me about your journey to Equestria, you know."

Dawn denied her claim with a shake of her head and reassured, "Trust me, we are not busy."

'We' must be for her and First Light, Twilight thought. It was strange, but then again so was the whole situation. At least she's alive and with me. "Well... Alright then. I suppose it could be really fun. Just be ready if we have to make a sudden stop. A lot of diplomats, lawmakers, scientists, educators, and military will want to say something. And I'm pretty sure I have health problems."

Fresh Dawn jumped up and down on Happy Hooves and cheered, "Yes! You're going to love it! We're going to have Ice Cream, we'll go to the mall, we'll go to the Arena..." Twilight smiled and walked past with the study material back to the Golden Hallway while Dawn drawled on. She could list all the things Dawn said while reading the newspaper. The master of multitasking.