~Years Later~
Twilight ducked down the dimly lit alleyway, her flank clipping into the wall alongside in her hurry. Her breath came out in deep gasps as she slowed, trying to collect herself. Thoughts were racing in her head almost as fast as her heart. She patted at her saddle bags, assessing those things that she could, hopefully, control in a life that felt like it was falling out of her grasp.
Bulging from her sides, the claspes were straining to maintain their jobs of storage security. Nonetheless, they did hold. Satisfied that the clasps hadn’t lost their touch, she turned all her focus to just the bag on her left side. Though more full than usual, it contained what for her was the usual fare. Something familiar that right now provided her comfort in and of itself.
Used quills. Tips freshly sharpened immaculately while the barbs folded in on themselves from frequent use.
Paper folders, stuffed past full with papers of the most illegible scrawling notes.
And finally, books after books after books.
Despite her saddlebags being of the largest size she could reasonably expect to find, and easily get her hooves on without breaking the bank, no saddlebag had seen as many books in as short of time as the saddlebags owned by one Twilight Sparkle.
With a long, unsteady exhale, Twilight tried her best at calming down. While her mind focused on slowing her harried breath, counting each inhale and each exhale, her hooves focused on straightening the books. Confirming they were all there, that did help. Just the familiar feeling of bound pages beneath her hoof… Twilight reached the number nine.
Nine exhales.
Ten inhales.
And with one final exhale to top it off, Twilight Sparkle sank to the dusty ground with a tiredness almost unbefitting somepony as young as herself. With her new position on the ground, her saddlebags shifted, letting off a groan of their own. A clink came from the uninspected side, as if something glass like a precious bottle of cider resided within. A breath comes out in a startled gasp, losing its timing as she turns her attention to the source of fear.
Here, on her right hoof side, her bag was finding it with a different challenge. What was normally all flat and sharp edges, was instead rounded out, absolutely gravid with the precious cargo inside. It wasn’t just the clasps themselves praying for their continuing lives, but the seams holding the walls of fabric together with herculean effort.
While Twilight did feel the contents of this saddlebag as well, she did not undo the clasps, she did not raise up the flaps. No, this one she merely felt for it through the burlap’s rough texture. This time the reassurance that it was still there did little to really reassure her.
Twilight’s head turned, purple eyes narrowed and head hung low as she checked up and down either end of the alleyway.
From where she came from were the tall, nondescript slate walls of the warehouse district. Though there were thirteen of the warehouses to be found throughout Canterlot, she could only see the sides of her own, the thirteenth and final. It was more faded, older looking than some of the more illustrious magical departments, what with their larger budgets. But still, it left a shadow over what was built near. Most ponies couldn’t afford to build with the darker stone. What lay ahead of her, as the roads sloped their meandering path upwards, were buildings made up of a hodgepodge of cobblestone. The start of a more residential area, here ponies built with whatever stone their hooves could turn over.
Even now as she watched, she saw groups of unicorns and pegasi trot past, each chatting amongst themselves with the exhausted eagerness that comes from tired employees making plans after work.
The run through the warehouse district had left her more than just out of breath, something Twilight now sought to fix. The cloak lopsided on her back, the mess of her mane, the dust coating her fetlocks turning them grey. If she were to leave the darkness of this relative safety, she would stand out like a broken wing.
The dust, not much could be done about that. The best she could hope for was trying to wipe some of it off on the inside of her cloak, somewhere a passerby would be less likely to notice it. Luckily, as it was in this situation at least, the cloak was an already itchy thing and the added dust wouldn’t change much. Her mane, that was a bit easy. A little spit, a little hoof work and the frizz was calmed down, even if she couldn’t tame it entirely with just some spit polish. She finishes it off by straightening the bow that held her bun in place.
And finally the cloak... While not uncommon with the cold permeating the inside of the Canterhorn Mountain, Twilight herself didn’t exactly go around wearing them everyday like some other ponies. When she was immersed in her studies, work or personal, simple bodily needs like warmth or food seemed to cease to exist. If she ran into somepony she knew they might question its appearance and her seeming change in habit. It wasn’t even her cloak so they wouldn’t be wrong to question it. In her hurry she just grabbed it off a coat rack as she left the warehouse.
But she needed it, she needed the cloak. It didn’t matter if it belonged to the warehouse manager or the Director of MARE herself. Not that she thought it did. The Director was known for flaunting the brighter colors that one could better afford higher up the bureaucratic ladder. While her manager did favor the darker earth tones like this clock, he tended to take better care of items in his possession than this...
No!
Twilight shook her head with a whinny, shaking free from herself such distracting and most importantly right now, unimportant thoughts. The cloak, that was important right now, that was for sure, but whoever it formerly belonged to could go chew cud.
More than the excessive dust, more than the stolen cloak, if what was displayed upon her flank was discovered by any creature, any creature at all, she would be as good as gone. She couldn’t scrub it off, Tirek knows she tried, she could only hope to cover it and hope no one questioned her change in wardrobe...the more she had scrubbed, the more sparkled…
It, she refused to call it what it was, was just supposed to be an old mare’s tale. Parents in the countryside told their foals about them just to motivate them to work harder! These weren’t stories told by sane Canterlot folk. These things weren’t heard of on the streets of Canterlot!
Deep breaths. In and out.
For now, it was covered. For now, her mane was smoothed down into a semblance of civilization, her coat and cloak brushed free of the larger clumps of dust. For now, for now, she looked normal.
She took another deep breath in, the air feeling coarse against her throat but so very sweet after her run.
She was just another pony coming home after her job. She wasn’t out of breath from an impromptu run, she was just tired from being on her hooves all day. Plenty of the warehouses were filled with dusty artifacts and plenty of ponies got dusty tending to the shelves. She herself was frequently dusty any ol’ day of the work week.
Everything was normal.
Hoof raised , she leaned forward, her face lighting up with the illumination of the street lamps. No sooner than that, before her hoof could even hit the sidewalk’s cobbled together parts, a voice rang out from her right.
“Oh, Twilight, dear! Is that you under all that dust?” An immaculately white coated unicorn called out to her, mere feet away.
“Oh, uh…” Twilight sputtered, having not expected to run into a familiar face quite so soon.
“Twinkleshine, Twilight.” She practically sang, with the patience of a mare reminding her filly of something.
“I know. I was just,” Twilight looks between Twinkleshine and the other two unicorns flanking both Twinkleshine’s sides, “I just wasn’t expecting to see you here, that’s all.”
“Well, the girls and I,” Her two friends beam up at Twilight, the whites of their teeth competing with the white unicorn’s pristine fur, “just got off work. We were thinking of-”
Twilight interrupts her, squirming but with a smile stretched across her muzzle none too convincing, “Yeah, that… uh, sounds great! I’d really love to. Really! I’ve just got a lot of work piled up. A researcher’s job is never done after all.” She chuckles, nervousness almost drowning out her words.
“We didn’t even tell you our plans.” Minuette pouts, bottom lip puffing out.
“Aren’t you just an intern?” Lemon Heart wonders out loud, eyes drifting up to the cavern's crystal ceiling, blue hues reflecting pretty off her pupils.
“Ever since you got this job, Twilight, you never have time for us anymore. Mini has a point,” Minuette lets out a short, indignant squawk, “You didn’t even give us a chance to say our part. What if we just wanted our old study buddy to come help us out with, hmm,” Twinkleshine taps at her chin before continuing, in mock contemplation, “Some pre-equestrian pegasus artifacts? Wouldn’t that have been of interest to you?” Twinkleshine’s voice takes on a pleading tone towards the end, a tone to feed upon any nagging doubt.
Twilight hesitated then, eyes flickering between Twinkleshine’s two eyes. Her mouth open, words poised to make their entrance but not even Twilight knew what words before Twinkleshine lowered her gaze.
“Fine, there was no study session. Bah,” Twinkleshine reaches out to Twilight, hoof grazing against her cloak before Twilight pulls away. Sapphire eyes harden to icy coolness, “Twilight, we’re your friends. Are you really going to let a job get in the way of friendship?”
The ground, suddenly very interesting to one Twilight Sparkle, received a very mumbled, neigh incomprehensible answer, “Yes, I mean no… I mean,” A soft whinney escapes between pursed lips, “Twinkleshine, it’s just really not a good time. I’m not trying to uh…” Twilight swallows, searching her mind and her friends eyes for the right words, “Rude. I was rude. I’m sorry. I’ll make it up to you. I promise.”
Her pitch raised and her hooves wheeling into the air, Twilight continued even as she turned away, “We’ll hang out soon! Moondancer’s party, I’ll be there, I promise!”
The furious clopping of Twilight’s hooves drowned out any response her friends might have had as she raced. However, even Twilight wasn’t blind to her friends’ frustration in her peripherals.
By the time Twilight slowed once more, the caverns were lighter, lit by a growing abundance of crystals in her path. With it the desire to shed her cloak grew. She clutched it to herself, like a foal with its blankie, as she looked around furtively.
Houses called home to these parts. She had risen, in a slow winding way, several levels from whence she had last seen her friends. She might have been able to look for the archival warehouses there, her having the knowledge of where to look for the peaks of their roofs, but up here she couldn’t. Not without some sort of artifact allowing oneself to see through the stone itself. Up here resided unicorns, pegasi, and earth ponies even, that might never see the warehouses or at the very least not know what they were looking at. Here hearths glowed in every building, adding to the light that was already provided naturally and warming everypony that found themselves walking home.
This was home. Sometimes, stacks of books grown over might seem to tower over life, but here is where ponies knew her not just as another face but by her name. The smells, the warmth, the happy voices, they all beckoned at her, welcoming her home.
Twilight shrunk down deeper, welcoming instead the darkness offered up by the folds of the cloak.
She needed to get home. Not just in the neighborhood but actually home. Preferably up in her own room, behind multiple closed doors. She might even lock each door. The front door, the hallway door, and her own bedroom door, all of those locked. Now then she would truly feel safe. She needed to remove the weight of the stress from around her shoulders and the more physical weight from around her withers. A knot formed there, where the straps of her saddle bags were cinched tight.
A good long soak, now that would fix things. Release some tension built up, get her body back into an acceptably presentable facade. Not everything could be cleaned up, not all of her problems could be wiped away with a sudsy washcloth. Tirek knows she tried already but there is sound evidence that taking care of one’s body helps one’s mind as well. If you spend all day in your pajamas, chances are, no matter your intentions, you’ll find yourself being less motivated to be productive.
So first steps first. A shower. Hopefully with hot water if there was any to be had. Maybe, Twilight grinned and a wry chuckle escaped, she wouldn’t even bother removing the bothersome cloak. It would save the time and effort of doing the laundry later.
A foal glanced sideways at her, hoof steps picking up a pace to distance themselves from the disheveled pony laughing to herself.
Twilight sombered up. Her own steps went double time, setting an erratic beat. The sound of hurried hoofsteps, burlap hitting flesh, and her blood rushing up to her cheeks and ears, turning her light lilac coat to a darker color, almost a rich magenta. Now was not the time for distracting thoughts.
She must look like a fairytale witch right about now…
Ahead of her chipped blue paint spread over wooden flower boxes. SUpposedly the blue matched the colors of the sky above. No flowers in the boxes, not real ones anyways. Little paper ones though, bent over and faded in their old age. A shadow of a smile played across Twilight’s muzzle. It did not reach her eyes or the furrows upon her brow but it was genuine.
Home.
She had made those flowers when she was just a little filly. Her brother Shining Armor made the flower boxes himself and painted them his very favorite color.
Twilight touched the ribbon holding up her mess of mane at bay. The very same blue.
Her dad had mounted the flower boxes to their windowsills that very same evening while her mother brought the neighbors around to see the first flower boxes this side of Canterlot. It had embarrassed her at the time, she had thought her face would never return to normal pale visage. But that was a happy memory these days, reminding her of what and who she worked so hard for.
A few more steps and the front door came into sight and with it a more solid reminder of who she worked so hard for. A reminder of what tonight was. For there, his outline silhouette in the light of her home was…
“Twily! There you are, little sis. Mom and dad were about to send me to go looking for you. Though you might have gotten trapped under an avalanche of books,” He winks at her, laughter bright even in just one eye, “You didn’t forget about dinner, did you?”
Of course she had. Of course dinner was tonight with her family, with her brother. Twilight’s throat moved up and down as she silently gulped. Her brother, the rising star amongst stars in Acquisition…
“Twily, is everything ok,” Shining Armor reaches out a hoof to her horn, the tip where it grew most speckled. Worry tinged his words, “Did you have another surge?”
Twilight Sparkle pulled her head away, moving as if to examine her saddlebags. In truth her horn wasn’t going to be just warm to the touch. It felt like a living thing, something with its own heartbeat, slower and steadier than her own. She was sure her brother would notice it.
“I’m fine, really,” Her voice told the story of an exhausted but cheerful worker as she turned to look back up at her brother, “Just pulling long hours getting that disarray into some sort of order. I just have to put away some of this reading material before dinner.”
She wrapped her hooves around her brother's thick barrel and back in a loving embrace as she moved slowly past him into the house.
Raising her voice she calls out to deeper within the halls, “No books at the table, right mom?”
“DInner time is family time,” Her mom called back, voice coming from a room down the hall to the left. The kitchen. “You just march those books to your room and get yourself out here for dinner. And Shining, you better not be thinking of wearing that armor of yours to the table, young stallion.”
“Moooom!”
Shining armor distracted, her hooves moved with a purpose once more. The front door closed behind with a thud. One door down. Her own door wasn’t far off. She had to think now. She couldn’t just hide out in her room for the rest of the night, not with dinner. Her mom would drag her out by the ear if necessary.
The threshold to her own room was before her and she gazed in. Her bed was freshly made, and she sniffed at the air. The smell of clean linen hung lightly in the air. Mom must have washed and made all the beds in anticipation of Shining's visit. Its warmth right now calls to her more than the warm wafting scent of hayburgers in the hall. She wishes she could just curl up, maybe let out all of her stress to her pillows. They were good listeners. Her eyes land on the small set of drawers next to her bed. With a click of the latch and another click of the lock, Twilight closes the door and walks over to the drawers.
Though she didn’t normally like the feeling of cloth rustling against her skin, be it from her withers to her flank, her mom did insist on a few good outfits. Mostly dresses, hoof sewn with care. The last time she had worn one was when her dad took her down the mountain to apply for her internship. She picked that one up now, laying it out on display on her bed.
It was a pale blue number, plain in its form. The sleeves were intended as three quarters length though they fell a little longer on her diminutive form. The only adornment was a ribbon, nearly as wide as her hoof, that tied around her barrel. It was a darker blue, made from the same fabric as her own thinner hair tie. Such simplicity made this dress easy for Twilight to get it on on her own and easy for her mother to let it out as she grew.
Most importantly it would cover her flank and even her legs, nearly down to her fetlocks.
Shedding off the cloak and saddlebags in one fluid movement felt good. The cricks in her neck cracked as she did this, prompting twilight as soon as they two puddled to the ground to roll her neck. The moans of pleasure were accompanied by a few more cracks. Twilight slipped into a downward diamond dog position, slowly moving her way out of it and into a more upward down form. Doing this allowed the whole length of her spine to enjoy the same treatment her neck received.
It also made it easy to slip easily into the dress. Her method wasn’t elegant. To tell the truth it was rather foalish. She had been using the same method since she was old enough to get dressed on her own and considering how infrequently the need arose, she saw no need to learn a different method. She slipped her head in, wriggled it around until her head popped out the other end. The shimmying continued until the back rested against her flank and the front of the frock bunched up against her front hooves.
Then just came the task of fitting her hooves through their holes and the dress was on. Smoothing the dress down reassured Twilight her flank was covered. The dress still fit the same but her teeth grasped the edge of the bow regardless and gave it a good tug just to be sure.
A few dishes clattered down the hall, Twilight turned to the door. Her breath hitched, caught in her throat as she heard those ordinary sounds. Hoofsteps sounded closer, the echoes of the hall not hiding that fact.
A knock on her door.
“Twilight dear, dinner’s almost ready! You almost done in there?”
A quick kick of her back heels pushed the puddled cloak and full saddlebags under her bed, out of sight, “Yeah, dad. I’m coming right now,” She pauses, pulling the sheets down to give more cover to her secrets, “Don’t let Shining eat all the hay fries before I get there.”
Twilight cracked open her door, the light spilling onto her face as she met her dad’s golden eyes. The door swung further open on its own as her hoof dropped to the ground.
“Oh, Twilight…” Her dad took in her outfit, “Your mother is going to be so happy to see you dressed up.
A hug was exchanged between the two of them, along with a sideways glance. Neither of them cared much for appearances. But Velvet cared and tried to impart such feelings on her family. It worked on Shining but ...Twilight took after her dad in many senses.
The two walked together into the dining room. Despite not yet taking that hot shower she so wanted, Twilight felt the stress melting off her just from walking next to her dad. The quiet contemplation they shared, even if only for a few seconds felt as if they shared each other's thoughts. The scene that they walked into was a study in contrast. While Nightlight and Twilight walked abreast in silence, Velvet and Shining sat across from each other hooves in the air and voices raised to the ceiling. Those two, one former acquisition officer and one current, were swapping stories of increasing volume. Wide grins and competitive eyes showed neither one was going to be the one letting up first.
Nightlight rested a hoof on his wife’s shoulder, bending in to bury his muzzle into her purple striped mane. The murmured nothings didn’t reach the ears of their two children, leaving their imaginations to run amok with what could have possibly been said.
“Ewww, cut it out.” They said, in almost synchronised unison.
Neither mare nor stallion liked what they imagined it seemed.
Twilight, sweeping a leg out to pull a dining chair to herself. Shining Armor sits back in his own chair, hooves no longer propped between plates of burgers and hayfries. However, as noted by Twilight’s side eye, the hayfry plate seeming closer than before to Shining’s own place setting.
She tucked the dress under herself, careful hooves making sure it didn’t flare up as she patted it down. She tried hard not to let her eyes dart back to her bedroom. Her mom proved the perfect distraction.
“Twilight!” Her excitement was a different sort, not the kind from battles long won and scars earned, but the more feminine pleasure she gained with age, “You actually dressed up for dinner. Don’t tell me Shining’s visit was that important.”
Her grin, teeth sparkling in candle light, remains on Twilight a few minutes longer before turning to Shining Armor, “See, I keep telling you, you should find more time to visit. This is your home too, no matter how old you get.”
“I know. Trust me I wish I could if only for the grub.” Shining breaks the bread, grabbing at the first burger
Clayware clatters as the family all finds their appropriate spots and they start serving themselves up with burgers, buns bouncing under their hooves and juices leaking out to the tablecloth beneath. Salt was sprinkled this way and that and for a few minutes nothing was said beyond pleasure and drool.
“Fanks mum,” Shining’s full mouth obscured his words but not his meaning, “Ah needed fis.”
“Don’t falk wif your mouf full.” Comes the equally obscured response.
Twilight hummed quietly to herself, taking in this scene of familial peace. It showered her with their warmth. She hoped this meal never ended. She didn’t think she would have the guts necessary to face the change she foresaw coming.
But as is the case anytime anyone hopes something will never come to an end, it was over all too soon. Twilight would have given her two front hooves to continue seeing her family sitting there in content bliss and so that’s just what she did.
Two hooves slid under two plates, and then two more, “Don’t worry mom, I’ve got dishes.”
And so she did, for a moment.
Until the previously untouched ketchup bottle decided then to get its revenge for being so snubbed. If they didn’t want it during the meal, it didn’t need them needing it now, now that it was just time to go right back to the cold chest. And so, in a series of unfortunate events, Twilight’s hoof slipped on condensation as it grasped the bottle and the bottle seized its chance to leap to the ground. Here, once more Twilight’s slipped on the ketchup bottle, but this time it was her hind hoof.
Twilight went down, her dress went up, and Twilight found herself sprawled limbs askew on the floor. Her family went utterly silent.
“Is that…” Her dad started but just as quietly trailing off.
“It can’t be.” Her mom’s already off white coat paled to a complete white.
Her cutie mark…
Her brother was abruptly on his hooves and on his face exactly what Twilight feared, the stern look of an officer about to bring in a new magical acquisition.
“Twilight Sparkle. You have to tell me exactly what happened,” Her brother seemed to tower over her, taller than before, “Now.”
“Well, you see… I found an egg?”