Chapter 2
A Role to Fill
"What do you mean you have a job you need to leave for in two days?"
Twilight turned away, tears in her eyes. "Exactly what it sounds like Night Light."
"I can't believe this," he muttered under his breath. "I can't believe they are doing this to you. You're barely out of the hospital and they're throwing you halfway across the country," he gestured in the air with his hoof.
Twilight walked over and collapsed onto the coach, at least her daughter was sound asleep in her crib, and Shining Armor was busying himself in his room on the upper floor.
"I know, but it's orders from the Princess herself."
Night Light grumbled something before walking over and settling down on the floor by her side. A careful hoof slowly rubbed Twilight's back, the comfort did little to help her mood.
"She better compensate you for this, I swear, dragging a mo-"
"Night, please."
"...sorry."
Twilight sighed. The two just sat there, the sound of hoof steps on the upper floor being the only thing preventing the silence from settling.
"We'll... We'll need to find someone to help take care of Sparkle," she all but sobbed.
"I'll take care of it dear, I'll find someone. You should be with her as much as you can before you need to go."
All Twilight could do was nod.
The light pink glow sputtered out, causing the fork held within to clatter as it fell to the table.
"You seem to be having issues concentrating," Twilight noted.
Twilight always wanted to be there to teach the basics of magic to her children. She hadn't expected to need to take up that role for a stranger's child.
"Sorry, it's just..." the filly got quiet. "I guess I'm just excited for tomorrow?"
Twilight snickered at just how bashful the filly looked. "And why might that be?" She held up a hoof to cover the smile slowly spreading across her lips.
The young unicorn huffed. "You know why!" She held up both her front hooves in the air.
She just kept snickering. "Alright, you got me. Still, your birthday isn't until tomorrow, we still have some practice to get through."
"Will you make crumble though? We haven't had any for months," the filly whined.
"We'll see."
Her reply was a pouting face. In truth, Twilight had saved berries for a few days to use for the occasion. It was a good thing the survival kit had come with a few minor enchanted items, one being a cooling spell that could be recharged. The makeshift icebox Twilight had made wasn't big, but it let them refrigerate a few things at a time.
"Besides, once you get a better hold of your magic, I'll teach you how to write."
The filly perked. "You mean those scribblings you do from time to time?"
Twilight nodded. "It's a shame I didn't bring any books, perhaps then I could better show you the use," a smile graced her lips. "Good thing I'm a decent writer myself, I have been working on a new novel in my spare time, hopefully you'll enjoy it."
The filly just tilted her head in confusion, Twilight couldn't blame her. After all, they had not experienced much of the outside world. At least she'd not run out of ink or scrolls any time soon. Her colleagues always thought it weird that she had enchanted a pocket space just to bring writing material with her wherever she went.
But her job involved a lot of travel, and one never knew when inspiration would hit. She'd rather be prepared for the occasion than have the idea sit in her head itching to be let out.
Now though? Her audience was but a single filly. Still, even just a single pony enjoying her work was enough purpose. She'd taken the time to write when she had the opportunity in between all the hard labour of keeping their needs meet.
Twilight glanced to the spare saddlebag filled with finished scrolls sitting in a corner; fiction wasn't the only thing she wrote. She'd do her best to document what had happened, what was happening. Just... just in case she never made it out of here; she wanted her family to know.
Twilight rubbed her front hoof against the bracelet sitting on the other, it was itching more than she'd like. She'd have to grow used to it, the letter of instructions said it might be a while before help would arrive. Still, plan for the worst pray for the best, right?
That's why she was trudging through the brush, she needed to locate a source of water. She had set up 'camp' at the edge of the forest, which seemed like the best place at the time. But given that she couldn't see a single lake or river across the grasslands, she'd have to search elsewhere.
Geography wasn't her strongest suit, but Twilight was certain there were plenty of rivers south of Vanhoover, she just needed to find one... assuming one even was inside the perimeter; she didn't want to even consider the possibility of that not being the case.
Her ears twitched, she could just barely hear something ahead. Maybe she was lucky and she'd finally found one of her two compatriots. Twilight hurried her pace towards the sound, yet the closer she got the more her hopes fell.
As she breach the forest into a clearing her growing fears were realised, sitting in the middle of it crying was a filly that couldn't be older than seven, at most. Twilight's heart got caught in her chest as she took in the rest of the scene.
In the center of the clearing was a circle of stone that made up a fireplace, next to it was the beginnings of a tent being constructed. The opposite side of the clearing had what she'd come to expect, having seen it across the plains near her own camp: the white wall that made up the dome she was trapped inside.
But these things all paled in comparison to what was lying on the ground next to the filly. Two ponies, completely crumbled with their long mane and tails sprawling across the ground. The filly wasn't much better herself, her almost black mane and tail trailed down onto the ground.
"Mommy, please," the filly snivelled.
Twilight swallowed and took a few careful steps into the clearing. These were obviously the missing campers that had been in the region, she didn't need to guess their fate; the instructions were very clear as to what could happen to ponies that didn't have protection. Twilight quickly glanced at the hollow gem attached to her bracelet, it was still glowing slightly and filled with liquid.
The fillies ears swirled and she turned the head towards the sound of Twilight. "Mommy?"
Twilight grimaced and shook her head. "I'm sorry dear," she said as she walked over and sat down next to the filly.
She was trembling, but she didn't shy away. Instead the filly just looked her over several times before eventually just throwing herself against Twilight, wrapping her legs around Twilight and burring her head in her coat.
Twilight slowly and awkwardly lifted one of her hooves... why was she hesitating? This child had lost everything, and for all Twilight knew she might be the only living pony around. With conviction she slowly started rubbing her hoof against the filly's back. It would strain her resources; but she couldn't just leave a filly to fend for themselves.
Besides, if her assumptions of what happened here were true, then the filly was much younger than she looked. Her eyes slowly glanced towards the parents, the mare's coat was a bright yellow, her cutiemark a compass. The stallion had a white coat, similar to the foal but maybe a few shades darker. Both of their manes were indiscernible, having grown gray from exposure.
Both wore large filled saddlebags, likely camping supplies; and if Twilight was lucky: unspoiled food. It would be a pain to drag all the extra weight with her back, but she didn't dare leave it there.
A growling interrupted her thoughts, forcing her to look down on the filly still clinging to her.
Twilight licked her lips to remove the dryness. "Dear, when was the last time you ate something?"
It took a minute before a muffled 'don't know' was heard. Twilight levitated one of the survival bars from her pack and removed the packaging.
"This won't taste very good, but you need to eat it, okay?" She tried her very best to smile as she floated it next to the filly's face.
The filly slowly turned and glanced at the bar for but a few moments, before vigorously chomping down on it. Feeding two mouths was going to be hard, but what else could she do? She started to seriously consider the garden idea mentioned in the letter; she couldn't afford to play fast and loose and rely on scavenging, not when she had a child at her side.
"Mom?"
Twilight flinched as she was taken out of her reverie. She turned back to face the filly, the fork was wiggling but holding steady in her aura, the filly herself had her tongue out in concentration.
Twilight smiled. "You're doing great sweetie," she complimented, even if her smile was not as wide as she wished.
She had stopped correcting the child a long time ago; it was better if she didn't remember what had happened to her real mother.