Twilight and Pinkie were reading books in the manor’s study after supper. With Silver busy tucking the kids into bed, the mares were left in relative peace.
Perfect for what Twilight needed.
The study was a quiet place, furthest from the workshops, kitchen, and bedrooms, the tall oak bookshelves stretched from wall to wall. As much as she wanted to sink into her book, the envelope remained on an oak desk close by. She looked over to her beloved sister, a nervous frown fell over Twilight. After such a heavy meal, Pinkie looked enthralled by her book, and there was a contentment on her face that Twilight dearly wished to remain.
And yet to ignore the envelope from her parents would be impossible. So with great reluctance, she closed her book and set it heavily on a small table, adjusting its edges to line up with the table. “Pinkie, I got a - package today.” As her sister looked up, Twilight pulled the envelope over.
Deciding to ignore the hesitant tone, Pinkie focused on the size of it as she too put her book down. “Oh! Is it Maud’s mineral report? You know how much she loves to go on about geode sizes.”
Twilight got up and walked over to sit next to her sister. “No…” She held the envelope close to hide the addresses. “It’s from my parents.”
Pinkie’s ears flattened instantly, but she caught herself and tried to force a more supportive expression. “Really?” She looked down and noticed the envelope remained sealed. “You didn’t need to wait on my account.”
“Maybe,” Twilight acquiesced while fidgeting with her wing fingers. “But it didn’t feel right to leave you out.”
Giving a thin smile, Pinkie held little love for Twilight’s parents, but she had no distaste for them either. As far as slave masters went, they had been firm but in other ways more lenient than they otherwise should have been. Still, Pinkie could see how worked up Twilight was over it and couldn’t stand seeing her in such a state. “If it makes you feel better, I’ll read it with you.”
Relief washed over Twilight’s face, and she moved in to nuzzle Pinkie. “Thank you.”
She quickly adopted a more jovial demeanor for Twilight’s benefit, and poked the rather thick envelope, and arched a curious eyebrow. “Did they mail you a book? A diary perhaps?!”
Taking a deep breath, Twilight put the envelope on the table and was quick to open it. Within was not a letter or a book, a fact that earned both mares’ curiosity. There was a small bolt of cloth wrapped around a rectangular drum. Cotton by the feel of it, and it had a strange pattern to it. The drum had a dim mana crystal inset on the top, undoubtedly having lost its power in the transit over. Lastly there was a single sheet of folded paper tucked into the leading edge of the cloth.
“It’s an instruction leaflet?” Pinkie claimed the page with intrigue flooding every word.
Twilight focused on what was underneath it and dominated the bulk of the package. Carefully picking it up, it revealed the cotton was a single continuous piece ten feet long. Dyed into it was a surprisingly intricate pattern of runes, circular pictographs, and-
Twilight hummed in uncertain surprise. “If I didn’t know any better, it’s say this is a spell tapestry.”
With her sister so focused on the cloth, Pinkie claimed the paper. “It’s a… phono witness spell,” Pinkie stated after skimming the instructions.” She was curious more than anything. “It says we only need to feed magic into the crystal insert, and the drum will speak.”
The sisters shared a look with a fair amount of excitement over the novel device. They couldn’t find a unicorn staffer quickly enough, and once the crystal was empowered, the two waited with baited breath as Twilight slotted the charged crystal back into place.
“Is it working?” came Twilight Velvet’s inquisitive voice.
Twilight Sparkle’s breath hitched at her mother’s voice. It was more reedy now, but she knew who it was in an instant.
“Yes, ma’am,” an unfamiliar stallion stated with conviction. “The roll will give you a few minutes. I’ll go ahead and give you two some privacy.”
“Thank you so much,” came Night Light’s voice, although he sounded as strong as ever.
There was a pause, save for hoofsteps on marble that grew increasingly distant. The delay rubbed Twilight’s nerves raw, and tears were already running down her face at hearing her parents’ voices. She held Pinkie in close with a shaking wing. Her sister nuzzled her for strength, and pulled back when Night Light spoke up as soon as a faint door closure was heard.
“Twily, I hope our message finds you well. We thought about writing a letter time and time again. But we had no idea if our letters would even get to you, or if you would even open them. Terra knows I made one too many inquiries to see if your letters might have been intercepted by the inquisition and then…” He scoffed at himself. “Here I am wasting time with excuses.”
In Spite of herself, Twilight grumped out of mild embarrassment at Pinkie giggling at her expense.
This time her mother chimed in. “No, don’t you dare try to mess with it, Nighty, what’s written is written. Trying to stop it mid way though causes the whole thing to be ruined.”
More exasperated sighs left him. “To think I can-” He stopped himself once more. “Twilight, my dearest daughter. We love you impossibly so, but the pieces have fallen where they have. We do not begrudge you for anything you’ve done, Twily. Goodness knows the fear of you being too idealistic for your own good was always in the back of my mind. Dare I say this, but even before you aided in the Sisters’ rescue I believed you winding up in Lunaria was probably your best chance at seeing past thirty. Now might be able to add a zero to that number,” Velvet added with bountiful pride.
“You have done amazingly well, dear,” Velvet chimed in, followed by hushed words with her husband that were too quiet to hear properly. “But there is a reason we wanted this to reach you in our voice rather than a letter. My brave little girl, with you living your life in Lunaria, and your brother married into royalty, House Light has no heir, save for your cousin Waning Light. You couldn’t find a more fitting name for her heart, if you ask me. Let me be clear,” Velvet said with sudden haste, as if to cut her daughter’s thoughts off short. “This is not a request for you to return for good, just to visit us.” “You have made a life for yourself, and if even half of what I hear is true, then it’s a damn good one. But I am too old to foal again, and have been since before you left.” There was deep pain in Velvet’s voice, as if she felt the weight of her house’s demise was squarely on her shoulders. “Which is why we will be donating the estate to the crown when we pass.”
Twilight gasped in surprise, and even Pinkie Pie was taken aback. The two had been so buried into their own affairs, the sudden news was like a splash of cold water.
“I know it sounds premature, but with my health ailing,” Night Light stated with raised conviction, “I would rather handle the matter sooner rather than later. Besides, it’s a roundabout way to let Shiny inherit everything.”
“You would not believe how furious that made Waning Light,” Velvet cloyingly huffed with utter disdain. You were probably too young to remember Waning very well, but believe you me, I won’t see her getting her grubby hooves on a single blade of our grass.”
This time her father spoke up with a muffled sour cough. “Now - now I know what you’re thinking, you renounced the family name and all. But, we never disowned you. And we kept your room more or less how you left it. I’m afraid the Inquisition at the time felt the need to tear the place apart looking for further evidence of unpleasantness, but we fixed it back up for you.”
“Including that rather daring picture of Summer Storm, you had under the bed. I had to pull rank to save that little number from the inquisition too, I hope you know,” Velvet teased with a low laugh. Twilight went beat red and hid her face from a snickering Pinkie Pie. “You can imagine full well how fussy they were,” Velvet added with the old coy note in her voice. “And well, my little cloud hopper, with matters between the throne and crown improving, and the full pardon you received, we were hoping you could come home to see us.”
“You’re twice a world away, Twily,” Night Light added with barely masked pain. “And even I admit this problem with the estate could be seen as a vain one, but if nothing else, we hope it is not too much trouble for you to visit us. Whatever you choose to do, please don’t leave us in silence.”
The voice cut out as the last of the tapestry had run its course. Twilight was left dumbstruck by the news, and were it not for Pinkie, she’d have dropped to the floor. Her sister kept her steady long enough to pull Twilight over to a chair. Pinkie sat down in front of her, and held Twilight’s hoof until the pegacorn was able to speak again.
“Pinkie… I can’t just write a letter. Not to this…”
“I doubt you’ll settle for shipping a gramophone either,” Pinkie replied with a resigned smile. “And we just got back home too.”
Having long gotten used to her sister’s off humor, Twilight opted to simply hug Pinkie. “You know me too well.” Squeezing Pinkie close as a tear sank into her fur, Twilight pulled back. “I won’t ask you to come too.”
“Pah! You think I'm going to let you go back there by yourself?” Pinkie sighed in faux insult. “You can't get rid of me that easy.”