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Chapter III
The Real World
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“Twilight!”
Twilight was awoken abruptly by the call of her name above her. It took her a few seconds to be able to focus her eyesight or move in the slightest and even when she did her entire body cried out in agony.
“Twilight! Dad!” Came the voice of Shining Armor above her. “Are you alright?” Twilight took a moment to find her voice before raising her head.
“I-I’m fine!” She shouted hoarsely, her throat distinctively feeling like sandpaper as she spoke.
“Oh thank Celestia!” Twilight heard the voice of Velvet above her. “Twilight, can you see your father?” Twilight looked around but couldn’t make out the shape of Night Light anywhere around.
“N-no, I can’t see him.” She called back.
“…Okay honey, stay right where you are.” Velvet ordered her. “We’ll be down to get you as soon as we can.” Twilight frowned. Something wasn’t right. She tried to remember back to before she had fallen.
CRACK!
That was it, she was sure of it. A cracking sound had come from the ground below them as she and Night Light had been walking behind the cart along the railroad tracks. Both of them had fallen, but then…
Twilight gasped as the events came back to her. Night Light had pushed her off of the tracks before they’d fallen away completely. She looked around frantically as she tried to see any sign of him anywhere. It was then that she turned her head behind her and her heart fell. There was a large crevice beside her. They’d been walking along a bridge when the ground gave way.
“N-no…” Twilight told herself. She focussed all of her strength into getting up and after a couple of seconds, was managing to budge herself from her place on the ground, shakily rising to her hooves. Once she was sure she wouldn’t give way and fall back over, Twilight looked over the edge of the crevice. There were a few ledges below, but none of them had any signs of Night Light on them. Twilight brought a shaking hoof up to her face and tried to calm herself down. It wasn’t possible, he couldn’t have fallen. Twilight took a second to collect her thoughts before sending a small surge of energy through her horn and in a flash she was on a lower ledge. Her head was already spinning from exhaustion, but she couldn’t stop there; she had to find out what happened. Another second of focus and she popped down to another ledge, then again and again, continuing down the cliff face, only stopping to look for another ledge below to use as a platform. As she started to get lower she began to finally see the ground below her, but even after squinting she couldn’t manage to make out any familiar shape, especially when her eyesight was so distorted. Lower and lower she travelled down the cliff face until she was close to the ground and stopped. One of the ledges below her was stained with a dark red splatter against the dark blue of the stone. Twilight’s breath thickened more and she teleported past the ledge, faster towards the ground. As her panic peaked, her legs finally gave and she slipped on one small ledge, falling sideways and heavily hitting the ground not far below her with a thump, knocking the air out of her lungs. Stopping for only a second, she scrabbled back to her hooves and tried to call out.
“D-dad?” She wheezed, barely audible past her lips. Carefully she limped around the small clearing below, a small stream flowing just off to the side of it. Her eyes passed over the area several times before she stopped and did a double-take.
There he was, not far away, laid limply upon the ground with a large chunk of rock resting on his stomach. Twilight’s throat clenched tightly, gasping for air for a few seconds before limping as fast as she could, although clumsily, over to his side.
“D-Dad!” She heaved, rolling the rock off of him her teeth gritting as she heard a blood curdling crack as she did. “D-Dad, come on, get up!” She pulled a fake smile, trying to make best of the situation. There was no response.
“Come on! Dad! W-we have to get moving if we want to get anywhere!” She laughed a bit hysterically. There was still no answer. Twilight’s face slowly fell as the realisation flooded over her.
“…D-Daddy?” She murmured; nudging him again Twilight was still trying to cling to the miniscule hope that maybe he was just unconscious or having a badly chosen nap. There was no breath at all and Twilight’s eyes began to fill with tears. Reluctantly, the truth washed over her and she lowered her head beside the bruised and bloody head of her once living father. It didn’t feel possible and shouldn’t have been possible. She tried to find words to say to him that might change the truth and could perhaps bring him back to her but no words came. Her father was dead and there was nothing she could do about it.
By the time Velvet, Shining & Cadance had got to Twilight it was already dark. The group had left the cart at the top just off of the train tracks and decided to set up camp far below. It was quite a climb to get back, but none of them could seem to find the will to leave that spot. By the stream was a disturbed piece of earth; soil that had been dug up to make a grave for Night Light. Nearby was a tent with Velvet, Shining, Cadance & Spike sat just in front of a campfire. It had been a quiet evening, with only the occasional sounds of one of them comforting another. Twilight was wide awake still, deep in thought, but she had lain down beside the earthy mound, her puffy eyes not even bothering to stay open. They all thought she was asleep and that’s how she wanted it.
“You okay?” Cadance finally said quietly to Shining. The alabaster stallion sighed gently.
“I’m not sure.” He murmured. “I’m not entirely sure what to feel at the moment.” Cadance frowned, nuzzling against him.
“…I’m so sorry.” Cadance responded, unsure as to what she could possibly say to him. Shining simply smiled.
“You don’t have to be.” He assured her. “There was nothing anypony could’ve done to prevent this. At least we know how seriously we have to take this from now on.” Cadance thought for a second, but couldn’t seem to think of any words of comfort.
“So, is Twilight okay?” She asked, resorting to small talk. “I mean, outside of the obvious.”
“She’ll live.” Velvet said quietly from beside them, nestled up beside Spike. “She had a cracked rib and a few bruises, so she’ll be a bit uncomfortable for a while, but I’ve patched her up the best I can.”
“Well, at least she’s not badly hurt.” Cadance said with a small smile. Velvet nodded in response, gently stroking Spike’s head with a hoof.
“But her hurt does go deeper than her skin.” She continued. “She hasn’t left Night Light’s side all evening. I can only shudder to imagine what’s going through her head at the moment.” Shining rested his head down on his hooves and sighed.
“I wish there was something I could do to help her.” He said wistfully.
“This is probably going to be something that she’ll have to work out by herself.” Velvet answered solemnly.
“But we can do our best to try and make things easier for her, right?” Cadance asked in response.
Twilight herself had listened intently to their words, but couldn’t string her thoughts together to make a judgement on them. Her every other thought was of Night Light and the rest Princess Celestia. Something was wrong with the entire situation. Had she disobeyed Celestia’s orders the entire tragedy could’ve been avoided. If she hadn’t asked for Night Light to get off the cart with her he’d still have been alive. If she had prioritized safety over speed they wouldn’t have had to enter the mountain range anyway. No matter which way she looked at it, she could only see herself to blame for her dad’s death. Once again she felt tears well in her closed eyes and although she tried, she couldn’t avoid a half stifled whimper. The others behind her all went silent as they listened to seemed like a filly crying in her sleep. Twilight tried again to hold back the tears but it was no good and she simply continued sniffling. A few seconds later she felt something touch her and she tensed up before realising she had been covered by a blanket. She tensed again as she felt lips touch her tear-soaked cheek and give her a loving kiss.
“…I love you Twilight.” Velvet’s voice whispered before she turned and returned to the others. It took Twilight a moment to work out what had just happened. She had always been one for pinpointing details and there was a very precise one in her words. Velvet had always used to say “we love you” to her before bed. Even when she left for Ponyville it was always “we love you”. When she visited home, “we love you”. When she wrote a letter, “we love you”. There was no we anymore, just a single parent who likely felt as much woe as she did; a sorrow she had brought upon her own mother. Twilight gritted her teeth before burying her head under the blanket, letting her tears flow freely.
It was very late when Velvet awoke from her own slumber. She looked around to see Shining nearby with Cadance beside her, her forelegs wrapped comfortingly around his neck. She felt a poke in her side before remembering that Spike had been pushed up against her coat as he fell asleep. Gently she slid out from under him before pulling her own cover over his side so as not to wake him. When she was confident Spike wouldn't awaken, she turned around. The last embers in the makeshift fire were dying, but a dim light was still being cast over the area. Quietly she stepped around the fire towards the mound not far away. Twilight had fallen asleep hours before, or rather cried herself to sleep. Velvet was fully aware that her daughter had been pretending to sleep while she listened to them converse; it was a habit she'd had ever since she was a filly. But now she was confident that Twilight was asleep, so she reached down and gently pulled the blanket covering her over her shoulder comfortingly, stroking her mane softly. It had been hard to see her daughter go through so much torment that day, but there was little she could do to help, which made it that much worse.
Standing up again, Velvet looked at the earthy floor before her, where Night Light had been buried unceremoniously. She stared long and hard at it before exhaling heavily.
"Good night," she whispered. "...my guiding light." Velvet stood idly beside the mound, listening closely as the night wind blew softly past them. She could've sworn she could hear the faint response of her special somepony and she nodded to herself. She had got the goodbye that she had wanted; her tears would have to wait for another day.