//------------------------------// // He loves my daughter very much // Story: Shimmer // by CrescentShimmer //------------------------------// XII: Twilight had decided to walk to Trottston from Ponyville. It wasn’t too far, and she hadn’t exercised much lately. Plus, it would provide her the time to think about what to say. After almost an hour, she stepped out of the woods onto a road with directional signs on them. She sought out the one with Trottston on it and followed the direction it said to go. Not another hour later, she could see Trottston from the road. She thought about why it took Crescent all night to get to Ponyville when it had taken her just a couple of hours. Twilight had three good explanations: Crescent could have been so upset that she lost track of time. It could have been later than she had thought when she left her house. But after all, Crescent was blind, so she may have wandered and meandered from the road. As Twilight approached the small village from the road, she noticed its size. It was about half the physical size of Ponyville, and had nearly a quarter of the population from what she could tell from the amount of buildings. There were a few ponies out and about. The races were varied and the town seemed rather quiet. She came up on two ponies having a conversation outside what appeared to be a shop of some sort. She waited for them to finish speaking before she went to talk to them. As she entered the dusty shop, she treaded carefully. Places like this were great for information, but were ripe with the wrong kind of pony. After peering from the outside, she noticed a relatively civilized red-orange unicorn with a flaming wheel for a cutie mark. She slowly approached him, careful not to disturb the other ponies inside. “Excuse me, Sir?” She called out, humbly. “My name is Tw-“ “Twilight Sparkle,” he stopped stirring whatever it was he was cooking in a pot hanging just over a fire. Twilight thought the blaze was far too big for just some sort of stew. He continued to speak. “You looking for that blind mare?” “How did yo-” Twilight was flabbergasted that he knew that easily. Apparently, she did come to the right place. “I make it a point to know everything worth knowing in this town. That happens to be one of them.” He leveled his black sunglasses as they were about to fall off of the bridge of his nose. “What would you need?” “Would you happen to know directions to where her parents live?” “Down the street, ‘bout a quarter mile or so.” He pointed out the window to a tall tree in the distance. “Right under that tree. They’re probably still there.” He took a sigh that spoke of some remorse, and then continued. “They haven’t really been doing much since she left. Been too bummed out, I guess. The fact that the princess gave an official mandate not to go searching for her hasn’t helped. If you’d like a lil’ bit more perspective on the matter, you might want to try her friend, Skyward. He lives just down the street from her. Been friends since they were knee high.” “Thank you so much, Mr…” “Summer Blaze, Ms. Sparkle.” “Well, thank you, Mr. Blaze.” Twilight marched out of the building swiftly. She saw the large tree that Summer Blaze had pointed out. She began walking that way, but not without stares from the other ponies. Since Trottston was a small town, everypony probably knew each other; and they all knew that Twilight was an outsider. She walked for no longer than ten minutes before she was able to see the tree’s trunk and the house below it. The house was very large; yellow walls, red roof, at least three stories tall. As Twilight walked up the path to the front door, she looked behind her. Summer Blaze had told her that Skyward’s house was directly across the street. It indeed was, not quite as large, but by no means small, Skyward’s house was ideal for a young adult Pegasus. She turned back around and continued on the path. She got to the door and raised a hoof to knock. After three hard, but not obnoxious, knocks, she heard movement inside. She waited for a few moments, but soon heard hoofsteps coming to the door. A tall, brown stallion opened the door and stared at Twilight. “Can I help you?” He said coarsely. “Umm, yes sir. My name is Twilight Sparkle. I’ve come with-” She was cut off. “Twilight Sparkle!? You’re Celestia’s student, right? The one housing my daughter?” He instantly perked up. “Yes sir. I’ve come with a proposal.” “Later. Where is she!?” He looked at the surrounding area for his daughter, but did not see her. “She doesn’t know I’m here. Crescent is back at my house in Ponyville. Now, if I could just tell you my idea to help Crescent out…” “Leave my property” His voice got stern. “And don’t come back without my daughter.” He began to shut the door. Twilight got frustrated and raised her voice. “Sir! I have a plan to help you get your daughter to want to come back home and live happily. You want that too, don’t you?” “Of course I do.” He let out a sigh. “I’m sorry I reacted that way…” He opened the door wide. “Won’t you come in?” Twilight stepped inside and Crescent’s father closed the door behind them. “How did you find my home?” He asked as they walked in. “Summer Blaze. A Unicorn that works at the shop at the edge of town.” “Ah, yes. I know Summer. Nearly ten years ago he tried to rob me.” “Rob you?” “Yes, it was payday and I had a pouch of bits on my way home when he and few of his goony friends jumped out at me.” He removed his glasses. “They took my pouch, and just before they ran off I said, ‘Hey, you there!’ and he was the only one to turn around and come back to me. He said, ‘what do you want now, old man? Should we take your suit and tie too?’ “He did come off as having a bad past.” Twilight sat down on a chair. “I asked him his name and he told me. I said, ‘Son, you have two options. You can either take my bits and run off with your friends and deal with the world of trouble you’ll inherit from it. Or, you can give me what’s mine, ditch these idiots you’re traveling with, and I’ll make it worth your while.” “What was his choice?” “He took one look at his friends, then to me. I could see it in his eyes that this isn’t where he wanted to be. He dropped the pouch of bits and helped me up from the ground. I stood up and grabbed my money and told him ‘good choice’.” He looked at a photograph of himself much younger standing next to Summer Blaze in front of the store that Summer works at now. “I bought him a store.” “Wait, he tried to rob you and you bought him a store!?” “Crazy right? Everypony else thought so too. But here he is, ten years later, still owns the store. We don’t talk much anymore. I don’t know if he has a family or anything now. I just know that I changed a colt’s life for the better.” “Wow…” Twilight didn’t know what to say. “What is this proposal of yours?” He sat on one of the three couches in the large entrance room. “As you know, I am Princess Celestia’s own student. My magical capabilities are far more honed than most unicorns in Equestria, especially ones of my age.” She used her magic to pull the large book out of her bag and turned to the page with the blindness cure spell. “However, no matter how powerful a unicorn’s magic is, as you know, we can’t simply master a spell the first time. We have to do it at least once.” “If you haven’t noticed, I’m a unicorn too! I know these things, just get on with it.” He folded his arms. “In this book I have, there is a spell that can cure blindness. However, if it fails, it could make things far worse…” “What do you mean ‘worse’?” He drops his head. “Actually, I don’t want to know. Why are you proposing such a thing!? Do you honestly think I’ll let you try this on my only daughter?” “Of course not, sir.” Twilight opened the page to the spell to make a pony blind and shows it to him. “You see, there is another spell that allows me to inflict blindness as well. What I need is somepony who is willing to let me test both spells on them. To make them blind, then to cure it.” She closes the book puts it back into her bag. “I know it’s asking a lot. It’s asking you to trust somepony you’ve never met. But will you, or do you know anypony that will, allow me to do this.” She looked at him with glassed eyes. “For your daughter?” “I… I run a very big business. I can’t risk losing my sight. My wife would feel the same.” “Where is your wife?” “In bed. She’s not feeling well.” “Oh, okay. What about Skyward?” “Skyward? Oh, I don’t know. He loves my daughter very much. I suppose it couldn’t hurt to ask him.” “Then that’s where I’ll go. Don’t worry, sir. Crescent is safe with me. Is it not proof enough that I came to you before trying anything?” She stood up to leave. “I was just about to point out the same thing. Good luck, and report back to me please.” “I wouldn’t think not to.” Twilight smiled at him as she stepped out of the door. She started the short trot over to Skyward’s house.