The Twilight Child

by Detectivefish


Event Planning

"I cannot believe you did that!" Twilight Sparkle sighed. Behind her the royal blue unicorn calling herself Midday Eclipse simply smiled.
"Believe all you want, it still happened." She said, calmly, shifting slightly on the chair she was sitting on, trying not to wince as she did. Twilight simply shook her head.

"And besides, I wasn't the only pony involved." She said, trying not to hear the horrific noises coming from the bathroom.
"But it was your idea!" Twilight sighed. Midday simply nodded.

"It was either that or me and Rainbow Dash fighting for real. Which one would you rather have?"
Twilight gave this some thought.

"I'd rather have peace and quiet. Even five minutes would do." She sighed.

*****

Three hours ago
The massive spread sat before them, set on the massive table on top of the medium-sized stage. Foodstuffs of various types lay there, the strong scents making the nose tingle and the mouth water.

"Can I talk anypony out of this foolishness?" The mayor sighed. Exactly why they'd chosen her to officiate the contest, Midday wasn't sure, but probably it was because she was the sanest pony they could find on such short notice. And of course once they'd involved Pinkie, she'd directed them to somepony more capable of cooking the precise foodstuffs they required, since she claimed as a pastry chef she was legally obliged to only cook pastries (and pastry accessories, she had added), and of course once she learnt about the contest she'd joined in, and from there Trixie had found out and barged her way into the whole thing, even offering the use of a stage, then deciding to make an event of the whole thing. And of course word of mouth had spread throughout the town, leading to the medium-sized small crowd watching them, a few ponies glowering at the mayor for trying to intervene.

"No!" Four ponies said at once. They were there for an eating contest, and they were gonna have an eating contest. And since Rainbow Dash had suggested making it 'interesting' they had chosen spicy foods, foods designed to drive ponies mad with thirst. Hence, Pinkie had produced a large pitcher of water for emergency breaks.
"Last chance." The mayor sighed.

"No? Okay then. On your marks, get s-"
"WAIT!" Midday recognised the voice. It was Scootaloo, who made an almost impressive leap towards the stage. Almost on account of the fact that she didn't make it, but her desperate clamber made up for it.

"I'm taking part as well!" She said. Four mares exchanged glances.
"You sure about this, squirt?" Rainbow Dash said, nervously. Scootaloo nodded vigorously.

"Alright then" Rainbow Dash said. A small seat was provided for the filly, and she hopped onto it.
"Giv'em trouble, Scootaloo!" said a small voice from the back of the crowd.

"Knock 'em dead!" Said another, which sounded amazingly like Applebloom.
"Alright, if there are no more inter-"

"Hold up" Trixie said. She calmly removed her cape and hat and vanished them, smiling slightly.
"Just in case anypony (Rainbow Dash) does a technicolour yawn" she smirked.

"Oh, I'm not gonna be the one throwing up" Rainbow Dash said.
"Bet you will."

"Can we eat now?" Pinkie sighed, "I feel like I've been sitting here for days!"
"It's only been ten minutes." Midday said, despite knowing full well the futility of logic in the face of Pinkie Pie.

"Right." Mayor Mare said, "On your marks"
Teeth grinded.

"Get set"
Stomachs were braced.

"CHOW!"
There was a flurry of horrific eating and chewing noises. There were appalled gasps from the crowd as pile after pile of curry and peppered foodstuffs and huge piles of chilli-powdered servings disappeared into the cavernous maws of the five ponies. One pony passed out from watching Rainbow Dash eating.

Amazingly, Pinkie was the first to go, although that may have been down to her truly heroic intake of curried soup (measuring several gallons worth). Midday was the next to bow out, a scant two minutes after Pinkie due to over-peppered rice. This left Trixie, Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo.
Shockingly, Rainbow Dash went next, due to a dire need to use the toilet.

Midday honestly wasn't sure who won next, but from the sound of it, it might well have been Scootaloo of all ponies.
And so the Rainbow Dash-Midday Eclipse war ended, with no clear victor. Twilight Sparkle's reaction was one of utter horror and distaste, especially once she realised she was using the same toiletries as two of the competitors.

*****

Midday sighed. True, she wouldn't have minded winning the eating contest, but if she had, Rainbow Dash would probably have called for a rematch, and that wouldn't have done. She winced as her stomach groaned once more. Perhaps a highly destructive fight would have been safer. For everypony.

*****

The next morning, Midday was woken from her slumber by an alarming reminder. The reminder being that it was slightly under a week until Twilight's birthday. And she hadn't bought anything. That quickly shook her from her rest.
She quickly rushed downstairs, passing Twilight on the way.

"Going out." She said, hurriedly.
"Okay" Twilight said, going through her textbooks on teleportation.

She stood outside in the somewhat bracing winter air. She felt slightly unfair about what she was planning on doing, and also unsure about whether it was even safe for her to travel that far, mainly because she was still hesitant to be more than a few steps away from a toilet. And of course going where she was planning on going would potentially require meeting... her,

*****

It was somewhat strange, walking past the trees of Sweet Apple Acres, all bereft of their leaves. However, for what Midday was doing, it would at least make her intended target easier to find. She found herself remembering what her mother had told her of the founding of Ponyville, of how a family travelling across Equestria had been given a perfectly servicable amount of unspoiled hectares just sitting on the doorstep to Canterlot by Princess Celestia. From there they set up a farm, devoted to all the varied fruits of Malus Domestica, and how a few basic amenities had been set up, and from there temporary living space, then full-time living space, and then shops, and a hospital and stores and business and eventually a town hall, and eventually the gathered ponies stood and stared in wonder at the town they had created, and named it Ponyville.

When she'd first heard the tale, she'd wondered out loud whether the names Tim or Townsville had been taken. As it turned out, they had.
She also latered wondered why the Apple family, which was the size of a small army, needed hired help at all. To that she had reminded herself it was hardly the first time her mother had fudged the truth when telling her stories. She was still a bit bitter that her mother hadn't been telling the truth about the Crystal Empire.

She was snapped out of her reverie by a polite cough. She looked to see Big McIntosh staring at her. She smiled.
"Hello Mr. McIntosh" She said, in a tone that would have made lawyers slightly nervous.

"How are you this morning?" she said. The stallion looked about. Knowing him he was probably hoping somepony would show up to deal with the conversation instead.
Nopony showed up.

"Fine" he said, quickly and quietly. He was remarkably like Fluttershy in that regard. For a moment Midday wondered what would happen if the timid pegasus and Big Mcintosh were stuck in a room together.
'Something would probably break' she decided. 'Possibly somepony's brain.'

Now came the hard part.
"Mr. McIntosh, it has come to my attention that you are in possession of an item that is the property of one T. Sparkle." She saw the fear on his face, and also the tiniest spark of sadness. The farmer made no response.

"Would you please hand it over so that it may be returned to its original owner?"
He made no response, simply staring ahead. Midday had to admit she felt like she was kicking a puppy in asking him to give up the doll. This required desperate measures.

"That doll was a gift from her sister in-law when she was a filly." She could swear he looked like he was about to cry. Then he spoke.
"'kay"

He led Midday to a small hollowed out tree. He leaned in and produced the small, beaten-up doll.
"Here y' go" She took the small doll.

"Sorry" she said. She gave the farmpony a slight nod and quickly walked away before she gave Smarty Pants back. She looked down at the doll. One of the button eyes was hanging lose and she smelt incredibly apple-y.
"Better get Rarity to fi-..." She paused.

"Oh, right. Rarity's gone to Canterlot." She sighed. That meant she'd have to go visit somepony else instead.

*****

She knocked on the door to Fluttershy's house, carefully glancing around for bears or demonic lagomorphs. Seeing there were none she relaxed. She could hear a rhythmic clicking noise.
"Just a moment." Somepony from inside said. The clicking noise gradually stopped, and for a time nothing happened. Then the door opened, revealing Fluttershy... who was wearing tiny glasses.

"Oh, hello" she said. Midday smiled.
"Fluttershy, good. I have need of your skills." At this the pegasus looked confused.

"Skills? What sk-" Midday floated Smarty Pants in front of her.
"Don't suppose you could give her eye a fix?" She wasn't sure but it almost looked like Fluttershy was... she was! She was smirking. Fluttershy, of all ponies.

"I don't know. Couldn't you ask Rarity? She'd be much more qualified than me for something like this." Midday stared straight at her.
"Didn't you help design the Mare Do Well costume?" she asked. Fluttershy coughed.

"I did lend some assistance, but I only do it every now and then, I'm nowhere near as consistently good at that sort of thing as Rarity." She smiled a polite little smile. Midday's only response was to raise an eyebrow.
"It's just one little button eye, Fluttershy. I'm not asking you to design a wedding dress or something." Fluttershy looked at the doll for several seconds.

"Alright" she said, gently taking the doll in her mouth.
"Thanks." Midday said. Fluttershy walked inside, but didn't close the door.

"Aren't you coming in?" She said, through a mouth full of doll.
"Oh, alright." Midday smiled nervously. As she walked in she could have sworn she saw Angel and several mice moving a typewriter, a well-used and old-looking typewriter. As she watched the small animals disappear into a cupboard she pondered the question of where Fluttershy was getting her money. Either she was rich, or she had a secondary form of income, since she didn't appear to have a job and she was unlikely to be getting payment for looking after animals. She also couldn't help but notice a solitary Daring Do book sitting on a coffee table, which looks startlingly clean.

"Would you like something to drink while you wait?"
"No, no. No thanks." Midday said, her ruminatings on Fluttershy's income forgotten.

After a ten minute wait, Fluttershy returned with the doll.
"Here she is, good as new." She smiled.

"Where was she anyway, i-if you don't mind my asking?"
"We all have our secrets, Fluttershy. Best to let this one remain secret." She smirked, and winked. Fluttershy didn't seem to pick up on it. She took the doll.

"Thanks."

*****

She made sure Twilight wasn't watching when she returned to the library, quickly hiding Smarty Pants, before heading out again to Barnyard Bargains. Regret knawed away at her for doing what she'd done to McIntosh, so she perused the store for a replacement Smarty Pants. She found none. She sighed in defeat. And then she remembered Ponyville had no bookstores where a mare could look for birthday presents for anypony. Which meant perhaps a surreptitious trip to Canterlot before the week was out.

As she walked through the town back to the library, she found Pinkie bouncing around the streets.
"Hi Midday, how are you?" the mare squeaked.

"Oh, fine. Just looking around the stores for peculiarities." Pinkie nodded.
"Find anything fun?" she smiled.

"No luck yet. How's your day been?"
Pinkie looked around.

"Well, it's been all quiet becaue first Lyra went to Canterlot for a performance, and she took Bon-Bon with her, because those two are almost attached at the hip, then Ditzy Doo went for a private reason, and now Rarity! Everypony's going to Canterlot which means there won't be as many ponies at Twilight Sparkle's birthday party and that just won't do! What sort of birthday party doesn't have everypony's friend at it?!" Pinkie looked pained. Midday gently patted the party planner on the shoulder.

"I'm sure everything will work out for the best" She said. Pinkie stared straigh at her.
"Really?"

"Yes?" She said, nervously. Pinkie cheered. Then she stopped and frowned.
"Oh no" She said, her voice almost quiet.

"What is it?"
Pinkie smiled at her, though there was something wrong.

"There is a pony crying somewhere." She said, before rushing off into the distance. Midday quickly decided to make herself scarce before Pinkie Pie returned. She wondered if Rarity was having fun in the city of snobs and snarkers.

*****

"I thought it looked a little 'country'"

*****

Knowing Rarity, she probably was.
Midday returned to the library, having nothing better to do, and found Twilight going over a list. She was muttering something to herself, and occasionaly sighing.

"Something the matter?" Midday asked. Twilight looked up, and looked conflicted.
"I'm fine." She said, the transparency of her statement obvious.

"But?" Midday said. Twilight looked at her.
"Birthday parties are supposed to be spent with family, right?" Midday shrugged.

"I'm the wrong pony to ask about birthdays." Bitter memories danced at the edge of her mind.
"Most of mine were terrible." She added, flatly. Twilight looked sympathetic.

"That's awful." The purple mare said, before returning to her list.
She was not at all surprised at the fact that Twilight Sparkle, twenty-three years younger than she was used to, still had all the emotional understanding of a brick wall.

"Of course, I would like to see my brother again, although I don't know if he has any time off right now. Although..." She returned to her checklist, scrabbling away.
Midday wondered if she should've provided some assistance to Twilight's growing checklist, then decided better of it. She had a trip to Canterlot to plan.

"SPIKE!" Twilight yelled, "I'm going to need more parchment! And some graph paper!"