The Twilight Child

by Detectivefish

Thinking up the Chimney

Twilight Sparkle walked into the library room to find Midday covering herself in a blanket, glowering at Spike, who had collapsed due to laughing too much.
"Must have been quite a joke" she smiled. Midday just looked up at her, and took a pointed drink from her bowl of soup.

"Don't tell me then."
"Wasn't going to." Twilight turned to look at the royal blue unicorn, who smirked briefly, though that disappeared when Spike fell over in a fresh bout of mirth.

"Is that-?"
"Yes. I currently sound like you." Midday took another swig of soup, before making a slight groan.

Twilight just frowned. Concerns began to swirl around her head, and she started walking upstairs to examine her schedule for the week.
"Hey, Twilight, how come that whole Winter Start Up thing was yesterday, rather than... I don't know, last month?"

"I was distracted."
Midday looked from Twilight to Spike, and then down at her hooves, jutting out from under the blanket.

"Ah. Sorry."
Twilight left Midday to her soup, and continued up to the bedroom where her monthly schedule rested on top of her desk. She looked over it, and frowned at it. She lifted a nearby quill and a blank piece of paper, and prepared to talk to her friends.

The next morning
Midday heard vague noises outside her fever induced sleep, the sound of strange clicking noises, and scraping noises. She opened her eyes, which felt incredibly heavy, to find Twilight and Trixie's beds empty, as well as Spike's basket. She got to her feet, which felt strangely weak, and walked downstairs, feeling slightly bruised. She was halfway towards the kitchen when she noticed something, a note lying on one of the stands. She walked over to it.

Midday looked at the note, and almost expected it to burst into flames. She frowned, and looked around the library. She rushed upstairs, grabbed her already-packed saddlebag, and rushed down the stairs again, locked the door, and ran as fast as her legs could carry her.
For a minute she found herself remembering the last time she'd forced herself to run when she could barely stand. The heat. The buzzing. Th- She quickly forced those memories out of her head. She wasn't going to remember that.

She was nearly at the station when she heard the whistle blow, and the sound of a train beginning to move. She rushed up onto the platform and saw the train moving out of the station, she rushed along the platform, and then slid to a halt, and in a complete defiance of common sense, she leapt.
"Hi Midday!" said Pinkie Pie. She had landed on something soft, at least.

"Midday, do not take this at all the wrong way, but you seem to have landed on me with quite some force. Would you mind removing yourself?" Rarity asked.
"Sorry." She grinned, stepping off of Rarity and looking at the seven ponies staring at her.

"What? You thought I was just going to sit around in the library while you all have Hearth's Warming fun in Canterlot?" She smiled, particularly at the annoyed expression on Twilight's face. From the look of it, Midday had committed that most heinous of crimes, disrupting Twilight's schedule a bit more.
"I thought you might at least be sensible. What were you thinking, going around outside after getting a cold?"

"I'm feeling better!"
"You'll be stone dead in a moment." Pinkie Pie interrupted. Twilight and Midday both glowered at the grinning party pony.

"Anyway, the soup seems to have done it's job. Okay, I do feel a bit... ache-y, but it's nothing serious." She grinned, and sneezed. There was a long moment of silence.
"Bless you." Rarity said, levitating a handkerchief towards the young mare.

"Thanks."
"Well, I suppose there's not really anything I can do about it." Twilight mused. She smiled, "And this way I can stick to my original schedule!"

Once more Midday thanked whatever cosmic force made Twilight so forgiving.
"Yay." Rainbow Dash deadpanned. She saw Fluttershy's disapproving look.

"I mean... yay!" The speedster said, sounding slightly more enthusiastic. Fluttershy nodded at this. Then she seemed to notice something.
"Trixie, what is it?" Everypony (and Spike) turned to stare at the showmare, who looked and kept staring out of the window.

"Nothing, nothing" she said, her eyes shifting about. Midday recalled what she'd heard the mare saying when she'd sought her out, a colourful rant relating to wheels.
"It's just... these things are safe, right?" Trixie asked.

"Huh?"
"She means, trains, Applejack" Midday said.

"Somewhat, yes." Trixie shuffled slightly. "But it's more the wheels the train runs on."
There was a moment of silence.

"What." Rainbow Dash responded.
"Trixie does not trust wheels." The magician said, sniffing slightly.

"That's silly. And believe me, I know silly, and as far as silly goes, that's massively silly." Pinkie hummed. "In fact, that's so silly, it's a silly-phant!"
"Why in the world do you have a distrust of wheels?"

"It is a long, and quite bizarre story!"
"Is it because you aren't good at fixing broken wagon wheels?" Asked Applejack. Trixie blinked in confusion, and shuffled slightly.

"No. No. Not at all."
She looked out the window again.

"I can't wait to stay at the castle once more" Rarity smiled, "Oh, to experience those luxurious beds. So soft, so fluffy." She sighed, while Applejack and Rainbow Dash stared at each other. The farmer lifted her hoof and waved it in a circle around her head, Rainbow Dash guffawed at this.
There was a nervous cough. Everypony looked at Fluttershy, who just stared blankly.

"That wasn't me." She said clearly. Midday looked at Twilight, who was blushing.
"What is it?" She asked. Everypony else (and Spike) turned their heads to look at Twilight.

Rarity leaned in, a concerned (and from all appearances, annoyed) look on her face.
"Twilight, dear, pray tell what is the problem?"

"It's just that... well, I didn't want to bother the Princess, and she's incredibly busy at this time of year, and since it's Hearth's Warming, I just thought..." Midday tried not to smirk as she realised what Twilight was going to say.
"Well, that is... I thought you could all stay at my family home."

There was another moment of silence.
Rarity made a strange noise that was somewhere between a guffaw and a giggle.

"We get to meet your parents?" She said, trying not to grin. It took Midday a while to realise why she was doing this. Then she realised why. Parents. Family. Rarity.
"Rarity, no. She does not have any available gallant, chivalrous, charming or otherwise noble brother that you can woo, most certainly not in the space of a few days."

Rarity's smile vanished.
"Curses."

"Besides, he moved out several years ago."
"Further curses."

"And you're not his type." Rarity pouted.
"How do you know this?"

"Twilight, you are the student of the pony who was up until last year, our only reigning princess. And your brother is captain of the Royal Guard. Pretty much everything about you has been printing in-"
"WAIT, HOLD UP! STOP EVERYTHING!" Rainbow Dash yelled. The pegasus had been ignoring most of the conversation, but now was hoving right in Twilight's face, her wings flapping in Applejack and Pinkie Pie's faces. The pink earth pony didn't seem to notice at all.

"Your brother is... that Shining Armor? The Shining Armor?" She stared straight at Twilight and reared in the air. Midday was now cursing herself.
"WHY THE BUCK DIDN'T YOU TELL US THIS BEFORE?!"

"Sorry" Midday whispered, when she noticed Twilight glowering at her.
"I, too, would like to share, if only in spirit, Rainbow Dash's statement. You could have informed us of this."

"It didn't seem important." Twilight mumbled.
"What else have you been hiding from us? Are your parents rulers of some far-flung part of Canterlot? Is your brother engaged to a princess?"

"No." Twilight said. Midday shuffled her hooves. Twilight looked out of the window.
"Look" She said, leaning outside, "We're getting closer!"

That seemed to distract everypony. Why exactly approaching a city they'd been too not even a fortnight ago was so exciting, Midday wasn't entirely sure, but it seemed to have distracted them all the same.
"I can hardly wait!" Rainbow Dash declared.

"I'm so excited" Fluttershy cooed, "I-I feel like shouting." A soft sound emerged from her lips. Midday noticed Rarity placing an incredibly festive pine-tree shaped hat on her head.
"Canterlot, here we come!" Applejack cheered.

"I do hope I looked festive enough" Rarity sighed. Trixie looked at Rarity's hat, and then up at her own. An irritated look passed across her face.
"Trixie honestly isn't sure how much more festive you could look. Unless we find a turkey, and a duck... and some tinsel..." She smirked.

The train pulled into Ponyville, and Midday was surprised to see several recognisable ponies pour off the train. She saw Ditzy and Dinky, Bon-Bon and Lyra, and the CMC, followed closely by two ponies who from their purple hair were likely Rarity and Sweetie Belle's parents.
"Hi, Rarity!" Sweetie Belle yelled.

"Applejack, over here!"
"Hello, Sweetie Belle." Rarity smiled, utterly ignoring the fillies giggling at her hat.

After some exchange pleasantries, mostly the fillies being excited about getting a chance to stay in Canterlot Castle, and wondering why Rarity was making such strange grinding noises and muttering under her breath, and then Rarity's parents explaining (despite everypony knowing) about the scheme to allow several ponies from Ponyville to stay at the castle, Twilight began to lead the six mares (and Spike) along the streets.
As they walked, Midday considered the play that Twilight and her friends were supposed to be acting in. Her concerns lay not in their acting abilities, but rather in the merits of allowing the most powerful magic user in Equestria, possibly the world, the heir of the most skilled illusionist in recent history, and herself, to be in proximity to a play. As everypony knew, plays had power, and with three powerful ponies around, anything could happen. She dismissed those thoughts, since the chances of anything going disastrously wrong were slim-to-nil.

'Although, if one of the Princesses showed up...' But that was even more improbable, since Celestia would probably be throwing some large Hearth's Warming Eve party, and planning the best way to sabotage it before the Canterlot nobility showed up, or dispensing warm drinks to hard-working civil servants. She also briefly pondered Scootaloo, who to her eyes looked... strangely familiar in a way she couldn't place, and she couldn't even recall seeing her parents at any point during the singing the other day, even when every other pony in Ponyville was there.
"Are we there yet?"

"No, Rainbow Dash!" Midday said. In an instant her ruminations on Scootaloo vanished into the aether, increasing the irritation she already felt.
"Wasn't me."

"It was me!" Pinkie Pie cheered, as she finished off the remains of a gingerbread house.
"Sorry, Rainbow, force of habit. No, Pinkie Pie!"

"That's better." Pinkie said, primly. Midday stared at the beaming destroyer of gingerbread domesciles.
"Sorry, captain Pinkie Pie."

"I'm not a captain, silly. Except on Be-A-Pirate Day." At which point Pinkie went on a small rambling monologue of the fun of being a pirate.
"Smooth move" Rainbow Dash groaned.

"To be fair, anypony who gives Pinkie Pie an opening has what's coming to them." Midday sighed.
There were noises of general agreement from everypony else.

"Are we actually there yet?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"Almost" Twilight said.

"Feeling tired without your post-breakfast nap, Rainbow Dash?" Rarity smiled.
"Nah, it's just your hat. It's so lame, it's sapping my coolness."

"It is not 'lame', it is festively fashionable."
Suddenly there was a chill air.

"Oh, Rarity." A strange voice uttered, "You and your delusions of what is fashionable, which are of course utterly wrong." A pony appeared in front of the group, her fur a strange grey colour.
"Generous?" Rarity yelped, "How can you be here, especially after what happened with Pinkie's cake cannon?"

Rarity's arch-nemesis waved a hoof, and Midday couldn't help but notice the strange smell, like a morgue.
"I have returned, to trouble you once more. Soon, your pathetic fashion store will be a shambles, and nopony will buy any of your awful designs, and then, then I shall rule fashion in Ponyville with a iron hoof!"

Midday leaned in to Pinkie.
"What exactly did this cake cannon of yours do?"

Pinkie looked about, she seemed embarrased.
"Knocked her into a pool full of unpleasant fish. Which ate her."

Midday frowned.
"Actually, never mind. I don't mind not knowing what you and Rarity get up to."

"And besides," Rarity said, still engaged in her argument with her odd-smelling nemesis, "You are too late. I have already gained the approval of Fancypants himself."
The mare, who Midday now noticed looked incredibly unhealthy, almost pale in fact, seemed shocked.

"Drat." She frowned, and then seemed to recover, "Very well, you may have attained this small victory, but I will return, with more plans, more deviousness, more evil, and your world will crumble! After Hearth's Warming, of course. Even evil doesn't work on the holidays. Good day to you." She said to the others, before stalking past them and vanishing, laughing as she went.

Seven sets of eyes looked at Rarity.
"What. Was that?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"I'll explain later" the fashionista sighed.
"Really?"

"Provided I do not forget, yes. But it is an incredibly weird story."
"This seems to be the day for weird" Trixie muttered.

"Is she the reason you're afraid of curdled milk?" Rainbow Dash continued. Rarity twitched slightly.
"Yes" She said grimly. The sky-blue pegasus scowled.

"Want me to go beat her up?"
"No. That would be unladylike. And besides, it wouldn't do to engage in vengeance during the holiday season."

Midday looked to Twilight and raised an eyebrow. Twilight raised an eyebrow back at her. Midday raised her other eyebrow, Twilight raised her own other eyebrow. Midday leaned forward and nodded. Twilight looked confused.
"Shall we keep going then?" Midday said. "And also never mention this random nonsensical event again" she whispered to herself.

The group walked on through Canterlot, until eventually they reached a large, cosy looking house with a rather nice sign neatly explaining it was the house of the Starlight family.
Five ponies stared with slack jaws at the sight.

"You lived in a mansion?!" Rainbow Dash said.
"It's not that big" Twilight said meekly.

"You. Lived. In a mansion." Rainbow Dash stressed.
"Knew you lived in a freaking mansion."

"It's not a mansion."
"She's right, you know." Fluttershy whispered.

"Yes. It's not a mansion." Rarity said. Midday looked at her, and then rolled her eyes when she saw the look in the purple maned mare's eyes.
"It's glorious" Applejack also rolled her eyes.

"Shouldn't somepony, oh I don't know, knock or ring the door-bell or something?"
Twilight smiled sheepishly, and walked over to the door and knocked. There was a pause. The door opened and a tall blue unicorn appeared in the doorway, Midday instantly recognised him as Night Light, her grandfather (on her mother's side).

"Twilight Sparkle!" He smiled.
"Dad!" The two hugged. There was a sniff that sounded like Fluttershy.

"These are my friends."
"And me" Midday said, raising a hoof.

"You!" Night Light exclaimed.
"Me?"

"Her?" Twilight asked.
"Less sentence fragments!" Pinkie exclaimed, before Rarity shushed her.

"Well, I suppose that does make sense. Welcome, please, do come in."
They quickly filed inside. They found themselves in an almost cavernous hallway, painted in nice deep blues, with two doors leading off to the side, and stairs leading to an upper floor, and as Midday knew, the bedrooms and guest rooms, as well as an observatory.

"Cosy" Applejack said.
"Marvelous" Rarity said, her voice hushed in awe. Midday was afraid she was about to do something terribly embarrassing.

"It is a mansion!" Trixie declared.
"Hardly. Just a rather large house." Night Light chuckled, "It's been in the family since the house was founded."

"How long has that been?" Rarity asked, her voice far away as her eyes jumped around, observing and no doubt measuring the price of everything.
"A very long time" The stallion said, smiling slightly.

"Night Light, who are yo- oh!" A faint purple unicorn walked into the hallway, and stopped when she saw the group of ponies (and Spike) standing in the hallway. Midday recognised her as Twilight Velvet, occasional sender of woollen Hearth's Warming gifts.
"Mom!" Twilight Sparkle's smile grew.

"Goodness, you've brought friends, and- You?" The mare said when she saw Midday.
"Yes?"

"Where do you know her from?" Twilight Sparkle asked, utterly confused.
"She just appeared on the front doorstep some weeks ago, hugged us, then disappeared."

Midday could practically feel Rainbow Dash's smug grin. Still, she thought to herself, that did explain where exactly her other-dimensional counterpart had teleported to.
"Damn her bones" She hissed.

"I'll explain... later." She said to the assembled ponies. There was a rumble from her stomach. She realised she had in fact skipped breakfast. And brunch. And Second Breakfast. And also brushing her teeth, which she felt some consternation about. Despite her best efforts, some of her mothers' strange habits had still ended up being passed on to her, the necessity of constant dental hygene being foremost among them.
"Will you?" Rarity asked, briefly shaken out of her dazed awe.

"... No."
"It's very nice to meet you, Mrs Twilight." Fluttershy whispered.

"And it's very nice to meet Twilight's friends." Pinkie cheered at this.
"Your the first ones she's ever had visit."

Pinkie cheered slightly differently at this.
Midday's stomach rumbled again, louder this time. She blushed.

"Sorry. I missed breakfast, because somepony decided to let me sleep in while they skipped out of town, and I'm slightly hurt about that, by the way."
"Well, would you like something to eat?"

"I know I would" Pinkie said.
"Well, how about we show you to the guest rooms, and then we'll have lunch."

"Guest rooms?" Rainbow Dash uttered in confusion.
"And you are sure this isn't a mansion?" Trixie added.

"Quite sure, dear." Twilight Velvet smiled. Night Light and his wife lead the seven ponies up the large stairs
"So lovely..." Rarity breathed, having returned to staring at everything.

Midday looked about, her mind noticing all the many differences, although in fact there weren't that many. It felt strangely comforting, being back in what was technically her home, even thought it wasn't, and she hadn't actually been in it for several years before she'd travelled back in time.
Everypony was shown to their rooms, with Twilight getting her old room, which looked almost entirely like a small library with a small bed in it. There was a complete absence of a tiny basket for Spike, Midday noticed.

"It used to be the library," Night Light explained, "until we decided to just put her bed in here to save time or her walking into her brother's bedroom by mistake."
"Dad!"

Applejack smiled at that, and from the looks of it, it was one of those smiles that meant she'd been embarrassed in front of her friends before and was ever-so-slightly enjoying seeing somepony else on the recieving end.
"So, what are you girls going to do during your stay in Canterlot?" Asked Twilight Velvet.

"Oh, we've been put in charge of presenting the Hearth's Warming Eve play" Rarity said.
"Really?"

"Yeah" Rainbow Dash exclaimed.
"Which of course means Twilight's got all sorts of notes ready to explain how inaccurate the play is to the actual events." Midday said.

"She does?" Rarity said nervously. Twilight Sparkle nodded, her horn glowing and revealing a small collection of notes.
"Don't worry, it'll only take a few hours to read them." Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie exchanged nervous glances.

"Would you like some lunch first?" Night Light suggested.
"Even better!" Pinkie smiled.

The two ponies set off down the stairs. Midday turned to look at Twilight Sparkle.
"Aren't you going to put those notes down?" She asked. The purple unicorn looked at the notes.

"Oh, yeah. No reading at the dinner table" she muttered, as the notes floated over to a small writing desk. Midday nodded at this, and the two mares walked down to have lunch.

"Oh, that was divine" Rarity sighed.
"It was incredibly lovely." Fluttershy soothed.

There was a slight belch from Rainbow Dash, though she at least covered her mouth, trying not to be rude in front of Twilight's parents.
"That's very kind of you." Nightlight said, apparently ignoring Rainbow Dash's act. Twilight turned to her mother.

"Hey, mom, where exactly is Shining Armor?"
Twilight Velvet looked unsure.

"I'm not entirely sure."

"So... why are you covered in tree sap?" Cadance asked.
"Don't. Ask. Just don't." He sighed, as his marefriend descended into a hysterical fit of giggling.

'If I ever have a kid (Creator willing)' Shining Armor said to himself, 'I hope they aren't anywhere near as mad as that. What is a Cutie Mark Crusader anyway?'

"I'm sure he's just working."
"So, Mrs Twilight" Fluttershy asked, "What exactly do you do for a living?"

"Oh, well, I do some work for Their Majesties' government, mostly just filing and dull forms. But I have always wanted to be a novelist, like whoever it is that writes those Daring Do novels."
Midday noticed Rainbow Dash had lost interest at the word filing, and was talking with something about Applejack.

"So, Midday, wasn't it?"
"Yes?"

"You were the pony who delivered that gift for Twilight Sparkle on her birthday, yes?"
"Yeah. That was me" she muttered.

"That was very kind of you" he said. He frowned.
"You look awfully familiar, by the way. Apart from your identical sister, as you mentioned, have I seen you somewhere before?"

"Shouldn't think so" Midday said. It wasn't a lie, but only on technicality.
"I see" he said, though he didn't sound convinced. Midday saw Applejack whisper something into Rarity's ear.

"Mrs Twilight" Rarity asked, a malicious grin across her face, one that seemed to be on Rainbow Dash and Applejack's faces as well.
"Call me Twilight Velvet, please, Rarity."

"Twilight Velvet, I must ask, what was Twilight Sparkle like as a foal?"
There was a flash and a popping noise, as Twilight Sparkle teleported out of the room.

"Well, I'd be delighted to tell you." Twilight Velvet smiled. "Shall we go sit in the drawing room?"
"You have a drawing room?" Rarity gasped, before swooning off of her chair.

"Is she-?" Night Light asked.
"Don' mind her. Rarity's just a drama queen." Applejack smiled.

"Everypony's a critic."
"Don't quit your day job, then" Trixie commented.

Midday rolled her eyes and smirked, before helping Rarity to her hooves.
"Come on, Rarity. You've got three days before the play, last thing we need is you hurting yourself before then."

Three more days, she told herself. Then she remembered with some dread that she hadn't bought anypony a Hearth's Warming present. Fear gripped her soul at that thought, as well as the memory of that aisle in that toystore that was the residence of what she had decided to deem P'ink, devourer of tomboyishness. Did Celestia have to trouble herself with this sort of thing? What did the Princess of the sun do for Hearth's Warming?

"Okay... This is alarmingly specific. And I don't think Luna needed to include the written threat of being banished to the Sun, and then thrown into a dungeon located in the sun, which I am fairly certain is outright impossible. But, still, one coffee grinding... thing, it is." Celestia sighed. At least it wasn't as bad as Cadance buying stuffed toys for everypony.

She sat on her throne, the image and noise of clicking needles filling her mind, and spending Hearth's Warming wearing some awful maroon abomination of yarn with a stylised 'C' on it.
Suddenly being banished to the Sun, then thrown into a dungeon located in the Sun didn't seem quite so horrifying.

Then fear gripped her soul when she realised she had no idea what to buy Twilight Sparkle for Hearth's Warming.
"This will require thinking up the chimney" she muttered.