The Twilight Child

by Detectivefish


Flashback the Sixth: Mistakes

Twilight Twinkle, aged sixteen (physically twenty)
She stood, readying herself for another attempt, ignoring the odd twinges.
"Go." The blue showmare declared. She rushed foward, her limbs aching as strange multicoloured globes swarmed around and towards her. She didn't bother putting up any shield constructs, since the globes just went right through them. She ran, and ran from one end of the small obstacle course, until there was the sound of a whistle blowing.

"You'll have to start again" came the showmare's voice. She looked irritated and disappointed.
So she tried again. And again, and again, and she never made it more than a few inches before Trixie declared she would have to start again. After a few tries Twinkle found herself lying down, barely able to breath, while Trixie just tutted.

"Are you even trying, Miss Twinkle? Perhaps the Great and Powerful Trixie would be better off teaching donkeys." Twinkle just glowered at her. Trixie tutted some more.
"Trixie presumed the daughter of Princess Twilight Sparkle would have been able to manage a simple test."

There was a slight blast as Trixie was thrown backwards. She scrambled to her hooves to see Twilight Twinkle's mane ablaze, and a look of cold fury in the mare's eyes.
"A bit of a sore spot for you, eh?"

"You haven't even told me what I'm supposed to be learning."
Trixie raised an eyebrow and laughed. "Is that so? And what, pray tell, was the Great and Powerful Trixie supposed to be teaching you? Could I be sure you were worth trying to teach?"

"You're just making things up as you go along, are you?" The royal blue mare groaned as the flames died down, leaving only her scorched mane and tail.
Trixie paused for a moment, before meekly saying "Yes."

"Well, how about you teach me something you do know?"
Trixie stared into Twilight Twinkle's burnt orange eyes.

"You want Trixie to teach you something? Very well then." She reared onto her hind legs and smiled.
"Prepare to be amazed!"

*****

As it turned out, Trixie only had simple colour-altering spells, and one invisibility spell, to teach her, though Twilight Twinkle did thank the mare for it, which seemed to shock Trixie.
Upon learning the actually somewhat easy music, Twilight Twinkle returned to the university she was supposed to be studying at. She could hear Star Song practicing her music from some distance away. She slowly opened the door, and upon entering was tackled by a purple ball of wings and legs.

"Where have you been?" the pegasus asked. Twinkle looked up and noticed clear signs of worry on the mare's face.
"Out. About. Doing stuff." she muttered, as she gently pushed the pegasus off of her.

"I thought you'd gotten into trouble, or weren't coming back" the pegasus said quietly.
"Well, I'm not." Twinkle said, not noticing the obvious look of pain on Star Song's face, "I just came to get some things."

"Like what?"
Twinkle turned to look at the utterly confused pegasus.

"Sleep, mostly."

*****

There was a saying. Not an old saying, but certainly one that had been around for a while. The saying was that when it came to reaching the underworld, one did not just walk.
Taking that into account, Twilight Twinkle choose to rappel. It was a long, slow, difficult and utterly terrifying experience, with the mare frequently scraping her legs on the rocks, or panicking about slipping, wondering whether her magic would allow her to survive, and the occasional odd noise that made her pause. After what felt like several hours, she reached the bottom of the massive cave, and found... a door, with a large three headed dog sitting by it, and not too far away, some stairs she somehow hadn't noticed on the way down.

"Of course." She muttered.
She walked towards the door, and briefly gave consideration to the idea that the unlocking spell she'd learnt wouldn't be enough to unlock the door to the underworld. She dismissed those thoughts as mere attempts at distraction. The dog looked at her with what appeared to be curiosity, and nothing more. Her horn glowed, and a small beam shot from it towards the massive door. There was a slight 'click'.

For a second, Twilight Twinkle stood there, wondering whether that meant the door was open or not. She looked at the large dog, who still seemed utterly uninterested in the proceedings. She shrugged, and walked towards the door. As she reached it she was aware of a cold draught by her behind. She turned to see one of the dog's heads sniffing at her. its face impassive.
"Not going to stop me, huh?" she asked, wondering about the supply of dog biscuits in the saddlebag she had on her. The dog gave a small grunt, and set its head back down.

"Alright then" she said slowly. She walked through the door, and was greeted by a sudden feeling of chill air, air that seemed to go right through to the bone, and chilled the soul. And then she saw the barren, empty lands, covered in small bits of smoke and haze. She shuddered, and started walking forward, ignoring the strange moans and whispers. It took her a few moments to realise she had no idea where she was actually going, and she stopped.

"Feeling lost?" said a voice. She looked around, but couldn't see its source. She braced herself, readying for an attack from any angle.
"Oh, put the magic away. You can't exactly hurt us" the voice said. There was something eerily familiar about it. She frowned.

"Shows what you ghosts now! I've got anti-ghost magics." There was a slow stomping sound.
"That's just great."

She frowned.
"Hey, why don't you show yourself instead of making sarcastic jibes?"

There was what sounded like a sigh, and the fog around Twilight Twinkle's hooves slowly resolved into the shape of a pony.
"Ta-da" The mare deadpanned. Twilight Twinkle stared at her.

"Is there some reason you're bothering me?" She asked.
"Well, you are using my name."

Twilight Twinkle stared at the mare standing in front of her.
"You are... my great-grandmother?"

The ghost did a small curtsy. "Twilight Twinkle, the first, at your service."
"Are you always this sarcastic?"

"I'm dead." The mare frowned, "I don't really have the capacity for anything other than dry wit."
She walked over to Twinkle and started looking at her. She glared at the apparition.

"What are you doing?"
"Looking to see if there's anything from my side of the family in you. Not seeing it." She sounded disappointed, and shrugged.

"In fact, watching the way you've lived your life, I'm amazed. And not in the good fashion. You've got no friends, no job, you lounge about all day, and... where are you going?"
Twinkle turned to glare at her.

"Oh, I'm sorry, but you're hardly the first pony to lecture me at first sight. Being told you're a failure loses its sting after the first fifty-thousand times."
And with that she walked on, leaving the spectre to frown at her. After a while, it started to move after her great-granddaughter.

"Are you following me?"
"Perhaps."

"Are you going to stop following me?"
"Do you even know where you're going? No, of course not. You're just going to blunder about the underworld. What are you even doing down here?"

"Looking for my father." There was a slight noise from her great-grandmother.
"What? Are you about to give some nonsense about how he doesn't exist?"

"No, not at all. But you don't even know where to look, do you?"
Twinkle paused, and scanned the bleak landscape, before staring down at her hooves.

"No" she admitted.
The two stood there for a while.

"I just figured... he'd show up. I... I probably could've given this a bit more though."
"A lot more" the shade said.

"He isn't here, is he?"
The ghost said nothing. Twinkle just stared into the distance.

"All of this was for nothing."
She waited for something, anything, to happen. Nothing did.

"This was a waste of time" she muttered to herself. There was a slight cough.
"Are you absolutely sure you're looking in the right place?" The shade said.

Twilight Twinkle said nothing, and merely started walking back the way she came, ignoring the noise from her great-grandmother's shade. She kept walking, until she was at the door, which she calmly walked out of, not paying attention to it slamming behind her. There was a curious grunt from Cerberus, but she paid that no heed. She looked at the stairs, and sighed slightly. She started walking, and walking, and walking.

Some large amount of stair walking later, she bumped into something. A leg. A purple leg. Connected to a purple, winged, body.
"Twilight Twinkle." Twilight Sparkle frowned.

*****

"WHAT IN THE WORLD WERE YOU THINKING, YOUNG LADY?!"
Twilight Twinkle didn't flinch. In fact, she didn't even seem to react at all. Not even after being dragged through the streets of Canterlot back to the family house like a foal playing hooky, not even when her mother's mane and tail burst into flames. She just stared at her mother.

"I-" she started.
"WALKING STRAIGHT INTO THE UNDERWORLD!" Twilight Sparkle took a few breaths.

"THE UNDERWORLD! WERE YOU TRYING TO GET YOURSELF KILLED? DO YOU EVEN KNOW WHAT'S DOWN THERE?!"

"W-"

"AND FOR WHAT? WHAT COULD POSSIBLY SO WORTH RISKING YOUR LIFE FOR?" Twilight Sparkle leaned straight into her, her fury apparently reigned in as the fires died down, and she sighed.
"Was it about your father?" She said quietly. Twilight Twinkle suddenly felt a rising amount of hope, almost joy. She remembered him. Then she felt two hooves being placed on her.

"You know" Her mother said, her voice quite and resigned, "That you don't have a father? All this... all this talk about having one... is just something you made up."
In an instant, Twinkle's feeling of hope vanished, and she felt like she'd been kicked. Again. She felt her mother embracing her.

"It's just a story. Surely you know that. You know that."
She not-so-gently shoved her mother's forelegs away.

"I thought I told you this before. I'm sure I did." Twilight Sparkle stood up, and walked across the room to the small bookshelf. Her horn glowed, and several books floated before her. She looked one, proclaiming itself to be a book on old Equestrian legends, and opened it, before floating it over to Twinkle's face. She saw a painted image of a large underground cavern with a pool in it.

"Have you heard of the Mirror Pool?" Twilight Sparkle asked, "Pinkie Pie helped rediscover it, twenty-odd years ago, just after the return of the Crystal Empire. Used it to clone herself, and those clones went on a rampage. Quite unpleasant for all concerned." She frowned at the bitter memories.
Twinkle said nothing, just looking at the page.

"Anyway, one day I let my curiosity get the better of me and I went to go look at the pool, and... well, examine it, see what made it work. Unfortunately, when I did, the pool... for want of a better term, reacted to my magics. There was a blinding light, and when I awoke, there was a tiny foal by the side of the pool."
Twilight Twinkle looked up at her mother.

"You." The mare said.
There were a few seconds of utter silence, save for the sound of a clock ticking.

Then Twinkle started laughing. And kept on laughing.
"It's not funny." Twilight Sparkle said, quietly. It didn't stop Twinkle.

After a few more minutes, as her mother grew from shocked to confused to irritated, she stopped.
"You actually believe that?"

"... Believe it? It's the truth."
Twinkle stared into her mother's eyes.

"Now, then" Twilight Sparkle said, her voice calm once more, though she hardly looked calm, "You will return to your studies, and, now that you remember the truth, maybe we can put this unpleasant joke of Discord's behind us and get back to the way things were." She looked at Twinkle, who was staring at anywhere but her.
"Sweetie, are you even listening to me?" She reached out a hoof to her daughter.

Her hoof passed through the illusionary duplicate of her daughter.

*****

Twilight Twinkle stormed through the streets of Canterlot, ignoring the staring, all the way back to Canterlot University, to the small dorm room. She walked right past Star Song, and practically fell onto her bed.
"Are you okay?" the pegasus asked hestiantly.

"No." she said, in a tiny, quiet voice. She felt a hoof on her side.
"Want to talk about it?"

"Not really."
Star Song just nodded, and smiled, and walked away. For a few seconds there was no noise, only a slight clicking sound, followed by a light piece of classical music wafting through the air. Twinkle looked up to see a small record player, and Star Song handling something.

"What are you doing?" She asked. Star Song's wings flapped.
"I" she smiled, "Was just making something to help with that awful feeling of yours." Her smile grew slightly at the confused look on Twinkle's face.

"Hot chocolate." She said.
"And the music?"

"Oh, that is by a lovely musician called Lyra. Have you heard of her?"
Twilight Twinkle blinked. There was something about it that sounded amazingly familiar.

"Not the most famous musician who ever lived, but she's incredibly good. Don't you think so?"
Twinkle stared at the cup that had been thrust towards her. She took it gently in her magic, and drank slowly. She did feel slightly better, and wondered when she'd last eaten.

"It is good. The music, that is. And I do feel a bit better." Star Song sat down on the bed next to her.
"That's a start" she said, her voice still cheerful.

Twinkle fought the urge to tell her, but she was going against her almost infectously cheerful roommate's good mood. She lost.
"It's just... she said I didn't have a father. That I was born through some... idiotic incident involving a magical pool that can clone ponies."

Star Song said nothing, just nodding slightly. She looked at Twinkle's eyes, that peculiar colour of burnt orange, tears just beginning to form in them.
"But I remember. I remember him helping me walk. I remember him helping me when I had nightmares, or just couldn't sleep. Helping me learn to read. I remember every birthday, every argument, every terrible joke."

There was a slight noise from the royal blue mare.
"And apparently all those memories are just a story" she hissed.

"We're all stories, in the end." Star Song said in the quiet, as the rays of the setting sun turned the room a strange orange-red shade.
"And how is yours going to go next. Does Twilight Twinkle give up in despair? Does she spend the rest of her life weeping and moaning, or does she get up and keep going?"

"Weeping sounds fun right now" she deadpanned. There was a slight pause.
"But I can't. I'm a Twilight. We don't do silly things like that. We don't whine and moan about our lot. We go out and find a way to improve it."

Star Song said nothing, merely thinking 'this is a scary turn-around'.
"And I'm sure I'll find a way to bring him back, sooner or later." She smiled. "After all, I'm the daughter of one of the most powerful magic-user alive." She smiled, making a note not to tempt fate by saying anything like, say, 'what's the worst that could happen'. So she didn't.

"Are you always like this?" Star Song asked.
"Like what?"

"Well, you go from being miserable about something which you have every right to be miserable about, then declaring that you can't be miserable about it, then confidantly saying you'll find a solution. And now you're smiling and it's... kinda freaking me out a lot."
"Sorry."

The purple pegasi's smile returned.
"Don't be. Never apologise for trying to see the best in a situation."

She jumped off the bed. "Now then, I was wondering, if at some point you'd like to go see a concert with me and some friends"
"Would I?"

The two laughed at that.
"Sorry, that was terrible." Twinkle smirked.

"Bad jokes. Good sign, very healthy."
"Thank you, Doctor Star Song."

"Well," the mare said, walking across the room, "You might enjoy it. Might inspire you to do something. Hopefully, not something like walking straight into the underworld, but something constructive. Even if it's just a little thing, like saying something nice to somepony. 'Make your life count for something'" She said.

*****

Twilight Twinkle, aged seventeen (physically twenty-one)
"You seem cheerful." Wisp noted, dryly at Twilight Twinkle's humming. She looked up at him, and once more found herself blushing profusely.
"Yeah, well, you know. I'm just feeling cheerful." She said coyly. "And why shouldn't I be?"

She bent back down to look at the flowers.
"I'm in Ponyville, there's no major disaster, and I'm with you, the sun's out and it's a lovely day. What's not to love?" She said, leaning in closely to him and smiling. He smiled back, though there was an odd look in his eyes.

"Wisp, I was wondering, you see, Star Song convinced me into going to a concert with her, and I'd really, really appreciate it if you would come along."
There was a long pause before he responded. "A concert?" He asked.

"Yeah."
"This is in Canterlot, right?" He frowned.

"Yeah..."
"Is there any specific artist, or is there a wide selection?"

Twinkle looked about Ponyville, occasionaly glimpsing one of the many Pie children bouncing about on their way somewhere. She looked back at Wisp, and his soulful blue eyes, which went so well with that gold-brown fur of his.
"I think it's mostly Sweet Belle." She made a small noise, "Do you know, I don't think I've ever met my sister-in-law's sister. Weird, huh?"

"Twilight, there's something I need to say to you."
"Yes?" she said, not paying attention.

"It's... well, something I've been meaning to say to you for a while..."
That got her attention. She looked up at his uncertain face, a smile beginning to grow across her face in the mild spring afternoon.

"Yes?" She said, leaning closer. He leant back.
"I might be leaving Ponyville soon." He said quickly. She felt her ears drop.

"Okay" she said slowly.
"I mean, let's face it, as long as I'm here, the town is somewhat in danger of getting attacked by my..." He looked around, and leaned in, "By changelings."

She blinked. Then she smirked and playfully jabbed him. His serious expression remained.
"As long as I'm here, it's a target. There is nothing she would not do to reclaim me."

"Why, exactly?" Wisp looked at her in confusion, "Why does she want you so badly when she apparently gave you up in the first place?"
Wisp shuffled awkwardly. "A good question. But not one I'm focused on. I'm not concerned with what she has planned, I'm more concerned about what she might do to those I care about."

"You mean your mom."
"And Miss Pie, and her family. Have you seen the newest Pie yet? Strawberry." A solemn note came into his voice.

"Only a few months old. Apparently she's got her mother's energy."
"That's a lot of energy..." Twinkle said, her mind still focusing on the implications of what Wisp had said.

"You don't think she would, would you?"
"I honestly don't know what she is capable of. Nor do I wish to know." There was the sound of a bell ringing, indicating the change of the hour.

"Must be one heck of a plan she's got, if she's been sitting on it for so long" Twinkle said. Wisp gave no response. She looked around to see that he'd vanished. She sighed.
"Right, forget subtlety. Next time I'm just freaking telling him." She muttered, as she walked off towards the train station. Spring break had gone by too quickly for her tastes. The nearly-eighteen year old smiled as she thought of the next time she'd see Wisp.

*****

The train-ride was quicker than she'd expected, and as the train slowly ground to a halt, she was still thinking of Wisp. Then she saw the platform was strangely empty for that time of day, save for one noticable pony.
Her mother.

"Great."
They hadn't spoken, or had contact since the incident with the Underworld, although she had recieved some letters from her mother asking about her progress in university, all of which had been mysterious 'lost'. And her mother didn't look especially cheerful either.
She slowly walked out on to the platform, not bothering with the invisibility spell, since she had a sneaking guess her mother was prepared for that.

"Hi" she said, casually.
"Hello." Her mother said. Was she being 'corrected', Twinkle wondered.

"Is... something the matter?" she asked. Twilight Sparkle looked concerned.
"No, no. Nothing's the matter. Just thought I'd see how you were getting on at university. Whether you've made any friends."

"I've been there for a few years now. Pretty sure I'm beyond friend-making." Mother and daughter both looked anywhere but at each other.
"My room-mate's okay" she muttered. "Bit mad, but otherwise she's fine."

"Good, good."
Twinkle briefly stared at the slight smile on her mother's face, and the slightly eager look in her eyes.

"I just wondered if you wanted to... hang out with your old mom."
"'Hang out'? I don't think I've ever 'hanged'. I'm not a 'hanging out' pony." She began to pace around her mother.

"And if we were to, as you say, 'hang out', where would said hanging take place?"
"I don't know... the library? Or we could visit Celestia?"

"Visit your old mentor?"
"Yes."

"Or the library?"
Twilight Sparkle smiled that eager little smile of hers again.

"Or we could go visit Rarity. See how she's getting on."
Twinkle stopped dead in her tracks, and slowly looked at her mother. "Oh, you don't really mean that, do you?" She saw the smile on her mother's face vanish.

"Well, I just thought... perhaps it was time you..." She coughed slightly, "Just in case you wanted to go to a party, or to the Gala, it would be nice to be prepared."
"I am prepared for going to the Grand Galloping Gala!" The young mare declared, "I've got several different kinds of weather spells, and my levitation's strong enough to throw a grand piano, and fine-tuned enough to play it as I do."

She saw the look of irritation on her mother's face.
"Well, it will be when I know a tune I can play" Twinkle admitted.

"Please? Do it to give your mother some peace of mind."
She cursed inside at the use of the dreaded 'p-word'. She sighed.

"Alright, fine. Provided I get final say on what I'm wearing."
Twilight Sparkle smiled, and mother and daughter walked away from the platform, though Twilight Twinkle kept a noticable amount of distance from her mother.

*****

Apparently, when Rarity had moved from Ponyville to Canterlot, it had been with the greatest feigned reluctance outside of Luna's singular attempt to attend the Grand Galloping Gala (which had ended in molten cake). Considering how much larger and opulent her new store-residence was, it wasn't surprising, though Rarity maintained that the larger size was beneficial to raising Impossibility, who would feel more at home in the city than out in the countryside. And when asked as to whether it allowed Rarity a chance to be nearer her estranged little sister, the mare had said nothing, and when asked if it was an attempt at preventing any variety of child cruelty that Sweet Belle had experienced as a filly, the reported had been summarily ejected from the store.

Twilight Sparkle sat on one of the many sofas kept in the small waiting area, calmly drinking tea alongside Impossibility, who she was well aware viewed her as a grandmother. After so many years, she still wasn't sure how she felt about that.
"So, Impossibility, how have you been?"

"Good." the half-dragon said, as there were noises from upstairs, where Rarity and Twinkle were sorting out dresses. Twilight had wanted to help out, but once Rarity had announced she was in 'the Zone' that had been it, and the alicorn had been gently nudged downstairs with the offering of tea and biscuits.
"I mean, you know, a bit bored, here and there, but still, things are going well otherwise."

"I see."
"How about you, grandma?"

Twilight Sparkle shrugged slightly. She looked at Impy, who had her father's deep green eyes, though most of her appearance suggested she took more from Rarity than him.
"Have you talked with Twinkle lately?"

"Oh, we meet up every now and then, but not on any regular basis. Why?"
"I just... we haven't talked in a while, is all. I don't know." She sighed, "I keep trying to fix things between us, and nothing I think of works. I'm fairly certain she hasn't been reading my letters to her."

"Yeah, she gets a bit... quiet when anyone mentions you." Impy said, calmly eating a whole stack of biscuits. She offered Twilight some from the tin, but she just shook her head.
There was a sudden shriek from upstairs. Twilight Sparkle sprung up, but Impy held up a claw, and seemed to be waiting for something.

There was the muffled sound of laughter.
"No. No thump. She's not fainted." Impy said.

Twilight stared at her.
"You spend most of your time around her, you figure out the patten of her freak-outs pretty quick."

"How old are you right now, Impy?"
"Twelve." The half-pony said.

Twilight Sparkle sighed.
"Do you and Rarity ever fight?"

"No. Well, occasionaly she gets a bit high-strung or thinks I'm associating with the Wrong Sort of Pony, but I usually manage to steer my way out of those conversations." Suddenly the cheer vanished from her voice, "Although... there was last Hearth's Warming."
"What happened?"

"I may have been given a bunch of records by a friend, and one of them was... well, I'll give you three guesses." She said solemnly.
"Sweetie Belle?"
"Yeah. Mom wasn't happy about that."

There was a slight pause, and the muffled sound of conversation from upstairs.
"What exactly happened that caused you two to fight?" Impy asked.

"Ever since what happened with Discord we've... no, actually, since she managed to age herself, we've been drifting apart, and the incident with Discord, and all this talk about who her father is, and... nothing I do seems to go right. I try to talk to her, and she walks away. I let her pursue an education and she just keeps going off and doing whatever she feels like, and they won't get rid of her, just in case there's negative publicity, so she's safe there, and I just..." She looked down at the empty cup of tea, "I just don't know anymore. I just... I-I... I can't..." She trailed off.

"Things will work out" Impossibility smiled gently. Twilight Sparkle looked up at her, and smiled. Then there was a loud scream. Instantly the two rushed up the stairs into the design room, to find Rarity, whose face had gone pale (an always terrifying sight) and she was shuddering. When she saw Twilight Sparkle walk in her eyes darted to her.

"Oh, come on, Rarity, it's not that bad." Twinkle voice came from behind a curtain. Twilight Sparkle looked and Rarity and raised an eyebrow. Rarity raised a trembling hoof. The curtain glowed slight, and Twilight Twinkle stepped forth.
Twilight Sparkle's jaw dropped, while Impy covered her mouth to keep from howling with laughter.

The first thing that would be noticed was the hair, which was now arranged in bangs at the front, and carefully arranged at the back, though from the looks of it the hair was already making a spirited effort to break free of Rarity's restraints. The next thing anypony would notice was that below the neck, very very little of Twilight Twinkle's coat was visible.
"What. In the Name of SANITY are you wearing?!" Twilight Sparkle asked.

"What?" Twinkle smiled, looking at herself in the mirror, "You don't like it?"
There was a slight whimper from Rarity.

"Oh, hush up. You styled my hair, I think it's only fair I get revenge."
Rarity's mind seemed to briefly return from whatever placed it had retreated to.

"Yes, but..." Rarity trailed off again.
Twilight Sparkle frowned, and tried to think of her best 'stern' voice.

"You are not wearing a tuxedo to the Gala!"
"No." Twilight Twinkle said, her horn glowed and the bits of cloth shifted into a casual sun-dress, before slipping off her body, save the shoes, which she delicately untied and stepped out of. "I'm not." She said, before calmly walking past her mother.

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I have places to be, ponies to talk to."
Twilight Sparkle blinked in confusion.

"Oh no, you don't. You came back here right now!"
The royal blue mare turned and fixed Twilight Sparkle with a glare.

"Or what? What can you do to me? What will you do to me that Discord and Star-Swirl the Idiot haven't already done, hmm? Or Princess Celestia for that matter? Do you think you can just wave some magic about and hope you're going to get 'your little girl' back? Do you think there's something wrong with me, that I'm making all these things about my dad up for attention?"
Rarity and Impy exchanged nervous glances, and quietly moved away from the scene.

"Do you think I want to look at you? Do you think I want to spend any time with you now, when you seemed barely bothered to teach me one thing about magic? When you only ever showed up to lecture me about the fact that I was picked on for being your daughter? No wonder Discord went for dad. Heck, if he'd erased you, I'd probably haved cheered with JOY!"
There were a series of horrified gasps, including from Twilight Twinkle herself. There was an awkward pause.

"I... I didn't meant that" she said quietly, "I... I..." She suddenly looked so much younger.
"You're not my daughter. You're a thing." Twilight Sparkle said quietly. "I created you and I shouldn't have."

There was another horrified gasp from Rarity and Impossibility, who if either Twilight had looked they would have noticed were on the verge of tears, and both huddled next to each other.
There was a slight glow in Twilight Twinkle's horn, and she vanished from sight, followed a few seconds later by the sound of a door gently opening and closing.

Twilight Spakle stood there for a second, before a whimper burst from her lips, and she rushed out to the door. Rarity and Impy sat there for a moment, as they heard the grown mare yelling apologies to the empty night.
"Mom?"

"Yes, dear?"
"You know I love you and dad, right?"

"Yes dear."
"Good." Impossibility said as tears began to move down her cheeks. "Just wanted to make sure."

*****

Twilight Twinkle slammed the door to her dorm shut.
"What th-" Star Song said as a sniffle emerged from the mare. A few seconds later the purple pegasus saw her roommate turn into a small puddle of tears. She was aware of the unicorn saying something underneath the sobs, but she wasn't sure what Twinkle was trying to say. After a few minutes, and several tissues, she frowned, and sat next to the mare. She didn't ask what happened, and when her friends came, ready to go to see Sweet Belle, she shushed them. When they saw Twilight Twinkle, looking thoroughly miserable, they quickly understood. After a while, one of them bravely asked Twinkle if she wanted to go see the concert, and the mare said yes. Despite everypony else objecting, trying to talk their way out of it, Twilight Twinkle was adamant. The other mares all exchanged concerned and alarmed looks for Star Song's friend. None of them felt brave enough to ask, though one of them did suggest having a sleep-over, which, given they felt moved to protect the obviously upset mare, they all agreed to, against Twinkle's slight attempts to discourage them.

"We're here for you." Star Song said gently. "Now, let us help you."
"But you don't even know me" Twinkle pointed out. Star Song just shook her head.

"Doesn't matter. You're hurting and you need help, and you don't seem to have anypony else to go to." Said the one who'd asked her to go to the concert. "So we'll look after you, 'kay?"
"You cry as long and as loud as you need to. We'll be here for you."

"No, I'm pretty much done crying now." Twilight Twinkle said, smiling slightly.
"It's your mom, isn't it?" Star Song guessed.

"Yeah. I said things I shouldn't have and... and she hates me now."
"Well, how about we go see this concert, see if that takes your mind off her, and deal with this problem in the morning, okay?" Star Song smiled. "Because until then, your mom doesn't exist." She cursed her poor choice of words, though Twilight didn't seem to mind.
As it turned out, the concert was actually enjoyable. Apparently somepony managed to convince Sweet Belle to sing more 'family-friendly' lyrics to some of her songs. Twilight Twinkle even smiled for prolonged periods, though all the while thoughts of her mother dwelt in the back of her mind, and a nagging sense that something somewhere was wrong.

(Unbeknownst to Twilight Sparkle, Twilight Twinkle did decide to see what the Grand Galloping Gala was like. She lasted all of twenty minutes, and that was only because she managed to get lost on her way to the snack bar.)

*****

A few days later, in Ponyville. The warm morning spring sun shone down on the slight path, and young Minty Pie bounced along the roar leading to the mayor's house. Apparently the pegasus had been offered 'better' lodgings closer to her workplace, but she had insisted on remaining in her house. Minty liked the mayor's house. But then, it was surrounded by plants, which were her favourite colour. And Minty Pie liked almost everything, except that shouty mare who shouted at her that one time, though Minty was fairly certain she'd done something to upset that really blue mare with the orange eyes somehow. Then, she noticed the house in the distance, and something was definitely wrong. One of the upper windows was smashed. Her bouncing gait, which she inherited from her mother, stopped, and she slowly walked to the house, cautious. While she was not the greatest intellect in the family (That went to Chess Pie, her older brother) she still had the Pie knack for forethough, so when she noticed several of Miss Fluttershy's animals forming a perimiter, she became alarmed. Then she noticed the bodies. There were two of them, sprawled in the front garden, tied down by a lot of rope, though they didn't seem to be concious. As she got to the house, the animals noticed her and rushed her. She felt a sharp jabbing sensation, and noticed a slight bit of blood from where she'd been pricked by a hedgehog. The animals seemed satisfied that it was red, and she slowly continued onward, noting to ask Miss Mayor Fluttershy about that. Then she noticed several more bodies, each an identical charcoal grey, with bug-like wings and no hair. One was pinned by a chair, another had apparently been brained with a different chair, and there were several sprawled by the staircase, one of which had a frying-pan shaped lump on its head. Then Minty noticed the frying pan embedded in the wall.

"Uh-oh" she said to herself. She walked up the stairs, noting the odd breaks in the wall where somepony had apparently been hitting it, and then she saw the door to Miss Fluttershy's really tall son's room, which was smashed off its hinges, and then she looked into Miss Fluttershy's bedroom (feeling somewhat hesitant about that). She gave a small squeak of terror at the sight of the mayor, lying half-spread across her bed.

"Miss Fluttershy!" She cried, shaking the mare slightly. Nothing happened, and Minty began to panic. She wasn't sure what all the identical ponies were doing there, or where Whisper Wind (as she was told to call him) had gone, or why the mayor was de-
No, dead ponies didn't groan. Fluttershy slowly moved, and Minty praised Celestia that she wasn't dead, although, when she gave it some though, she could have been a zombie.

"Mintys" Fluttershy groaned, looking at the young Pie clan girl.
"Yes, your... mayorness?" The girl smiled nervously.

The mayor quickly got up and rushed into the next room.
"Oh no" she said. She quickly rushed back out onto the landing, and looked down the stairs.

"Oh no no no." Fluttershy quickly flew down the stairs, and outside, Minty following hestiantly.
There was a slight noise from Fluttershy, followed by her screaming at the top of her lungs.

"Miss Fluttershy?" asked Minty, "What is it?"
"She took him." Fluttershy whimpered. "She took my son..."