Twilight opened her eyes to find Cadence almost in her face, worried, and that she was in her bed instead of the tower area. She sat upright and looked around.
“What’s wrong?” Twilight asked.
“Oh Twilight, I’m so glad you’re alright... After you... fell asleep again, I moved you to your bed and you suddenly started crying and I was worried something was wrong!” Cadence said quickly in one breath, quickly hugging the filly.
“It’s alright, I’m alright. I was just... Going over an old memory with Celesta...” Twilight explained softly.
“An old... memory? You mean like why you’re an orphan?” Cadence asked. Twilight nodded. They stayed silent for a moment, but then Twilight spoke.
“Do you want to hear it?” She asked. That surprised Cadence.
“Why would you want to tell me? I’m just your foalsitter...” She said.
“Well... Celestia trusts you enough to leave me and Spike alone with you... I’ve had lots of fun with you and I don’t think I can ever have a more awesome foalsitter. I trust you.” Twilight explained.
“Well... As long as you don’t start crying again... I don’t want to see you all depressed.” Cadence said.
Twilight knew she was going to get a reaction when she told what she remembered, but Cadence was staring at her. Gaping in awe. Very slowly she started to move again, and when she did she quickly pulled Twilight into a tight embrace.
“What?” Twilight asked, surprised by the sudden action.
“You... You’re Shining’s little sister...” Cadence said. It was Twilight’s turn to freeze and stare at the other.
“How do you...?” Twilight started.
“My boyfriend back in Stalliongrad...” Cadence cut her off. After a solid minute of piecing things together, Twilight perked up and shot off into a very quick and breathless tangent.
“OhmygoshishealrightIheardthatthereweregriffontroublesthereIhaven’tseenhiminsuchalongtime!” she exclaimed. Cadence was taken aback by the even more sudden action.
“He’s fine. He made commander of the Stalliongrad guard last month so he doesn’t do all that much dangerous work anymore...” She explained. Twilight sighed in relief. Cadence’s smile fell and she facehooved. Rather hard, actually. Twilight gave her a look.
“I can’t believe I couldn’t put two and two together... He used to talk about you all the time, when we first got together, which wasn’t long after that all happened. Princess Celestia told me I’d be watching over a filly names Twilight, who’s an orphan at the same orphanage... and is even the same age as you would be...” Cadence explained.
“It’s fine... Twilight is actually a really common name in Canterlot. A lot of things like ‘Twilight Shine’ or ‘Twilight Night’ or things like ‘Sparkling Twilight’; though that particular pony is one of the most eccentric stallions I know of...” Twilight said.
“Oh now I KNOW we’ll be the best of friends. You’re like my little stepsister!” Cadence exclaimed, giggling as she rustled Twilight’s mane.
“What’s all the noise... it’s early~” They heard a young voice say behind them. They turned and found Spike standing at the door, rubbing his eyes sleepily. Twilight smiled and walked over to him. She giggled as he stepped towards her and clung on to her.
“It’s not that early, Spike, though you do need a lot more sleep than I do.” Twilight said, picking him up with her magic and placing him on her back.
“But he’s not that much younger than you...” Cadence said as they walked back into the tower.
“Well, my sleeping habits aside, dragons by nature sleep more than ponies do. Spike also went through his massive magical growth spurt, both physically and mentally, and everything is all mixed up and trying to get back together properly. So he sleeps it off.” Twilight said, said dragon already back to sleep on her back as she levitated him back into his basket-bed and nuzzled him slightly after tucking him in. Cadence giggled at it and it took all of her strength not to go into a fit of D’aww.
“What?” Twilight asked.
“That... You two are just so adorable!” Cadence exclaimed softly. Twilight blushed ever so slightly and looked down at the sleeping dragon.
“Well, he’s my little brother. Until a week ago I didn’t have parents I could remember, now I have Celestia as a Mom. Last time I saw Shining was when I was three and I’ve never really had friends... Now I have him as my little brother and I want to make sure I’m the very best big sister he could ever imagine.” Twilight explained.
“Oh Twilight, I can’t imagine you being anything else. Now come on, Celestia made me promise that we’d work on your endurance at least once a day.” Cadence said ,walking over to the large window where a familiar sphere sat in an open box.
---
It was around Noon when the two of them finished with their magical exercises. Spike was relatively awake by then and it was about time for lunch. There was still a small chunk of the ruby from earlier left, so Twilight took it with them to sprinkle it over the lunch they decided to go out into the city to procure.
After a rather simple lunch of sub sandwiches, they decided to just walk around the city for a while. They were currently sitting in the park, about an hour after they ate, when Twilight felt Celestia’s presence touch her mind once more. She looked down at Spike, who was sleeping in her lap, and at Cadence, who was watching them with a content smile on her face.
“What is it?” She asked, her smile falling slightly.
“Celestia’s trying to talk to me again. I was making sure nopony was around so that it wouldn’t look weird if I just slumped over.” Twilight replied.
“Oh you’re fine, it’d just look like the two of you fell asleep together. Don’t take too long or I’ll have to carry you both back home.” Cadence said with a smile, reclining and closing her eyes. Twilight nodded and let the little tug that Celestia’s presence made take her into her waking dreams.
Celestia was standing there with a big grin on her face. They embraced tightly for a little while before she spoke.
“Good news, I won’t be nearly as long as I had thought. If things go well, which I’m pretty sure they will, I should be back by the morning after next.” Celestia said. Twilight made a noise, something similar to a happy squeal, and quickly hugged her again. That earned a bout of laughter from Celestia.
“So what happened that makes you think that?” Twilight asked after a moment, now curious.
“Well apparently the city of Stalliongrad had been instigating a few of the hostilities many of the border cities are experiencing. The guard there recently cycled out command and the instigations stopped. In fact, the current commander apparently found out about it only very recently and has since been trying to smooth things out before I got here. I do believe you know him.” Celestia explained.
“Cadence told me it’s Shining. I’m glad he’s helping out.” Twilight said, though her smile wavered slightly.
“Don’t worry, love, I’ll make it an order to come visit you as soon as he can be freed from his duties. They are vast and many now, unfortunately...” Celestia said.
“I understand... It’s just... Cadence and I were talking about him over lunch a bit ago and I just want to see him soon...” Twilight said.
“Don’t worry, He definitely wants to see you. Especially when I told him of our plans. I have to go soon, but first how is Cadence? I can’t imagine the two of you not getting along.” Celestia asked.
“She’s like the big sister I never had. She literally is, I guess. The three of us decided to walk around canterlot for a bit and get lunch. I think both Spike and Cadence now are asleep on a bench in the park.” Twilight explained.
“Well today is a rather nice day. Make sure you do your exercises with her if you haven’t already. We’re going to get a little vacation for a few days after my return. Otherwise I’ll have to stack up multiple lessons at once.” Celestia said, trying and failing to sound stern at the end. She was smiling too much.
“Don’t worry, we have a lot of time to pass and that’s what we did all morning.” Twilight said, giggling in response.
“Well I can’t say I’m surprised. If I plan on getting home as fast as possible, which I do, I won’t have time to contact you until I’m actually on the chariot and that won’t be until even you are asleep.” Celestia explained. Her tone hinted that she was a bit saddened by it.
“That’s alright. If I have to not talk to you tonight so that you’ll be here when I wake up tomorrow, then so be it. I’d rather hug you in real life than in here.” Twilight started. “ALthough, a hug goodbye is good either way.” She finished. Celestia laughed sweetly and pulled her into an embrace.
“You are just the most adorable thing.” Celestia giggled. Twilight replied by nuzzling into the embrace further. A minute or so passed as the two just enjoyed the contact. Celestia felt Quill tugging at her conscience, basically saying ‘if you’re not here in two minutes everything’s going to fall apart’ so she rolled her eyes and held Twilight at Hoof’s length.
“I have to go now. See you soon.” She said, quickly kissing Twilight on the forehead and disappearing. “Love you.” She said before she completely faded.
“Love you too.” Twilight replied and the presence was completely gone. She sighed at the absence but smiled big as she ‘woke up’. She looked down to see Spike still sleeping and Cadence just waking up.
“Oh, man... I fell asleep didn’t I?” The mare asked when she saw Twilight looking at her.
“It’s alright.” She Twilight said, looking up at the sky. The sun had made some progress across the sky. She had been talking to Celestia for maybe an hour, so she estimated it was about three or four.
“Well now I’ve slept too much and I won’t be able to get to sleep tonight. Let’s go back and do some more exercises before dinner to burn some energy.” Cadence said.
“I like that idea.” Twilight agreed, gently levitating the sleeping dragon in her lap onto her back as they walked. She was right, when she thought that carrying him would make her stronger. She hadn’t needed to stop and take a break from carrying him all day, even though she had thought that very recently.