//------------------------------// // Mossa/Move (edited) // Story: Ab Initio-From the Start-Al Principio. // by Daxn //------------------------------// The dawn, with pink hoofs and golden mane, once again rose over Equestria, and with it every creature in Equestria. However, the rising wasn't at the same rhythm for everyone, nor was it pleasurable at the same level. Twilight Sparkle, once her closed eyes were hit by the rays of the light coming from the window, groaned, and rolled out of her bed onto the floor; she was too demoralized and drowsy to do anything more complicated than breath and crawl around like a slug. Meanwhile, the usually lazy late-riser Spike sprang out of his bed/dog basket cheerfully, went into the kitchen, and proceeded to make sandwiches and eggs for breakfast at a demonic pace, all the while singing happily a whole sonata of joyful songs. Twilight, still crawling, once out of her room, proceeded to do the insane task of descending the stairs without raising a single leg, but just slithering on the steps, simply ignoring the pain caused by doing such action. Finally, after ten minutes of slow and painful crawling, Twilight Sparkle woke up completely. She yawned, stirred, and got up on all fours. “So, Spike, is breakfast ready?” The dragon didn't say anything, and just served a plate of eggs while singing. “You seem pretty happy to make breakfast for me today, Spike. That’s unusual for you. Is something the matter?” “This is my third-to-final service I will do for you for four months. Then I will be absolutely free! Four months of pure freedom!” Spike chirped. Twilight pretended to not have heard that, and just ate the food without saying a word, since she wasn't in the mood for an argument with her assistant, nor she was interested to teach Spike some compassion and continence. Once she finished her breakfast, Twilight asked with a bored voice where her luggage was, and what were the departure times of the trains. At the first question, Spike answered by pointing to the luggage stacked up near the door; at the second question, he shrugged and said, “No idea. I haven't checked them yet, since last night I wasn't exactly fond about walking to the train station”. Sighing, Twilight Sparkle levitated the luggage, strapped them onto her back, slightly opened the door with a creak... and shutting them again, remembering she didn’t check if everything was in the suitcases. So, she put the baggage down on the ground, sorted them by size, asked Spike to take the list of the things to be packed in the suitcases, then proceeded to list everything that was contained in the bags. Once done with the control of her luggage, Twilight put the items back in their slots in the suitcases, closed the packs and then strapped some of them back on her back and the rest was levitated. When Twilight looked at the clock hanging on the wall just above one of her shelves, she saw that this entire operation took a whooping time of thirty five minutes and twenty seconds. In a hurry, she ran out of her house... and tripped on the step which caused her to hit the ground with her chin, and, somehow, sent the suitcases flying away from Twilight's body, opening in mid-flight, and landing softly in a puddle of mud. The reaction of the purple pony at the sight of her belongings scattered all over the place and/or covered in mud was one of pure rage and frustration. As she picked up everything that she had lost, and tried to save some papers from turning into a shapeless mass of wooden fibers, she said, “Those suitcases... they never stop breaking at the least convenient moment! And look at this! LOOK AT THIS! It will take me almost an hour to put everything back in the suitcases, and another hour to wash the luggage!” Meanwhile, Spike laughed under his fake mustache - which he put on for that moment - at Twilight's misfortune. However, as soon as his purple suspended superior noticed that, she gave him an order to help her with cleaning and picking up the pieces of the earlier disaster. ________________________________________ Two hours later, Twilight Sparkle and Spike were finally done with the travel supplies: the suitcases were clean once again, albeit a bit wet; the minor papers had been rewritten in a hurry; the damaged important papers muddled through; and the clothes changed. Twilight triumphantly strapped the last baggage to her back, opened the door, and came out of the Library once again, determined to reach the train station. As Twilight walked towards her destination, she thought about an issue that she had ignored until then: her parents. After all, the apartment in Canterlot that she had had before coming to Ponyville was property of Celestia, and was just on an extended loan. Surely, by then, that apartment had to be occupied by another pony, leaving Twilight with a single option, besides rent a very expensive flat - to live with her parents - and the prospect wasn’t exactly exhilarating. The reason lay in her parents’ behaviour. While Night Light, her father, was a strict parent, Twilight Velvet was a very overprotective and smothering mother. As much as Twilight loved them, their ways to act towards her were a tad bit annoying. Also, their reaction to the news that their younger offspring was now being sent back to the Kindergarten by her teacher was going to be ruinous. While Night Light would be very disappointed and worried about the costs of having their daughter in his house while having a minuscule pension, Twilight Velvet would burst in joy and happiness, since she was going to see her daughter every day... and have the possibility to treat Twilight Sparkle like a foal once again, thanks to the occasion. Twilight sighed sadly. Those four months were going to be very long and wearing. Her train of thoughts stopped when a loud scream came from behind her. “TWILIGHT!” She rotated her head quickly, and saw five familiar shapes that brightened her mood up. Her friends. Twilight ran towards them, and said, “Oh, sorry girls, I forgot to say goodbye to you!” The five friends looked at her a bit confused. Pinkie Pie recovered from her shock first and asked, “Goodbye? Why?” Twilight hung her head. “I'd prefer to not tell you, Pinkie... it's... a bit secret...” “Secret?” Rainbow Dash exclaimed in disbelief. “What do you have to hide from us?” “Yeah, what?” Applejack cocked an eyebrow. “I... I don't know if to ask you... I don't want to intrude...” Fluttershy whispered. “Twilight, what concerns you? Why do you want to hold a secret?” Then the five friends stared at poor Twilight in pure curiosity, making the aforementioned pony sweat. In an attempt to cop out, she answered only: “It's... embarrassing. Really, really, REALLY embarrassing...” “What is so embarrassing that you can’t tell us?” Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy asked in unison. Once the question faded, Pinkie Pie chirped, “Wait, what does ‘embarrassing’ mean? Is that some kind of icing?” But every pony decided to ignore her. “Well...” realizing that she had no way to avoid the interrogation, Twilight decided to cut the bull's head, and proceeded to take a long breath before saying the big news. “Alright, girls, listen up: you remember the incident of yesterday, the one that saw the whole town trying to get a doll?” The five nodded. “Well, Princess Celestia decided that I needed a punishment for my misdeed, and sent me...” “And sent you?” They all leaned forward in anticipation. “To the Magic Kindergarten, in Canterlot.” The five friends gasped, and they all expressed their opinions, from the simple “that's awful” of Fluttershy, to the long and lyrical cry of Rarity, Twilight's friends had their turn to show their grief over the purple pony's departure. Once the atmosphere relaxed a bit again, Twilight Sparkle sighed, and returned to her walk. “The moment has passed; I am going to the station,” Twilight adjusted the luggage. “Goodbye, see you in four months.” The five answered back. ________________________________________ Four hours later, in Canterlot, Twilight Sparkle had finally reached the neighborhood where her parents’ house lay. While she was walking in the empty paved streets of the area, Twilight looked around her to find out how much the neighborhood had changed since her moving to the “Ivory Tower” and later on to Ponyville. Not at all, apparently, since every building, street lamp, trash cans full of syringes and druggie spot were still there just like ten years ago. It seemed that the whole area had fallen into a temporal stasis, since she had left it, making her even more depressed. Finally, she reached the gate of her house, a three-floor villa, different from other buildings in Canterlot thanks to its “Liberty” style. For the first time in years, Twilight rang her old house's bell, and awaited response from whoever was in the house. After few minutes, a gray mare with straight black mane exited from the house's door. She walked slowly towards the gate... but upon seeing the visitor, she screamed “Twilight!” and rushed to the gate, opening it carelessly. Twilight recognized the mare. She was Sedula Serva, the valet of Twilight's household. Twilight could remember the times she was forced to interrupt her studies to let Sedula pass the rag, or when a filly Twilight ranted on the order of the books that the valet placed. Now, her biggest annoyance was likely to be the only light of sanity in the darkness of the days to come. Sedula, while hugging Twilight, exclaimed with a voice affected by old age, “Twilight! So much time has passed! What brings you back home?” Twilight, while gently taking off the valet's hooves, smiled weakly, and said, “The thing that brought me here isn't good...” Sedula pointed at the door. “If you don't want to talk about it, it's not necessary. Now come in, I'm certain that your parents will certainly want to see you.” Then she walked away. Twilight followed. The interior of the building was... different, from what Twilight remembered about her Canterlot's house: she didn't recall small ivory statues in niches around the walls, or expensive paintings, nor did she recall to have ever seen a big chandelier in the living room. A male voice called from upstairs. “Who is it, Sedula?” Sedula answered chirping, “It's Twilight, sir!” “Don’t be silly. My wife is in the bedroom!” The voice started to sound closer as the pony it belonged to made his way to the entrance hall. “Not Twilight Velvet, sir, but your daughter,” Sedula explained with a happy smile on her face. “Now you are just making a fool of me.” The sound of hooves treading the soft carpet stopped. “What would be Twilight doing here? She would certainly let us know before visiting. Anyway, just send whoever it is here.” The hoof steps echoed once more and vanished. The gray mare pointed at the stairs. Twilight understood, and went upstairs. Twilight's father was sitting on a red couch, and was drinking a glass of sprizt from a cocktail glass. He seemed pretty relaxed, joyful even. It's a pity that I am going to break his joy... thought Twilight. “Twilight? So it really is you! And I thought Sedula was just pulling my leg! What brings you here, my beloved daughter?” Night Light took a small sip and smiled at her warmly. “Feel free to sit down.” Twilight sat down on one of the red couches in the room. “Well... not a good thing.” The cheerful demeanour of Night Light disappeared in am instant. The sudden change to a cold stare scared Twilight to the core. The tone of the father got serious. “What happened?” Stuttering, she said, “I'm here because Princess Celestia punished me with flunking.” His eyes widened. “Flunking? But you are out of the school system!” “That's the problem! Since I finished my studies, flunking means starting all over again...” “You mean... you are in the Magic Kindergarten now?” Twilight nodded. Soon after that, Night Light was coughing fire.