About 4 Years Later
UUGGHHH!!!! I thought as I looked down at the blank page before me. I just can't think of anything to write! I mean I know about writers block and everything but seriously I can't think of how to start this chapter! You know what... screw it... I'm gonna go eat something again. I've looked in the fridge a few times now but I'm sure that if I open it just one more time I will find something delicious to eat that I didn't notice the other six times I checked. I walked out of my bedroom and into the kitchen. I opened up the fridge. To my unending surprise there was once again a significant lack of consumable goods. I decided to go and check on Lexi.
I walked into her small bedroom that was located right next to mine. We had been living here for four years now. It was a small wooden house with only 6 rooms in it. 2 bedrooms, a kitchen, a bathroom, a living room, and an extra room in the back that was really more like a closet. In fact to be honest all of the rooms were kind of like closets. I peered in to see her slumbering away in her bed. Being satisfied that she would continue to sleep for a while I waltzed into the kitchen and got out a pen and some paper to leave her a note.
Lexi
I am going to town to get some groceries.
Be back in a few minutes with a candy bar for you.
Love, Daddy
Then I put the note on the table and went outside.
I looked up into the clear blue Ponyville sky. It was truly a beautiful place, the birds chirping in the trees, the squeak of wheels as ponies pulled carts along the dirt roads of the town, and the whoosh of the occasional blue and rainbow Pegasus flying by off to corral some clouds. I knew all about the Elements of Harmony but I had chosen to steer clear of them when I got here. Not that I could with Pinky Pie, but the others I still had only bumped into once or twice and that was still a bit too often for me. I still did remember the party she threw me and Lexi though, she had been wondering where we had come from and I had to make something up on the spot so I said we had come from Phillydelphia which seemed good enough for her at the time. Once my original nervousness subsided I actually found that I enjoyed the pink mare's company. She was certainly quirky and not the usual type that I hung out with having been a Senator. For a while I just thought that all ponies were like that but I soon found out that Pinky was a bit more odd than most of the others.
At the very least I could say that none of them suspected me. I was a very average looking unicorn with a light brown coat, dark brown mane and tail and green eyes. I made sure to have a very dull and bland appearance so as not to attract attention to myself. I was just a run of the mill average unicorn from Phillydelphia, and my special talent? Politics. How much more boring could I make myself? Just a normal low level bureaucrat. A pencil pushing paper-worker who lived on the north side of town and picked up apples from the stands every now and again. My Cutie mark was an old fashioned Balance Scale, the kind used to weigh objects that had since become a symbol for politics in popular culture. Nothing special to notice, nothing worth paying attention to, just a normal old unicorn. Lexi was a unicorn too. I used a spell to hide her wings so that she wouldn't be suspicious. I also had taught her the spell so that she could do it for herself when I wasn't around, which was good because she had just started school less than a month ago. Of course Alexandria was a changeling name so I could only call her Lexi from now on in public. That name would be more socially acceptable here unlike in the Hive where it was the other way around. But in private we both still knew that her real name was Alexandria. And sometimes that worried me, it worried me because I knew that even though she was finally growing up amongst her own kind, she still did not identify with them. In her mind, I knew she thought of herself as a changeling. Because she thought of me as her dad. And I'm a changeling. But I didn't know if that was a good thing or a bad thing. I knew it would probably be healthier if she thought of herself as a pony, but I also knew that I kind of wanted her to think she was a changeling. I would always think of her as one.
"Good morning Aaron!" I was suddenly yanked out of my daydream by a familiar voice.
"Oh! Good morning Mrs. Cake! How have you been?" I was just passing by Sugarcube corner when she had come out.
"I'm doing just marvelous! We just finished perfecting a new recipe for our cupcakes, oh, with Pinky's help of course! Anyway, we have some very delicious Carrot Cupcakes now! You should come back in a few hours and we'll have some ready!" Oh yeah.... carrot cupcakes..... sounds just wonderful. Glad I quit that awful meat that I used to eat. I sure don't miss that stuff.
"Oh... I'm sorry I don't think that I can today, I was just going into town to get some apples and milk. I might come by tomorrow though and get some more of those Supreme Chocolate Brownies though. Those are really good!"
"Oh sure thing dear! Remember your always welcome at Sugarcube corner honey." She said with a smile then I continued on my way to get my groceries, when suddenly....
"Oh wait! Aaron I almost forgot to tell you, Twilight Sparkle wanted to talk to you today!" My blood nearly froze in my veins.
"She did? Why is that?"
"She said something about wanting to talk to you about buying some new books for her library." Now it all made sense. Since I had come to Ponyville I had gotten a job as the Mayors assistant. More specifically the assistant that was in charge of basically all of the budgeting for the entire town. I essentially ran the government of Ponyville while Mayor Mare just soaked up all the credit. But of course the last thing that I wanted to do was be put into the public spotlight so it was an arrangement that I was more than happy to put up with for the time being. At first ponies came up to the Mayor when they wanted government assistance or free money for one reason or another but she would just bring the issue up with me. Eventually I just told her and everypony else to bring their problems directly to me to save time and make it easier to work with them. It was a decision that I had almost immediately regretted.
"Yes, I'm sure I'll be able to find plenty of room in our monthly budget for Ms. Sparkle's library. You tell her that I will swing by later this afternoon alright Mrs.Cake?"
"Yup! Will do Aaron, thanks sugarpie!"
Finally I made my way down to the marketplace to pick up my much needed food substances.
* * *
I got home about a half an hour later to find Lexi wandering around the living room.
"Hey honey, whats up?" She jerked her head around to see me entering through the front door.
"Daddy! Your home!" she ran up to me and gave me a big hug. My heart melted a little bit for a second there.
"Didn't you see my note darling?"
"Yeah but I don't like it when I'm alone." She buried her face in my side. I chuckled softly and set my bags on the floor. Then I reached down and pulled out a small bar of chocolate.
"Look what I got you Lexi." She looked up and gasped, a gleeful smile spread across her face. Then her horn glowed as her magic enveloped the candy and she began peeling back the wrapper to get to the chocolate inside. I went into the living room and pulled out some paperwork I had to have done by tomorrow. Lexi came and sat next to me chewing her chocolate and watching me scratch away at the paper. She continued to do this for a few minutes until it was all gone, then she dropped the wrapper on the floor.
"Lexi, don't do that. Pick that up and put it in the trash like a good little filly." She picked it up and walked into the kitchen. Then she came back around the corner with it having been disposed of and sat back down in her seat next to me.
"Hey daddy?"
"What is it honey?" I answered without looking up from my paperwork.
"What am I?"
....... What am I. She had said it again. This wasn't the first time she had brought it up.
"What do you mean sugar?" I knew bucking well what she meant.
"I mean like what am I. I was born as an alicorn wasn't I?"
"Yes honey, thats very good you were."
"But then I became a changeling right?" I turned and looked her straight in the eyes.
"No honey, you were always a changeling."
"But that doesn't make any sense."
"You'll understand when your older sweety."
"So am I a unicorn now?" This time I had to laugh a little.
"Lexi let me tell you something right now, and then you'll never have to be confused about all this again. You can be.... Whatever you want to be. You are a changeling. You are an alicorn." I leaned in and kissed her forehead. "And you are royalty. I want you to understand one thing Lexi, one day your going to have a throne. I promise you that some day soon, your going to have a throne. And when you do, your going to be a wonderful leader. And you can be whatever you want to be." She smiled up at me with those big blue eyes.
* * *
I felt a little nervous. I knew that I shouldn't but I couldn't help feeling just a little bit nervous. I always did whenever I was talking to one of the Elements. But I knew why I was here, library books. And being a public library it was true that she was entitled to some money for the purchase of new literary material. I reached up a hoof and knocked on the door. It swung open to reveal a smiling alicorn who eagerly ushered me in to her home and offered me some tea. To which I politely declined.
"So Ms.Sparkle, I understand that you wanted me to come her to request some money to buy a few new books for your library." I said dryly. Whenever I was on official business I usually tried to maintain my composure and be as professional as possible.
"Oh there is no need to be so formal Aaron. I just wanted to have a nice friendly visit before we get down to the nitty gritty." It's like she read my mind...
"Well that may be Ms.Twilight but we are here to talk finances and to politicians that is a very serious thing." I still didn't want to be too friendly towards her. If I walked away from this with her not wanting to be around me anymore that would be just fine with me.
"But Aaron I am a Princess. I deal with politicians all day. Considering how close we live to one another can't we just have a nice friendly conversation?" Well she got me there.
"Alright Twilight, I suppose we can drop the formalities."
"Excellent, I know you've been here for a few years and we haven't seen much of each other. I talk to Mayor Mare all the time but you I think I've only held a conversation with for about 30 seconds at the most and that was what... maybe two years ago? It seems sad that we live so close and work in the same field yet we've never seen much of each other. From what I've heard about you from Mayor Mare you really have been pulling your weight around." She said with a smirk.
"Well yes that's true. I have been taking care of most of the finances for about a year now. I was actually hoping to get a raise soon so me and my daughter could move into a bigger house but don't tell her that yet. I'm going to bring that up with her in a few days."
"You have a daughter?"
"Yes, her name is Lexi. I'm surprised you haven't heard about her. She just started school about a month ago."
"So what is your wife's name Aaron?"
"Oh I don't have a wife."
"You don't.... so is Lexi adopted?" Think Arex.... think....
"No, unfortunately my wife.... she passed away several years ago. When Lexi was very young, so she doesn't really remember her."
"Oh my goodness! I'm so sorry for you Aaron. So you have been raising Lexi all by yourself since you came to Ponyville haven't you?"
"Yes I have, but don't feel bad for me, I have been enjoying my stay in this town. I actually really like it here."
"Well I'm just glad that you have enjoyed yourself staying here. Ponyville really is a very nice place to live. I first came here about nine years ago to help prepare for the Summer Sun Celebration and I ended up making friend just a few minutes after getting here. That's what made me decide to stay. I know that you must know who Pinky Pie is."
"How could I not! I still remember that party that she threw me and Lexi when we first got here. Of course you might not though, she does throw a new one about every day."
"You know I've been meaning to ask you, who paid for that party cannon of hers? did she buy that with her own bits or did she get some kind of grant for that thing or something because It doesn't seem to me like it would be all that cheap, and somepony has to pay for all these parties she's always throwing."
"Twilight I hate to break it to you but Pinky just doesn't seem like the kind of pony to be filling out paperwork." There was a long awkward silence at that point. Until we both burst out laughing.
"Aaron I'm glad we had this little discussion, now lets talk about the books I want to order ok?" she said after having finally caught her breath.
"Alright let's start with the genres. What kinds of books do you want to get?"
"Well, we need more information on how to cast defensive spells. Then we need to stock up on some books with more on rare herbs and plants known to grow in the Everfree, also there is something I wanted to get on teleportation splicing...."
* * *
The list took up four pages with three columns each but it still wasn't too terribly long. At least it wasn't the most outrageous thing that I had been asked to pay for. In fact the whole thing should probably be covered for less than 5,000 bits.
"And the last thing that I wanted was Magical Mystery Creatures of the Northern Griffin Territory. And I think that that should be just about it." She said with a smile. I finished jotting down the title of the book and looked back up at her.
"Well thank you Twilight and I will get these processed and an order placed in no time."
"Thank you very much too Aaron. It was very nice of you to come and see me on such short notice."
"Think nothing of it Twili."
"Twili?"
"Oh, I'm sorry I just have a habit of calling ponies by made up nicknames. I do it all the time with everypony I didn't mean to offend you."
"No, no. You didn't offend me it's just that.... I haven't been called that since my brother died." The room got a little colder.
"I'm sorry to hear that. How did he die?"
"He was murdered. By those awful changelings. It was five years ago when they invaded Canterlot for the second time. He and his wife Cadence and their daughter Skyla had been staying in Canterlot Castle at the time. When the changelings invaded... they brought Shining Armor and Cadance down out of their room and killed them. Their bodies were found after we took the city back." She had started crying now and her tears were already starting to run down her face. I could tell that it hurt her to talk about this. "They didn't find Skyla's body....." she looked up at me with those watery eyes, and I could see the sadness inside of her as she spoke about what had happened to her family. "We think they ate her." She began sobbing now. "The changelings ate my niece alive..." I put my hoof around her and pulled her into a hug, which luckily she accepted as she hugged me back. I desperately wanted to say something to her. I wanted to tell her that it was going to be Ok. I wanted to tell her not to cry and that things weren't as bad as they seemed. But I knew I couldn't.
"Twilight please don't cry. I know what it's like to lose somepony close to you." I lied.
"I know, but when I think about it. Even after all this time, it just still hurts so much. I don't know how they could do that. I don't know how they could eat an innocent foal." I decided right then that I wanted to spend a little more time with Twilight Sparkle. I decided that she should spend a little more time with Lexi too. I felt bad for her loss.
"Twilight?"
"What?" She said. Finally she pulled off of me.
"I know this might sound strange but I just think that we should hang out some more. You know, like friends. I want you to meet Lexi too. I think that you would like her." She smiled at me.
"Ok. I think that I would like that. I would like to meet Lexi too." She smiled again.
As I exited her home I shook the feeling that Twilight might have been acting a bit flirtatious with me earlier. But then again it wouldn't have been the first time that I had been given that false impression now would it have? The fact that she wanted to spend more time with me was most likely a common thing among unicorns who studied friendship. I began the slow journey home thinking to myself about how happy I was that I had made a new friend. I mean I made new friends every now and again, this was Ponyville afterall, but this friend was special. This friend was the Element of Magic. And this friend, I couldn't help but feel some kind of kinship with. Maybe it was because she was related to my daughter, and when it all came down to it, that was all that she needed to be for me to like her.
* * *
"Alright ready?"
"Yup!"
"3...2....1... GO!" I lurched forward in a burst of speed, Lexi trailing not far behind. We had decided that since it wasn't often that she or I got a chance to stretch our wings we went deep into Whitetail Woods and were going to have a little race. The rules were simple; first to get to the clearing a quarter mile away wins.
My wings buzzed furiously as I pressed forwards zooming through the air. I hadn't ever been much of an athlete but as I looked behind me I realized that a few seconds into the race I was already a great deal ahead of her. I feigned exhaustion and began to slow down just enough for her to reach me before speeding back up again.
"Hey no fair! I can barely fly, you've gotta slow down daddy!"
"Well if I slow down you aren't gonna have to fly very fast to catch me now are you?" I said with a smirk as I slipped under the outlying branches of a tree. I looked behind me to make sure that she made it through all right. She navigated the branches with relative ease. Although she wasn't very fast in the air at least she was agile. Then I began to serpentine in front of her.
"Daddy I can't pass when your doing that!"
"Well I guess you'll have to figure out a way around then huh?" I yelled back laughing. Suddenly a little pink dart shot out from under me and whizzed ahead at a surprisingly quick speed. I could see the finish line just a few hundred feet ahead and put the pedal to the metal. I hadn't realized that she could put on a spurt like that so fast, luckily I just passed her as we came into the clearing together. We both landed on the ground panting, she a little harder than I.
"Why didn't I win?" She said dissapointedly.
"Don't worry honey, you did really good for your first race. But you know you can't expect to win all the time don't you?"
"But I want to win all the time. Losing isn't any fun." She hung her head and faced the ground. I trotted over to her and put my hoof over her back.
"Lexi, winning is plenty of fun but if you win all the time in life you'll never learn anything from it."
"Well what did I learn from losing that?"
I smiled. "Well for one, you learned your old man is a pretty good flier huh?"
She giggled.
"What's so funny about that?"
"That reminded me of something one of my filly friends told me in school." Now I was a bit interested.
"Oh really? And just who are your new friends?" Her face lit up.
"Well first there's Pond Drop, she is really smart and she likes to garden. She knows a whole bunch of different types of flowers and what are the best ways to plant them and what kind of soil they like and how much you should water them and how long before they wilt and-"
"Who else are you friends with Lexi?" I said cutting her off.
"Then there's my other friend Lunar Blaze, she is smart too but she is also funny and she told a joke in class a few days ago but I forgot what it was. Lunar is a unicorn and Pond is an Earth Pony, I think that they are the two coolest ponies ever!"
"Well I'm glad that you have made some friends. It's always good to be able to get along with other ponies. Now do you think we should start heading home? We don't want some pony to see a changeling and an alicorn standing out in the middle of a field now do we?"
"Oh! Can't we do one more race daddy? Pleeeaaasseee! I promise will be really good if we can just do one more race today! I bet I'll win this time too!"
I had to think about it for a second.
"Well..... Alright. One more quick race and then we need to head back home. But this is the last one got it?"
"Yup!"
Half an hour and three races later we were on our way back home. The first two races I won but the last one she 'beat' me by just a hair. I'll never forget how excited she was after that. After we got back home a knock came on the door. I walked over to the door and answered it but when I opened up there didn't seem to be anypony there.
"Hello Lexi's dad." I looked down. Before me stood two two ponies, a small dark blue unicorn filly with a white-ish mane and a gold yellow Earth Pony with a dull pink mane.
"Is Lexi here? We wanted her to come and practice with us for the talent show."
Lexi (with her strange sixth sense) came bursting out of her room screaming "I'm right here girls!"
"Daddy can I please please go practice with them for the talent show?"
I looked down at her friends, then back at her.
"Where will you be practicing at?"
"We are gonna go to my house! It's actually just down the street from here and both my parents are home." the blue one said. I think her name was Lunar or Luna or something....
I looked back at Lexi and saw the look of pleading on her face. Finally I made my decision.
"Well, I certainly don't see why not!" She ran up and hugged my leg.
"Thank you daddy!" Then she booked it out the door with her friends.
"Don't forget to be home in two hours Lexi!" I called after her.
"I know!"
Two hours, I thought, Two hours.... Well that should probably give me plenty of time to go talk to Mayor Mare about that pay raise I've been thinking so much about.
I walked up to her office door and knocked. No response. I waited a minute, then knocked again. Then I walked out into the reception area to talk to her personal secretary.
"Linda, do you know where Mayor Mare is at right now?"
"Oh, yes Aaron.... umm.... she left to go bowling with a few of her friends."
Typical.
"Thank you Linda."
On my way to the bowling alley I couldn't help but be a tad annoyed with the way that the mayor conducted her business. If I'm the one doing all the work around here why don't I at least get a secretary? I mean I crunch the budget for an entire year and I still haven't even gotten a single 'thank you' I was under the impression that Equestria was civilized.... Well...... Maybe it's still more civilized than the Hive but based on the Mayor Mare conducts herself probably not by much. I can only imagine how corrupt Canterlot must be.
I came into the downtown bowling alley to find a laughing chatting group of stallions, and one lone mare among them. I boldly approached them as I put a long stride into every step I took.
"Mayor Mare I presume?" They all turned and looked at me.
"Oh, it's you Aaron... What do you want?"
"I came here because I wanted to talk to you. It's about a budget I've been paying some close attention to."
"That? Really? Just save it until tomorrow Aaron can't you see I am quite busy as it is?"
"I am afraid that this can't wait until tomorrow Mayor it is very important that I bring this monetary issue up with you post haste."
She turned to her male friends. "Would you please excuse me for just one second...." then she leaned in to one of them and whispered quietly but just loud enough so she couldn't know that I had heard, "you know how these underlings can be am I right Jet?" Then she trotted calmly over to me and we turned and walked together a little ways away from the main group.
"Now would you mind telling me what this is all about Aaron?" she said none too calmly.
Well... I guess I might as well take the direct approach.
"I want a raise." She just stood and stared at me in stunned silence. Then, slowly but surely, a smile of amusement spread across her face.
"This is some kind of a joke isn't it Aaron? This is funny to you isn't it?"
"No Mayor. I don't think that this is very funny at all actually. I genuinely believe that I deserve a raise for all the hours that I have been putting in at the office and all the work at home." I spoke very seriously, without a hint of sarcasm or amusement.
"Well I think that it was very rude of you to interrupt me in the middle of my game. So frankly I don't see why you deserve a raise at all."
"Well I think it was rude of you to go bowling when you were supposed to be in your office working." She stared at me with an open mouth gape as if I had just threatened her with a knife.
"Well.... Well.... That may very well be but that doesn't give you the right to come down here and interrupt me when I am in a business meeting."
"Mayor Mare I haven't received a pay raise in two years and one year ago is when I started the new workload. Since then the amount I have been doing has nearly doubled. I believe that I am past due for a pay raise by now don't you?"
"Well perhaps your past due for a pay cut. Have you thought of THAT Aaron?" I simply lifted one eyebrow at her.
"Well if your going to cut my pay than I'm afraid I will have no choice but to work somewhere else."
What followed can best be described as a mexican standoff of willpower. We each stared directly at the other, silently daring our opponent to blink.
Finally, "Fine. I will give you a pay raise. How about bringing your annual salary from 35,000 bits to 40,000? Does that sound fair?"
"I was thinking something more along the lines of 45,000 myself. Does that sound fair to YOU Mayor Mare?"
"It most certainly does not."
"Mayor I would like to ask why it is that I am not allowed to know how much you make."
"Because it's none of your business that's why."
"So.... just out of curiosity.... is it more or less than 45,000 per year?"
"...........Fine. 45,000 per year. If I raise it that far then will you finally drop this subject?"
"That seems like a perfectly reasonably amount to me Madam."
"Good. Now get out."
* * *
Twilight had been over a few times in the past few weeks. She had gotten along very well with Lexi. In fact, the two of them really hit it off quite quickly. That was why I was so quick to suggest that Twilight be her foalsitter. It was also partly because they were related and that made me feel better about the whole thing but I doubted that Twilight Sparkle would ever be an untrustworthy character. At first I had thought that she would decline quickly because of Royal duties or something like that but to my surprise she had been very excited to be Lexi's foalsitter. She had jumped at the opportunity so quickly I was surprised that she hadn't asked me to do it!
I needed a foalsitter for Lexi because I had to personally catch a train to Canterlot, to give Ponyville's Senator our Annual Budget Statement. Whereas this could just as easily be mailed it contained information that was only meant for Federal employees, so naturally it had to be hoof delivered. Whereas this was normally a tradition reserved for the Mayor in this case she simply had one of her underlings do the work for her. In this case it was me.
"It's quite a long trip so I will have to stay there over night. Thank you again Twilight, so much, for being able to watch Lexi while I'm gone!"
"Oh it's my pleasure Aaron. And besides, just how could I say no to that cute little face!" Lexi tilted her head and made a cute little smile.
"Well I'll be happy to pay you as much as need for your time, after all it is valuable."
"That won't be necessary Aaron, All of my expenses are paid for as it is and I really don't need any extra bits. I used to do the same thing for Applebloom, and Sweetiebell back when they were just little fillies, and I never charged then so I won't this time either."
"Are you sure? I mean it doesn't really feel right to-"
"I'm absolutely sure Aaron. Don't worry, everything will be totally taken care of until you get back, I promise."
"Well it's not you I'm worried about Twilight. Isn't that right Lexi?" I looked at her and she blushed back. "I just don't want anything... fluttering around... while I'm away. You understand don't you Lexi?"
"Yeah I know daddy I promise I'll be good too."
"Okay. Well with that being said I suppose I had better get going. Don't wanna miss the train, goodbye everypony!"
"Goodbye Aaron take care!"
"Bye Daddy!"
"Alright so," Twilight said as she spun to face her new foal, "I've got plenty of activities planned out for us to do! For starters we can play chutes and ladders, then when we're done with that we're going to bake cookies, then it's study time."
"But I don't have any homework."
"There's never a wrong time to study Lexi! Didn't your dad ever teach you that?" She shook her head.
"Can we play a party game like pin the tail on the pony?"
"Well I'd like to but it just isn't on the list, I'm sorry, maybe next time."
"Do we have to do everything by the list?"
"Well of course we have to do everything by the list. If we didn't what would be the point of the list?"
"Maybe we shouldn't have a list...."
"Don't be silly now Lexi, everypony uses lists for everything!"
"Are you sure it's not just you?" Twilight paused for a second.
"Alright, fair enough. So what do you want to do first then?"
"Did you say there was cookies?"
"Absolutely, I've got the cookie dough right over-"
"I WANT TO DO THAT FIRST!" Lexi screamed bounding into the air. Though Twilight had been looking away when it happened her disguise faltered for just a moment.
"Ok fine. But don't tell your dad that I let you eat cookies before dinner."
"I won't."
A few minutes later they stood in the kitchen laying out little blotches of cookie dough onto a flat metal pan. Lexi's cookies were big and globby, while Twilight's cookies were all very neat and circular with about the same size and precisely the same amount of chocolate chips on each cookie. After they were laid out onto the tray Twilight opened up the oven, lit a fire inside and slid the tray into it to cook.
"Hey Twilight, I have a question."
"What is it?"
"How did you become an alicorn?"
Twilight giggled. "You'd be surprised how often I get asked that. I became an alicorn about seven years ago after I completed a spell that was only half finished made by one of the greatest ponies ever to live. Starswirl the Bearded."
"Who is Starswirl the Bearded?"
"You don't know?"
"I guess we haven't gotten to that point in class yet." Lexi said matter-of-factly. Gotten to that point. Gotten to that point? Hmmm.... She has a surprisingly large vocabulary for a six year old unicorn.
"Lexi have I told you that you remind me of somepony?"
"Who?"
"Well, actually, you kind of remind me of myself. You seem very intelligent for your age, who knows, maybe one day you could be an alicorn too!"
"My daddy says that I can be whatever I want to be and that also includes being an alicorn." Twilight kneeled down next to Lexi.
"That's some good advice Lexi. You listen to your daddy, he's a very smart pony. And yes, if you really want to than one day you can be an alicorn." She smiled down at her, and the young filly smiled right back.
"Well then that's what I'm gonna be! I'm gonna be an alicorn princess just like you Twilight! I'm sure that that's what my daddy wants me to be so that's what I'm gonna be."
"Well, I think that that is an excellent goal. And if you work really hard in life, you can definitely accomplish it."
A few minutes later the cookies came out of the oven and Twilight poured herself and Lexi each a cup of milk.
"So is Lexi a family name?"
"Fmmphnfmlll!"
"Lexi don't talk with your mouth full, that's not polite."
She swallowed the rest of her cookies. "I said I don't know. Lexi isn't even my full name."
"Really? So what is your full name?"
"Ale- umm.... uuummmmmm........ aaaaahhhhhhhhh- Lightning! yeah, that's it! My full name is Lightning." Twilight looked down at her a bit suspiciously.
"Oh really? Are you sure that's your full name?"
"Yup! Super-duper-duper sure!" She nodded her head furiously. Finally Twilight resumed eating her cookies.
"Okay. So who are your friends at school?"
"Well where do I begin! First theres my friend Pond Drop! She's so smart she knows everything about all kinds of plants and flowers and stuff! Then theres-"
And this continued into the night, with the two alicorns chatting up a storm well past one of their bedtimes. Finally they hit the hay and went to sleep. Meanwhile I was already fast asleep in a comfy bed several miles away. Though I didn't think about it much before I went to sleep that night it was the first time in four years that I had slept more than one room away from Lexi. I woke up in the morning already feeling homesick. Not for the Hive. For my real home.