Ivy was nervous. She hadn’t been on a train in quite some time. It had been so long that she couldn’t even remember her first train ride, back when she had been delivered. Her tummy rumbled. She hadn’t eaten anything in a while. Ivy didn’t want any accidental discharges. Setting the train on fire would be awful.
There was noise all around her as she tried to get comfortable in her seat. She squirmed. In the seats across from her sat her mother and her father. The seat next to her was empty. Fluttershy was busy whispering something into Discord’s ear, and with the way her father was cackling, Ivy wasn’t sure she wanted to know what was being said.
The seats were a lot more comfortable for pony tails, Ivy decided. Her own tail was solid. Bulky when curled up. And at least five or six times the length of her body. It also had a mind of its own and its own very distinct personality, which was very different from Ivy’s. Ivy’s tail was full of mischief. Ivy knew for certain that she was sweet and innocent. Her mother had told her so. But her tail was nothing but trouble and her mother had confirmed that fact.
Ivy eyed the luggage rack above her and wondered if she could hang from that for the duration of the trip.
There were only a few other ponies in the car, spread out to other places.
One more pony entered the car, and Ivy felt her heart leap into her throat. An obnoxiously purple unicorn boarded, levitating a bag behind her.
“Oh hi hi!” Ivy exclaimed, falling back on old habits. She squirmed in her seat, her tail writhing.
The unicorn drew closer, smiling. She stuffed her bag into the overhead compartment and drew close to Ivy.
“Mind if I sit down?” Sugarplum asked, leaning in close to Ivy.
Ivy said nothing but threw her forelegs around the unicorn’s neck and squeezed.
“Hello Sugarplum.” Said Fluttershy.
“Hi there!” Discord chuckled.
Ivy continued to squeeze for a moment, and then let go. Sugarplum took the seat next to Ivy.
“I’m going to a special school!” Ivy announced.
“So I’ve heard.” Sugarplum replied with a smile.
“Out on business?” Discord asked.
“Yes,” answered Sugarplum, “just made a delivery.”
“Somepony got a good home?” Ivy asked.
“I think so,” responded Sugarplum, “the colt I just delivered is living with a candy maker now.”
“Lyra and Bon Bon?” Fluttershy asked. “Rarity said that Bon Bon had told her about wanting to adopt when they were in the spa together.”
Sugarplum nodded.
“Oh this is a happy day.” Fluttershy said. And then she seemed to droop a bit. “And a sad day. Ivy is leaving.”
Discord wrapped a foreleg around Fluttershy and squeezed.
“How long,” asked Sugarplum, “if you don’t mind me asking.”
Fluttershy rubbed her belly with a forehoof.
“A few more months,” she said in a low whisper, “sometime around Hearth Warming.”
“So a special gift for the holidays.” Sugarplum replied.
“I’m getting something special for Hearth Warming?” Ivy asked.
“Yes.” Discord looked at Ivy. “You are getting something wonderful for Hearth’s Warming.”
Ivy squirmed. She couldn’t help it. Sitting on her tail didn’t help either.
“Do you still have your dolls Ivy?” Sugarplum asked.
Ivy beamed, her crest rising. She seemed embarrassed. “They’re in my bag.” Ivy replied in a low whisper. “I know I’m supposed to be all grown up now…” Ivy’s voice ended abruptly.
“How are they?” Sugarplum asked.
“Oh, they’re fine. I’m very careful with them. Twilight cast a spell on them for me cleaning them up and making them almost like new again.” Ivy gave an embarrassed glance to Sugarplum. “And Rarity made them some clothing.”
“I can’t believe I was recreated as a doll of all things.” Discord interrupted. “I should be an action figure or something. Something not a doll! Scandalous! A toy for little fillies.”
Fluttershy giggled.
“Ivy would throw little tea parties and put me in a little yellow dress. The indignity.” Discord rolled his eyes.
Sugarplum began to chuckle.
“But you look pretty in the yellow dress daddy…” Ivy said while trying to stifle a giggle.
“These seats were never designed for draconic entities with tails!” Discord announced suddenly, squirming in his seat.
“And there was a fetching bright pink ribbon too.” Fluttershy interjected.
Discord glared at her for a moment. “Ugh.” He grumbled.
“I kinda liked the red and white polka dot dress.” Ivy offered.
“Too garish,” Fluttershy said, “clashes with Discord’s earthy tones.”
“Who says something has to match?” Ivy asked in wounded tones.
“Oh, I didn’t mean it in a bad way. Sometimes mismatching things are beautiful too!”
Ivy grinned broadly.
“You… you… you were putting me on!” Fluttershy stammered. “Just like your father does.”
“Yeah I was,” said Ivy, snickering.
“You’ve grown so much Ivy.” Fluttershy said. “My little Climbing Ivy. Off growing when I’m not looking. And now you are leaving home. You are going to grow so much when I am not there to see.” Fluttershy’s eyes flooded suddenly. She buried her face against Discord’s side.
“Fluttershy tears keeps my fur incredibly soft and silky.” Discord said with a half hearted sigh, his own attempt at humour failing to cheer himself up. He slumped in his chair and pulled Fluttershy closer.
“All foals leave home at some point. Ivy is too special for you two to keep her all to yourselves. You’re going to have to share her with the world. You’ve done a good job preparing her for whatever life has to offer her.” Sugarplum said in encouraging tones.
“And I’ll be back for visits. And there will be plenty of times that I’ll be in Ponyville along with my fellow students when it is Twilight’s turn to give us lessons. And I’ll be home for Applejack’s birth. I haven’t missed one of those yet, even though I really don’t remember the first time very much.” Ivy sounded sad. “I’m not sure I’ve done a very good job of talking myself into this.”
“You will be fine.” Sugarplum insisted. “There are some very important lessons that you can only learn when you are very young. When your mind is still fresh and you are a blank slate, when you are still filled with awe and wonder about the world around you, when you still ask why, before life finds a way to squash the wonder out of you and you begin to think like an adult. To be a foal, to be young, when your toys still talk to you, and there are marvelous stories and adventures to be found in your toy box, while your imagination is still developing and all of your possibilities are still endless, and life hasn’t had found a way to shorten your horizons just yet.”
Ivy’s muzzle scrunched. It was a lot to take in. She wished that she was hanging right side up right now, letting the blood flow to her brain so she could think about everything that was just said. She suddenly felt very upside down sitting in her chair. Directions didn’t make sense anymore.
“My toys still talk to me.” Ivy said, still trying to take everything in. “And there are still stories to be told. My dolls have lots of adventures, just like Daring Do.”
“Then it isn’t too late. Now is a special time for you to be learning. Do not squander this time Ivy.” Sugarplum said in a very serious tone. “Remember to play and study in equal parts. Remember to play while you are studying, and make sure you study while you play. Do you understand Ivy?”
“I’m not sure I do.” Ivy said.
Sugarplum smiled gently. “Pay attention to how your dolls and toys treat one another as you project life into them. Are they kind? Are they mean? Are they noble? Do they share among one another? Are they selfish?”
Ivy’s mind flooded suddenly, and she was overwhelmed. She felt kind of faint. Her thoughts raced and whirled. Her dolls, her toys, had their own life. How did Sugarplum know this? Their own personalities. Every stuffy she had was unique, different, and she knew them all so very well. Ivy’s eyes darted about, her ears rose and fell, and then rose again, her tail began to twitch fitfully.
“Ivy?”
Sugarplum’s voice seemed far away at the moment.
“Climbing Ivy?”
“Yes?” Ivy finally replied.
“What I said is sinking in, isn’t it?” Sugarplum asked.
“I dunno…” Ivy answered honestly.
“You are a very smart little filly Ivy. You’ll take all of this in and you will find some meaning. Try to not let it overwhelm you.” Sugarplum’s voice was gentle, soothing.
Ivy struggled and stammered for several minutes, trying to work out a response. Her parents were looking at her, and Sugarplum had a foreleg wrapped around her shoulders.
“All of my dolls are good to one another.” Ivy finally said. “I don’t have a cruel doll.”
She grabbed her twitching tail in both of her talons and gave it a thoughtful squeeze.
“I had a very mean doll when I was a little filly foal.” Fluttershy said in a quiet voice. “He was cruel to me and I knew he didn’t like me. He was bossy and controlled my other toys.” She finished with a squeak. She sniffled a bit. “One day I packed him away in a box along with a lot of my other toys. I went to flight camp. I was growing up.” Fluttershy paused, looking terrified. “And when I was at flight camp, I could still hear his voice, teasing me and saying horrible things to me. Bad things. About how I couldn’t fly, and how everypony was staring at me and laughing, and worthless and weak I was, what I terrible pegasus I was.” Fluttershy wheezed, her chest heaving. Her voice was almost inaudible.
Discord gave her a supporting squeeze.
“Discord?” Sugarplum asked.
“What?” Discord replied in a flat guarded voice.
“Anything to say?”
“No.”
“Surely you have an experience from when you were young. You were young once. Didn’t you have toys? I mean, I know you were young a long time ago, but dolls and simple toys have been around for a very, very long time.”
Discord fell completely silent.
“Say something for Ivy?” Sugarplum prodded.
“I don’t want to say anything because of Ivy.” Discord said flatly.
“Why?” Ivy asked.
“I don’t understand,” said Sugarplum, “you’ve been very open about your life so far to teach Ivy all sorts of things.”
Discord growled faintly.
“Daddy?” Ivy asked.
“Fine!” Discord snapped. “I never had any toys.”
“That’s tragic.” Sugarplum said sincerely.
“There was no time for toys. No place for them. No home for them.”
Sugarplum seemed genuinely sad.
“We were creatures that lived in the wilds. We weren’t welcomed in civilisation.” Discord snarled. “We didn’t have soft warm beds and a roof over our heads. We had nothing. I had nothing.”
“Surely you had your parents.” Sugarplum responded.
Discord’s expression became rancorous.
“I guess not.” Sugarplum said gently.
“Daddy?” Ivy said again.
“What Sprout?” Discord said, trying to hold in his venom.
“What happened?”
“Daddy doesn’t want to talk about it.” He snapped.
“Talk!” Ivy commanded. She glared at her father.
“It isn’t something you should be hearing.” Discord muttered.
“I’ve learned from every story you’ve told me.” Ivy said in an irritated voice. “You’ve made me learn! You didn’t explain, you made me think about it and figure it out. Now talk!” Ivy bared her teeth.
“Ivy,” Sugarplum said gently, “you shouldn’t bare your teeth like that. You look very aggressive, and it might scare somepony. You have an awful lot of teeth.”
“Sugarplum, leave her be.” Fluttershy said gently. “We’re ponies. This is a dispute between two draconic entities. We should respect their ways. The other ponies might be scared, but nothing really bad will happen. Let them sort it out.”
Sugarplum paused, realising her psychology was pony-centric. She felt humbled.
Ivy’s crest was fully erect. Her eyes were narrowed, her teeth bared. She glared at her father and there seemed to be a silent contest of wills. Her slitted grey eyes glittered with raw anger.
Discord relented, turning away.
Ivy calmed.
“Fine.” Discord said in defeat. He sighed.
“I don’t know who or what my father was. Probably another crossbreed. There were other crossbreeds around. We didn’t always get along with one another, but we lived near one another in a valley.”
Ivy’s crest relaxed and her anger had completely vanished. Sugarplum jotted down a lot of mental notes.
“My mother was a bit like me,” he continued, “a jumbled mess. I didn’t know her name. I had only ever called her mama.” Discord sniffed. His talons drummed on the windowsill.
“I don’t know if you should be hearing this Sprout.” Discord warned.
“Out with it.” Ivy said, her muzzle contorting. “You don’t let me hold in stuff when I’m gloomy. You drag it out of me and I don’t get a say in the matter.”
“Ivy, perhaps this is a bad idea.” Said Sugarplum.
Ivy continued to stare at her father.
“Griffons came to the valley,” continued Discord, “hunting for food. It was winter. Cold. The world was a lot colder back then. There was a lot of ice.”
Ivy felt a prickle in her tail.
“Stop.” Ivy said.
Discord looked at her.
Ivy squirmed in her chair.
“Make up your mind Sprout.”
“The griffons did something bad, didn’t they?”
“Yes Sprout.”
“Found food?”
Sugarplum fought back a sudden wave of nausea.
Fluttershy let out a low squeal.
Ivy squirmed out of her chair and crawled up into her father’s chair, settling into his forelegs.
“That’s enough for now.” Ivy said, resting her head against Discord’s shoulder.
“Discord.” Sugarplum’s voice was choked with raw emotion.
“Yes?”
Sugarplum struggled to find her voice. “I am going to have some dolls made for you.”
“Why?” Discord asked. “You don’t know what my parents looked like. I don’t have adopted parents. What purpose would they serve?”
Sugarplum made a dismissive gesture with her hoof. “The dolls will look like Fluttershy and Ivy. Your family. Perhaps some time spent reflecting upon them is in order.”
Discord stared out the window. They were going up the winding grade towards Canterlot. It wouldn’t be long now. An antler poked him in the chin.
“I think I’d like that.” Discord finally replied. “Fluttershy?” He asked.
He felt her lean against him, cuddling close against him and Ivy.
“Would you like to play dolls with me?”
Fluttershy sputtered for a moment. “Why does everything have to be a joke to you?” She asked, a hint of anger in her tone.
“I wasn’t joking.”
“Oh…” Fluttershy responded, “oh, I am sorry… I thought you were joking. You usually make jokes to deal with uncomfortable situations, I am so so sorry, please forgive me I…”
“No worries dearest.” He said, interrupting her. “Well, would you?”
“I guess so?” Fluttershy answered.
Discord turned his gaze back out the window. Ivy was silent against his chest.
“Playing with dolls together could be therapeutic.” Sugarplum offered.
“I know.” Discord said. “I remember our therapy sessions while I recovered. I remember them fondly. They brought me to where I am now. I am happy now. Content. I’ve made peace with life.”
“Is this why you are so protective of me?” Ivy asked suddenly.
Discord said nothing.
“This is why you stayed alone, isn’t it?”
“I had relationships.” Discord admitted.
“Warring with Celestia and Luna was not a relationship.”
“Sure it was.”
“Not a good one.”
Discord sighed and tried to find something interesting out the window.
“My leaving is hurting you.” Ivy poked him in the chest with a talon.
Discord said nothing.
Sugarplum was staring at him.
He sighed heavily.
“I can’t keep you forever. Sooner or later I had to let go.”
“Letting somepony in was hard enough, wasn’t it Discord?” Asked Sugarplum.
“One of the most difficult things ever.”
Sugarplum realised that even her language was pony-centric. She felt conflicted. There were other sentient races. Ponies were going to have make changes, and soon.
“I’ll send letters.” Ivy said. “I’ve already promised to write to Gala, Honeycrisp, and Appleseed. And you’ll be busy looking after mama. She’s going to need you.”
“And making pottery.” Discord added. “Some little filly keeps eating all of the tableware.”
“Now look here, if I didn’t eat it, the cupboards would get full, and you wouldn’t need to make more, and you wouldn’t be learning anything or getting better. You need me.”
Ivy logic, Fluttershy thought to herself.
“More than you know.” Discord said.
“I’m hungry somethin’ awful…” Ivy said, mimicking the Apple family drawl.
“There’s going to be a meal when you get there.” Fluttershy replied.
“I guess you won’t be there.”
“We can’t. This is a special time for you to get to know your teachers and your fellow students. We’ll get a chance to say goodbye later, and then Discord and I are going home.”
Ivy slumped against her father.
“Ivy, your antlers. They’re stabby.”
“I know daddy. And they itch like crazy.”
“Ivy, you should watch deer and see how they deal with itchy antlers.”
“I know mama.”
“I wonder how large they will grow.” Sugarplum said.
“Sugarplum, do I have a story to tell you…” Discord said, a faint cackle in his voice.
“Hmm?” Sugarplum responded.
“When Ivy was younger,” he started, “she was sitting on the sofa with her mother. I couldn’t move too well back then. Her antlers were starting to grow. She was watching her mother knit and kept poking at Fluttershy’s yarn with her claw.”
Ivy did her best to try and melt from embarrassment. “No…” she muttered.
“Fluttershy was getting frustrated. She’s too kind to actually do much about it, but Ivy wouldn’t stop poking at the yarn and her mother’s knitting.”
Fluttershy squirmed uncomfortably. “Oh, what I did was awful, just awful.”
“So Ivy keeps poking and Fluttershy finally loses her patience. She took a ball of yarn and jammed it down onto Ivy’s little antler. Ivy completely froze, her little eyes going cross eyed as she tried to look up and see what was on her head.”
Ivy fidgeted while Fluttershy whimpered.
“Ivy fell right over and didn’t move. She just laid there for a while, trying to figure out what was stuck to her adorable little head.”
Sugarplum began to chuckle.
“She finally tries to reach up and remove it, but her little forelegs are far too short. Ivy completely freaked out, slunk off of the couch, and then hid under the other sofa, yowling pitifully.”
Fluttershy hung her head. “I feel so ashamed.”
“Is it possible to die from being embarrassed?” Asked Ivy. “He always tells this story to everypony!”
“Fluttershy had to lure her out with a jar of apple butter. She had to leave it in the middle of the floor with the lid off the jar and wait for Ivy to emerge, so she could catch Ivy and remove the ball of yarn.” Discord cackled with fiendish glee. “But that isn’t the worst of it.”
“Oh no…” Fluttershy murmured. “No, please, stop. You’ve had your fun.”
“Ivy never got any of the apple butter. Fluttershy put it away after the yarn was removed. Ivy was one cranky little monster for the rest of the afternoon. Refused to take her nap.”
Fluttershy drooped in her chair, slumping down. Her forehooves were resting on her stomach.
Ivy crawled out of her father’s forelegs and into her mother’s seat, crowding her mother.
“You’re awful!” She announced as she retreated.
“I know.” Discord replied.
Ivy cuddled against her mother, who cuddled her back. “I’m sorry I didn’t give you any apple butter. I wasn’t thinking.”
“We’re going to be in Canterlot soon,” announced Discord, looking out the window, “I’m glad we’ve had this family moment of bonding over embarrassment.”
Ivy’s tail booped Discord in the nose. He stared down at for a moment, cross eyed. “Why you little…” It swished away and coiled around one of Fluttershy’s hind legs.
Canterlot awaited.