//------------------------------// // Chapter 12 - Meet the Sparkles // Story: The Princess and the Foals // by Autum Breeze //------------------------------// Chapter 12 Meet The Sparkles _____________________________________________________________________ As the train jostled along, Twilight glanced down at her daughters, both who’d snuggled into her sides, sound asleep. She wrapped her wings them and they both gave loud yawns that made her smile warmly. Twilight looked out the window as Canterlot came into view. “Not long now, girls,” she whispered, closing her eyes. “Soon you’ll both get to meet you new family.” _____________________________________________________________________ “Ooh, when will they get here?!” Twilight Velvet said for the umpteenth time as she paced up and down the living room. “Mom, stop worrying so much. Twily will get here at 11:30 exactly. You know she’d never be even a second late,” Shining Armour assured his mother from the couch where he sat, his wife on his right and his and father his left. “Yes, dear, stop fussing. You’re acting as if these are your daughters we’re waiting to see instead of our daughter’s,” Night Light said, looking up from the newspaper he was reading. “How can I not fuss?” Velvet turned to her husband, her face a mixture of worry and excitement. “Our little Twily’s bringing her daughters here today. We’re grandparents, Night. We have grandchildren!” Her eyes were sparkling. Cadence chuckled. “Please, mother. Don’t worry. We’re all just as excited as you are.” She gave her husband the slightest nudge in the ribs. “Though I am surprise Twilight’s the first with children.” Shinning gave a nervous chuckle. There was a knock at the door, saving him from further discussion. Velvet nearly leaped to the ceiling at the sound. Shaking his head, Night Light put his paper down, got up, walked to the door and opened it. Standing outside was Twilight with Spike standing next to her, a foal carrier/saddlebag combo strapped to her back, two foals sitting in the straps on her right-side, sound asleep. “Hello, Dad,” she smiled and embraced her father. “Good to see you, honey,” he replied. There was a loud squeal and before either could respond, Velvet had shoved her husband aside and pulled her daughter into a bone-crushing hug. The two foals on Twilight’s side stirred a little, making sounds of unhappiness. “Mother!” Twilight gasped, barely any oxygen having gotten to her lungs before her mother’s vice-like grip encased her. “You’ll wake them!” Velvet let go of her daughter and smiled sheepishly. “Sorry, honey.” Twilight, after regaining her breath, smiled and walked inside. “Twily!” Shinning smiled as he and Cadence got up and walked towards her. Twilight levitated the saddle bag/foal carrier combo and gently lowered it and the foals to ground. She embraced her brother then turned to her former foal-sister/sister-in-law/cousin. “Sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake. Clap your hooves and do a little shake,” they whispered, going through their usual greeting, then giggled. “So, these are your little gems?” Cadence asked as Twilight levitated the foals out of their straps and a small soft blanket out of one of the saddlebag pouches. She folded out the blanket, making sure it was perfectly flat, then gently lowered the foals onto it, where they instinctively curled up next to each other. Everypony present D’aaawed at how cute they were. “So these are Scootaloo and Sunset Shimmer,” Velvet said, standing next to her daughter and smiling down at the sleeping foals. “Shimmer-Sparkle,” Twilight corrected her mother. “She insisted on the hyphen.” Velvet gave her daughter a puzzled look. “She insisted?” Twilight softly face-hoofed. “I explained this in my letter, mother. Both Sunset and Scootaloo aren’t really foals. They were turned into foals by some magic even Discord didn’t know he’d left behind until Sunset activated it. Despite their physical age their minds are far older. Though that doesn’t stop them being so cute.” She giggled as Sunset yawned and snuggled a little closer to Scootaloo. “Which is older?” Cadence asked, her eyes soft as she looked down at the sleeping foals. “Scootaloo,” Twilight nodded. “She’s a year older than Sunset.” “So Sunset got a mother and a big sister,” Shinning chuckled. “Does she get along with her BSBFF?” Twilight giggled. “Yes. They both insist on sleeping in the same crib. I’m not looking forward to when they’re too big to share.” “I can imagine,” Velvet said, glancing at her daughter. “When you were a foal you always wanted Shining to sleep in your crib with you.” “You did?” Twilight and Shining blushed as Cadence gave them a warm smile. “That’s so sweet.” Shining coughed. “So, how exactly did this all happen?” he asked, trying to change the subject. The next half hour was spent with Twilight explaining everything that had happened almost a month ago. About how she’d found Sunset in the Everfree Forest and watched her turn into a foal right before her eyes, learning that Sunset was from the human world, how she’d taken her in and decided to become her mother after learning Sunset was an orphan, how she’d found Scootaloo in an alley as a foal after Discord had tricked Scootaloo into drinking tea made with the last of the berries that turned Sunset into foal and how things had been going since the four of them (counting Spike) had become family. When she was finished, Velvet was crying, tears drenching the fur on her face. “Those poor dears,” she sobbed, blowing her nose in a hoofkerchief . “To be orphans at such young ages. How horrible. And Sunset was cut off from her entire world?” Twilight nodded sadly. “That fact that she arrived years after the Sunset from this world went to hers was big enough of a shock, let alone the fact that it’s still fifteen moons before the portal opens again. Now she’s a foal, there’s no chance she can go back.” She gave a small smile. “Though she’s said she wouldn’t want to anyway, now.” “I can see why,” Cadence said, wiping a fear tears of her own away and looking to the small foals as they slept, unaware of what was being talked about around them. “Here she has a loving mother an older sister. There... it sounds like she had nothing.” “Well, she did,” Twilight shook her head. “Though the other Sunset Shimmer clearly doesn’t mind that life, from what I could tell when I went there. She’s made a life for herself there.” There was silence for a few moments. Then the sounds of stirring turned everypony’s attention to the blanket. The two foals sat up, rubbing their eyes and looked around, puzzlement on their faces. They turned to all the adults and baby dragon and Sunset asked, “Mommy, where are we?” Twilight smiled. “Girls, meet the Sparkles.”