Part Two
Chapter 52
Fifteen Years
- - - Fifteen Years Later - - -
“Mom? Mooooom?”
“What is it, Charcoal?”
“I let Lilac borrow my biology textbook so she could look over the botany section, but she hasn’t given it back. I want to get a head start on the makeup work Cheerilee gave me before we go on vacation... do you know where she is?”
“Petticoat came by earlier to pick her up. The two of them headed out somewhere... I’m not sure where.”
“Gah!”
“I’m sure she didn’t bring it with her. Did you check her room?”
“No.”
“Go take a look.”
Fifteen years had passed since Twilight had first been dubbed the Princess of Friendship. Life was certainly different, to say the least. I still ran my shop and taught class in the afternoons, but I also had two beautiful children to call my own. Charcoal Stormwood was turning out to be quite the handsome young stallion, though he could be a bit... difficult at times. I was hoping it was just the teenage phase. He kept his hair a little too long in the front for my taste, and could be a bit rebellious at times. He was certainly still his daddy’s boy. His sister, however, had taken to her aunt.
Lilac Bud was a pale pink filly with a purple mane. Her eyes were a stunning clear blue, almost turquoise. (I wasn’t sure where these colors had come from, either, but after all the crazy things that had happened in my life, I didn’t question it. At least she hadn’t gained Charcoal’s shifting ability.) She kept her mane and tail short, similar to her beloved Aunt’s hairstyle, though her natural curl prevented her from keeping a straight, clean-cut edge. Wild Flower was actually the one to name Lilac on the day of her birth. We still hadn’t really thought of anything really special, and almost decided on calling her Rose as an ode to Torchwood’s mother. Just before the nurse had the chance to write anything on the birth certificate, however, Wild Flower happened to comment that she was as pretty as a new lilac bud. And so Lilac it was. Wild Flower spent a lot more time around our children lately, perhaps because she now had young ones of her own.
Cedar had finally proposed to Wild Flower, and the pair had a beautiful baby boy togther called Chance. Random color schemes seemed to be a genetic trait of our family, because he shared only Cedar’s blue mane. The blue eyes and bright yellow coat were all his own. He was three years younger than Charcoal, currently age 12. Later, Wild Flower had also adopted a blue paint coated filly called Ocean Mist. She was Lilac’s age at 7, and the two got along great.
Though Ocean Mist came by frequently, Lilac also had many friends locally. Her closest friend was Petticoat, Rarity’s daughter. Oh, yes. I probably should have mentioned that most of my friends had paired off by now.
The unexpected appearance of Twilight’s castle attracted visitors from all over the globe. The unicorn stallion Trenderhoof returned to Ponyville shortly after the castle’s formation to write a story on the strange happenings. Though Rarity had a serious crush on the stallion over the duration of his first visit, he had not returned her feelings. Rarity had gotten over it, and the two were able to peacefully coexist upon his second appearance. She even agreed to interview with him for his article. From there, something changed. Trenderhoof found a new admiration, even love for the mare, and it didn’t take long for Rarity’s feelings to resurface. It was obvious even after just the first few dates that they were a perfect couple. Indeed, the ensuing wedding made things official, and they had a beautiful filly together whom they named Petticoat.
Rainbow had also paired off. She continued to try out for the Wonderbolts flight group over the next couple of years, and therefore had more exposure to her all time heroes, Soarin’ in particular. He’d taken a shining to her ever since the Equestria Games tryouts where she’d brought their team closer together. When he suddenly appeared on her doorstep offering private practice sessions and exclusive flying tips, it became obvious that something was going on between them. They hit it off right away, and it wasn’t long before they were married with two children of their own, Spectrum, a powerful young colt, and Thunder Cloud, a lovely filly.
Pinkie had been dating Cheese Sandwich for some time now, but neither of them could take anything really seriously, let alone a relationship. Perhaps one day they would settle down together, but they just weren’t ready yet. Twilight had also been seeing that royal guard Flash Sentry more and more, and we all expected another royal wedding soon. But to our surprise, not much had happened between them. Perhaps Twilight was too busy with her royal duties to concern herself with a relationship, or maybe the long distance created an obstacle. Either way, everyone was shocked when Applejack married first.
The Tree had sent Applejack and Pinkie Pie off to Appleloosa to restore the earth ponies’ strength. The stallion Caramel had traveled all the way back to Ponyville to personally thank them, and things went from there. Now he was a proud member of the Apple family, and perhaps an even prouder father of Candy Apple. This left Fluttershy to be the last member of our group unpaired.
Candy, Thunder Cloud, Petticoat, and Lilac spent nearly every second together. Spectrum was known to be preoccupied with his younger sister and her friends a lot of the time, but had also been known to hang out with Pound Cake and Charcoal on occasion. Pumpkin was nearly seventeen, and being ten years older than the young girls, preferred to spend time at home, with her brother, or with mares her own age. By mares her own age, I mean adults that permitted her to remain in their company so she could feel more mature. Namely, the Cutie Mark Crusaders had accepted her to their group.
No longer the CMC, they’d all finally earned their cutie marks. Apple Bloom found her place working the farm, which was symbolized by a ripe red apple accompanied by a pale apple blossom. Scootaloo, not surprisingly, found her talent running about on that scooter of hers, which had been perfectly replicated on her flank. She now worked as an apprentice mechanic here in Ponyville, soon to be head mechanic after her boss retired. Sweetie Belle’s voice hadn’t failed her. She’d become one of the finest singers in Equestria, symbolized by a light purple treble clef surrounded by heart-shaped music notes. Pumpkin Cake had also gotten her cutie mark- a white frosted slice of orange cake tipped to its side.
Though Pumpkin could be a bit moody at times, her brother still loved her. If he wasn’t with Charcoal, Pound and Pumpkin were probably off together. Pound had found his talent in demolition, and had recently gotten his first job with a Cloudsdale construction crew. He still lived at home and had quite a flight, but enjoyed his work. He’d tried to convince Charcoal to start working with him, sure that he could snag my son a job if he wanted. But Charcoal didn’t want a job yet. Not until he knew what his destiny was, that is.
At fifteen, my son still had not uncovered his secret talent. I was under the impression this had a lot to do with his grouchy attitude and rebellious spirit. He was frustrated that he hadn’t found his place in this world, especially since at the age of three, his sister had found hers. Spending so much time in Wild Flower’s gardens must’ve rubbed off on her, because the image of a pale lily accompanied by a lilac clipping had appeared on her flank. Humiliated that his baby sister had earned hers first, Charcoal was very touchy about the subject, and often withdrew in himself. Of course I’d taught him everything I knew about art, and Torchwood had been an excellent coach in fire dancing. Though Charcoal was now expert at both trades, neither had turned out to be the right path for him. His best pony friend was Pound Cake, and Char sometimes confided in him about the matter, but he spent most of his time at the Dragon Craters where no one worried about cutie marks.
Speaking of dragons, Blaze was in his early twenties by now. He’d surpassed me in height by now, and shed all his baby fat as had Spike. Both were sheer muscle, and though their build might appear frightening to some, they were still as sweet as ever. They were growing up, and Twilight and I weren’t quite sure what would happen when they outgrew the houses here in Ponyville. There would be room for Spike in the castle, sure, but Art Life wasn’t that large. To my dismay, Blaze had been talking about moving in with Garble’s family in the Dragon Craters. Though the original group of teens had all grown up and paired off to start families of their own, they still got together to fool around occasionally. Blaze knew he would be welcome to stay under their protection if worst came to worst.
As for Torchwood, he’d kept to his promise of making more time for the family, and even broke off from his mailpony job. Instead, he started up his own shipping firm where he could have flexible hours. After perfecting his own fire dancing skills, he’d hired and trained a few thestrals himself. Stationed all across Equestria, the team sent and received mail all day long through their magical fire. Though this method didn’t require them to trek all across Equestria, it was still physically demanding, especially because of how popular it had become. Their method was far quicker and more efficient than traditional mailing, after all.
Our family was certainly changing. I could hardly keep up with the growth anymore. I felt so old- the gray stripe now running through my primary mane tie wasn’t helping, either. So Torchwood had decided it was finally time to go on a vacation together. We would visit Horseshoe Bay for a few days to let the kids play at the beach. Normally, we would have chosen Tall Tale Beach over Horseshoe, but after we had Lilac, Torch and I promised to back down on the ‘mythical creature nut’ titles. After Soot’s innocent comment in the Dragon Craters, we could see how our children might be teased about this reputation. We still pursued this hobby together, but a little more secretly than in the past. Not even Charcoal or Lilac knew hippocampi existed, so visiting our merpony friends without their knowing would be a bit difficult. We had to leave them behind when we did go see our hippocampi friends.
However, Torchwood always kept this hobby in mind when we planned vacations anymore. So far, we had visited the Smokey Mountain and Neighagra Falls, and Torch and I had taken a private trip up to the middle of nowhere in the Crystal Mountains. The trips made for fun family excursions, but we hadn’t found any hippogryphs. The last place we knew to check was the Foal Mountains before returning to square one, but Gilda had assured us multiple times that she’d never spotted any, and she’d grown up there. We still thought it would be a good idea to check for ourselves, so after a few days at the beach we’d wrap up our vacation in an isolated log cabin. There was a village with antique craft shops nearby and a ski resort so the kids wouldn’t be bored. I still thought it was crazy to go from a hot climate to the freezing cold mountains, but we often split our vacations like this so the kids could have their say. They wanted to go to the beach, so at least this way we would still get a chance to look for the hippogryphs.
We were leaving tomorrow, and I was busy packing. This particular cabin, which we believed to be nearby a hippogryph settlement, had already been booked for the next school break. Yet if we were successful, it could be a once in a lifetime opportunity, and Torch and I just couldn’t pass it up. I’d talked things over with Cheerilee, and she was happy to provide their makeup work before we even left. Charcoal was good about getting his done, but Lilac was procrastinating out with her friends again. I trotted upstairs to see if Char had found his book.
We’d converted the nursery to a real bedroom for him, and later added on a second addition for Lilac. It was this room at the end of the hall Charcoal was hesitantly poking around in. Lilac practically worshipped her older brother, and didn’t mind him in her room, but he still held his breath inside the girly bedroom as though he still believed in ‘cooties.’ He moved so slowly that Bandit ended up doing most of the work.
By the time Torchwood had come to his senses about keeping a snake-eating critter in the same house as Heckley, the two had already bonded so much even I didn’t have the heart to break them up. I still kept them both at opposite ends of the house, and they each learned to mind their own business. There were times I wished we had gotten rid of the mischievous weasle, but overall, I was glad we kept him. Even when no pony or dragon could get through to Charcoal, Bandit stuck by his side.
I refrained from giggling at the sight of the two cautiously rummaging through the stuffed toys lining the wall, and knocked. “Find it yet?”
“No,” Charcoal growled.
“Okay, okay, no need to get upset,” I assured, striding further into the room. “It must be around here somewhere.”
“That’s it. I’m never trusting her with my books again!”
“No need for drastic measures.”
“If she lost it, I’ll have to pay for it!”
“No, I’ll have to pay for it. And it isn’t lost, just misplaced by someone we currently aren’t in contact with. Maybe she stuck it in her saddlebags by mistake. Have you checked those yet?”
“I’m not going through a girl’s bag!” he exclaimed, horrified at the thought.
“Okay, okay, I’ll check,” I promised, rolling my eyes and hauling the bags up onto the bed. “Oh, see, here it is.” I pulled out the missing item and gave it over. He snatched it with a barely audible ‘thanks.’ With Bandit draped over his back, he grouchily returned to his room. I sighed, and resumed packing. He’d been especially solitary since the dragons migrated south for the winter. I was also hoping to use this vacation as a way to spend quality time together, and maybe finally get through to him.
“Hey, we’re home,” Torchwood called. I poked my head around the corner as he shut the door behind him, Petticoat and Lilac giddily galloping ahead.
“Hey! You’re home early.” I pecked his lips in greeting.
“I thought I’d come home early to help with the packing. Earthen Flame is covering my shift,” he fondly nuzzled me back.
“Well, that’s great, but there’s not a whole lot more to do.”
“You aren’t going to send me back, are you?” he teasingly smirked.
“Absolutely not! I’m sure we can come up with something to do,” I slyly batted my eyes.
“I like the sound of that,” he chuckled.
“Ooh! Can we get the girls together and go out for ice cream?” Lilac hopefully pleaded, rebounding from frolicking about the studio with Petticoat.
“Please?” both of them begged, offering the most pleading, pitiful looks they could manage.
“Sorry, young lady, but you have tons of homework,” I reminded my daughter.
“But Mom!” she whined, “It’s not due until after we get back from vacation!”
“Be honest with us, Lilac. Are you really going to do your homework on vacation?” Torchwood skeptically raised an eyebrow.
“Well...” she flattened her ears and wondered if she could convince us she would.
“Go! Off with you!” I shooed, nudging her off to her room.
“Sorry, Petticoat,” Torchwood turned to the remaining disappointed filly.
“Oh,” the unicorn dejectedly pouted. She was a pitiful sight- she’d inherited Rarity’s white coat and her father’s blond hair, and it was hard to turn down such a cute filly. Her eyes were red-violet, and her short, bouncy hair was clasped with a red hairband, currently embellished with a row of clear stick-on gems. Next week it would probably have some new embellishment, knowing the way Rarity dressed up her daughter. Petticoat never minded, though- she too, had already earned her cutie mark in modeling. A silky red dress with a golden waistband was displayed on her flank. “See you later, I guess, Lilac.”
“See you.” We waited until Lilac had gone up to her room and Petticoat had started home.
“You realize this means we have the evening all to ourselves?” I prompted.
“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”
“Only if you’re thinking something along the lines of a romantic dinner... maybe a little stargazing later tonight?”
“Well, I was thinking we could do a little more digging around this hippogryph legend, but that sounds good too.”
“Torch!” I lightly swatted him. He laughed to let me know he was joking and pounced from behind, drawing me into a hug before a friendly toussel broke out.
“No, dinner sounds nice,” he hummed, craning his neck to kiss me from behind.
“Get a room,” Blaze teased, ducking through the doorway.
“Hello to you, too.”
“Have a good day?” I hugged him in welcoming.
“Yeah. It’s kind of lonely now that the flock migrated away. It’s just Spike and me, now.”
“There’s plenty of ponies you get along with in town,” Torch pointed out.
“We’re getting a little big to visit any of the shops,” he dryly pointed out. Indeed, he barely fit through the door anymore. As a teenager, he could get away with it, but ten years older than Charcoal, he was twenty five, and had grown almost larger than what the house’s structure would allow.
“That doesn’t mean you can’t have a good time outside the shops,” I encouraged.
“Why don’t you round up some of the guys? I bet Pound Cake would go, and maybe Spectrum. Who knows? Maybe you can even CONVINCE CHARCOAL TO GO,” Torchwood suggested, raising his voice so our son upstairs would be sure to hear.
“Busy,” the teen grunted back.
“Aw, come on, Char! We dragons gotta stick together! Get down here so I can talk to you!” Blaze called up, unable to fit his wide shoulders through the narrow stairwell. It had always been small, but once Blaze’s figure readjusted so he now walked on all fours, he had been unable to access any of the rooms upstairs. (He now slept in the recently converted and expanded laundry room.)
“I have homework!” the boy insisted again... “And I’m not a dragon.”
“You’ve nearly finished,” I pressed. “Go on! Have some fun!”
“You just told Lilac to go do hers!”
“Yeah! You just told me to do mine!” the little pink filly peered down from the top of the stairwell.
“So why aren’t you doing it?” I challenged, raising an eyebrow at her. She grumbled something inaudible as she marched back. “You’ve gotten a good headstart. I’m sure you can finish it over the weekend before you go back to school.”
“I don’t want to go out.”
“It is unhealthy for you-”
“Hey, it’s okay, really,” Blaze gripped my shoulder before I marched up to his room. “If he doesn’t wanna go, he doesn’t have to. I’ll check in with everyone else, though.”
“I still say it’s not healthy for him to spend so much time locked away in his room,” I muttered.
“I better go,” Blaze excused himself.
“What? But you just got back.”
“Well, like you said, I’ve got some ponies to round up. And I don’t want to outgrow the door,” he joked, headed out. He did pause in the entryway, grunting a bit more than usual.
“Need help?” Torch worriedly asked. Blaze finally popped through on his own.
“I’m good.”
“I worry about him,” I sighed, sagging into Torchwood like one might the back of a chair. “He can’t stay here much longer.”
“I know. But we’ll deal with that when the problem presents itself.”
“What are you talking about? He can barely fit through the door as it is!”
“Well, it’s too late to send him out with the flock.”
“You aren’t saying he has to leave?!” I quietly exclaimed.
“I don’t want him to leave either, honey, but... we’re running out of options.”
“You think Twilight would let him stay at her castle? The doorways are all huge, and that’s where Spike stays.”
“I’m sure she’ll be more than happy to accomodate him.”
“Yeah... it’ll just feel so weird. I still remember when he wasn’t tall enough to see over the crowd at the Equestria Games. I used to carry him around on my back!” I ruefully laughed. “I guess he’d be the one carrying me, now.” I bit my lip.
“Hey, what is it?” Torch noticed tears welling up in my eyes.
“It’s just... they’re growing up so fast.”
“Too fast,” he agreed. “And turning us both gray in the process.”
“You too?” I exclaimed. So far, I’d recieved plenty of teasing about my gray streak from him, but if he was finally graying too, maybe the remarks would stop. Or at least I’d have some leverage. He laughed and reluctantly pointed out one of his blond streaks, which had indeed grayed. It somehow struck me as hilarious, and I burst out in a laughing fit, quite literally rolling on the floor.
“Oh, come here, you!” I squealed as he picked me up and twirled me around like a foolish newlywed.
“Torch! Not in the studio!” I cackled. He continued to spin us anyway, and I didn’t complain until we knocked over a cup of pencils. Only then did he set me down, both of us still giggling as we picked up the mess.
“I guess we should really finish packing,” he commented, setting the cup back down and eyeing the open suitcase.
“Then dinner,” I reminded him.
“Then dinner.”