Heart of Shadow: Passing the Torch

by TheCrimsonDM


Chapter Nine: Family Reunion

Passing the Torch
Chapter Nine: Family Reunion
Written by TheCrimsonDM

It was getting dark outside before Amber Light finally began walking home. Hanging out with Jade had been fun, and having a new friend left her feeling happy. It might’ve been late but Amber was sure that her mother wouldn’t mind after learning about the new friend she had made today.

The lights coming from inside the house were so inviting, and the porch light greeted Amber offering safety for the night. Amber couldn’t wait to walk in but something was off about the porch. Usually there was a gray ribbon tied to the awning post, something that Amber’s mother set out in hopes that her lover would return safely. The ribbon was taken down whenever said pony came back. The ribbon was gone.

The urge to turn around now, go to Twilight’s and spend the night hit Amber Light like a speeding train. Before Amber could even turn around though, the front door swung open and Trixie stared happily at Amber.

“Come on in, Amber,” Trixie said energetically.

Even if Amber hated her other parent, she did have to admit that seeing Trixie’s happy face was important to her. With very heavy steps Amber followed her mother inside.

“I made a new friend today,” Amber said, in an attempt to distract herself.

Trixie giggled. “That’s great, you can tell us all about it over dinner. But first you need to give your other mother a hug.”

Amber growled. Tonight was going to suck eggs, and there was nothing she could do to make it better. Trixie led Amber into the living room where Amber saw two ponies sitting on the couch. Pinkie Pie sat on the closest end holding a cup of tea and smiling brightly as ever. Next to Pinkie Pie sat a gray earth pony with a purple mane done in a style very similar to Twilight’s, and she stared at Amber with a bored expression.

“Amber Light, we were just talking about you,” Pinkie said, with enthusiasm.

“Oh yeah, I bet there was a lot of energy in that conversation, especially from Maud,” Amber said sarcastically, while giving a sour look to the gray mare.

“I heard you’re studies with Princess Twilight are going well,” Maud said, her dull blue eyes stared blankly at Amber.

It was unnerving for other ponies to see Maud’s emotionless expression, but for Amber it only made her angry. She couldn’t understand why one of her parents couldn’t even smile for their daughter, especially when they were gone most of the time on business trips. Maud had the full range of emotions that anypony else did, and she was intelligent enough to hold a conversation with Trixie at an equal level, so why couldn’t Maud just show her love for once?

Amber stomped in and sat on the couch opposite of Maud. Trixie joined her. Things weren’t quiet for long as Trixie and Pinkie began talking. Both Maud and Amber sat in perfect silence, staring at each other with flat expressions. It wouldn’t have been so awkward if Maud only said something.

Finally when Trixie was done explaining her day at the magic school she looked at Amber and said, “Why don’t you tell us about what Twilight’s been tutoring you on lately?”

Amber smiled evilly, this gave her a chance to get a response from Maud. “Oh, I set a pony on fire. So Twilight’s teaching me how to use non lethal spells.”

Maud’s expression didn’t change, but she did look at Trixie. “Is that true?”

A shameful look came into Trixie’s eyes and she looked away. “Y-yes it is. But Amber was just trying to protect her friend from a bully. Nothing bad happened, and Blackout is okay…”

“You lied to me,” Maud said flatly.

Trixie’s ears folded back. “I didn’t lie, everything worked out just fine.”

“You told me that there were no problems. This is a problem,” Maud said, her serious tone made Trixie frown.

“I’m sorry… I guess you’re right, but we’re working on it…” Trixie said lamely.

Maud closed her eyes and released a shallow breath. “I’m going to stay home for a while. You make enough income for us to survive without me doing anymore geological surveys.”

Amber looked at Trixie, and then at Maud. She couldn’t help but to exclaim, “What? How long are going to stay for?”

Maud looked at Amber with dull eyes and explained, “Three years.”

Amber’s jaw hit the floor and her mind raced. Maud was planning on staying until she was eighteen! This was the exact opposite of what she had wanted to have happen.

“You can’t do that? You can’t just stay here? You have to go out and leave for your work!” Amber said, her panic was taking over.

Trixie nudged Amber in the shoulder and said gently, “When you say it like that, it sounds like you don’t want her here with us.”

Amber opened her mouth, but wisely chose to hold her tongue. Sure she didn’t like the idea of Maud being around all the time, but she knew how badly it would hurt Trixie if she voiced her opinion. Amber gave it a moment and saw the odd look in her aunt’s eyes and realized that Pinkie was catching on.

To divert Pinkie’s attention, Amber said lamely, “I’m glad your home. I was just worried about what we would do for money…”

“I can work for Pinkie Pie if we need the extra money,” Maud explained.

That settled it, Maud was back and this time she was here to stay. Amber felt like her entire little world was going to change now, with Maud actually living here things would never be the same. Now resigned to her new fate she could only hope for the best.

***

When dinner was served Amber and Maud stayed quiet, while Pinkie and Trixie continued speaking loudly. Amber was sitting next to Maud this time, leaving her feeling very awkward. The stew was pretty decent but good food in bad company didn’t make for an okay meal.

“So today one of my students got their horn stuck in a pencil sharpener,” Trixie said as though it was completely normal. “Pulling him free was tiring to say the least.”

Pinkie Pie nearly bounced in her seat and said, “Oh that’s nothing, today I caught Hushpuppy trying to bake cookies, he started a fire.”

Trixie gave a serious look at Pinkie Pie and then grinned. “Oh, but last week I had a student get lost on a field trip in the Everfree forest.”

Pinkie Pie actually bounced this time. “Sophie got lost in the Everfree with a baby bunny rabbit.”

Amber let out a frustrated sigh, these two were at it again. There was always some kind of contest going on between Trixie and Pinkie when it came to telling stories. Amber looked at Maud and saw the faintest curl of the stoic pony’s lips, almost like a smile. That dug into Amber’s skin. She wondered how Maud could smile at these two acting like foals, but not at her daughter’s success.

Maud looked over at Amber and the almost smile disappeared. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Amber replied.

Amber looked at Trixie who was holding a fork with one hoof and waving it about. “I had to fight off the spiders with nothing but my magic to guide me, and because of the curse my magic was slowly killing me!”

Pinkie rolled her eyes. “The bugbear was destroying Ponyville, and after Rainbow Dash was injured I was left alone to vanquish the beast with cake! Cake is not a great weapon mind you… unless you’re at a party, then it’s the best weapon.”

Hearing these two tell their silly stories was getting annoying. Amber took another bite of her food followed by a sip of her drink. Unfortunately it wasn’t mead. A gentle hoof found its place on Amber’s shoulder prompting Amber to look at the hoof’s owner.

“What is it, Maud?” Amber asked bitterly.

“I did something to hurt you. What did I do?” Maud asked.

Amber looked away while brushing the hoof away from her. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

“I can’t fix it if you don’t tell me.”

Amber growled. “You couldn’t fix all the times you weren’t there for me, or mom, no matter what you do. It’s not like time travel is real.”

Maud looked down at her own bowl of food. “I’m sorry, Amber. I had to work, we needed the money.”

“No, we needed a family,” Amber said angrily.

Amber looked up and saw both Pinkie and Trixie standing on their hind legs and staring at one another.

“I had to travel to another world and defeat an evil Celestia while helping out a good version of King Sombra,” Pinkie Pie declared.

Trixie spread her forelegs apart and in a powerful voice said, “I became an alicorn of darkness, and struck down the stallion who murdered my father. Then I went to take out our Princess Celestia and-“

Amber had finally had enough of everypony pretending everything was normal. She stood up and shouted, “SHUT UP!”

The two mares stopped telling their grandiose lies and focused on Amber Light. Amber walked away from the table, and looked at the door, and then back to Trixie. She couldn’t stay here tonight, not with Maud pretending to be a part of this family.

“You two are standing there and acting like nothing is wrong. Well something is wrong, and I can’t ignore it any longer,” Amber Light said. Her voice was level, but her anger was on the rise.

Trixie and Pinkie went back onto all fours. Trixie trotted up to Amber Light and asked in a quiet voice, “What’s wrong?”

Amber Light couldn’t believe how Trixie could simply act like everything was normal. So she explained bitterly, “You already know what’s wrong. She’s never here for us, especially when we need her, when you need her! I hear you sobbing sometimes, sobbing because she’s not around. If Maud really loved us, she wouldn’t just abandon us like th-“

The series of loud knocks at the front door silenced Amber and killed her rant. Everypony else was quiet, confused, and didn’t move. For a few moments nothing happened, but when there was a second round of knocking at the door, Amber took the lead and answered the door.

After opening the door Amber was overjoyed to see Twilight Sparkle standing behind it. Twilight looked very nervous and timidly waved a hoof at Amber saying, “Hi, I just came by to see if you wanted to help me out now?”

Amber gave one look at Trixie, she saw the pain in Trixie’s eyes, the pain that was surely caused by Maud. Amber didn’t ask, she demanded, “I’m going to spend the night at Twilight’s house. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

As Amber walked out past Twilight she noticed the confused look on the princess’s face. Twilight seemed to quickly recover and looked at Trixie with sad eyes. “I’ll take care of her tonight… you two take care of, well, whatever it is that’s wrong.” Twilight turned to face Amber and said, “You can still stay the night with me, but if you don’t feel up for helping me tonight then we can find something else to do.”

“No, I need to help you. Maybe I can actually be important for once,” Amber said. She looked at the moon and the stars in the dark sky. Tonight was going to be long, but she was thankful that Twilight had come to get her out of this situation.