Rarity smiled as the castle came into view. The great crystal tree, palace of Twilight Sparkle, the princess of friendship. Not to mention her close and personal friend. If anypony could figure out who Claw was, she could. Why, it would probably only take the mare a few moments to realize... where was Claw?
She stopped in place and looked around, but the little colt was nowhere to be seen. Panic began to rise in her. He was far, far too young to be running off alone. What if he broke something? What if he broke somePONY?
A shriek drew her attention and she took off full tilt, her eyes wide with horror. She soon found her panic was misplaced when the little colt came into view. On his back, with Pinkie blowing raspberries on his stomach. Claw seemed to be enjoying himself immensely, wiggling about with his lil claws in the air.
“Stawwwwwp aunt Pinkieeeeeee!” he whined helplessly, struggling to wiggle away in vain. She didn't stop until Rarity trotted up besides them.
“Claw, you shouldn't have ran off like that,” Rarity said firmly. “Pinkie, thank you ever so much for finding him.”
“Ohhh, it's no problem! This little guy is a real blast!” Pinkie said before helping him to his feet. “You didn't tell me you had a colt, though? When were you pregnant?” She gasped. “Was that why you were in Canterlot Boutique last week? Ohhhh, the--”
Rarity covered her mouth with a hoof. “He is not... I was never pregnant,” she said.
“Mommy?” Claw asked, staring up at her with confused eyes.
“I wasn't. He's a... well, I'm not sure what he is. But he is most definitely not my child and... and I...” Her words began to falter as the little pony's eyes began to water.
“M-mommy doesn't... doesn't want me?”
“What? No, I never said that,” Rarity said with a shake of her head. “Claw, you're a delight, you're just not... you're not my child. I never... Claw, please. Don't--”
But it was too late. The little colt began to cry. And while she couldn't deny he managed to do many things in the most adorable manner, crying was not one of them. No, that wasn't right. What he'd done before was crying. This was full bawling, without restraint. It came out like a high pitched siren, rattling her entire body and making her topple back from the sheer force. Her head rang with the sound.
The ponies in the street were faring no better, covering their ears and running away. The sound of shattering glass filled the air. Even Pinkie had recoiled from the sound, her hooves over her ears as she stared at the source of the wailing. Finally she nodded and disappeared. A few moments later and she appeared, holding a large, blue cupcake coated with diamond shards. She held it in front of the colt and the crying stopped almost instantly.
Claw stared at the cupcake, his eyes wide with wonder, a little drool coming out of the corner of his mouth. Pinkie moved it a little closer and he lunged, claws wrapping around it as he began the process of scarfing it down. The pink mare then turned towards Rarity. “How could you say that about your own son?”
“He's not my son! He's... wait, how can you tell he's a colt? Is it the dragon aspects or-- wait, never mind. I assure you, Claw is NOT my off spring.”
“He calls you mommy.”
“That is neither here nor there. The child is obviously--”
“I'm coming!” a new voice filled the air. The two looked behind themselves and towards the sky. A purple alicorn came flying through the air, awkwardly flying, a book held tightly in her magic. “Where's the banshee?” she asked, landing besides them and craning her head from left to right. The book read 'How to banish a banshee in five easy steps.'
“Banshee? Darling, there is no banshee, there is just...” She trailed off as she looked down to where Claw had been. To her amazement, he was once again nowhere in sight. She looked around and soon found him, struggling to hide behind her tail. “Claw? Darling, what are you doing?”
“I-it's aunt Test,” he mumbled softly.
“Twilight, look, Rarity has a son!”
“WHAT?” the princess said, her eyes widening as she looked to her friend. She then raised her hooves, counting on them. “Wait, if you had a son, that would have meant you were pregnant back when... have I really been that out of touch that--”
“He's not my son!” Rarity said firmly, stomping a hoof. “We don't know who he is!” Her horn glowed and Claw was shoved forward, skidding slightly across the floor in front of the alicorn. He tried leaning as far back from her as possible.
Twilight stared at him for a few moments before her eyes lit up. “Is... is this a... it is! An actual dragon pony mix! I've heard of them, but I never thought I'd see one! Eeeeeee!” She trotted in place in excitement. “Who's is he? Where did he come from?”
“Rarity's,” Pinkie said quickly. “And... probably Spike's.”
“He is not! Dear, we do not know who he is, we just--”
Her words were cut off as suddenly Claw leaned forward, right into the excited Twilight's face. The alicorn's excitement soon disappeared as flame, a scroll and... other things she decided not to mention shot out of its mouth, smacking her in the face. For a few moments the princess stared, before turning and running towards the fountain. “IT BURNS! IT BURNS IT BURNS IT BURNS!”
Rarity glared at the little colt, who had a smug smirk on his face. It evaporated at the glare. “Sorry mommy... she said to give it to her, though...”
“Who said to give it to her?”
“Aunt Test.”
“And who's aunt Test?”
Claw slowly raised a claw and pointed at Twilight. Rarity sighed and shook her head.
“So you're saying Twilight said that you were supposed to throw up on her?”
He paused and seemed to be processing what she said, before giving a nod. “Yes?” he said, sounding unsure.
“Claw...”
“B-but she diiiiid!” the little dragon pony said, letting out another whimper.
Twilight came back over, the front of her face and mane slightly singed and dripping water. “That was... unpleasant,” she said before looking to the small colt. “It's... quite alright, I imagine you... errr...” Her eyes were drawn to the scroll and her magic lifted it up into the air, drawing it over. “That... that doesn't make any...”
“Twilight? Darling? What's wrong?”
“It's... my seal,” the princess said before turning the scroll over. Sure enough, there was a small purple seal on it, with her cutie mark. It was slightly burned. “But I don't remember sending this.”
Claw glared at her. “Y-you made me eat it and promise to give it back!” he whined softly.
“I see.” She spun it around a few times, before opening the scroll. She let out a soft gasp. “Dear... past me.” She then looked up at Claw. “Where are you from?”
He just gave her a confused look.
“Where do you LIVE?”
He perked up and then pointed at Rarity. “With mommy.”
“No, no no. I get that, but--” She took a deep breath. “Of course. Titanium impregnated parchment. It would definitely survive even Spike's stomach. But why...” She face hoofed. “WHY DID I USE NORMAL INK?!”
She flipped the paper over and on top, in large letters, were the words 'Dear past me'. However, under it, tons of words were scribbled. The problem was, all of the words were so close together that when the ink had run, they had become nothing more than a smudged mess. Only a few of the words were eligible. The only readable word of any real import was 'killed'.
Rarity's face paled. “T-Twilight, darling. You haven't been... fiddling with time magic again, have you?”
“No! I mean, well, aside from the time loop, no. But that's all fixed! I... errr...” She then looked to Claw. “We need to run some tests.”
“NOOOOOO!” the colt wailed.