Meanwhile...
* * *
The return to Manehatten had been difficult for Paver. After being nearly drowned twice, the shoes had been subdued to the point of submission; they no longer forced her to dance, but that didn't mean they let her legs be still as she might like: It had not helped that, while on the train, she'd been forced to sit opposite a white and blue-maned pony who played music from her headphones far, far too loud; though the music-loving unicorn didn't seem to care this way or that (and didn't seem to be able to hear Paver asking her to turn her music down), the shoes took a great joy in making her legs and hooves tap along to the rhythm.
Between forcing her legs to be still, and their prevailing movements, by the time she actually arrived in Manehatten itself, her legs had were tired and plagued with cramps: The only way they'd have ached more is if she'd literally walked to Manehatten. From there, she walked, and walked, and walked. she didn't walk home: The idea of sleeping alone in her apartment was something which, at that moment, set her stomach in knots.
...She didn't dare go to any of her colleagues either; any one of them could've been the pony who cursed her. Indeed, she'd hoped she could walk through the city unnoticed, not wanting to draw attention to herself: Her former fame had come to bite her in this regard, and she was quickly recognized by many of the ponies she passed on her way, none of their smiles, waves or pleasant words made her feel better.
It slowly dawned on her just how few folk she truly called friends in the world, and she'd never felt more alone in her entire life. For that reason, there was only one place in all of Equestria where she knew she could go...
She stood at the end of a gate, at the end of a tidy, well kept little garden at the front of an equally tidy little brick row house in a Trotten Island suburb. She sighed, her legs trembling slightly, as she made her way up the garden to a green front door set upon a small porch. With her hoof, she pressed the doorbell, and waited.
The door opened ajar, held on a latch. "Hello?" Came a middle-aged, feminine voice from behind the door. Paver quivered, feeling her lip tremble and her eyes wet.
"M-mum...?"
The door went silent, very silent... "Paver?" The door quickly shut, the sound of the latch being removed before the door swung open. "Oh, oh sweet Celestia! PV!" The former mayor was then pounced on by another cream and blond unicorn; a unicorn who looked very similar to Paver, albeit older, and dressed in a dressing gown, with her mane tied back slightly: Her mother, Tila Goldstreets, who now held her daughter in the pony answer to a bear hug, her eyes streaming. "Oh, by the princesses! We all thought you were dead! We, we heard about the yacht, and you falling overboard, and how the divers couldn't rescue you..." Tila clung tightly to her daughter, crying a little into her shoulder, causing Paver to lose her composure herself, joining her in a blubbering hug. "Please, please, come inside. Tell us happened..."
Tila invited her daughter inside her old fillyhood home, where she was immediately pounced upon by another unicorn: Her younger brother, Forger. In the kitchen of the small home, Paver was treated to warm cup of tea, as she recounted her tale of the night of her party, the discovery of her 'gift' and the loss of control of her legs, and the living nightmare which followed shortly after.
"Oooh." Forger and Tila gave Paver worried looks, briefly taking a peak at her shoes. "So... Someone put a spell on you to make you dance, and it's in those shoes?"
"Why would anyone DO that?!" Tila looked both horrified and angry at the notion, she'd been busying herself by brewing tea as Paver told her story, but she'd quickly been distracted from this task as her daughter's story unfolded. "That's simply horrible... Oh, my dear PV, you poor thing." She totted over to the former mayor unicorn, wrapping a foreleg around her and hugging her.
"That's just it..." Paver spoke. "I don't even know. The shoes just appeared in a box in my bedroom. No note, no nothing. Just there, in my room on the yacht..."
"Oh, that yacht." Tila sighed. "Tila, why did you even have that thing?"
"It's not mine. It belongs to the office of the mayor. The office has had a yacht ever since Mayor Albany bought one. Yeah, okay, it's a waste of paxpayers' bits, but..." She sighed. "I was so damn excited about being mayor, I didn't even really stop to think about it. I get a huge new paycheck? Awesome! I get my own bathroom in the city hall? Awesome! I get a BOAT? Sweet Celestia, I was bouncing off the walls! You know that!"
"I know, I know..." Tila sighed. "I'm just worried about you. All of us are. Even your father came to see me after, you know, after it happened. You really ought to give Locke a call later on."
"And you definitely can't get those nasty shoes off?" Forger asked, to which Paver shook her head. "Really? I bet I could do it."
"Erm, I don't think you can help here, Forgie." Paver frowned.
"Come on PV! My magic's been getting really strong lately." To prove his point, he lit up his horn, taking a hold of one of Paver's hooves with his magic. He tugged sharply, causing Paver to yelp as she was pulled form her chair. "Hnng... Come on, you stupid shoe, come off!"
"Forger! Forger! Stop it! You're dragging me through the kitchen!" The older sister cried as she landed, struggling as Forger's magic pulled her across the kitchen floor by her hoof, the shoe in question unshaken and unmoved from its place. It took Tila stepping in and shooing off Forger before her finally stopped, allowing Paver to dust herself down and return to her seat.
"I know he means well..." The younger of the two unicorn mares sighed. "...But it's no use. My magic, the doctors in Ponyville with all their kit, and even Princess Twilight herself couldn't get these things off me." She took her tea, sipping it. "...I, I guess there's nothing for it. Aside from a few moments where the shoes make my hooves tap, they don't really control me, even if they're stuck to me. I'm just going to have to accept that, unless I find whoever cursed me, I have no choice but to live with the fact that, well, I'm probably going to have these shoes stuck to my hooves for the rest of my life. The sooner I come to terms with it... Still, at least they're comfy. Even now, I've never worn a pair of shoes which feel this good on my hooves in my life. I suppose that'll help me comes to terms with having to wear these shoes forever, and get on with my life." Before her mother had the chance to speak, Paver continued. "Speaking of which, what have I missed while I was gone? I'll need to return to my work as mayor anyway..." She froze, seeing her mother's face. "Mum? What happened?"
...Tila went a little quiet, before replying. "...Paver." she spoke: "After, after people thought you drowned, the city government called for an emergency election to get a new mayor as soon as possible..."
"Oh..." Paver ears dropped. "So, who's mayor now?"
"There were two candidates, but really, there was only one who anyone voted for... They voted in Otto Cratic, it was a landslide."
"Otto?" Paver pulled a face. "Well, I suppose he did have years of experience, and he'd always wanted to be mayor, and... Well, he did take me under his wing when I first got into politics. He was always keeping an eye on me. We had a few disagreements now and then, but..." She sighed. "I hope he's been doing well as mayor..."
"He's been pretty busy actually." Tila mentioned. "He's been big on defense, following the failed invasion of Lord Tirek. He's employed a load of girffins to help guard the city, and he's been VERY unhappy with the princess and the quality of her soldiers' training and equipment."
"Well, his father DOES own an arms manufacturer." Paver snorted coldly. "What else?"
"He's employed a deputy mayor. A former prison warden, actually. Called Starlight, I think."
"Appointed? You can't just appoint deputy mayors..."
"Oh, it's all politics, PV." Tila sighed. "I warned you that it was all dirty and backhoofed. I'd have loved it if you had joined me at the flower shop. I could even have understood if you went to help your father run his lock factory."
Paver snorted. "So why did you let me, if you didn't like it?"
"Because you were so keen to make a difference, do some good, and I'm your mother. It's my job to support you, and you know I will..." She sighed. "I, I still remember the day you first got your cutie mark..." She sighed happily.
"Oh, you're going to repeat the story, aren't you?"
"Oh of course." Tila teased, putting on a faux lilt to her tone. "...You were 11 years old, and your school was doing a model Equestria Summit, and before any of the event actually happened, well, you didn't so much argue with Skipping Rope over who got to be Celestia as much as you filibustered her for nearly the entire lesson until Mrs Chalk just gave you the role to make you stop..." She smiled. "...You were the best damn Celestia that school had ever seen."
Paver chuckled. "I would've been far more excited about getting my cutie mark, but I was so sleepy that day, I remember napping through so much of the day afterwards."
Tila chuckled warmly. "Yeah. It's ironic that you were at your most subdued on what is normally the most exciting day in a young filly's life."
"Hm, well, I'm thinking I'm not exactly going to be bubbly for a long while. Celestia only knows what I'd do to the one who did this to me." The daughter unicorn said, her face long and scowling. "Whoever they are. It could've been anyone, I can't trust the lot of them."
"Oh Paver, don't be like that." Tila spoke sadly. "You can't let this turn you. You're a kind, selfless, compassionate pony. The Paver Goldstreets I know wouldn't be letting distrust, anger and vengeance spoil such a good heart." She hugged her daughter tightly. "Hardship and struggle can turn good ponies bad, but it can also bring out the best in folk. Paver, you need to listen to me, and remember what kind of pony you are, and what pony you want to be. It's hard now, but please, stay strong, like my little PV."
"I..." Paver faltered. "...I'll try..." She snapped her mouth shut, exhaling in and out of her nostrils, trying to keep her cool. "...I, I don't know what I'm going to do from here though."
"Dear, you've always got your bedroom here. You can stay as a long as you like."
"Oh, I know, you've always been there for me... But, I can't just do that. I still need to get a job so I can pay rent and stuff..."
"Well, what about going to see Otto? He's always looked out for you, after all."
"Hmmm, good point." Paver smiled slightly. "...Yeah. That, that could work... Thanks mum."
With that, Tila gave her daughter one last hug, before walking upstairs with her to Paver's old bedroom, kept tidy and preserved over the years, flooding Paver with fillyhood memories. Her mother left to begin preparing dinner, leaving Paver to get settled in: she knew she had work to do, but for this moment, the first thing Paver did was trot over to her old bed and collapse into it, letting her world fade to a sleepy black as she nestled among the bedclothes...