//------------------------------//
// 2 Catching Up 
// Story: Little Tia 
// by Lord King Cocoon 
//------------------------------//

	You’re about to follow Fluttershy inside when suddenly you hear somepony running up to the cottage. You turn around only to be tackled by allot of lavender.
“Is it true?!” the lavender mare asks you as she gasps for air, “Was Celestia in an accident?!”
It takes you a few moments to realize it was princess Sparkle. You didn’t recognize her at first from how disheveled she is. Then you think about what princess Sparkle said. ‘Was Celestia in an accident?’
“Would you mind telling me what Luna’s letter to you said, princess Sparkle?” you ask.
Princess Sparkle got off of you and attempted to regain her composure somewhat, “Luna sent me a letter saying that Celestia was in an accident and will be unable to perform her royal duties!”
“It’s true. But it’s not as bad as you think. Though it is interesting,” you say to princess Sparkle, “I think the best way to explain what happened is to show you what happened to Discord.”
Fluttershy holds up the child Discord for princess Sparkle to see. The look of shock on her face is priceless, “Wow, Discord is cute as a child.”
“Why does everypony keep saying that?!” Discord whines.
“So, did this happen to Celestia too?” Princess Sparkle asked.
“Yes. The ‘accident’ was simply a magical mishap,” you explain, “She’s unable to perform her duties because in her filly-like state, she’s unable to raise the sun herself. And because her mind has also regressed to the mind of a filly, she can’t perform her other duties.”
Princess Sparkle sighs with relief, though not entirely pleased with the situation, “Well, at least she’s safe,” she says before looking to you directly, “But when you return to Canterlot, is it alright if I come with you? I mean, I’d like to see her for myself.”
“I don’t see why not,” you say with a smile, “I’ll be in town catching up with Fluttershy for a little while. But when it’s time to leave, I’ll come get you.”
“You know Fluttershy?” princess Sparkle asks.
“It’s been awhile since we last saw each other,” Fluttershy says, “But yes. I actually grew really close with Anon before he joined Luna’s royal guard,” princess Sparkle was studying Fluttershy’s words as if something wasn’t right about them, “Perhaps you’d like to come in as well. I wanted to talk to Anon. But one of the things I have to talk about…perhaps it’d be a good idea if you heard it too.”
With that said, Fluttershy led the two of you into her cottage. Laying on the couch, you see a bluish green pegasus with a 5 o’clock shadow.
“Anon, this is my brother, Zephyr Breeze,” Fluttershy motioned towards the green pegasus, “He’s staying here for a few days while his home is being renovated. Zephyr, this is an old friend of mine, Anon.”
“Hey…” Zephyr says halfheartedly. Then he noticed your royal guard emblem and he sits up with wide eyes, “Fluttershy, you’re friends with a member of the royal guard?!”
“Back then, I wasn’t a member of the royal guard yet,” you explain to Zephyr, “But yeah, we were…close.”
“Would the princesses be interested in a mane stylist? Because I’m rather good with mane styling. And I have a few ideas in mind that could…” Zephyr then spots the child-like draconequus, “…is that Dissy? He’s cute as a child.” Discord grumbles under his breath at the comment.
“Mom, what’s going on down here?” it’s that same voice from earlier. You see the preteen pegasus filly on the stairs as she eyes Discord, “Is that you, Dissy? You look so cute as a kid!”
You notice an underlying sinister smile on the filly’s face. You have a feeling that her and Discord aren’t on great terms, and she’s gonna take advantage of the situation. But something crosses your mind. It’s the filly’s age. If she’s Fluttershy’s daughter, then you should’ve known about her by now. She should’ve been a few years old when you last saw Fluttershy. And you were at Fluttershy’s allot.
“Anon, this is Gene,” Fluttershy says, introducing you to the filly, “Soon after you left to become a member of the royal guard, I found Gene as an orphan. So I took her in.”
“Hey…” Gene said halfheartedly. Something tells you she spends too much time around Zephyr. But now it makes sense. Gene is adopted. That explains her age and why you haven’t seen her.
“But…that’s not the only reason I wanted to talk to you,” you recognize that tone in Fluttershy’s voice. Something that she feels uncomfortable about saying. Fluttershy then walks over to the stairs and calls up the stairs, “Echo, can you come down here?”
This peaks your curiosity. Another child? “Coming,” you hear a second voice call down. This voice has a similar gentleness that Fluttershy has. And it is a voice that is recognizably younger than Gene’s.
Soon after, you see another pegasus filly, a gray one, coming down the stairs. You notice that she takes her time, going down the stairs slowly and carefully. The interesting thing is that she seems to be relying on feeling the steps. About halfway down, you notice one of her hooves miss a step. Taking quick action, you catch her in your magic before she can actually fall. She seems confused, but thankful that she didn’t fall. Fluttershy goes up the stairs to carry the filly the rest of the way down the stairs. She’s just as thankful as the filly is that she didn’t fall.
As Fluttershy brings her over, you notice a bandaid below one of her eyes. This also draws your attention to her eyes themselves. Like her coat and mane, her eyes are also gray. But that isn’t what catches your attention. Her eyes aren’t normal. They have no pupils. Not only that, but where the pupils should be is white, and extending outward is a gradient into gray. You then realize that she’s blind. You even notice that her ears seem to be constantly at attention, working to pick up any sound they can. You also notice that her ears are larger and more…feral than normal.
You also notice that the soft expression in her eyes, and her mane are so much like Fluttershy’s. And that’s when a sinking feeling came over you. This was Fluttershy’s biological daughter.
“Anon, you know that night a few days before you left?” Fluttershy asks. You know exactly what night she’s referring to, “Well, when I found Gene, what I didn’t know was that I was pregnant. Anon, Echo is your daughter.”
Your senses begin to numb as your mind tries to process what Fluttershy just said…



“I thought you said you didn’t know who the father was!” is the first thing you hear. It’s princess Sparkle.
“I said I didn’t want to talk about it. I never said I didn’t know who the father was,” Fluttershy’s voice says, “I didn’t tell you who it was because I didn’t want any of you to try to drag him back from Canterlot after being accepted as a member of Luna’s royal guard.”
“Do you really think I’d do that?!” princess Sparkle exclaims. You open your eyes to see that you’re laying on the couch and Zephyr, the girls, and Discord aren’t in the room.
“Can you speak for all the girls, Twilight?” Fluttershy asks, showing a more assertive side of her, “Rainbow Dash would most likely fly straight to Canterlot and drag him back herself! Applejack would probably be so angry that he left that she’d buck him so hard, he’d have to be hospitalized! I can’t even guess at how Rarity would react! And Pinkie Pie…well…Pinkie Pie would probably just throw a party…”
Princess Sparkle’s expression softened, “You really care for him, don’t you?” she asks with a sigh, “You chose to be a single mother than to sacrifice Anon’s chance at being a royal guard.”
“Well, I did have Discord to help…” Fluttershy says, “Even though his maturity level makes him more their their big brother at best.”
“Considering the current situation, I think Discord has now been demoted to ‘little’ brother,” you say as you sit up, causing the two mares to turn towards you, “I’m just disappointed that you’d think I would’ve had a problem coming back to you if you had asked. I would’ve gladly returned without regret.”
“Then will you come back now?” princess Sparkle asked.
“That would be more complicated now,” you begin to explain, “You see, Luna relies on me not just as a royal guard, but also as a friend. She comes to me when she needs someone to talk to. And yes, there are things that she wants to talk about that she prefers she doesn’t talk to Celestia, her own sister, about. And though I’m sure something can be arranged, I can’t in good conscience just abandon Luna like that. And besides, Luna gave me the task of being Tia’s caregiver while Luna is busy with royal duties.”
“So in other words, you’re princess Celestia’s babysitter?” princess Sparkle asked, “Something about that just sounds so wrong to me. She…well…I don’t even know if she remembers how old she is. It doesn’t feel right that she has a babysitter.”
“Do you think it’s any less strange for me?” you explain, “But the fact is that Tia regressed in age in both body and mind, which in essence makes her a little filly who needs to be babysat. Her memories are still intact though…but I guess that kinda makes things stranger.”
“Why do you keep calling her ‘Tia’?” princess Sparkle asked.
“I guess when they were fillies, Luna used to call her Tia. And now she’s calling her Tia again,” you explain, “I guess I’m getting into the same habit too. But it’s hard not to use a pet name for a filly. After all, Gene called Discord ‘Dissy’.”
“Actually, they’ve been calling him ‘Dissy’ for a while now,” Fluttershy says, “But I guess that’s an indication of Discord’s immaturity even before being turned into a child.”
“It’s getting late. Shouldn’t we be heading to Canterlot soon?” princess Sparkle asks.
“I guess you’re right,” you say as you notice the time, “I’m sorry we couldn’t catch up as much as I’d have liked. But I was…incapacitated for a large chunk of time.”
“Will you be coming back soon?” Fluttershy asks, “Echo was happy to have finally met her father…you know…before you fainted that is.”
“I’m sure I can arrange plenty of playdates so that I can see her more,” you explain before grinning mischievously, “Besides, Tia is gonna want other foals to play with.”