//------------------------------// // The truth always comes out... // Story: Heir to a Silenced Blood // by Rock Slide //------------------------------// Splendid opened her eyes to find herself looking at the lights of the cafeteria ceiling. The moment she opened them the light stabbed her in the eyes, causing her to grimace, and clutch her head. “Splendid? Splendid, can you hear me?” She felt a pair of rubber-gloved hands take hold of her wrists. “Splendid, I am Nurse Tender Heart. I need to know if you can hear me.” The pain was still excruciating, but she managed to nod her head. “She’s had a headache all day, but she’s been trying to ignore it.” Nurse Tender Heart turned to Sunny. “Are you her friend?” “Yes, but truthfully, I only met her this morning.” “Good, and thank you for telling me about the headaches.” ----- Splendid was only vaguely aware of what was going on around her. She knew that two large men had helped carry her to the nurse’s office, but she could not remember the journey. It took a few moments to register that someone was holding her hand. Thankfully, the pain had lessened slightly, allowing her to open her eyes. Rotating her head, she found Sunny sitting by her side, with two hands cupped around her own. Sunny must have noticed her roll her head, because she soon spoke, “Hey there, I...I’m glad you're Okay.” “Heh I’m tougher than I look,” Splendid said quietly, looking up at Sunny with a small smile. Sunny snorted. “Yeah.” But her smile was short-lived. “They’ve called your parents in. It’s nothing serious, is it?” Splendid frowned. “I don’t think so. I’ve told my mothers everything about this headache, and they never seemed too concerned. It was weird, it’s like they have been expecting it, or something.” Sunny opened her mouth to respond, but she stopped as they heard knocking on the door to the nurse's room. The door opened, and a fiery red and yellow head of hair above a brown backpack leaned in before it turned around revealing Sunset’s face. Sunset smiled, a worried look being quickly replaced. “Hey, Splendid.” She moved into the room proper, followed swiftly by Adagio, and they both moved over to the bed. “How are you feeling baby?” Splendid’s face went red at her parent's use of the word ‘baby’, and she attempted to melt into the chair. Her parents looked confused until they noticed the other girl in the room. Adagio stuck out her hand. “Hi. You must be Sunny?” The girl nodded. “The nurse told us it was you who noticed Splendid falling ill.” The girl nodded again. “Thank you, really.” She smiled and thrust her hand out further until Sunny shook it. “I’m Adagio, and this is Sunset; we’re Splendid’s moms. Thank you for helping her and staying with her.” Sunny blushed at the gratitude. Sunset was more direct; she pulled Sunny into a hug, catching her off guard. “Thank you again.” She released her but kept her hands on her shoulders while the smile left her face. “I’m glad Splendid has made such a good friend so fast, but I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask you to leave. We need to discuss some family matters.” Sunny looked like she was about to argue, but Splendid grabbed her hand. “Sunny, it’ll be fine. I’m sure it’s nothing bad, and you’ve been kind enough already.” She squeezed her hand slightly. “Chances are I’m going home today; so I'll see you on the bus tomorrow?” Letting out a breath, Sunny smiled back at her. “Ok. I will save you a seat.” Nodding more to herself than anyone, she backed up and waved. “Bye Splendid.” Finishing her wave, she slipped out the door and shut it behind her. Splendid looked between her mothers, a frown on her face. “Ok, so am I finally going to find out what it is you’ve been hiding from me for years?” Sunset looked ashen, but Adagio burst into laughter. “Errrm, what?” Rather than get an answer, Splendid watched as her mama Sunset gave her mother Adagio a ten dollar bill. The confusion on her face deepened. “I’m sorry baby, but your mother and I had a bet going as to whether or not you knew - I had yes.” She pulled her into a hug. “You clever girl.” Breaking the hug, Splendid looked smug. “I knew something was up. Spill!” She demanded. Sunset looked over to Adagio worriedly, before addressing Splendid. “You may want to sit back down for this.” Splendid soon lost her smug look, instead, she now looked worried. She sat back down on the bed, and her mothers flanked her. Sunset took one hand, Adagio the other. “Splendid, how much do you remember about your early childhood?” She sat there in thought. “I remember small things; places, faces, and little details. Why?” “Your room, and the paintings on the walls. Do you remember when I told you about them?” “Kind of? You said something about them being each of your friends. Looking back, I’d guess that they were role playing personas or characters?” “What about the setting? The landscape?” “Equestria? A land filled with magic; again, I’d guess that was the setting for your fantasy RPG?” Sunset looked across to Adagio, and she took over. “This might be a bit hard to believe, but Equestria isn’t fantasy fiction. And those painting on your walls aren't characters.” She received a raised eyebrow from her daughter. “I know you know about parallel dimensions and other worlds from the games you play sometimes. I’m telling you they, or at least this one, are real.” Splendid went blank for a minute. Her parents started to get worried, until she shook her head, snapping herself out from it. “You’re both from there, aren’t you?” This time, Sunset and Adagio drew the blanks. “Wait! Just like that?” Adagio burst out. Splendid nodded. “I’m getting memories from when I was very young. Those pictures in the album, the ones where I’m wearing fake pony ears and a tail. They weren't fake were they? Something happened?” “No dear,” Sunset answered. “You were right, your mother and I are both from there. But you were born here. Those pictures are from the moment we discovered a wrinkle in living here.” Splendid looked mortified, so Sunset pulled her into a hug. “Stop that, I know where you are going; we are not going to uproot you from your life here, and you are in no danger. The problem is magic; or the lack of it here. We have a solution in place, we just weren’t expecting this for another year. We had planned to tell you about six months from now.” “So that’s what’s been causing my headaches?” Sunset nodded at Splendid’s question. “So what is the solution?” Adagio pulled Splendid over to her, a giant smile on her face. “We get to take you to our home world.” “Wait, what? How, even?” Splendid stepped up and away from the bed and spun around to face her parents. “I hate to be cliche, but the answer really is ‘magic’.” Sunset stuck her tongue out. She reached into her backpack, pulling out a large book with a stylized sun on the front. She cracked it open and read down the page. Turning to Adagio, she paraphrased the text. “Twilight says she will have the portal ready to be open by about two, and only for five minutes. Apparently, there is something on her end stopping her from having it open longer.” Adagio nodded, before looking around for the room’s clock. “It’s 2:03 now. Send Twilight the go ahead, and we can go now.” Sunset nodded, drawing a pen out from the spine of the book. She scribbled a line of text, before tapping the top of the page three times. The book flashed pink, and a few seconds later it flashed again, a new line of text below Sunsets. “She says that’s fine.” She looked over to Splendid, who sat there with her mouth open wide. Sunset laughed. “If you think that was something, you haven’t seen anything yet baby.” She dragged her to her feet. “Come on, time to go meet your other auntie Twilight.” As the three moved towards the door, a light thumping sound resonated from the other side. But once the door was open, they found nothing there. Shrugging, Sunset lead the group towards the front of the school.