The Forgotten

by Fiji Firefox

Chapter 2

The light was blinding as Twilight pushed her way into it. She kept her eyes closed as she made her descent back to the real world. Then she started to think about Sombra. She blushed slightly. Long Shadow… As she was lost in thought, she didn't realize that her descent was finished, and she was back on the train to Canterlot.

She looked around at the inside of the train and it was the way it had been before Sombra had taken over, though nopony except her was on the train this time so she was alone. She looked at her seat, seeing her belongings still sitting there on the cushion. She trotted over and sat down silently, trying to calm her nerves.

It was just an illusion, Twilight…only a hallucination… She thought. She looked out the train window and saw endless rolling hills go by in a blur. She then saw the beginnings of the shimmering marble buildings go by. She sat in silence for a short while, watching the scenery as she waited for the train to give the usual screech of its brakes to tell her it was time to get off.

When she finally heard it, she gathered up her stuff and put it on her back. She started to walk towards the doorway as one of the conductors walked through. When he spotted her, he seemed surprised to find Twilight standing there. Sparkle didn’t know why, because she had seen him when she got on earlier. “What’s so surprising, sir?” She asked, unable to keep the question from escaping her mouth.

“Uhh…nothing...” He replied, his cheeks flustering. “I didn't know you had been riding the train…” Twilight looked at him when he said this. That’s when she saw the “conductor in training” badge on his uniform. “I’m sorry, ma’am…” He apologized, stepping aside to let her through. Twilight nodded as she walked by him, accepting the apology. Newbie’s… She thought as she escaped the train and walked into the marvelous city.

She looked around in amazement, her eyes widening with admiration. She trotted away from the train station and headed towards the Canterlot castle in search of the princess. But as she arrived at the doors, the two ponies guarding it swiftly put their spears into a cross shape, and preventing Twilight from going any further.

“Who goes there?” The pegasus guard asked.

“Twilight Sparkle, the princess’s personal apprentice.” She said, bowing to them.

The guards looked at one another and then back to Twilight. “We have never seen nor heard of such a pony.”

“What?”

“Now, since we’ve gotten that straightened out, I suggest you leave.” The pegasus said, pointing his hoof in the direction she had come from.

“But…”

“Now!” They demanded in unison, both pointing their spears at her.

Twilight gasped and backed away. She turned around and muttered to herself, “Wait until the princess hears about this…” She walked back to the train station fuming. She calmed herself down and began to think about where she could go while she was there. She then smiled. I’ll go visit mom! I haven’t seen here since the funeral for dad, so it’ll be a nice surprise for her.

After a long travel to the other side of the city, Twilight finally arrived at her parents’ house. She rapped lightly on the door and waited for a few moments before the door handle turned and the door opened to show an elderly mare.

“…Twilight?” She rasped.

“Hi, mom.” Twilight said to her mother, overjoyed about seeing her again. Her mother’s eyes lit up as she looked at her grown up daughter. “Come in, come in, dear.” She said gesturing for her to come inside. “Thank you.” She said gratefully.

As she stepped inside the warm, inviting house, memories of her childhood came flooding back to her. She walked to the kitchen, her mom close behind. “So…” Twilight Velvet began as her daughter sat down at the dinner table. “What brings you here today, deary?” She asked, bringing out some strawberries from the refrigerator and setting them down on the table. Twilight dug into them gratefully. She was starving.

“I can here for the princess actually…” She replied, swallowing a mouth full of fruit. Velvet’s face dropped a bit at that, but she quickly smiled to hide it. “Well…I’m glad you thought of me and decided to stop by…it’s gotten quiet lonely here without anypony to talk to…especially since the day after your father’s funeral…”

Twilight Velvet sighed sorrowfully and sat down. Twilight caught it, and swallowed again, looking at her mother with sympathy. “What’s wrong, mom? You seem a bit down right now. Did I come at a bad time?” Twilight asked, beginning to stand up from the chair to leave.

“No! No, you didn’t come at a bad time at all!” Twilight nodded and sat back down, her mother’s muscles relaxing.

“Then what’s wrong? Is it about Dad, isn’t it?” She asked. Her mother looked away. “It is…isn’t it?” Velvet nodded. “Aw, it’s okay mom! You’ll always have me and Shining Armor to be here for you!” She reassured softly, standing up and going to her mother’s side to hug her. Twilight Velvet returned the embrace and pulled away after a few moments.

They stayed silent until Twilight Sparkle broke the it with a question. “Do you want me to stay here with you tonight, mom? So you’re not so lonely this evening?”

Her mother thought about it for a while. “I wouldn’t mind if you said yes or no, really, it doesn’t matter.”

“Sure honey, if you’re sure you want to.”

Twilight couldn’t help but notice the first gleam of happiness in her mother’s eyes she hadn’t seen for a very long time. Twilight smiled, unable to not be happy about seeing part of her family. Twilight Velvet looked out the window and saw how late it was in the evening. She told her daughter to make herself at home while she cooked dinner, and Twilight took that as an excuse to put her stuff away, and get used to the house again.

She still remembered where the rooms were, so she excused herself from the kitchen, and went up the winding stairs. She opened the door to her old room and found that it was the same way she had left it before she left Canterlot for Ponyville; clean, neat, and organized. Twilight smiled to herself. They’re the best parents in the world! She lifted her bags off of her back and onto her old desk; where her papers and pencils organized neatly.

She never wiped the smile off her face, for she felt very content here back in her old home. She felt the bed and saw that a pair of new covers had been spread across it, since she took her covers that she had gotten for her 8th birthday to Ponyville with her. She lay back onto the soft sheets and sighed contentfully. Not long after, though, her mother called up to her and said; “Twilight dear! It’s time for dinner! Go wash up please!”

Twilight silently slipped down the hall to the bathroom to wash her hooves. After she had dried them on a nearby towel, she walked downstairs to see her mother already sitting at the table.

“Well, come on dear! I know you’re hungry.” Twilight Velvet insisted, watching as her daughter finally walked over after a long pause at the foot of the stairs and sat down.

Twilight looked at her mother when she sat, and saw a relieved smile sitting her face. Twilight smiled back and looked to see what dinner was going to be. It was one of Twilight’s favorites: Spaghetti and meatballs with lots of tomato sauce. Sparkle licked her lips hungrily as she picked up the silver fork lying neatly next to the plate. She used her magic to dig the fork in and swirl it around.

She picked it back up when she thought she had a sufficient amount, and stuffed it into her mouth. She chewed for a while and then swallowed.

“This is really good, mom!” Twilight complimented her mother’s cooking. She only smiled and started to eat from her own plate. They both ate in silence for the rest of the meal, neither one asked how her life’s been. When they finished, Twilight felt stuffed and comfortable. “Thank you mom!” She said, giving her mother a hug. She pulled away and saw her mother’s eyes welling up as she looked away.

“Mom?” Sparkle asked.

“Well, I know I’m not too good at hiding my emotions from anyone, so I may as well just tell you…” Her mother confessed, still not meeting her daughter’s eyes.

“Tell me what?” Twilight asked, suspicion rising inside of her.

“I...I…” Her mother stammered.

“Tell me!” Twilight urged.

“I...just wish that I wasn’t so lonely here!!” Her mother cried out. “Everyone in my life has gone. Either dead or too busy, no one takes time out of their day to come and see old family like me…”

Twilight stayed standing, but she soon moved to her mother’s side. “Not everypony in your life has gone, mom. Just look at me and Shining Armor. We’re still here…” She said with more confidence than she felt inside.

“But you never take time to come and see me, and you still never did when your father was alive.” She retorted softly. “I’ve been thinking about moving out of this house and going to live in a smaller house in the country. It’s too hard to take care of this house now without help from others, and living by myself will ease my stress.” She continued, finally looking at Twilight.

“But mom! This is the house that we have so many memories stored in…and moving out will mean you’ll leave those behind.”

“Oh, I’ll still have the pictures memories, but with everypony’s lives being so busy now, I think it’s time for me to start making some new ones for myself.” She finished; her head down.

Twilight stayed silent as she processed what she had just heard. “Well, mom…” She finally broke the silence between them. “If that’s what you need to do, then I’m not going to be the pony to step in your way of doing it.” She pushed her chair in and clip-clopped her way up the stairs. “Where are you going?” Twilight Velvet asked her.

“I’m going to bed. Today was a long day, and I’m worn out. You should probably go to bed too, mom. You look a little fatigued yourself.” And with those words, her tail disappeared up the steps.

Twilight Velvet smiled weakly to herself and sighed.

Twilight opened the door to her old room and walked inside. She closed the door behind her and trotted over to her desk. She opened up her saddle bags and brought out the three books she had brought along for entertainment. She read the titles of each one; Tales of Equestria’s History, How to Cook a Good Meal, and Journal of StarSwirl the Bearded. Twilight picked her favorite one, Journal of StarSwirl the Bearded, and brought it over with her to the bed.

She climbed under the covers and opened up the old book. As she flipped through the well-worn pages, she started to think about her day, and how it had gone. She then thought of Sombra and the old pictures he had shown her of them as fillies. She shivered despite how warm she was.

As she reflected throughout the rest of her day, though, it seemed that she had a good one. She suddenly felt her eyelids grow heavy as she thought about the events of her day, so she closed the book, placed it upon the nightstand beside her, and snuggled up under the sheets. She sighed happily as she closed her eyes, and fell into a restful night’s sleep without a single disturbing dream to occupy her thoughts.

* * *

When she opened her eyes the next morning, sun was streaming onto her cream-colored carpet in small beams through a window that she had forgotten to close the blinds for. She lay on her soft mattress and looked up at her ceiling; something that she had done very often when she was younger. She traced all the bumps and ridges in the paint pattern until she decided it was time for her to get up and moving.

An idea suddenly formed in her head as she kicked off her covers and slid off the bed. She made the bed as neatly as she could with her magic while she snooped through her saddle bags. Where is that book… Twilight wondered as she searched. As you know; books are almost very easy to find by their shape and size, but the book Twilight wanted to find was small and it looked like a recipe booklet.

Ah! There it is! Twilight thought triumphantly as she brought out the item she had been searching for. How to Cook a Good Meal was the title of the book, and Twilight thought that it would help her greatly in trying to make breakfast in bed for her mother. It’ll be a nice for her to be treated instead of her treating others.

Sparkle trotted quietly out of her room and crept to her mom’s. She peeked in to find her mother thankfully still asleep. Twilight smiled and poked her head back out. She walked as quietly as she could down the spiral stairs and into the kitchen. She used her pink-purple aura to float a few pans to the stove while she flipped the pages of the book she was holding.

She read through the recipes it had in there, and finally settled on a simple omelet with a side of buttered toast and orange juice. Twilight got the ingredients needed for the food, and read on how to make it.

“Step 1: Crack the eggs into a small bowl and whisk them for about 1 minute until egg whites had completely gone……that sounds easy enough!” Twilight said, doing what the book instructed.

She did it perfectly and read the next step. “Step 2: Get a medium sized frying pan and place it on the stove (place a pat of butter in the middle if you want the egg to not stick). Then turn on the burner to about an 8 and wait for it to heat up (the butter will melt in the pan while heating up and should be liquid by the time you’re ready to pour your egg in.)"

Twilight did as she was instructed and waited for about 3 minutes. When it was ready, she had read a few steps ahead, so she knew what to do. She poured the egg in and swirled a spatula over to where she was standing. She held it at the ready until about one and a half minutes had pasted. Then she slid the spatula under and flipped the whole thing to the other side.

It was ready before she knew it after that, and she soon placed the egg onto one of her mother’s prized dishes. She popped toast into the toaster as she worked with orange juice. She’d squeezed just enough for a full glass before the toast had popped up saying it was done. She quickly put down the orange she was squeezing and whisked the toast onto the plate with the egg before buttering it thoroughly with margarine.

She placed the glass that was filled with juice on top of an elegant tray, which she also placed the plate of food along with silverware onto a few moments later.

She used her aura to keep the tray floating in front of her as she made her way slowly up the stairs. When she finally reached the top, she heard a slight groan from her mother’s room, telling her that her mother was waking up. She made it into the room just as her mom opened her eyes. Twilight whispered, “Good morning, mom! I brought you something I made for you…”

She stopped as Twilight Velvet slowly looked at the tray and smiled at her daughter. “Is this…for me?” She asked softly. Twilight nodded as her mother sat up in her bed and watched the tray come floating down to rest on her lap. Her eyes widened as she stared at the well-prepared meal. “Wow…Twilight, this looks amazing! Did you cook this yourself?” She complimented, looking at Twilight with pure gratitude shimmering in her eyes.

Twilight nodded yet again, watching as her mother picked up the toast and nibbled at the corner. Her eyes widened and she repeated, “This is amazing, Twilight!” Her daughter beamed as her Velvet ate the meal gratefully, as if she had suddenly realized how hungry she was. When she finished, she wiped the corners of her mouth delicately and smiled. “Thank you for the treat, Twilight!” Twilight smiled back.

She opened her mouth to reply to her mother’s compliment only to get interrupted by her own stomach growling loudly. She looked down towards it and looked back up at her mother’s amused expression.

“Well…it looks like I’ll have to get started on breakfast for somepony else!” She said gleefully, jumping out of bed, walking out of the room and down the stairs.

Twilight stared at the spot where her mother disappeared from the room, a smile still spread across her face. She then walked out of her mom’s room and down the hall back to her own, hearing her mother making Twilight some breakfast. She walked in and used her magic to gather her things she had brought with her and stuffed them back into her saddle bags.

After my breakfast, I’ll get out of mom’s mane and on my way back to Ponyville… Twilight thought to herself determinedly.

As Twilight stuffed the last of her things into her bags, she heard a loud crash from the kitchen below. She never hesitated a moment as she stumbled down the spiral staircase in a blur of purple. She swiftly galloped through the kitchen doorway after her slight struggle with the staircase to find her mother lying on the floor sprawled in the middle of what was going to be Twilight’s breakfast.

Sparkle was almost immediately by her mother’s side, asking in a frantic fashion of why she had fallen and if she was alright. “Mom!! Are you hurt?!” She cried, lifting up her mother’s head gently with her hoof and looking into her eyes. Her mother had a calm smile spread across her face as she replied, “I’m alright dear…just a small heart attack….” She sturggled saying.

“Just a small heart attack!?” Twilight screamed, floating the phone off its receiver towards her hoof. She quickly dialed the number of the Canterlot Hospital as her mother protested weakly in the background. “How can you be so calm about a freakin’ heart attack?!” Twilight screamed at her mother as she waited impatiently for the front desk to pick up their receiver.

Pick up the damn phone! “Hello, this is the Canterlot Hospital. How may we he—”

“Get an ambulance right now! My mothers’ having a heart attack!”

“Ma’am, calm down. Tell us where you live and we’ll get there as soon as poss—”

“We live on Huckleberry Street, the big house on the end! Now get over here quickly!” And she slammed the phone back down onto its receiver, rushing back into the kitchen to start helping her mother onto a chair to wait for the ambulance to arrive.

“Twilight…you didn’t have to do this. I’m fine. It’s just—” She quickly clutched her chest in pain, resuming with her sentence a few moments later. “It’s just something minor…no big deal…” She forced a smile at her worried daughter.

Twilight didn’t respond. She craned her neck to look out the kitchen window above the sink. It had a clear view of the road leading to the hospital, so Twilight knew the rescuers would come from that way.

She stole glances back at her mother, who was just sitting in the chair silently, all chances of getting her daughter to calm down lost. Twilight finally caught the familiar flash of red from the sirens of the carriage ambulance. They stopped on the side of the street, their carraige ready for a quick getaway to the hospital.

Three ponies dressed in white quickly piled out of the back of the vehicle, one pushing a gurney, and rushed up to the door. But before they could knock, Twilight opened the door for them and they pushed past her when she told them where her mother was. They lifted her up and placed her gently on the gurney. They pushed her out through the door and collapsed it so it could fit into the back.

They helped Sparkle get in as well and let her sit in the back with them while they kept an eye on Twilight Velvet. Twilight looked over her mother with worry. Twilight glanced around at the other ponies dressed in white, seeing that they wore a calm expression. Twilight looked down at her hooves folded neatly in her lap angrily as she thought, how can they be so calm!? My mother’s having a heart attack!

Twilight quickly knelt down next to the gurney, suddenly realizing about how tired and lonely her mother looked. Twilight thought back to how her mother had opened the door when she arrived. She then looked closer at her mom. She then noticed the bags under her eyes and the sorrow as she peeked around the door. Twilight came back to the present moment and continued looking at her mother. “I’m sorry…I had no idea…” Twilight whispered under her breath.

Her mother had kept her eyes on the doors the whole ride so far.

Twilight felt the vehicle halt softly to a stop, making her body lean to one side. The helper ponies opened the doors of the back and hopped out quickly. One of them pushed the gurney out, letting the others re-shape it before he pushed it out completely. They quickly hurried into the hospital, Twilight following hurriedly behind them. One of them turned around and stopped her, though, at a door that led to the testing rooms.

“I’m sorry, ma’am. But you’re going to have to wait until we say you can see her.” He informed calmly.

Twilight was furious at him for stopping her from following her mother, but she was so worried that she couldn’t keep the words from staying in her mind. “Are you serious?! You’re holding me back? That might be my mother’s death bed…and you’re holding me back?!”

“I’m truly sorry ma’am, but rules are rules…”

He disappeared behind the double doors before Twilight could respond. Sparkle stood there; brooding and pouting. Then she started to pace in front of the doors titled, Testing and Occupant Area, only stopping to let other patients and doctors pass through them. Twilight paced around for about 15 minutes before she stopped. She looked at the doors with a blank expression as a plan formed into her mind.

She then looked behind her to make sure no one was watching her, and slipped through the doors as casually and secretively as she could muster. She crouched down when she passed to the other side of the doors and moved her head to look in a three direction before moving along slowly: right, left, and forward. Twilight stopped every time she thought she heard something.

Well of course I’ll hear things here! This is a hospital after all! The sound of the door she had entered through came to her ears, and she quickly hid behind a nearby trash can. She peeked around the corner to see an unknown doctor walking by. He never noticed her, so when he passed, Twilight came out from her hiding place. She started to creep along again when he disappeared around a nearby corner.

Twilight passed many rooms on her journey through the hospital maze, countless rooms of patients, doctors, and medical machines. After searching for many minutes, Twilight came to a room labeled Locker Room and another branch of her idea grew. She stood up cautiously and peeked through the window. Just as she had expected, lab coats, stethoscopes, and other doctor necessities were either piled, hanging up, or folded in the room.

Twilight glanced around the hallway she was in, and pushed into the room. She looked around, and soon found a lab coat her size. She put it on along with the stethoscope and looked into a nearby mirror. She turned around in a circle to look at herself fully. Twilight frowned. This is missing something…Sparkle then spotted a pair of glasses in the corner of her eye.

She put them on and returned to the mirror. She smiled in a doctorish way and was surprised to find herself a spitting image of one. She backed up from the mirror and headed towards the door, confident enough that she will be mistaken for a doctor. She casually walked out and closed the door behind her. She walked through the deserted hallway until the doctor she had hidden from earlier walked around the corner and nearly bumped into her.

“S-sorry miss……” He stammered, looking at the coat without a name tag on it. “Hmm…never seen you here before…what’s your name?” He asked, suspicion quickly rising in his tone.

Twilight glanced down at where he had been looking and didn’t see a name tag. She rested her eyes back on him and adjusted her glasses as she said calmly, “I’m Miss Sparkle. A trainee.”

The suspicion deflated as quickly as it had come. “Sorry…Miss Sparkle.” He corrected. “Hmm…are you lost?”

Twilight didn’t respond. “…because all of the trainees are in a different part of the building doing medical training.” Twilight shrugged and moved to pass him, only to get stopped by a hoof cutting off her path. “Like I said before, Miss Sparkle, training is in the other section of the hospital…” He said coldly; squinting his eyes at her.

Twilight nodded knowingly, not flinching at his gaze. “I know. But the head director told me to come over here to watch a real surgery. I am one of his favorite students.”

He narrowed his eyes at her, looking at her thoroughly. He nodded slowly as she began passed him, but then stopped. “Hey wait one second…” He said suddenly, making Twilight stop in her tracks. “What is the proper way to use an X-ray machine?” He tested her.

Twilight quickly thought back to when she had gotten herself hooked on medical journals and books. She tried to remember when she read about X-ray machines. She finally found it and read from the pages in her mind. “Well, as everyone knows the first step is to have it plugged in.” She said, trying to make a joke. The doctor didn't he smile. Twilight frowned in concentration and irritation as she “read” on.

She explained the rest of the steps to him in perfect detail. As she went on, his expression grew more and more surprised and intrigued. When Twilight finished, he wore a look of admiration.

“Well, Miss Sparkle, I’m sorry I ever doubted you.” He said, walking past her. Twilight pressed her lips into a thin line as she thought, that’s a really lame excuse…but it’ll have to do for now. Sparkle then resumed her search for her mother’s room number after the long hesitation.

Twi then realized that she’s dressed as a doctor, and if one doctor could be fooled, so could many others. She walked around with more confidence and finally found the desk that marked the beginning of the patient/occupant area. Twilight walked up and spotted the operator, who was shuffling papers around on her desk. As Twilight came up, the nurse noticed her and turned to greet her with a warm smile, forgetting the papers for a moment.

“How may I help you…” She began, trying to find the name tag also.

Twilight sighed internally and said, “My name’s Miss Sparkle, and I’m here to get the room number of a mare named Twilight Velvet.”

The operator didn’t hesitate in pulling up the file name and handed over the folder. “Here, Miss Sparkle. This may help you with what you seek. Have a nice day.”

She waved as Twilight walked down one of the hallways after taking a quick peek into her mother’s folder. The top sheet was the one which had her mother’s name, address, phone number, and other personal information. She then looked at the bottom of the page and found the room number. Room 204…I’m looking for Room 204…

Twilight concentrated on finding what she had been searching for what about 45 minutes now. Twilight wandered the halls and finally found what she was looking for: Room 204. Twilight peeked through the window to make sure there weren’t any doctors in there already, and pushed into the room when she saw none. Her mother was hooked up the medical machines around her bed against the wall.

Twilight thought she was asleep but as she walked up to the bed, she saw that her mother’s eye were opened only a crack. Twilight walked slowly as her mother opened her eyes wider.

“I’m sorry doctor, but I know how to drink juice without anyone’s help. I’m not that old!” Twilight Velvet finished with mock indignation. Twilight’s mother sat up and picked up the open juice carton. Then she stopped.

Velvet looked back at “Doctor Twilight” with confusion. “You know, doctor, you have a very similar resemblance to my daughter, Twilight Sparkle.”

“Do I now?” Twilight said, taking off the doctor necessities and going to stand beside her mother’s bed.

“Twilight?” Velvet asked in shock.

Sparkle nodded and nuzzled her mother’s side.

Velvet smiled but then looked confused again.

“Why are you dressed as a doctor, Twilight?” She asked gazing at the clothes her daughter had just pushed aside. “Well…I really wanted to see you, mom. But the doctors wouldn’t let me inside of this area……so I—”

“So you disguised yourself as a doctor and snuck your way over here to see me?” Velvet finished. Twilight nodded. She smiled at the thought and leaned in to give her a hug. Twilight was exhausted about wandering the halls, but she returned the embrace.

She then plopped down into a cushioned chair sitting close by and gave a big sigh of relief. Her mother chuckled a little and lay back down. “If you don’t mind, dear, I think I’m going to take a quick nap.” Her mother said, wrapping the hospital blanket around her and making sure that she didn’t mess up the tubes taped to her arms.

“You don’t have to tell me.” Twilight said, nodding her head. Her mother didn’t say anything else for she had already fallen asleep. Twilight smiled and closed her own eyelids.

Comments

[DarkChiyo]

Haven´t seen much yet. But the title and the description sounds interesting. So I´m looking forward to new chapters.

[Fiji Firefox]

2828892

[Starlight Nova]

Have you ever considered submitting this story to Equestria Daily? You can find out how to do so here.

[Fiji Firefox]

2833101 Thanks for the suggestion! I actually did think about sending this in, but I just needed to know that people liked it before-hand. I'll see if they can accept my story! Thanks again!

[FaleYur]

It's good, but you should consider separating different characters dialogues into different paragraphs... Keep on writing!

[Fiji Firefox]

2838372 Hmm....Thank you for the tip! I'll keep that in mind! And don't worry! I'm hoping the new chapter will be done in a few days!