Sweet Child of Mine

by Ron Jeremy Pony

Meetings and Misunderstandings

Sweet Child of Mine

Chapter 2 ‘Meetings and Misunderstandings’

(Golden Oaks Library – Ponyville – Present time)

“TRIP!!!!” Twilight screamed as she pulled on her mane. She had come home as soon as she heard from Spike.

He had come into the room when Trip was trying out her spell, and he didn’t get the chance to stop her. Instead she had disappeared in a brilliant flash of light. Hal was also gone so there was no telling what she had cast. She looked around for something, anything to help her find her daughter, but instead it was an empty library. Hal had ingested all of the books in the library, and even a good deal of the letters from the princess.

“Twi, she’s a smart girl,” Spike said.

“I should have been here Spike. I should have made sure that she didn’t try something!” Twilight cried.

“She was looking for you, so maybe she found you. I mean found a different you,” he said trying to sooth her.

“What good would that do? Even if she found another me what if it’s a me that isn’t out of magic kindergarten yet, or what if it’s a me that just arrived in Ponyville?! That version of me isn’t going to know what to do!” she cried.

He walked over to her and pulled her into a tight hug. He felt her return it.

“Trip is a smart filly, and she’s resourceful. We’ve got to trust that if she found another you then the two of you will know how to take care of this,” he said.

She sniffed and nodded.

“What am I going to do Spike? I lost Jacob, and now…” she started before he shushed her.

“You’re going to go back and help Celestai come up with a way to save Jacob. I’m going to talk to Luna and see anything I tell her makes enough sense to help us figure out what Trip might have been working on,” he said as he held her, “Twilight, Trip is my little sister, and I’m going to do everything that I can to help get her back, but right now you’ve got to focus on getting Jacob back.”

She nodded as he led her to her bed.

“Go ahead and try to get some sleep. I’m going to go ahead and write a letter to Luna, and see what she’ll say,” he said.

(Golden Oaks Library – Ponyville – Alternate time line)

Twilight heard the sound of wings flapping and looked out the window to see Luna’s personal carriage arriving. She took a breath and then looked back at Trip. The ‘girl’ seemed to be genuinely worried. It made sense that she would be though. Her father was missing, her mother was helping the Celestia of her world try to track him down, and she was alone at the library. She walked toward her, and offered her a hoof.

“Princess Celestia will know what to do,” she said.

The girl straightened her white tank-top and red skirt. She started to follow Twilight and then she stopped. Twilight looked at her and the girl was tearing up.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

“What if I end up like Dad? What if I never get to see him again?” she asked.

Twilight looked at her and smiled gently.

“I will never stop helping you find a way back home,” she replied.

She felt the girl hug her and she returned it. She was still trying to come to grips with the fact that this girl was her daughter. Perhaps it was in the future, or a different universe, but her daughter all the same. She walked with her out to the carriage and the both of them waited for Spike who came out after he locked the door.

“Is FRIEND Celestia still mad at Hal?” a disembodied voice asked.

“Hal, it’s fine, this is a different Celestia, and you haven’t ate her recipes,” Trip said wiping her eyes.

“FRIEND Trip is leaking around eyes. FRIEND Trip sad?” Hal asked.

“I just miss Mom, Spike, and Dad,” she said.

“FRIEND Spike and FRIEND Twilight are present,” he replied.

It was so hard to explain it to him. He didn’t understand because he wasn’t meant to. She knew how innocent he truly was.

“I know, thank you Hal,” she said.

“Hal is helping FRIEND Trip!” he chirped happily.

They lifted into the air and Twilight looked at her.

“Princess Celestia is going to want to know everything,” she said.

“I’ll tell her everything I know,” Trip said.

They rode quietly until they reached Canterlot. Once there they stepped off and instead of going straight inside Trip walked forward to the Batponies who were getting ready to take off.

“Thank you,” she said.

The one on the left smiled slightly.

“You are very welcomed,” he said in a gruff voice before they took off.

She walked with this version of Twilight until they reached the throne room. In it sat a tired looking Princess Celestia and a fresh Princess Luna.

“Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, this is Triplana Sparkle,” Twilight said.

“Triplana, from what Twilight has said in her letter you and your friend,” she said indicating the glowing blue foal like pony beside her, “Are needing help finding a way back to your world. I would ask that you please tell me in your words what has happened up to the point of you arriving here so that I may see what it is that we can do to aid you,” Celestia said.

“I will be glad to,” Trip said, “It started about three weeks ago.”

(Golden Oaks Library – Ponyville – two weeks earlier)

“Trip! Triplana Sparkle get out of bed! You’re going to be late!” Twilight shouted from downstairs.

A few moments later the door to Trip’s room came open and a purple unicorn mare walked over to her. She shook the girl for a moment before shaking her head and pulling the covers off of her daughter.

“Five more minutes?” Trip asked.

“You don’t have five minutes to spare. As it is I doubt you’ll have enough time to take a shower. Trip, do you really want to be late for your first day of apprenticeship?” Twilight asked.

“But mom I’m still so tired…” she complained.

Twilight rolled her eyes and started to walk out of the room.

“Get up. I’m making some breakfast, and if your father has to come up here you know what he’ll do to wake you up,” Twilight said.

Trip’s eyes shot open and she sat up.

“Okay, okay! I’m up! We don’t need to send dad up here okay,” she said softly.

Twilight smiled and looked at the girl sitting up.

“Good, and go ahead and take a shower. I’ll tell your father that the bucket of ice water isn’t needed this morning,” Twilight said with a smile.

Trip watched her mom walk out of the room and slowly stood. She looked at the body standing in the mirror that was looking back at her. A body that didn’t know if it wanted to be a human or a pony, one that was sometimes difficult to stay balanced in, and then there was the fact that she knew she looked weird. Her muzzle was shorter than other ponies, but slightly bigger than her father’s. She didn’t have a beautiful coat of fur like her mom. Instead she had a full mane, a tail, and a growth of hair that had started coming in when she was thirteen. She wasn’t sure what she thought of that. It wasn’t like it was really protecting anything. A soft yawn escaped her and she walked toward her closet.

Rarity had been kind enough to make her a wardrobe. Tank tops, skirts, formal wear, and underwear. Her dad had said that it was important to have them. Recently Rarity had created a device that helped support her teats. She didn’t know why they had to be so far up on her chest. It was so different from her mom.

“Face it, you’re weird,” she said to herself.

She pulled out the supporter, her dad called it a bra, her underwear, a pair of jeans, and a tank top. She opened her door, looked around, and made sure that the coast was clear. She didn’t have a problem walking around naked, but her dad had made it a point to tell her that since she was built more like he was she needed to wear the clothes for protection, and for modesty. She didn’t really get the modesty part. After all mom, all of her friends, and even her brother Spike walked around naked all day long.

Seeing the coast was clear she walked out of the room toward the bathroom. She nearly made it when another bipedial creature moved past her and into the bathroom.

“Spike!!!!” She shouted.

“Sorry Sis, but I’ve got to go help Scoots, and I want to look presentable doing it!” he shouted.

“Nuhuh! I got to take a shower! I’m supposed to start my apprenticeship today!” she shouted.

“Oh… Oh! You’re going to working with Rarity today right? Wow, yeah, you need to get a shower and quick. She’ll say something if you aren’t clean,” he said.

“Thanks BBBFF,” she said hugging him.

He hugged her back and smiled.

“It’s fine, besides, I know that Scoots won’t mind for me to be a little late,” he said.

She walked into the bathroom and closed the door.

“So when are you going to make an honest mare out of her?!” Trip shouted.

“I will when we’re both ready to take that next step! Besides, she’s been pretty busy training with Dash for the Wonderbolts tryouts!” he shouted back through the door, “Hey, Twilight wants me downstairs for a minute! Let me know when you get out!”

“Okay!” she shouted back.

She felt the hot water striking her and she loved every second of it. She moaned as she relaxed and then she heard a faint beep.

“FRIEND Trip has lost two ounces! It appears that FRIEND Trip has confused the use of the Bathing area for the Toilet area!” a high pitched voice squealed.

“Hal get out!” she shouted.

“FRIEND Trip is currently going through cleaning ritual!” he chirped happily.

“GET OUT NOW!” she shouted.

“Hal Wishes to help FRIEND Trip!” he chirped.

“MOM!” Trip yelled.

Twilight opened the door to see a glowing blue foal for lack of a better word. She narrowed her eyes at small creature before she walked over to the sink, reached under it and pulled out a jar.

“Hal, out or it’s back into the jar,” Twilight said.

Hal’s glowing blue eyes widened in fear and he blinked out of existence. Twilight shook her head and then walked over to the shower.

“He’s gone sweetie, although you could have done the same thing,” she said.

“He doesn’t believe me when I do it,” Trip said as she stood there.

Twilight started to turn around.

“Mom… thank you,” she said.

“It’s fine. Did you remember to grab a towel before you hopped in?” she asked.

“Heheh… Sorry,” Trip replied.

A moment later a towel floated out of the linen closet and sat down on the edge of the sink. Twilight looked at the tub and memories came flooding back to her of how she had bathed Trip when she still such a little filly.

“Do you want me to wash your back for you?” Twilight asked.

“Do you mind?” Trip asked.

Twilight smiled and a wash rag floated over toward the stream of hot water. She let it drift under the hot water for a moment and then she let it float over to her. She soaped it up and then moved the curtain a little and reached in to wash Trip’s back. She scrubbed lightly and took a moment to relive a few old memories. She pulled her hoof back and placed the wash rag over a pan she had placed on the floor to let the wet rags drip into.

“Okay, hurry up and get dressed. Rarity is going to be ready to start in a little bit,” Twilight said.

“Mom...” Trip said.

Twilight turned toward her.

“Do… Do you really think that I can do this? I mean, I don’t know how good I really am at this,” Trip said.

Twilight stood on her hind legs and put her forelegs on her daughter’s shoulders.

“Sweetie, you’re growing up to be an amazing mare. Without any training you’ve already shown an amazing ability to repair almost anything, and while I’ve taught you everything I know about repair magic you really need Rarity to show you how to be precise with it. She’s had a lot of experience using repair magic on her clothes, and it is very precise work,” she said.

“I know, but I just don’t want to screw up,” she said.

Twilight smiled and nuzzled her cheek softly.

“You’re going to be fine. Now finish up, and get down stairs,” she said before she stepped back and dropped down.

Trip watched her mom and slowly got out of the shower. She walked to her room and quickly pulled on her clothes. She walked down stairs to find her Dad hugging her Mom. She liked to tease them about it, but she did like that they played around with each other. She heard her Mom squeak a little in surprise before turning around and catching her father in a kiss.

“You’re going to be back soon right?” Twilight asked.

“I should be. The type of record storage they’re wanting to use shouldn’t be that hard to replicate. It’s just printing the data into the crystal, and with the spell that you sent Shining, for Candace to study, I’m fairly certain we should be able to finish in less than a week,” he said.

“I hate that you’re going to be gone for an entire week. I know it needs to be done, but I wish they could do it here and transport the crystals back,” she said.

“You know better than that. There’s too much of a chance the crystal might crack or break,” he said.

She nodded, felt him hug her again, and then she felt his hand drift down right above her tail. She giggled like a school filly as he held her.

“Ewwww… Get a room you two,” Trip said deciding to make her presence known.

“Uhhuh, Just know little lady that if your mom and me weren’t like this you wouldn’t be here,” her Dad said.

“Really guys? I walk outside to check the mail, and I come back in to see the two of you fooling around?” Spike asked.

“The shower is all your’s BBBFF,” Trip said.

“Cool, thanks Trip,” he said.

He walked up the steps and they heard the bathroom door close.

“Dad, do you really gotta go?” Trip asked.

“I’m afraid that I do, but I’ll be back in a week, maybe sooner,” he said.

They sat down together to eat. After she was finished Trip checked the time, quickly hugged her Dad and Mom and then ran out of the house toward the Carousel Boutique. She knew that Rarity didn’t like to be kept waiting, and she didn’t want the fashionista to be too upset at her for being late. She ran up to the door of the Boutique and quickly checked the watch her father had given her. She wasn’t late, but she wasn’t early either. She knocked on the door and waited.

“Come in!” a refined voice said.

She opened the door and walked into the building. She could smell the faint aroma of mint tea, dark chocolate, and some kind of expensive perfume that always made her sneeze when she was around it for very long.

“Welcome to the Carousel Boutique! I’ll be with you in just a minute!” the same voice called out.

“Ummm.. Rarity it’s me,” Trip said.

She heard the clatter of a couple of boxes, and then a moment later Rarity walked out to see one of her best friend’s daughter standing there looking nervous.

“Triplana! I’m glad that you made it on time this morning! I’m afraid that Sweetie Belle won’t be in today. She and Button are at the hospital,” Rarity said.

“Is it serious?” Trip asked.

“Nothing serious at all darling, just a routine checkup to make sure that their foal is doing all right,” Rarity said.

“Oh, okay. So, what are we going to work on today?” Trip asked.

“Well, Twilight said that you need to learn precision, and the best thing I can think of to help you focus on that is sewing. I have twelve dresses that all need a massive amount of repair. Since Sweetie Belle won’t be in, and since I have you here to train that’s where we are going to start,” Rarity said as she lead Trip into the next room.

Trip walked in to see several dresses hanging on the mannequins. She walked toward them and studied them before looking at Rarity.

“Where’s the damage?” she asked.

A soft chuckle came from the white unicorn mare. She walked toward the emerald green dress with rubies sewn into it on the far left and gently tugged its collar with her magic. Trip watched as this happened and a ruby nearly fell off.

“The thread has begun to come loose here. The next one has a seam that is trying to bust open, the third needs a slight alteration so that wings can be moved far easier, the forth needs to be rethreaded completely, along with an alteration so it will fit a fuller, plumper frame, and the last one is the tricky one. I want you to study it, but not with your eyes. Reach out and feel it with magic,” Rarity said.

Trip closed her eyes, and a light purple glow covered the fabric of the material. For a moment nothing happened, and then the glow began to intensify when it found the laces of the dress. She followed the laces down and her eyes flashed open.

“The lace straps for the back of the dress are wrong,” she said.

“Very good! Yes, I’m afraid that they are wrong. This wasn’t one of mine, but instead it was something bought in Las Pegasus. It’s not bad work, but you can tell a few places where the dress maker skipped over a few details. Because of that the dress doesn’t fit right,” she said.

“So, are we going to completely redo the dress?” Trip asked.

Rarity nodded as she made the dress lift up, and float over into Trip’s arms.

“Yes, we are. I had thought about simply repairing the lacing problem, but that would be masking the other faults with the dress. I couldn’t stand for anypony to wear something that wasn’t perfect, even if I didn’t original make it,” she replied.

Trip walked over to a work station and waited for Rarity to come over. She looked up to see her floating a pair of scissors over to her. She started to grab them when Rarity cleared her throat.

“Your mother wants you to practice your magic, so use your magic,” Rarity said.

Trip focused on the scissors and then looked up at Rarity.

“How do I do this?” she asked.

“What did you see when you felt it through your magic?” Rarity asked.

“I saw the pieces it was supposed to be in. Like it was pulled apart very carefully,” she replied.

“Good, and that’s what you need to do. Start with the laces, and work your way back,” Rarity said.

Trip made the first cut with the magic and split a thread holding the lacing loops. Once the thread was split she began using her magic to carefully pull the thread out. She focused on her task, making only small cuts when needed, until finally the dress was spread out into pieces forming the pattern it originally had been before the original dress maker had put it together.

“Wonderful darling! Now, since we’ve got it apart you already know about the laces. So, find another set that will suit this dress better,” Rarity said.

Trip got up and looked over at the materials. She quickly found the laces and the loops for them. She studied them, and instead of getting the simple in fabric loops, which had been on the dress originally, she grabbed a set of silver loops. She brought it over and looked at the dress. Rarity had said there was other problems with it besides the loops. She felt it again through her magic and noticed how overly tight the dress seemed to be around the barrel. She allowed the fabric a little more room and began sewing it back together. Rarity came back over to check on her and smiled brightly.

“Good, you caught how constricting it was, and I see that you decided add a bit of flare to it as well. Now, what was the other problem with it?” she asked.

Trip studied it, really studied it before she shrugged and looked at Rarity.

“I don’t know, it seems like the dress should be fine,” she said.

“It could be worn as it is, but it’s missing a little signature flare. The silver loops are a good beginning, but we need something to help it stand out. I was thinking that it doesn’t need gems, but it could use gold embroidery around the bottom of the skirt, and near the neck line. It could also use a necklace. Something simple since the dress itself isn’t meant to be overly showy,” Rarity said.

“What about an onyx broach necklace?” Trip asked.

“That is perfect! Inspiration!” Rarity nearly sang as she ran over toward a large crate. She pulled out a piece of swirled onyx and then brought it over to Trip.

Trip watched as she began chipping away at it, slowly shaping it until it formed a beautiful set of chocolate and vanilla swirled wings. Trip watched as she floated a small delicate silver chain over. A metal loop attached to the top of the set of wings and then she threaded the silver chain through it. It seemed to fit perfectly.

“Ah, wonderful!” Rarity said happy with her accomplishment.

“So, what else should we practice on?” Trip asked.

“Well darling you did so well with that dress I would love to see what you can do with another one. This time however I’m going to be busy working as well, so try to see what can come up with,” Rarity said.

Trip began working on another dress, and by the end of the day she had helped clear Rarity’s schedule. The white unicorn mare smiled at her and walked her toward the door.

“You did so well darling, and your precision is getting far better. I’ll keep working with you, and in a few weeks you should have enough practice that you could fix a dress on a living being with absolutely no fear,” Rarity said.

“Thank you,” Trip said.

“Think nothing of it, besides, it’s such a joy to have the help. Oh, if you get a chance to talk to Spike would you be a dear and ask if he has time to go gem hunting with me this weekend? I fear that I am going to run out by next week,” she said.

“I’ll ask him, but I don’t know if he has plans. He said something about helping Scootaloo train,” Trip said.

A sort of sad look crossed Rarity’s face for a moment before she shook it off.

“I have to keep in mind that he does have a life of his own now, but if he would be willing I would be so grateful,” Rarity said.

“I’ll let him know… And aunt Rarity thank you so much again,” Trip said before giving the older mare a hug.

Rarity returned it.

“It’s perfectly fine dear,” she said before she looked up, “Oh, it looks like your father is getting ready to leave. I had better let you go, so that you can see him off.”

Trip nodded and ran over to where her father was standing. Her Mom noticed her and touched his arm. He stopped and then turned when he heard the familiar sound of his daughter. He caught her in a hug as she jumped for him.

“Done for the day?” he asked.

“Uhhuh, Dad… Do you mind if I walk with you to the train station?” she asked.

“No, in fact I want you to walk with me,” he replied.

She walked with him, listened as he flirted with her Mom, laughed at his jokes, and when they reached the station she hugged him again.

“I love you Daddy,” she whispered.

He hugged her back tightly.

“I love you too babygirl. I’ll be back within a week, and during that time you can get Spike to send me letters through dragon mail. I’m sure that Shining will find a way for me to write back to you as well,” he said.

She stepped back and watched as he hugged her mom, kissed her, and told her that he loved her. The stood together watching as he climbed aboard the train.

Author's Note:

(And I’m stopping there for the night. I think it’s a pretty good start. Thanks again for reading!

LF)

Comments

[PinkPearlApple]

so cute!!oh! while she's there will she be training with rarity again in the meantime? while they wait on the spell