Rites of Ascension: Fireside Tales

by CvBrony

Letters

Twilight rolled her neck, popping the vertebrae and loosening her back up. Even after her unwanted nap, she was tired and ready to sleep in her cloud bed once again. It was still remarkable and rather disconcerting having her very own chambers next to the Princesses, but she couldn’t give it up at this point, not when Luna had worked so hard on it. Besides, she had to admit, sleeping on a cloud was awesome.

“Hey, Twilight? Can I come in?”

She craned her neck around, looking at her doors to find Spike peeking his head in. “Of course, Spike! You’re always welcome here. I did think you’d be in bed, though. You must still be exhausted.”

“I am, but Raven Quill insisted I deliver this to you.” Spike plodded into the room carrying a scroll. “It’s a letter from your dad.”

“My dad? Let’s see.” Twilight lifted it up with her magic and unfurled it.

Twilight,

Please come to Ponyville and talk to your mother. She’s been wailing and crying ever since we got here about how the library ‘smells like the daughter that doesn’t love her.’ Please, please come home. We have to talk about this. Surely you can find it in your heart to forgive her and put all this behind us? She’s really sorry.

Love,

Your Father

“Whoa.” Spike scratched his head. “Sounds serious. What are you going to do?”

“Hmm…” Twilight stared at the letter, knowing something was off. “Spike, your new armor has enchantments that grant you cloudwalking and cloud grabbing abilities, right?”

He knocked on his breastplate. “Yup. Fancy stuff!”

“Could you go and open that section of cloud for me?” She pointed with a hoof, not taking her eyes off the letter. “Just lift up or push it to the side.”

Spike ran up and lifted, raising the entire area of the cloud a couple meters in the air like a vaporous garage door. “Like this?”

“Perfect.” She summoned her magic, lifting her writing stand and a piece of paper from its storage area and floating them over to her along with a quill and ink. Spike walked back to watch as she wrote.

Dear Mother,

Who do you think you’re fooling? That’s not Father’s hornwriting, that’s not his writing cadence, and he wouldn’t use those words and wouldn’t address me in such a manner. Quit complaining and serve out your ‘sentence’. It’s a damn sight better than bankruptcy and destitution.

Besides, the Princess upheld my judgement and reinforced it. She’s not going to just let me ‘forgive’ you and put things back to the way they were, even if I wanted to. You’re stuck, Mom, and it was your own mouth that got you there. If I hadn’t stepped in, even with Dad’s income, you still would have had to move to one of the worker towns for Canterlot. You certainly wouldn’t have been able to afford to stay in the city itself. Ponyville is farther away, but it’s also nicer.

The ponies in that town are good ponies, Mom. Give them a chance before you try to guilt trip me.

-Twilight

P.S. Don’t even try to mimic Father anymore. And tell him I’m sorry he was dragged into this, but it was your fault, not mine or his. Knowing that town, though, he should have no shortage of work.

“So your mom was pretending to be your dad in that letter? Sneaky.”

“Yeah, she tends to be that way. It’s the only reason she’s been able to maneuver within the circle of nobility as well as she has. Everypony knows she’s just trying to get into the nobility herself, though.” Twilight rolled up the scroll and applied her magic seal. “Think you can get this sent back ‘home’ on your way out?”

Spike took the scroll, stood up straight, and saluted. “Aye aye!”

Twilight chuckled. “That’s the Navy’s term, Spike.”

“Yar!” he replied, walking out the door.

Comments

[Kapuchu]

Hmm... I know it's a bit lazy of me, but can someone refresh my memory of what it was Velvet did? I remember how Twilight pretty much declared that she would never get into the nobility while she had a say in it, and banished her to Ponyville for... was it ten years? Or just three? But what exactly was it she did. I just can't drag it out of whatever corner of my mind it's hidden in ><

[kniteothedarkone]

5803372 She started talking about mudponies in front of Celestia.

[Kapuchu]

5803417
That wasn't Velvet (Twi's mother). That was someone else in the Council. One of the nobles. Although she _did_ say that, I think, she did something else before even that.

[fieryShaman]

5803421
You're not wrong. Duchess Bismare used a tribalist slur in No Good Deed, but Twilight Velvet called Ponyville '… that po-dunk, backwater mud pony town…', before being cut off by Celestia, then torn into by Twilight Sparkle in the chapter titled Good for the Goose.

Edit: misremembered some chapter titles. all information now properly cited.

[Vates Despero]

5803421 Velvet did it too. Just a couple days later while yelling at Celestia for 'turning her daughter against her'. It was just after Twilight and Shining Armor told them about the Alicorn thing.

[Kapuchu]

5803462
5803466
Thanks. Fiery provided the chapter. I'll go freshen it up :)

[Jansvl]

5803372
She made a racist blurb in front of the Princesses. It's not acceptable under their laws, and typically comes with a large fine for every violation along with some additional punishment. Nobility can afford to pay it off but Velvet isn't a royal and probably would be bankrupt from the fine alone. Twilight issued an alternative punishment with lesser fine and a temporary order to go live in the nearby town of Ponyville, which is strongly comprised of Earth ponies. This is important because the phrase she used in particular was in insult to that race.

It might seem a bit harsh but I assume that this is a culture where racism is severely frowned upon, especially when the longtime leaders of said nation are multi-racial. It's kind of like walking into a king's castle and telling him to his face that he's worth less because of his heritage. A less generous leader might be tempted to do worse.

[fieryShaman]

5803525
Celestia made a statement that i infer to mean that she wished she COULD do worse. the legal maximum for the fine seems to prevent her from levying a ruinous sum for all social strata, just the non-nobility, by virtue of their wealth.

[djthomp]

Hmn, so why was this dependent on the first mission being over? Just the timeline?

[defunct321]

5803693 I think the mother was only banished to Ponyville recently, so it only makes sense now.

[Hallowed]

Yar!

[Solent Spray]

Hey Cv, I like it this. It brings a continuation theme on the whole relationship between Twilight and her mother. And doing this gives the whole story even more depth!
Yay!

[FanOfMostEverything]

Oh, Twilight Velvet. I hope she wrote that letter in the library's basement, because she just keeps digging herself deeper. Sparkle may need to order a tactical friendship strike. It worked on her... eventually.

[Seirs]

This was nice to see even if it was a real quick read. It's a great beat to Twi and her mother's relationship.

Hope you get to feeling better soon CV

[CommanderBigMac]

Yar

[Fwelin]

I don't know if you ever consider suggestions for Fireside Tales, but if you do, I think it'd be interesting to see when Shining Armor was informed of the alicorn ascension thing, and the fact that his sister was undergoing it.

That's of course assuming it's not spoilers for the main story.

[Yami Vizzini]

Twilight ain't taking horseapples from anypony.

[Nekonyancer]

raising the entire area of the cloud a couple meters in the air like a vaporous garage door.

You almost always use non-American spellings. For consistency, it should be metres.

[way_2_spooky_4_u]

5805380
It certainly worked for Luna.