A Meeting In Canterlot
Twilight stared down at her hooves as she felt the train rumble down the tracks headed to Canterlot. The good news? She, Luna, and Spike were in their own cabin. The bad news was that her temporary illusion had just worn off. Twilight was about to open her mouth when she saw a single bead of sweat run down her mother’s cheek. Enough of this, Twilight. Don’t you dare start trying to use an illusion as a crutch. This is who you are, so you better get used to it.
Twilight squeezed her eyes tight and took a deep breath before opening them, hopefully in a new light. She looked up to see Luna gazing down at her. “Twilight? Are you alright?”
“Yes, I think I am now, Mother. I just had to have a bit of a firm talk with myself. After all, there are no trustworthy age spells.” Twilight shrugged. “I guess it just took a bit for me to, well… come to terms with all this.”
Luna nodded before pausing. “And, have you come to terms with everything that has happened?”
Twilight stared down at her small hoof, her eyebrows furrowed, and shook her head. “If I said I’d accepted any of this, I’d only be lying. I still feel like this is nothing but a nigh— a bad dream... that I’ll wake up and still be the mare I thought I was.” After a few moments, she slumped over.
“Luna— Mother, I’m trying. I truly am, but I can’t say I have at all come to terms with any of this. I think, had you come to me and I was still myself...” Twilight looked up to see Luna glancing away. She shook her head and laid her small hoof on Luna’s. “Please don’t misunderstand me. I’m happy you are my mother! I’m hopeful that we will have a wonderful relationship. I-I just wish…”
Luna gently lifted Twilight into her forelegs and held her close. “I know… Let’s just deal with this one day at a time, alright? Remember though, my darling, you aren’t just a foal. There is a third option to all of this, you only just need to discover it. But remember, I will be here with you every step of the way, and so will Spike, so you need not be afraid.”
Twilight nodded, pressing her cheek to Luna’s chest as she felt Spike’s clawed hand slowly run down her back. At that moment, she felt content and safe, as if nothing could harm her. That’s right. No matter what happens, Spike and Luna… my mother… They are both here for me.
“Last stop, Canterlot! End of the line!
Luna smiled. “Well, trains certainly are a marvel of engineering, aren’t they? Almost feels like we just sat down. Now…” She set Twilight back onto the seat and smiled, her horn glowing. “I just need to reapply the illusion.”
“W-wait, just a second. Are you sure this isn’t causing you any damage? I-I saw the sweat…” Twilight looked up into Luna’s eyes to see her smile twitch a bit.
“I will admit that it is a bit taxing, especially without having the moon to draw upon, but I promise it is not hurting me.” Luna bent her head down to look Twilight in the eyes. “Besides, do you not wish to appear as you did yesterday until we can announce what has happened?”
Twilight rubbed under her horn as she looked down at the floor of the car, her small wings twitching. “Of course I do, Lu— Mother, I want to always look like I did yesterday, but I can’t. That isn’t who I am anymore, and the sooner I deal with that, the sooner I can figure out what comes next. So... th-this is the last time I want to be disguised.”
Luna blinked, before raising Twilight’s chin to look at her. “Hearing you say that makes me so proud to be your mother. Rather than mope and rage at the universe for things we cannot change, you strive to move forward. Alright, Twilight, one last time.”
The door to the cabin opened and the conductor entered, bowing to them. “Your Highnesses, Lord Spike, we’ve arrived in Canterlot.”
Luna gave a simple nod as she waited for Twilight to hop down from the bench and head for the door, followed quickly by Spike. She then followed after. “Alright, shall I send a message to Tia to ask her to meet us for breakfast, or would you prefer we head directly to your foster home?” Luna paused as she saw Twilight wince. “Twilight?”
Twilight’s ears pinned back as she pondered exactly what to say. “Luna… I-I know you are my biological mother, and as I’ve said, I’m very happy to have the chance to be a family... but Twilight Velvet and Night Light… they raised me. For every foalhood memory I have, they are my Mom and Dad. C-can’t we just say that they are my other parents?”
Luna paused, her eyes closed in thought, before she finally sighed and smiled. “Two mothers. Yes, I think I can handle that... Alright, Twilight, I will not refer to them as your foster parents agai—” Luna ‘oomphed’ as Twilight slammed into her chest, hugging her as tightly as she could while standing on just her hind legs.
“Thank you, Mother. Thank you,” Twilight murmured, rubbing her cheek into Luna’s fur. She felt Luna’s foreleg wrap around her until she dropped back to the ground.
“Of course. So shall we head over now, then? Maybe we’ll arrive before they start eating breakfast and we can join them.” Luna smiled, turning to head toward the university. “It’s really not that surprising you are as brilliant as you are, my darling, seeing as you grew up so close to the university.”
Twilight hurried so as to walk alongside Luna. “It was the best, what with Mom being a professor and author, while Dad was a royal astronomer… er, but you already knew that, didn’t you?”
Luna cocked her head. “I was aware of Sir Night Light, but I admit that I do not know much of your other mother.”
“Well, you both are super important to me, so I would really like it if you tried to be friends.” Twilight smiled hopefully.
“Twilight, just because I haven’t had the chance to get to know Lady Velvet doesn’t mean I don’t want to.” Luna smiled. “Besides, she is my—how do you say: go to?—for all the adorable things you did.”
Twilight blushed but walked silently beside Luna, a smile on her muzzle.
Twilight Velvet blew her bangs out her eyes as she smiled over at where her daughter-in-law was assisting her with breakfast. A daughter-in-law who is a princess… My, I never thought this would happen when Shining was a colt. “I think you can flip them now, Cadance.”
Cadance grinned, her tongue poked out as as she carefully flipped the pancakes. “Yes! Didn’t even land on my horn this time!”
“D-does that happen often, Cadance?” Velvet asked, glancing over at the grinning Cadance, who shrugged as Shining Armor looked up from his coffee.
“The crystal pony chef we have decided to ban Empress Cadenza here from the kitchen after the sixth time it happened.” Shining Armor shook his head. “So Cadance has been smuggling pancake supplies into our quarters along with a camp stove. It took a while, but I think she’s got making pancakes under control. Now, soup on the other hoof...” Shining Armor ducked with a grin on his muzzle as his wife threw the spare apron at him.
Velvet sighed. “Such foals... Speaking of foals, have either of you seen Twilight? Night Light and I tried to get over to the palace to see her, but the ponies were fairly panicked, what with it both being day and night. And then after the Summer Sun Celebration, she went back to Ponyville.” Velvet smiled as she lifted the spare apron which had Twilight’s cutie mark on it. “Not that I’m not very proud of my little filly, but I must admit that it was far easier to keep track of her when she was still shutting herself away in her library.”
Shining Armor shook his head. “Afraid not, Mom. We had to leave pretty quickly after her coronation. Had to get back to the empire since they’re still getting used to everything. In fact, it was a bit difficult to convince them about why it was important to celebrate the Summer Sun, but they all still had such a great time. I’ve even heard talk of asking Twily and the Princesses to come to the Crystal Empire next year.”
“If they do come, Shining, just make sure not to call your sister ‘Princess Twily’ in front of the entire empire, hmm?” Velvet smiled as her son rolled his eyes. “I doubt she’d ever live such a thing down. You know how sensitive she can—”
Knock Knock Knock
“Huh, I wonder who could be knocking this early? Your father has the next few days off and the university is out of session until next week. Some pony from the palace, maybe?” Velvet looked over to Cadance, who frowned.
“No, we kept the fact that we were coming to visit you and Night Light top secret. I don’t even think Auntie Celestia knows Shining and I are here, so whoever it is at the door is unlikely to be looking for us.”
Knock Knock Knock
Velvet sighed, pulling off her apron. “I’m coming!” She cantered over to the door and pulled it open. “Good morning, how may I hel- oh, Princess Luna! How nice to see... Twilight!” Velvet beamed at seeing her filly standing beside Luna. “And Spike, my goodness, what a pleasant surprise! Come in, come in!” She stepped aside, allowing the three to walk in, before shutting the door behind them.
“Hi Mom. I, um... we need to talk to you and Dad. Is he home?” Twilight asked, after a moment of gazing around the living room of her old home.
“Oh yes, the night guild gave him the next few days off from work.” Velvet walked over to the staircase. “Night Light, Dear? Come on downstairs, we have guests! Twilight is here with Spike and Princess Luna...” Velvet trailed off before turning to observe Luna and Twilight. They seemed close; not in the manner of how Shining Armor and Cadance were close, but more like… Velvet felt herself subconsciously swallow as she closed her eyes.
“M-mom?” Twilight’s eyes widened as Velvet seemed to age in front of her. “Mom, are you alright? What’s wrong?” Twilight desperately wanted to go to her, but fought the urge, remembering that the illusion was no good to the touch. “Please talk to me?”
Velvet just stared. For a moment, she beckoned Twilight over, trying to force a smile on as she looked into her foal’s eyes. They came no closer, but instead just stared at her, as if in horror. The older mare put her hoof down, and bent her head low, before her knees followed suit. “Yes, princess Twilight, all is fine. I… I understand what my role was, and hope you and your… your n-new mo-” She couldn’t keep it up any further than that though, and put her head to the floor as the tears she had held back now came down her cheeks.
Twilight moved without a second thought, her heart in agony from seeing her mother be hurt so badly. She put a hoof to Velvet’s cheek, her words flying like bees from their hive. “No, no mom, please, don’t think that. Luna could never replace you as my mother, I swear!”
Now it was Luna’s turn to wince, but she knew she had had the easiest time here. She may have had to suspect her young one to be dead, but at least she never had to raise her, only to then say goodbye. The princess stepped forward, and placed a hoof on Velvet’s chin, forcing her to look up. “Please, Lady Velvet, do not fear me. I owe you everything, and would not dare wish to harm you. In fact,” Luna slowly got onto her knees, her horn touching the ground, “I beseech you to please allow me to take care of your daughter, as you have before me.”
Before the older mare could speak, another set of hooves echoed from above. “I’m sorry for not having come down earlier. I really ought to break the habit of sleeping in on days…” Night Light stopped midway up the stairs and simply blinked at the situation before him. As he looked to his daughter, and then to Luna, his pupils shriveled up, and his mouth became dry. He knew better than to react too quickly though. “Well, this is… unexpected. Could I perhaps be caught up in what’s going on?”
Velvet looked between Luna, to her filly, who looked a lot more like a filly than she expected to see, and then to her husband. She then cleared her throat and said in a monotone, shocked voice, “Luna was told she had a daughter sometime recently, Twily’s glamour broke, and now the princess of the night is asking to be our little filly’s mother, along with me.”
Night Light trotted in, noting Twilight’s illusion shimmer, before Luna simply collapsed it, along with Twilight’s height. Seeing his little filly so small brought a tear to his eyes, and he rubbed them as he sat on the couch with Velvet. “Well, if my wonderful wife is correct, then I see no real issue. We always knew about this, and so long as I can still say Twily’s my little one, I won’t stop you. Now, joining mine and Velvet’s bed, that’s a whole different issue I feel.”
A small laughter broke the tense air, and once Twilight was done acting like she was about to vomit, she placed a small hoof on her father’s leg, and mouthed, ‘Thank you.’ Night Light simply nodded, even as his chest kept tight, and he wanted to say so much more, but couldn’t. He would stay true to his word, even if it hurt.
Velvet smiled at Night Light. Night is right. If Twilight will always be our little filly, I can share. She turned to Luna as they both stood back up. and wiped a tear away. “You’ll be taking her home with you to the castle, then?”
Luna shook her head. “Oh no, I plan to stay with Twilight in Ponyville. I wish to make this as easy as I can on her. Even though her physical appearance is that of a foal, I want to treat her as a mare as much as I can.”
Velvet nodded. “I hoped you would say something like that. Twilight was always so independent.” She wrapped her forelegs around Twilight and smiled. “I knew this day would come, Twilight. Forgive me for not telling you.”
“Of course, Mom! I never would have understood, especially not back when I was a filly. I barely understand it all now...” Twilight nuzzled into Velvet’s chest, breathing in her scent, which was much like her own.
Slam
Everypony and Spike looked up to see Shining Armor, standing in the now open doorway, which led to the kitchen, and the door handle that was embedded in the wall. Standing behind him was Cadance, looking very apologetic.
“Wh-what is going on? Twily… Twily was adopted? She’s Luna’s daughter! Wh-why is Twily a foal again? Why was I never told any of this?!” Shining Armor spun around to face Cadance, who was looking at and away from him. “And you knew, didn’t you? Why didn’t you tell me, Cadance? Why?”
“I-I wanted to, but I had to wait until Twilight and Luna both knew. Auntie Celestia made certain I understood how important it was that nopony knew. Before Auntie Luna came back, there were ponies who would have taken Twilight. Th-those ponies would have taken her from us forever! That’s why Auntie asked me to foal sit her. I never expected to… to fall in love with you, Shiny, but I did. I hated that I could not tell you. I love Twilight, and you, so please, forgive me?” Cadance placed her forehoof on Shining Armor’s shoulder.
“I… Cady, Twily…” Shining Armor’s body shook. “I just…” He closed his eyes before they snapped back open as he felt a tiny hoof touch his foreleg.
“BBBFF, I may be your adoptive sister, but that doesn’t change anything! Mom is still Mom, Dad is still Dad, and y-you are my Big Brother Best Friend Forever. I just... I have a second Mom now, who wants to have the chance to be my Mom…” Twilight looked up at Shining Armor with a hopeful smile, her ears pinned back a bit.
Shining Armor looked over at his Mother and Father sitting next to each other, holding hooves. Across from them, Luna had taken a half step forward, with Spike under her barrel, holding tight to to her leg. Finally, he looked down to see the familiar, big, purple eyes looking up at him, and felt his anger melt away. Twily is right, adopted or not… “I’m sorry, Twily, you are right. Princess Luna, welcome to the family, again.” He grinned goofily over at Cadance, who rolled her eyes before smiling.
“Well, since you’re here, why don’t we all have breakfast? I made pancakes!” Cadance beamed before her eyes widened in realization. “Oh no, I left the stove on!” She scurried back into the kitchen with Twilight Velvet quickly hurrying after her, a fire extinguisher already held in her magical grasp. Night Light and Shining Armor merely shook their heads.
“Come on, son, let’s go get some donuts from Pony Joe’s while your Mom tries to save both your wife, and our kitchen.” Night Light turned to head out the door as Shining Armor nodded, following after him.
“Sorry about this, Princess. It’s just a bit… well, actually, this is just a normal morning in the Light household.” Shining Armor shrugged as both stallions walked past her.
“No, Cadance, not like that!”
Luna felt a smile cover her muzzle as she heard her niece and Twilight Velvet frantically crying out in alarm in the kitchen, along with the sound of spraying foam. I think I will enjoy being part of this family... She then shook her head and walked into the kitchen to see if she could help.
Thanks to Jumbled, and Kalif, for help and editing. 
Love you guys!
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Hey! Looks like pull you updated on time!
A handful of nervousness, a couple dashes of brittle tenstion, and a pinch of humor. Perfect recipe for an awkward morning. It was a bit tricky there for a moment, but it worked out.
It coulda been worse, Lad. Lot worse.
True, but it was a great chapter. Can't wait to see more!
good update, i glade they knew before hand the truth save for shinny...... he always the last to knew about anything....
Was it intentional this chapter got posted on Mothers' Day? Or, did it just happily turn out that way?
You need to indent the first paragraph.
LOVE IT hope to read more soon
Giddiness incarnated when seeing this story updated
7198014
Little of column A, Little of column B
SO AWESOME! I can't wait for the next chapter
Still feel like I want to tell Twilight "Your still yourself, the change in circumstances doesn't change who you are Twilight!" Course that is how I felt about people who said being an Alicorn made her "not Twilight now." Your defined by more than just WHAT you are, and Twilight's feelings and experiences mean more than her alicornhood or physical age.
I couldn't imagine Twilight's (first) family reacting any other way, given how their kids turned out.
There ought to be a (unofficial?) crossover chapter between this and Celestia's Tiniest Student.
7198452 The thing I find unsettling is the predicted changes to Twilight's behaviour, which heavily implies that part of her mind was constructed by the glamour and has been destroyed, literally changing who she is.
7197967 Payback for that whole wedding thing.
I thought Twilight had difficulty talking before?
pre11.deviantart.net/627a/th/pre/f/2015/354/a/c/i_hate__mon__days_by_ncmares-d9ksz9q.jpg
7198579 a spell was cast by celestia to help rid twilight of the lisp that young babies tend to have that led to the term terrible twos
7198550
While it's true that the change to the normal balance in Twilight's brain would influence her behavior it wouldn't make parts of her personality disappear. She would get upset easier and require longer and more direct intervention to calm down and center her thoughts. Also she would find it harder to be patient of course. But again overall she still is Twilight Sparkle, who she is hasn't changed.
I hope Luna gets much delight in seeing Twilight's baby photos that Velvet has archived. I can totally see Luna totally stumped on some parenting issue and asking Velvet for advice. I would also love to see Twilight Velvet announce she's pregnant again so Twilight can become a BSBFF like Shiny was for her.
Oh, and how much 'accidental magic' can Filly Twilight get away with blasting Blue Blood into mud puddles, shaving him bald, manifesting heavy things to drop on him, and other humiliations if he makes rude remarks about Luna????
7197967 Technically I"m fairly sure Twilight was the last to know Shiny was marrying Cadence.
7198723 Well, yes and no. She is still Twilight Sparkle, but who that is has changed. Her life experience remains, but the mechanisms of her thinking have been altered. I have no doubt she'll eventually manage, but the implications of a spell like that glamour are really terrifying.
On the up-side, if she now possesses the brain plasticity of a foal her physical age she's going to be an even more terrifying magical learning engine.
7198782
I think this is more of a definition of "self", just begin alive means you really aren't "the same person" from moment to moment. Your identity is constantly "updating" based on your circumstances. But your not competently divorced from your previous self, parts of you don't disappear, they don't simply cease to be part of who you are. Nothing Twilight has experienced has "un-happened" as a result. She is the same Twilight in the sense that yes all her old experiences and feeling still form the core of herself.
I argue this point because the other option is that your not defined by your memories or you experience but only by your physicality. That implies no free will, no self worth, nothing unique about you that can't be copied in it's entirety or destroyed merely by circumstance. it's a hopeless idea that says "Your value is only as a THING" "you are not a person" "you have no identity" "your nothing but a meat robot"
7198773 agree but remember luna and twilight are going to be living in ponyville, so filly twilight will have little time to do all of that.
also yess twilight was the last to knew about the wedding.....
7198550 agree
Yep I didn't need a heart
(╯°□°）╯︵ ¡sɹǝƃuɐɥɟɟᴉlƆ
Hooray! Luna was cute, and like Luna I am proud of Twi-Sparkle for her insistence that Twi-Velvet is still her mom. This was a nice little chapter to lead up to what I can only imagine will be the horrors of politics and the alleged upper class.
Well I'll see you at the con this weekend, then I'll see you at the next chapter.
Why can't I like this story more than once?!
I loved this chapter. Somehow I expected Velvet's reaction but with a little more awkwardness from Night Light.
Cadence and Shining were spotless by the way, I was about to ask for Flurry Heart but I remembered when this story was started. Duh, silly me.
Anyways this is awesome. Keep up the good job.
7198845 Your memories are a part of you, but they aren't necessarily the singular part of what makes you 'you'. Your experiences literally reshape the physical mechanisms of thought inside the brain, rewiring connections between neurons. They're intertwined, of course, since experience generates memory, but there's a distinction between "what you remember" and "how you think".
For example, someone with transient global amnesia has almost no access to their memories, but suffers no other behavioural changes. On the other hand, various injuries or conditions can cause radical changes in personality while leaving the memory perfectly functional.
With the glamour's collapse it has been predicted that Twilight's behaviour will change to be somewhat more child-like. This has the creepy implication that the glamour was acting as a part of Twilight's thought-machinery, and said part of "how she thinks" has gone poof into magic smoke.
I am admittedly a materialist in outlook; my brain is a physical thing, operating entirely within the laws of physics. There's nothing particularly hopeless or bleak about this, to me; it's kind of wondrous that little bits of universe-stuff can get together in such complexity that they can then look around at itself and ask, "WTF?!"
MLP on the other hand is full of magic and narrative, so who knows how 'selfness' works there. 
I hope Foals doesn't mind me filling up the comments with this weird rambling. I love this story so much that I'm mad at Celestia and want to punch her in the mouth.
7199605
We're wandering off into theoretical tangents more suited to a philosophy class. It's not applicable to the story, because we aren't talking about memory loss altering behavior we're talking about the difference between a Adult mind in a child's body vs an Adult mind in an Adult body. The changes will necessarily alter Twilight's behavior which will necessarily cause personality changes but won't lead to the total obliteration of her original identity. Twilight isn't the exact same Twilight Sparkle she was before the changes bit she is still Twilight Sparkle.
7199629 Oh, no, I don't expect that she'll become a radically-different pony or anything like that. What I'm saying is that the glamour must have been more than an illusion or disguise, otherwise her personality wouldn't be facing alteration by its disappearance (ignoring other effects like body dysphoria). It seems like it was literally operating as part of her mind, which has both amazing and pretty unsettling implications.
I expected Cadance to not know but it was Shiny.
i was as giddy as Twilight when i saw this update.
7199629
7199676
You guys have no idea how much i've enjoyed this discussion you both are having.
7199895 Now you've got me wondering if one could use that glamour spell to make fully-functioning replacement organs.
Yay, it's alive!
And things went far better than expected. I can't even imagine how painful it must have been for little Twi to see her mom bow down to her... That's just... evil on so many levels. Thankfully it was put to a stop almost as fast as it came.
Happy family!
Seems like Luna will have to do more adjusting than Twilight
Nice chapter, good work.
7199908
In the best case, only for a few years.
Then they go poof, and you're dead.
Other Mother, anyone else think of Coraline when they read that?
That was fun, may I have another? Looking forward to more.
Keep up the good work. Deus tecum.
Yay!!! More updates
Yay!!!!!!!!!!!!! new chapter!!!!!!!!!!!
This is kind of a nice chapter. Now it seems like all the characters are accepting all this a little fast, but this is Equestria and they seem to make emotional decisions very fast. Though it is a fair point that pretty much all of the family, minus Shining, already knew all about this so they probably already came to terms with this possibility.
oh look on bright side, the family get another photo album made for twilight 2nd foal hood....
7243991
the embarrassment shall last forever!
derpicdn.net/img/2013/11/24/480013/full.gif
7244021
only thing worst that can happen to twilight right now I feel if it Celestia disappers and cant be found force luna to take over the throne.....
MOOOOOOAAAAAAAR!!!!!
7244088 Don't give her any ideas.
7363798 what why not,
7363831 Actually lets have Celestia be killed! Let the tyrant Celestia fall!
7363835 i think discord happen and only just trap her on a island on the other side of the world where it will take her at least 3 month to get off the island, which would happen to have some kind of magic dome or shield around it and is at the bottom of the sea, full of pony who worship her as a goddess where she have to make choose gain freedom but doom them or stay and let them live.....
7363884 na just kill her off
so here a question, who older twilight or cadence......
also why did cadence not take care of twilight when she was old enough,
7369823
Twilight is older then Cadance. I use the chapter book canon that Cadance was originally a pegasus and place her age around 26-28.