Return to Canterlot
It was a beautiful morning, the Sun fully visible and well on its way up into the sky. The air was a little cool this high above the ground and everyone sitting in the chariot could see for miles, the lush landscape stretching far into the distance. Twilight could see it clearly from where she was, but she didn’t really care about that. In fact, in a more reasonable sense of mind, she would notice she didn’t care much about anything at the moment and be worried at the very least. But here she was, high above the land and all she felt was a feeling of despondency.
She was on the left side of seat of the chariot that the Princesses had called, lying on her side with her legs splayed out across the floor and her chin on top of the chariot’s frame, her eyes looking straight ahead at nothing. Spike, Shining Armor, and Cadance sat to her right, Spike and Cadance constantly looking over at her with worry while Shining could only bear to look at her for a short time before turning away, the stallion unable to handle seeing his sister in this state. Celestia and Luna flew slightly behind the chariot at its sides, both keeping an eye on Twilight. They would be arriving in Canterlot in a little while and they didn’t want to take any chances.
Like Shining Armor, Spike couldn’t stand seeing Twilight like this, but he was having a much harder time coming to terms with it. As he shifted her saddlebags and Sneaking Suit on his lap, he thought about what he’d witnessed this morning. He’d gone in with Celestia to wake Twilight up and was surprised when she was easily woken up in spite of everything that had happened the day before. She didn’t say a word and hardly reacted when Celestia told her they were taking her back to Canterlot for the time being, the Sun Princess having to use her magic a little to get Spike to leave the room with her to give the mare time to wake up and pack. She came out of the castle a little while later with her saddlebags and Sneaking Suit on her back, looking tidier but no more spirited than when she’d woken up, not even when their friends showed up. She didn’t seem to react to the hugs and words they gave her before they left on the chariot, and now she hadn’t moved at all since they started the flight back to Canterlot. He couldn’t help but think of the last time they’d made the trip in this particular way and the parallels he could see with this trip.
The silence was really starting to get to Spike. Everyone else seemed to know what to do, Cadance, Shining, Celestia, Luna, and the guards pulling the chariot all not needing to do more than look at each other to communicate, but he didn’t have anyone to look at. The only one he could look at was still looking away from him, and if he didn’t know better, he’d say she wasn’t there at all. He couldn’t take it anymore. “Twilight…” he uttered.
That was as far as he got since Shining almost immediately said in a sharp tone, “Spike.” The baby dragon flinched and turned his head to look up at the stallion. He was looking down at him while his muzzle was pointed forward, his brow furrowed as he simply shook his head. Spike looked down for a moment before facing forward, going back to looking over at Twilight in silence. He couldn’t wait for this trip to be over and have her back on solid ground again.
They soon reached the limits of Canterlot, but instead of continuing on towards the castle, the guards changed direction slightly as they flew over the city. When they came in for a landing, they landed in front of Twilight and Shining’s parents’ house. Fortunately, there weren’t a lot of ponies out on the streets yet, so they were able to land without attracting unwanted attention. Celestia and Luna landed behind the chariot, still keeping their eyes on Twilight. While Shining and Cadance stood up, Spike reached over and, after taking a moment to think about it, placed his hand on Twilight’s right hind leg and shook it as he softly said, “Twilight, we’re here.” She took a moment to look up at the house in front of her before she began to shift her legs, letting out a murmur as she stood up and disembarked.
Shining walked up to the front door along with Cadance, both of them taking a quick glance back at Twilight and Spike before they turned back to the door. Shining raised his hoof and knocked on the door several times. They all waited patiently for about a minute before they began to hear movement on the other side. The door opened a moment later, revealing Mr. Sparkle on the other side. “Shining, Cadance! What a pleasant surprise!” he smiled.
Shining did not return the smile as he replied, “I sure wish the circumstances could be a bit more pleasant, Dad.”
Mr. Sparkle blinked, “Why? What’s wrong?” He looked past his son and daughter-in-law and saw Celestia and Luna standing back behind them with Twilight and Spike in front of them. As her father’s gaze fell on her, Twilight glanced up at him and turned her head to the left a moment later, allowing him to clearly see the burn mark on her cheek. His eyes widened when he saw it along with the other injuries he could see from where he was standing.
Shining looked back at her for a moment before swallowing the lump in his throat and looking back at Mr. Sparkle to ask, “Can we come inside?” He nodded and backed up to let everyone in, never taking his eyes off of Twilight.
As everyone stood inside the entrance, Mrs. Sparkle walked into the living room through the doorway near the fireplace. “Who’s at the door, dear? What…” Her question was halted when she saw their guests, noticing her husband’s expression a moment later. She followed his gaze and, because Twilight was looking at her, saw what he was so transfixed by.
Shining picked up on the growing uncomfortable silence and decided to do something about it. “Twilight, Spike. Bedroom. Now,” he ordered. Spike patted Twilight on her left foreleg and walked alongside her into the house while Mr. and Mrs. Sparkle continued to stare at them. When they left the room, the parents turned their gazes to their son, who said, “Mom, Dad, we need to talk.”
Spike stayed close beside Twilight as they made their way to her old room. When they got there, they both walked over to the bed, Twilight turning and sitting down on the edge of it while Spike set her things down on the floor at the end of the bed. As he moved her Sneaking Suit off her saddlebags, the baby dragon noticed that her knife holster was still attached to them, the blade having been returned to it after they’d brought her back to the castle. He quickly reached over and removed it, hiding it behind his back as he turned and stepped to the side to look up at Twilight, who was still seated on the edge of her bed. “You feeling okay, Twilight?” he asked nervously.
“Yeah,” was Twilight’s quiet response.
Spike blinked and glanced back at the knife before he asked, “Can I get you anything?”
Twilight raised her head slightly and started, “I…” She let it hang in the air a moment before she closed her mouth, lowered her head, and scooted back on the bed so her hind legs weren’t hanging over the edge. She then fell over onto her side, her head landing on the pillow. Spike flinched and took a few steps closer, listening. He could hear her breathing and crying quietly. She wasn’t asleep, but he guessed it would be okay to leave the room for a bit in order to get her knife far away from her.
He backed out of the room slowly and quietly closed the door, letting out the breath he’d been holding afterwards. He then tucked the knife under his arm and made his way towards the living room, hearing talking as he got closer. Spike stopped at the corner and set the knife down on the floor, stepping over it before pressing his back up against the wall as he listened in. “I can’t believe this happened to Twilight. Our poor baby…” Mr. Sparkle was saying, sounding devastated.
“It’s my fault. After all this time, I didn’t suspect anything was wrong until Luna searched and revealed what she witnessed for us all to see. I should’ve suspected it wasn’t just stress sooner,” Celestia replied. Spike brought his tail around to his front, squeezing it between his fingers. Below the talking, he could hear Mrs. Sparkle crying and it wasn’t something he was used to hearing.
He soon heard Mr. Sparkle ask, “Why did you bring her back here to Canterlot? Shouldn’t she be back in Ponyville with her friends?”
He heard Celestia say, “Because right now, this is the best place for her.”
Luna spoke up a second later, “My sister knows somepony who might be able to help Twilight come to terms with her grief, and she feels being as close to home as she can be would be best so that you might be able to help her as well.”
Mrs. Sparkle said, “But what about her friends? Aren’t they important to helping her get better too? All you had to do was tell us and we would’ve made time for her.”
Shining responded, “Mom, I’m sorry, but I think Princess Celestia is right. You and Dad don’t make time to go see Twilight.”
Spike heard Mrs. Sparkle gasp and ask, “What?! Shining, how can you say that?”
The white stallion answered, “You both made a special trip out to the Crystal Empire after Sombra was defeated to congratulate Cadance and I on becoming its new rulers. We correspond with Twilight, you know, and nothing in her letters has ever indicated you’ve ever visited her in Ponyville.”
Cadance spoke up, “I’m sure you both had your reasons, Mr. and Mrs. Sparkle, but Shining is right. She’s never mentioned you, and that was… well, before all this happened. Shining and I manage to find time for her. In fact, we already started making arrangements to go to a wedding in Ponyville that we were invited to.”
Luna said, “We were invited as well, and my sister and I were looking forward to it despite our usual responsibilities. Do you see what we are all getting at?”
There was silence for several long moments before Mr. Sparkle admitted, “I… guess we really haven’t been thinking of Twilight like we should have. We shouldn’t just be seeing her when she happens to be in Canterlot.”
Mrs. Sparkle added, “I really shouldn’t be making such a big deal about having her home again. We should both be glad to have her here and help however we can.”
Shining said, “Yeah. You can’t hold all those flashcards against her forever, Mom.”
Spike heard a stammer from Mrs. Sparkle quickly followed by, “That’s beside the point, Shining!” The baby dragon remained where he was, continuing to listen as they kept talking about Celestia’s plan and Twilight’s friends visiting.
After a short while, the talking stopped and Spike heard the sound of hooves coming towards him. He moved away from the wall and started to back up, letting out a short exclamation and grunt as he tripped over Twilight’s knife holster and fell on his rear. Shining and Celestia soon appeared from around the corner and noticed him, Cadance and Luna coming around them as Shining asked, “Spike? What are you doing?”
Spike looked up at him as he replied, “Um… I was just getting Twilight’s knife far away from her…”
Celestia quickly grabbed the holstered blade with her magic, holding it up in front of her as she said, “Very good, Spike. This should not be anywhere near her, so I will be confiscating it for the time being.”
Luna looked at her and asked, “You intend to give it back someday, Sister?”
Celestia glanced back at her as she replied, “It is hers, and it may hold some sentimental value. But she certainly won’t be getting it back until she cleans up her act, Luna.” Behind the princesses, Mr. and Mrs. Sparkle glanced at each other, not sure how to feel about Celestia’s comment.
Later…
Mr. and Mrs. Sparkle stood in the doorway to their daughter’s room along with Spike as they watched. Shining and Cadance were standing at the side of Twilight’s bed as she lay on her back, one of her paipos sticking out of her mouth as she alternated between looking at them and the ceiling. The two were talking to her and exchanging some light words while they waited. Celestia would be back soon with the pony she’d been talking about and then Shining and Cadance had to leave for the Crystal Empire. They didn’t like it, but they knew they couldn’t put it off any longer.
Mr. and Mrs. Sparkle heard a knock at the front door and, after the two looked at each other for a moment, the former went to go answer it. Mrs. Sparkle turned back to the scene in the room, wanting to join but knowing it was best to let them have this time together since there was no telling when Shining and Cadance would be able to visit again. Mr. Sparkle came back after a minute and he took his place next to her, both of them sharing another look before he looked into the room and called softly, “Shining? Cadance? Princess Celestia is back.”
The two turned to look over at him for a moment before turning back to Twilight. “We have to go now, Twily,” Shining spoke quietly. He maneuvered his left foreleg under her neck and used it to raise her to a sitting position before wrapping both forelegs around her in a hug.
Cadance quickly joined the hug, draping her wings over Twilight as well. “I’m so sorry about this, Twilight. We’ll try to come back soon. I promise,” she murmured.
They held the hug for a little bit longer. “I know it’s going to be hard, but you’ve got to stay strong, LSBFF. Even if we’re not all here, we’re all going to help you any way we can. This is not going to be the end,” Shining said. Twilight felt a fresh wave of tears coming at his words, her mind connecting them to what she heard Paz say in one of the tapes Snake recovered. Her paipo fell from her mouth as she weakly returned the hug, forgotten about. After a little more time, Cadance and Shining let her go and, reluctantly, left the room to make their way to the train station.
Spike crept over to grab the paipo after they left, holding it up in his hand and looking at it for a moment before looking up at Twilight. She didn’t seem to notice him even though she sat on the edge of her bed and her gaze had fallen on the floor. Both of their gazes turned towards the door when Princess Celestia stepped in a minute later, Spike quickly hiding the tube behind his back. “Twilight,” the white alicorn addressed her former pupil. When Twilight looked up at her, it took a considerable amount of effort on her part to keep a straight face as she said, “As you know, there’s a pony I thought might be able to help you. Well, I was able to talk to him a little while ago and he agreed to come here with me.” She turned her head to look at the door and called, “Psych?”
Mr. and Mrs. Sparkle had already noticed the tan unicorn stallion’s approach and moved aside at Celestia’s call to let him in the room. He barely spared them a glance, but they observed him as he walked past. He wore a fuzzy brown cap with flaps on the sides, a pair of big round glasses with red-tinted lenses on top of it perched on his horn. He also wore a blue long-sleeve turtleneck and a gray vest, the odd choice of clothing seeming unsuitable for such a nice day. They noticed his cutie mark was a side view of a brain.
Celestia took a few steps back as he approached, allowing him to stand directly in front of Twilight. “Hello, Princess Twilight. As you may have heard, I am a doctor, but you can simply call me Psych,” he said after a moment of looking her over, his voice unexpectedly soft.
“Hello,” Twilight murmured.
“Hm. I’m sure at first glance, you think I’m a typical, if a bit eccentric, doctor who claims to have ‘seen it all’ with ponies who have gone through what you have, which Princess Celestia did share with me so I would know ahead of time,” he said, Twilight slightly raising an eyebrow at his words. “Well, that may be true to an extent; I am considered a psychologist, but my eccentricities are not limited to my wardrobe. I tend to take more of an active approach with my patients, and I think it’s an approach that will keep your attention as well since it will be a learning experience for both of us.”
Twilight’s other brow went up a bit at that, “Really?”
Psych nodded, “Mm-hmm. But I’ll go into more detail about that later. For today, we’ll have the kind of simple session you were likely expecting and we’ll go from there. Does that sound okay?” At Twilight’s nod, the stallion took a seat and looked back at Celestia, giving her a nod. The white alicorn nodded in return and she made Spike follow her as she left the room, closing the door behind her. Turning back to Twilight, Psych said, “Now, let’s get started…”
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I like the chapter, glad it's back.
I thought the story was dead
could have went with naming the doctor sasha nein... or maybe even Raz sputian... ;)
good story, and i'm just glad to see it alive and kicking!
....you know that he is forever going to be "Psych Naut" in my mind now, yeah?
Am I the only one who thinks that unicorn stallion is some sort of Psycho mantis cameo ?. Anyway congratulations for the chapter. hope to see new more updates.
it's been a long time since this had an update, run out of steam for it or just wanting to update other stories more? either way, i hope you're enjoying what you are writing.
10794073
Doing the next chapter for this story has been my main goal since the last time I updated one of my stories, but I've had a bad case of writer's block for a while. I'm trying to work through it and get back to updating this one, though. It's just... Ugh.
Well to be fair with the exception of AJ’s parents you could say the same about most of the mane six’s parents. Especially since we didn’t even get to see most of them until the 2nd half of the series.
Huh I just realized I missed updates on this due to not faving it. I thought I did it. Oh well fixed it now.