The Truth: An alternate-world 'Truth or Dare' tale

by SFC Ponycron

Chapter Five: Re-Attempting Routine

The Truth
Chapter Five

---

Twilight stared at the letter in front of her. She received it the day after she asked Spike to send it out, and that was almost a week ago.

Dear Twilight Sparkle,

I don’t want to sound like a Bling Bitch, but I haven’t heard from you in three years. I know that you and I know each other through Red, but even though he’s gone, it’d be nice to hear from you without it involving him.

Tavi and I have been pretty busy lately (I’m actually writing this from Torontrot. I didn’t know that ponies in Caneighda knew of me!), and won’t be back in Canterlot until a few days from now. She’s got a gig not too far from where I am, some city called Saint Cantering’s. She has two more shows left and then we’re heading back home. Tell the others that Tavi and I send our love, and we’ll be there as soon as possible.

I want you to cheer up, Twi. Red was is a tough pup of a Bling Bitch, and I’m sure that he would want you to be strong for him, too. I know the six of you are pretty bummed about having to dredge up all the drama regarding Red, but better now that the kids are still young rather than when they’re older colts and fillies. I shudder to think what kind of manure-disturber AJ’s foal would turn out to be if he found about this as a teenager.

We’ll be over in a few days, babe. Be patient, and say ‘hi’ to the kids for us (not that they know who we really are).

-- Scratch

Wearily, Twilight put the letter back down on her bed and went downstairs to the library. Spike heard her hoofsteps on the stairs and he looked up at her with concern.

“You sure you’re okay, Twi?” he asked. She looked at him with a tired smile. He was slightly taller than her now, his ‘baby’ fat gone and his body growing lanky and slender. His tail was a little longer than hers and his spikes and scales were well-groomed and shiny. If there was one thing he kept from when he was still infatuated with Rarity, it was taking care of himself, she mused.

“I think I’ll be okay, Spike,” she replied. “I think I need to do some work to get my mind off things.”

Spike looked at her dubiously but nodded. He handed her a list. “I’ve done about half of the things on this list for you. You should follow Vinyl’s advice and cheer up, or at least take it easy.”

“I’ll be fine, Spike,” she said.

“Twi, that night you told Dawn about Zircon...” His shoulders slumped. “You haven’t cried yourself to sleep on the balcony for three years. I’m worried.”

Twilight frowned. “Dawn will be home soon, Spike. I already have you worrying about me. I don’t need her worrying, too.” She gestured to the door. “Go on, do whatever you want or need to do. I can take care of the library for a while.”

“If you say so, Twi,” he said warily. He put a claw to his lips in thought. “Did you want me to pick up something for dinner? Semolina’s got a sale on lasagna pasta. I can whip something up for you and Dawn tonight, if you want.”

Twilight walked up to her number one assistant and nuzzled him warmly. “That’d be great, Spike. Thank you.”

*-----*-----*-----*-----*

“Thanks for walking me home, guys,” Crystal said as she, Silver Streamer and Rose Quartz approached her cloud home. “Mom’s been feeling really down since she told me about Dad.”

“I think all our moms have been feeling sad,” Silver Streamer said with a nod. “I mean, Daddy really cared about my mom and your mom.” She looked to Rose. “Your mom, too, Rose.”

“I know,” Rose replied. “I mean, Mom’s been more quiet than usual, and she’s been going to see Aunt Rarity a lot, lately.”

“I kinda feel bad for Jasper and Dawn,” Crystal said. “I mean, I know my mom’s been sad, but I think that Aunt Rarity and Aunt Twilight have been taking it the worst. Dawn told me that Uncle Spike’s been looking after the library for the past week, and that her mom’s barely been out of bed.”

“Jasper’s pretty much told me the same thing about Aunt Rarity,” Rose said with a nod. “I guess it’s because Aunt Rarity and Aunt Twilight have so much in common with Dad.”

“But he liked the others, too!” Silver Streamer argued.

“I never said that he didn’t like your mom or my mom Aunt Applejack or Aunt Dash any less, Streamer,” Rose countered, “just that Dad liked to read, and he worked with jewels every day. A lot of his interests kinda mixed with Dawn’s mom's and Jasper’s mom's.”

“I guess you’re right...” Streamer said glumly.

“I’m sure that Dad liked to have a party, too,” Crystal said. “You should ask your mom if he did.”

His hair spiked up for a brief moment. “Good idea! I’ll do that now!” With that, he bounded in the direction of Sugarcube Corner.

“My mom says that he’s really like his mother. He’s really all over the place,” Rose said with a wry grin.

Crystal followed her half-sister’s gaze and looked at the bouncing unicorn as he crested a hill in the direction of Ponyville proper. “He is like his mom. He really knows how to cheer ponies up. Just yesterday, Jasper was kinda down and he split one of the cupcakes his mom made with him.”

“That’s nice,” Rose said as she flapped her wings, elevating herself up to the front door of Crystal’s cloud house.

“Mom! I’m home!” Crystal called out. When there was no response, she looked around. On the cloud-table beside the couch there was a small note.

Will be going to the library right after work. Get your homework done.

Luv ya!

-- Mom

Crystal grinned at the note and turned to her half-sister. “Do you know if the new Daring Do book is out yet?”

Rose Quartz shook her head. “No, it’s not.”

Crystal’s face fell. “I guess she went to check on Aunt Twi.”

*-----*-----*-----*-----*

“I’m home!” Jonagold called out as he opened the door to the farmhouse.

“Out back, Jonagold!” he heard a voice call out. It was his aunt Apple Bloom. He shuffled out from underneath the strap of his saddlebags and trotted to the kitchen.

“Hi, Great-Granny Smith!”

“Hmm?” She turned to see her great-grandson. “Oh, hey there, sonny.”

“Where’s Mom?”

“She’s seein’ t’ yer Aunt Rarity,” the elderly mare replied. “Been takin’ the past week hard, that’un.”

“Aunt Rarity?” He wheeled around and bolted back towards the front door only to pummel into a giant, muscled field of red. He fell back onto his flank with a ‘whoof’ and looked up to see the stoic face of his uncle.

“Oh, uh...” He grinned sheepishly. “Hey, Uncle Mac.”

“You just stay right here, Jonagold,” the large workhorse said. “If yer mother needs ya, she’ll come back fer ya.”

“But Uncle Mac...” Jonagold began to whine.

“No buts, mister,” Big Macintosh said. “You stay here and git yer homework done.”

“Can Auntie Bloom help?”

“You don’t worry ‘bout Apple Bloom none,” Granny Smith replied. “Come on, ya li’l whippersnapper. You go git started on yer homework. Ah reckon Ah kin help ya a bit.” She turned from the stove to her grandson. “Mac, you finish mixin’ these here fer me, wouldja?”

“Eeyup.”

“Is anypony home?”

The three present members of the Apple Family looked up to see a young deep-red colt with a spiky black mane.

“Yer Rarity’s boy, ain’tcha?” Granny Smith said, narrowing her eyes to see the newcomer better.

“Yes, Miss Granny Smith,” Jasper replied. “Is Jonagold in?”

“What’s up, Jasper? How’s your mom?”

“Your mom and Rose’s mom are looking after her. Aunt Fluttershy says she broke down during their weekly spa appointment.”

The three Apples gasped. “How is she?”

“I dunno. Aunt Fluttershy sent Aunt Sweetie Belle to look after her animals, and your mom told me to come here for a while. She said she’ll come pick us up after Mama’s calmed down.”

“Good, now Ah figger Ah kin help the both of you with yer schoolwork,” Granny Smith said with an endearing smile. “‘Cept fer math. Ah hated them numbers. Confusin’ as hay, they were...”

Big Mac chuckled. “Granny, why don’cha let me help Jon and Jasper with their homework. I’ve already finished most of my chores fer th’ day. I can spare a few minutes.”

*-----*-----*-----*-----*

The train slowed to a stop in Ponyville station. A unicorn with wild, two-toned electric blue hair and a gray earth pony with black hair emerged from the mist as the train let out a blast of steam.

“Been too long, huh, Tavi?”

The earth pony nodded silently.

“Oh, come on, lighten up! You said that you were okay knowing I was still friends with...”

“Red Zircon, yes,” Octavia said, “With Twilight Sparkle and the others, however...”

Vinyl Scratch lifted a hoof to the earth pony’s cheek. “Hey, if you recall, they’ve got kids. Right now, I’m not ready to have my own, so don’t think I’m gonna leave you for any of ‘em.” She turned away. “Although, Twilight did sound kinda lonely when she sent me that letter...”

“Vinyl!” Octavia nearly shouted, glaring at her marefriend. Upon seeing her unicorn lover’s wide grin, she couldn’t help but muster a small smile of her own.

“You’re so easy to rile up, you know that?” The white unicorn asked, kissing her lover on the cheek. “Come on, let’s go see Twilight and then find a place to stay for the next couple of days. If Red’s place hasn’t been sold yet, maybe we can crash there.”

“Isn’t that inappropriate?” Octavia asked incredulously as the two of them left the platform.

“Nah,” Vinyl said dismissively, waving a hoof. “Twilight and the others may agree with you, but Red didn’t give a spit. He lived a lot closer to Canterlot’s underground district than I did, so we agreed that I wasn’t an unwelcome guest if he woke up and I was passed out on his couch.” Her expression turned serious. “Besides, I’ve got a feeling that none of them have been to his house since before the kids were born. I owe it to him to tidy his place up a bit.”

As they left the train station and walked along the main district, they happened to pass by a pink pony with a fuchsia mane and tail, followed by a small gray unicorn with a spiky, charcoal-black mane. As they pranced happily down the road, the unicorn suddenly stopped dead in his tracks and his mane seemed to twitch three times. Vinyl noticed his back right hoof twitch slightly.

“Mom?” he called out, seemingly afraid to move.

Pinkie Pie turned to regard her son casually. “What’s up?”

“What does it mean when your mane twitches three times and your back right hoof goes all wiggly?”

Pinkie thought about it for a moment as she backtracked to her son. “Oh! That means you get to meet an old friend.” As she explained the peculiar combination of twitches and wiggles, she stopped dead in her tracks, right in front of Vinyl and Octavia, and her mane twitched three times. Vinyl grinned. ...And a wiggly back right hoof, she thought.

Pinkie’s slate blue eyes immediately turned to Vinyl and Octavia.

“Hey,” Vinyl said with a knowing grin. In response, Pinkie’s eyes grew wide. She leapt up in the air and gasped in surprise. Without touching the ground, she immediately turned around and shot off in the direction of the Ponyville Library. Octavia noted, with some concern, that Pinkie Pie hadn’t touched the ground at all.

“Do you guys know my mommy?”

Vinyl chuckled. “Yeah, we do,” she replied. “We also know your dad. I’m Vinyl Scratch. We were just going to see your Aunt Twilight. You wanna come with?”

Silver Streamer smiled brightly as his mane stiffened with excitement. “Sure!” In a gray blur, he was already on Vinyl’s back, staring happily at Octavia. “I’m Silver Streamer. What’s your name?”

Octavia gave the unicorn a warm smile. “My name’s Octavia. It’s a...pleasure to meet you, Silver Streamer.”

As they walked, Silver Streamer launched into high-speed speech very similar to that of her mother. “It’s good to meet you, too, Miss Octavia! You’re gonna see Aunt Twilight? She’s so cool! She lives in a library with tons of books! And her daughter Ruby Dawn is my half-sister! It’s so awesome! I never thought I’d have a brother or a sister, but now I have three half-sisters and two half-brothers! And now I have more uncles and aunts, too...!”

Comments

[SFC Ponycron]

626234

Is it bad that I got a laugh from this? A lot?

EDIT: I rolled off my bed laughing after rereading it. It shouldn't be that funny.

[Jet Howitzer]

Another glorious chapter. I look forward to seeing more.

[SFC Ponycron]

A note to everypony tracking this story:

You might have to read Chapter One again. My Chekhov's Gun (which has obviously jammed so far but is out in the open) has been redesigned. A good idea came to me a couple of days ago (while I was in the shower before I had to go to work, of all the ridiculous times to get an idea), and I'm running with it.