Twilight's Sister

by MyShyPetRock

You Can't be Perfect Without your Flaws

Five years passed, Twilight was now eight and practicing an abundance of magic she had never attempted before. Shining Armor was twelve, and he was away at the official ‘Young Celestial Guard’s Summer Camp.’

As for Starry Night, she hadn’t even thought about picking up a book and reading it. Books brought no interest to her.

“Starry Night, why don’t you come inside and read a book with me?” Twilight Velvet softly asked, smiling. It was nearly ten at night, much too late for a small filly to be up, but Starry Night was nowhere near tired.

She looked over at her mother, which was standing patiently in the doorway of her house, still smiling. Starry Night was in the middle of her front lawn, and she had been out there ever since the sky grew dark.
“No thanks, Mama. I think I’m going to stay out here for a little while longer!” Starry Night called back. She pronounced all of her ‘S’s’ like a ‘Th’ due to a small gap between her two front teeth. This caused Night Light to despise her even more, but Twilight Velvet always stood up for her child saying, ‘You can’t be perfect without your flaws!’

“Oh, but I think you’re going to like this book!” Twilight Velvet sang, taking a few steps into the grass. “It’s a book I picked out at the library today just for you! It’s about the night sky, and the stars!” Starry Night’s mother cooed, sounding much more interested than she really was.

“Wow, really!?” Starry Night shouted excitedly, almost instantaneously running up to the doorway. “Thanks, Mama!”

Twilight Velvet followed Starry Night into the house and onto the couch. The book her mother explained to her was sitting on a small table in front of the couch. Twilight Velvet lifted the book and set it down between her and Starry Night with her magic. Starry Night grinned over at her father, who was sitting in an armchair across from them reading the newspaper. He grunted and flipped the page, murmuring quietly to himself.

Starry Night ignored this and opened the book enthusiastically. She gasped and stared as if in a trance at the first page of the book. Both of the pages were filled with the night sky, and every star on it was labeled with its proper name.
Twilight Velvet looked over at her and smiled. “I knew you would like it,” she said. “Would you like me to read it to you?” She asked, still looking at Starry Night. Starry Night didn’t know that there were words on the page, she just saw the stars and some squiggly lines underneath it all. She thought that that was supposed to be water.
“Yes please!” Starry Night replied, putting her hooves in her lap. Twilight Velvet began.

“As you look up at the night sky, what do you see?

Millions and millions of stars that twinkle every night.

Do you ever wonder what their names are?”

“Yes!” Starry Night interrupted happily, nearly bouncing up and down with excitement. Twilight Velvet giggled.

“Can you tell me what this word is, Starry Night?” She asked, putting her hoof down on a random word on the page. Starry Night looked, but she still didn’t see any words, only squiggly water lines. The word was ‘ever,’ but Starry Night couldn’t make out any of the letters. She could see some of the words on the page, like ‘Stars,’ and ‘Night,’ but even they had mixed around letters that didn’t make since. Instead of seeing the word ‘What,’ Starry Night saw: Wbo7.
None of it made a lick of sense to the poor filly.

“Um, is it the word ‘water?’” Starry Night guessed, looking up at her mother. She sighed.

“What was it?” Night Light chimed in, not looking up from the newspaper.
“It was ‘Ever’,” Twilight Velvet sighed again, closing her eyes. Night Light laughed.

“She can’t even read!” He hissed, turning another page. “Starry Night, why don’t you head up to bed, we can finish the book tomorrow,” Twilight Velvet said quietly.

“Okay,” She replied, hopping off the couch and onto the stairs.

She climbed each stair with some struggle, but she soon made it up to the second floor. She could hear her parents arguing. She dropped her head and ran to her room. Normally she would have to share a room with Twilight Sparkle, but with Shining Armor away, Twilight got to sleep in his room and Starry Night got Twilight’s room all to herself. She leaped up on her bed and began to cry.

“Why am I so dumb?” She sobbed, talking to herself to try and drown out the booming voices of her arguing parents. She heard, “She can’t be our child, there is no way!” From her father. Then an, “Of course she is, and I love her!” from her mother.

Starry Night buried herself in her blankets and slowly went into a restless sleep.

**********************

She woke with a start. She felt as if she were flowing down a river; swimming. No, not swimming...she was being carried. Being carried by her sobbing mother. Starry Night felt her mother’s magical aura around her. It felt like an assuring hug.
They were outside, Starry Night and her mother, and it seemed like she was running from some pony. Twilight Velvet was running at full speed with her eyes clamped shut, tears running down her face. Starry Night, who was bobbing up and down in her mother’s magical grasp, still hadn’t wiped all the sleep from her eyes, and couldn’t tell if this was a dream, or if this was really happening.

“Where are we going, Mama?” Starry Night asked, this was a test to see if this was a dream or not. Twilight Velvet opened her bloodshot eyes and stared at her foal.
“Nowhere, baby, it’s going to be alright!”

She had answered her rationally, and Starry Night could feel the wind weaving through her mane. This was real, and it scared her.

After minutes of running, Twilight Velvet skidded to a halt in front of a tall, dark building. It was still night, so the whole scene was scarier to Starry Night than her mother intended it to be.
Twilight Velvet dropped Starry Night carefully and hesitated before knocking three times on the wooden door of the building. This scared Starry Night, and caused her to run behind her mother’s left front hoof.
An old mare opened the door and stepped outside. Starry Night could hear the laughs (and cries) of other fillies inside.
The old mare smiled at Twilight Velvet. “Hello, Mrs. Velvet, what a wonderful surprise!” The old mare smiled happily. Twilight Velvet smiled sadly.
“Mrs. Peach, I must ask of you a favor,” She said desperately. Mrs. Peach’s smile increased. “Oh, do you wish to read to our dear children again?” She asked.
Mrs. Peach was in fact a peach color, and you could see blonde streaks through her graying mane. You could see wrinkled around her lips as she smiled.
“It’s not a favor of that sort, no,” She replied. She lifted up her left hoof, revealing the scared, confused Starry Night from her hiding place.

Mrs. Peach’s smile faded. “Oh,” She whispered.

“Oh dear.”

“Is she going to take me, Mama?” Starry Night asked, tears welling up in her eyes. Twilight Velvet felt tears run down her cheeks, as well.
“You won’t...you won’t have to stay here...for, for long, my dear. Soon, you can come...come home again,” Twilight Velvet managed to say behind through thick tears.

“Don’t leave me, Mama!” Starry Night shrieked, wrapping her hooves around her mother’s muzzle.
“Mrs. Peach is going to take good care of you, Starry Night, I promise!” Twilight Velvet sobbed, trying to force a smile.

Mrs. Peach put a hoof on Starry Night’s shoulder and began to pull her away from her mother.
“Be brave for me, my sweet baby! And remember, don’t be afraid to make mistakes, you can’t be perfect without your flaws!” Twilight Velvet cried as Mrs. Peach slowly dragged the sobbing filly into the building.
Starry Night could scream out one last, “Mama!” before Mrs. Peach closed the door behind them.

Twilight Velvet stood, eyes twinkling with fresh tears, behind the barrier that separated her from her child. She could still hear Starry Night screaming ‘Mama.’ She lifted a hoof, trying to keep it together. But she couldn’t. She lifter her head to the stars and screamed as loud as she could so every pony could share her suffering. Tears flooded from her eyes.
“You’ve hurt me,” Twilight Velvet said into the night, “Are you happy now?” With that, she ran away. She didn’t know where she was running, just...away.

There is nothing harder than plainly giving up something you love, and watching it happen.

Author's Note:

Get ready, every pony! This is where it really begins!

I hope you like chapter two of 'Twilight's Sister!' ~MyShyPetRock

Comments

[StarzGecko]

Keep going!

[MyShyPetRock]

6589731 I'm working on chapter three now!

[MagicSquirrel]

NO!!!!!! STARRY!!!!!!!! WHY!?!?!!?! Okay, now that my essential freakout is over, I have something to say. THIS WAS FANTASTIC!!!!!! Brilliant work! I felt like crying along with Twilight Velvet, that's how good this was. I did notice one thing, however.

After minutes after minutes of running, Twilight Velvet skidded to a halt in front of a tall, dark building. It was still night, so the whole scene was scarier to Starry Night than her mother intended it to be.

The phrase "after minutes" is used twice in the first sentence.

[MyShyPetRock]

6590939 Thank you so much!!! You have no idea what that means to me! And thank you very much for pointing that out to me! I didn't even notice. Honest mistake, made by me. XD

[MyShyPetRock]

6590939 Oh, and LOLZ!

[MagicSquirrel]

6591142 No problem! I'm really enjoying this story, and looking forward to the next chapter. Keep writing!

[MyShyPetRock]

6591374 Thanks! I'm just about to upload chapter three! :D