Twilight Velvet; Mother
Twilight Velvet switched sides as she lied on her bed, for the thirtieth time in the last hour. She was trying to sleep for hours now, and was making a grand mess of it. She pushed her muzzle off her pillow and looked out the open window. All she could see was darkness with a small hint of brick wall, the view of choice for average income families all around. Brick Incorporated; giving you something to count on those sleepless nights.
She glanced at her husband over her shoulder as he peacefully snored on, uncaring of the trouble his wife had. It wasn’t his fault, but Velvet couldn’t help but feel a little peeved that he seemed to take everything in stride so easy. Would it kill him to be a little more involved in the process of worrying about their children? It was one of the most defining parts of being a parent and his easy going nature refused to participate. Where was the outrage and night pacing of an overprotective father? Certainly not in that noggin. She had to fill that role herself most of the time. This was how split personalities were made.
The cause of her private, worried night thrashing, was sleeping downstairs, having taken over her couch in the living room. The creature.
Princess Celestia had assured them that it was safe, and all it cared about was her daughter’s safety. Velvet believed the Princess -how could she not- but she had two children in the house. If there was even an imperceptible chance that the creature might hurt them somehow, well... it was a mother’s prerogative to worry about these things, wasn’t it?
Maybe she didn’t trust the Princess as much as she thought. Twilight was foalnapped right under her muzzle, at what should be the most secure place possible. Velvet believed she might be a little angry with her monarch too. She’d be a lot more vocal about it if Twilight wasn’t returned before Velvet even had the chance to find out what had happened. Thank the heavens for that creature being there! She didn’t know the penalty for assaulting royalty and hopefully never would now.
Velvet bit her lower lip as she considered how rude she treated the creature in her thoughts. She was grateful to it-him, she needed to make a better effort of calling it hi- damn it! Him. Raegdan as i- he called himself. He did save her only daughter after all.
In an extremely vicious and bloody way, mind you. She applauded him highly for that. How dare somepony touch her angel? She had demanded to see the pictures that had been taken and the Princess agreed in the end. Not so much with her request to make enlarged copies.
It wasn’t the first time he bunked downstairs. Velvet turned around again and fussed with the covers, trying to straighten them up. It was the fourth time he slept in her house. He refused to leave her little Sparkle alone, even at her own home. She would call it creepy if she wasn’t secretly glad he did. She would have nightmares of entering her daughter’s room only to find an empty bed for years to come. An extra pair of eyes on her youngest love was appreciated, even if they were his small beady ones. Having a violent carnivore hovering over her daughter felt surprisingly safe considering the alternatives but...
But she knew nothing about i- him, that’s what kept her up. Why he was so set on keeping her daughter safe, most of all. It bothered her. Why Twilight? What did Raegdan find so special about her youngest child? Not that Twilight wasn’t special, she was, her little filly was destined for great things. But… why did the safety of a filly matter to him?
Twilight Velvet gave up on sleep, at least for the short term. Her mind was too hyperactive to shut down. Tea, that’s what she needed. Something warm to soothe her, to lose herself in the simple act of drinking it, and emptying her mind. Carefully, she made her way to the door. Not that it was needed. Night Light was a champion heavy sleeper. She used her magic to pull the heavy covers off him. That would teach him to sleep on while his precious, beautiful wife was still up.
She was going to check up on her children before heading downstairs, but the light that shone up from the stairwell changed her course. Somepony was awake downstairs. She checked all the doors in the hallway, making sure every single one was closed. Not one of her little rascals then. They wouldn’t close a door behind them if their lives depended on it. That left her with only one candidate.
She climbed down the stairs slowly, making sure to step on the edge near the wall rather than the middle, risking a creak.
Velvet went into all that trouble for nothing, much like her attempts at sleep. The crea- Raegdan was looking towards her direction, waiting for whoever made his way downstairs to appear. She gave up on being sneaky and quickly trotted down the rest of the stairs.
“I suppose I shouldn’t have tried to sneak up on you,” she half apologized. Hey, it was her house.
Raegdan leaned his head questioningly to his left. “Sneak?” he asked in his terrible, broken accent.
Right, there were still so many words he didn’t know. She looked at the table in front of the couch he was sitting on. A small, battered dictionary was placed on it. It used to belong to her Twilight, but her little generous angel gifted it to him. He seemed to leaf through it, writing down the translations in his own language, or studying them, whenever he got the chance.
“Sneak; walk quietly, silent,” she explained. Her Twilight must have an amazing time with him. She loved to play teacher and with Raegdan she had an actual student to work with.
He took a moment to think and mouth the word before nodding in understanding. He knocked the wooden table in front of him with his curled fist. “Hooves,” he said. “Do much noise.”
Velvet glanced down at his naked feet. That made sense. Their hoofsteps must sound like thunder compared to his own. Maybe she should invest some time in learning a silencing spell.
He cringed back a little as she came closer. He was very careful in making himself as unthreatening as possible, at least in her home. From what she heard, he wasn’t bothering much with that anywhere else. Translation; not at all. He was holding a picture frame. She climbed on the couch next to him to see what held his interest.
It was a picture of her smiling widely along with her children. Night Light had taken the shot so he wasn’t in it. He told her later that magic from a casting horn might wreck the film. Velvet was absolutely certain he didn’t think of using his magic to take the picture. She was sitting on that very same couch, holding the newborn bundle of joy that was her little Sparkle. Shining Armor was clinging next to her, his little face almost buried in the blanket that wrapped his little sister. Velvet remembered how he had been thoroughly fascinated by his little sister for a long time. He had taken his big brother duties very seriously, her precious colt, and always kept a careful eye on his sibling.
“Shouldn’t you be asleep?” Velvet asked. Normally she would have retreated back to her room, or ignore him and head to the kitchen. The isolation from any potential interruptions however goaded her on to finally have a conversation with him that lasted more than a sentence or two, even as hard as it would be with his limited vocabulary.
Raegdan returned to studying the picture he held. “Not sleep if not tired much, very, very much.” He made a circular motion with his hand at the side of his head. “Dreams if not very tired.”
She almost snorted as she did her best to keep herself from laughing. The big, scary monster was afraid of nightmares?
Oh Celestia, he did! His face was painfully serious as he kept his eyes on the picture frame. She watched his hands. It was a good thing the frame was made of metal. The way it had pinched into his skin made her believe that wood would have fractured by now.
“Do you have many nightmares?” she asked, slightly concerned now. How often did he sleep if he was waiting until he was ready to fall practically unconscious? That couldn’t be healthy for anypony.
“Nightmares bad dreams, right?” he asked for confirmation.
Velvet nodded but he was still too absorbed by the photo to notice the gesture. “Yes.”
He hesitated. He briefly took his eyes off the frame to glance towards the stairs before answering. “Many times nightmares. Few times… good dreams. All bad.”
Velvet scrunched her face as she thought. Did something get lost in the translation? Did he really mean that he didn’t want to have good dreams either?
She examined him more carefully. He was sitting with his legs open wide, his elbows resting on his knees. He was not wearing clothes over his chest, despite his lack of fur and the low temperature. In fact, his skin looked kind of pale from the cold, making his horrifying injuries stand out even more. Thank Celestia that her little Shining considered them “super cool”, and hadn’t realized the dreary implications of what this stallion had gone through. The skin around his eyes was bruised and dark, a result of his sleepless night obviously, and the small, white orbs themselves had reddened up. The way he kept staring at the picture, almost unblinking, it was natural for this to-
Oh. She saw it now.
“You miss your family, don’t you? That’s why you don’t want to have any dreams. You dream of them.”
Raegdan nodded hesitantly after a very short interval of time to translate her words. “Nightmares nothing. Family, see in dreams… hurts.” He ran a finger over the photo, gently. Velvet kept silent, waiting for him to continue.
“Miss mom, very much.” He carefully placed the picture frame on the table and steepled his fingers under his jaw. “Little one lucky. Shining Armor lucky. They have you.” He sounded sad, so very sad. Velvet scooted closer to him, warming his cold side with her own body.
“It sounds you really loved her,” she observed.
He chuckled with mirth he didn’t have. “Me w- I was… uh… mom’s colt. Stay near, I care for her, she care for me. She really love I. I work, care for her, father, sister, all. Now who care for them? When I left home, mom not know where I am. No one know. She never know now if I live or dead. Never,” he finished sorrowful.
Velvet felt her eyes mist. She never expected… she never thought! Dear Celestia, she was worrying over nothing, her children were home, safe and sound, while this poor colt’s mother and family… She was terrified at the prospect of her daughter just being gone one day after what happened. But his hapless mother was facing that nightmare right now, and, even worse, Raegdan knew that. She stretched to bring her hoof around him in a hug. Velvet felt him going rigid under her touch.
Too bad. Hugs in her domain were non negotiable. If Velvet gave one, you took it and you liked it.
“Listen to a mother, Raegdan. Your mom is worried and hurting,” she said. She felt him tremble and shake. “But deep inside her, she knows you are alive. A mother always knows. What she will be wishing most is that you are safe, even if you can’t go back to her. That’s what will really matter to her.” She tightened her hug. Oh heavens, was this the same person she worried might hurt her children?
Raegdan quickly ran his palms over his eyes. “Hope could tell her that,” he said with a trembling breath. Poor little colt. What could she do? What he really needed was his-
Well, she was one, a damn fine one if she could say so herself, and she could handle this. Mothers stick together, no matter where they are, or what species they are. Can I get a hurrah?
Twilight Velvet jumped off the couch and gently pushed Raegdan to lie back to the couch. He complied easily, wary of even giving the slightest resistance against her. “You should go to sleep. Moms want their children to sleep. Otherwise we worry.”
“Dreams,” he opposed. “Can’t sleep.”
“You wanted to tell your mom that you are safe?” He nodded, watching her intently. “Then, when you dream of her, tell her. Tell her you are alive, tell her you are safe, and most importantly, tell her you love her.” She countered his incredulous look with a small smile. “We have magic here, remember? She might see your dream.”
She took the chance to cover him with a few blankets while he thought of her dubious claim. She had to make sure he fell asleep before she left, otherwise she knew he would be up again as soon as she was out of sight. Colts never change.
She started singing the same lullaby she sang to her foals. Still did to her little Sparkle sometimes.
“Are you-”
She shushed him with her hoof. “Hush now, just close your eyes.” She waited until he obeyed under her strict stare before taking the song up from the start. He was three times her height and could break her like a stick. They both knew who was in charge here. He held out for two seconds.
He was out cold before she even finished. A personal best, but Raegdan was exhausted so she shouldn’t let this count. She looked carefully. Yep, there it was, a little smile, just at the corners of his mouth, but enough for her. She desperately hoped that his mother really could understand in some part that her son was in safe hooves. Nopony really knew all the secrets of magic, not even the Princess. What she told him might even be the truth.
Twilight Velvet owed a debt to Raegdan’s mother. She lost her son, but if she didn’t, Velvet would probably have lost her daughter. Twilight Velvet would pay her back for her sacrifice, even if she never knew.
Twilight Velvet yawned. It was really late, and she needed to wake up early tomorrow. She headed back to her own bed.
She had to prepare breakfast for her husband and her three foals in the morning.
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Ooooowwwwww....you fired an orbital friendship cannon right into my feels. It hurts so good!
But in all seriousness that did hit a cord with me in a way, poor guy...I could see why good dreams scare him a lot more than nightmares.
Beautiful! Absolutely beautiful!
This... This... is... BEAUTIFUL!
Not many stories make me cry anymore but this one hit where it hurts. I'm a mothers boy as well, I'll admit it. I love my mom. I actually had to get up and grab some tissue paper. I'm still a little sniffle-y.
Good job. Great job. I love it. Even though you made a grown man cry.
I need to do something special for her tomorrow.
this made me feel sad actually. good job.
This was beautiful simply...
And I don't mean that in a sarcastic way, this was very touching, and sad, and good all at the same time. good job Crimmar, good job getting me to tear up in only 2,500 words.
Beautiful.
This stuff amuses me so fucking much, it's stupid.
How is Raegdan related to Twi and Shining? Is there a link to the Lunar Guardsman?
sounds exactly like my mother..
This. Celestia chickening out on the "talk". 2 chapters.
This shit is amazing and I may never stop wanting more.
wow... it's like if my mum was slightly less psychotic :)
Poor guy has a lot of baggage on him, only sleeping when he's fatigue get the better of him.
His body is a mess as well. Guy could need a God Healer to fix his body, to bad he is resistant to magic...