SIX YEARS, TEN MONTHS AGO: Homeward Bound
SIX YEARS, TEN MONTHS AGO
San Palomino, California
“Girls, welcome to your new home.”
The triplets looked on in shock. “Really?” Sonata asked.
“Yeah, really,” Velvet said, leaning against her husband and glad she had him to fall back on. The week after they got home, they started looking for a new place in San Palomino and found one, a large home that was due for renovations as the original owner had fallen through and the house had been left on the market for several years. Despite the fact that it was expensive as hell, they signed the agreement and had moved in two weeks ago.
At the same time, Velvet, with some assistance from her parents and Glitter, had slammed her brother with an ultimatum: he would either hand over the girls to her, their parents, Lotus’ parents, or put them up for adoption again. Otherwise, Velvet would sue for custody. Needless to say, it put her and her brother at odds, but at the same time it also had the reverse effect of healing the long-standing rift between Velvet and Glitter. When all was said and done, Sky turned over custody of the triplets to Velvet, but she knew it was going to be a long time before she and her brother would be on speaking terms again.
Still, for Adagio, Aria and Sonata, it was worth it, Velvet decided. If nothing else, it would give them some of the stability they so sorely needed.
Standing next to her, Shining said, “Come on, let me show you to your rooms.”
“We get our own rooms?” the three said at once.
“Yes, you get your own rooms,” he laughed. “Even Tavi has her own room here and she doesn’t live with us all the time.”
“Wow!” the girls chirped at once, now giddy about the chance of living here.
As Shining gave them the grand tour of the house, Velvet looked at Night. “Did I do the right thing?”
“You’ve asked yourself that a billion times, love,” he reminded her. “They need stability. And while Sky might be angry with you right now, ultimately he knows it was the right thing to do.”
“Yeah, but now in addition to Twily and sometimes Tavi, I have to manage their schedules as well! I have to find a karate school around here for the girls, an archery set—”
“I called around while you were gone; both Big 5 and MainSix carry various ones in stock.”
She grinned in gratitude. “And a local makerspace for Soni. What is a makerspace?”
“That one had me stumped, but I think it probably has something to do with Soni’s love of engineering. I’ll ask some of the engineering faculty and see what they know.”
“Thanks, love. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
“Probably lose your mind because you have five young girls running around the house, one teenage boy and one infant?”
“Oh, that – lost my mind about that long ago,” she giggled.
“Thank you for meeting with me, Principal Cinch,” Velvet said. “I realize it’s the weekend, but I wanted to make sure that I had everything in place.”
“Not a problem in the least, Dr. Velvet,” Abacus Cinch said as she ushered the woman in through her door. “Crystal Prep prides itself on being the best school we can for children who will attend both Zacherle Academy and Muenchinger Institute. We fashion young minds and young hearts so they can be the best they can be when they graduate.” She laughed. “Besides, I am a principal. The paperwork never ends.”
“Yeah, my friends Tia and Lu say the same thing.”
“Tia? As in Celestia?” When Velvet nodded, Cinch smiled. “I wasn’t aware you were friends with Drs. Celestia and Luna over at Canterlot High.”
“We grew up together in San Diego.”
“Ah. Celestia and I attended the same education track at college – had a bit of a rivalry in our studies back then, but that’s in the past.” Cinch sat down at her desk. “So what can I do for you?”
“I wanted to make sure that everything will be ready for my nieces when they start on Monday,” Velvet said. “They’ve gone through a lot of upheaval in their life as of recently and I want to make sure that there are adequate resources available here at the school should they be needed.”
“I see. Forgive me for asking, Doctor – it is both school policy and state regulations, as you well know – are we talking abuse of any kind?”
“No. Their stepmother died two months ago, and their father is a diplomat and is going to be stationed overseas. He wanted to place them in a boarding school, but I didn’t think that was best for them, given that they are no strangers to grief: their mother was killed in the September 11th attack on the Pentagon and my younger sister had to step in to help raise them for years before she moved away and Sky married his second wife.”
Cinch removed her glasses and rubbed the bridge of her nose. “I see. Well, I can put your fears at rest somewhat, I hope: we have a school nurse on hand, a Mr. Bruised Ego. He has considerable training in child trauma. Not as much as you, given your position of course, but he has more than a layman’s expertise on the subject.”
“Oh?”
Cinch nodded. “I’m not usually given to talking about my staff’s past, but in this case, I don’t think he would mind. Ego’s father died before he was born; his father was killed in the Lockerbie Scotland bombing back in 1988, so he grew up with his mother being a single parent.” Cinch leaned forward and smiled. “I promise you that we will have resources on hand to care for your nieces. As it is, your daughter and your other niece are exceptional students here, and with three more from your family attending, it will be quite the feather in our school’s cap.”
“Are you sure you don’t mind?” Evening asked his brother and Velvet later that night; they were over for dinner. “We don’t leave on our trip for another week.”
“No, this will be good for Tavi to get to know the triplets,” Night suggested. “It’s a change for all of us, and the sooner they get used to each other the better off we will be.”
Ballad laughed. “You mean the sooner they get through whatever eventual catfight happens they’ll be buddy-buddy or at least tolerable frenemies?”
“Well, I wasn’t going to put it that way, Ballad,” Velvet said sardonically.
Meanwhile, down in the den, the girls were all settled around a TV and eating pizza. “So, you play music?” Adagio asked.
Octavia nodded. “Yup. I want to be a musician when I grow up, like Mom and Dad! I play a couple of instruments. If you want, I’ll play for you later.”
“That would be cool!” Aria chirped.
Twilight, still a tiny bit afraid of the triplets, looked over at Octavia. “Aria does bow and arrow.”
“It’s called archery,” Aria commented with a confident air. “And besides, Twily, I said I was sorry for when I tried to shoot you.”
“You tried to shoot Twily?” Octavia gasped.
“We thought she was picking on Soni,” Adagio said defensively.
At that point, Sonata spoke up. “Girls, quiet! My favorite show is gonna start!”
“What show is that?” Twilight asked.
“The Chocolate Sisters Cooking Show! It’s the best show on Nickelodeon! Even better than Spongebob!”
“The what?”
“It’s a cooking show with twin sisters,” Octavia said. “I’ve never seen it, but my mother composed the opening song for it.”
Sonata wheeled on her. “Really?” she asked, eyes glittering as if she was in the presence of a celebrity.
Jaunty music then came onto the screen as an outlandish kitchen in a riot of colors showed on the screen. At once two teenage girls, one white with blonde hair and the other black with green hair, wearing matching clothing and aprons, came onto the screen and danced, singing the show’s theme.
“I’m Milk!” the dark one said.
“I’m Mint!” the other one called out.
“We’re Choc-o-lites!
And welcome to our show!
“We’ve got cooking!”
“And songs!”
“Fun sing-alongs!
On the Chocolate Sisters show!”
As Sonata happily sung the theme song along, Octavia looked at the two. “They don’t look like twins.”
“That’s because they’re fraternal twins, like we’re fraternal triplets,” Adagio noted. “They have the same parents, just they’re not lookalike twins.”
“Identical twins, you mean?” Twilight offered.
“Yeah, that.”
On screen, as the song ended and the sisters moved to the first counter, Milk looked at Mint and said, “Hey, sis, you know what?”
“What?”
“Before we start our first recipe, we have a special request!” Milk produced an oversized envelope, pulling out an equally too-large letter. “It’s for three special little girls who watch our show, from their stepmom.”
“Oh, wow, that’s cool!” Mint chirped. “Why don’t you read it for them!”
“Will do!” She held the letter in an exaggerated reading position. “‘Dear Soni, Dagi and Ari:’”
The girls in the room stopped. “Are…are they talking about us?” Sonata asked, surprised.
“‘I know having a little brother is going to be different in your life when I have the baby, but I know you three are going to be the best big sisters ever! And I know that, because your dad and I love you three. And your little brother will love you too! So hang in there – I know you can do it!
Love,
Your Stepmom,
Softy.’”
Obviously oblivious of the tragedy, Mint said to her sister, “Wow, those are three lucky girls!”
Milk looked directly at the camera. “Girls, if you’re watching this, don’t forget: being big sisters is a really important responsibility! Just remember that having your sister – and then your brother – is a great feeling!”
Mint leaned on her sister, grinning at the camera as well, “Don’t we know that! Right, sis?”
“Right! So, why don’t we work on our first recipe – Birthday cake!”
As the sisters onscreen went over to the preparation table, the three sisters looked at each other as if Sonata’s favorite TV personalities had just kicked their dog.
“Sweetheart, there was no way to know,” Night told Velvet later that evening. “Those shows are taped months in advance.”
“I know, but to hear them just cry…it broke my heart,” Velvet said.
“Well, they’re not alone anymore,” Night told her. “They have us now, and we’ll give them all the love they’ll ever need.” He kissed her gently. “I promise.”
Later that night, Twilight woke up, and shook her cousin. “Tavi, you awake?”
“I am now, why?”
“C’mon. We gotta go see our cousins.”
“Twily, we should be in bed!”
“We will. I just want to make sure they’re okay, okay?”
Octavia yawned. “Okay.”
They left Twilight’s room, headed over to Adagio’s, where she wasn’t to be found; then Aria’s, where the bed was empty as well. Finally, they went to Sonata’s, where they found the three girls sleeping together, fitfully, but clearly with Adagio and Aria on either side of Sonata, serving as symbolic shields for their sister.
“So like us,” Octavia said, knowing what that was like.
Twilight scrambled onto the bed. “C’mon, let’s go to sleep.”
“You sure?”
“They need us, Tavi,” was all Twilight said.
When Velvet checked on them in the morning, there were five girls squeezed tightly onto one bed – but now with smiles on their faces.
“My sweet little girls,” she said, a wide, sunny smile coming to her face.
Monday came and though it was a challenge, the five girls had gotten ready for school in time, slipping into their uniforms and getting ready for breakfast.
Twilight immediately noticed something about the trio: “How come you don’t have your hair in pigtails, Dagi?”
“I have curly hair – it doesn’t look good in pigtails,” she explained.
“I don’t like pigtails, but it’s easy to do in the morning,” Sonata chimed in.
“I thought you did,” Aria countered.
“I did it because you like it,” Sonata replied.
“Well, I have an idea,” Velvet said, walking behind the youngest triplet and undoing her pigtails, then fixing her hair around. “Go look in the mirror in the living room and tell me what you think.”
Sonata rushed over and looked. “A ponytail? But I thought only big girls had their hair that way?”
Velvet laughed. “Are you saying you’re not old enough?”
“I am!” Sonata insisted. “Can I keep it?”
“You should,” Velvet said. “It looks good on you.”
“Yay!”
Adagio looked at Twilight. “I didn’t say thank you for last night, Twily. You really looked out for us.”
“We’re family, Dagi! I’d do the same for Tavi.”
Night nodded. “Girls, if there’s one thing I think you’ll find out is that here, the words cousin and sister practically mean the same thing.”
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I had a Cousin like that. Broke my heart when she moved away.
Well glad to see that the girls are going to have a loving relationship. Also glad that Chinch is less of a witch in this universe. Now how will the next few years play out for the girls I wonder?
Is... is that a reasonable Cinch who manages to balance her ambition to have the best school with genuine care for the students under her charge like a proper high school principal?
Someone pinch me, I think I'm dreaming.
8918456
Probably because she's an elementary/middle school principal in this continuity.
It's official. I've been keeping up with the series since I first found it (which was before I had a fimfiction account). I'm going put all the main stories of this series all put it in my favorites. I just love how it's all came along so far.
agreed. OUCH!