House of Sun

by Riossumari

Shut in

Cadence opened the door to Twilight’s room, she looked in to see Twilight hiding under her bedsheets her tail sticking out over the side of the bed.

“Hey Twilight, Auntie made breakfast again.” Cadence said,

“Ok...” Twilight answered.

“Do you...want to go to school today? Shining and I can walk you there if you want.” Cadence added. A minute passed before Twilight answered,

“No...I don’t want to go outside today…” Cadence was saddened by her response, it’d been a few days since the incident with the griffons. But Twilight wasn’t showing any real signs of getting better, the closest she’d come to leaving the castle was taking her magic lessons with Celestia in the castle gardens.

“Ok Twilight, but don’t take too long you don’t want your breakfast to get cold.” Cadence said. Cadence made her way to the dining hall, Shining and Celsestia were already eating breakfast, Spike in his baby chair.

“Is she coming down?” Shining asked, Cadence sat next to Shining and began to eat.

“I’m not sure, I keep trying to think of ways to make her feel better...but I can’t think of anything. I’m starting to wonder if there is anything we can do to help.” Cadence replied. A silence fell over the room, Twilight finally came into the dining hall her head hung low, a sad look on her face.

“Good Morning Twilight, how are you feeling today?” Celestia asked. Twilight gave a crooked smile as she started to eat the plate of pancakes in front of her.

“I’m okay...”she said.

“Well, your magic lessons are today. Do you mind if we have them in the garden again? Sunset seemed to like it.” Celestia asked. Twilight nodded yes and kept eating her breakfast, it was hard for Shining to see her like this he thought. She was usually so full of energy and eager to do things. The four of them finished their breakfast in silence, Cadence began to help Celestia put the dishes on the serving cart when Shining walked up to Twilight as she began to leave.

“So Twily, the newest issue of Power Ponies came out today. I was gonna go to the book store to get it, do you want to come along? I’m sure there’s something there that you'd like you too.” he asked. Twilight stood motionless and shook her head no,

“I don’t want to go...I’m just gonna read my books until Sunset gets here...” she said before dashing off to her room. Shining let out a sigh of defeat, the book store was usually a guaranteed way to get Twilight excited but now.

”It was a nice try Shining, but don’t let it get to you.” Celestia said, Shining looked back and nodded.

“Well, I gotta get to school, I’ll see you later.” he said before trotting off.

A few hours had passed and Sunset had arrived at the castle for her and Twilight’s lessons, Celestia had decided to teach them together. She believed they would be a good influence on one another, Sunset’s nature of being a quick study would help inspire Twilight, while Twilight’s friendly nature would make Sunset more social with other pony’s her age. Twilight made her way to the gardens a few minutes later than usual,

“Twilight your late? Did you fall asleep or something?” Sunset asked. Twilight shook her head,

“Twilight, hasn’t been feeling well lately Sunset. It’s also why she hasn’t been back to school.” Celestia quickly added, Sunset looked at Twilight she knew that wasn’t the whole reason but she wasn’t about to pry. Celestia began her lessons, teaching Twilight and Sunset magic regarding small polymorphing of objects followed by some advanced defensive magic. Eventually the three took a break, Celestia sat and drank her tea while Sunset and Twilight ate a few snacks.

“Soo...are you gonna come back to school soon?” Sunset asked, Celestia paused and looked at Twilight concerned.

“I’m only asking cause your friends keep bugging me.” Sunset added. Twilight took a small bite of the brownie she was holding before answering,

“I...I don’t know...” she answered, Celestia became disheartened at her pupils words. She wanted to help her, but she couldn’t think of a way to fix this.

“Well, I think that’s enough for today. We'll finish up the lesson next time, all right girls?” Celestia quickly said. Sunset looked at Twilight and then Celestia, she was suspicious of course. Celestia walked Sunset to the castle gates and assigned a guard to walk her home before returning to Twilight. She laid down next to Twilight and gently wrapped her wing around her,

“Your friends at school miss you Twilight.” she said, Twilight didn’t respond.

“Twilight, I wish I could just undo what happened to you but some things are even beyond my power. But, I want you to know that were all still here for you. It’s like I said to you before, we’ll be here to pick you up when you fall and cry. You just need to let us know when.” Celestia said. Twilight smiled back at Celestia, her words were always comforting to her.

“I just want to stay inside right now.”Twilight answered, “There’s too many scary creatures out there.” Celestia’s smile slowly faded at Twilight’s words, she couldn’t think of anything else to say so she just did the only thing she could think of and just hugged Twilight.

Cadence walked through the castle foyer, her mind was on Twilight and how to help her.

“Maybe, I can go get her some new books? No. What about some of her favorite candies? No. A stuffed animal? No, no Cadence those won’t work, you need to think of something to get her to want to go back outside.” she thought. Cadence walked out into the courtyard and sat down rubbing her hooves against the sides of her head in annoyance.

“Stupid griffons, this is all their fault! Twilight was finally getting better about her parents!” she groaned.

“But we just want to see Twilight.” Cadence looked up in surprise wondering who had said that, over at the gate she could see the guards standing in front of three foals.

“Wait...aren’t those?” Cadence thought, she recognized them as Twilight’s friends from school. She was surprised to see they’d come all the way to the castle, the suburbs were on the other side of town. Cadence smiled as inspiration struck, she quickly sprang to her hooves and approached the gate and the guards. Moondancer took notice of Cadence as she approached and called out,

“Princess Cadence!” she shouted waving her hoof in the air, Cadence walked up with a bright smile.

“Hello girls, what brings you all the way out here?” she asked, intentionally playing dumb. Juniper stepped forward,

“Twilight hasn’t come to school in almost three days!” she sobbed,

“She’s not sick is she?” Wallflower added. Cadence wasn’t sure what to tell them, but she had to say something.

“Twilight’s not sick, but...she’s not feeling good either. I promise its not anything you three did.” Cadence reassured them,

“Can we come in? We wanna see Twilight.” Moondancer asked, Cadence pretended to think for a moment teasing the girls.

“Please...” they all said in almost perfect sync,

“All right, I’m sure Twilight will be happy to see you came out here to see her.” Cadence said, the guards stood aside and the girls excitedly followed Cadence through the castle.

Celestia lay next to Twilight hugging her with wing still, Twilight was being quiet Sunset’s words still bothering her a little.

“Twilight!” a voice shouted, Twilight sprang up surprised and looked behind her Celestia doing the same shortly after. Twilight’s friends rushed across the garden, Cadence following closely behind. They quickly hugged Twilight happy to see their friend,

“You guys, what’re you doing here?” Twilight asked, the three stepped back and Moondancer spoke up first.

“You stopped coming to school, and you missed Juniper’s study group too!” Wallflower nodded in agreement. Celestia walked over to Cadence and whispered,

“Was this your idea?” Cadence smiled and coyly looked away,

“They were at the gates asking the guards to let them in, I thought maybe they could do what we haven’t been able to.” she replied. Celestia and Cadence watched as Twilight talked to her friends,

“I must admit, I haven’t seen her this happy in days. This may just be what Twilight needs right now.” Celestia said. Celestia and Cadence watched as Twilight and her friends spent the next few hours playing in the gardens, eventually the evening came and the three had to say goodbye. But not without promising to come see Twilight again, Cadence decided to walk the girls home herself to put Twilight at ease. Celestia stood at the castle gates with Twilight as she waved goodbye to her friends.

“Well, that was nice of them to come and visit wasn’t it Twilight?” Celestia asked, Twilight gave a warm smile back and agreed,

“I hope they come back again real soon.” she added.

“Don’t you want to see them at school tomorrow Twilight?” Celestia asked, she hoped Twilight would say yes.

“I can even walk you there if you want.” Twilight’s smile slowly faded, she looked away and said,

“I...I don’t know yet...I wanna see my friends, but…” Celestia felt upset, she thought this would work. She knelt down and hugged Twilight close with her wing,

“It’s ok Twilight, I nor any pony else won’t make you do anything you don’t want to do. I promise.” Twilight turned and hugged Celestia’s leg, her happy smile returning.

“Now come along Twilight, it’s almost dinner time.” Celestia said as she turned to go back into the castle Twilight following close behind.

Author's Note:

Phew, sorry for the long update time. Was on vacation the last couple days and finally got back to my PC. Should have a few more updates in the next few days too. (One good thing about being away from your Pc is it gives you alot of time to brainstorm). Anyway enjoy the newest chapter, and leave a few comments while you're at it.

Comments

[XzareAce]

cute little update! and expected for what twilight had been through keep up the good work

[DavisSentoV5]

Poor Twilight, suffering from pstd...

[Comickook]

Yeah. I can definitely understand how this could happen. Kidnappings ARE a pretty trying ordeal and, even if they are successfully resolved without anyone getting seriously hurt physically, they can still make somebody a little more paranoid. All I can say to Twi's friends and family is - keep trying. She needs it badly (as well as some sort of solid proof that not all griffons are like the ones who foalnapped her).

Anyway, excellent job on the exchanges, characterizations and future chapter set-up in all the right places.

[SuperSonicHeroes]

PTSD is the worst. Twilight is probably afraid that something bad will happen every second she is outside now and she could end up like her parents.

[Switch Swap]

Is Twilight going to be kidnapped again?