Aftermath Pt 1
Twilight waved away the hovering butler. A smile flitted across her mouth at Twilight Velvet’s deer-caught-in-headlights-look. She was probably quite the sight. Her legs were shaking, she didn’t even know from what, her smile was faker than the mounted antlers on the wall, and looking far too large in the foyer.
“Ah, Twilight. What a pleasant surprise,”
The dragon knew that meant: You will be getting a lecture later on manners, are you alright, and what in Equestria happened to you, all rolled into one seemingly bland statement. By the moon, Canterlot politics were exhausting.
Twilight shrugged carelessly, watching carefully in amusement as the action further aggravated her mother, “Just need a place to crash for the afternoon and night,”
Velvet cleared her throat and set the teacup down, “Of course, dear. I’ll go alert one of the maids. Have you eaten yet?”
“Some eggs would be nice,” Twilight said absentmindedly.
Absolutely nothing had changed since the last time she visited. Twenty years ago there weren’t as many paintings. Ten years ago all evidence of a dragon for a child disappeared completely from within these walls. The entire house was a mask worn to show off wealth and status. Twilight still wasn’t exactly sure what her mother and father did as jobs.
“Oh, great Celestia!” Night Light staggered on the stairs, clutching at his chest, “Oh dear, oh my. You gave me quite a fright,”
Twilight snorted, puffing smoke. She felt great satisfaction that she could do something as small as exhale smoke.
“What’s up?” Twilight had to choke back the delirious giggles as her father blanched at the overly casual greeting.
A maid timidly trotted up and directed her to a guest room. (Hers had been renovated into an office space two years after she was sent to Celestia. “It’s practical” was what the letter said.). Carefully setting the dragon fire vial on the ground, Twilight tiredly clawed one-handedly at the sheets and blankets until they were in a pile on the floor. She collapsed onto the pillows with a groan.
As Spike readjusted himself into a more comfortable position, he eyed her with some hesitance, “Are you real?” he whispered, “It feels like I’m dreaming,”
Something must’ve burrowed through her scales to pulverize her heart into tiny pieces.
Twilight draped her new feathery wing across him and nuzzled his mane, “Yes Spike. I’m real and I won’t leave you again,”
“Do you promise?” he asked in a small voice.
That was one thing Twilight taught him, never promise something unless you know one hundred percent that you are capable of fulfilling it. But there was no hesitation when Twilight responded.
“I do. No more saving the world, hopefully. Someone else can do that shit, again hopefully. Tomorrow, we’re going home. I’ll apologize to Rarity and life will go on,”
Another butler knocked on the door to announce their food was ready in the dining hall.
A wide smile stretched itself over Twilight’s face, “I’m proud of you Spike. I’m so sorry,”
If the dragon continued to talk, she knew she would cry, but Spike seemed to understand. His strong facade quivered and broke. A strangled sounding sob escaped his throat and Twilight sat back down to pull him into her lap.
Twilight hummed something nonsensical and rubbed circles along Spike’s back, “It’s alright, let it out,”
“I thought you were gone and then you came back but then you disappeared again but came back but wrong and it feels like you’re going to disappear again,” Spike sputtered out in one long-drawn-out, sobbing mess.
“I know,” Twilight breathed, dropping a kiss to the top of his head, “I know and I’m so sorry,”
Without a thought, Twilight warded the door against further intrusion and settled back down. Two hours later, Twilight woke him back up from the nap he cried himself into. She poked her head into the hallway first before the rest of her body slunk after, Spike situated on her shoulders.
She startled a maid and nearly knocked over a vase before she found herself in the dining room. Spike slid off and took a seat next to her. Seeing that there was no point in ruining a perfectly fine chair, Twilight elicited to sit on the floor.
Twilight practically inhaled the half dozen eggs that were prepared for her. Spike poked uncertainty at the small portion of stir-fried hay. When they were finished, a maid popped in to tell them that Velvet and Night Light were waiting in the Lounge Room for them.
The first thing Twilight said when they stepped into the room was, “Thanks for the food,”
“Of course dear. How about you send Spike out to play?”
Twilight barely refrained from rolling her eyes, “Whatever you say to me, Spike can listen,” She lifted a paw, cutting off her mother’s response, “I don’t care if you think it’s ‘inappropriate’. Spike stays,”
Velvet cleared her throat irritably, and with a bit more snap than usual questioned, “What has happened dear?”
Immediately, Twilight bristled at the subtle barb, “Many things, Mother. For one, we grew up. Second, I’m tired of beating around the bush. What are you really asking?”
“You look different,” Night Light said rather delicately, “Did something happen with the Princess?”
A vein pulsed to life on Twilight’s jaw at the mention of Celestia. She answered with gritted teeth, “Yes, I graduated,”
“Manners, Twilight,” Velvet snapped, “If this is how you act while outside of this House, I am ashamed,”
Spike glanced worriedly back and forth between Twilight and Velvet while Twilight adopted a bored look.
“Mother, I haven’t cared about how ashamed you were since I was fifteen. What makes you think I’ll start now?” Velvet looked visibly taken aback, which was an impressive achievement if Twilight said so herself. Velvet was a mare that prided herself on keeping calm and wearing as many masks as possible while talking with others.
Finally, Velvet snorted and relaxed back on the couch next to her husband, “Good to know you haven’t changed dear,”
“Yeah, just like this house,” Twilight muttered under her breath and was promptly ignored by everyone, “Like I said, we’re just here to spend the night and then I’ll be out of your hair. Wouldn’t be the best of ideas to see the Student of the Sun sleeping on the streets, would it?” Twilight added lightly, eyeing her parents' reactions.
“You’re always welcome here,” Night Light insisted, “Word sent ahead of time would be more polite, however,”
This time, Twilight rolled her eyes, “Father, I don’t want to be here any more than you want me out,”
Immediately he protested, “We don’t want you out, dear,”
“Bloody politics,” Twilight hissed she and Spike finally managed to turn in for the night, “They’re exhausting. Learn anything new?”
“Yep!” Spike affirmed, popping the ‘p’, “Learned that politics are bloody tiring. I could barely keep up,”
Twilight barked out a laugh that startled the maid stationed outside of her door. She shook her head at the thump and Spike giggled.
“Do you want to fly or teleport tomorrow?”
Spike thought for a moment, “Fly,”
Twilight nodded, “Alright, go brush your teeth, door’s three down,”
The morning after was just as awkward since the poor maid that attempted to wake them up was reduced to tears when Twilight nearly blasted them with fire in her half-asleep protective state. Twilight turned down food and chose just to fly back to Ponyville as fast as possible. Spike had no complaints and they left the premises with a hasty goodbye over their shoulders.
“I feel like a kid again,” Spike commented as they soared through the clouds, “You’re so big now, what the heck,”
“Wonderful, I get to hit my head on more things,” Twilight sighed jokingly, “Though I might need to raise the height of my desk. It was already too short, to begin with,”
“Yay, more basement testing,” Twilight felt Spike shift around in a small dance. She laughed.
“Definitely more basement testing,”
Ponies waved at them as they flew above the town. Nothing in town looked damaged and everything looked well. Twilight breathed a sigh of relief when she landed on her balcony. She’d check in with her friends after a good lava bath and some fried mushrooms. By then, Spike was already running to the bathroom and slamming the door shut.
“Please don’t slam doors!” Twilight called down as she went into her bedroom.
A letter lay on the window sill, probably courtesy of Ditzy. Carefully, Twilight picked it up and unfolded the paper inside. As she skimmed the contents, her face fell. It hadn’t been a full sun cycle since her little information bomb and they already wanted answers?
Unceremoniously, Twilight tossed the letter and envelope onto her desk. She’d deal with it later after several meals and a full night’s sleep. If she wrote back now, her already tattered reputation would take another hit and she wasn’t sure how many more faux pas she could make before something terrible happened.
“I’m sorry for what I did, Rarity,” Twilight met her eyes evenly, “But I don’t regret what I did,”
Rarity recoiled as if Twilight took a swipe at her. Her mouth opened and closed incredulously and her eyes flashed with some unnamed emotion. Twilight could picture smoke pouring out of her friend’s ears.
“Why?” Rarity ended up spitting out angrily, “How could you not regret such a horrid thing?”
Twilight rubbed at her face tiredly with a paw, “It was either that or have you become a murderer. You sent Button Mash to the hospital. He couldn’t move for two days and the electricity in his body could’ve stopped his heart any time twenty-four hours after he was struck. Five nurses were on standby, waiting to see if they needed the defibrillator pads,” Rarity had stilled and her eyes went wide but Twilight barrelled on, “I didn’t want another being to be sent to the hospital just because you couldn’t help but ‘spruce up the sky’,”
Rarity was silent for a moment before annoyance twisted her face, “And why could not you have told me this before, darling? It would have saved a lot of stress and anger,”
“We were a bit wrapped up in a magical catastrophe if you didn’t notice, Rarity,”
Rarity winced and sighed into her teacup. Twilight regarded her with an impassive face while her heart jackhammered within her chest.
“I don’t expect you to forgive me. I just wanted to clear the air,” Twilight focused hard on her next words to make sure her voice didn’t crack from anxiety, “I’ll see you around, alright?”
A voice interrupted her walk to the door, “Twilight? Thank you. Forgiveness is not as unrealistic as you think it might be, however, it is not right now,”
A relieved smile split the dragon’s face. The next time she and her friends had their picnic, the frosty silence between her and the unicorn melted away, and both stifled looks of amusement as their friends continued to tiptoe around the subject.
When Twilight finally got around to answering the letter, she did not expect an entire full-length scroll to be mailed back. Thinking it was some old reference material, she opened it and to her horror, it was the response to her short-hand explanation.
She resisted the temptation to groan, set the scroll on fire, and promptly forget the correspondence that happened at all. But being the good sport she was, she gritted her teeth and wrote an exceedingly polite response back indicating it would be several days before she could come back to Canterlot to properly explain what happened. It was so polite, in fact, that her mother probably would’ve cried tears of joy and told her she actually wasn’t a lost cause like she originally thought.
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I will wait as long as necessary for updates to this great story. Also Good Luck with your finals.
so... what made yu write her mother this way? out of curiosity
Every chapter is so good, as always, looking forwards to more
Twi's parents feel really OOC. Was this intentional?
I don't know why but I'm trying to think of a comment, but the phrase "that shoots LAZORS!" from the jocat ff14 healer meme video, keeps turning up instead.
great chapter
11115338
They aren't the only ones. Shining Armor and Celestia also feel out of character, though Shining got better and Celestia was just a monster. I feel like it is to create conflict and a feeling of isolation in Twilight. Before she moved to Ponyville, she mustn't have had anyone close to her that cared about her (Her parents care more about politics than their daughter, Shining treated her like a monster (I think? It's been months since I read those chapters) and Celestia was just grooming her for a role regardless of her wishes.
11115294
in this AU, Twilight was sent off to Celestia wayyy too young. her parents love her and she knows that, but they really weren't prepared for a dragon for a child, I'll be editing some past chapters and expanding more on this in future chapters as well
11115338
very intentional :)
I wonder what is in this letter and for who it is, I have an idea but I'm not sure. Great chapter again !
I do wonder who sent the Letter and what it says, just to make a shoot in the dark here i think it might be Luna who wants to know the story of what happen form Twilight point of view, for right now she only have the story form Celestia's view, so to make sure of what has happened she wants to hear it form Twilight as well, even tho i do not think Celestia will lie, I do think she regrets what she has done, she just didn't think when making that choice
11115475
ah ok. we don't actually know much about canon velvet an dsuch. so these 2 are always one of two types. xD
It's always a pleasure to read this new(for now) story. Keep up the great work!
PS: Was I right about Twilight becoming a Draconian "Alicorn"?!
PPSS: Because it's definitely sounding like it!!!
What heck is with between Twilight and Rarity?
Great, now youve given me the image that Pony Spike has a british voice.
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In case you forgot: Twilight completely shut of Rarity's magic with that Titanium ring thing she got from Discord due to her (Rarity) nearly killing a foal over her mishaps with being a crappy weatherpony during the whole cutie mark swap fiasco. Completely shutting a unicorn's magic is like shutting the entirety of a human's sense of touch; it's extremely disorienting and unnatural for them.
So.... like my O.C. Kirouac
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