Visiting Twilight

by StormLuna

Arrival in Unicornia

After getting done over at Cherry Hills Ranch, Night Light and Velvet headed back into town and began to walk around, hoping that they would run across Twilight. Like it was when they first arrived, they were catching a lot of strange looks and stares. This was something that neither one of them cared for but expected it this time. After several minutes of walking around and seeing no trace of Twilight they realized that wasn't going to work. They knew that they would have to ask somepony.

They then saw the town's lone restaurant off to their left so they figured that they would ask there. When they headed in they were immediately greeted by a younger mare, "Howdy y'all, table for two?"

Velvet asked in return, "Actually we're just looking for our daughter and I'm wondering if you've seen a lavender unicorn with a six pointed star for a cutie mark?"

The mare replied, "I'm sorry, I haven't. To be honest y'all are the first unicorns I've ever met."

Night Light said, "Well thanks anyway."

The two left and given that mid-day was already approaching, they knew they had only one option, they were going to have to walk east to the gullies and then south to the forest. Night sighed, "Well honey, shall we get going before it gets too late?"

Velvet replied, "We probably should." A thought then crossed her mind, "You know, they may not even keep track of what day it is there if it is in a really dense forest. They may view such a thing as pointless."

Night replied, "Maybe but I know how our Twily is, she would keep track of what day it is whether they use calendars or not! To be honest, I could see her getting them to use calendars if they don't use them already."

"You're right sweetie, let's get going."

---

It was late in the afternoon when the two finally reached the gullies. Both were hot, tired and frustrated. They knew that they had reached the path that would lead them to Unicornia but they had no idea how far away they were or how long it would take for them to get there. Another thing that bothered them, Velvet in particular, was that they might wind up having to sleep outside.

As they turned south Velvet sighed, "Hopefully Unicornia isn't too far away from here, I am in no mood to sleep out here in the open."

Night Light replied, "Sweetie, it is ok. When Twilight was on the run, she probably had to do it multiple times." He pointed down into the gullies and saw that there was a cave. He added, "Chances are she probably slept in those caves to hide from Celestia."

Velvet knew that he made good points and knew that Twilight did sleep in the caves while she was on the run but likely did so out of necessity. She looked down at the gullies and said, "Well I would rather us not have to sleep in a cave because that would kill our social status back home if they found out."

This was one thing that irritated Night Light, her obsession over their social status. He snapped, "Look, you need to stop being so obsessed over that. Besides, if we was to want to move down here to be with Twilight, that wouldn't matter anymore."

Velvet sighed in frustration because the thoughts of moving to a secluded area, especially one where it is dimly lit, did not appeal to her at all. She enjoyed the city life in Canterlot and enjoyed mingling with her friends. She wasn't sure if her husband was just saying that or was seriously thinking of relocating to Unicornia since the queen had stated that she would allow it.

---

A couple hours later the sun was setting below the horizon and finally the two saw a large dense forest off in the distance, they saw Unicornia. Velvet became a bit happier, "Well at least we won't be sleeping out in the open. I'd rather sleep under the forest canopy."

The two continued their journey south but when they got to the forest boundary, they noticed that they would have to jump down into the gullies rather than simply walking along them. Both of them were a bit concerned that they would sprain a hoof jumping down like that but reluctantly they did so. Once they crossed into Unicornia, they flared their horns up to provide some light.

Once they exited the gullies it was pitch dark in the forest. Even with their horns lit up all the way, they couldn't produce enough light to see where they were going. Night Light suggested, "How about we stop for the night, eat some cherries and then try to get some sleep. Once it gets light enough in the morning we can continue to follow this path because it will likely lead us to their community."

Velvet replied, "Very well. I was hoping to keep going but when we can't see where we're going, who knows where we would wind up."

---

After what was a much more peaceful night than they expected and eating more cherries, they continued their journey south. Unlike it was in the past, the gullies continued well into the forest. When they finally climbed out of the gullies, both breathed a sigh of relief knowing that they were likely closer to finding Twilight and that they likely wouldn't have to worry so much about injuring themselves by tripping over a rock or a hole in the ground.

After a couple of hours, they saw a pond off in the distance, a pond with two unicorns getting a drink from the far side of it. The unicorns had their horns lit up to provide some light and both Velvet and Night Light knew who one of them was. Night Light exclaimed, "Honey, it's Twilight!"

Velvet replied, "And I'm guessing that other pony is probably Moonlight Tulip given how close they are."

The two began to head towards the pond and this immediately got the attention of the two unicorns. Moonlight nudged Twilight and asked, "Those two, who do you think they are?"

Twilight knew immediately by the color of the auras. She replied, "It is my parents. I wonder what they're doing here?"

Moonlight added, "I'm not sure. I thought they didn't want to come into the forest."

The two lit their horns up brighter to provide more light for the outsiders. Once they got to the other side of the pond, Night Light rushed to her, embraced her and exclaimed, "Hi sweet pea, it feels like it has been forever!"

He released the embrace and Velvet embraced her, "Twilight, we were so worried about you when you didn't show up."

Twilight had a confused look on her face, "Show up? Show up for what?"

Both of her parents had a look of shock on their face. Both were wondering how it was that Twilight had no clue what they were talking about given how she had always kept track of pretty much everything. Night Light said, "Hearth's Warming, you said you'd meet us in Dodge Junction for Hearth's Warming so we could at least meet for the holiday."

Twilight then noticed a scowl forming on Velvet's face. She knew that her mother was not thrilled over her forgetting it. Moonlight could see a look of nervousness developing on her face and wanted to try and prevent Twilight's biological mother from saying anything that might hurt Twilight's feelings. She said, "You have to understand, we live in a place where the weather is always the same, the leaves never fall and the only thing we have to determine our days is dim light and the darkness of night."

Twilight added, "Yeah, to be honest none of us know what day it is and chances are none of us, save Queen Radiant Hope, even know how long we've been here or how old we are anymore."

Both of her parents' jaws dropped open. Here was their daughter who at one time was obsessed with little details not even knowing how long she'd been there, the date or even how old she was anymore. Night Light had a look of concern on his face, "Really, you don't even know how old you are anymore?"

Twilight sighed, "Dad, time is meaningless here. Our days consist of getting up, eating breakfast, social time, eating lunch, some of us head out and gather food, some relax, some go out on patrol, then we have supper and then those of us who do some night patrol, well we do that."

Moonlight suggested, "How about we head down to town, we can let the queen know you're here and then I do have a spare room if you want to spend more than a few hours here."

The two nodded in approval and they followed them south, further into the forest. By the time they finally reached town, the canopy was very thick and only a small amount of light was making it through, causing everypony out and about to flare up their horns to create light. They then saw a bright crystal that was providing some light too. From what they had learned when Twilight was up in Canterlot, that there was a crystal that increased their life spans significantly so they figured that was likely what it was.