A Light for Someone's Sake

by Lunaria

Chapter 1 - A Place to Call Home

Chapter 1
A Place to Call Home

"Relax, we'll be in and out in an hour or two, tops!"

Twilight blinked her eyes open, a yawn escaping her lips. She had dreamed of that fateful day once more. Glancing about, the shelter looked just the same as the day before; makeshift wooden constructions all around.

Twilight let out a deep sigh, wrapping her hooves around the bundle of heat that was snuggled against her stomach. The filly was breathing slowly, her eyes closed and sleeping soundly. At least she wasn't alone in this hell.

---

Twilight Velvet paced back and forth, this meeting would decide her future. The clock on the wall chimed twice, signalling the hour. Gathering her wits Twilight sighed and walked up to the door. Knocking twice she entered without waiting for a reply, it was her booked time after all.

Twilight had to suppress a groan seeing who was seated behind the desk, just her luck. There were plenty of ponies who got stuck with a desk job, but this was one she *really* didn't want to interact with; and there was no doubt as to their identity with that bold pink mane with white stripes.

The stallion in glasses looked up from the documents he was reading. "Magus Velvet, it's a pleasure."

Twilight nodded and stopped a comfortable distance from the desk, she opened her mouth but didn't get the chance.

"Let's skip the pleasantries, you didn't come here without a reason."

Twilight took a deep breath. "Yes, I'd like to resign from active duty. I know this might be sudden but, there are other things I'd like to spend my time on."

The blue stallion shuffled around a couple of papers on the desk, as if he wasn't even listening. "Don't worry about it."

Twilight blinked in surprise, she had expected this to be the hard part. They were already under staffed when it came to those on active duty to deal with mishaps or threats against the country's citizens.

The stallion smirked. "Don't be so surprised, we got orders handed down from her majesty herself. She expected you'd want to retire from the position so she preemptively signed off on it, in the event that you'd request it."

"That's..."

It was relieving, to put it mildly. She couldn't travel around doing this kind of work anymore, not when she had two foals to take care of.

"But."

Twilight snapped to attention. "But?"

"You have one last job I'm afraid," the stallion levitated over a folder. "Your retirement won't go into effect until it's done, my apologies."

"That's- what?" Twilight took hold of the folder in her own aura.

Twilight swallowed. "That doesn't make any sense, why can't somepony else handle it?"

The stallion shrugged. "I can't say, it's above my pay grade, and probably yours too. This is a direct order from the Princess herself, I barely know any of the details."

A direct order from the Princess? Why? She had talked to her a few times, which wasn't weird in her line of work, but she couldn't think of a reason why she'd be singled out.

Opening the folder, the details of the mission were equally sparse. Really, it was a lot of words saying nothing. A magic outbreak of some kind on the outskirts of Vanhoover? That could mean anything.

"All I know is that you're expected to meet up with a contact at the railroad station in two days."

Twilight's eyes widened. "Two days? I delivered my foal just a couple of days ago, I still need to recover!"

The stallion finally stopped shuffling around with his documents and meet her eyes. "That's right, congratulations."

"I... thank you."

The stallion smirked. "A filly I hear, you must be happy what with having a clear successor."

Twilight could feel her temper rising, this is why she hated this stallion so much.

"Yes, that's right. In fact, that's why I wanted to resign in the first place, so I can be there with her. Not to mention, who'll take care of her while I'm gone on... this, whatever this is?"

The stallion raised an eye. "I don't see the concern, I know you can very well afford a nursemaid. Honestly, I would have thought you had such affairs in order already."

Twilight growled, he just didn't get it. Being there for your foals as a mother... that wasn't something Twilight would ever trade away for anything.

"Well, no matter. You have a day or two to sort things out, really, it's out of my hooves regardless."

Twilight sighed, he was right in that regard. No matter how frustrating she found her coworker, soon to be ex-coworker, it really wasn't his mandate that put her here.

"Was there anything else?" She asked.

"No, that will be all. Enjoy your early retirement Magus Velvet."

Twilight took a polite bow with her head before turning about and trotting out. This was not how she had expected this meeting to go. She had expected needing to fight tooth and nail to be able to resign, but a special assignment? From the Princess herself? Absurd.

---

Twilight nudged the filly with her nose. "Wake up sleepyhead, it's morning."

Of course, under what definition it was really morning was debatable, but the pocket watch she had hung up inside their makeshift home said five past nine.

"Five more minutes?" the tired voice of the filly called out.

Twilight chuckled, brushing the filly's dark mane with her hoof. "I'm afraid not dear, we have another day of searching to do."

Twilight wiggled herself loose from the filly's grip and got up on her hooves. She slowly walked over to the table and lifted the metal canteen with her magic. She sighed as she drank the lukewarm water, they'd need to restock on water again today.

She made herself busy preparing a morning meal for the two of them, it would be composed of a few carrots each and the last of the apples. It wasn't much, but at least she could make it pretty. She briefly considered planting an apple tree from the seeds, as she had done several times before.

It would be nice and a closer source for something sweet, yet the thought of doing so made her incredibly uncomfortable. After all, to plant something that would take years to grow with the intent of taking advantage of the harvest? That would mean accepting that she'd remain here for years to come.

A yawn and the sound of light hooves coming closer brought her out of her thoughts.

"Finally managed to get up?" She chuckled at the filly as she pushed her long, almost black, mane out of the way for her face.

"Mmhmm," the filly spoke, her voice light and uncertain.

Twilight really needed to come up with something to call her, it had been almost a year. But the young pony did not know her own name, and Twilight didn't feel comfortable naming another's child. Besides, with only the two of them, there wasn't exactly any confusion as to whom was spoken to.

They got seated at the table--Twilight on the floor and the filly on a chair so she'd reach--and proceeded to eat their food. She was glad the young pony wasn't a picky eater, otherwise she wasn't sure what she'd do.

"Where are we going today?"

That was the question, wasn't it?

"We'll have to stop by the river... after that I plan to see if we can make any headway into the forest."

The filly pouted. "But there are so many thorn bushes and all of it is overgrown!"

Twilight couldn't help but to chuckle. "That's true, but if we can find a source for berries or wild apples, then that'd help quite a bit."

The unspoken part, of course, was the desire of finding a way out; Twilight didn't get her hopes up for that.

---

Twilight sat down and leaned against the wall of their makeshift home. The thing was not much more than a large shed, the timber that was used for the walls being rough and uneven. Twilight had never considered herself a craftspony; having lived through needing to cobble together a shelter hadn't changed that. What it did do was give her a newfound sense of respect for ponies who had it as their trade.

The garden, the means of which kept them alive, had done much the same for all the farmers around Equestria. Twilight couldn't do anything but smile as she watched the filly jump around in the garden, digging up any weeds where she found them. If it weren't for the tip of her horn sticking out of the dishevelled mane, then one could have been fooled into thinking she was an earth pony.

It was nice to just relax, the day had been busy; and not nearly as productive as she had hoped. The trip through the forest had only rewarded her with a few bushes of blueberries; and who knew how long they'd survive in this ecosystem. Still, it had been a happy find considering what she had already planned on doing today.

"Why don't you pack up the gardening tools and come inside?"

The filly's ears quickly turned in Twilight's direction, before the rest of her followed suit.

"We are packing up already?" She asked as she skipped up to Twilight.

Twilight nodded. "Yes, you have already done a very good job today," she reached out with her hoof and ruffled their mane. "Besides, we have something else more important that we need to do today."

The filly tilted her head. "More important than gardening?"

Twilight chuckled and got up, walking inside. She lifted the pan that had been sitting over the fireplace and placed it on the table; the fruity contents within still bubbling a bit from the heat.

The filly's eyes widened as the smell caught her nose. "Whoa, what is that?"

Twilight couldn't stop smiling. "Crumble, made from wild berries."

The filly quickly made her way over to her seat, eagerly sitting down and staring at the pie. Twilight grabbed one of the spoons and carefully carved a large eight onto the surface of it.

"Happy birthday."

Truthfully, she didn't know exactly how old the filly was, nor when her actual birthday was. Instead she counted the days since she had found her, it's not like the child had any better idea. It also helped keep her mind away from less happy thoughts related to having spent over a year inside the anomaly.

"That's today?" The filly let out, Twilight could hear the excitement in those words, but the tail wagging sealed it. That's what made it all worth it, that's why she could hold on.

Twilight nodded as she started serving the pie onto two uneven and scratched clay plates. She did her best to sing the filly a happy birthday, Twilight had never really fancied herself the best at singing.

It wasn't until much later, when the filly had soundly fallen asleep against her once more, that Twilight reached out with her magical grip to the hunting knife. She raised it against the wall and scratched on another tally mark.

Not for the first time she cried herself to sleep.

Comments

[Jymbroni]

So lots of questions, first what is a Magus? It is not explained in the story and especially as this is the readers first introduction to Twilight's line of work that needs to be expanded up here.

Second is you put ideas out there but don't really expand on them or give any context like:

There were plenty of ponies who got stuck with a desk job, but this was one she *really* didn't want to interact with; and there was no doubt as to their identity with that bold pink mane with white stripes.

Why does she hate this stallion so much? Did something happen between them? Did he just give her crap assignments during her service? I don't know. The only thing I know is she put in for early retirement and it got delayed because of this new assignment.

Third question is what was the purpose of the opening section? Why are they going to a makeshift house? Are the running from something? Are they poor? I don't follow because later on the stallion (who's not named even though they have some sorted history together) points out that she clearly makes enough to be able to afford a nurse maid.

Fourth thing is how old is the filly (I'm assuming its Twilight but I'm not 100% sure) because Twilight says this:

"Two days? I delivered my foal just a couple of days ago, I still need to recover!"

If that's the case how is the filly able to talk? Mr. and Mrs. Cake have a filly and a foal at the same age and they are not able to speak. Unless a couple years had passed but that wouldn't make sense because the orders stated that Twilight needed to be at the station in 2 days.

I hope this didn't come across as overly negative. You have some quality ideas that just needed better execution or needed to be expanded upon a lot more.