The Parent Map: TLC Timeline

by AizakkuHorooee

Chapter II

Once Starlight and I are in front of Twilight’s castle, I knock on the door. When it opens, there’s a green tint on it rather than the usual hot pink. This must be Aita.

“Oh, hi Starlight! Sunburst!”

“Hey Aita,” Starlight waves. “Just thought we’d stop by for a bit.”

“Oh yeah, weren’t you supposed to be with Trixie and Discord?” asks Aita.

“Well… Sunburst needed to unwind.”

Without another word, Aita leads us to the throne room, where Twilight is talking with Spike.

Well, if we go on the sixth, we can still do what we want before the show in Canterlot the day after, Twilight says as Aita walks in, Starlight and me right behind. “Ah! Aita, Sunburst… Starlight? I thought you went with Trixie for the tour.”

“Well, after I took Sunburst home after the show in Rainbow Falls, we ran into some family matters.”

Spike approaches me and Starlight. “Oh, well I can go to Sire’s Hollow if you want me to.”

“That won’t be necessary, Spike,” replies Twilight. “Clearly Sunburst just needed some time here to relax. So Sunburst, do you plan on staying long?”

“Not really? I’ll only be here for as long as I need to be… Actually, I think this is my first time here.”

“That’s okay. Starlight, Aita, would you care to give Sunburst the grand tour? Spike and I are still figuring out how far ahead to go to Canterlot before the show.”

Starlight and Aita nod at Twilight.

Once the three of us are out of the throne room, Aita is the one to initiate a fresh conversation. “So, you really haven’t visited Starlight, Sunburst?”

“Not since she’s been staying here.”

“Eh, don’t worry about it. Ever since I moved here, I made myself a little directory.” Aita teleports in a strange device. It looks so alien compared to the technology of Equestria. He turns it on and, after a little time, shows us a perfect directory to the Castle of Friendship.

“You did this?” I ask, to which he confirms by nodding. “Wow, I’m impressed you were able to do that.”

---

While we are walking around, navigating the castle together, Aita leads the way most of the time.

“You know Aita, Starlight told me all about your adventures here in Equestria. You must be one lucky changeling to’ve been adopted by Princess Twilight of all ponies.”

Aita laughs. “I know, what a die roll. So what was your personal highlight about my time here?”

“Definitely the time you proved Discord innocent,” I answer. “It’s amazing you were able to do that. Do you know how hard private investigation is?”

“Not if I watch a human figure out what his dog wants. Discord seems to know what I’m talking about.”

Aita’s remark confuses me and Starlight. Might it be some play from his homeworld he’s talking about?

“Meh, I expected those looks. But now to the task at hoof,” announces Aita.

“There are a few key locations to know about. We all have our own rooms… then there’s the throne room, the kitchen, the dining room and the library. Which do you want to see first?”

As Starlight identifies the key rooms, Aita points to each room with his hoof as displayed on his little device. I look at the directory Aita made, and it makes me a bit confused again.

“So where are we?” I ask.

Aita points to a spot in the hall pretty close to the library.

“Ah, I see. Why don’t we do the library first?”

So, at the library, Aita and Starlight are basically doing their own thing. I first check on Starlight while Aita is just messing around with his device. She moves some books on the top shelf to the right from where we enter and takes down a box from behind that spot. Within it is a neat pile of scrolls, the top one at least, written out for a spell.

I take the scroll out and examine it. “What’s this spell, Starlight?”

“That’s the one I used to help make Aita’s present for his birthday. I made it myself.”

“Scrolls to bits, in the slot it fits, modify into a board, that memory can store?”

“Yeah, I know the rhymes are a bit sloppy, but-”

“How does it work, Starlight?”

“I-I’m not too sure myself. A lot of the terminology flew over my head when Moondancer looked at Aita’s DS. All I know is that it takes lists of instructions and data, and turns it all into a game that Aita can play.”

“Hmm… I think I’ve dabbled into assembly at one point, maybe when I was in Magic School.”

During me and Starlight’s conversation, Aita carefully sets his “DS”, as Starlight calls it, atop a mirror across the room that is hooked up to something powered by a book. He then joins us.

“Hey guys, what’s that?” He points to the spell Starlight has.

“I think you’ll know,” Starlight answers, giving Aita the spell I read aloud.

Aita mumbles the spell and gasps. “So this was the spell that made Sim Hive?” Starlight nods. “Cool! So, I was just putting my DS on the mirror so that it would charge. Gotta give that battery juice somehow.”

I blink twice in surprise. “Rechargeable batteries? That’s new.”

“My homeworld is has more advanced technology, just like what I said to Bow and Windy. And that world is where I got my DS.”

I clear my throat a bit to get back to the tour of the castle. “Well, where to next, Starlight?”

“Why don’t we-”

“Actually,” Aita interrupts. “There is something else I did want to show you two. I’ve been so swept up relaxing during summer break, I forgot to do that, and then school picked up, then there was-”

“You’re point?” Starlight flatly asks.

“Before I teleport, you guys get to the next room. My starting point will be the main lobby. Wherever that next room is, I’ll find it with only my nose.”

“I-if you say so, Aita,” I reply as Starlight takes her cue to continue the tour without Aita, me following close behind. I wait to hear a magical snapping sound before I whisper to Starlight. “I sure hope he knows what he’s doing.”

“He probably does. Cervix nearly identified me and Trixie by scent alone when you-know-what happened, so if I had to hazard a guess, I bet he’s gonna try the same thing. You know how children behave, flattering everypony with their impressions.”

“Ah.” I nod in recognition of what Starlight is saying, and the event she was referring to. The rest of the trip goes on silently.