The Parent Map: TLC Timeline

by AizakkuHorooee

Chapter III

Now that I’m in the lobby, I might as well start retracing our steps until attention falters.

When I start sniffing around for something to catch, I immediately smell two fresh signatures, one of them I recognize as Starlight. So that means the other is Sunburst.

“Oh wow, I must be on fire today.”

I light my horn so that I can smell in space. So would this be the fourth time I’m doing this altogether? There was Twilight and Sunset, then Carve, then Applejack and Rainbow Dash, and now Starlight and Sunburst. So yeah, it’s the fourth.

Anyway, I mosey over to the library awaiting a new trail to take my attention away.

After a half minute, the signatures strengthen with a new emotion of discreteness. Starlight and Sunburst must’ve been talking about me when they left the library. But the point is I found the trail to their new destination.

I sigh in satisfaction. “It feels so good to use my inner-child.”

After another minute, I find a door that the trail goes through. When I open the door, I find a room that I have never seen in the castle before. It sports two bookshelves, a red leather chair, and a futon next to the chair, underneath of a window with blue translucent curtains. It even has several side tables in the seating area.

Starlight and Sunburst are sitting on the futon. In silence, I can hear a clock ticking. “...quick,” Starlight says, seemingly finishing a remark with Sunburst as she gets up off the futon. “I see you found the new room, Aita.”

“Yep. I didn’t know Twilight ever had a room like this. In fact, it gives me an idea.” I jump up onto the chair and clear my throat. “So Sunburst, tell me what’s on your mind,” I recite in a soft, deep voice.

“Are you sure about this, Aita?” asks Sunburst. “You’re only a child. I wouldn’t want to put my troubles on you.”

I change back to my normal voice. “Trust me. If I can handle two criminals at the same time before even considering calling the queens, I’m pretty sure I can handle whatever you have to vent. Besides, like Sunset Shimmer said, sharing your experiences is what helps a friend get to know you.”

“Huh… forgot about that. Well, if you say so.” Sunburst take a deep breath to brace himself. “After I failed Magic School and moved to the Crystal Empire, my mother has been adamant about talking to me. At first I was on board, but she just kept talking about the future, like there wasn’t anything else to talk about. ‘You’re a grown stallion, Sunburst, and you need yourself a calling.’ That’s every letter she sent compressed into a sentence. Starlight had me update her and reason with her in hopes she would ease up, but to no avail.”

“Wait, it didn’t work? And you and Starlight were sure it would?” Sunburst nods at me. “Try to find a way for your mom to listen to you. Changing the subject yourself might be beneficial, so try to get her mind off of the future.”

Suddenly, a letter materializes in front of Sunburst, who takes a look at it, prompting a head-couch from him as letter glides onto the floor. “I can’t even unwind without getting a letter from her about my future! Seriously?!?”

I start getting a little annoyed about this problem, seeing that Sunburst’s mother can now send letters directly to him no matter where he is.

“So it seems she learned the letter-sending spell from me,” Starlight concludes. “How’d she even do that?”

“Starlight, I don’t think she got it from you,” I reply. “Where else do you think Sunburst got the magic to save you from the book tower way back when?”

Starlight thinks for a bit, a little confused at the rhetorical question. “His… father?”

“The point is that spell-reading comes naturally in at least one side of Sunburst’s family: his mother’s. Sunburst…” Sunburst picks his head up and looks at me. “As we could see, your mother is clearly overstepping her bounds if you’re directly getting letters no matter where you go.”

“You… you think so?”

“Would you?” I ask back.

Sunburst quickly gets up in protest. “Of course!”

“There we go. Sunburst, Starlight, I suggest we go to Sire’s Hollow and report this behavior. Staying in the castle won’t solve anything.”

I get off the chair and gesture Sunburst and Starlight to follow suit as I lead the way out of the castle. Through the throne room, Twilight spots us.

“You guys are back?”

“We had to cut the tour short. Sunburst, Starlight and I are headed to their hometown,” I explain.

“Oh, okay. Starlight, Aita, you two are going to need these for the trip.”

Twilight gives me and Starlight a saddlebag each to carry some money for train tickets.

“Thanks Twilight. It shouldn’t take terribly long,” Starlight nervously says. “I sure hope everything goes well.”

---

On the train to Sire’s Hollow, Aita sits across from us in one of the passenger cars. Aita seems to be the only one assured of this plan. Starlight and I are still murky about it.

“Do you think going to Sire’s Hollow will work?” I ask Starlight.

“If Aita has the confidence it will, I have faith in him. I’m only uncertain how we’re going to get around my dad. It’s just that whenever I do go home, he treats me like a filly, like nothing’s changed since I was a foal.”

Aita tilts his head in curiosity. “Really? You have a similar problem with Sunburst?”

“Obviously not. Starlight, your dad still gives you space. He doesn’t write letters about the same topic to you over and over like Mom does.”

“At least she acknowledges you as a stallion and is looking out for you.”

Aita jumps to our booth and wraps his hoof around Starlight. “Starlight… I get it. If we run into your dad, we’ll have to let him know we have priorities to deal with. And if Rainbow Dash’s parents were anything to go on, maybe I could talk some sweet sense into him, show him we are all capable in our own ways.”

Starlight looks at me and Aita.

“We’re here for you, Starlight,” I say. “Just let us know when things get uncomfortable.”

“Same with you,” replies Starlight.

The train beings stopping, making the rails squeal. As the train brakes are active, Aita jumps into the air. We must be at Sire’s Hollow now. So, Aita, Starlight and I all begin walking out.