Three Steps Back

by Moproblems Moharmoney

Like A Dog With A Bone

Twilight Sparkle loved trains.

It wasn't for their aesthetic appeal. She could appreciate a well-formed chassis like any creature, but it was merely that: appreciation. Nor was it their (lack of) scintillating conversation. The steady click-clack of steel on steel was soothing, even enough to cause the lavender bicce some drowsiness on her current journey, but it wasn't love. No, it was what the things represented.

Coal burning, water churning, wheels turning. A marvel of mechanical engineering, the fusion of metallurgy, mathematics, physics, thermodynamics...
The list never ended. Yet the results were always the same. Ever present, ever constant.

Such were the fruits of science. Cold and logical, it held a certain appeal that Twilight gravitated towards. Magic had its attractions of course, but she found it emotive, reactive, and, above all else, judgemental.

The Griffons had a saying: “a dead pony is better than an angry pony”. It seemed more of a grisly comment on interspecies relations than an actual proverb. That is until one remembered Griffons were excellent record keepers, and had survived the brief, tyrannical reign of Nightmare Moon.

No, there was a purity to the scientific arts. A purity that she intended to save.

---

As she loped from her private carriage with suitcase in hand, the eighteen-year-old Diamond Dog paused on the wooden platform's edge. It had been only eight months since that fateful departure to oversee the Summer Sun Celebration in Ponyville and her ensuing relocation to the sleepy town, yet those eight months practically felt like a lifetime away. Something unaccountably 'fresh' abounded within Canterlot. If familiarity bred contempt then distance had most definitely made her heart grow fonder, and she drank it all in with abandon while making a beeline to the platform's exit.

But even through her rose-tinted glasses, Twilight noted a problem.

The Canterlot train station was impressive, no doubt stood in Twilight's mind over that. By every conceivable metric, it eclipsed Ponyville's rustic counterpart. Designed by renowned architect Rose Stem, built with the latest top-of-the-line materials, and equipped with a safety record that her new home could do well to emulate. Yet Ponyville had one distinct advantage.

It was small.

Twilight rapidly gained a new degree of appreciation for this fact as the massive throng of equines buzzing hither and thither dimmed suddenly. While not silent per-say, the crowd's ever-present roar of noise had died to little more than a concerned murmur, and she knew that all eyes, even those she couldn't see, were on her.

Ponies were naturally skittish creatures, unnerved by all things new and unfamiliar. Travel didn't help the matter: stepping into a swarm of foreign faces in the big city could be daunting even at the best of times. Having a rarely seen predator species, double your height, looming nearby? As sad as it was, she appreciated the lack of screaming.

It all fit neatly in her head. Logical. Understandable. A sterile puzzle of psychology fully assembled. Yet the real world was messy, and right now an oil slick of emotions washed over her. Knowing why they felt the way they did didn't stop the pain, but she supposed it blunted it somewhat. Made the tears a future Twilight problem rather than a present Twilight problem.

It wasn't the dress though! She'd been adamant to Rarity about that. It was plainly obvious to any right-minded creature that her dress was made of pig leather no-

"E-Excuse me?"

She followed the voice, her head dropping at a glacial rate. There were a few different possibilities available, but statistically speaking she knew the answer before their eyes even met. It was always the same, her personal scientific method having been perfected years ago.

A colt. A pegasus to be exact, forest green with threadbare saddlebags and the look of a creature seconds away from vomiting.

Ignoring the dry ovation running through her mind, Twilight observed her latest example of colthood bravery, distinctly aware of a growing tension brewing in the now silent crowd. Everyone had been told the stories, Equestria practically grew up on them. She could almost read their minds right now. 'Will the thing do it?' 'Will anyone stop the monster?' They never asked themselves why their children were intentionally walking towards a thing, a creature they’d spent years telling them was dangerous. No, that'd require self-reflection and-

She sighed. Life had been easier when she was a puppy. No one expected the worst from a tiny bundle of fluff.

Slowly, mouth closed ("Showing teeth is a sign of aggression" - Bellicose Body Behaviour by Simple Minds) she knelt, her knees bending with an oh-so-subtle crack that told the bicce Applejack was right, at least when it came to getting fresh air more often.

"Hey there," Twilight said, now half her height yet still towering over the youth. "Can I help you with anything little guy?"

Despite using the 'reserved' voice her mother had spent months teaching, a light tone that conveyed as much warmth as she could eke out, it was still impossible to stop the young pegasi shaking like a leaf. Then again her dulcet tones had been decried as "Detrot garage band at best" by her her singing teacher in the distant past.

"A-Are y-y-you L-lady Sp-Sp-Sp-" the tiny colt stuttered, falling over each word.

She nodded slowly, having learnt through experience that sudden movements could make those who were jumpy become... unsettled. "Yes, I am Lady Sparkle. How can I help you?"

Twilight would later realise how soft eight months in Ponyville had made her. She wasn't a cynical creature by nature, but her life hadn't exactly been one of simplicity when dealing with anyone outside the royal family. Her existence wasn't a shameful secret though, Celestia's love was as obvious as the sun in her sky.. Yet Equestrian society had interesting ways of ensuring her identity was obscured or altered. She was the "Renaissance Mare" after all, not the "Renaissance Bicce".

She didn't register the unusual nature of this meeting until it was all too late. Her heart freezing as the foal drew forth a stylised copper sun amulet from his saddlebags, its dull metal barely reflecting the days light.

"No, no, no, no! Not one of them, not now!"

The crowd watched in a mixture of confusion and apprehension as their assumed victim attempted a formal bow. It was sloppy and lacking grace, not unexpected in a colt, but still odd to see. Despite his earlier anxiety, a significant sense of calm seemed to wash over him as he intently store a hole within each floorboard, proffering the amulet before Twilight with utmost reverence, eyes averted.

"I beg thee, bless this icon in the name of your mother, the life bringer-"

It was nigh instantaneous, the potential mob recoiling in a mixture of disgust and irritation. Whatever macabre interest the crowd had taken in the youth's fate had departed, this wasn't a horror story now. It was something worse, a sermon.

"Damn Celestites are everywhere these days," a voice emerged from the grumbling horde, ponies bleeding away in dribs and drabs now that their free show had ended.

"-she who ends the night, star queen, lady of light, slayer of the night devil-"

"Hey, that's my aunt!" Twilight snapped.

The Pegasus paused and mumbled something that sounded awfully close to "Orthodox miss" before continuing in his praises to her mother.

Later, in private, she'd admonish herself. Not registering the unusual circumstances that a foal, even one in her city, that one place where she was at least somewhat recognisable, could pin down her identity at a glance? That was nothing but amateur hour for someone sheltered from the public eye as herself. For now though Twilight let her eyes glaze over, the colt's prayer both tediously long and gratingly familiar.

Each friendship lesson may have seemed inconsequential, yet cumulatively they were definitely having an effect. Previously she'd have been...annoyed? Yes, annoyed. Definitely annoyed with the rigmarole. Now she was still annoyed, but had learnt that it wasn't good to express it. Patience and acceptance of others' differences were necessary. Even if they were ridiculous claptrap.

"-and in her name, let light shine on us all!" the colt squeaked, a mixture of fear and enthusiasm doing its best to imitate zeal she suspected he encountered daily.

"Let light shine on us all," replied Twilight, her voice deadpan. She tapped the bronze sun icon he held in shaking hooves with a claw, her spark of added magenta energy bringing a flourish to the routine that the little one would no doubt crow over for days.

She may have *looked* like a monster, but she didn't have to act like one.

---

In theory, Twilight was supposed to take an air chariot immediately after departing the train.

It wasn't a direct instruction, more ancient protocol developed on the hoof for any theoretical royal child. It had taken some time to discover, the original writing being in old Ponish and mentioning a pigs' bladder for as-of-yet unknown reasons. Yet the Captain of the Guard -“Solar Captain” she reminded herself, Aunt Luna's personal soldiery may have been hypothetical at that moment, but it still existed on paper- was even more of a stickler to the rules than herself.

With great difficulty, followed by mental gymnastics that would make Rainbow Dash proud, she'd reasoned walking to be an acceptable alternative. She certainly had the stamina to make it to her destination. It was just an hour away with her longer-than-average strides, which blew the wind out of “Ye shall be presentable and well rested”. While “Vagabonds and the ill-mannered” were still as much a concern one thousand years later, any creature foolish enough to try and rob her would quickly gain a masterclass on how hard Canterlot's exceedingly expensive marble-paved roads could be. It was one hundred and fifty on the Nickers hardness value. She'd tested it herself.

Either way, she’d been walking. In the city. Surrounded by ponies. Ponies who weren't always familiar with the capital or its residents. When the inevitable occurred, it wasn't particularly upsetting, just… wearisome.

“This is all rather unnecessary, you know?” she grumbled, marching in perfect lockstep with the quartet of spear-armed Solar Guards forming a square about her person.

The one to her front left, a rather dour looking specimen by all accounts, glanced in Twilight's direction with that signature stolid look all members of the guard, whether royal or otherwise, were infamous for. He and his compatriots had arrived roughly halfway through her journey and adamantly refused to leave ‘for her own protection’. Never mind that she was tall enough to see over their spears and could bend the darn things into a pretzel if so desired. ‘Protection’ was a two-way street though, for her and from her. This game had become increasingly familiar.

“Just doing our duty, your highness,” he said, rote and parade ground perfect. All except for one thing.

Ignoring Rarity’s imagined chagrin and borrowing far too much from a certain rainbow-maned friend's mischievousness, the bicce calmly reached across to tug lightly at her speaker's spear tip. Just a light touch, enough to avoid cutting her paw in the process. The effect wasn’t instant, but it certainly got his attention.

“You’re new to the Solar Guard, aren’t you?” she queried as they began the long trek up what locals colloquially dubbed ‘Royal Road’ to Canterlot Castle itself.

He seemed ready to say something, but caught himself just as his mouth opened. Instead the snow white pegasus , identical to his squadmates, opted for a noncommittal grunt and that gratingly familiar silence his comrades had been merrily engaging in.

“Ah yes, definitely new,” a genuine smile spread across her face. It was quite uncommon until recently, something not coached from an etiquette book or born out of nerves. “I can tell, you see, you did a good job, but there was one mistake.”

Continuing the uphill climb, she began humming a tune that had been lazily residing in her memory, one of Applejack's perhaps? The rhythm certainly had a ‘country’ air to it, that feel of home, hearth and family. All things that certainly meant a lot to the bicce. After a lifetime around them, even the royal guards had begun to blur the line between ‘associates’ and ‘family’. This was why it felt a tad mean in her mind to let this new guard stew, but she had a good idea how they ticked, and especially what worked when dealing with them.

Of course, boiling this frog, so to speak, also meant battling with her own innate need to lecture as they continued on the uphill climb. Being an 'egghead' had its own struggles sometimes.

Passing by the distant form of Her Royal Highnesses Most Favoured Gardener, one Hayseed Greenhooves, whom she waved to cordially despite him being quite absorbed in his hedge trimming, Twilight felt the barest tap on her leg. It was distinctly metallic, and most definitely coming from her left. The toothy smile returned once more.

“Hook, line, and sinker.”

Easing her tune down, she 'naturally' began to make chit-chat. It was with a slow, easy-going conversational tone she’d learnt at the universities debate clubs, neither confrontational nor with the eagerness she usually applied when it came to relaying new information.

“Did you know I had a celestite approach me today? Quite young, barely a colt even. He wanted me to bless a soul star. I was surprised actually, he called me Lady Sparkle. Most of the young ones who… well, who know who I am just assume I’m a Princess because of my mother." She chuckled, "Our ruling class is rather odd, is it not? No Queens, two Princesses, one Prince distantly related and the monarch's only child is an Earl. No wonder the Griffons hate dealing with us.”

The following silence should have been awkward, the kind that makes a pony’s anxiety start eating itself alive. Something that the more 'free thinking' guards could use when it was time to shake down those less compliant with their Diarchies rule even. Yet for Twilight it was a grand ovation, smugness skyrocketing with the barely perceptible "Thank you" hidden amongst her 'chatty' guards' unexpected coughing fit as they made their way across the outer gatehouse's lowered drawbridge and into the castle proper. Each step opening a world of nostalgia the bicce barely realised she had.

Small was not a word often used when it came to palaces or ancient architecture. Size often reflected wealth, with Gregar the Great nearly bankrupting all his accumulated imperial conquests thanks to an obscenely ostentatious nest, for example. Yet it was something that Twilight often found herself thinking when it came to the courtyard.

It certainly wasn't a practical place, the land was ill suited to all but pleasurable activities, and its size eliminated any possibility of military use. Not to mention any force required to adequately fight off whatever lunatic was willing to attack her mother would total more than four times the cubic volume of the entire greenery.

No, the flower laden courtyard in a way reflected Equestria. Gay, spirited, and seemingly defenceless; yet its true owners didn't need to threaten or cajole. Their mere presence was enough to evoke the respect, and appropriate wariness, required from rivals. The whole castle emanated that same energy, like ‘fine china owned by a pair of grizzly bears', as a particularly republican-minded school friend of hers once said.

It may have been a tourist trap to some, a gaudy historical tax write off to others, even the holiest of buildings for those few who worshipped her mother as a deity. To Twilight though it had one, and only one, purpose.

It was home.

Author's Note:

Notes are here.

Comments

[FanOfMostEverything]

"-she who ends the night, star queen, lady of light, slayer of the night devil-"
"Hey, that's my aunt!" She snapped.
The Pegasus paused and mumbled something that sounded awfully close to "Orthodox miss" before continuing in his praises to Twilight's mother.

As opposed to the Lunar Reformists, not to be confused with the Cadenzan Reformists. Oh, I can only imagine what kind of havoc Cadence wreaked on the congregation by showing up...

Wonderful bit of scene-setting and world building. Looking forward to seeing where this goes from here, especially seeing how Moondancer gets involved.

[Cross Lament]

Yay, more Twlight Pupper.

[Moproblems Moharmoney]

11528533
Twilight Pupper, Di-light Sparkle, Twiglet Borkel. They all roll off the toungue!

[Cross Lament]

11528534
Darn it, why didn't I think of "Twilight Barkle"? XD

[Lurks-no-More]

Twidoggo is getting more socially adept, and sneaky!

Now, I wonder why she was called to Canterlot...?

[Cerulean Blue]

Always ready for some more Twilight Barkle :)