In any foals life, today was one of the biggest days they would ever have. Even if it was, quite literally, impossible for any foal to remember said day. But for the parents, grandparents, siblings, and the weird uncles, it was one of the biggest occasion since the foal arrived.
Velvet and Night Light had stayed up later than usual last night getting a party ready. All along the walls of the house were banners and decorations that wrapped the house in bright text that all read ‘Happy Birthday!’ Of course, the filly who the party was being held for, Twilight Sparkle, couldn’t read any of it, and she probably didn’t even realize today was for her in the first place. But, if everything went according to plan, Twilight would enjoy her first taste of cake. Which, in Velvet’s opinion, was a huge occasion worthy of it’s own separate party.
It had been one full year since Twilight was born. One full year since the filly had interrupted their normal life in more than one way. With Velvet’s care (and sometimes recklessness,) combined with Night Light’s meticulous planning, the house descended into madness as both of their skills failed in taking care of a Pegasus. They had read books, talked with ponies, and bought toys for a Unicorn. Not a Pegasus.
But they had done it. They had persisted, and with Shining’s help of recruiting his friend Cadence, one of the only Pegasi actually living long-term in Canterlot, and with some tricky orphanage shenanigans, Cadence now took up a semi-temporary and semi-permanent-for-the-foreseeable-future residence in the Velvet and Night Light home.
It was morning, and everypony had woken up early for the big day. Velvet was upstairs, creeping slowly through the hallway in order to not disturb the one year old who should be sleeping in her observatory bedroom.
Now, you see, the important key phrase in that sentence was ‘should.’ And, as Velvet had come to realize with raising Twilight, nothing was a given with the filly. Whether it was violence, escapism, and sometimes cruelty, Twilight always had a way to subvert the mare’s expectations. Twilight wasn’t a crier, and she rarely had ever.
Velvet paused in the hallway, her hoof half-creeping forwards in a step as her ears twitched to a certain… sound. And it was coming from the door leading to Twilight and Cadence’s bedroom. It was muffled, but it sounded like a strange mix between the wings of a bee, and the flapping of sheets in the wind.
Velvet felt a pang of worry go through her chest. She approached the door, a frown of concern evident on her face as she put an ear to the door. The sound was clearer now, the small bee apparent. The other sound, however, was loud and inconsistent, flapping for seconds on end, and then pausing, before resuming once more.
She rested her hoof on the doorknob. She was going to open the door for a moment, poke her head in, make sure the filly was a-okay, and then close the door. That was all she was going to do. So, with out further ado, she clicked the door open, and let it swing on it’s hinges inwards.
Clothes, books, pencils- pretty much everything that any normal pony would store in their bedroom was all across the floor. For a moment, Velvet didn’t see anything. Nothing but the round shape of the glass dome, one small bed with rails and a larger bed, and Cadence falling from somewhere above and landing in the middle of the room, on the rug, with a hearty thump.
“C-Cadence?” Velvet asked. The pink Pegasus snapped her head up from the ground, her eyes going wide upon seeing Velvet.
“No-no-no, close the door-!” She tried to get out. Unfortunately, it was too late, as a tiny purple blur dashed directly above her head at speeds approaching illegal in most jurisdictions. She ducked, although ducking with her reaction time wouldn’t have helped anything if the filly was intent on causing harm. There were sounds as the purple blur thundered down the walls of the hall. Velvet slowly raised her head from her ducking position, looking at Cadence with the exact same wide-eyes she had dawned mere moments before.
“W-Was that…?”
“Yeup.” Cadence shakily stood up. She looked exhausted, her wings trembling and her mane sticking out at random angles. Half of her disheveled appearance may have been from waking up earlier than she intended to, but the other half was probably from the speed demon that was now loose in the household. “I can’t catch her! I’ve been trying for over ten minutes!”
“What’s happening?” Velvet asked, backing out of the room and turning down the hall. There, on the ceiling, was Twilight Sparkle. She was standing on the ceiling like it was an everyday occurrence, looking down at her mother and half-sister with wide and crazy eyes. “H-How is she doing that?”
“Pegasus magic.” Cadence explained, now standing next to Velvet. “I can do that too, most Pegasi can, but only on clouds. She’s going through a magic spurt, and it’s doing some… weird things. I’m trying to grab her to calm her down, but-”
“Don’t worry.” Velvet said with a sly smile, trotting forwards confidentially and shielding Cadence from the speed demon on the ceiling. “I got this!”
Velvet stuck her tongue out in concentration, her horn igniting purple and extending out to the ceiling filly. For half a second, Twilight became illuminated with Velvet’s magic. But Velvet felt her magic slip off of Twilight like she was a dish covered in soap. Twilight giggled, apparently finding her mother’s attempts at arresting her quite funny.
“I-I can’t grab her!” Velvet said, looking up at her horn and tapping it. Velvet wasn’t that old… was she?
“She’s probably full of Pegasus magic.” Cadence said. “She’s become really resistant to Unicorn magic.”
“So, what? Is Twilight on drugs?” Velvet asked in concern.
“I mean… do you consider Unicorn magic a drug?” She asked back. Velvet paused for a second, looking up at the ceiling in thought, and not at Twilight. “Don’t answer that. I’ll get her!” Cadence, without warning, darted from the ground and towards Twilight as fast as she could go. Velvet took a few shaky steps back in surprise.
But, somehow, Twilight seemed to use her new sixth sense, and right before Cadence’s hooves made contact with her, she leapt from the ceiling, dropping down to the floor. Velvet felt her gut clench, and without a second thought, dived forwards, her hooves extended out to grab the falling filly before she hit the ground.
But Twilight, being a Pegasus, simply began buzzing her wing like a bee, giggling wildly as Velvet looked up in distress, and Cadence smashed her muzzle into the door at the end of the hallway. Twilight buzzed away, around the corner, and down the staircase towards the living room.
“Are you okay, Cady?” Velvet stood up and quickly trotted over to Cadence, who was recovering and rubbing her muzzle.
“M’ fine.” She mumbled. “We’re durable, remember?”
“But that was a nasty crash-” Velvet was interrupted by a high pitched girly scream that emitted from somewhere downstairs. Both Velvet and Cadence looked at each other.
“Shining!” They said in sync. At once, they both stood up, barreling over one another to get downstairs.
Downstairs, the situation was unraveling quickly. What was once a beautiful living room with happy birthday banners and party poppers soon became a horrific tornado as Twilight found a new game in flying in large circles, creating a vortex of wind. Tape came peeling off of the walls, leaving the banners to fly around haphazardly and without direction.
“What the hay is happening?” The voice that had screamed was not, in fact, Shining. Instead, it was Night Light, cowering under a plastic table he was in the middle of setting up.
“Twilight’s first magic surge!” Velvet yelled over the sound of rushing wind from her position on the staircase leading down.
“What do we do?” Night Light asked, watching as all of his hard work was deconstructed in a manner of moments, the sounds of rushing winds and the manic laughing of a one year old. “Cadence, do something!”
“I can’t!” She quickly responded. Despite her own objection, she went ahead and made one more attempt anyways, getting into the direct path of the circling filly, and spreading her hooves wide, not too dissimilar from a hoof-ball goalie. If Twilight even noticed Cadence, nopony was exactly sure. Twilight kept flying like Cadence wasn’t even there, piling into her at max speed and sending the pink Pegasus out of flight and onto the ground.
“Are you okay, Cadence?” Velvet asked. Cadence let out a groan that sounded vaguely like a confirmation.
Cadence rolled onto her back, watching the tornado slowly take shape as Twilight just kept laughing, not a care in the world.
“At this rate, there won’t be a house left!” She heard Night Light yell from under the table.
Then, Cadence got an idea. She stood up quickly, galloping towards the front door to the home and coming to a sliding stop.
“I say we let the beast out!” She proposed, a hoof already on the door knob. This came with a confused look from both parents. “Can’t really stop a magic spurt. So, we let Twilight burn herself out!”
“That’s insane!” Night Light shouted.
“She’s going to hurt herself!” Velvet said, ducking as a book came flying off of a shelf and narrowly missed her. “It’s a miracle she hasn’t hurt herself already!”
“I told you a million times, we’re durable!” Cadence said. “Either the house goes, or Twilight does!”
This seemed to make both ponies pause for a moment, looking at each other in silent debate and concern.
“Can you keep up with her?” Night Light asked.
“Of course I can. She’s just a filly, after all.”
“A filly that can make a tornado!” Velvet pointed out. “And you can’t even keep up with her!”
“Yes I can!” She shouted. “She’s just… really good at turning corners!” She let out a grunt. “Screw this!” And then, with Velvet and Night Light’s shouts, she opened the door to the outside world. Twilight paused her tornado and looked towards the now open door.
It was now eight hours later.
The party was in full swing. Unfortunately, due to Twilight’s magic spurt, the entire living room was looking a lot closer to a household in the midst of moving out instead of a party, with the lack of furnishings, photos, or party supplies, all of which had been ruined by the impromptu tornado.
As the ponies inside talked and chatted, three ponies sat out on the front porch. One of which was Twilight Velvet, keeping her mother, now grand-mother, entertained as best she could by offering her undivided attention. Night Light, on the other hoof, was barely paying attention, and instead wondering whether or not he should file a missing pony report for two fillies.
“Where are them two?” The grandma asked, her old baggy and pale skin of eyes squinting around for the appearance of anything at all.
“I’m sure they’ll be here any minute, Mom.” Velvet said with a forced smile, although internally, she was debating the exact same subject as her husband.
“Ah’, sure they’ll be.” The grandma waved a hoof dismissively. “Them Pegasus always bein’ late. Never trust a Pegasus, I says.” She grunted. This made Velvet’s eye twitch unexpectedly, and for Night Light to pause his searching of the skies and twitch his ears backwards.
“If you’re going to start talking about Pegasi-”
“Them Pegasus be trouble-makers, I tell you what.” She held a cane in her hooves, to which she drummed against the floorboards underneath her. “I ain’t calling you a tramp, Twilight, but she a bastard filly, I tell you.” She clicked her cane against the floor once more. “No way in hay a Pegasus was born in this family, no way in deed.” Velvet took a deep breath.
“The doctors were very kind, and they explained it to us-”
“Bah, doctors.” She shook her head angrily. “Them only tell you what you want to hear. They get paid by the crooks. Each and every one of them.” She clicked her teeth together. “If it was me, I jus’ would’ve given up the bastard. Ain’t too late to, neither.”
“Give up?” Night Light had now torn his eyes away from the sky, now staring directly at his mother in law.
“Like that one pink Pegasus, always hanging around here.” She chewed. Night Light’s brow furrowed deeply, and unlike Velvet, he shown his frown prominently on his face. If she noticed, she didn’t pay any attention to it.
“There’s a reason why we don’t invite you to see Twilight very often, Andromeda.”
“No Pegasus gonna be poisoning the well, tell you what.” She hummed. “This family’s been pure for generations. Yours too, Sky Light.”
“Night Light.”
“Whateva.” Andromeda waved her hoof again. Night Light leaned closer to the grandmare, staring her in her baggy and decrepit eyes.
“If you ever tell Twilight anything that you talk to me about, I’ll give you up.”
“For the retirement home.” Velvet finished. Andromeda let out another click of her teeth, turning to face the mare.
“Ah’ don’t see nothing wrong with it. Little bastard filly-”
“Call her bastard one more time-” Night Light paused as there was a very familiar sound. Both of them turned to witness a single pink Pegasus gliding down and onto the pavement out front of the household. She looked weak, her knees shaking as she took a few steps forwards.
“Where’s Twilight?” Velvet asked quickly, beginning to trot down the steps.
“Right here…” Cadence turned to the side, showing a sleeping filly on her back. “Twilight wanted to go to Cloudsdale.”
“Cloudsdale?” Night Light asked as Cadence passed him. “It’s been parked over Manehatten for over a month! That’s… that’s over a hundred miles away!”
“Yeah. I know.” Cadence flexed her wing, groaning as she did so. “I felt it. Every. Single. Mile.” She got to the door, completely ignoring the suspicious glare from Andromeda as she put her hoof on the handle. “I’m going to crash.” She stated simply, and then opening the door.
“Hey! There’s the birthday girl!” A stallion said.
“Hullo, little one!” A mare cooed. Twilight woke up, rubbing her eyes heavily and blinking as she looked around at a room full of Unicorns. Cadence gladly gave up the sleepy filly to Twilight’s aunt, uncle, cousin, whatever. It didn’t really matter to her. What did matter, however, was getting to the comfy sofa in the middle of the living room.
“Hey, Cadence!” The voice of Shining said. “Guys, meet Cadence! She’s like my half-sister, and she’s really cool, and-”
Cadence flopped onto the sofa, and immediately her consciousness faded into black.
Holy moley. That was one doozy of a chapter. Definitely appreciated the work going into the exchanges, characterizations and future chapter set-up. So, Twilight just had her first magic surge, and produced some pretty strong winds and even Cadance had a lot of trouble keeping up with her. And, yeah, That Andromeda gal, yeesh, all that bad mouthing little Twilight just because she was born with wings instead of a horn, in addition to the standard mother-in-law garbage. Definitely don't blame Night Light and Velvet for snapping at her. And, yeah, Andromeda reminding you of one of your actual grandmothers? Also, Cadance's family dropping in during Twilight's birthday was a great touch.
Very much looking forward to more to this.
First great story. I’ve loved ever bit and can’t wait for more.
"Twilight's racist grandmother" wasn't on my list of expectations but here we are I suppose. Although I am starting to see problems on the horizon if Twilight were stay in Canterlot while growing up, it doesn't exactly sound like a place which would have a lot of opportunities open to pegasi.
Bro, yes! Yes! Flippin' yes! I love this AU all ready, I'm going to read this!
I think that Twilight is going to have problems in Canterlot, most likely the other unicorns will end up behaving like their grandmother.
I think Twilight is going to end up leaving Canterlot much sooner than I thought, maybe she's going to be in Cloudsdale when she's a Filly
Boy,Grandma is a jerk! Little Twilight's going to give Rainbow Dash a run for her money!
As much as I would not like to see stories about racism in this work, we have what we have. Unfortunately, some relatives of the young Pegasus consider her "unclean". A difficult life will develop for a small filly in Canterlot. It would be better if this did not result in a family discord between the pegasus filly, which many will consider something wrong, and the unicorn family, which simply cannot do anything about it.
11681967
During the conversation between Twilight's parents and her grandmother, I thought that the latter was just a grouch who didn't like everything. Neither the authorities, whom she called scammers, nor the doctors, whom she considers liars, nor the son-in-law, whose name she does not even consider it necessary to remember.
Unfortunately, this assumption is not entirely true. The way she looked suspiciously at Cadence and the fact that she was ready to consider her own daughter to be whore, just not to recognize the birth of a pegasus in the "pure" genus of unicorns. The word "pure" is taken in quotation marks, because from the first chapter we remember that there were pegasus in both families. It was just a long time ago in the Velvet family.
11682041
WOAH let's slow down there.
This story isn't going to be about racism. There will be moments, sure, and I do plan on a plot point in the future hinging on something involving her being a Pegasus when she should be a Unicorn, sunset shimmer but there isn't going to be any family rifts, and this is still a light hearted story about Pegasus Twilight. Maybe at one point, granny Andromeda will tell Twilight face to face about her let's say 'political beliefs,' but it isn't going to be some huge story moment or anything. No racism from me, thank you.
11682127
It pleases. * sighs with relief*
What’s the difference between a chapter and a mini chapter?
11682569
Dunno, really. If a chapter comes out short, I can blame it on being a mini chapter. That was what the magic surge originally was, I didn’t think it would be over a thousand words so I titled it mini and it came out over two thousand.
I think the big difference between mini chapter and whole chapters is pushing the story, I guess. Honestly not sure.
Love this story so far, really cute! Twilight's antics as a foal so far have been just adorable!
11684152
I haven’t read any of these fanfictions, so I can neither dispute your statement nor agree with it. The closest I can think of is the "Little
ChangesGlimpses" series (don't throw your slippers if I'm wrong). But there, Rainbow Dash became Celestia's adopted daughter not because of her exploit, but because of her contact with time travelers. But I could be wrong, I read it a long time ago.Screw that grandma stick her in a home and be done with it geeze thats going to come back to a head later once twily starts talking
11684222
You have peeked my interest, can you share the story Link??
Should she go to the hospital ?
Wait, what? That doesn't sound like Twilight at all
You have my sympathies.
11681808
11681967
Yeah...as much as I love Pony, they can be infuriatingly far too human at times. Some would happily invite back the Windigos with open hooves rather than make nice with "them durn Peggers and mud ponies."
Oh, and if you weren't aware, Harmony is exclusively for ponies by ponies.
As impulsive as Twilight is as a unicorn, a Pegasi Twilight could be worse. The racism doesn't bother me, if only because with Earth Ponies on both sides of the family and only one Pegasi from way back in the families history, it would be easier to assume cheating than a genetic glitch.
Cadance did a good job. Or at least the best job a 10 year old Pegasi could.