6 - The Namesake
Chapter 6 - The Namesake
Sparkle never knew how or why she received her Destiny Glyph. All she could gather was that she received it sometime after the rainbow shockwave struck her through the tiny hole into the sky.
She did not remember what happened immediately afterwards, but time had passed she recalled being carried on the strong back of her older brother. She wasn't sure if he was talking to her, and if he did, she could not understand him through all the pounding noise of sine waves and low rumbles. During that time, Trixie had galloped along his side facing Sparkle with a deathly-frightened look on her face. She must be the one who ran for Shining Armor's help.
Nopony spoke of that event, and it was likely Trixie and Shining Armor advised everypony not to tell Sparkle about it. Sparkle later learned that an earthquake had occurred during that day when she took Trixie to see the pillar of light leading to the open sky. She had a deep feeling that she was the cause, and yet nopony wanted to put such blame on such a young filly, especially since she was the Chieftain's daughter.
Since that time, Shining Armor began acting distant towards his own sister, and it was not long after when he suddenly left the village.
Now that she remembered, Sparkle remembered her mother sealing herself up in her room and crying away. Not too long after that, Velvet began the harsh training upon her daughter, just as she did upon her departed son when Night Light had left her.
Today though, Sparkle woke up on a cot in her secret cave. Her eyes regained focus, and turning her head, she saw Applejack tying up saddlebags filled possibly with fresh supplies such as food, a medical kit, and other tools for survival. She was naked this time and without her hat, which sat on top of her folded duster coat on a nearby metal table Sparkle had assembled long ago.
"Sugarcube?" Applejack asked. "You awake?"
"Ungh, yeah," replied the unicorn. "Why am I here?"
"Your ma regained consciousness after you got knocked out 'cause of your own injuries. Then she ordered me to take care of you. None of the other unicorns wanted to help me take care of you, and seein' as they're still bitter about me leadin' the Clones here, I figured I’d retrace my steps back here."
"How long was I out?"
"A few days. Good thing that Minuette gal is the only unicorn I could still talk to and get food and supplies from, but I figured she was more concerned for your well-bein' than mine."
"So I won?"
"You must've had one lucky last shot against Velvet."
"Or all that training finally paid off."
"Well, since you're awake, I can tell your unicorn folks that they can begin that Inheritance Ceremony thing. Otherwise, they'll think I've run off with you."
"Ceremony? Why am I attending an Inheritance Ceremony?"
"Don't know sugarcube 'cause I ain't accustomed to unicorn tradition. But your ma is quite gung-ho in makin' sure it takes place as soon as you came to. I tried tellin' her that you still need rest, but she didn't wanna hear it. I tell you, this is one mother I would not piss off."
"It's just like her," Sparkle grumbled.
"At least you have a mother."
Applejack threw on herself her duster coat and her hat, and covered her Element of Truth necklace with a blue bandana. With Applejack trotting off, Sparkle could finally breath a sigh of relief. It was one thing for Applejack to be embarrassed about her nudity, but then she would turn around and parade exposed flank so much that Sparkle became the one embarrassed. For a mare, Applejack had a handsome build, but several scars seen in various parts of her body confirmed the harsh life she had thus far.
Three apples. That was her Destiny Glyph, Nature's Call as the Earthians referred to as such.
Sparkle barely got back on her hooves when Applejack, Velvet, and the unicorn entourage arrived.
"Nopony help her," Velvet said, motioning her eyes towards Applejack. "It would be unbecoming of the Inheritor to require assistance walking for her ceremony."
I can't believe you. I'm still very sore.
Then again, Velvet was likely sore as well, but the way she poised herself appeared as if the magic duel had not taken place. Still, the lingering resentment within Sparkle gave her strength to advance towards her mother and follow her and the entourage back to the ruined village of Unicornia.
Most of the temple had been spared from the attack, though there was now a large hole in the northeast corner of the ceiling. The damaged structure did not prevent any unicorns from filling the hall.
Sparkle had no reason to attend her own Inheritance Ceremony, and she figured her own mother wanted to send her daughter off as soon as possible, but not without going through the ritual traditions of anointing marehood. It wasn't like she couldn't just run away with Applejack. As strange as it appeared, the earth pony seemed like she was following Velvet's orders to the letter, but not necessarily for the Chieftain's sake.
So Sparkle, still sore from the duel, sat off to the side while her mother orated her speech.
"Many days ago, a terrible tragedy befell upon our fair village. We have lost many lives, but wherever the blame may lie, there will be no bringing back the dead.
"However, there is a greater tragedy than that of another invasion of the Earthians, and that is the Elements of Creation. In the right hooves, the Elements of Creation possess the ability to rid the world of evil and allow us to resurface once more. But in the wrong hooves, the Elements of Creation are capable of destroying the world, which will finally wipe out all unicorns.
"Whether we remain in hiding for another decade or a millennia, the appearance of the Element of Truth has been prophesied by the great Starswirl, and we must take action that prophecy will not result in our ultimate end.
"Thus it is in my great honor and duty, that I, Twilight Velvet, bequeath upon Dame Sparkle, the namesake of our greatest ancestor. Henceforth, you shall be named from hereon Twilight Sparkle."
The entire audience gasped, and the temple erupted in murmurs. Sparkle was just as surprised. Nopony ever bequeathed the name Twilight to just anypony light-heartedly. It wasn't just a name, but the title and a living representation of the most powerful unicorn in unicorn history, far surpassing that of Starswirl the Bearded and Clover the Clever combined. Amongst the whispers in the audience was that Velvet had finally gone mad after all the losses of her ponies, and they had even said that her insanity finally came in full swing after the disappearance of Night Light and Shining Armor.
"The Inheritance Ceremony is now over. Please return to your homes."
"Mother," whispered Sparkle. "Are you sure you want to give me that name?"
"I have been meaning to give you that name for quite some time."
"Then that means the Prophecy..."
"It means that there is a one in two chance the world will be destroyed. Earthian..."
"It's Applejack," replied the orange mare.
"Are your things ready?"
"Ready as a coiled rattlesnake."
"Of course. Twilight Sparkle, you must leave immediately with Applejack and give meaning to your Destiny Glyph. I don't ever want to see you here ever again."
"That's it? You're just going to order me to leave? There are no hugs? No tears? Nothing?"
"If I ever show any compassion for you, it will cause others to question my leadership over what remains of my village. Did you not admit that it was you who brought the Earthian to our side of the Chasm and caused the Clones to kill many unicorns, foals and all? I barely manage to convince everypony else to spare you as long as you leave this village along with the Earthian. Be warned: if you ever attempt to come back, I will not hesitate to drown you in the waters of the Chasm. The same will go for Night Light and Shining Armor should they dare return after all these years."
"I can't believe you would say such a thing. We're your family!"
"I cannot put personal attachments before the village."
"I can't believe what I'm hearing. An Inheritance Ceremony is supposed to be the happiest moment of a pony's life, but you just don't care, do you? You never cared for us! Father, brother, and now me. No, you're not my mother. My mother died a long time ago!"
The tears finally burst from her eyes, and Sparkle sent herself running and wailing. Her hooves took her through the cavern mazes and straight into her secret cave where she angrily packed whatever she needed into her own saddlebags.
"Whoa there sugarcube!" cried Applejack as she arrived right behind her. "Don't run too far! We gotta keep close together or you'll accidentally knock yourself out."
"Hurry up and pack," said Sparkle. "There's nothing left for me here anymore. First my father, my brother, my best friend, and now my mother. They're all gone."
"But your mother..."
"She's not my mother!"
Applejack threw a firm hoof-slap across Sparkle's snout.
"Get a hold of yourself! Sure she said some mean words, but I know she has a reason to do so."
"She has never acted like a mother! Ever since my father disappeared, she put my brother through nothing but pain and misery! It's no wonder he left!"
"At least Miss Velvet giving you her approval to leave! You have to think of it this way sugarcube. In her own way, she loves you, but she is right that she has to take care of the village. But she can't do that while you're causin' trouble and bringin' strange mares home. She knows that you're one of the most powerful unicorns she has ever seen, and I can attest to that."
"I nearly killed you."
"No. I saved you, and you saved me twice. And you saved your village. That's reason enough for Velvet to give you the title Twilight and for you to leave so you can stop the Clones from exterminatin' more unicorns in the future. What we faced was just the first wave. They will be back, but if we stir up some trouble in the surface, they're gonna think we're the ones who did it. We've been givin' an important mission to save the world, and we gotta fulfill it."
"Did my mother order you to do that?"
"Nah, I'm jus' makin' up as I go along, but I'm prayin' that Velvet and I see eye-to-eye. Say, didn't you just say we gotta hurry up and leave?"
"Thank you Applejack."
"Huh? For what?"
"I know we just met, but with Trixie gone, the only other pony I could now rely on... is you."
"Whoa, don't get all too sappy. Just remember, I'm a wanted criminal."
"And I'm a unicorn who's supposed to be extinct."
Sparkle's tears finally dried and she shared a light chuckle with Applejack. She still hated her mother, but at least she was not here to ruin this tender moment or obstruct her journey.
The two mares did not pack heavy, and they loaded their saddlebags onto the bed of the hover truck Applejack had managed to fix up to full capacity. Somberly, Sparkle took one last look at her secret cave of overworld treasures. She still remembered the joy of fishing out her trinkets from the murky waters of the Chasm, with each one eliciting exciting speculation on which tool and device did what and how it would improve pony life. This would be the last time she would ever see it, and even as she sealed it with a rock face, she would not mind if some other pony, hopefully one from her village, would discover and make use of her treasures.
This was nothing compared to the real treasures of above. With a dark cloak thrown over her body, Sparkle joined Applejack in the passenger seat as the hover truck roared to life. Navigating through the winding tunnels, they soon emerged into the Great Chasm, and to their surprise, every unicorn from the village stood on the many protruding ledges to wave a stoic goodbye to one of their own. Sparkle looked left and right, but she did not see her mother.
"She's out there watching you," said Applejack. "That's the honest truth."
Sparkle snorted, but then again, it was best. She had too many seething feelings about her mother, and she didn't want to ruin the joyous departure as she finally crossed the other side.
“Hey, Applejack.”
“Yeah.”
“Call me Twilight from now on.”
“Sure thing, sugarcube.”
“No, it’s not 'sugarcube', it's Twi--oh, never mind.”
"Move along!" cried Velvet as she emerged from behind the crowds. "There is much work to be done in our relocation. More Clone Soldiers will come by to patrol the area, so we must dig deeper than ever before."
She lingered behind as the other unicorns went back into the caves, leaving only her and Minuette on one ledge of the Chasm.
"You heard me," said Velvet.
"Chieftain," said Minuette. "If I may voice my opinion, you let Twilight Sparkle off easy. I may not be as good as her or Trixie, but I can tell you were holding back just enough to let your daughter win."
"Whatever do you mean? I lost my eye in the battle against the Earthian Clones, and because of that, Twilight Sparkle demonstrated a clear advantage over me. Now Minuette, as you are now the 1st Magisister of our clan, please set a better example and not dawdle here any longer."
"Yes Chieftain."
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2003506
It could be that Starcross7 is choosing to come back to it in a later chapter. Actually, it was pretty clever if you think about it: making the readers curious about it and hooking their attention, making them want to see what happened during the duel to the point that they would follow this story through to the end to find out.
As for this story, I am really liking this so far myself. However, you might need to double-check your work to get rid of a few errors. Other than that, I'm tracking and liking your story, then I will wait for many more chapters to come! Keep up the great job!
2006232
I agree
Keep going with the story, its very good!
I like what I'm seeing so far, you definitely have an interesting idea for a story and plenty of room to work with. There are however, a few mistakes that take away from the story. Grammar and spelling is okay but it's clear at times that you use Spell Check rather than having someone reading it. As cheesy as it is to use puns, words like "boy" aren't in the pony dictionary, I wont pretend to be an expert on this but it can sometimes throw off the reader. It also occurred to me that Twilight knows a little bit too much about how things work just from scavenging what she finds at the bottom of a hole, I don't know about you but I don't think that someone who has spent their entire life in a cave would know what a motherboard is, let alone how to set up a computer. The other two issues are the world lore so far and the duel. So far we can tell that earth ponies have trucks that can run on "fuel cells", basic airplanes, gas masks, guns, computers, and apparently fusion grenades. Now I hate to be a stickler about this but it seems like they would be able to make something better than a propeller planes if they were able to make complex electronics and create a miniature fusion device. The issues with the duel have already been addressed so I don't really think I need to go into that, other than that I feel like you have a very good idea for a story here. I look forward to seeing where you take this!
2003506
2006232
The duel != The story.
Thninking about it, I actually prefer it this way.
The flow of the story is maintained much better without detailing a minor side development. Yes, yes, she is battling her own mother.... I know.... character development & all that. But let's face it - we know the eventual, major outcome will be Sparkle winning.
When I read of the duel at the end of the previous chapter, I assumed it would consume half or most of the next chapter. I had an obliging feel about reading it. The duel wasn't actually important, so I wouldn't be looking for a blow-by-blow account (unlike Spike vs Dragon of the Everfree Forest in "It Takes a Village")**. I wanted to read through it as efficiently as possible so I could get back to the actual story.
So well done on a brave call there. I knew there would be a few moanings, but whatever your specific reasons I think this chapter worked a charm!
** ((It's not considered bad form to reference another writer's fic even with legitimate reason, is it?))
Interesting, that raises some major questions regarding who the original Twilight was. I suppose it could just be a casual pre-G4 reference, but that seems pretty unlikely.
I`m really enjoying this story, but I really don`t want Twi to mend her relationship with her mother, or forgive her. Her mother was borderline abusive and I have no amount of sympathy for her.
The story is getting good but you shouldn't have left out the magic duel. I mean what's up with that!?
For some reason, I was bummed we didn't get to see the duel, but you really made it work without it. Actually, having finished the chapter, I'm actually glad you kept the details vague. It worked better for that ending moment
I think this story really needs more explanation of the prophecy and what happened when the tribes clashed and unicorns went underground. Because I'm a bit lost. What is this prophecy?
I think It was a good, idea to leave out what happened in the duel.
where are celestia and luna?
... The fuck? What is happening? Did a chapter get mislabeled or something? Where is the training? The duel? You can't just fucking skip something like that without warning. That makes no damned sense. If you are going to time-skip, you have to show it.
The cut of the duel really threw me off. Seems like an important scene. Also, the dialogue seems a bit forced. Not sure how to fix that, since I'm not all that great at dialogue either, but I'd thought I'd point it out.
I've been reading so far, and as a struggling and new author myself, without a single story to my name, I have to admire how you're continuing this story until you finish it.
As many others have said, and complained, the cut of the duel was rather shocking. You seem to have the skill to write out a magical duel, with the adventuresome tone you're setting. Why did you cut it out? Doing so left the readers in a state of confusion at the beginning of the chapter, since last we saw our beloved main cast, they were preparing for the duel. However, like others have said, you managed to make it work- but I still feel a little disappointed I didn't get to see it.
>just skipping the epic battle between sparkle and chief velvet
