The Twilight Child

by Detectivefish

Cutie Mark Crusaders Daytrippers!

Shortly after finishing her story about the Crystal Empire, Midday was bombarded by a variety of questions from everypony, including several from Rarity asking if they really did make their cities out of gemstones. For some reason, Rarity seemed to have difficulty grasping the concept, while Twilight just questioned the nature of dark magic, and despite her vast array of strange abilities, she regarded necromancy as 'utter fantasy', to which Midday just smiled slightly. As the Cutie Mark Crusaders left, they started debating over what they'd do to an undead monster if they ever met one, as Rarity gently encouraged them to keep moving. Twilight watched as they left, and looked at her notes, before looking at Midday quizzically.

"That was interesting" Twilight said, calmly organising the notes. "Although it sounds a bit unrealistic. And the witch-king parliment? Where did that come from?"
"That came from Luna." Twilight just made a small noise, which sounded like she didn't believe her.

"Well, from the way you described it, it almost sounded like an eyewitness account." Twilight smiled slightly, "Which is of course impossible, because the only ponies who were there were the Princesses and this... Sombre character."
"Sombra" Midday said, before twirling and doing an odd jig, just to err on the side of caution. Twilight stared at her.

"Precautionary measure" The royal blue unicorn explained, sheepishly.
"That can't have been entirely true, though." Trixie said, "I mean, Princess Celestia doesn't fight. It's a known fact, she prefers subtle mindgames and manoeuvring to brute force attacks."

Midday just shrugged. "It was a thousand years ago. And she does fight sometimes, like when she's angry, or when somepony attacks her subjects. Though I think after a thousand years of peace her skills might have gotten bit... rusty." She said, trying to ignore the look of horror on Twilight Sparkle's face, and wondered whether the mare was about to suggest she be banished or thrown into a dungeon for daring to disparage Princess Celestia. She didn't, but she did glare at Midday before announcing she was going to go collate her notes, and perhaps ask the princess about their accuracy. Midday just shook her head, before remembering something important, that the Wonderbolts performance in Canterlot was in a few days, and that she had those five tickets she'd bought during her Help Rampage. One for herself, one for Rainbow Dash, and the other three for the Cutie Mark Crusaders (She had considered buying only one for Scootaloo, but realised she could have invited the other two fillies, otherwise they'd just have stealthily tagged along anyway.)

*****

The next morning, when Midday made her way into the kitchen for breakfast, she noticed Spike was staring at her.
"What?" She asked. He looked concerned.

"You don't look like you've been sleeping well." He said, calmly. She smiled gently, as she looked around the kitchen for a bowl.
"I'm fine." She said, as reassuringly as she could manage. Spike opened his mouth to say something, then seemingly thought better of it, and just smiled back.

After breakfast, Midday went upstairs to fetch the tickets (and her saddlebags so she didn't have to carry the things about with her magic) and then went outside to find Rainbow Dash. She knew the mare would love to see the Wonderbolts perform, the problem being that she was fairly certain Rainbow Dash wouldn't want to go see the Wonderbolts with her. But, she reminded herself, the whole point of this was to do something nice for Rainbow Dash, after the whole incident with their minds getting swapped by Trixie. She frowned, and wondered why exactly the Wonderbolts performance would sell tickets months before the actual show. That just didn't make sense to her. Maybe Rainbow Dash would know. She walked over to where the weather team usually met, or at least where she presumed they usually met. For all she knew they met up completely by chance every morning. But then she saw a familiar sky-blue pegasus slowing down in midair to land on a cloud.

"Hey, Rainbow Dash!" She called out. For a few seconds nothing happened, then a familiar face stuck out from the edge of the cloud. She looked down at Midday, an annoyed expression on her face.
"Yeah?" She yelled back.

"I need to talk to you."
Rainbow Dash seemed to consider this for a moment, then after a short pause quickly dropped down in front of her.

"What?" she said, studying Midday's face.
"Are you available on Tuesday?" She asked. Rainbow Dash looked momentarily confused by the statement.

"Why?"
"Because, as it turns out I have tickets to the Wonderbolts performance scheduled for said Tuesday." She said, trying not to smile at the look of shock on Rainbow Dash's face, though that was quickly replaced by suspicion and annoyance.

"Really? Why do you have tickets to the Wonderbolts?" The speedster asked.
"Because I bought them, perhaps?" Midday deadpanned. Seeing Rainbow Dash's suspicious look she levitated the tickets out of her bag, showing them to the mare.

"Why are there five?" she asked. Midday shrugged.
"In case you wanted to bring somepony along with you, and they might want to bring their friends?" Rainbow Dash stared blankly at her. Then she seemed to realise what she meant. She didn't look entirely sold on the idea.

"You want to go see the Wonderbolts?" Midday just looked at her.
"Well, if you must know, I figured this was as good an apology for the whole mind-swapping thing as any." Rainbow Dash's face went blank for a few seconds, then she seemed to remember.

"Oh yeah, yeah, that. Right." She coughed slightly. Rainbow Dash eyed the tickets suspiciously, almost as if they'd vanish if she didn't keep looking at them.
"Are these even real?"

Midday blinked. "Yes."
"They look fake."

"They aren't fake."
Rainbow Dash gave a small hum, one that showed she wasn't entirely convinced.

"Scootaloo and her friends?" she said after a while of staring at the ticket. Midday shrugged.
"Also to make up for lying to Scootaloo about being you." Rainbow Dash just nodded, still staring at the ticket.

"Actually, why don't you give Scootaloo her's?" Midday said, giving Rainbow Dash the three smaller ones marked for foals.
"See you Tuesday morning." Midday said, walking away before Rainbow Dash could object. For a moment the mare sat there, staring at the tickets.

"Hey, Rainbow Dash, you helping out or not?" Raindrops yelled from above her.
"Yeah, yeah, keep your shoes on." Rainbow Dash hollered back, her eyes still affixed on the tickets. Wheels began to turn in her mind. She didn't trust Midday Eclipse, but, as Rarity would probably say, this was a good chance to try and figure the mare out. And it wasn't every day somepony offered her a chance to see the Wonderbolts perform, which was strange because she didn't exactly spend all her bits on anything. And there was the chance to hang out with Scootaloo, even if it did run the risk of getting covered in tree-sap. Again.
She stared at the tickets again, just to make sure they weren't fake, or disappear when she stopped looking.

*****

"So, I dunno, should I? I mean, Scootaloo would love it, but I just-" Rainbow Dash's long, and somewhat confused musings were interrupted by a raised hoof from Rarity. She had originally gone to ask the mare her opinion on the tickets, but being Rainbow Dash she proved unable to remain still and silent.

"I am quite aware of your misgivings, Rainbow Dash, but..." She sighed, looking at the chalkboard covered in their speculation of the mysterious royal blue mare, "From all appearances, Midday Eclipse is nothing more than a slightly eccentric young unicorn, who wishes to do something to make up for her rocky start with you, that's all." Rarity decided not to point out that Rainbow Dash was the one who'd taken a counter-prank as a deadly insult, or that Midday had helped institute measures during the incident with Flim and Flam that had allowed Rainbow Dash to get the cider the pegasus always seemed to miss, and that Rainbow Dash had been the one to declare that Prank War of theirs.

"Yeah, I guess." Rainbow Dash slouched, though she looked annoyed. Rarity just smiled and levitated the letter back to her friend.
"Everypony deserves their secrets. And I'm fairly certain young Midday isn't hiding anything of note."
After she left the boutique, and feeling satisfied that the tickets were in fact real, Rainbow Dash went back to her house and placed them where she wouldn't forget them. Then she checked the time and decided to go invite Scootaloo. She found the mare sitting and talking with her friends out in the school-yard, with Cheerilee watching them closely. Of course, she was their teacher and those two had once managed to make an oven explode (Therefore proving they weren't Cutie Mark Crusaders Pastry Chefs, and causing it to rain icing), but there was something new in Cheerilee's expression, something Rainbow Dash couldn't quite analyse. She decided to land without showing off.

"Hey, squirt." She smiled, especially at Scootaloo's usual awed expression at seeing her. At first she'd thought it was just normal hero worship, but she'd been amazed as just how much the little filly idolised her.
"Rainbow Dash!" Scootaloo said, rushing over to her. She didn't hug Rainbow Dash, probably trying not to look like a squealing fanfilly in front of her friends and contemporaries. "What's up?" She asked instead.

"Oh, nothing. I was nearby, thought I'd see how my greatest fan was doing." Rainbow Dash saw the bright smile on Scootaloo's face grow.
"I'm fine." Scootaloo said, her eyes very briefly darting over to Cheerilee, who was scanning the whole playground, though she had noticed the pegasus's arrival, and her gaze kept going back to Rainbow Dash every few seconds. "I mean, I'm cool." Scootaloo amended, trying to sound gruffly nonchalant.

"Good to know." Rainbow Dash said calmly. She leaned in. "Hey, as it just so happens I'm going to go see the Wonderbolts perform in Canterlot on Tuesday, and I was wondering if you wanted to come along."
Scootaloo's eyes went wide, and her jaw hung open for the longest time. "Hold on a minute" she said once she was able to speak again, before walking over to Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle, who were trying very hard to look like they weren't listening. The three fillies huddled together, occasionaly one of them would look up at Rainbow Dash. After a few minutes they un-huddled, and Scootaloo walked back to Rainbow Dash.

"Can Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle come with?" She asked. Rainbow Dash nodded, and Scootaloo actually cheered, before she blushed and smirked. "I mean, 'whatever'."
"See you Tuesday morning. Meet up by the library." She said, before rocketing off into the air, leaving her usual multi-coloured trail behind her. Once she was gone, Scootaloo found herself grinning like a maniac.

"Hanging. Out. With. Rainbow Dash!" She squeaked. Across the yard, Cheerilee suddenly felt greatly concerned. Normally, she wouldn't have, since Scootaloo and her friends were generally well-behaved, but after yesterday's incident with the love poison... Once she started thinking about Big McIntosh again she declared break-time over.

*****

Midday returned to the library and looked around for a book on the Wonderbolts, planning to read it just in case Rainbow Dash started doing something like questioning her about the group, although Midday considered letting Rainbow Dash explain in-depth all knowledge she had of them. The Rainbow Dash of her time had written several books on them, in fact (Which had greatly disappointed ponies looking for a 'tell-all' book revealing the sordid secrets of the Wonderbolts, once they cracked open the books to find Breezy rather liked toboganing, or that Spitfire knew one hundred and twelve seperate jokes about the buttocks, or the occasional remark from Princess Celestia on various historical members of the group) and it stood to reason her younger self could probably talk for days straight about them. Midday carefully put the book back to see Spike and Twilight staring at her.

"What?" She asked. They briefly exchanged glances. Spike nodded at Twilight, who looked up at Midday.
"Well, it's just that... you've been having nightmares, right?" Twilight said. Midday frowned. That was true, she had been having the odd nightmare every few days.

"So what?"
"Are you sure you don't want to talk about it?" Midday frowned at that.

"No, I really don't want to talk about it." She said, calmly, going back to the book on the Wonderbolts, having suddenly changed her mind. "But thank you for the concern."
Spike and Twilight looked at each other, sharing the same expression, but said nothing.

*****

The next day passed without much in the way of incident, though Midday noticed Twilight and Spike had managed to wake before her, and Tuesday came quicker than she'd expected. She quickly gathered some bits, and her ticket, and walked down to the front room of the library.
"And where are you going?" Twilight asked when she saw the saddlebag placed by the door.

"Canterlot." Midday smiled. "Taking Rainbow Dash and the CMC to a Wonderbolts performance."
Twilight just nodded. "Sounds nice. Hope you have a good time."

"Actually" Midday smiled, ignoring the fact that she felt quite sleepy, "I'd settle for a good time. The girls will probably want excitement, and they'll wander off and Rainbow Dash and I will have to go chasing after them." She suddenly had an image of Canterlot in flames, as the Cutie Mark Crusaders stood in the middle of it all holding an ancient leather-bound tome with the most perfectly innocent expressions on their faces.

'That's... highly unlikely to happen' She had to tell herself. Those three were reckless, but even they were unable to cause wanton annihilation with Star Swirl's journal. She hoped.
A familiar rapid set of knocks on the door indicated the arrival of Rainbow Dash, and when Spike opened the door, there was Rainbow Dash, wearing a pair of sunglasses and a shirt designed to look like a Wonderbolt uniform.

"Hey" the pegasus said, calmly. She lowered her sunglasses and looked at Midday. "You ready?"
"Yeah, I am, I guess." She walked outside into the somewhat chilly February air, then noticed something. "The girls not c-"

"CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS DAYTRIP! YAY!"
"There they are." Midday said, as she unsteadily got back onto her hooves. The three fillies were standing by Rainbow Dash, smiling innocently as always. Rainbow Dash was looking at Scootaloo in shock, since the little filly was wearing an imitation (and a pretty good one at that) of a Wonderbolt costume. She even had the goggles, which looked like the ones actual Wonderbolts wore, and those were never cheap to buy.

"Cool costume" Midday said. Scootaloo just looked at her. Rainbow Dash gave a small noise that sounded like an agreement, at which point Scootaloo broke out a truly adorable smile.
"Kinda suits ya." Rainbow Dash said, to which there was a small squeak for the filly. Midday wondered if it was healthy for a filly to smile like that. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle seemed concerned about something.

"Isn't anypony else comin'?" The red-headed mare asked.
"No, just us and Rainbow Dash." Apple Bloom looked concerned.

"Hey, there's no need to worry, Apple Bloom, Rainbow Dash and I are both fully mature and resp-" She frowned in exasperation. The four ponies around her just stared blankly.
"Resp-what?" Asked Sweetie Belle.

"Sorry, mouth shorted out just there. A lie too big" she said, before smiling again. "However, I am... reasonably certain that together Rainbow Dash and I can be responsible enough as makes no difference." Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle just shrugged.
"Less talk, more walk!" Scootaloo yelled, rushing off toward the train station. Rainbow Dash laughed and followed on behind her, followed by the others.

*****

The three fillies had managed to sit still on the train for all of half a minute, which given their usual record was still something. They quickly began talking about all sorts of things, while Midday just sat on her seat and tried to relax.
"You okay?" asked Sweetie Belle. She opened her eyes, not aware she'd even closed them.

"Yeah... Yeah, I'm okay." She smiled, "I think I just didn't get enough sleep." Sweetie Belle seemed to accept this. Across from them, Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash were engaged in a fast-paced conversation on the Wonderbolts. Rainbow Dash looked over to Midday.
"Have you ever seen the Wonderbolts flying?" Rainbow Dash asked. Midday nodded.

"No, not really. My mother knew a few of them, but she wasn't really a show-going sort of pony. I think she was just doing it for a friend, and I happened to get brought along." Rainbow Dash's face was one of barely controlled surprise.
"You've met some of the Wonderbolts? In person?"

"None of the big name ones, and I'm pretty sure they aren't in the business right now." Rainbow Dash made a small noise at that, before grinning slightly.
"Well, you'll be in for one heck of a show, then." She smiled slyly. "But that's cuz the Wonderbolts are always awesome."

Midday hummed slightly, and raised an eyebrow.
"Didn't they try to stop Spike when he... y'know?"

Rainbow Dash looked annoyed and embarrased. "Yeah, well... that was just bad luck. They'd have figured something out." She said defensively. Then she scowled. "Whatever. You'll see."

*****

The train slowly pulled into Canterlot. Canterlot, the throne of the Princesses. Canterlot, the Shining City. The home of artisans and culture famed around the world, and so much beauty. What ways were there to describe such a place that could be achieved in mere words?
It was a big city sitting on a big rock that smelt like cake, filled with snobs.

"Okay" Rainbow Dash declared, on exiting the train. "To the stadium."
Rainbow Dash quickly set off down the streets. Midday shook her head and turned to the CMC.

"This is why you should always now which way you're supposed to be going before you set off." She said calmly, as Rainbow Dash returned trying to look un-flapped.
"I knew which way I was supposed to go. I was just waiting for you guys."

Midday just smiled slightly and walked past her. "Try to keep up then, Rainbow Dash."

*****

They found the stadium largely by following the increasing crowd of ponies, at which point Rainbow Dash began muttering that the 'good seats' would already be taken, to which Midday just nudged her.
"Stop complaining. Does it really matter where we sit?" She asked, to which four ponies yelled 'yes' at once.

"Well maybe if we hurry we can still get them" Midday said. Rainbow Dash nodded, and suddenly threw Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle onto her back.
"So we don't get split up." She explained, before depositing Apple Bloom on Midday's back, to which both mare and filly were annoyed about. However, the crowd was getting incredibly thick, and there were more than a few ponies shoving as they made their way to the gates that let them into the stadium proper.

"Apple Bloom?" Midday asked.
"Yeah?" Came a voice from behind her.

"Can you keep an eye on where Rainbow Dash is, so that we don't lose her?"
"Okay" the filly said, though she didn't sound entirely confident. Slowly they made their way through the line of ponies to where a mare was taking tickets and ushering ponies through.

"Still keeping an eye out for Rainbow, Apple Bloom?"
There was a slight pause from the filly.

"Ah... kinda lost her."
"Oh dear" Midday said calmly. "Well, I suppose she'll be easy to find once we're in the stands. After all, she's not exactly the sort of pony that blends in with a crowd." Apple Bloom made a small noise of agreement, as the mare walked up into the stadium. It was different than she'd been expecting, although she was now aware she wasn't sure what she'd been expecting in the first place.

"Lotta ponies" Apple Bloom commented as she jumped off Midday.
"Did you see where Rainbow Dash has gotten to?"

"Yup." The filly smiled, "She's over there." She pointed a hoof. 'Over there' turned out to be all the way at the bottom of the stands, while they were halfway up.
As the two walked down towards where Rainbow Dash was sitting, Apple Bloom looked quizzical.

"How come you're doing all this, anyhow? Ah thought you an' Rainbow Dash didn't get on."
Midday looked at the youngest member of the Apple family.

"That's because Rainbow Dash seems to think I'm up to something sinister, mainly because of what happened a few months back."
"What happened?" Apple Bloom asked innocently.

"Didn't Scootaloo tell you?" The young filly shook her head.
"Well, Trixie was a bit upset at me for dropping a piano on her head, and stealing her hat, so she used a spell to switch my mind and Rainbow Dash's. Very strange stuff followed, but Twilight was able to switch our minds back, and no harm done, but I figured I owed Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo something, so I figured I take them to a Wonderbolts performance, and then I figured Scootaloo would probably want you and Sweetie Belle to tag along." Something occured to her. "I'd have thought you three would've been grounded after Hearts and Hooves Day."

Apple Bloom's face went red. "We are. Granny Smith said it was alright for me to be with my friends though, and wouldn't let Applejack argue against it. But she said ah'm still in trouble."
Midday just nodded at that as they made their way to Rainbow Dash. Apple Bloom was humming an odd tune. Something about enchantresses, as far as Midday could make out.

"Where the heck did you go?" she laughed. Midday noticed Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle chowing down into a large supply of nachos that had been covered in what she would have defined as an unhealthy amount of cheese. Apple Bloom sat next to them, and then joined in.
The wait for the show to start was quite a while, and eventually Midday joined in with eating the nachos. Rainbow Dash kept alternating between staring at her, and staring at the stadium. From the looks of it, the Wonderbolts were just going to perform some small tricks, rather than a proper race, but Rainbow Dash seemed far from disappointed, though Midday reasoned that was probably because Rainbow Dash knew she could outdo any Wonderbolt for speed, and was therefore more interested in seeing them perform more complicated stunts.

"I wonder what everypony's doing back in Ponyville." Midday said out-loud.
"It's a Tuesday. They'll be doing boring Tuesday stuff." Rainbow Dash muttered between mouthfuls of her own private supply of nachos.

*****

"Okay, that's reports one through thirteen summarised. Good start. ... Good, but not great. SPIKE!"
"Yeah?"
"I'm going to need more parchment."
"Got it."

-----

"Ain't there an end to these darn caterpillers?"
"Nope."
"Figures. That's what ah get for sayin' ah was bored yesterday. Just keep 'em away from the trees"

-----

"Oh, don't worry about him, Angel, he's a perfectly civilised be- oh, yes, more biscuits, sorry. Please stop staring Angel. He can't help being a bear"

-----

"No, Pumpkin Cake, we eat food, not tablecloths"

-----

"Sounds about right." Midday shrugged.
As it turned out, waiting for the Wonderbolts to appear didn't take long. When they flew casually into the stadium, the entire place burst with cheering and stamping, Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo doing their best to be as loud as possible. Midday had to admit she was slightly impressed, especially at the sheer zeal Rainbow Dash was showing. The Wonderbolts did some small warm up exercises, probably for show, and then very quickly began their actual stunts. Those started off slowly as well, performing small barrel rolls or loops, incredible dives and feints, and then they began to speed up, and become almost more dangerous, though Midday presumed that as trained professionals they knew what they were doing. Complicated spirals and curves and several occasions where they raced at each other and swerved away at the absolutele last second. Small sonic booms dotted the area as they went increasingly fast, and it all seemed to turn into a massive blur of strange contrails and sound and then, just like that, it seemed to be over.

Midday was about to make some remark when the audience leapt into full-blown roars. She decided not to say anything until they were outside. Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo were recounting their favourite parts of the show while Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle stuck to just saying which bits they liked and leaving it at that.
"That was... a bit shorter than I expected for the amount I paid" she said. Rainbow Dash looked at her.

"You got a whole ninety minutes of awesome."
"Ninety minutes?" Midday exclaimed, before making a small 'huh'. "Didn't feel like that much."

"Yeah, they never do." Rainbow Dash said, a touch bitterly. Then she looked down to see the Cutie Mark Crusaders staring at them.
"We're hungry. Can we get something to eat?" Apple Bloom said, apparently chosen because she was the best at looking desperately cute.

"Yeah." Midday frowned.
"I figured it would be longer." She said as they walked away from the stadium. As they continued walking, there was a meaningful silence, wherein the three fillies exchanged increasingly confused glances.

"What are we gonna eat?" Sweetie Belle eventually asked.
"Pizza?" Suggested Apple Bloom.

"I wish you hadn't said that." Midday said, solemnly.
"Why? Did you have a bad experience with pizza at some point?" asked Rainbow Dash.

"No, I just can't stop thinking about pizza now."
That seemed to settle the argument. All they had to do was find a good restaurant.

*****

"Admit it, we're lost." Rainbow Dash sighed.
"... We're not lost" Midday insisted, "we just can't find a good pizza place. I'm not lost. I grew up in this city."

"Then why'd you leave?" Sweetie Belle asked, innocently. It was still incredibly alarming to look at the little filly who was so endlessly cheerful and optimistic and remember that she'd grow up to be... what Sweetie Belle grew up to be. It was also slightly heartbreaking.
"Accident, mostly" she said without thinking.

"You left Canterlot because of an accident?" Sweetie Belle tilted her head in confusion.
"What did you do," Scootaloo asked, "blow something up?"

"It's..." Midday paused, and stared at the three fillies. "It's a whole thing. I did mean to come back, but then... things happened, and other things, and staying away from home suddenly seemed like a good idea." She tried to make it sound as boring and dry as possible, so they wouldn't get curious and start asking further questions. Fortunately, a certain pegasus was getting impatient.
"Hey, great speech. Can we go find the food now?" Rainbow Dash snapped. Midday looked about.

"I was sure there was a restaurant near here." She muttered. Rainbow Dash gave out a loud groan.
"You know what? I'm gonna go ask somepony. Just wait here, 'kay?" she said, before flying away. Midday sighed slightly. She probably should have expected the street layouts to change in the last twenty years, now that she gave it some consideration, but considering Canterlot was famous for its wide array of eateries, she'd thought that wouldn't be a problem. But Rainbow Dash and the CMC were very insistent. Pizza, or nothing, they'd said. And then Midday became aware of whispered voices behind her, and knew, with utter assurance, that when she turned around that there would be a noticable abscence of three fillies. She saw Rainbow Dash approaching, and turned around, to see...

A noticable abscence of three fillies. She sighed, and rolled her eyes.
"Okay" Rainbow Dash said as she got close, "I found a place th-... where'd the kids go?"

"Ran off." Midday said, calmly, waiting for Rainbow Dash to yell.
"What? I was only gone five seconds. How could you not keep your eye on them for five seconds?!" Midday just stared calmly at her.

"Because they ran off while my back was turned, and don't worry, I do have a plan to find them."
Rainbow Dash looked at her with suspicion. "This had better be the best plan ever."

"Well, I figure if you head to the castle, that'll head them off."
Rainbow Dash stared as her, as if she expected something more, so Midday rolled her eyes.

"Those three are nearly incapable of getting into trouble. If you head to the castle and wait for a few minutes, they'll probably show up there. Meanwhile, I'll try and track them down."
"Track them down? How? You don't know which way they went. This plan of yours? Kinda sucks."

Midday glowered at Rainbow Dash.
"Look, you just get over to the castle and wait, and if I find them before the guards do, I'll come and get you, okay?"

Rainbow Dash flapped her wings and scowled.
"Look, this way, only one of us is wandering the streets aimlessly for them. And you might be able to spot them from the air as well." She added, as calmly as she could manage.

Rainbow Dash considered this, and seemed to reach a conclusion she liked. Knowing her, the pegasus would probably try and do things her way instead.
"Alright, let's do this then. Before I change my mind..." She sighed, before raising into the air and zooming towards the castle. Midday frowned, and tried to guess as to which way the girls had run. There was the way they'd came, which was unlikely since Scootaloo probably wouldn't go backwards, there were a number of side-alleys, all non-descript, but fortunately Midday saw a dazed-looking pony standing near one of them. She walked over to her.

"Excuse me, odd question, but have you seen three fillies around, one with a bow in her hair, another wearing a Wonderbolts costume?"
The stallion nodded. "Yeah. Nearly stood on them, and I fell over." He grumbled, and raised a hoof, "Went tearing on down that way."

"Thanks" Midday said, before rushing onward. She had this nagging feeling that if she didn't catch up to them quickly, then they'd likely run into somepony important. It was the past, and they were the Cutie Mark Crusaders in Canterlot. Her mind quickly raced through all manner of names. Blueblood, Fancypants, Luna, Celestia, Shining Armor, her grandparents, Discord's statue or... no. She knew who they'd run into. She knew exactly who they'd run into.

Strangely enough, as Midday rushed down the streets (Taking care to avoid running into anypony carrying anything breakable, of which there seemed to be a sudden swell of) she rushed past a small shop where, if she'd noticed, two familiar unicorns were exiting.
"Did you see that?" Nightlight exclaimed.

"Her, again?" Twilight Velvet said. "Curious. What could she be doing?"

*****

The Cutie Mark Crusaders were running. Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom had asked why it was so important they run, but Scootaloo had just said it was. Of course Scootaloo was the one who suggested they slip away, find a pizza place, then go back and tell Rainbow Dash and Miss Eclipse, which was looking to be more and more difficult as they kept running.
"This would be easier if I had my scooter." Scootaloo said when they stopped for breath. It wasn't exactly her fault it broke, it was because of gravity.

"Are you sure you know where you're goin'?" Apple Bloom asked. She was the least out of breath of the three, which didn't mean much considering they were all taking deep breaths. Scootaloo just smiled weakly in response, neither confirming nor denying what Apple Bloom had asked. She seemed to know the layout of the streets, and she'd been in Canterlot during Hearth's Warming, but Apple Bloom couldn't remember if she'd been with her parents. Actually, now that she thought about it, she couldn't remember the last time Scootaloo had spoken about her family. But she was sure she had, at some point. Somepony had to have given her that scooter she kept breaking, and she obviously wasn't homeless.
"Hey, Apple Bloom." Sweetie Belle squeaked, "You alright?"

Apple Bloom blinked at her friend. "Yeah, ah'm alright. Just thinkin' about stuff, 'kay?"
"C'mon, let's keep going." Scootaloo said. The two fillies hesitantly rushed after their friend. As they did, Apple Bloom felt like she was forgetting something important, but it would probably come back to her.

The trio rushed onwards through the streets. Sweetie Belle was about to comment that they were lost, when they turned out onto a larger street, and Scootaloo hit something, with Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom piling into her. Whatever Scootaloo had hit was casting a shadow over them. They looked up, and then when looking up proved insufficient, looked up some more.
"Oh, I'm sorry" gasped whatever it was they'd run into, "I should've been watching where I was going."

*****

Midday was fairly certain she was catching up to them.
'Next time, I'm gonna hit myself before I do this, to remind me to put a tracking spell on them.' She told herself, before memories of her own experience wandering off as a filly came to mind.

'Shut up, subconcious.' She stopped. There were no more ponies looking alarmed or disoriented. She frowned. Sudden visages of being burnt alive by Applejack and Rarity for failing to look after their little siblings for ten minutes came to mind. Then, she was certain that over the usual noise of the city, she heard the sound of three fillies running into each other. She paused, trying to determine the best place the noise had come from, and headed after it. She went down a side alley, which opened onto a wider main street, where she saw three fillies looking up at a pony she instantly recognised.

Several emotions rushed through her. Shock, joy, alarm, concern all danced across her face, as she saw the tall, winged form of one of the greates ponies she'd ever met.
"Aunt Cadance?"

Author's Note:

Not entirely happy with this one, gotta say. Had bad writer's block while writing it, but...
I really wanted to write this chapter, too.
(It would help if I'd ever been to any kind of sporting event, ever.)
Next chapter: A dramatic revelation ... of sorts. And some other revelations, which aren't quite as dramatic.

Comments

[boomikillyou]

a another awesome chapter, great work

[Alex Prior]

"Aunt Cadance?"

She just said that out loud, didn't she.