The Twilight Child

by Detectivefish

The Slow Path

"Mom?"

"Hmm? Wut..?

"Mom."

"Yes, my little filly?"

"Do you... love me?"

"Of course I do. Why would you say that?"

"..."

"What is it, sweetie?"

"The other kids at school. They said..."

"What did they say?"

"They said... they said... they said I'm a failure, because I'm not like you."

"What?"

"They said I'd never be any good, because I don't have-"

*****

Midday screamed. By reflex, she kicked and discovered that she'd fallen out of the bed.

Only it wasn't her bed. It was the spare bed, the spare bed of Twilight Sparkle of twenty-three years ago.

Adding to her horror was the fact that she couldn't remember falling asleep or even how she'd made it back to the library.
She struggled to catch her breath. Just a memory.

"Just a memory" she said between ragged bursts of breath.

She'd been at a party organised by Pinkie to welcome her to Ponyville. She remembered that part, and humiliating Rainbow Dash when the pegasus had tried to prank her. She remembered joking around, and... dancing. Which explained her slightly sore legs. And then she... she must have had something to drink.

"Pinkie..." she groaned. Then she noticed the view from the window. Daylight. It was morning. She got on her somewhat shaky legs, and looked for a clock. She saw the time.

"Breakfast" she muttered. She'd try and find something to eat, then see about leaving.

She wandered down the stairs, and into the kitchen. Spike was polishing a gemstone.

"Morning, Spike" she said.

"Whoa, someone didn't get enough sleep" Spike said, once he looked up.

"Felt like too much on my end." She looked through the cupboards, producing some cereal. She sat down, opened the fridge and brought out some milk.

"So... Rainbow Dash" she said once she'd finished eating.

"I'd be careful if I were you." Spike laughed.

"I did humiliate her a bit, didn't I?" she sighed. Spike nodded.

"Probably going to pay for it in some subtle fashion."

Spike looked a bit concerned. "Rainbow Dash... isn't really subtle."

Midday groaned.

"Spike, I need advice." The dragon stared at her. No-one had ever asked him for advice. Ever.

"Uh, sure. Wh-what do you need?" He said, trying to make himself look taller.

"Is there any way of making peace with Rainbow Dash?"
Spike's hope of being useful instantly went down in flames. He deflated.

"No. I don't think there is."

"Thought not." Midday buried her face in her fore-legs. Spike hesitated.

"Although..." Midday raised her head again, displaying an equally raised eyebrow.

"I'm listening."

"I suppose if you found someone Rainbow Dash likes less, she'd be too focused on them to go after you." He smiled, hopefully, while at the same time trying to think of ways to convince Rainbow Dash to accept an apology. His mind could only imagine Rainbow Dash standing triumphant over Midday's body in a rainstorm, roaring at the heavens.
Midday just looked at Spike.

"Thanks anyway." She sighed. She sloped off of the chair and walked back into the main room. Then she noticed something. There was a faint noise coming from the side room. She walked over to the door and gently opened it.
She smirked at the sight of Twilight, curled up on the floor next to a pile of books and a notepad with numerous equations on it. Midday walked over to the sleeping form of Twilight.

"Someone needs to stop working late." She smirked. She focused, trying to lift Twilight as slowly as possible.

"You're a growing filly who needs her sleep."

Once Twilight was safely placed on her bed, she walked back downstairs. She stood there. She'd been in past-Equestria all of two days and had managed to get into trouble at least four times.

"If I stay here much longer, I'll probably make something blow up." She muttered. Then she looked around the room. Everything looked the same, all the usual things books on the shelves, the lists (including one that was framed), and the comfy chair...

"When did that chair get here?"
She walked into the kitchen.

"Spike?"

"Yeah?"

"Was that comfy chair in here yesterday?" The dragon stared at it.

"I don't think so." She looked down at him and frowned.

"Well, you just... stay here, and I'll... examine it." She walked over to the chair. She sniffed it. She scanned it for magic or curses or possible chaos energies. There was nothing. By all accounts it was a regular chair. She poked it with a hoof. It felt fuzzy. She rotated it, and lifted the cushion.

"Ah."
She found herself staring at three whoopee cushions that had been placed under the cushion, along with a note. She examined it.

"'No-one humiliates Rainbow Dash and lives to tell the tale, ha ha ha'" She turned to look at Spike, who seemed abnormally interested in the floorboards, then back at the note. She'd actually written laughter. The first sign of an unhealthy mind.

"Nice try, Rainbow Dash." She smiled. Now, if it had mentioned upsetting Fluttershy, she'd actually have been worried. She picked the cushions up with her magic and handed them to Spike.

"You just go put those somewhere that impressionable hooves can't reach." Spike nodded and walked off. She stared at the chair. It was a nice looking chair. And where had Rainbow Dash acquired a chair like that in Ponyville after... whenever she'd left the party?

"No, no, I'm just going. Not staying, just going." She wandered over to the bookshelves. In order to get home she'd need to remember what she did. And to do that, she'd need a memory potion, and to make that... she need a book on potion-making. She flipped through the pages.

"Love poison, love potion, love potion antidote, burn heals... Memory potion. There you are." She looked at the needed components.

"Right, let's go get these ingredients." She said.

She rushed over to the door, and gently opened it. She paused. Something smelt off. She focused into her horn. Behind her an outline of a pony formed, then she added color, and eyes, and fur and a tail and a mane and the cutie mark of an eclipse. She privately thanked her tutor for teaching her those illusion generating spells. The duplicate moved out of the front door. Midday's suspicions were confirmed when a bucketful of water fell right through it, followed by a bucket.

"What the-?" Cried Rainbow Dash as her intended prank victim hopped over the empty bucket and ran out of sight.

*****

Three hours later, Midday returned carrying a bag containing the necessary ingredients for her memory spell. Spike and Twilight were waiting.

"Hey Twilight, nice to see you up and about." She smiled.

"Good morning Midday" She said, perusing her way through the book Ditzy Doo had delivered yesterday.

"Hey." She noticed Spike making suspicious glances at the bag.

"What's in there?" He asked.

"Oh, several boring things for a completely meaningless project I decided to undertake just because I could."
Amazingly, Spike believed this.

"Anyway, I'll be in the basement." She smiled.

*****

"Alright, you base ingredients, let's get some chemistry going." She smiled.

She stared at the beakers and varied objects that needed to be mixed, then combined into one potion. She began the mixing process, and waited.

And waited.

And waited.

Fortunately she'd had the foresight to buy a newspaper.

*****

Thirty minutes later, she stared at the small beaker, still bubbling and frothing.

It was a bit regrettable that she had never payed much attention in chemistry. It had never occured to her that she'd need it at the time.

She found herself trembling with anticipation. She could figure out what she'd done wrong, she could learn her mistake and how to correct it. She could go home, and dismiss the insanity of the last two days.

And return to the insanity she'd been trying to get away from. She frowned, and weighed her options.

Perhaps mother would only have her thrown into a dungeon. Or yell at her, then ground her forever.

She lifted the beaker with her magic, though her control of her magical field seemed a bit off.

"Just nerves" She frowned. She lifted the beaker closer, and closer, the strange purple liquid began to move...

"Hey, Midday... what are you doing?" Came Twilight Sparkle's voice. She jumped...

And the entirety of the potion went down her throat.

"But it's Nightmare Night!"

"Sounds like a name from a fairy tale"

"They are beautiful."

"Get evil aunty Lulu!"

"YOU STOLE HIM FROM ME!"

"Oh, I can't kill you. But then, I don't kill ponies. What fun would that be?"

"You are not my daughter. You are a thing. I created you and I shouldn't have"

"I HATE YOU I HATE YOU I HATE YOU!"

"Are you even trying, Miss Twinkle? Perhaps Trixie would be better off teaching donkeys"

"You are not wearing a tuxedo to the Gala!"

"Please don't do this, cousin. We can talk about this."

"No, no, you use their weight against them."

"Don't worry, Twinkle. I'll always be here for you."

"Take me to your leader."

"But that's a poor excuse. I was a coward."

"Why don't I have wings, mom?"

She watched as the almost empty beaker hit the floor and shattered, spreading little droplets of memory potion onto the ground.

She collapsed onto her knees, watching as the liquid evaporated. It hadn't worked.

"It didn't work" she whispered.

She felt like crying until the world flooded, she felt like screaming until she rendered herself deaf. For the briefest of brief moments she considered just making the world burn, and maybe take herself with it.

But she didn't. She was Twilight Twinkle. She was the daughter of Twilight Sparkle, and that meant she would not cry, she would not scream, or get angry or whine and complain about how one little failure.

She would find a way home, or she would make a way home. She would find a way. She would find a way.
And tell Twilight to stop shaking her. It was getting somewhat annoying, and she was already feeling irritated.

"Are you okay?" the purple unicorn asked again. Midday turned to look at the mare, and smiled a very unnerving smile, as she found herself thinking, against her own will, of the last time she'd spoken with her mother.

"I'll be fine. With time."

*****

Dear Princess Celestia

......

My brilliant plan to remember the spell I used failed.

It looks like I'm stuck here, for now.

I'll try and stay out of trouble. But I can't promise anything.

I mean, I've already crushed one pony, and antagonised another.

Yours in good physical health, Midday Eclipse.

P.S: Do you know how to get this time period's Rainbow Dash to accept an apology?

P.P.S: I might need an allowance, just in case...

Comments

[Sidetrack]

I'm surprised at the lack of comments.

[PlaceHolder]

"Nopony holds a grudge like Rainbow Dash" she said.