> Cadence's new daughter. > by Storyreader21 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Prologue > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- In the city of Canterlot a young alicorn, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, also known as Cadence, also known as the best babysitter ever, was knocking on the door of young unicorn Twilight Sparkle, and her parents Night Light and Twilight Velvet. "Cadence! I'm so glad you could come on such short notice." Twilight Velvet said as she opened the door. "Me and Night Light really need to get to work." "Of course." Cadence said. "I love foalsitting Twilight. But I thought the two of you had taken off so you could take Twilight to the entrance exam for Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns." "We were."Twilight Velvet said. "But there was an incident at the school, and the entrance exam had to be put off to next week. So we need to get to work so we can take that day off instead." "I'm guessing Twilight doesn't like that." Cadence winced. "It's fine." Twilight Velvet said. "Night Light told her it would give her more time to prepare. She's been reading in her room ever since." "Alright." Cadence said. "I'll go up and let her know I am here." "Thanks again." Twilight Velvet said as she ran out to catch up with Night Light, who had already left for work while Twilight Velvet waited for Cadence, while their oldest son Shining Armor was still on duty as a new member of the Royal Guard. "Your welcome." Cadence called as she entered the house, and went up to Twilight's room, finding her surrounded by every magic book she has, while starting to panic. "Hey Twily." "Cadence!" Twilight called, running up to her. "Sunshine, Sunshine. Ladybugs awake. Clap your hooves and do a little shake." They said as they did their special greeting. "What's wrong, Twily?" Cadence asked. "I was going back over my books to prepare myself," Twilight sniffled, "and I found a passage I missed on a book that said seventy percent of the entrance exams for Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns include the student having to hatch an egg. But I don't know any spells like that, and I can't find one in any of my books. Can you teach me a spell to hatch an egg?" "Sorry." Cadence said. "But I dont know a spell like that. As an Alicorn I was taught by Auntie Celestia herself, so I never went to the school." "Oh." Twilight Sparkle said, looking dejected, which Cadence couldn't stand to see on a pony she cared so much about, especially one so young, and so came up with a way to cheer her up. "But..." Cadence said, getting Twilight's attention. "I do know where we can learn one. But it must be a secret where you were taught the spell." "How come?" Twilight asked, with her head tilted. "Because," Cadence said. "The place is the Royal Archives." "The Royal Archives!" Twilight yelped. "But only royal ponies can go in there!" "Have you forgotten I am a royal pony?" Cadence asked with an amused expression. "Yes." Twilight muttered embarrassed. "It's fine." Cadence chuckled. "I dont like being treated special, so I don't bring it up unless I have too. But it does mean I can teleport directly into the Royal Archives. And as long as I am with you it should be okay. I know Celestia has escorted other ponies into the archives before. But just in case, don't tell anypony you learned the spell from the archives. Just say I taught you. I won't get in trouble for it as long as they don't know I took you in the archives." "I'll keep it secret." Twilight promised. "But why would you do this if you could get in trouble for it?" "Because Twilight. " Cadence said. "I want you to be happy. After all I see you as family. Now before we go, we should figure out what book to look in so we can get through it fast. I think it would be either in a book of farm spells, due to eggs being found on a farm, or in a book of family spells, since it is basically hatching a baby." "Not farm spells." Twilight said, retrieving a book. "I have a book of farm spells right here that says that since most farms are run by earth ponies, most farm spells, are generally repair spells, and things like that." "So a book of family spells it is." Cadence said her horn starting to glow. "Hold on. I'll teleport us there." Then with a bright flash they disappeared, and reappeared in an aisle of the Royal Archives where they could not be seen from the entrance. Twilight shivering at having felt the extremely powerful wards, which only let her through because Cadence was bringing her, before her eyes widened in glee at seeing all the books, but was able to contain herself at a glance from Cadence. Who motioned her to follow with Cadence looking at the shelves, as her horn glowed with a locator spell. A few shelves down, Cadence stopped and pulled out a big book called, "All Family Spells in Equestria." And taking it, and Twilight to an out of the way table near one of the few windows, and cast a privacy spell. "All right. We can talk now. And I am glad I heard Auntie Celestia mention this book before, so I could use a locator spell to find it." Cadence said putting the book down. "Thanks for this." Twilight said opening the book to the Table of Contents. "Ooh, they list the spells in the Table of Contents. Let's see, here it is page 5747, a spell to hatch an egg. Oh..." "What is it?" Cadence asked, seeing Twilight had stopped when she got there. "The other page has a spell to make two ponies actual family as long as they already consider themselves family. And it looks easy enough for me to cast. Can I please cast it. You said you see me as family, and I see you as family, and I would love to be real family." "Let me see the spell." Cadence said before reading it, and looking at Twilight's hopeful smile. "It should be safe. It's been a long time since you surged, and according to this, it is completely safe as long as you don't surge. And it looks like the only visible effect is our manes will gain a stripe in the color of the others mane. Which isn't bad. And I will admit, I would love to be real family to you as well." "Thanks." Twilight said focusing as she cast the spell. Unfortunately that was when the was a Sonic Rainboom, causing Twilight to surge, the magic easily shattering the privacy spell, which normally would have gotten attention, but the Royal Archives were right next to the room with an unhatched baby dragon egg that due to a dragon egg absorbing magic to hatch caused it to hatch, and subsequently grow large enough to command all attention. This left Twilight still surging as Cadence tried to help her, meanwhile the spell she was trying to cast needed more power then she had after the baby dragon drained some of the surge. This was due to the surge changing the spell to one that will still make them family, but in a very different way, that requires a lot more power. Fortunately, Twilight, in her surge instinctively realized she did not have enough power. Unfortunately that caused her to instinctively latch on to another source of power for the extra energy. In this case, she felt three different energy sources. One she recognized as Cadence, and as the target of the spell itself was not viable due to the nature of the spell. One was a burning hot, that was as bright as the sun, which she was about to use when she felt the third, a soothing cool, as powerful as the sun, but brings to mind the night, and moon. Not wanting to get burned, she drained some of this power right through the prison on the moon for Nightmare Moon, luckily the prison was made from the Elements of Harmony, who purified the magic(as well as all excess magic from the air around Nightmare Moon which is what Twilight had sensed) as it was pulled through it, returning it to that of the long lost(and possessed) Princess Luna. Meanwhile Cadence was trying to reach Twilight through the surge when Twilight just turned into gold sparkly energy, and flowed into Cadence's body, stopping the surge. "Twilight." She whispered in shock, only to be even more shocked when she felt something stir in her body, making her look down, and panic when she saw she had become pregnant with Twilight. "Oh no what do I do? Twilight's family will hate me for taking their daughter away." Cadence then looked around and grimaced at seeing the mess that had been made, and that some of the closest sections had been destroyed. "And Celestia will banish me for bringing Twilight here and causing this much destruction to the Royal Archives. And who knows how that will affect Twilight, foals need their moms, and now I'm Twilight's mom. I'll have to hide, before anypony finds out what happened." With that Cadence teleported away with Twilight still in her womb, making sure to remove all traces of her and Twilight's magical signature as she did, making it so no one would know it was them that caused it. The Royal Archives was silent for a few seconds, as Princess Celestia entered the room looking for the source of what had happened, having had to stop to deal with the baby dragon, now returned to his rightful size. Unfortunately Celestia noticed the destruction, and that one of the shelves completely destroyed was where she had hid the only pictures left of her sister Princess Luna before she had been corrupted by Nightmare Moon, after a previous student had almost destroyed them in her quarters during one of the lessons there. Worse the damage was so severe the destroyed items could not be repaired. Losing the last pictures of her sister like that made her furious. Even more when she could not find any evidence of who had done it. The only evidence she did have is that someone had drilled a small hole in the wards on the other end of the archives outside of the destruction, but the surge had muddled the energy in the wards she could not tell who had made it or when, not knowing it had been there for three years, undetected, but helping clear suspicion from Cadence who not only knew how to remove magical signatures having been taught by Celestia herself, but also could go through the wards without needing the hole. "Whoever did this will pay!" Celestia vowed, her mane smoldering, and starting to smoke in her fury as she left. > Birth > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cadence knew she needed help with the birth, and after teleporting to a random town cast a quick spell to change into her favorite disguise, a pegasus named Love Beat, and went to a hospital. Inside she was tested and discovered that she was about to give birth. In the hospital Cadence, still disguised as Love Beat waited until the doctor and the nurse arrived and delivered the baby...the delivery itself was fine. But as soon as it was over the doctor and nurse gasped, causing Cadence to look down and was shocked to see a baby Twilight with two big differences...one her horn looked like it was made out of Magic and Stardust. And two she had a pair of wings sized to her that also looked to be made of Magic and Statdust. "This is amazing!" The doctor gushed. "I have to go tell ponies about a new alicorn birth." With that he ran out of the room, causing the Cadence and the Nurse to pale. The Nurse grabbing a piece of paper in her magic and writing a quick letter. "You need to get out of here and into hiding. Thankfully your body is already healed enough to move." The nurse said, making Cadence glad that even in disguise she is still an alicorn. "But you need to be gone by the time the doctor tells ponies about your child. While it is a miracle, there has also never been a born alicorn before, and this city has a cult that would love to kidnap and experiment on your child. Here is a list of things you will need to know for taking care of a baby. You will need to disguise yourself and her, they will keep looking for someone with your looks. Like most cults they are fanatics, and won't stop." "Thank you." Cadence said as she took the letter, and Twilight into her hooves. As The nurse grabbed another piece of paper. "Wait! You'll need this." The nurse said. "It is a birth certificate. Just have the baby touch it and say her name and it will appear. Then touch it and say your name to appear in the mother spot. The father, or second mother touches it and does the same. You'll need it for things like school in the future, but don't do it here. It would be better if I don't hear you, just in case." "Thank you." Cadence said before leaving. Flying away just as a group of ponies in cloaks came running up, and chased after her. After getting away and to a private place and removed her disguise Cadence thought about a name. "Okay. So I need a name she can use in the future." Cadence thought aloud. "Let's see she wanted to be a student at Princess Celestia's school, and she always brightened my day, but also loved watching the stars at night...I got it! I'll name her Sunny Starscout. Now for me...I cant use Love Beat anymore that cult knows about it. So I need a new disguise. Oh the one I accidentally made the very first time I tried. Even Auntie Celestia doesn't know about that one. Since it has a medical condition that gives it very fluffy wings, which I thought was embarrassing. The one time I used that form until I could change back I used the name Pipp Petals. I'll leave the other space blank for now." Happy at choosing a name, though hoping Twilight remembered her past, but simply not knowing yet due to her age, Cadence set to find a place to stay. Finally deciding to stay at the Castle of the Two Sisters. Celestia had once told her about it, but also that it was abandoned, and that despite it being safe she didn't like going there due to memories. That makes it private, allowing her to raise Twilight, or Sunny until she was old enough to disguise herself so she wouldnt get caught as an alicorn. Plus it was close enough to Ponyville to teleport to, which she could use to get supplies and things. Plus while the Everfree was dangerous, the castle was big enough for Sunny to play without leaving, thus having the Everfree protect them. Upon arriving. Cadence set up a playpen spell in a clean area, and teleported just out of sight of ponyville and applied the disguise to turn herself into Pipp Petals, and got baby supplies, before returning, and set to work cleaning up the castle. Later that evening Cadence had taken a break to feed Twilight when there was a flash of light, revealing the uncorrupted, and much weakened Princess Luna. A FEW MINUTES EARLIER... Nightmare Moon was upset. She was still trapped by the Elements of Harmony, but something had latched on and drained a portion of her power and due to its nature that allowed Luna to fight back. Suddenly she screamed in pain as She was separated from Luna, magic and all, and considering they were the same being, just one side corrupted it was painful. She turned to take her over again, only for the Elements of Harmony to sense the separation, and send Princess Luna back to Equestria, while Nightmare Moon remained trapped, though when Celestia checked after feeling something she just saw Nightmare Moon was trapped and thought they were still the same. And thus returned to hunting for who had caused the incident not giving it another thought, far to invested in the search for the culprit. > First year > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Happy Birthday!" Cadence and Luna said giving a Twiight her first birthday cake of her new life, as she happily ate into it, making a mess, as her ethereal wings and horn glowed brightly. "Hard to believe the first year is over." Cadence said to Luna. "And what a year." Luna said. "So many things have happened." "Like finding you were sent here after being separated from Nightmare Moon." Cadence said. "Yes." Luna said. "And then discovering the drain on Nightmare Moon was from Twilight's spell, making me her father just as you are her mom." "You may be her father, but she calls you momma, just as she calls me mommy." Cadence retorted. "It is why your name is on her birth certificate. Well your name in your Zipp Storm disguise." "True." Luna said remembering how she had come up with the disguise so she would not be discovered by Celestia, too ashamed of her actions that led to allowing the Nightmare to take over., even going so far as too change her coloring. Her eyes then passed over the remains of the elements. "I know alicorns are powerful, and alicorn foals would be a handful, but I wasn't expecting her crying to destroy the dormant form of the elements of harmony to the point that all that remains is the imprint on the floor from their exploding." "Luckily, they had already been drained by Celestia banishing you to the point of uselessness." Cadence said. "Speaking of crying, I'm glad she finally sleeps through the night. Waking up at random times of the night to her crying was not fun." "Especially since we had to put her to sleep in specially warded areas so what happened to the elements doesn't happen again." Luna nodded. "Though it was also annoying when we were busy and didn't notice her sleeping in the day, then she would stay up all night long. And for some reason I can sense her dreams, but not enter them." "Considering she instinctively uses her powers when playing, it is probably her instinctively protecting herself in her dreams." Cadence said. "You did say you once saw a nightmare try to enter her dream, only to be blasted by the shield that stops you from entering and destroyed. At least it just blocks you instead of attacking." "True." Luna sighed. "I just feel like I am failing at being unable to enter her dream. I am the guardian of dreams after all. And it could tell us if she still remembers being Twilight, or if she only remembers being Sunny." "We'll just have to wait." Cadence said. "She's starting to talk now, so we can ask her soon. No matter how worried the answer makes me we need to know." "True." Luna said. "So Pipp, you've got another foalsitting job tomorrow right?" "Yeah." Cadence said. "Granny Smith has to take Applejack and Big Macintosh to the doctors for their check up. Apple Bloom got hers last month while they put it off to help on the farm. So I'm watching her. It's a good thing you have the day off tomorrow so you can watch Sunny. While we learned she can make the wings and horn appear and disappear at will, she is too young to keep them hidden, so I can't watch her as well." "True." Luna sighed. "I still have no idea how I became librarian. All I did was look through the books in the abandoned library for help adjusting to modern Equestria, only for the others ponies to come, me help them, until I somehow became the librarian. Still like your foalsitting jobs, it helps us pay for the food and supplies." "Still even with everything raising her is fun." Cadence said. "Agreed." Luna noted before they rushed to Twilight when she finished the birthday cake and started trying to fly away. > Second year > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Happy birthday." Cadence and Luna told Sunny a year later, giving another birthday cake. As well as a present of two life size realistic but plushy stuffed toys of Cadence and Luna in the Pipp Petals, and Zipp Storm disguises. "Thanks." Twilight said, being old enough for a pony to talk, normally only small words, but Twilight was a lot smarter then most fillies her age, even before being reborn. While Twilight enjoyed the cake from her new spot under the Pipp dolls fluffy wings(which were fluffy enough to be very comfy) with just her head sticking out Luna and Cadence thought about the previous year. It had been an interesting year for sure. Sunny had finally began talking and they discovered that She remembers her previous life as Twilight. Worse, they discovered when Pipp brought a newspaper home in a panic. In the newspaper they discovered that they were finally noticed to have disappeared. In the article it talked about the surge, and listed the damage including mentioning hatching and growing a baby dragon, much to their shock that Twilight had that power during the surge, even before she was an alicorn, and permanently destroying personal items of Princess Celestia that were in the area, though they did not say what the personal items were. Unfortunately the repairs had finally been finished, and they discovered that both Princess Cadence, and the young filly, Twilight Sparkle she was babysitting were missing, with Celstia now being calm enough to hold daycourt again, and have Twilight's parents inform Celestia, when before she was so busy searching for the culprit of the surge that she could not be informed, and now that she has, people believe that whoever caused the surge kidnapped them, and since Cadence was a princess that was an automatic prison sentence. Especially since Princess Celestia asked for anypony that had information to come forward so that the one responsible could be sent to Tartarus. Worse Twilight saw the picture of her parents and recognized them, causing Cadence and Luna to find out that at night Sunny dreams of living Twilight's life, and they had to tell her what happened. Unfortunately that also spelled the doom of Twilight, Cadence, and Luna. Twilight was too scared of going to Tartarus, and thus declared that she is Sunny now and forever. Cadence too took the name Pipp permanently, since she was partly to fault for taking her there in the first place and she didn't want to go to Tartarus either. Luna became Zipp permanently in both camaraderie, and due to seeing it a good way to move on from her past. Of course it wasn't all bad. The Equestrian Royal Guard would be going on random inspections through the towns(but not the Everfree forest, meaning they were safe) to try to catch the one responsible, and in doing so caught the cult who, both knowing how much trouble they were in, and being fanatics cast a mind wipe spell on themselves to prevent any of their information from helping catch any who escape, there weren't any, but it did help hide what happened to Sunny and Love Beat in the village. Sunny also discovered that if she focused she could make her wings and Horn disappear, making her appear to be an ordinary earth pony, unfortunately she is too young to hold the disguise, and thus would just reveal herself at this point. Hopefully soon she would be able to hold the disguise so she could play with other ponies safely. For now though Pipp, and Zipp were anxiously waiting the next year, the Terrible Two's, and while Sunny has the memories of her past life as Twilight, it is only the memories of that age in the life, and thus she still has the mind of someone just entering those Terrible Twos. > Third year > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pipp and Zipp were cleaning up after sunny on her birthday, glad that the terrible twos were over. It had been interesting, with Sunny starting her flying lessons, and crashing into things. She would also throw tantrums dealing lots of damage, since alicorm level tantrums involve alot of power. She also kept trying to sneak into the library for more books with Zipp, who almost always caught, and stopped her since she couldn't keep up the disguise yet. Meanwhile Sunny entered her room, before closing the door and heading to a specific spot on the floor, and pressed it in a specific pattern she discovered by accident, revealing a trap door that Zipp did not know about, that led to a vast hidden cave, though not one with the tree of harmony, which was in a different cave, and had been severely weakened by the destruction of the elements anyway. This cave only had one entrance, the secret trap door, this cave was Celestia's secret hideaway as a filly, though luckily not only was there was no alarms, due to their age at the time meaning she did not think about it, but with everything that had happened since Celestia had forgotten about it. Which was good for Sunny, since Celestia had made a miniature sun on a timer to mimic day and night so she could grow plants, ones that over the years have become as like the everfree, but without any animals, except for one. This animal was a Timberwolf puppy that pounced on Sunny and gave her several licks, having come to enjoy being her pet. This caused Sunny to remember how she got a secret Timberwolf pet, during the only time she had managed to sneak into the Ponyville library. Flashback Sunny was determined to get to the library for BOOKS, but was normally caught by Zipp. But this time she had a plan. Pipp was still asleep, while Zipp was rushing around getting ready to go to the library, leaving Sunny to sneak to her bag to bring with her to the library. It was a big bag, that Zipp used to bring library books back after returning them, and is usually full of books, but due to an emergency the day before was currently empty. Allowing Sunny to hide inside the bag, and since the books are heavier then Sunny, in her rush Zipp didn't even notice the weight as she teleported to the edge of the forest, and in her Zipp disguise ran to her job in the library. While there Zipp, left the bag on the floor while she got the library ready for the day, allowing Sunny to sneak out and hide among the books, using her wings and new flight ability to hide on the very top shelf where you cant see her without a ladder or flying higher then required for the job. Unfortunately she hid a bit too good. While reading the books on the shelf with her she past several hours until she heard Zipp leave, causing Sunny to realize she had missed her ride back home. She quickly put the book she had been reading back in its proper place, not wanting to mess up the books order, before looking around. Not seeing anything that would work, to hide her wings and Horn, she focused and caused them to disappear, before booking it, knowing she only had a few minutes before she lost control, and they returned. She just made it into the forest without being seen, when they reappeared, as she made her way to the castle, glad that Pipp had made sure she one of the spells she can cast is a spell to find the castle just in case, though she can't teleport yet it would get her home. Luckily she had taken to exploring the castle, and it's secrets so she knew she had time to get back without getting caught. She was halfway there when she heard growling as a several eyes appeared in the area around her, before she could get scared she heard a yip, as a Timberwolf puppy fell down in front of her after losing its hold on the tree branch it was standing on, having tried to get the high ground. Twilight recognized it of course, she had just read a book on the needs of creatures of the everfree in the library after all, but she was also still a young child, one whose instincts were quite clear what they thought. "PUPPY!" Sunny said, before sneezing, and releasing a blast of accidental magic that completely and utterly destroyed the Timberwolf it hit, before spreading to the others and doing the same, only the puppy was left of that pack due to being so close to Sunny that the energy passed right over her head, and while there were other packs, the timberwolf was too young to find them, plus was so terrified of being destroyed as well, that she instinctively used her own magic to mark Sunny as her new alpha, making her Sunny's pet. And giving her magic, a look like Sunny's wings and horn. FLASHBACK END Sunny didn't know exactly what had happened, but had felt the Timberwolf pup bind itself to her, and thus she felt responsible for it, and brought it home. Luckily she had found the hidden cave a week before and based on what the book she read said it had everything a Timberwolf needed to survive. The hard part was sneaking her into the cave without Pipp or Zipp noticing. But she did it. > 4 to 5 years old > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sunny was now four and a half years old and was vibrating with excitement. Pipp was bringing her on a foalsitting job now that she could finally hide her wings and horn long enough to go in public. This excited her even more then when she started understanding her Timberwolf, who she had learned was named Hedera. Finally Pipp was ready, and they made their way through the Everfree forest, Pipp deciding that she was old enough to defend herself in emergencies, and this would help her get to school when she starts in a couple years if Pipp and Zipp were too busy to teleport her there, which Twilight was looking forward too, she loves school afterall. "So who are you foalsitting?" Sunny asked Pipp. "A young pony your age named Apple Bloom." Pipp said as they crossed a river with their wings, luckily they were still in the everfree, and so noone saw. "Her family runs Sweet Apple Acres, but she is a bit young for the full days work, so I am foalsitting. I think you will be good friends." "Why do I need friends?" Sunny asked. "I have everyone I need already." "Everypony needs a friend." Pipp said, happy to finally have a chance to change that belief of Sunnies thatnshe kept from her time as Twilight. "Ponies are herd creatures. Living life without others is bad for our health." "Then why did I walk in on you and Zipp sitting on each other's face." Sunny asked confused. "That doesn't seem like friends." "I'll explain Special Friends when your older." Pipp said blushing, not wanting to explain the 69 position to someone so young. Especially not in relation to herself and her marefriend of three months. Even the Alicorn of Love has limits afterall. "Those types of friends are a bit too advance for you. And require alot of prep work that you are too young to start. There are some things your body just can't handle at your age and I don't want you to get hurt trying." "Okay." Sunny said believing if those were advance friends you need to be physically adults to do then if friends are necessary, then she should focus on basic friends. When learning something new you need to start at the basics afterall. Before she could ask about those basics though Pipp put her hoof over Sunny's mouth while looking to the side, where Sunny could see a clearing with a yellow pegasus and a small rabbit. Causing her to quickly hide her wings and horn. "Hello, Fluttershy." Pipp said gently, knowing how shy she was. "What brings you out here?" "Eeep." She said before turning to Pipp and Sunny. "Oh hello Pipp, and who is this?" "This is my daughter Sunny Starscout." Pipp said. "I thought we would take a walk before she comes with me on my foalsitting job." "She's very pretty." Fluttershy said before turning to the rabbit. "This is Angel, he's all alone now, so I came to try to convince him to live with me." "What happened?" Sunny asked, wondering why such a cute rabbit would be alone. "A manticore ate them." Fluttershy said. "Luckily he missed Angel here. But he is still to young to be on his own, so I want to help him." "I didn't think manticore's came this close to the edge of the forest." Pipp said sounding worried. "He must of ran out of food in his normal territory." Fluttershy said before Angel curled up asleep on Fluttershy's back. "I better get this one home. Goodbye" "Goodbye." Pipp and Sunny said. "She seemed nice." Sunny said. "It will be quite difficult to find someone kinder." Pipp said remembering what Zipp told her after she met Fluttershy. "Now come along. We are almost out of the forest. Luckily me and Zipp warded the path so that as long as you are on it you are safe. It was very difficult due to the magic of the Everfree. And only works on the path itself." A few minutes later Pipp and Sunny met up with Granny Smith and Apple Bloom, Big Mac and Applejack already working, and after introductions Granny Smith got to work as well. "Now what?" Sunny asked. "Well..." Pipp said. "I think we could start off with a trip to the park, followed by a snack at Sugarcube Corner, and finally a visit to the library where you can each pick one book for me to read to you." "Yay!" Sunny and Apple Bloom cried, Sunny for the books, and Apple Bloom for the snacks. After playing in the park, with Sunny actually trying after being told having a friend is nescarry for good health, and finding she quite enjoyed Apple Bloom, though Pipp did have to remind her that not everyone likes learning as much as she did, but after Pipp explained that it was okay if they like different things. It makes them unique, and that if everyone was the exact same it would be boring they had fun, and the start of a friendship. They then headed to the library after a snack at Sugarcube Corner, missing the new pony that works there by a few minutes. Apple Bloom was quite shocked when she found out that Sunny called Zipp Momma, and Pipp Mommy, not knowing they were her parents, but accepted it in the end, especially after Zipp revealed that she knew Pipp was bringing them there, and set up an area of the library especially for foals, complete with beanbags to sit on, a fluffy rug, and some child toys. Course Apple Bloom and Sunny were both to engrossed in the books to play with the toys, especially when Pipp used different voices for the different characters in the Daring Doo book(the first one in the series as chosen by Appple Bloom who thought sounded interesting being in the adventure section, and the second as chosen by Sunny after enjoying the first one so much). Afterwards the day came to an end, and after dropping Apple Bloom off they headed home. > Seven years old > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sunny was packing her bag after school when her friends in the class walked up. "Hey Sunny." Apple Bloom said. "You ready for today's crusade?" "Yeah." Scootaloo said. "I just know we're going to get our cutiemarks today." "Sorry girls." Sunny said glad that she had met and befriended them, sure it led to forming the cutiemark crusaders and getting covered in trees alot, but it was fun. "But I need to head home after I finish up here." "How come?" Sweetie Bell asked as the other two groaned. "Momma said she had a suprise for me." Sunny said. "I need to get there to see what it is. Maybe tomorrow." "Alright." The others sighed knowing that Sunny was very good at stopping them from finding out where she lives, so they can't go with her. "See you tomorrow." About ten minutes later, Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Bell were laying down in a flower field near the Everfree Forest, deciding not to do the crusade until Sunny gets back the next day. "So now what do we do?" Sweetie asked. "Don't know." Apple Bloom said. "We can't crusade until Sunny gets back, it wouldn't be right." "True." Scootaloo said before noticing something. "Hey, isn't that Sunny heading into the forest?" "I think so." Apple Bloom said looking. "I thought she had to go home." Sweetie said. "Why is she going in the forest?" "She must have lied to us." Scootaloo said. "Let's follow her, and find out why." The three of them then followed Sunny, who was too excited about the suprise to check to make sure she is not followed. Eventually they came across a river that had several stones placed across it so Sunny could jump across. As they watched Sunny cross they saw her slip on one only to gain wings and a horn made of starlight and magic, and hover back on the rock. "What the!" The others said, a bit too loudly, causing Sunny to hear them, and look back, spotting them following her. "Oh no." Sunny said looking worried. "This was supposed to be a secret. I'm going to be in so much trouble." "You have wings." Scootaloo said. "Working wings, and a horn. Made of magic. How?" "Technically they are made from Magic and Statlight." Sunny said. "I was born with them. Come on. We'll have to talk to mommy and momma. They should be at home." "And where is that?" Scootaloo asked. "You said you were going home, yet came into the forest." "I live in the abandoned castle further in the forest." Sunny said to their suprise. "WHAT!" They yelled. "They followed you didn't they." Zipp said flying down. "Momma!" Sunny said. "What are you doing here?" "I was wondering what had taken you so long, and came looking for you." Zipp said. "Now I think we need to talk." With that she revealed her alicorn form and teleported them all to the castle where they had a long talk. In the end they agreed to keep it secret, and were allowed to stay for Sunny's suprise. A small suprise party for her seventh birthday, which she had forgotten was today. > Nine Years old > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "BOOM!" Pipp and Zipp heard an explosion from underneath them while they were in Sunny's room looking for her and her friends to tell them that after hearing about the crash that killed her parents, and left her in an orphanage far away from her home with damaged wings, they had decided to adopt Scootaloo after making sure she would fit in the family, and it had just gone through. Suddenly a hidden door in the floor popped open from said explosion, causing the two of them to look at each other and head down, eventually seeing all four ponies they were looking for covered in soot near a pile of sticks. "Everypony alright?" Sunny asked. "I am." Scootaloo said. "Me too." Sweetie Bell said. "Ah'm fine." Apple Bloom added. "We're lucky Hedera protected us. Why were we trying to get Explosion cutiemarks again?" "Because we accidentally created a massive explosion a few weeks ago while trying to trying to get Tree Bucking cutiemarks on the edge of the Everfree, and thought making one on purpose would be easier." Sweetie said. "Don't remind me." Scootaloo said. "That explosion got Applejack to investigate and lecture us for three hours after she found us in the Everfree." Pipp and Zipp were about to ask them what was going on when Sunny looked at the pile of sticks. "Hey, Hedera is pulling herself back together." She said, confusing Pipp and Zipp as the others looked at the pile of sticks that were now moving, only to be shocked when it formed a Timberwolf. "Thanks Hedera!" The crusaders said hugging her before Pipp and Zipp could do anything about the Timberwolf, causing them to be surprised. "What is going on?" They asked, causing the crusaders to freeze, and Hedera to get between them protectively. "Hedera back!" Sunny said, getting Hedera to back down. "It's okay. They're my parents." "Explain. Now." Zipp said, causing them to explain. "So let's see if we got this right." Pipp and Zipp said rubbing their heads. "When you were two you snuck to the library in my bag." Zipp said. "Yep." Sunny said. "You then got left behind there because I did not know you were there, and made your way home by hoof." Zipp said. "Yep." Sunny said. "On the way you were ambushed by a Timberwolf pack." Pipp added. "Yep." Sunny said. "And after accidentally permanently destroying all but the youngest by accident you became her alpha." Pipp said. "Yep." "You've been keeping her living in this hidden room that I can sense was created by Celestia you found by accident." Zipp said. "Yep." Suny said before pausing, "Wait this was made by Celestia?" "Yes." Zipp said before continuing. "So you have had a pet Timberwolf calling you Alpha for the last seven years and did not inform us." "Yes." Sunny sighed head down. "And you three..." Pipp said, looking at the others. "When you found out. You kept it a secret, and joined the pack." "Yep." The other three said. "Which in turn gave you all the ability to understand Hedera." Pipp added. "Yep." They all said. "And we only found out because you were trying to use this room to get an explosion cutie mark while avoiding a lecture." Zipp added. "Yes." They sighed. "Well, your getting a lecture anyway." Pipp said. "Apple Bloom, Sweetie Bell I will tell your guardians though I won't say specifics so they can lecture you. Sunny, Scootaloo. You two will get your lecture from Zipp, then go to your room for the rest of the night. And tomorrow you will help us pack up for the move." "Wait." Scootaloo said confused. "I get giving me the lecture yourself due to me living in an orphanage, but I don't have a room here." "Actually we came to tell you that we had decided to adopt you, and it just came through." Zipp said holding up papers. "So you're our daughter, and Sunny's sister now. We got a bit distracted from that. You can either share a room with Sunny, or have your own room next door to hers for tonight." "As for the move." Pipp said. "A condition in the adoption is that we have to move into Ponyville Proper, so the can perform checks to make sure you are happy. So we will be moving into the living spaces in the library Zipp works at. Otherwise we wouldn't be able to adopt you, and yes even with this we still want you both." This caused Scootaloo to tackle hug Pipp and Zipp, with the crusaders, joining in, and after seeing how Hedera wanted to join in, Pipp and Zipp sighed and called her into the hug as well. > Thousandth Sun Celebration > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- It had been a year since they moved into Ponyville. Sunny and Scootaloo loved being family, and while Hedera had caused panic at first. Once they proved that Sunny had it tamed, they slowly accepted it. Plus finding out that Pipp, Zipp, and Sunny used to live in the Everfree, caused them to give Zecora a chance as well. Now however, it was about to be the thousandth sun celebration, and Pipp and Zipp, had hid Sunny, Scootaloo, Apple Bloom, and Sweetie Bell in the basement of the Golden Oaks Library, and magically sealed the room to prevent them from getting caught by Nightmare Moon, who had broken free. Everyone had felt Celestia's power surge as she fought Nightmare Moon, however she was out of practice fighting and had fallen, now trapped within the sun itself. Now Pipp and Zipp were back in their Cadence and Luna forms, and were now fighting her themselves at the castle, they used to call home. Of course, all four of the crusaders wanted to help. And weren't going to let a little thing like a magical barrier stop them. They had left a stockpile of things to help fight Nightmare Moon hidden in the Castle Library. On top of that, Sunny had recently discovered she was the Alicorn of Lore, and while they were experimenting the crusaders found Sunny could open a gateway to any library. She really liked that, and had only recently discovered it, so Pipp and Zipp did not know, it is also why they moved their stash from the old hideout, to the library. So with a bit of focus Sunny summoned what looked like a giant book, labeled The Book of Lore that became a portal at Sunny's command. Said portal closed after All four crusaders, plus Hedera went through. And in the castle library they came out of the book, as it disappeared again. The crusaders then grabbed their supplies, and with a quick cheer of "CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS NIGHTMARE SLAYER, YAY!" They made their way to the main room with the fight. Inside Cadence was playing defense while Luna was offense, sending blast after blast after Nightmare Moon, who retaliated, having drained Celestia of her magic and added it to her own, during their fight by using her anger against her. Luckily love magic was best at defense, and Cadence had been practicing after finding out about Nightmare Moon, just in case. Something that became even more important after she started dating Luna, especially when they got married six months before as Pipp and Zipp, with Scootaloo as ring bearer, and Sunny, Apple Bloom, and Sweetie Bell as flower fillies. She refused to let her wife fight the Nightmare alone. They were so focused on each other, that they didn't even notice the crusaders entering the room, and setting up the supplies for a humiliating defeat. Something Nightmare Moon was going to regret. Once Nightmare was in position Hedera let loose a long howl calling all three of the fighters attention to where she was standing alone. "What is a Timberwolf doing here?" Nightmare asked herself. "I didn't call one." Suddenly Nightmare was hit on the head by a glass bottle thrown by Scootaloo that when it broke caused an explosion that knocked her into a wall, and destroyed her fur. She then fell belly first on top of an animal trap that clamped onto her body, causing her to scream in pain only for a pie to hit her, getting on her tongue, where she found it was made by Sweetie Bell, who was a horrible cook, and she gagged in disgust at the taste before glaring at where it came from to see a small catapult firing a bag with an anti scent spell on it that also landed on her face and broke, making her wish for the pie back, when she discovered it was a bag of extra strength manure from Apple Bloom's farm, and got both in her mouth, and all over her face and body. This caused her to tear up, and gag as part of the frabic of the bag was caught between her teeth, and stuck keeping the manure that made it in her mouth in her mouth. Just in time for a bright glow to shine from the side, causing her to turn to it, in case it was something worse, since it had been steadily getting worse, only to see Sunny wings and horn out as she floated at head height, and firing a beam of concentrated light magic, she had been collecting while the others distracted her. After all if Nightmare Moon is made of dark magic then she should be week to light magic, of course she was expecting the extra strength manure to keep her occupied long enough for her spell to hit, so she wasn't expecting, Nightmare Moon to turn to face the beam, and go through her gagging mouth, and force both the fabric, the extra strength manure, and the beam of concentrated light magic down the Nightmares throat. It still worked though, as the magic began seeping out of her before she quite literally exploded. Just a few scraps of magic, and a pile of charred, and very stinky, manure remained, that Cadence and Luna quickly dealt with after recovering from their shock. They then decided to leave after Luna sensed Celestia on her way, having been freed when the Nightmare was destroyed. So after returning to the Golden Oaks Library, once more as Pipp and Zipp they decided to give the crusaders a lecture about not fighting ancient evil beings without training...the crusaders were still bummed about not getting their Cutie Mark's though.