> If Twilight Was a Pegasus
>  by Cxcd
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> 01 - The Beginning
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Night Light had developed a little bit of a reputation in his own few circles.
To be perfectly clear, and so the crowd in the back hears it, too, he wasn’t always late to everything. He got up at the right time, showed up to work on time, did his work on time, and left on time. Nine times out of ten, he was always on time, and no pony would bat an eye.
The problem being, of course, was the one time out of ten. And for some reason, that one times out of ten was always the worst possible time to be late.
Take, for instance, picking up his young colt from school. That is probably something he shouldn’t be late for, and something he also didn’t want to deal with when he finally arrived to pick him up. A crying colt, a peeved off teacher, and a recommendation home to the wife to have somepony else pick up little Shining Armor.
As he burst through the front doors of the Canterlot General Hospital, the nurse maring the front desk spit the coffee she was drinking right back into the cup in surprise. This time, it wasn’t his fault. Genuinely, honestly, truly not his fault for being late for his newborn’s delivery. There was a quick exchange of words between him and the nurse, and a moment later he was shuttling down the hospital halls at neck-breaking pace. If his wife’s co-worker had immediately told him she had gone into labor, he would’ve been right besides her the entire time. One fiery shouting match later, a stallion galloping across two miles of streets, three flights of stairs, and twenty-four hospital doors later, he burst into the operating room.
Or, what he thought was the operating room.
“Daddy!”
He was stopped dead in his tracks by a white-coated Unicorn colt who jumped down from the bed, wrapping his hooves around his dad’s. Night Light bent down, still panting heavily from running for so long, and wrapped him in a hug, too.
“Hey, buddy!” He panted. He looked up at the room. There were no doctors, there were no nurses, and there was no crying. Instead, just his wife in a hospital bed. The delivery was already done. And he had missed it.
His wife, Twilight Velvet, gave him a glare from her position on the bed, adjusting a bundle of blankets in her hooves. His heart rate picked even quicker than it already was as the realization dawned on him that the bundle of blankets held his new foal.
“It was sooo scary!” Shining Armor said, breaking from the hug and bouncing on the spot. “The princ-uh-pal called me to the office, and then he said my sib-il-ling was on the way! I was so excited that I ran straight here! And then the nurses wouldn’t let me see Mommy, so this one really nice nurse let me play with toys in the play room, and then I got to see Twilight!”
There was a moment of silence as Night Light chewed through what he said, eventually letting out a quiet whinny.
“Twilight, huh?” He asked. Shining nodded. “And I don’t assume you mean Mom, right?” Shining nodded again, bouncing with excitement. Night Light smiled softly, looking at the fatigued Velvet on the bed. “Twilight was what we were gonna name her if the foal… was… a filly.” His smile grew wider. “A… filly? Our foal is a filly?”
“Shiny, could you wait out in the hall for a moment?” Velvet asked, her eyes deep with fatigue and her voice laced with sleep.
“Sure!” Shining said, completely unaware of the situation unfolding around him. “I’m gonna go play with the building blocks!” He bounced out of the room, latching the door shut behind him.
And then there were two. Or- rather, two adults and a sleeping filly. Night Light had managed to get his breathing back down to a normal level, but still felt his heart rate stay at an all time high. Especially as his wife was giving him the stare-down of a century no less than six feet away from him. But all she had to ask was a simple question, and the whole thing would be cleared up in absolutely no time at all.
“Where were you?” She croaked out. Night Light smiled fakely, trotting to the edge of the bed and sitting down in a visitor’s chair. Velvet made sure he couldn’t see Twilight by adjusting the bundle in such a way that obstructed his vision.
“Well…” Night Light said as he got comfortable in his chair. “Would you believe me if I said it wasn’t my fault?”
“No.” She responded back without hesitation.
“I promise you, it really wasn’t my fault this time!”
“You were late to your daughter’s birth!” She scoffed angrily. “Imagine telling little Twilight that at her birthday’s! ‘Oh, you’d never believe it, but your father was late! To your birth!’”
“Do you remember the mare you asked to… alert me that you were going into labor?” He asked. Velvet put on a side-long suspicious glance, but didn’t say anything other than a small nod of acknowledgment. “Well… after you left, she was supposed to come to my work and tell me. But she went out for a snack, instead.” Velvet let out a gasp, letting the bundle of blankets momentarily relax for half a second. In that half second, Night Light saw a small glimpse of the filly. Not enough to make out detail, but enough to see her fur was the color purple.
“She didn’t!” Velvet’s jaw dropped, and quite quickly, she wiped it clean with a bemused smile. “I’m going to kill her.”
“I’m not done yet.” Night Light held up a hoof. “Once she actually got to the castle, she didn’t just come tell me- No ma’am! She went and flirted with the guard!”
“Oh my-”
“Until she got kicked out!” Night Light chuckled, fighting the urge to laugh loudly in fear of waking the small filly. “The two were so lovey-dovey over each other, they talked for two hours straight!”
“She didn’t tell you for two more hours?” Velvet’s jaw re-opened, this time wider than before and even closer to the ground. “I am… going to kill her. Actually. I am actually going to kill her.” She sighed. “Alright. I guess it wasn’t technically your fault. But you’re still late, and that makes me… more sad than mad, really.” She pouted.
“Oh, come on, Twily!” He begged. “Or- wait- are you still Twily, or is… Twilight now Twily?”
“I knew naming her after me and my mom was a bad idea.” She said.
“Well- can I see Twily, now?” He begged again, this time leaning forwards and pouting even more aggressively than before.
“I don’t know… have you earned my forgiveness, mister Light?” She said wistfully, like an actress, despite looking disheveled, smelling sweaty, and sounding incredibly fatigued.
“I’ll make you peanut butter and watermelon soup again?”
“Meh…” Velvet waved her free hoof dismissively. “I think that was just a craving. It… doesn’t sound very good anymore.”
“What about the green beans and ranch?”
“Yuck. Definitely not.” She shivered. “I can’t believe I ate that!”
“Err- something simple! I’ll make daffodil soup for a whole week- no, month!” Velvet seemed to actually contemplate it for a moment, rolling it over in her head as she studied the ceiling tiles above her.
“I’ll get sick of daffodil soup after the first week.” She said, looking back to Night Light. “How about daffodil soup for the first week, and then daisy-rose the next.”
“Daisy-rose?” He cocked his head to the side. “You drive a hard bargain, Missy. Alright, I’ll do it! Now show me Twilight, Twilight!”
“Alright, alright…” Velvet looked down at Twilight, a small smile gracing her lips as she did so. But, almost as quickly as she did, the smile instantly faded away, replaced with a creased brow and a face full of anxiety. An expression Night Light knew well.
“What’s wrong?” He asked quickly. “Is she breathing?”
“Of course she’s breathing, Nighty.” She snapped quickly. “It’s just that… she’s…” She sighed. Night Light felt his breathing quicken quickly, his hooves suddenly filling with needles and his legs tapping nervously.
“What’s wrong with her?” He asked steadily.
“Nothing’s…wrong?” She said slowly. Night Light kept breathing quickly, but kept a still and stoic expression apparent on the outside, as if trying to convince his wife that he was completely ignorant. Whether it worked or not, he wasn’t entirely sure. “The- The doctor’s tried to explain it to me. I was out of it when they explained it, and I didn’t really understand it, but… she’s… a little bit of a genetic glitch.”
Night Light whinnied out of his nostrils, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath.
Then, like the smooth stallion he was, he leaned forwards, taking Velvet off-guard as he pecked her on the lips.
“Night-”
“I don’t care if she’s different.” Night Light said, now inches away from her face and staring at her directly in the eyes. “She will still be my daughter.” He moved his hooves forwards, and without looking, slowly rotated the bundle of blankets. “And I will always love her.”
Finally, he looked down.
There was a moment of shock as he saw her face. His daughter’s face. His daughter’s face. A moment of swelling pride, a moment of realization, and a small smile. He reached forwards with his hoof and lightly glided it through Twilight’s mane.
She looked very similar to Night Light’s brother. She had a purple coat, and a dark violet mane. Right in the center of her mane, mixed together and messy, were two shades of purple streaks. Although some of her features were different, Night Light felt a dose of nostalgia. Almost like looking at a baby photo of him and his brother.
He took his hoof through her mane once more. It glided right over the spot where her horn was supposed to be.
“She doesn’t have a horn.” He said, looking up at Velvet with a smile. “Is that the defect? Is she… a Unicorn without a horn?”
“No, honey.” Velvet looked down. “I never said anything about a defect. She’s perfect in every way.” Velvet held the blankets closer, smiling widely.
“Then…” Night Light looked back at the filly. “She’s an Earth-pony.” He let out a small chuckle. “My bro couldn’t leave us be, even in the afterlife, huh?” He chuckled again, this time a little louder.
“Well… that’s not the whole story…”
“Genetic glitch my hiney.” He carefully scooped Twilight in her hooves, Velvet willfully giving her up. “Huh. She’s quite a bit lighter than I thought she would be.” He observed, bouncing her slightly to gauge her weight.
“She’s actually average weight… for a Peg-”
“My brother, your aunt. Earth-pony blood is rare, but it’s in both our families. Looks like our little filly rolled the dice and won. Big.” He let out yet another chuckle. “At least she wasn’t born a Pegasus.” Velvet stiffened in her bed, turning to look at Night Light harshly.
“And what is wrong with being a Pegasus, Nighty?”
“Nothing’s wrong with being a Pegasus.” He corrected quickly. The small filly’s ears twitched in reaction to the talking, and quietly, yawned, but didn’t wake up. “It’s just that… Pegasi are the most high maintenance out of all the tribes.” He said bluntly. Velvet raised an eyebrow, so he continued. “They have to sleep on clouds, need their wings preened, I mean, almost every Pegasus I know was born with claustrophobia. Their magic spurts are crazy, and have you ever even seen a Pegasus go through puberty before?” Both Velvet and Night Light visibly shuddered, although Velvet did it for a different reason. One more physical than simply just imagining the possibilities.
Night Light’s shuddering, however, managed to shake the filly awake by accident. She yawned again, and this time, opened her eyes. Night Light gasped, leaning forwards and smiling broadly.
“Hello!” He greeted, like he was greeting a co-worker. The foal barely managed to reach her eyes to rub them with her stubby hooves, blinking blearily and looking up at the towering stallion. “I’m dah-dah! Can you say dah-dah?” He said babily.
“You know she can’t.”
“Worth a try.” He shrugged. The foal babbled something incomprehensible, smiling, and hugging the nearest available hoof, which happened to be Night Light’s. He squeed as she did so, tapping his hooves excitedly. However, Velvet didn’t share the same excitement, rolled over to face Night Light in her bed and chewing the side of her cheek.
“If… Twilight was born a Pegasus… would you still love her?”
“Of course I would!” He laughed, unobstructed by the fear of waking a sleeping foal. “We’d just have to… try a little harder, I suppose.” The filly yawned yet again. “It would be expensive. I mean- where would we even buy cloud beds from? Is there some kind of cloud bed manufacturer? Or do I ask my Pegasus friends to go grab me a cloud?” The filly began stretching, one hoof, and then two popping out of the blanket. “Enough about Pegasus. We have a filly! We have an actual, real-” She wiggled and wormed at the apex of her stretch, and by accident, two little wings popped out from her back, stretching in a similar manner to the way her hooves did. Then, like nothing happened, she settled back into her blanket, smiling as she closed her eyes.
There was a tense moment of silence.
Another one.
Maybe more than a hoof full moments of silence in the hospital room.
Night Light’s jaw was nearing the floor at this point, staring in shock at the filly who now had two wings exposed on her back. Velvet tiredly sighed, inching her way back into the hospital sheets and laying her head on the pillow, watching Night Light for even the smallest of movements that would give away what he was thinking. Slowly, like an android, Night Light turned to Velvet.
“Bwah?” Was the best he could come up with.
“Like I said, honey.” Velvet, enjoying her husband’s confusion, smiled lightly. “A genetic glitch.”
“B-Bwa-” He panted, holding the Pegasus tighter to his chest. “S-She’s- A- A- She’s a Pegasus, Velvet!” He said loudly. Velvet hushed him, but if he heard her, he didn’t make any indication. “S-She’s a Pegasus, and- w- we’ve not had a Pegasus in our family for generations!H-How did- H-”
“The doctors were confused, too.” Velvet said, rolling her eyes. “Something about dominant and non-dominant pants. I didn’t understand it, but it’s apparently possible for two Unicorn parents to give birth to a Pegasus. Our situation is a little strange, because we have family history to back up the fact we’ve not had a Pegasus in a good while.”
“The- The last Pegasus was…” Night Light trailed off, looking up at the ceiling. “Oh my stars- the last Pegasus in our families was the second Twilight! Back before surnames existed!” He studied the wings for half a second, gasping loudly. “V-Velvet! S-She has a- a feather’s- it’s sticking out!”
“It’s okay!” Velvet said, sitting back up in her bed. “Give her here.” She held her hooves out. Like the most fragile thing in the world, Night Light very delicately transferred the bundle over. Velvet laid back, and carefully, grabbed the loose feather in her teeth.
Night Light was expecting a rip sound as Velvet plucked the feather. Twilight would wake up, she would begin crying, and it would be a complete disaster.
Instead, Velvet simply just pushed the feather back into place.
There wasn’t a pluck. There was no screaming and crying. And the hospital room stayed quiet.
“One of the nurses is a Pegasus.” She explained, a slight blush coming to her cheeks, embarrassed for preening. “Preening isn’t instinctual. It’s like… a family technique passed down to the young. She taught me the basics. Like how we shouldn’t just pluck any old feather. Just the broken ones. And not the primaries unless absolutely necessary. And to make sure to not pluck a blood feather.”
“What the hay is a blood feather?” Night Light fretted, biting the edge of his hoof nervously. “Oh- we’re gonna have to change the nursery so much! There’s only one window in there! She’s gonna get claustrophobic!”
“We are not adding more windows.” Velvet said, relaxing back into her pillow. “Your study has a glass dome roof. It would be perfect for-”
“Nope! Nope! Absolutely not! We are not taking over my study! We already agreed to not do that!”
“Before we knew we were having a Pegasus!” She argued. Night Light shut his mouth, frowning deeply. He shook slightly, looking down at the floor. Velvet sighed. “What’s wrong, dear?”
“I… am…” He shivered. “Scared. I am… actually scared. For once.” He laughed manically, rubbing a hoof through his mane. “Wow. That’s a new feeling. I am… scared. Well- I’ve been scared before, of course, but…” He let out a shaky sigh. “What about magic spurts? How-”
“We’ll deal with it when it comes to it.”
“Pegasi are bull-headed by blood! What if she-”
“We’ll deal with it.”
“And the cloud-bed!”
“We’ll figure it out.” Velvet pulled the blanket over her chest, hugging Twilight closely. She smiled at Night Light. “I’m tired. I’m tired and messy, and I want to sleep.” She nodded towards the door. “Get the light, dear?”
Night Light nodded, his horn igniting and flicking the elek-trik lights off. The room was doused in darkness, the only sounds coming from trotting hooves in the halls and the only light coming from the door.
“Mind if I..?” He asked.
“Of course.”
Wordlessly, Night Light stood up from the chair and trotted around to the other side of the bed. Carefully, he slinked in and under the blankets. Velvet adjusted herself so she was facing him, Twilight directly in the middle, and both Unicorn’s horns crossing as they got comfy in the surprisingly large bed.
Night Light smirked as they both made eye contact.
“Shining, I can see your shadow through the door!” Night Light said, loud enough for any eavesdroppers to hear, but not loud enough to disturb the sleeping filly.
“Aw, what?” A young voice said, the room being momentarily doused in hall light as the door opened and closed. “I was so shneaky!”
“Yes, you were.” Velvet said. “Unfortunately, Mom and Dad are always one step ahead!”
“Get in here, you rascal.” Without looking, Night Light’s horn ignited, plucking Shining from the ground.
“H-Hey! No!” He squirmed in his dad’s magical grip. Unfortunately, he wasn’t strong enough, and against his will, he was plopped directly in the middle of the two ponies, and a small Twilight placed on top of him. “I’m too old for this!”
“Sure you are.” Night said.
“You’re never too old for us, right?”
“Whatever.” He pouted.
As the two adults closed their eyes, Shining looked down at Twilight. How she slept, with her eyes closed and her wings exposed. Those… two little wings that had caused such a fuss. It didn’t make sense to the young colt- at least, not entirely.
But he had a sister, and to that, he was happy.
“D-Dad?” Shining asked.
“Hm?”
“Are you… actually scared?” He asked.
“Oh, terrified.” He responded, eyes still closed.
“Huh.” Shining said, looking up at the ceiling. “That’s… weird.” There was another moment of silence. “Will I ever have to preen Twily?”
“You’re on baby-sitter duty, young colt.” Velvet responded.
“Ah.” He smiled. “I’m okay with that.”
And the whole family drifted off to sleep.
> 02 - The Pegasus
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

In the course of a week, Shining’s life had been turned upside down.
He always had the inkling of an idea that a baby sister would be a lot of work. His parents had always told him that it would be. But, due to the two protrusions poking out of her back, designating her as a Pegasus, he wasn’t prepared for how much work caring for her actually was.
Of course, they had prepared for a foal. His parents had foal-proofed nearly every inch of the house, turned an old guest bedroom into a nursery, and had dragged out Shining’s old toys he hadn’t even realized his parents had kept from when he was a foal, along with a whole suite of new toys for little Twilight.
It was the second day after Twilight’s birth(day?) in which Velvet and the foal herself came home. Night Light and Shining had been working overtime to switch out the places of Night Light’s study and Twilight’s nursery. Night Light kept repeat the same old mantra about having direct sky access keeping away the Claustrophobia. Shining wasn’t even sure what Claustrophobia was, and he sure as hay couldn’t pronounce it, but he knew it wasn’t something good.
“Clause-trah-phobia.” He tried forming the word with his lips idly as he laid on the floor, bouncing a ball back and forth between little Twilight and himself, and she seemed to be playing along with it, surprisingly. “Clos-trah-phobia.”
“Claustrophobia.” Velvet corrected him with a yawn. For a mare that was always up and active, and as far as Shining could remember, was never, ever sick, even during pregnancy, she did seem to be quite down in the dumps after Twilight was born. It was like she was on the verge of being sick almost constantly, but not quite. She was lounging around the house quite a bit, currently lazing on the couch being Shining, keeping a careful eye as they both played.
“Chalk-tro-” Shining patted the ball one last time to Twilight, sitting up and turning to Velvet. “Mom, what is chalk-o-phobia?”
“Mm.” Velvet blinked tiredly, pushing her head out of her hooves and looking at Shining. “I don’t think we’ve explained that to you, have we?” Shining shook his head. “I’m sorry about that, dear. Claustrophobia is…” She paused, her tired brain wracking for a comparison that a six year old would understand. “Do you ever get antsy, Shiny?”
Shining shook his head. Velvet smirked, leveling her eyes with the colt.
“What about when you don’t do your homework? And the teacher is coming around to pick it up?”
Shining thought for a moment, and then vigorously nodded his head.
“It’s like that feeling. It only happens in small spaces, like a room, and it makes Pegasi feel very dizzy. Pegasi are born for the skies, and they aren’t born being used to indoors.”
“Oh.” Shining turned back to Twilight, laying down and watching her chew the toy ball they had been playing with earlier. The ball was now covered in drool, possibly twice Twilight’s body weight in nothing but saliva. It made Shining’s nose turn up in disgust. “Does that mean Twilight feels dizzy right now?” He asked.
“Most Pegasi only feel dizzy like that when they’re going to sleep. Even if they don’t know why they’re feeling like that. While the nursery is being moved, she will be sleeping with mommy and daddy. So that shouldn’t be a problem.”
“Huh.” Shining nodded along, still watching Twilight try and wrap her jaw around a ball the size of her head. “I thought she would… be doing more stuff. Like crying. But she’s just kind of… sitting there?”
“Be grateful, Shiny. I know that you were a crier. You cried… a lot.” Velvet shivered at the old memories. Dreamless nights, being awakened by a screaming foal every eight minutes on the dot. That was not something she wanted to deal with again. And although it was too early to tell, Twilight seemed to be the polar opposite of Shining. A non-crier, a Pegasus, and a filly. It was going to be an interesting few years, to be sure.
Twilight had lost interest in the ball, instead resorting to crawling towards the massive and towering pony, which happened to be Shining. She stopped in front of him, staring up at the colt, and although he was laying down, from her perspective, he was still absolutely towering. She raised her stubby little hoof up, and with a flick…
Bap!
“Ow!” Shining stood up quickly, backing away from the giggling filly and rubbing his muzzle. “Mom, she just punched me!”
“Oh, good.” Velvet sighed, rolling her eyes. “I can see the signature Pegasus fearlessness is coming through. Little rebel, taking on a pony thrice her size.” Velvet slowly climbed down from her spot on the sofa, her joints creaking audibly and muscles complaining. She stopped, wobbling for a moment on the spot.
“Mom has claustrophobia!” Shining pointed in concern. Velvet tittered with a light laugh.
“No, I’m just… tired.” She blinked heavily, trotting towards Twilight and picking her up with a free hoof. “No hitting your brother. Got that, missy?” Velvet asked the foal in her hooves. Twilight blinked dully, not saying nor understanding a single word. “Good.” She sighed. “I just… wish I knew a Pegasus I could talk to. Unicorns cry when they’re hungry, or need a diaper change. Pegasus cry because… I don’t know, because a feather is out of place, or there isn’t enough room, or there isn’t enough fresh air…” Velvet yawned, sitting down and using the hoof that was once supporting her to rub her eye.
“So… you need help?” Shining asked. “I could get help!”
“Yeah?” Velvet laughed, this time less lightly and more heartily, like it was a joke instead of an actual extension of help. “Honestly, I would love you to. It can’t be a tourist, it has to be somepony we can talk to regularly.” She stood back up, shaking her head. “As much as I hate to say it, books can only go so far. Especially when raising a foal.” She trotted out of the room and into the kitchen, a foal in her hooves and a slight limp to her step. “Why’d you punch your brother? Are you hungry? Sleepy? Do you punch instead of cry?” Shining heard as her voice faded.
“Huh.” He tapped his hoof on the ground, the other still rubbing his muzzle. “Who do I know who’s a Pegasus?” He asked himself.
Truth be told, he wasn’t sure if he knew a single Pegasus. Of course, he had seen them. Not only his little sister, but like his mom had said, tourists who visit Canterlot. There was a reason why Canterlot was called the Unicorn capital of Equestria. For every Pegasus, there were at least one-hundred more Unicorns. And how would he even figure out which Pegasus lived here and which Pegasus was just visiting? It would be nearly impossible.
The day turned to night, and before he knew it, he was awoken early the next morning for school.
As he would have it, his answer to his problem was practically delivered to him on a silver platter.
History was always his favorite subject. Equestria had quite a long and lengthy history, going all the way back to the uniting of the three tribes. There had been a surprising number of wars through history, and surprisingly, most of them weren’t started by Equestria. But if Equestria was pulled into a skirmish, there was a good chance they would be the ones to finish it.
His favorite part was always whenever he flipped to a new page in a textbook, and saw an artist’s illustration of a battle, long before cameras had been invented. They might be exaggerated… just a little bit… but the descriptions had always made Shining a teeny bit antsy.Warriors of all tribes brandished the Equestrian flag, running out the enemy from their land. Earth-ponies, Unicorns, and Pegasi, and even a few other tribes he didn’t even know existed. Bat-ponies? Kirin? He was sure he had never seen any of those before.
He was listening intently to the history lesson on the board. That was, of course, until he let out a wild yawn, looking up from his textbook, and around the glass casually. The teacher was rambling on about something involving ‘socio-economic pressure’ or the what-nots of the non-battles.
His yawn ceased suddenly when he spotted something, or rather somepony out of the corner of his eye. He turned towards the pony with a sudden wide smile, and in half a second, he had already laid out an entire plan in his head.





“Could you get the door, Velvet?” Night Light shouted from the former study. “I’m kinda busy!” There was light tapping on the door that broke his concentration of reassembling the crib that he had to take apart to get through the door. Unfortunately, still no cloud-bed, and he was still uncertain of where to get one from.
“Velvet, are you sleeping?” He asked. Yet still, there wasn’t a response. He sighed, letting his magic aura falter, the pegs and pieces of wood in his aura falling to the ground. He left the study, trotting out into the hall, and down the staircase towards the front door.
Shining was supposed to be home any moment now, and if it was Shining at the door, he would’ve simply just opened it. Perhaps he got into trouble at the school, and now a teacher was here to talk to him?
He cleared his throat, slicked his mane back, and opened the door.
There, in front of him, was Shining Armor. He smiled brightly, a proud expression on his muzzle as he puffed his chest out in pride.
“I found somepony to help us!” Shining said, tilting his head towards the other pony in the doorway. She was a pink filly Pegasus, a darker pink mane with stripes of cream, bound into a bun. “Just like Mom asked me!”
“Hello, Shining’s Dad.” The filly greeted kindly, bowing her head slightly in respect. “My name is Mi Amore Cadenza. But you could just call me Cadence.”
> 03 - The Nest
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------




Six Months Later...



Quietly, the sound of a rabid adventurer softly hitting the ground echoed off the glass panes of the glass dome. This had become somewhat of a habit for the Pegasus, and it had gotten to the point as to where Mother would reinforce the area around her crib with extra pillows, to prevent any injuries from her late night escapades.
It was almost always once a week, and if she was feeling dangerous, twice a week. Maybe, just maybe if she was quieter this time, the guardian of the crib wouldn’t come and claim her once more. The moment her hooves hit the ground, she vanished, like a scattering animal. She slid the last small distance to her hidey hole, dashing beneath a dresser pushed against one of the few non-glass walls in the circular room.
There, she rested for a moment.
And then, like always, she heard the Guardian rise from her bed. The creaking sounds of old floorboards being pressed under the weight of a pony, tiredly lumbering from her bed and beginning the weekly search.
Twilight pushed away from the edge of the dresser to avoid being detected, and like always, dashed out in a flash, hiding behind the little space created behind the wall of a book shelf. There used to be cobwebs beginning to form back here, but once Twilight learned to use her legs properly, the spiders were immediately evicted from a bull-headed foal.
“Twii-light!” A voice called out from the night, freezing the filly’s heart in it’s place. “Where are you? It’s bed time!” If Twilight could understand any languages, the pleading tone in her voice might’ve swayed her to come out. But, instead, and for now, Twilight dashed around the edge of the bookshelf, scrambling up and using the shelves like rungs of a ladder, her wings flapping to try and boost her any amount at all.
From her now raised position, she could see the Guardian. She was in the middle of the room, looking under the crib for Twilight. Don’t let it’s fluffy wings and pink exterior fool any pony daring enough to take the force head on. She was a terrifying menace that made little foals sleep when they didn’t want to.
“Come on, Twilight!” She sighed, looking away from the crib and trotting towards the dresser Twilight had hid under not ten seconds ago. “This is the sixth time! Aren’t you tired?” She asked the, to her, apparently empty room.
Twilight was far from tired. At two in the morning, she felt the most awake she would ever feel in her life. If she didn’t know who her two parents already were, she might’ve assumed she had Bat-pony blood mixed into her DNA.
Twilight reached the top of the bookcase, standing proudly on her achievement. From this angle, she watched as the Guardian was now looking at the space behind the bookcase, not aware of the filly barely a few feet above her. Twilight backed away from the ledge a small amount, flaring her wings, and with a running start, she leapt.
Silently, she glided across the air, the Guardian none the wiser to what was happening. She was aiming for the door. What would she do once she got out of the room? She didn’t know, and she didn’t even really care. She just needed to get out.
Unfortunately, she was a little short of her target. Her underdeveloped wings had failed her mid-way across the room, and she began to plummet at a much quicker pace than she previously would’ve liked. The last little glide, however, landed her within spitting distance of the night stand. Before she hit the floor, she reached her hooves out, and barley managed to clip the side of the small table next to the door. The blue lamp on said table wobbled precariously for a moment, before finally settling down.
The Guardian was now confused, looking around the room for Twilight. Fortunately, she was looking at the other wall, clear on the other side of the room. Twilight clambered the rest of her body onto the stand, avoiding the wobbly lamp, and staring the door knob in the face.
Freedom was within her grasp. She put one hoof on the wall for stability, reaching out as far as her body would stretch. She felt the frog of her hoof make contact with the bronze lever leading out to who knows what.
But, unfortunately, it wasn’t meant to be for the brave adventurer.
The door opened unexpectedly. Twilight pulled away, her flank plopping down on the night stand as another pony entered the room. He sighed upon laying his eyes on Twilight.
“Found her, Cadence.” Shining echoed through the glass dome. Cadence turned around in surprise.
“Wha-? How did she get over there so fast?” She asked, trotting next to the crib once more.
“I’unno.” Shining reached out, hooking a hoof under Twilight and holding her close in the nook of his arm. “Why’d she get out of her crib this time?” He asked. When Cadence shrugged her shoulders, he sniffed the air. “She doesn’t need a change. Did she escape because she’s… hungry?”
“I think she’s just bored.” Cadence said. Shining approached the crib, and Cadence reached a hoof out, smoothening out Twilight’s wild mane. Twilight revolted back, like she had been shocked, and swiped the much bigger hoof away. “She’s a fighter, that’s for sure.” Shining frowned at Twilight, sitting down on one of the many pillowed Velvet had put down to prevent Twilight from hurting herself.
“Geez… and you say all Pegasi are like this?” He asked, a small amount of disbelief clearly present in his voice. Cadence, before answering, turned back to her corner of the room. A bed was pushed against the wall, provided by Velvet and Night Light. A wooden closet already had a few of her belongings in it, and a dresser had a mirror sitting on it, with some of her schoolwork.
“Only when they’re young.” She finally said, laying down on the bed. “I’m a Pegasus, and I don’t act like that. It’s just a phase, really. Back at the Orphanage, because I was usually the one keeping the foals in check, Miss Nifty would always tell me, ‘Keep an eye on the Pegasi.’ Followed by a ‘Little trouble-makers’ as she walked away.”
“Isn’t that a little mean?” Shining asked. “Towards Pegasi? I mean- you’re a Pegasus, too. Don’t you feel angry?” He said, all while Twilight kept squirming, trying to break free of the giant’s grasp.
“If you mean offended… maybe a little bit.” She played with a blanket, separating the two layers of cloth and feeling them roll beneath her hooves. “But it’s usually true. When they’re young, they’re all fighters. The one’s that don’t fight are usually the quiet ones when they get older. Or- at least, that’s what Nifty told me.”
“So Twilight’s going to be mean?” He asked, his face deepening with sadness as he looked at Twilight. “I don’t want her to be mean…”
“That’s not what I said!” Cadence quickly retorted, waving her hooves frantically at Shining. “I mean- the really shy ones are quiet. I didn’t say the not-quiet ones would grow up to be mean!” She sighed. “Do you think I’m mean?”
“No.” Shining cautiously responded.
“Because I’ve been told I was a big trouble-maker.” Cadence’s eyes lingered on Twilight for half a second. “If I came out like this, then Twilight will be fine.”
Twilight seemed to be fruitfully unaware of the conversation unfolding around her. She kept up the squirming, garnering the attention of the two older ponies in the room. Shining watched, somewhat sadly, as Twilight fought tooth and nail to separate herself from him. Cadence, however, watched with curiosity.
“What do you think she’s thinking?” Cadence asked.
“Huh?”
“What makes her want to leave so badly? What’s so terrible about sleeping that makes her want to leave?” Cadence elaborated. Shining also adorned a curious face. “Sometimes I wish I knew.” The trio descended into silence.
Then, Shining put Twilight on the floor. This caused Cadence to raise her eyebrow as Shining took two steps back and sitting down.
“What are you doing?” Cadence asked, genuinely curious. It seemed Twilight was also looking a little confused with her newfound freedom, looking at the two ponies with curious eyes.
“Let’s see what she does.” Shining shrugged. Twilight flickered her eyes between the two ponies one last time, and quicker than a shadow, she was gone. She dashed away at max speed, her wings propelling her as quickly as they could possibly move.
And then she stopped at the door.
It seemed almost like she wasn’t expecting to get this far. She turned around, looking across the room and at the two ponies once more. Even for a foal less than a year old, confusion was evident on her face, almost asking them ‘why aren’t you chasing me?’
“What does she want from us?” Cadence asked.
“Maybe she thinks sleep time is more play time?” Shining pondered, but made no effort to grab the loose filly.
Twilight, for the second time, made a dash for the other side of the room. Her hooves thumped across the floorboards, making a large racket, and expertly sliding under the same dresser she had started the night out under while hiding from Cadence, the Guardian.
There was a moment of stillness. A beat of no movement.
And then Twilight poked her head out from the dresser. If confusion wasn’t already plastered across her face, it was more clear now than it ever was. Still, not one of the ponies made a move to grab her. So, for one last trick, she locket eyes with the rocky lamp next to the door.
She, once again, galloped across the floor and back towards the door. She leapt, her wings beating fiercely to give herself as much height as possible, squeezing the last few inches from the sky.
Her body slammed into the side of the lamp on the table. It launched the fragile porcelain electronic off of the stand and onto the ground, to where the bulb violently dismounted from it’s lamp shade and shattered on the floor.
“Twilight!” Shining stood up quickly, trotting to where Twilight stood, uninjured and unharmed, if not a little bit disoriented from the crash. “Broken glass. Not good! Really, Twilight? Like an animal?”
Twilight, if she felt remorse, simply showed zero signs of it. Instead, she stuck her lip out, turning her head away from Shining in foalish anger. Shining let out a groan at her anger, picking her up from the stand. “I can’t wait until she grows out of this phase… I gotta clean this up now…”
“I can do it!” Cadence said quickly, already standing up from her bed.
“No-no, it’s okay. You’re a guest, Cadence.”
“I’ve been here for the last six months. That’s good enough to clean up a little mess, right?”
“A mess of broken glass.” Shining deposited Twilight into her crib, fully extending the bars so she couldn’t easily jump out again. “No offense, but I have a horn.”
“Please, let me help.” Cadence persisted, trotting towards the lamp. She picked it up, observing the surface. “Looks like only the bulb was broken. It looks fine.”
“That’s good.” Shining’s horn barely sputtered to life, and the tiny shards were sweeped towards a center pile that slowly began to grow into a dangerously sharp mess. Cadence helped by picking up the lamp shade, fixing it back onto the lamp. Besides no longer lighting up the room, it looked as if it hadn’t been body-slammed by a filly at all.
The pile of glass levitated upwards, barely sputtering under the stress of a colt’s not yet developed magic. It was deposited onto the table, next to the lamp, for later cleaning.
Shining turned back to Twilight, only to realize she was gone… once again.
“Ugh- Twilight got out again-” He stopped mid sentence as he spotted Cadence, sitting down on the floor and facing one of the walls that had glass panels fully extending to the floor. “Where’s Twilight, Cadence?”
“Right here.” She said, turning to the side slightly and revealing a little filly in her lap. “Come, sit.” She asked. Shining thought the request strange, but obliged anyways, sitting down next to the two Pegasi.
Strangely enough, Twilight didn’t seem to be struggling anymore. At least, not like she was before. Instead, her eyes were locked firmly up, glittering with the reflection of the night sky as her jaw was left slightly open.	Cadence lightly moved Twilight’s hoof upwards, pointing at a particularly bright star in the night sky.
“Do you see that?” She asked Twilight. Twilight didn’t say anything. “That’s Sirius. A very bright star, and it’s been burning for almost a thousand years.” She followed Twilight’s eyes up, looking straight up as well. “Almost a thousand years ago, the painter of the night sky mysteriously vanished. Princess Celestia hasn’t changed the night sky for a thousand years in his memory, and for the chance that one day, he may return.”
Shining couldn’t help but notice how… pretty she looked under the starlight. Instead of focusing on the night sky, like Twilight and Cadence, instead he was observing the filly next to him. His heart began to slowly increase in rate as he shook his head, looking away quickly.
“I- um- I-”
“I wanted to say thanks.” Cadence interrupted, not even realizing she was interrupting a stuttering Shining at all. She looked away from the night sky, but wasn’t exactly staring at Shining, either. Instead, staring off into the space between them. “You didn’t need to- uh, I mean, I appreciate your family’s hospitality.”
“I-I don’t even know what that word means.”
“I appreciate your family helping me out.” She quickly corrected. “I never… really had a problem with the orphanage, but… I’m getting too old for anypony to want to… take me in. Especially as leaving the nest becomes more and more likely the older I get.”
“Leaving the nest?” He asked. “What’s that?” Cadence looked back up once more.
“Do you ever get the urge to run away, Shining?” Cadence asked. Shining shook his head. “I have. Plenty of times. To just… go.Into freedom. Running away from my problems.” She sighed. “Pegasi have leftover instinct from a long, long time ago. That’s why most Pegasus foals are such stinkers all the time, because they have to fight for their place in the nest.”
“That… makes sense.” Shining nodded, slowly taking in what Cadence was saying.
“When a Pegasus gets old enough, they have this sudden… urge to leave. And not just thoughts about running away, but… they have to leave. I’ve seen it happen at the orphanage, plenty of times. They’ll be fine one day, and suddenly in the middle of the night, they’re packing to leave, and to never come back.”
“Never come back?” Shining gawked.
“Not… usually.” She sighed. “Not to the orphanage, at least. I’m sure with a loving family, once their episode is done, they’ll come right back.” Cadence adjusted Twilight in her lap, who had moved her eyes away from the night sky and instead moved her focus to the way her breath fogged up the glass.
“Are… you going to leave?” He slowly asked.
“I don’t know… probably.” She said solemnly.
“Cant you fight it?” He asked, quicker.
“I’ve seen my friends that I’ve known for years turn into… into somepony completely different. It’s like… they’re not themselves. They can’t think straight. They just have to leave. I don’t think it’s something we can control.” She adjusted Twilight again.
Shining looked down at the tiny Pegasus in her lap, suddenly making a startling connection.
“Is… is Twilight going to leave?” He asked loudly. Cadence merely sighed, and nodded her head.
“We can’t control it.” She said, finally meeting the eyes of Shining. “If you wake up one day, and I’m… gone. I-I didn’t mean it. I really, really didn’t mean it. I’ll try and leave a note, or something. Maybe, but-” She sighed, falling into silence.
Shining felt a little heart broken, his lip sticking out further than he probably wanted it to. Yet, although his heart didn’t feel like it was in one whole piece, he slowly extended his hoof, wrapping Cadence in a hug.
“I’ll forgive you, I guess?” He weakly offered. Cadence smiled, extending her wing like a blanket, and leaning into Shining.
All three of them watched as the moon slowly inched across the sky, the mare plastered on the front of it watching them all back.
“Thanks. For- being the brother I never had.” Cadence said quietly. Shining sucked air between his teeth.
“Geez- that’s a little awkward.” He cringed.
“Why?”
“Because… I think… you’re kind of… cute?”
“Oh.”
…
“Yeah, that would be awkward.” Cadence said. “At least I wasn’t the one to say it.” She let a smile spread across her muzzle. “But you’re too young for me.”
“What? I’m eight!”
“And I’m ten!” She picked up Twilight from her lap, giving her to Shining. “I know my boundaries.” Shining adjusted Twilight. She didn’t fight, and for once. She actually looked sleepy, her blinks becoming slower and slower as she fought back a yawn.
“I think it’s time for Twilight to go to bed.” Shining, upon watching Twilight, suddenly realized his own sleep was bleeding into the edges of his vision. “And maybe me, too. It’s late.”
“I was just gonna fall asleep here.” Cadence said, laying down. Due to her wing still being over Shining’s back, he complied, laying down next to her. The little filly seemed to take the message, and the moment she hit the ground, she closed her eyes. Shining and Cadence made awkward eye contact.
“So…” Shining said. “You’re saying there’s a chance?”
“Maybe… if I don’t loose my mind and run away, maybe.” She said bluntly.
“Good enough for me.” Shining, somewhat awkwardly, closed his eyes, too. “Goodnight, Cadence.” He snuggled Twilight closer to his chest. “You too, Twilight.”
“Goodnight.” Cadence smiled back.
The floor wasn’t particularly comfortable for any of them, but it in a manner of moments, all three of them drifted off to sleep.








> 04 - Magic Spurt
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

In any foals life, today was one of the biggest days they would ever have. Even if it was, quite literally, impossible for any foal to remember said day. But for the parents, grandparents, siblings, and the weird uncles, it was one of the biggest occasion since the foal arrived.
Velvet and Night Light had stayed up later than usual last night getting a party ready. All along the walls of the house were banners and decorations that wrapped the house in bright text that all read ‘Happy Birthday!’ Of course, the filly who the party was being held for, Twilight Sparkle, couldn’t read any of it, and she probably didn’t even realize today was for her in the first place. But, if everything went according to plan, Twilight would enjoy her first taste of cake. Which, in Velvet’s opinion, was a huge occasion worthy of it’s own separate party.
It had been one full year since Twilight was born. One full year since the filly had interrupted their normal life in more than one way. With Velvet’s care (and sometimes recklessness,) combined with Night Light’s meticulous planning, the house descended into madness as both of their skills failed in taking care of a Pegasus. They had read books, talked with ponies, and bought toys for a Unicorn. Not a Pegasus.
But they had done it. They had persisted, and with Shining’s help of recruiting his friend Cadence, one of the only Pegasi actually living long-term in Canterlot, and with some tricky orphanage shenanigans, Cadence now took up a semi-temporary and semi-permanent-for-the-foreseeable-future residence in the Velvet and Night Light home.
It was morning, and everypony had woken up early for the big day. Velvet was upstairs, creeping slowly through the hallway in order to not disturb the one year old who should be sleeping in her observatory bedroom.
Now, you see, the important key phrase in that sentence was ‘should.’ And, as Velvet had come to realize with raising Twilight, nothing was a given with the filly. Whether it was violence, escapism, and sometimes cruelty, Twilight always had a way to subvert the mare’s expectations. Twilight wasn’t a crier, and she rarely had ever.
Velvet paused in the hallway, her hoof half-creeping forwards in a step as her ears twitched to a certain… sound. And it was coming from the door leading to Twilight and Cadence’s bedroom. It was muffled, but it sounded like a strange mix between the wings of a bee, and the flapping of sheets in the wind.
Velvet felt a pang of worry go through her chest. She approached the door, a frown of concern evident on her face as she put an ear to the door. The sound was clearer now, the small bee apparent. The other sound, however, was loud and inconsistent, flapping for seconds on end, and then pausing, before resuming once more.
She rested her hoof on the doorknob. She was going to open the door for a moment, poke her head in, make sure the filly was a-okay, and then close the door. That was all she was going to do. So, with out further ado, she clicked the door open, and let it swing on it’s hinges inwards.
Clothes, books, pencils- pretty much everything that any normal pony would store in their bedroom was all across the floor. For a moment, Velvet didn’t see anything. Nothing but the round shape of the glass dome, one small bed with rails and a larger bed, and Cadence falling from somewhere above and landing in the middle of the room, on the rug, with a hearty thump.
“C-Cadence?” Velvet asked. The pink Pegasus snapped her head up from the ground, her eyes going wide upon seeing Velvet.
“No-no-no, close the door-!” She tried to get out. Unfortunately, it was too late, as a tiny purple blur dashed directly above her head at speeds approaching illegal in most jurisdictions. She ducked, although ducking with her reaction time wouldn’t have helped anything if the filly was intent on causing harm. There were sounds as the purple blur thundered down the walls of the hall. Velvet slowly raised her head from her ducking position, looking at Cadence with the exact same wide-eyes she had dawned mere moments before.
“W-Was that…?”
“Yeup.” Cadence shakily stood up. She looked exhausted, her wings trembling and her mane sticking out at random angles. Half of her disheveled appearance may have been from waking up earlier than she intended to, but the other half was probably from the speed demon that was now loose in the household. “I can’t catch her! I’ve been trying for over ten minutes!”
“What’s happening?” Velvet asked, backing out of the room and turning down the hall. There, on the ceiling, was Twilight Sparkle. She was standing on the ceiling like it was an everyday occurrence, looking down at her mother and half-sister with wide and crazy eyes. “H-How is she doing that?”
“Pegasus magic.” Cadence explained, now standing next to Velvet. “I can do that too, most Pegasi can, but only on clouds. She’s going through a magic spurt, and it’s doing some… weird things. I’m trying to grab her to calm her down, but-”
“Don’t worry.” Velvet said with a sly smile, trotting forwards confidentially and shielding Cadence from the speed demon on the ceiling. “I got this!”
Velvet stuck her tongue out in concentration, her horn igniting purple and extending out to the ceiling filly. For half a second, Twilight became illuminated with Velvet’s magic. But Velvet felt her magic slip off of Twilight like she was a dish covered in soap. Twilight giggled, apparently finding her mother’s attempts at arresting her quite funny.
“I-I can’t grab her!” Velvet said, looking up at her horn and tapping it. Velvet wasn’t that old… was she?
“She’s probably full of Pegasus magic.” Cadence said. “She’s become really resistant to Unicorn magic.”
“So, what? Is Twilight on drugs?” Velvet asked in concern.
“I mean… do you consider Unicorn magic a drug?” She asked back. Velvet paused for a second, looking up at the ceiling in thought, and not at Twilight. “Don’t answer that. I’ll get her!” Cadence, without warning, darted from the ground and towards Twilight as fast as she could go. Velvet took a few shaky steps back in surprise.
But, somehow, Twilight seemed to use her new sixth sense, and right before Cadence’s hooves made contact with her, she leapt from the ceiling, dropping down to the floor. Velvet felt her gut clench, and without a second thought, dived forwards, her hooves extended out to grab the falling filly before she hit the ground.
But Twilight, being a Pegasus, simply began buzzing her wing like a bee, giggling wildly as Velvet looked up in distress, and Cadence smashed her muzzle into the door at the end of the hallway. Twilight buzzed away, around the corner, and down the staircase towards the living room.
“Are you okay, Cady?” Velvet stood up and quickly trotted over to Cadence, who was recovering and rubbing her muzzle.
“M’ fine.” She mumbled. “We’re durable, remember?”
“But that was a nasty crash-” Velvet was interrupted by a high pitched girly scream that emitted from somewhere downstairs. Both Velvet and Cadence looked at each other.
“Shining!” They said in sync. At once, they both stood up, barreling over one another to get downstairs.
Downstairs, the situation was unraveling quickly. What was once a beautiful living room with happy birthday banners and party poppers soon became a horrific tornado as Twilight found a new game in flying in large circles, creating a vortex of wind. Tape came peeling off of the walls, leaving the banners to fly around haphazardly and without direction.
“What the hay is happening?” The voice that had screamed was not, in fact, Shining. Instead, it was Night Light, cowering under a plastic table he was in the middle of setting up.
“Twilight’s first magic surge!” Velvet yelled over the sound of rushing wind from her position on the staircase leading down.
“What do we do?” Night Light asked, watching as all of his hard work was deconstructed in a manner of moments, the sounds of rushing winds and the manic laughing of a one year old. “Cadence, do something!”
“I can’t!” She quickly responded. Despite her own objection, she went ahead and made one more attempt anyways, getting into the direct path of the circling filly, and spreading her hooves wide, not too dissimilar from a hoof-ball goalie. If Twilight even noticed Cadence, nopony was exactly sure. Twilight kept flying like Cadence wasn’t even there, piling into her at max speed and sending the pink Pegasus out of flight and onto the ground.
“Are you okay, Cadence?” Velvet asked. Cadence let out a groan that sounded vaguely like a confirmation.
Cadence rolled onto her back, watching the tornado slowly take shape as Twilight just kept laughing, not a care in the world.
“At this rate, there won’t be a house left!” She heard Night Light yell from under the table.
Then, Cadence got an idea. She stood up quickly, galloping towards the front door to the home and coming to a sliding stop.
“I say we let the beast out!” She proposed, a hoof already on the door knob. This came with a confused look from both parents. “Can’t really stop a magic spurt. So, we let Twilight burn herself out!”
“That’s insane!” Night Light shouted.
“She’s going to hurt herself!” Velvet said, ducking as a book came flying off of a shelf and narrowly missed her. “It’s a miracle she hasn’t hurt herself already!”
“I told you a million times, we’re durable!” Cadence said. “Either the house goes, or Twilight does!”
This seemed to make both ponies pause for a moment, looking at each other in silent debate and concern.
“Can you keep up with her?” Night Light asked.
“Of course I can. She’s just a filly, after all.”
“A filly that can make a tornado!” Velvet pointed out. “And you can’t even keep up with her!”
“Yes I can!” She shouted. “She’s just… really good at turning corners!” She let out a grunt. “Screw this!” And then, with Velvet and Night Light’s shouts, she opened the door to the outside world. Twilight paused her tornado and looked towards the now open door.





It was now eight hours later.
The party was in full swing. Unfortunately, due to Twilight’s magic spurt, the entire living room was looking a lot closer to a household in the midst of moving out instead of a party, with the lack of furnishings, photos, or party supplies, all of which had been ruined by the impromptu tornado.
As the ponies inside talked and chatted, three ponies sat out on the front porch. One of which was Twilight Velvet, keeping her mother, now grand-mother, entertained as best she could by offering her undivided attention. Night Light, on the other hoof, was barely paying attention, and instead wondering whether or not he should file a missing pony report for two fillies.
“Where are them two?” The grandma asked, her old baggy and pale skin of eyes squinting around for the appearance of anything at all.
“I’m sure they’ll be here any minute, Mom.” Velvet said with a forced smile, although internally, she was debating the exact same subject as her husband.
“Ah’, sure they’ll be.” The grandma waved a hoof dismissively. “Them Pegasus always bein’ late. Never trust a Pegasus, I says.” She grunted. This made Velvet’s eye twitch unexpectedly, and for Night Light to pause his searching of the skies and twitch his ears backwards.
“If you’re going to start talking about Pegasi-”
“Them Pegasus be trouble-makers, I tell you what.” She held a cane in her hooves, to which she drummed against the floorboards underneath her. “I ain’t calling you a tramp, Twilight, but she a bastard filly, I tell you.” She clicked her cane against the floor once more. “No way in hay a Pegasus was born in this family, no way in deed.” Velvet took a deep breath.
“The doctors were very kind, and they explained it to us-”
“Bah, doctors.” She shook her head angrily. “Them only tell you what you want to hear. They get paid by the crooks. Each and every one of them.” She clicked her teeth together. “If it was me, I jus’ would’ve given up the bastard. Ain’t too late to, neither.”
“Give up?” Night Light had now torn his eyes away from the sky, now staring directly at his mother in law.
“Like that one pink Pegasus, always hanging around here.” She chewed. Night Light’s brow furrowed deeply, and unlike Velvet, he shown his frown prominently on his face. If she noticed, she didn’t pay any attention to it.
“There’s a reason why we don’t invite you to see Twilight very often, Andromeda.”
“No Pegasus gonna be poisoning the well, tell you what.” She hummed. “This family’s been pure for generations. Yours too, Sky Light.”
“Night Light.”
“Whateva.” Andromeda waved her hoof again. Night Light leaned closer to the grandmare, staring her in her baggy and decrepit eyes.
“If you ever tell Twilight anything that you talk to me about, I’ll give you up.”
“For the retirement home.” Velvet finished. Andromeda let out another click of her teeth, turning to face the mare.
“Ah’ don’t see nothing wrong with it. Little bastard filly-”
“Call her bastard one more time-” Night Light paused as there was a very familiar sound. Both of them turned to witness a single pink Pegasus gliding down and onto the pavement out front of the household. She looked weak, her knees shaking as she took a few steps forwards.
“Where’s Twilight?” Velvet asked quickly, beginning to trot down the steps.
“Right here…” Cadence turned to the side, showing a sleeping filly on her back. “Twilight wanted to go to Cloudsdale.”
“Cloudsdale?” Night Light asked as Cadence passed him. “It’s been parked over Manehatten for over a month! That’s… that’s over a hundred miles away!”
“Yeah. I know.” Cadence flexed her wing, groaning as she did so. “I felt it. Every. Single. Mile.” She got to the door, completely ignoring the suspicious glare from Andromeda as she put her hoof on the handle. “I’m going to crash.” She stated simply, and then opening the door.
“Hey! There’s the birthday girl!” A stallion said.
“Hullo, little one!” A mare cooed. Twilight woke up, rubbing her eyes heavily and blinking as she looked around at a room full of Unicorns. Cadence gladly gave up the sleepy filly to Twilight’s aunt, uncle, cousin, whatever. It didn’t really matter to her. What did matter, however, was getting to the comfy sofa in the middle of the living room.
“Hey, Cadence!” The voice of Shining said. “Guys, meet Cadence! She’s like my half-sister, and she’s really cool, and-”
Cadence flopped onto the sofa, and immediately her consciousness faded into black.
> 05 - Nightmare Night
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Even for the adults, Nightmare Night was always quite the experience. It was a magical time where fillies and colts rang doorbells, got treats, told scary bedtime stories and cooked smores around the raging orange glow of a campfire.

Tonight, three ponies roamed in a group together. Two fillies and a colt. Together, they were all dressed up in proper costumes. Shining’s metal armor clicked and twisted together awkwardly as he leaned forwards, putting a hoof on Twilight’s withers. “Okay, Twilight. Think you can handle this all by yourself?” He asked. The tiny filly vibrated with excitement, nodding enthusiastically. “Then go get them, tiger!” He said. Twilight didn’t dare hesitate a moment longer, galloping away and buzzing her wings as she approached the door to a house.

“You’re not going to join her?” Cadence asked, her cloak concealing her wings and a giant witch hat covering most of her mane.

“My bag’s already full.” He said, looking back at the fabric bag perched on his back, almost overflowing with candy. “And I wanna see if Twilight’s ready.”

“Ready?” Cadence asked, turning to face the front steps of the humble abode.

When Twilight reached the door to the house, flush with the other Canterlot homes around it, it became painfully apparent that she couldn’t reach the doorbell. She stood up on her hind legs, pushing her hooves to their tips and reaching for the doorbell. Unfortunately, it still wasn’t enough.

But, like it wasn’t much of a big deal, Twilight’s wings buzzed, and she gained an extra few inches of verticality, just enough to ding the doorbell. Then, she fell to the ground, patiently waiting for the door to open.

“I still can’t believe she can almost fly already.” Cadence said, shaking her head. “I didn’t start practicing until I was six. I still can’t fly really well, and Twilight’s doing it like it isn’t a big deal.”

“What? You can fly just fine!” Shining turned to look at her in shock. “Remember last year? You kept up with Twilight the entire time during her magic spurt. That’s not something to brush off.”

“Oh, whatever…” Cadence said bashfully, before straightening her face out again. “Yeah- that’s another thing.” The door to the home opened, and a stallion with a bowl of candy walked out.

“Candy!” Twilight shouted, being one of the few words she knew.

“Twilight’s magic surge was… intense. Really intense.” Cadence continued. “I told you before, I used to help out a lot taking care of the foals in the orphanage, and no Pegasus has ever had a surge nearly that bad before.” Cadence shuddered, unsure if her shudder was coming from bad memories involving Twilight’s spurt, or the chilly fall wind that permeated her coat.

“So, what?” Shining asked. “You think she’ll be a Wonderbolt?”

“A Wonderbolt?” Cadence asked. Twilight once again used her wings to fly upwards, quickly scooping half of the bowl into her candy bag. The stallion at the door didn’t look particularly pleased with the outcome, looking down at his half-empty bowl with a frown. “I could see it. Although… she is really into books. She might turn out to be a big nerd.”

“A big nerd?” Shining asked.

“She might even become a teacher one day. Who knows.”

“A big nerd? Really? She can’t even read the words in her books.” He laughed. “Wonderbolts can like books, too, you know. Reading and being a Wonderbolt isn’t one or the other. They can do both.”

“I dunno… I could see her reading a good book.” Shining rolled his eyes, looking down as Twilight merrily gallivanted back towards the two. She sat down, holding up her now full fabric bag for the two to see.

“Candy!” Twilight said.

“Very good, Twilight!” Cadence congratulated with a smile. Twilight smiled back, although her smile looked less wholesome and more devious. “Are you ready for the next house?” She asked. Twilight pondered the question for a minute, her face furrowing as she chewed through the sentence, trying to work out what she had said. When she finally did, however…

“Candy!” Twilight repeated, bringing her bag closer to her face. “Candy!”

“I think Twilight’s done for the night.” Shining observed. “Let’s go take a seat somewhere, and Twilight can… enne-dualge.”

“Indulge.” Cadence automatically corrected.

“We can go back to the house?” He asked, pointing down the crowded street.

“No… too far away.” Cadence began looking around. “Twilight isn’t going to wait that long to eat her candy.”

“Doughnut-Joes?” He suggested. Cadence’s eyes landed on the distinct structure of a small, mom-and-pop shop building with a large sign of a doughnut being suspended above the entrance. Cadence was about to agree when, unfortunately, Twilight heard the words ‘doughnut’ and gasped loudly, looking up from her candy bag.

“Douh-nut?” Twilight asked. She gripped the bag of candy closer to her chest, her wings buzzing excitedly. “Douh-nuts!” She exclaimed, suddenly gaining speed. Cadence watched in, at this point, bored bewilderment as the filly soared above the crowded street. Cadence and Shining both exchanged glances of exasperation.

“Well… I guess we better go catch her before she hurts herself.” Cadence said as melodramatically as possible. She took to the sky, following the speedy filly at a good distance across the road.

“Hurts herself?” Shining snorted, following beneath Cadence, and unlike her, having to fight his way through the crowd, his armor clicking loudly as ponies kept accidentally running into him. “I don’t think Twily is even capable of hurting herself. You know how sometimes, you gotta let the foal touch the flame to learn? I don’t think Twily Is capable of touching the flame.”

“Better safe than sorry!” Cadence said, landing on the sidewalk and behind Twilight as the distracted filly casually meandered into into the shop. Shining was a good few seconds away, having to battle through the crowd instead of having an easy glide over like the two privileged wing-owners in front of him did.

The moment Shining crossed the border between the outside world and Doughnut-Joe’s, his fur was flushed with a very pleasant warming sensation. The air was quite humid, and he could practically taste the sugar in the air. It was a welcome release from the battering fall wind.

Behind the countertop of Doughnut-Joe’s was, of course, Joe himself. Despite the street being decently busy outside, with Nightmare Night and all of that, it was quite the opposite of busy in here. Joe was resting his chin on his hoof, his eyes glazed over as he read over a newspaper.

“Dooh-nuh-“ Twilight’s voice died in her throat with a little gasp as she laid her eyes onto the glass display case. She put her front hooves up, mouth watering, as the dozens of doughnuts stared idly back at her, almost tauntingly.

“Wh- Oh?” Joe flinched back, being startled as a purple Pegasus seemingly materialized in front of his counter. “Why, hello there, little filly!” He said exubrientialy. He looked up and towards the two remaining ponies. “Ah, the Sparkles! My most loyal customers. What do I owe the pleasure?”

“Douh-nuts!” Twilight said, looking up at Joe expectantly and tapping her hoof against the glass, impatience clear.

“Oh, somepony’s hungry?” He asked. Twilight harrumph’d, tapping the glass again.

“Wait- do we have any bits?” Cadence asked cautiously. Shining paused to think for a moment, before looking down and into his own personal candy pouch. Although it was full of chocolates, lollipops, and wrapped taffy, it was completely devoid of any and all gold currency. Joe watched as Shining’s face turned to one of apologetic sympathy.

“No problem, kids!” Joe quickly said. “No problem at all! You’ll three have to convince me you’re worthy of Joe’s own doughnuts by-“

“Dough!” Twilight shouted, her face now turned to one of frustration.

“Hold on, Twilight.” Shining said, stepping forwards and pulling the filly away from the counter. Twilight angrily stomped onto the ground, but didn’t resist, and didn’t pull away, much to Shining’s relief.

“Err- where was I?” Joe asked the room. “Right. Convince me you’re worthy of Joe’s doughnuts by telling me about you three’s costumes. Whoever has the best costume gets a doughnut on the house!”

Twilight, although more than likely not understanding what he had said, still frowned upon realizing her doughnuts were further away than she would’ve liked. Cadence and Shining looked at each other, and after a few gentle nudges from both parties, Cadence decided she was the one to go first. She confidentially stridden forwards, her black cloak dragging on the ground behind her.

“I am the Wicked Witch of the West!” Cadence said, twirling around in her circle so her cloak would flutter in the humid air. Her hat was long and pointy, and she had green eye shadow that made her gaze turn dark. “I’ll get you, and your little dog, too!” She raised her voice into an ugly crackling.

“Witch. Very nice, very nice.” Joe nodded. “Always good to see somepony embracing the new film-o-sounds. Next!”

Cadence took a step backwards and let Shining boast forwards, puffing his chest out proudly.

“I am the royal guard, Shining Armor!” He proclaimed. The armor he was wearing looked as if it had been fished out of a dumpster. It wasn’t particularly golden, instead a faded bronze. The surface was far from clean, with a hundred little scratches all over it and multiple big bangs. “I will protect Princess Celestia at all costs!”

“Of course!” Joe laughed, leaning forwards and looking at the last contestant, Twilight Sparkle. “Can’t have a royal guard without a princess, now, can we?” He asked.

“It’s all we could get her to wear.” Cadence interrupted, pushing Twilight’s flank forwards and closer to the counter as Shining backed up. “She just kept tearing the wig off, and we got her little golden shoes- it was just a disaster.”

Twilight looked much like herself. There was no cloak, armor, or eye shadow. Instead, right on top of Twilight’s forehead was the ends of a tube of wrapping paper. It had been folded in on itself to make a pointy Unicorn horn, and with some trickery, stuck her forehead, turning her from a Pegasus into an Alicorn.

“She’s supposed to be Princess Celestia.” Shining cut in.

“I can see it.” Joe nodded. “I can definitely see it.”

Twilight’s eyes crossed as she looked up at the horn, her frustration deepening. She reached her hooves up, and with a swipe, the horn came off. Her wings buzzed as she came eye-level with Cadence, sticking the horn onto her instead.

“Ugh-“ Cadence quickly removed the horn. “We can’t both be Alicorns.” Cadence planted it back onto Twilight’s head, her muzzle turning into disgust.

Joe sighed, leaning back and tapping a hoof to his chin. “Well, gosh. I just can’t choose who has the best outfit!”

“It was definitely me.” Shining cut in, again. “Just for the record, I got my uncle to give me the armor, it’s definitely me who’s the best-“

“I can’t choose! So, I think I’ll give you all doughnuts.”

“-oh, that works too.” Shining nodded. “Yeah- that, that- yeah.”

Joe dipped behind the counter, disappearing from sight. Twilight didn’t hesitate to buzz her wings once more, flying upwards and leaning over the counter.

“Free on the-“ Joe popped up, jumping in fear as the purple filly was now no less than half a foot from his face. He cleared his throat, the box of doughnuts in his aura straightening back out in recovery. “A-hem. Free on the house.” He placed the doughnuts on the counter.

“Oh, wow!” Shining took the box in his own magic, slightly straining under the stress. “Thanks, Joe!”

“Ah, don’t mention it. You kids have a good night!”

Twilight looked infinitely star-struck by the box, flying above it and closely following it, her mouth watering as the trio moved towards a nearby booth.

Shining’s magic fizzled out and the box of doughnuts thumped onto the table. Cadence and Shining sat down opposite of each other, and Twilight sat directly on the table, not caring a single bit for table manners. She didn’t wait much longer before flicking the top off of the box of doughnuts with a feather, taking the nearest doughnut, and beginning her devouring.

“Geez, did she have anything for dinner?” Cadence asked, watching as Twilight fought between the size of the doughnut and how far her jaw could unlock.

“Of course she did. She’s just…” Shining glanced at Twilight. “Just… Twilight-ing.”

“Twilight-ing?” Cadence laughed. “Sure. I’m hungry too.” She took one of her own doughnuts, balancing it on the bottom of her hoof. Shining did the same, although with the assistance of magic, it was significantly less messy than both Twilight’s and Cadence’s magic-less methods.

Shining didn’t immediately bite into his doughnut, however. He stared at it intently for a moment, the sounds of the two other Pegasus in the room not caring for his hesitation. He took a deep breath, looking up at Cadence.

“Cady?” He asked. Cadence made a choking sound, swallowing her doughnut and making a sound that was slightly reminiscent of a ‘go on, I’m listening.’ “Do you ever…” He paused. “Nevermind.”

“No-“ Cadence coughed. “I’m listening.”

“Do you ever…” He looked at Twilight, now laying down on the table and finishing her last doughnut. “Do you ever still get those thoughts? About running away?”

“Oh.” Cadence lowered the doughnut back to the table. “Well… it’s been a little while, but…” She frowned. “Sometimes. Not as bad as before, though. A Pegasus can only fly the nest if they had a nest in the first place. I never considered the orphanage my home, and because I was moving in with you guys, I didn’t really… have a place to call my metaphorical nest.”

Shining mouthed the words ‘metaphorical’ but listened anyway.

“If I was going to fly the nest, I already would have. I’m too old, now.”

“Oh… okay.” Shining still stared at his doughnut. “And… Twily?”

“Twily?”

“She has a home. What happens to her?”

Cadence’s eyes darted to the filly, now onto her second doughnut, and without a single thought nor care in the world as she happily ate. As much as it pained Cadence to admit, the day that Twilight would fly her nest would be… less than bittersweet.

“She’ll be fine.” Cadence said dismissively. Shining smirked his cheek in concern. “Twilight’s smart. She’s a fast flier, fast leaner… When she flies the nest, she’s going to do something great. Like become a teacher, or a Wonderbolt.”

“A teacher or a Wonderbolt, huh?” Shining asked, his concerned smirk now turning into one of humor. “No in-between?”

“No in-between.” She agreed. “Now, eat your doughnut. We still have to offer candy to Nightmare before we go home.” She leaned forwards to the little filly. “You hear that? Offer your candy, or Nightmare will haunt your dreams! Oooh!” She tried to make the filly scared.

Twilight didn’t have a single clue what she had just said. Nor did she care.
> 06 - Doctor Doctor!
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

In a split second, everything changed.

Today was supposed to be a fun day. Shining was chasing the rascal of a filly through the house. From the bedroom, to the living room, and finally, to the kitchen. Twilight giggled joyfully as she hopped onto the kitchen counter, out of reach of the Unicorn. He was just about to ignite his horn, to hopefully grab the out-of-control filly, when suddenly, Twilight stepped on a dirty knife that had been left by the sink.

It slipped off of the counter, rotating through the air like a deadly blade, and sliced Shining's wrist.

Blood smudged across the floor like a piece of abstract artwork. Twilight stopped running, staring down at her brother, her stomach suddenly turning with disgust, fear, and horror. She instinctively took a few steps back as Shining held his hoof, staining his other hoof's white fur a deep red as it dripped.

Twilight sputtered, her bottom lip quivering as Shining turned his hoof over, looking at the gash. Today was the day that would change everything. Like the blood on Shining's coat, it would stain Twilight's memory forever.

"First of all, that was close." Despite the unraveling situation, Shining looked surprisingly okay with the immense loss of blood pouring from his wound. "Second of all, ouch, and third-"

"Imsosorry!" Twilight shouted over him. Shining jumped in fright at the loud volume coming from the filly, looking up at her still perched on the counter. "I-I didn't mean to, Shiny! I-I'm sorry!" She panicked, her breathing increasing tenfold as the words poured out of her mouth quicker than she could keep up.

Shining simply sighed.

"Twilight, I'm fine. It was just a little scratch-"

"I-I'll be back!" She yelled suddenly, launching herself off of the countertops and gliding through the kitchen archway. Just like that, her foalhood had been forever tainted by the near-death experience of her big brother, caused by nopony else but herself. It was something she would have to bear for the rest of her life, and something she would never forgive herself for.

She could barely find the door to her room, tears staining her eyes as she fiddled with the doorknob. Knowing that her brother was bleeding out downstairs made the fumbling feel like it took forever. And when forever finally passed, she burst into her room. 

Other foals her age would be doing foalish things, like hanging out with friends, or crying for attention. Instead, the three year old had impressively managed to begin reading already, and her parents had encouraged her unexpected talent by buying her a bookshelf. Although the bookshelf wasn't very tall and sparsely decorated with books made for pre-schoolers, it was still an obvious achievement for a foal her age.

Cadence was nearby, resting in her bed, a book spread across her lap. She flinched at the sudden unexpected Pegasus, looking up from her book. Twilight didn't seem to even notice her, thumping her wings and flying towards the bookshelf on her side of the room.

"Who died?" Cadence asked jokingly. She was immediately taken aback by Twilight's disgruntled and shook face, her eyes red and puffy as she turned to look at Cadence.

"Shiny!" Twilight shouted, turning back to the bookshelf. Her hooves quickly flittered through the books. Most of them were simple in concept, like the basics of numbers, or how to remember the ABC's. Thankfully, however, not only had Cadence supplied her own books to the shelf, but her parents had tried to test Twilight's knowledge by gifting her books that, in all honesty, should've been above her head. One of those were a first-aid book, and the one she was trying her hardest to find.

"Wait, what?" Cadence asked, putting the book to her side and on the bed as she started standing up. "What do you mean? Is he okay?"

"I h-hurt him!" Twilight's eyes darted through the shelf. Finally, she saw the heavy college-level textbook. She plucked the book from it's captivity. "Shiny's hurt!" She said, sailing past Cadence quicker than a Wonderbolt.

It took mere moments, much quicker than any other Pegasus, to get back into the kitchen. Shining had barely moved from his spot on the ground, not really having much time to anyhow with how quick Twilight was. He was standing up, the blood from his wrist now flowing down and dripping onto the floor. His white fur was becoming paler by the moment.

Twilight came to a skidding stop, smashing the tome on the ground with a loud gunshot sound. Papers and napkins around the kitchen flew from their resting spot as Twilight's wings came to a halt.

"B-Book!" Twilight could barely said, ripping it open.

"Twilight... I'm fine. I was barely even cut."

"Okay-okay-" Twilight used her feather tips to flip quickly though the pages. Eventually, she landed on one with a large heading. "Lacerations!" She read.

"Twilight, I'm totally-"

"Sit!" She commanded, leaping over the textbook and grabbing him by the withers. With much more force than expected from a filly her size, she pushed him down into, not sitting, but laying down on the ground. She leapt back to the textbook, reading once more. "Shallow? Deep?" Her eyes glanced to Shining's wound. Her stomach clenched. "Defiantly deep..." She gagged. "Stay still, okay? I-I need to get something to-" Twilight didn't even finish her sentence before she dashed away once more, the same papers already blown off the counters gaining air once more.

There was a moment of still.

A moment of peace, perhaps.

Then, Cadence casually trotted into the kitchen.

They both locked eyes. Her eyes continued to traveled down to Shining's hoof, seeing the razer-thin papercut that barely bled. On the ground was a tiny dollop of blood, perhaps smaller than a bit. Next to that was the discarded knife.

Cadence let out a sigh.

"Twilight's Twilight-ing again?" She asked.

"Yup. I think Mom and Dad should get her checked for panic attacks." Shining nodded casually. He looked down at his hoof. "To be fair, I don't know if she's ever seen anypony bleed before." He looked back up at Cadence. "It would feel better if you kissed it."

"Shining-" Cadence groaned, rolling her eyes, looking at Shining with the most dead face she could muster. "No. You're too young."

"Too- That's what you say every time!" Shining complained, sitting up from the kitchen floor. "I'm eleven! That's more than old enough!"

"And I'm thirteen." She mustered a harsh smile, one that surely cut Shining's soul in addition to the slash on his hoof. "Sorry, not sorry."

"Aw, come on!" Shining complained. Despite Cadence's words, she still took his hoof and rolled it around in her own, looking at the wound. "That's totally old enough! There has to be another reason!"

"Trust me, Shining. There isn't another reason." Her eyes refused to meet his. Whether this was due to her looking at the wound closely, or for some other reason, he didn't know.

"Is it my mane?" He used his free hoof to try and flatten out his blue hair. "I can change my mane if it's not-"

"It's not your mane." Cadence crudely cut him off, dropping his injured hoof.

"Oh, so there is a reason?" He argued back. "I'm just trying to be nice, Cadence!"

"And I don't want to date, Shining! No means no!" Cadence raised her voice. Shining shut his mouth, scootching away from the Pegasus. She sighed, looking away. "Look- It's not your fault. It really isn't. It's not even that you're younger than me. It's..." She sighed again. "It's just... Pegasus stuff, you know?"

"Coming through!" The conversation was suddenly interrupted by a Bat-pony out of Tartarus. Twilight made her dramatic appearance by skidding across the tiles, her hooves not able to gain any friction at all, and ending up in her pile-driving directly into a wooden table set. It all collapsed around her with a mighty bang.

"Oh my gosh- Twilight, are you okay?" Cadence asked, standing up quickly.

"M-good!" The voice returned from the wooden pile. She recovered surprisingly quick, scrambling out of her wooden tomb. "He's not, though! We need to save him before he passes out!" She pointed at Shining.

"Twilight, I'm really okay." He tried to argue. Cadence looked at Shining. And Shining looked back at her. She felt bad for him, really. A hopeless romantic, trying desperately to get a date with the pink Pegasus. But she couldn't. At least, not now. And not for a while.

"Whatever you say, Doctor Sparkle." Cadence said with a smirk. The fun thing about hopeless romantics, however, was their tolerance levels for their lovers. Shining gave a small glare at Cadence, which seemed to go completely unnoticed by Twilight, who was now holding a roll of toilet paper she had found.

"What are you gonna do with that?" Shining asked.

"Book says I need to wrap the wound." She explained, trotting towards the Unicorn. Shining slowly stood up, carefully beginning to back away from her. Cadence followed behind Twilight, now genuinely smiling as she watched Shining develop a fear for his sister.

"With toilet paper?" He asked.

"I would listen to the Doctor, Shining." Cadence said from behind Twilight.

"This just... isn't funny, guys!" He laughed nervously, his flank hitting the oven. "Last time you guys played pretend, I ended up covered in paint! I don't even want to know what Twilight has planned!"

"I'm just following the book!" Twilight said. "Now, stay still!"

Without warning, she leapt forwards, roll of toilet paper in hoof, and a wicked grin on her face. With Twilight's incredible speed, and Cadence for support, Shining didn't stand a chance.

The house devolved into screams.
> 07 - WAR
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

A pillow soared over Cadence’s head.
“Get down, Sparkle!” She screamed. She lunged forwards, tackling the unsuspecting filly to the ground as yet another pillow narrowly missed them, flopping into a head on the ground behind them. Unannounced to the enemy, however, he had only been giving them more ammunition for the long term.
The living room had turned into an absolute war zone. The two couches that usually sat nicely parallel from one another for social events were now turned onto their sides, creating a sort of warfare barricade that blocked the two Pegasi huddling together from the enemy. The enemy, who was currently standing on top of his own upturned couch.
“The Unicorn versus two Pegasuses!” Shining yelled. In the past few months, his magic had developed greatly, turning the previously powerless magic user into an advanced mage, capable of levitating multiple objects at once with ease. It just so happened that he was doing exactly that, and said objects were several pillows, rotating threateningly around his head.
“Did he just say Pegasuses?” Twilight asked Cadence, still hiding under the older pony’s wing for protection from the occasional pillow still being hurled.
“It’s Pegasi, you dork!” Cadence popped her head over the sofa. She immediately regretted it, however, as yet another pillow was flung towards her at mach speeds. It clipped the edge of the sofa, twirling, and landing a few feet from Cadence and Twilight.
“Pegasi doesn’t make any sense!” He yelled back. “It’s like calling a group of Unicorns Unici! Or a bunch of cactuses cacti!”
“That’s the plural of cactus.” Twilight whispered to Cadence, who once again, poked her head above the sofa.
“That’s is the plural of cactus, dork!” She yelled. This time, however, by the time her head had cleared the edge of the sofa, a pillow was already on it’s trajectory towards her. She didn’t have enough time to duck, nor properly react. Before she could even blink, the pillow plowed directly into her face. With a thunk, her head snapped backwards, and she fell flat onto her back.
“Cadence!” Twilight screamed, crawling towards the now injured pony, head held low to avoid enemy fire. She pushed the pillow off of Cadence’s face. “Are you okay?” Twilight asked, although by looking at the pony, it was easy to answer her own question. Her once pretty face was now smeared awkwardly in areas, the pillow that had hit her smeared with makeup. “C’mon, BSBFF, get up!” Twilight begged. She lifted Cadence’s head up, and went to grab the pillow that had taken her out, intent on sliding it under her head for comfort in her last moments. Instead, Cadence groaned, reaching out and grabbing Twilight’s hoof.
“N-No…” She said quietly, weak from the ‘blood’ loss. “K-Keep it, for ammunition…”
“B-But C-Cadence!” She sobbed.
“We’re Pegasi, Twily…” Cadence muttered. Twilight leaned closer, listening intently to the words of her dying sister. “We’re meant to be tough. To conquer the skies.” She coughed, her body clenching as it gave up. “You like reading books, Twily. What happened at the Siege of Cloudopolis, two-thousand years ago?”
“W-We won?”
“We won, Twilight.” Cadence closed her eyes, leaning back. “W-We fought the Unicorns before, and we won… Win for us, Twilight.” Cadence took one last breath. “Win for us…”
“Cadence?” Twilight asked, prodding her shoulder. “No, Cadence!” She shook her harder as Cadence went limp. Unfortunately, she was gone. No amount of persuasion would wake her up any longer.
“You’re all alone, Twily!” Shining shouted over the couch. “Raise the white flag while you still can!” He let out an evil laugh. An evil laugh that pierced through Twilight’s heart, burning her to her core. She felt the fire ignite inside her. She grit her teeth, and looked upon Cadence’s still face. A single tear slipped from her eye as she brushed Cadence’s mane out of the way of her face.
“Ow- don’t tug my mane!”
She looked… pretty, still like this. It was almost like she was sleeping. Twilight grit her teeth, and began gathering the many discarded pillows still laying around from Shining’s assault. If she knew anything about the siege of Cloudopolis from her history books, it was that Pegasi were good at attacking suddenly and quickly. She closed her own eyes, breathing deeply, and waited. Waited for her opportunity. Waited for the jaunt, right when the enemy thinks everything is still, and in their favor. Fortunately, it didn’t take long.
“Any moment, Twilight!” Shining yelled, laughing. “It’ll all be over any momen-”
And then Twilight jumped into the air, her wings spreading as far as they could go. All at once, Shining’s vision was nothing but pillows.
“Holy fu-”
In less than a blink of an eye, Shining felt the impact of a thousand suns. He was hurled off of the top of the sofa, being flung backwards a good few feet, and before he could ignite his horn to erect a shield, a mountain of pillows was suddenly ontop of him.
“Get him!” Cadence had miraculously recovered from being dead, and alongside Twilight, vaulted and then flew across no-mare’s-land. Cadence was the first to Shining, jumping directly on top of the mountain of pillows. There was a muffled ‘hurh!’ as Shining felt the added weight of an entire pony on top of him. Twilight also joined in, mostly for moral support, landing on top of Cadence.
“Do you surrender?” Twilight yelled into the pillows. “Do you?”
“Fine!” There was some squirming, and a few pillows fell away from the mountain to reveal Shining’s defeated face. “I give up!” He yelled. Shining smirked, looking back at the filly perched on her back.
“Good work, soldier.” She said, offering her hoof. Twilight gladly bumped it in victory. “Looks like a horn isn’t everything in war. Isn’t that right, Shiny?” Cadence asked, reaching down to Shining’s exposed head and giving his horn a flick.
“Hey- ow!” Shining wormed his arms out of the pillow mountain, grabbing his horn with a hiss. “I don’t pluck your feathers! Don’t flick my horn!”
“Sorry! Sorry…” Cadence smiled sheepishly, slinking off of the mountain and backing away from the pile. The pillows were levitated one by one off of Shining, and after a few moments, he emerged looking no worse for wear than he had earlier, before being immobilized by pillows.
“We rolled you!” Twilight shouted, gliding down from Cadence’s back. “You got owned!”
“Funny. I don’t remember it playing out that way.” Shining quickly grabbed Twilight and held her close to her chest, pinning her wings so she couldn’t fly away. She made an eep sound, followed by embarrassed grumblings as Shining lightly noogied her mane. “I remember you guys being pinned for the whole war!”
“And I remember putting the house’s pillows on your face!” She began to giggle.
“I guess I’ll have to play the adult.” Cadence sighed, flicking her head back and moving her erratic mane back to laying flat. “I think both teams did good.”
There was an awkward moment of silence as Twilight stopped struggling and Shining stopped his noogie. They both stared at Cadence like she had grown a second head.
“We’re obviously better, Cadence!”
“Did you see me throwing pillows? I obviously did better, doesn’t matter that you won!”
“I won the war! That means I’m the better-”
“Oh, that wasn’t the war. That was a battle. You won the battle, and I’m going to-”
“I’ll won this battle, and I’ll win the war! It is so on, BBBFF!”
“You’re going down, LSBFF!”
“I’m going to suffocate you with pillow-”
“What in the name of Faust is going on down here?!” A shrill voice shrieked. The two ponies immediately stopped their bickering, and slowly, all three turned to look at the doorway. There, with her mane done nicely and wearing expensive earrings, was Velvet. Her face was in a state of complete disbelief as her eyes scanned the living room. The upturned couches, the hundreds of pillows, and even a few pillows that had burst at their seams.
“Err… War?” Twilight offered. Velvet looked at her daughter, then back at the room. After a moment more of disbelief, she let out a sigh.
“We don’t have enough time to clean this up right now, ponies.” Velvet said, lowering her head. “Our reservation is for eight, and you guys don’t even look ready.” She trotted forwards and put her hoof on Cadence’s head. She ducked away, swatting away her hoof. “Did you even brush your mane, Cadence?”
“I…did…” Cadence warily said. Velvet moved down the line to Twilight.
“And how about you, little miss?”
“I never brush.” Twilight snarled. In defiance, she reached both of her hooves up and noogied herself, making her mane go from slightly crazy to borderline dangerous amounts of static electricity.
Then Velvet looked at Shining.
He smiled goofily.
She didn’t even bother to ask him.
There was another set of hooves entering the room, Night Light trotting down the staircase while straightening his bowtie with his magic.
“Howdy, kids. Ready to- what in the blazes happened in here?!” Night Light’s jaw almost disconnected from the rest of his body as his eyes darted quickly from corner to corner of the completely and utterly destroyed living room.
“She did it.” Shining pointed at Twilight. Twilight, without saying anything, slapped his hoof with her wing. He retracted his hoof, hissing painfully at the feeling of the whip.
“Who- what- why?” He trotted in between the two couches, into the middle of no-mare’s-land and looked around with an agape jaw. “I-I had these couches perfect, too! Mathematically in the best place to induce conversations!” His horn ignited, and both couches were turned right side up, a couple loose cushions falling to the floor in rejection. “Is this my pillow?” He asked, levitating it up. “My exactly fluffy-perfect-dense pillow with exactly one-hundred-and-four chicken feathers sourced from Yakistan?” At this, Twilight made a confused face.
“Chicken feathers?” She asked. “Why can’t you use my feathers? I shed like, two a day, anyways.”
At this, there was a moment of silence. Cadence’s pink cheeks lit up a deeper shade, Shining face-hoofed aggressively, and Velvet giggled. Night Light let his pillow fall to the ground.
“I’ll tell you when you get older, Twilight.” He sighed. “Still. This is… really annoying. And I can’t believe- will you please stop giggling like a filly, Velvet?”
“I’m sorry!” She brushed her muzzle and put her hoof onto her chest, trying to take a deep breath. “That was… painfully adorable.” She took one last deep breath. “But anyways… gang!” She pushed her two front hooves off of the ground, getting half a second of air time as her front end lifted off of the ground. She clapped both of her hooves together, making a clop sound as she did so, with more then enough time to get her hooves back under her before she landed. “We have to leave before we’re late to our reservation!”
“But… my pillows!”
“Honey, be easy on them.” Velvet said, coming to his side. “They’re just having a little… destructive fun, that’s all.” She quickly shot the three ponies a dirty look. “Although they very well should have known better… Pillows are replaceable. Memories like that are not.” Night Light sighed.
“Fine. But you three are cleaning this mess up right as we get back. Hear me?”
“Sure!” Twilight chirped, a smile splitting her face. “Don’t blame us, though! We heard the drums, and we responded!”
“Great, Twily has PTSD already.” Shining rolled his eyes.
“We all do…” Cadence said in a deep, mumbling and slightly menacing voice as her eyes unfocused somewhere in the distance.
“Alright, gang. We should really be going right now.” Velvet grabbed Night Light’s wrist, tapping the wrist watch that was attached to him.
“Oh no! We’re five minutes late!” Twilight cried. “We can’t be late! Never, ever!”
“No-” Velvet quickly ducked down to look at the watch. “No- we’re five minutes until we’re late.”
“Then we have to go!” Twilight trotted quickly out the door, her wings itching to dash away at a moment’s notice. However, she knew better than to do so, otherwise she would loose her family in the dust, and consequently, get lost.
“Alright, roll out, ponies!” Night Light shouted. The five of them walked out of the house, Velvet lingering a moment longer to grab a brush that was randomly placed on the floor from the war. Tonight was going to be great. She just knew it.
> 08 - Fly The Nest
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

This was Firebird’s very first job. And a good one, at that.
For the most part, anyways. He had recently received the opportunity to be a waiter at one of Canterlot’s most fabulous restaurants. It wasn’t the fanciest, not by far, but it was definitely held in high regard by the locals of Canterlot. Although the pay was good, and the customers were mostly never rude, if a bit snooty and fussy with the way their food was prepared, it was just like any other job. Which meant that there were slow days. And, on a Tuesday evening, the sun having long since set, it was definitely a slow day.
It’s not like he didn’t like slow days, of course. Slow days meant he could spend most of his shift kicked back, chatting with his coworkers, reading a book, and doodling on his notepad so his boss thought he was busy. Really, he could do whatever he wanted, as long as he was present in the restaurant and getting paid for it. The restaurant was nearly empty, anyways. There were a few stragglers still eating and one small family in the corner that he wasn’t even the waiting for. All in all, the stars were aligning for him to be dismissed early. Which meant going home. It’s not like he needed the hours, anyways, and his bed looked mighty comfortable in his own head.
Well… he would’ve been allowed to go home early, if not for the fact that a blue Unicorn stallion burst through the doors like a bull on a rampage.
“Did we make it?” The stranger shouted. Firebird yelped in surprise, the notebook and himself both spiraling to the floor wildly in surprise. It took a few seconds to orientate, pulling himself up, and peering over the desk at the family that had filed in through the doors. It seemed like, much to his dismay, he was not going home early.
The stallion was at the front desk, and judging by his appearance, it was blatantly obvious he was a Canterlot local, with his slick back hair and fancy watch. Same went for his wife, a pale mare with a violet mane, delicate and fancy earrings, and even their son, although he wasn’t very dressed up.
But there were two Pegasi in the group that challenged Firebird’s expectations. One was obviously the daughter of the two bigger ponies, but one was obviously not. They both looked like Canterlot locals, but the fact they were Pegasi confused him. Firebird couldn’t remember the last time he had seen, if ever seen a Pegasus genuinely living in Canterlot. Or, rather, staying long enough to becoming acclimated to the style of living there.
“Uh…” He swallowed, still slightly shaken up about the scare. He sat back down on his stool and flicking open a book. It’s not like he actually had to look at the book for a table, rather, he just needed something to do as his brain began slowly clicking back into gear. “N-Name, sir?”
“The Sparkles.” Night Light said with confidence, resting his hoof causally on the desk in an attempt to look slick. Firebird simply nodded, letting his hoof glide across the rough paper that held reservations. He was surprised to actually find a name on that list, as it was mostly just instinct to check that list. But alas, the only name for the entire night was Sparkle. They were due at 8:00 PM. A rather late dinner.
Firebird let his eyes dart to the clock on his desk.
9:24 PM.
He let out a shrug. Not like anypony else was coming in for tonight, anyways.
“Right this way, sir.” He, intentionally this time, hopped down from his stool, levitating five menus from their cubby hole behind him and descending deeper into the restaurant.
“Made it!” Night Light sung gleefully, following the colt.
“I knew we would.” Velvet laughed. “Even if we were late, I’m sure that that they aren’t busy enough to give us a table.”She followed, adjusting the Pegasus on her back. Said Pegasus took a deep, lungful breath of the air.
“I smell brow-nies!” She said, her wings itching with excitement.
“That’s just sugar.” Shining sighed, trailing close behind. “Not everything made of sugar is brownies, Twily.”
“You can’t know that!” Twilight retorted, turning around on her mother’s back and pointing an accusatory hoof at Shining. “I think there’s brownies here!”
“We made brownies one time.”
Cadence was trailing behind, simply watching and enjoying the superficial argument breaking out. It was like watching two cats go at it, and it was quite entertaining. Twilight was right, of course. Cadence had seen a sign earlier for brownies as a dessert, and the smell though the restaurant was quite strong.
But Cadence held back from the family. She took a moment, stopping short, as her ear flicked towards the source of a sound. A noise that caught her attention. She stretched her neck upwards, resisting the urge to take flight to get a better look at her surroundings. A good distance away, she saw movement in one of the booths. Curiosity, being stronger than the will to follow her family, she began trotting towards the movement.
Of course, she wasn’t exactly sure what else she was going to find in a restaurant. There was a simple little family sitting in a booth. They were completely alone and isolated in their own little area. Despite this, however, each of them had a bright smile on their faces. It was glaringly obvious, even from all the way over where Cadence was standing, that they were tourists. It’s not that Cadence minded tourists, it was just that sometimes they could be a little intrusive. All three of them wore some variation of a gaudy floral shirt. The stallion of the family, sitting next to the mare, had a camera wrapped around his neck.
Cadence was about to turn around to leave, however, when she made an observation. Just a little observation, of course. Not earth-shattering, or anything like that. Just something that made her stop, a strange blankness befalling her visage.
The father said something excitably. From where Cadence stood, the words were almost completely lost over the long distance, but it was apparent that he was excited. The wife agreed, and the colt groaned something. The stallion quickly unclipped the camera around the neck and extended it out, turning so it faced them. The colt groaned once more, forcing a smile as all three leaned in over the table.
Click.
They were all Pegasi. That was the startling observation, and it made Cadence feel weird. She felt a tickling sensation in her gut that transferred to the bottom of her hooves. She could feel it in the tips of her wings, the ends of every hair on her coat. A shortness of breath. Heart pumping like she had run a mile and back. There was no reason for her to be feeling like this.
“Cadence? You coming?” Shining asked. He had come back from following his family, now cautiously tapping her on her shoulder. Cadence pivoted her head, her face no longer blank, but instead with a small frown on it. One of discontent. Shining couldn’t help but notice her eyes drift upwards and to Shining’s horn.
“Cadence? Hel-loo?”
And then, she snapped out of it.
“Oh- uh- yeah.” All evidence that she had been frowning vanished in an instant, replacing itself with confusion. “Um- yeah, sorry. I’ll just- uh- you lead the way?” Shining stared for a second longer, but eventually gave a wary shrug, turning around and trotting towards the table.
Cadence spared one last glance at the table of Pegasi before following Shining.
They look… happy. Am I happy?
Of course she was. For the first time ever, she had a real family. One that cared for her.
Right?
The table that Firebird had chosen for the family was towards the back of the restaurant and well out of the way. The family had begun filing in one by one, with Velvet and Night Light sharing a side of the table, as the other side had Cadence sitting the closest to the window, with Twilight squished between her and Shining, who took up the exterior of the booth. It was a tight fit, and Cadence felt a wave of anxiety wash over her face like a hot summer day as she watched them sit down.
“Ohyah.” Night Light leaned backwards, into the red cushion of the booth. “Ohyah. Months of planning for this.” He did a few quick stretches, rotating his chest and hooves around in an apparent attempt to crack his back. “Feels good.”
“Months? For this?” Shining asked. He leaned his upper body out of the booth, gesturing vaguely to the deserted restaurant. “For what? What was there to plan?”
Night Light closed his eyes and shook his head.
“You wouldn’t understand, kid. Wait until you’re as old as me, you’ll get it.” He nodded, opening his eyes and plucking the menu from the table with his magic and holding it out in front of him. “I already have dinner planned for two weeks from now, for the 987th summer sun celebration, Twilight’s first day at Kindergarten, and Cadence’s Birthday.
Cadence jerked her head upwards and away from the menu she had been trying to preoccupy herself with. It was an almost desperate attempt to get her mind back on track, but Night Light dropping her name grabbed her attention, perhaps a little harder than she would’ve liked.
“Huh?” She asked. “My birthday? That’s four months from now!”
“Yeah! And I already made plans!” He laughed, flipping the menu over like it was no big deal. “And I know my little filly wants to go to Manehattan one day, isn’t that right?”
“But-” Cadence paused, furrowing her brow in thought. “But… wait a second… How did you figure that out?”
“Puh-lease, as if it wasn’t obvious by the four, count them, four posters of the big apple in your and Twilight’s room.” He laughed. Cadence was just about to begrudgingly accept this information, when suddenly, Night Light continued. “As if I wouldn’t know my own daughter well enough.”
You don’t belong.
It almost made her choke on her own spit. She… didn’t belong. Printed onto her retinas, like staring at the sun for too long, was the serene scene of the small family of Pegasi, simply just trying their hardest to live out their lives in peace. The Sparkles, as they had begun calling themselves, had always tried to make her feel like one of them. To make her feel included. And, for the longest time, it had worked. But, for some reason, that colt, leaning into the photograph? It was like it awoken something in her.
She couldn’t get it out of her mind. She was part of the family, ever since years ago, now. It had been so long, she could barely even remember the face of the head-mistress at the orphanage. It wasn’t like the orphanage was bad, per sey, but it was still soul-destroying, knowing that nopony in the greatest, biggest, and capital city of all of Equestria didn’t want you.
	Why would any couple want to adopt when magic can solve all of their issues?
There was always a way. The mare in the family barren? There’s a spell for that. The stallion infertile? There’s a spell to fix it. Two mares? A licensed spell caster can fix it. Two stallions? As long as one of them was okay with being a member of the opposite gender for an extended period of time, then what was the harm? Why ever come to adopt when magic was the cure-all for any problem?
And then Shining tapped her on the shoulder.
“Cadence? He’s asking you for your drink.”
Cadence turned her head, dropping the menu and looking up at the waiter, tilting her head to the side as she blankly stared. Firebird, the waiter that had guided them to their seats, had a notepad out and was expectantly waiting for an answer. Cadence flexed her jaw, blinking mechanically.
“I’ll take a water please.” She said.
“Alright.” If anypony noticed Cadence’s sudden shift in demeanor, they didn’t indicate that they did. “I’ll be back in a few minutes. Everypony hold tight.” Firebird left the table, Cadence raised the menu again, and the rest of the group began talking once more. Cadence’s eyes glossed over as she read the words on the menu.
Was her hoof shaking? It sorta felt like it.
Was that a headache she was developing? No, she was imagining it. Right?
Well, whatever it was, it was less of a headache and closer to that of a brain fog. Like she had just finished being sick, and now everything felt like it was covered in a thick layer of blankets. It was getting harder to think… she was just relying on instinct to let her eyes read the words, even if she wasn’t digesting any information from the menu.
Family. A-ha. That was a funny word that did not apply to the ponies around her. Family wasn’t the right word.
Of course it is. They took me in!
No, in truth, these ponies didn’t share a single gene with her. The closest she came to being ‘family’ was the wings on her back, and the wings on Twilight. And, even then, that was just a freak accident. A completely random roll of the dye that landed her two extra limbs. They didn’t really care about her. They had simply brought her in to deal with the crazy Pegasus that had fallen into their laps.
I was never obligated to help take care of Twilight! They offered me Night Light’s office, and I said I’d rather be with Twilight. When Shining talked to me at school that one day, I could’ve easily said no. I said yes because I wanted to.
But that doesn’t change the fact that they were using her. Using her for their own benefit.
Cadence felt her vision begin to blur. Was it… tears? No- her eyes were dry… right? No- it definitely was tears. Why was she crying? Nothing was going on that would cause her to cry. She adjusted the menu so it was covering more of her face as the worming sensation in her stomach turned to a clenching, painfully tight sensation around her throat.
I- I have to get out of here.
There it is.
I- I really need to leave, don’t I?
Cadence quickly wiped her eyes with her hoof, letting the menu drop down to her lap. None of the other ponies around her seemed to notice her now red eyes. As calmly as she could, she took a breath, and made sure she wasn’t shaking anymore.
She was pushed against the window. She felt trapped. No- she was trapped. And she needed to leave.
“Shining, can I leave?” She said in a surprisingly monotone voice. Shining was too busy chatting with his parents to hear her, but Twilight sure did, looking up from her own kids menu.
“Huh?” She asked. “Who’s asking?”
“I am.” Cadence looked down at the tiny Pegasus in a harsh tone that made Twilight flinch back. “I need to-” Her throat tightened. “I need to get out.”
“Woah.” Twilight was, finally, the first pony to notice Cadence’s eyes. “Uh… Shiny?” She asked, nudging Shining in the ribs. He coughed, looking over with a grumble. “Cadence wants to get out of the booth.”
“Already?” He groaned. For an instant, quicker than the blink of an eye, Cadence saw the Pegasus colt. He took the spot where Shining sat, and it burned her eyes. “We just sat down…” He dramatically slid out of the booth, followed by Twilight, clearing the way for Cadence to get out.
Shining turned, looking down the booth and at Cadence. She gulped, her eyes still red and damp, and slowly shuffled down the booth. Only Twilight and Cadence really seemed to care, as Night Light and Velvet were still talking about the menu and holding it out at hoof’s length to be able to read it properly.
Finally, after the eyes of Twilight and Shining seemed to bore a hole through the top of her head, she hopped out of the booth.
And immediately felt her hooves give out, letting her chest take the full brunt of the impact. Air escaped quickly from her lungs, leaving her coughing and sputtering as she laid down. Her legs didn’t work, and that seemed to make Shining and Twilight suddenly full of concern.
“Cadence?!” Twilight yelled, gallivanting towards Cadence and sliding to her side. “Are you okay? Did I do that? I’m sorry, I didn’t-”
“Get back!” She shouted. Twilight’s ears immediately fell flat on her head as she took a few quick steps back. The family descended into complete silence as Cadence struggled to stand up. Concerned glances were exchanged with one another as the shaky Pegasus managed to wobble to her legs.
“What… happened?” Velvet asked. Shining wrapped a hoof around Twilight, who looked shocked from the yell from Cadence.
“S-She just fell over!” Twilight tried explaining, her voice quivering.
“Cadence, are you-”
“I’m fine!” She shouted. She tried taking a step forwards, but unfortunately her joints in her legs had turned to a paste, stumbling forwards and away from the table. “I’m fine.” She coughed, rubbing her eyes again. The world was blurry, and she felt bleary.
The deathly silence persisted. Everypony seemed to be in a state of shock, not exactly knowing what to do with Cadence. Her mane had turned into a complete mess, and just now, Night Light and Velvet noticed her red eyes.
“Cadence… are you crying?” Night Light asked softly.
“No. No, of course not.” She rubbed her eyes again.
Why am I lying?
	“I just…” She huffed, looking around the restaurant as if she hadn’t realized how she had ended up here. “I- no, I just- I- I need to leave.” She shook her head, an image forming clearly in her head of where she needed to go. “I… I need to… Far. Far away from here.” She began shakily trotting forwards, her hooves rocketing around like she hadn’t drank any water and was severely dehydrated. “I’m sorry, I-”
“Cadence, if you need a second outside-” Velvet tried, now also slinking out of the booth.
“No- I- I need to leave.” She reiterated. “I need to get out of here. I need to- far-”
“Cadence?” Shining spoke up. “Are you feeling okay?”
Cadence put her hoof against the door, the one leading out to the back ally. The surface was bronze, and therefore cold. She could feel it, permeating her hoof and sending a shiver down her spine. It was cold. It felt as if the doorknob was freezing her tears.
“I-”
Cadence threw the door open, the cold air punching her in the face and instantly turning her fur to ice. Despite this, Cadence pushed onward, out into the alley. Night Light and Velvet took over for Shining, holding Twilight close as he followed her out.
Cadence could see her breath, her nose turning a shade of pink and her ears stinging painfully. Just five minutes ago, it wasn’t nearly this cold when they had first entered the restaurant. Why was it so cold out?
“Cadence? Why did you yell at Twilight? Are you okay?” Shining stepped down the steps as Cadence put a healthy amount of distance between them. Cadence felt her mouth go dry, her jaw working to bring feeling back to her cheeks. She swallowed, her tears ice.
“I’m… not okay.” Cadence’s lip quivered. “I don’t know what’s happening, I-” She collapsed again, without warning. Shining yelped, leaping the distance to try and catch her before she hit the ground. The most he could do was lift her head up after the fact. “I can’t- I’m not fine! I’m so far from fine, I’m the least fine I’ve ever been in my life!” She choked on her own throat.
“What’s happening, Cadence?” Shining asked, trying to move her head so he could sit down.
“I need to-” She began trying to stand up, but stopped when she watched a single snowflake drift down from the sky. It landed nearby on a garbage heap, immediately melting upon touching it’s surface. “Is that… snow?”
“Huh?” Shining asked. Cadence tracked another snowflake, this time landing in a puddle of mystery liquid. “What are you talking about?” He asked as Cadence stood up.
“L-Look! Do you see it?”
“Cadence, see what?” Shining asked, now sounding panicked. “Cadence, there’s nothing there!”
“Look! Right here!” She extended her wing, letting a snowflake fall and land on the tip of her feather. She felt it melt this time. “Do you see this?”
“Cadence, it’s the middle of July! It isn’t going to snow!” Shining pleaded. He watched as the insane Pegasus trotted from spot to spot in the desolate ally, tracking invisible objects as they fell from the sky. “Cadence, you’re seriously scaring the… the hay out of me!”
“The…” Cadence gasped, looking up at the sky. It was filled with snowflakes, snowing like the middle of a blizzard. But, there, in the middle of the night sky, was a great big beacon of light. It was far away… very far away, but it was so bright and brilliant, Cadence couldn’t help but let a smile cross her face. “Woah…”
“Woah, what, Cadence? What are you woahing at?” Shining followed Cadence’s eyes, seeing nothing but the lunar moon hanging in the sky like a light bulb. “Cadence? Cadence?”
Cadence looked away from the light, her eye sparkling like she had just seen something grand. A smile crossed her face, completely forgetting about her weak knees, stomach feelings, and frozen tears.
“I need to go pack!” She said excitedly. “I gotta go see what that… thing is!”
“Cadence?” Shining stuttered, standing up. “NO- no, no, no! Y-You are not packing! NO!”
“I have to go see what-” Cadence was interrupted as Shining grabbed both of her shoulders and pulled her close in a half-hug and half attempt at restraining her.
“I-I thought you said- You were not-” He stuttered. “You are not leaving!”
“Oh, Shining.” She laughed, pulling herself away. “You don’t understand. I have to go see what that light is!”
“You-” In an instant of pink feathers, Cadence extended her wings and flew away, straight up and into the snowflake ridden sky. “You promised!” He gaped. “No, No! I- I can’t- I can’t let you do this!”
For perhaps the second time that night, he began galloping through the night streets. This time, instead of trying to find a notoriously hidden and out of the way restaurant, he was tailing a pink Pegasus.





Suitcase.
Cadence threw open her closet door. In it was a collection of dresses that she had, realistically, only worn once before at some sort of social event, and never again. But, at the bottom of those dresses, tucked beneath a particularly gaudy golden dress, was a beat up brown suitcase. She snatched it out, letting it skid across the ground as it dragged behind her.
The Photo.
On her nightstand, illuminated faintly by the fairy lights hung above her bed, was a picture, framed in a photo frame of her parents- or, rather, the closest ponies she had ever gotten to her parents. Night Light, Velvet, Shining, little Twilight, and right in the middle, Cadence herself. She seemed to have the brightest smile out of anypony there, leaning her head back so her white teeth were bright and large in frame.
She quickly dumped it unceremoniously into the suitcase. She was fairly sure she heard the glass crack as it landed into the unpadded surface.
Scarf and a hat. It’s cold out there.
Cold it was. All across the dome, the windows were already being covered by the sheets of snow that had been coming down. The house hadn’t had a chance to catch up, the glass frosting over heavily as the temperature of the room began dropping.
In a drawer by the bedroom door was her winter gear. Although fall wasn’t even close- actually she wasn’t sure how it was snowing at all- she still went and grabbed it. A red hat and scarf, both of which were knitted by Velvet herself. It was obvious that Velvet wasn’t exactly grand mare material, the hat being severely stretched and over sized in the signs of an inexperienced knitter. But, it was Cadence’s first Hearths Warming present, which made it special. She almost felt like part of the family.
She put it into the suitcase.
She wasn’t exactly sure how long she had spend packing her suitcase, but by the end, it was bulging outwards. She was certain if she had taken the time to properly fold and organize everything, it would’ve fit much more than the necessities she was carrying. But she was in a hurry. What for? The light, of course! It was already fading away, getting further and further as she spent more time packing.
Brush. You’ll want that.
Over by a makeshift makeup stand, in which there were several mirrors, was her brush. There wasn’t some grand, elaborate story behind her hair brush, only that it was there. She liked using it, and so it went into the suitcase.
With some force, she clicked the suitcase closed. She looked at herself in the three way mirror on her makeup stand. She looked cold. Her face had almost turned white from the frost in the air, her ears and cheeks a tinge of her old pink.
Then, the door behind her creaked open. Her eyes moved off of her face and into the door in the mirror, right behind her unkempt mane. A staggering Shining slipped into the room, heaving his chest in and out as he was severely out of breath.
“C-Cadence! W-What are you-” Then, Cadence turned around. “Gah! Why are you so pale?”
“I have to hurry if I don’t want to miss the light.” She said emotionlessly, although she hadn’t exactly intended for it to come out that way.
“No…” Shining gasped for air, a choking sound coming from his throat as he stumbled across the floor, weakened by all of the running he had performed. “No, no, no! You said this wasn’t going to happen! You said you were too old! You said you-” He choked again, sniffing something back. “You said you wouldn’t run away!”
Cadence clicked open one of the sections of the glass dome. It swung open, blisteringly cold air washing over her like a waterfall.
“I’m not running away. I’m running to.” She said, chucking the heavy suitcase out of the window. It slid down the dome, resting on the edge of the roof precariously. “If I’m not fast enough, I’m going to miss it.” The light was dangerously far away now. She almost couldn’t see it.
“Cadence, I can’t let you fly the nest!” He began approaching. “You promised me you wouldn’t! You promised!”
“Sometimes, promises don’t mean anything!” She shouted, no, screamed. Shining’s ears fell flat as he took one step backwards in surprise. “I have to leave! I have to chase that!” She pointed out to nothing. “I can’t stand it! I have to- omph!”
Shining wrapped both of his hooves around Cadence and pulled her to the floor. She rolled over, along with Shining. He rolled on top of her, pinning her hooves to the ground. “You stay here! Don’t even look at the light! It’s instinct, and it’s tricking you! It’s-”
“Get off of me!” She yelled, rearing her hooves back and bucking Shining in the stomach. He flew backwards, letting out a startled yelp of pain as both of his hooves clutched his gut. “You don’t understand! You don’t-”
For a moment, the house was completely silent. Cadence, now standing up, and looking down at the pony, holding himself close.
And then Shining let out a small sob.
Cadence’s eyes went wide open, and for the first time in a while, she felt lucid.
	“I… I have to go.”
With one powerful flap of the wings, and not even a second glance, she fled out the window, only pausing to grab her suitcase.
> 09 - Instinctual Time Bomb
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“It’s… certainly very rare for something like this to happen, but… not exactly unheard of.”
They had come home quickly, after apologizing profusely to the waiter, to find Shining, alone and crying, with the window wide open and clothes strewn across the floor like somepony had been in a hurry. Slurred speech as he tried his best to explain what had happened left Twilight scared and confused, shivering between her mother’s hooves. Night Light hadn’t stayed behind much longer after that, and before Velvet could really react, he was out the door and galloping towards the nearest guard’s station.
“When a Pegasus… Hm. Well, you know how it feels to bottle up emotions, right? You feel angrier and angrier over time.”
Night Light had galloped the whole way to the station in complete silence and in a dream like state. He couldn’t feel his hooves burning, his lungs aching for air, and he couldn’t feel the wind against his face. All he knew was that Cadence was gone, and that she had left on her own volition. Of course, they had read in parenting books about the ‘fleeing the nest’ scenario, but they had all assumed Cadence had grown out of it.
“Bottling up anger makes it worse than if it was just released in the first place. Pegasi are the same way. They bottle up their instincts, and sometimes when it comes out, it’s much stronger than if they’d just let it happen in the first place.”
Night Light wasn’t even sure what he was hearing, and he was very certain he wasn’t absorbing anything the stallion was saying. His eyes felt glossy and unfocused as he put all of his mental effort into staring down at the wood grain of the desk in front of him. The guard, outside of personally leaving the station, had done everything in his power for Cadence. He had dispatched a small search team to search Canterlot, and in the morning, the search team would be expanded to most of the local guard force, outside of the royal guard themselves.He had put out notices to be shipped in the morning mail, alerting every city within Equestria of Cadence’s name and appearance, along with a copied photograph from Night Light’s wallet.
“Fleeing instincts. I think the egg-heads call it something else, but… psh. Out of all the tribes, Pegasi are the most primal. And that’s not in a bad way, of course. They need to be instinctual when they’re flying a hundred miles an hour. Can’t have that barrier that you or me have, horn and hooves. When a Pegasus has to act, they have to act. They can’t have indecision. They gotta just… go, you know?”
Night Light sighed, lowering his head closer to the table.
“They have nesting instincts. You know that, right?”
He nodded. He could remember when Twilight had learned what pillows were, and the very next day, her crib was stuffed and overflowing with every pillow she could find in the house. It was adorable, and had definitely earned a spot in their gallery.
“Flying instincts…”
Who could forget how chaotic the day was when Twilight had learned to fly?
“Pegasi tend to be really good parents. They have that care, you know?”
Cadence. Cadence was the best sister to Twilight, even if they weren’t related at all. More often that not, Night Light and Velvet found themselves consulting the filly for help. And Cadence was more than happy to help out whenever she could. Now, though… Cadence was gone. Out there, somewhere, due to the exact same instincts that told her to care for Twilight.
A missing foal was a rarity in Equestria. A missing foal wasn’t just a big deal- it was massive. There wasn’t a doubt that Cadence’s face would be plastered all across the national newspapers the moment the media caught wind of what was happening. If there ever was a missing foal, it was because somepony had gotten lost in the crowd and lost their mommy. Very rarely did a foal run away like this.
“Bottle up those instincts, and eventually, when they come out, they’re gonna come out with a bang. Your filly, Cadence, had a very specific set of circumstances, and I guess I can see how this could happen. Very rare, and very specific. She’s an orphan who never really thought of the orphanage as her home. Which is rare, for an orphan in Equestria. She found a home with you guys, and I assume that’s when her instincts made a comeback. I don’t think she was trying to hide her instincts, but it turned out this way, didn’t it? She must’ve had a trigger, or something to set her… are you even listening to me?”
Night Light cocked his head away from the desk, a glass of water held between his hooves as he shivered from fatigue, running for so long at his age. His head felt heavy as he blinked blearily, taking a sip of his water.
“I-I-” He cleared his throat, bringing the glass lower down. “I-I only got the main points, I-I think.”
“Right.” The guard rubbed his forehead, adjusting himself on his seat. His eyes narrowed, however, as he slid a manila folder forwards on the table. “Ya know, I’m just a little curious. I’ve gone through Mi Amore Cadenza’s file, here, and she doesn’t seem to be legally related to you guys. How’d that happen?”
“Adoption-” Night Light snorted, taking a deep breath. “Well- we were going to surprise her with adoption for her birthday.”
“Oh, really?” The guard itched his chin. “That’s real noble of you. Not a lot of ponies adopt now a days, especially as spells can fix anypony’s problem willy nilly.”
“Yeah- it was- um-” Night Light sipped his glass again as a way to break his own stuttering. “I-I forget what the orphanage called it. Temporary foster care, maybe? I don’t know. We had a hoof-shaking agreement with the director. They were being overrun with foals at the time, and if we took Cadence in, then there’d be at least one more free bed. Which was a no-brainer, because she really trusted us.” He scratched his mane, looking up at the walls, decorated with degrees and trophies. “I didn’t know- we didn’t know she was an orphan until we got a knock on the door. Her and the director wanted a talk with us. That was… scary, to say the least.”
“So… you were going through with this whole thing? Adoption?” He asked, a genuine curiosity taking over as he nodded his head.
“Yeah. I mean- at the time, it seemed like a tall order. I mean, we’d just had a new filly, Twilight, less than a year ago at the time. We were already struggling with a Pegasus in the family, but… I mean, Cadence was already over at our house almost every day for most the day. You don’t just turn somepony like that down, do you? We didn’t. And it worked out pretty well.” He sighed, suddenly remembering why he was here. “Yeah… We’re going to- or, were, for her birthday, give her the adoption papers. They would’ve been approved by Princess Celestia about a week before our trip to Manehattan. We would’ve gone to the fountain in Mane Square, and we would’ve-” Night Light suddenly became acutely aware of the fact that his eyes were damp. He lightly dabbed his eyes with his hoof, feeling as the tears prickled his fur. “Ah- I’m sorry, I’m just-”
“Worried?” The guard asked, finishing his sentence. Although Night Light wasn’t exactly going to divulge down that path, he found himself nodding in agreement anyways. “Don’t worry about it, okay? By tomorrow morning, that filly’s face is going to be on every newspaper across the country. We’re going to try our best to find her, okay?” Night Light sighed, dabbing his eyes once more.
“Please… promise me you’ll find her.”
The guard cringed, but still put on his best smile.
“We’ll try our best.”





She wasn’t exactly sure what had just happened.
She was probably too young to even understand what had just happened.
But, whatever had just transpired, Twilight suddenly felt her world expand and shift like it had never done before.
Night Light had booked it out of the house with sudden and quick words exchanged between him and Velvet. They were still in the dome room, as Velvet exchanged words of comfort with Shining on the ground. They were both hysterical.Which was strange. Shining was a colt. He wasn’t meant to cry. And something about those two facts made Twilight feel very uncomfortable. Like something was very, very wrong with the world.
Twilight could feel the entire world through her hooves. And she was scared. She could feel the vibrations and hear the sounds as Night Light rushed through the house, slamming the door violently shut behind him. She could feel the emptiness of the halls outside the room through her wings, and she could feel the lack of Cadence. Cadence was gone. She had left the restaurant in such a rush, so much so that it was scary.
And she had hurt Shining.
No… No, of course not. Cadence had hurt Shining in the past, of course, in play. So had Shining to Cadence. The difference, however, was the intent. Those times were accidents. This one didn’t seem like an accident. As a matter of fact, it seemed malicious. But… Cadence wouldn’t do that, right? This wasn’t Shining gritting his teeth as Velvet band-aided a scratch, this was emotional.
The hairs on Twilight’s neck were standing up. Slowly, as to not disturb the scene that was happening too much, Twilight crept out of the room. Her hooves felt numb as she pushed the door to close it, the knob clicking against the frame to shut it into place.
No… her hooves weren’t numb. She had… energy in them. Anxious, scared energy, like she was watching her parents leave for a dinner date without them, or getting ready to challenge Cadence to a race. Her wings felt electric as she stood out in the hallway, almost itching to take to the skies. Unfortunately, Twilight was inside, and having two fleeing Pegasi in the same night would almost certainly make her mother have an aneurysm. So, Twilight did the second best thing. She flapped her wings, and flew up and down the hallway outside her bedroom.
It wasn’t very fulfilling. She still felt anxious, and she wasn’t sure why. She moved her flying from the hallway, to the staircase leading down to the living room. She made a large, swooping motion, curving around the staircase and sliding into the kitchen. She would do this every morning, much to the amusement of everypony in the kitchen. But now, however, as she finished her slide, it was painfully desolate. The sky outside was dark, and there wasn’t a single light on in the bottom floor.
She clicked her tongue against her mouth, and begun idly wandering. She really had no idea what to do, other than simply waiting for Night Light to get back from whatever he had been doing. Was he chasing Cadence, perhaps? She hopped up onto the bay window overlooking the sidewalk in front of her home. There was a variety of objects scattered on the window sill, including a candle, a pillow, a few pencils, and a book. The light from the streetlamps were providing the bare minimum amount of light for Twilight to see in front of her. So, with all of the anxiousness and anxiety that was building in her chest, she focused it into picking up the book. She adjusted the pillow, placing it behind her, so she didn’t crease her back painfully, and flipped open the book.
Yes… this was… relaxing, right? It was certainly helping calm her down, although she wasn’t sure if it was just because enough time had passed between the event with Cadence, or because the book was actually helping. What definitely did help, however, was Twilight taking a few deep breaths.
“The Time Machine, by D. Hoof.” Twilight frowned, trying to read the words, but failing miserably. She tilted the book in a vain attempt at reading it better, but the improvement was only marginal. She squinted, pulling the book closer to her muzzle, and trying to read harder. “The Time Traveller, for so it… it will be… conveenint? Conivent? To speak of him, was an expound- expounding…” She grunted, adjusting the book again.
“Having fun?” A voice said from the darkness. Twilight lowered the book from her face, and looking out into the dark living room. Velvet was standing by one of the overturned couches from their war earlier in the night.
“It’s really hard to read.” Twilight complained, letting the book rest against her leg as she closed it.
“Word-wise, or because it’s pitch black?” Velvet asked. Her magic ignited purple, and a nearby lamp clicked on, dousing the entire room in a very warm shade of orange. Velvet, now in the light, looked like a mess. Her eyes were stained with anxiety-ridden tears, the mascara she had been wearing streaking down and creaking black paths.Twilight looked back down at the book quickly, now completely illuminated, and pulled the cover open to it’s first page once more.
“The fire burned brightly, and the soft radi- radius- radiance of the… in… incand…” Twilight grunted, frowning, closing the cover with more vigor than last time. “Word-wise.” Her frown soon vanished, however, and was replaced with once coming from a deep place of concern. “Is Shiny okay?”
“Shining’s just going to bed early tonight, Twilight.” She quickly said. Velvet looked down at the mess that was left behind from their play-fight, a few purple and pink feathers scattered around from Twilight and Cadence. Velvet’s eyes lingered longer on the pink ones, however.
“Do you want me to clean that up?” Twilight asked.
“Huh?”
“Before we left for dinner, you said we had to clean it up before we went to bed. Shiny’s already in bed, and Cadence is… Do you want me to clean it up?”
“Oh, no, dear.” Velvet shook her head lightly, tittering. “Of course not. Today’s been a little too exciting. I’ll do it.” Her horn lit up once more, and both of the couches were surrounded in her aura. A few seconds later, and with a little bit of strain on Velvet’s part, both had been righted up. Velvet was about to begin putting the cushions on, when she noticed a little Pegasus doing her part, book abandoned. “Twilight, you don’t have to help.”
“I feel weird.” She stated bluntly, using her wings to pluck a cushion from the ground. “I feel like I have to be doing something.” Velvet opened her mouth to retort, but only found herself raising an eyebrow at the suspiciously adult-like behavior being displayed by the usually purple daredevil, who didn’t give head or tail about her actions.
“Well… that’s very nice of you, Twilight.” She said. She almost ignited her horn once more to affix all of the other cushions back, but decided against it, watching as Twilight moved to her second cushion. A moment later, Velvet found herself on her knees, plucking a cushion with her hooves and placing it onto the couch manually instead of using her magic.
They had almost finished the second couch when Twilight spoke again.
“Is Cadence okay?” She asked. Velvet was in the middle of fluffing a pillow when she froze, her lip twitching. She looked down to the Pegasus, now no longer helping, but rather staring down at the ground.
Velvet, like before, opened her mouth to say something, but found her words dying. She sighed, her shoulders relaxing. Then, with a hop, she jumped onto the sofa and laid down.
“Come, Twilight.” She patted. “Lay with me.” Twilight looked up at the couch, raising her eyebrow, but obliged anyways. She laid down onto the sofa with much more grace than Velvet, having wings to help her land softly compared to Velvet’s jump. Velvet wrapped a hoof around Twilight, so her wings were closed and pulled tight against Velvet’s side.
“Twilight… you know you’re a Pegasus, right?” She started. She expected a snort, or a retort, or a sarcastic comment from Twilight.
Instead, all she got was a solemn and slow nod.
“And you know how you can feel funny sometimes, right? Like when you feel claustrophobic, or when you’re flying fast and just know to turn a certain way?”
Once again, no retort. All she got was another silent nod, which was slightly aggravating for a lack of input.
“Cadence… didn’t. For a long time, she didn’t feel funny. And… earlier tonight, all at once, she felt very funny.” Velvet swallowed her spit, suddenly finding herself blinking quickly. Twilight, thankfully, wasn’t looking up and at her face. “She… had the urge to run away. And she did.” She sighed slowly. She had begun to feel a little bit irritated at Twilight's lack of response. Once more, Twilight stayed completely silent, her ears perked and listening.
“She ran away, and… she did a bad thing tonight. She yelled at you… she yelled at Shining… She didn’t…” Velvet sniffled, looking down at her filly. “Twilight, are you going to… say anything?” She tried her hardest to hide her frustration.
“Is that going to happen to me?” Twilight asked in a voice barely above a whisper. Velvet felt her blood run cold as she realization slowly dawned on her.
“W-What was that, dear?” Velvet asked, tightening her grip on Twilight.
“A-Am I going to run away one day?” Velvet hadn’t even realized it was happening, but Twilight was silently crying, just like her mother. “I don’t want to be like Cadence.”
“Honey…” She leaned down, nuzzling her daughter’s mane. “I… Mhm…” She contemplated. Twilight had urges in the past. Nesting in her own bed. Needing to run outside every hour or so for a burn. It was only logical that the next big urge would be Twilight’s need to run away, just like Cadence.
“I think…” Velvet started slowly. “That you’ll need to promise me you won’t.”
“B-But I can’t help it…” Twilight said quietly, resting her head onto her hooves. “When I get claustro- claustra-phobia, I get scared. I know I’m okay, but I get really scared, Mommy.” She sniffled, using her hoof to rub her muzzle. “A-Am I going to be okay?”
“You’ll be fine.” Velvet felt her own tear fall down her cheek, prickling her fur as it ran down. “Just… promise me you won’t run away.”
Twilight went silent for a few moments, listening to the complete lack of sound in the household. There wasn’t a single noise from anywhere.
“I… I promise.” She whispered. Velvet smiled, resting her head across Twilight’s neck in a snuggle.
But her own words did little to reassure the little Pegasus. Twilight kept her eyes wide open, her chin flinching as her thoughts became erratic.
I am a living, walking, and breathing time bomb.
Her sleep that night was not easy, within the grasp of Velvet.
> 10 - Tense Dinner
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

This. Is. Stupid. Thought Twilight.
She didn’t care about how stubborn or immature she looked. She crossed her hooves angrily, frowning deeply as she leaned back in her seat and completely ignoring the plate of spaghetti in front of her. Instead, she focused her eyes onto the edge of the table.
“All I’m saying is that it might be a good idea to get you out of the house!” Velvet, for her credit, was trying as hard as she could to bargain with the little filly. She tried her best to catch her daughter’s elusive eye, but no matter how much she leaned forwards or raised her voice, Twilight was dead-set on not looking anywhere but up at her mother. “Flight Camp is a great idea, Twilight…”
“No it isn’t.” Twilight responded with an exaggerated pout. “It’s a big, bad, stupid idea.”
To say things have been rocky since Cadence left was an understatement. Shining Armor was no longer the go-lucky colt he once was, instead being reserved in his studies and most nights not coming home until later. Fortunately, he had decided to join the family for dinner. Unfortunately, he was about as non-talkative as Twilight was, idly poking his fork at his food without a single thought besides despair going through his head.
The empty seat next to him, however, was painfully apparent. Although the seat itself did nothing to garner any attention, the fact that nopony was sitting in it was enough to create what felt like a void in the room. A void that demanded attention. And Twilight was giving it attention, much to her parent’s frustration.
“C’mon, Twilight…” Night Light sighed, sitting next to Velvet, and seemed to be the only pony actually eating the spaghetti. “Ever since… you know who went on, uh, vacation, you’ve been closed off.” He gave a soft smile as he leaned forwards, doing the same trick Velvet was doing to grab her attention. “Do you remember how excited you were for Kindergarten?” He asked. Twilight didn’t react. He sighed, but tried to keep his smile up. “C’mon, now. Your food is getting cold!”
His words weren’t from a place of malice, of course. For a young filly, she was surprisingly competent with emotions, often verbalizing exactly what she was feeling. Unfortunately, she verbalized exactly exactly what she was feeling, which lead to situations like this. She knew she had been continually frustrating her teachers, and she also knew that raising her voice was bad. That didn’t mean she wouldn’t though, and more often than not, she would come home with write ups from the teacher that made her parents dissapointed.
Shining flickered his eyes away from his food and down at Twilight, who for the first time that night, had made eye contact back with him. Both of their eyes flickered to the empty seat.
Cadence wasn’t somepony she could easily forget about. After all, she wasn’t simply some foalsitter, or a caretaker. She was part of their lives. Twilight couldn’t remember a single day in her entire life when Cadence wasn’t around. And now that she wasn’t around, there was an unbearable silence that seemed to permeate the home. It almost felt like Cadence was still home, simply on the other side of the wall, or in her room. But, no matter how hard Twilight tried to look for her, Cadence was well and truly gone- and that made her frustrated.
“Maybe school isn’t for me.” Twilight said with a bitter undertone that laced her vocals. “Ever thought about that?”
“Or-” Velvet quickly said. “Or, or… You just need more interactions with your own kind!” She proposed. This actually made Twilight look up at her for once with a disbelieving look on her face. “You’ve been stuck with us Unicorns for forever. Have you thought it might be time to make some more Pegasus friends?”
Twilight blanched, looking over to Shining for help. Shining was frowning, furrowing his brow as he looked at Velvet.
“Cadence was my only Pegasus friend.” Twilight mumbled.
“C’mon, honey.” Night Light cringed, pulling himself away from looking at Twilight to his wife. “Don’t bring her tribe into this. Please.”
“I mean, it’s true, isn’t it?” Velvet retorted, focusing her attention on Night Light. “When Cadence was around, Twilight was the fastest filly around! I mean, she could- could explode clouds when she moved!” Velvet stuttered for a moment, swallowing down her words. “This is for the best, Nighty!”
“How do you think I feel?” Twilight spoke up, planting both of her hooves onto the table and standing up in an attempt to make herself look bigger and more intimidating. “You two are Unicorns! My brother is a Unicorn!” Shining’s eyes flittered downwards in what apparead to be shame. “My teachers are Unicorns. My classmates are Unicorns. When I trot to school, all I see are Unicorns, and maybe a few Earth-ponies. When I sit in the lunch room, I sit by myself, because nopony wants to sit by the weirdo with wings!” She gasped for air, although she wasn’t crying. “When Cadence was around, I never even thought about how different I am from everypony else. But now that she’s gone…” She took in another deep breath. “I don’t like to think that my wings make me different, but when your talking about sending me to Flight Camp, I can’t help it!” Twilight, finally, had a thin line of tears going down her cheeks. “Why couldn’t I just be like you two?!” She shouted, hopping down from the chair.
“T-Twilight!” Velvet tried to reason, standing up. But, as she got out from her chair, all she managed to see was a dark purple tail whipping behind a wall, and the sounds of scurrying hooves up a staircase. A moment later, the three remaining ponies cringed as they heard a door slam shut.
There was silence as the three ponies remaining simply idled, not entirely sure what to do. The silence was also a terrible reminder of the missing pony. There was no talking, no laughter, no playing… simply just… silence.
“I thought mares were supposed to get all…” Night Light nodded his head side-to-side. “...emotional during their teenage years. Not single digits.”
“Dude.” Shining hissed. “Not cool.”
Velvet responded by collapsing her head into her hooves.
“We are such terrible parents!” She shouted into her hooves. “Twilight’s crying, and Cadence is gone!”
Velvet let out a surprised gasp as she felt Night Light’s hooves wrap around her waist, pulling her in tight for a hug. She looked up to see her husband, who was now leaning his chin against her head.
“We just hit a rocky spot, that’s all.” Night Light soothed, rocking back and forth. “We’ve been doing great so far, okay? It’s just… you know, sometimes, you gotta fall before you can climb! Or, run before you can walk. Whatever.”
“Sure.” Velvet sniffled, realizing there was suddenly tears running down her cheeks. “What kind of parents loose their kid?”
“Cadence’ll show up.” Night Light shifted his weight, letting Velvet rest her head against his chest. “I don’t know if it’ll be tomorrow, or ten years from now, but we’re going to see her again.” He sighed out. “Twilight’ll come around. She’s a real smart filly. Really smart. Sooner or later, she’ll realize we only care for her. I mean, I don’t like the idea of Flight Camp, either, but if she comes back with her better half…”
“We’re not going to force her.” Velvet rubbed the tears away from her eyes, sniffling. “No matter what. If she doesn’t want to go, then…” She sighed out. “Then I guess that’s it, then.”
There was more silence.
A little bit of reassurance went a long way, sure, but both ponies knew the end was nowhere in sight.
“Um, I don’t wanna interrupt or anything,” Shining started, still sitting at the dinner table. “But is it a good time to tell you guys I want to join the Guard?”
This time, the silence was tense, as both ponies slowly turned around and looked up at their son, who was sitting at the table with an awkward and tense grin on his face.
“Right now’s a terrible time, Shining.” Night Light said. “A terrible time.”
“Well- it’s just, you know…” He started, whether the ponies wanted to listen or not. “I just thought that joining the Royal Rangers might help, uh, finding ponies.” He gulped. “Certain ponies who run off, you know?”
“Shining…” Velvet grumbled, pulling both of her hooves to her head and rubbing her temples. “We just- We’ll talk about this tomorrow, okay?”
Shining gave a weak nod and went back to his spaghetti, which with at the pace he was eating at, was already cold.





When was the last time she had stared at her wings? Like, really stare, and not just for preening. Her wings were complex muscles that had what seemed like dozens of feathers lining the tough ligaments just below her skin. She took a hoof and ran it lightly through her feathers, feeling the sharp tips poke the bottom of her frog.
There was a single out of place feather. She couldn’t even feel it, yet it looked physically uncomfortable. She adjusted herself on her bed. Slowly, she pulled her wing up to her muzzle and bit down on it, slowly caressing it back into place. Once she was happy, she took a deep breath, and looked around the empty observatory.
There was Cadence’s bed. It looked identical to the way it had a week ago, when it had all went down. The dresser cabinets were still open, and a few items were spread haphazardly around on the ground. Twilight frowned, a prickling sensation developing around her eyelids as she sniffled.
She hadn’t even said goodbye.
Twilight turned her back to the rest of the glass dome, pushing her head into the pillow.
Everything was stupid. Everything. From Cadence, to the wings on her back. All at once, reality came crashing down. And for the first time, Twilight didn’t react. She felt… empty. Her tear ducts had long since ran dry, as did the emotions in her brain.
Twilight just closed her eyes in defeat. Reality had won.
> 11 - New Friend
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Twilight, dear, could you please go pick a partner?” The teacher asked, no, begged her with an impatient yet forced smile on her muzzle.
The classroom was positively bustling with activity, much to Twilight’s dismay. There was, unfortunately, a group project today, and that meant Twilight was forced to find a partner. Usually, she would simply wait around until everypony got their own partner, and that would leave Twilight completely alone as the classroom was composed of an uneven number of fillies and colts.
Except for today, Missus Bright had finally found a way to force Twilight to work with a partner. There was a new student today, bringing the uneven number of kids up to an even number. Which meant, as much as Twilight hated it, she was going to get a partner.
“I don’t want to. I’m tired.” Twilight said as she looked across the teacher’s desk, her eyes popping just barely above the surface of the oak desk. Missus Bright’s smile faltered, if only for a second, as she took in a deep breath.
“I’m sorry, Twilight, but your parent’s and I are concerned for you.” Missus Bright said, her smile not yet faltering. “And we wouldn’t want to watch you fall behind, now, do we?” Twilight rolled her eyes, to which finally, Missus Bright’s smile broke into a frown. “If you don’t find a partner, I’m going to assign you one.”
Twilight gave a glare, along with a frown, but it did little to sway the teacher one way or the other. Twilight let out a groan, turning around, and slowly inching her way through the center isle with an unbothered and bored look on her face, although internally, she was angry. She wasn’t lying, either. She was tired.
The class of foals were annoying. All foals were annoying. They were loud, messy, aggressive… pretty much anything bad could be applied to the little rats that inhabited this school.
As she trotted towards the back of the classroom, scanning the rows for kids to work with, she noted that every kid had a partner already. Nopony really paid her much attention, only giving her a quick side-eye before turning back to their partner. Which was great for her, as when she came to the back of the classroom, she had a realization.
Somepony must be sick today.
That even number of kids must’ve went to being an uneven number once more, which let her have a day off of exactly zero interruptions. She stopped at the back wall of the classroom, right next to the door, and turned back with a smile.
Without wasting a single moment, Twilight let out a large yawn, trotting to the play corner. She idly nudged and kicked a few stray puzzles and board games out of the way as she found the most comfortable, and only, beanbag.
She jumped up and let her wings flap in the air, giving her as much boost as she possibly could without taking off. With a thump, she spread her body as far as it could go on the beanbag, her wings stretching out and completely relaxing. Her smile still present, and her body melting, she closed her eyes.
By a complete stroke of luck, she didn’t have a partner.
Partners were dumb, anyways. At the end of the day, partners would get side-tracked and end up dumping their entire workload onto her. That was the way it always works, and that’s the way it will always work until the end of time. And what was the value in doing team projects, anyways? Learning how to name bits of a skeleton? Oh- better yet, naming the parts of a horn? That was fun, right? For a Pegasus like herself? She found immense value in naming bits of parts she would never get to use.
That was dumb. Adults are dumb for assigning garbage assignments like that. Actually- Parents were dumb, too. Always trying to get involved in Twilight’s life. Wanting to send her to Flight Camp. Things that Twilight very obviously was against, but that didn’t seem to matter in their eyes. What mattered was getting rid of her.
‘All I’m saying is that it might be a good idea to get you out of the house!’
That’s what they were trying to do. Now that Cadence was gone, it was painfully apparent that Twilight didn’t belong. Didn’t the tribes unite like, a million years ago? Wasn’t there an entire story told during Hearth’s Warming dedicated around why separation was a bad idea?
“A-hem.”
Unfortunately, her welling in self-despair was unfortunately interrupted. Twilight let out a groan and raised her head, meeting the slightly irate eyes of Missus Bright, standing over the beanbag like a skyscraper. Twilight raised her eyebrows and rested her head onto the plush surface, watching as Missus Bright let out an almost defeated sigh.
“What do you think you’re doing?” She asked with a harsh frown. “I could’ve sworn I told you to get a partner.”
“All the partners are gone.” Twilight said dismissively, blinking slowly. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to take a much needed nap-”
“The new student doesn’t have a partner.” The teacher said bluntly. Twilight found herself feeling surprised as she raised her head, looking back at the rows and rows of tables. She was very sure she checked every table, right? She looked around the classroom in confusion.
“Where?” She asked.
“Right over there.” Missus Bright pointed a hoof, back at the opposite corner of the classroom. Right across from the play corner, where Twilight resided, was the book corner. There was three bookshelves that made up a small alcove, along with a single red beanbag. That beanbag was taken up by a large book that blocked most of the reader’s body. The only thing Twilight could make out was the tip of her horn, and all four of her cream colored hooves sticking out.
Twilight looked back at the teacher.
“Do I reeeallly have to?”
“Yes.” Missus Bright said in a tone that told Twilight there was no room for argument. Twilight let out another groan, and sloppily stood up from her blue beanbag, hopping down. The teacher watched as Twilight gripped the handle of the blue beanbag with her teeth, and began sulking towards the other corner.
The filly, still hiding behind her book, made no indication that she even realized Twilight had approached. Twilight let the beanbag relax from her mouth, making a thump onto the floor. Once again, the most the filly reacted was turning the page.
Twilight frowned at being ignored, although felt a little comfort in the fact that she didn’t have to talk to this obvious social recluse.
Without another motion, Twilight leapt with all of the elegance of a sumo wrestler directly onto the blue beanbag.
Somehow, the filly actually hadn’t noticed her up until now, letting out a yipe as the sudden body of Twilight landed next to her. Twilight buried her face into the blue beanbag.
“Do whatever.” Twilight mumbled into the plush, giving her hoof a small wave. “I don’t care. I’ll just finish the group project at home, or something.”
There was silence in the book corner, only interrupted as a shout or a scream of a foal from the tables echoed out through the area. Silence that was beautiful, and felt great, and just for a moment, Twilight was sure she felt herself fall into a microsleep, or something of that nature. Just a moment where everything vanished, and she was able to properly feel gone.
“Are you sleeping because you’re a Pegasus?”
Unfortunately, just like Missus Bright had interrupted her thirty seconds ago, so had this filly, too. Slowly, very slowly, Twilight raised her head and looked up at the filly. She had set her book down to the side, and was now staring at Twilight with her beady eyes. She was a cream colored Unicorn, her mane red with two violet stripes going down the middle. She wore thick framed black glasses and a gray sweater.
“Are you wearing glasses because you’re blind?” Twilight scoffed.
“Well, yeah.” The filly responded, apparently unoffended at her words. She also wasn’t put off by Twilight’s words, either, as she leaned forwards, getting closer to Twilight. “I’ve never seen a Pegasus up close before! Can I touch your wings?”
Twilight immediately snapped her wings shut, and turned her body so she was sitting up and staring at this pony head-on.
“No. No, you cannot.”
“Oh, by the way, my name is Moondancer!” She said, extending her hoof out for a bump. Twilight frowned. “Me and my family used to live in the castle, but my dad was fired, or something, so we had to move down here.”
“Ah.” Twilight sighed. “So you’re sheltered?”
“Well, I mean-” Moondancer let her hoof fall.
“Makes sense.” Twilight sighed. “If there isn’t any Pegasi in Canterlot, then there really isn’t any Pegasi in the castle.” Moondancer shifted her head to the side, and raised her eyebrow.
“But there was.” She said. “Some of the guards are Pegasi. But my Mom never let me get too close to them.” Once more, Moondancer’s eyes drifted to her wings, and Twilight felt strangely exposed as the filly’s curiosity peaked. “Your wings are very pretty.”
“T-Thanks? I guess?” Twilight felt a blush rise to her cheeks. “And you have a very pretty… horn.”
“Thanks!” Moondancer said, crossing her eyes and looking up. “It’s all natural! I’ve never gotten my horn sharpened before- Mom says I’m too young for that- but I think it came out really nice!”
“Right.” Twilight cleared her throat. “Well, my name is Twilight Sparkle.” This time, Twilight was the one to raise her hoof, and Moondancer gladly bumped it. “What was it you were saying about me being sleepy because I’m a Pegasus?”
“Oh! Oh, right!” Moondancer laid down on her red beanbag, as Twilight followed suit on her blue beanbag. “Yeah, I’ve never really seen a Pegasus up close before, so I read a lot about you guys in the royal library.” Suddenly, Moondancer straightened her neck, and she almost looked as if she was reading something far away as she began rattling off in a melodramatic, nearly robotic voice. “Pegasi need more sleep than any of the other tribes due to their increased metabolism. Along with other factors such as having a thicker coat, which requires more energy to maintain, as well as their increased healing ability.”
“Wow.” Twilight blinked. “I… didn’t know that.” Twilight raised her hoof into her vision and used her other hoof to slowly caress her fur. “I… don’t think I have a thicker coat, though. I think I have a normal coat.”
“Oh, right. No, the thicker coat only comes in after puberty.”
“I really feel like that’s something I should’ve known about.” Twilight mumbled with confusion.
“How many naps do you take in a day?” The filly asked. Twilight paused and looked up, mentally counting in her head.
“Uh…” She swallowed. “Three? Four, at most?” She felt strangely called out. “Uh- what was the group project we were supposed to work on? I… kinda wasn’t listening.”
“That’s okay!” Moondancer said. Her horn ignited, and Twilight watched as she plucked a large paper from the ground next to her, along with an entire box of markers. She flattened the paper on the ground in front of the beanbags, and splayed the markers onto the paper. “We’re supposed to be making a map of Equestria.” Twilight watched as Moondancer hopped down from the beanbag and laid onto the floor, picking up a purple marker. “I can work on the higher districts, like Canterlot, and you can work on… Uh…”
“How about I work on the Moon district?” Twilight said, already picking up a red marker with the tip of her wing.
“Well…” Moondancer hummed. “That’s a lot of area. I’m not against it, but…”
“Trust me, I’ve read more than enough.”
“Have you?” She asked, apparently not convinced. Twilight gave one of her first smiles of the afternoon, and planted the marker onto the paper. Moondancer gave her a strange look, but eventually shrugged and began working on Canterlot. “So… what are you doing in Canterlot?” Moondancer asked, trying to begin small talk.
“Born here.” Twilight responded, following her memory with the tracing of a not-yet-drawn river as a border. “I live with my Mom and Dad.”
“That’s cool. I wish I could come over some time.” Moondancer sighed. “I would love to see what a cloud house looks like up close.”
“What?” Twilight asked, breaking for a moment to shoot a confused glance at Moondancer. “No-no-no. I’m not- we don’t live in a cloud house. As a matter of fact, my whole family is Unicorns. I’m the only Pegasus, now.”
“Oh, I’m sorry!” Moondancer said, stopping her drawing and covering her mouth with a hoof. “Are you… if you don’t mind me asking, are you adopted?” She quickly reached her hoof across the paper to rest on Twilight’s. “I mean- if it’s not too painful to talk about-”
“I’m not!” Twilight yanked her hoof away. “I’m not. It’s just a one in a million chance that I was born a Pegasus. Trust me, if you saw me next to my Mom and Dad, you’d believe me when I say I am not adopted.” Twilight sighed out, placing down the marker. “I think I’m done with the Moon district.”
“Are you?” Moondancer glanced to her side of the paper. “I’m not done with my-” Her eyes quickly did a double-take, and finally fully focused on her drawing. “Woah! You did that all by memory?!”
“Yeah.” Twilight found a familiar blushing feeling rising in her cheeks. “I mean, like I said, I used to read a lot. I haven’t in a while, though. I kinda fell out of it after… uh, yeah.”
“Ohmygosh, did you have a favorite book?” Moondancer asked excitedly. “Mine has to be Magical Artifacts Volume 2 by Mistify!” Twilight hummed as she tapped her chin, thinking back to when she read. After all, it wasn’t that long ago, but she hadn’t ever really sat down to consider what book was her favorite before.
“Well… I think it would have to be…” She grunted. “Uhh, Application of Crystal Electronics? By Gyro?”
“Ooh, I’ve read that one!” Moondancer said with exubriation. “That’s the one where they explore the possibility of tele-communicating with energy, right?” She clapped her hooves together. “I just thought it was so interesting! Nothing that spells can’t do, of course, but in a theoretical magic-devoid-apocalypse, it could be a reliable alternative to spells!”
“I was thinking more about it as if Unicorns vanished. Or never existed.” Twilight said. Moondancer gave her a sharp look. “I mean, if spells weren’t there to fix every little issue, then how would we do things we take for granted? How would we communicate over long distances? How would we move heavy objects? How would we move the sun and moon?”
“Huh.” Moondancer tapped her chin. “That was not something I’ve thought of before…”
Both the fillies jumped when the class bell overhead let out a shrill ring. In a flurry of movements that could cause a small tornado, the class emptied nearly instantly, leaving behind what any reasonable pony could call a terrible mess. The two fillies looked at the rows of deserted desks, before looking back at each other.
“Guess we didn’t finish this today, huh?” Twilight asked awkwardly, rubbing the back of her mane.
“I guess not.” Moondancer sighed, standing up and stretching like a cat. “You’re not like any of the other foals I’ve met. You’re… mature, I think.”
“I could say the same about you.” Twilight said, standing up and mimicking Moondancer’s stretch, almost one to one. “I’ve not met many foals who I can actually tolerate. And… sorry for, uh, being kinda rude earlier? I didn’t mean to brush you off… or call you blind.”
“Don’t worry about it.” Moondancer said while she rolled the paper up into a scroll, and plonking it into her nearby saddlebags. “I’ll work on this at home, and we can come back tomorrow to-” Suddenly, memories of a school far away flashed in front of her vision. The memory of her parents, and the idea that she might be sent away.
“Or!” Twilight suddenly interrupted. “Or- I know this is kinda soon, but would you like to come over today?” Twilight asked, almost trying to hide behind her mane. “I know that, uh, we haven’t really talked much, but…?” Moondancer looked surprised, but smiled none the less.
“Sure! We’d have to stop by my house and ask my parents, first, but I would be down!”
“Yes!” Twilight shouted, fears slowly slipping off of her wings.
I’ll show my parents that I can make friends! Then, they won’t have to send me away!
“Come on! Your place, first, right?” She asked. Moondancer nodded, and together, they walked out of the classroom. Missus Bright watched from her desk with a smile on her face. She whispered, nearly inaudible to anypony not two feet in front of her, a silent nailed it.
> 12 - Wanna Talk?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Moondancer wasn’t exactly sure what to expect when she followed Twilight home. After all, from her own personal experience of living in the castle, there really wasn’t many ‘friends’ to be made that weren’t Canterlot Nobles’s foals. And honestly, they didn’t seem very nice to hang out with.
The duo had deviated from their path, taking a quick moment to tell Moondancer’s mom where they were headed. Her mom seemed overjoyed and happy, much to Moondancer’s embarassment.
“Moondancer, you made a friend? Already?”
Despite Moondancer’s saddlebags full of supplies hanging heavily off of her withers, and despite her black sweater starting to make her turn hot under the sun, she trotted along happily next to Twilight. The duo were talking about anything and everything it seemed like, as they hit it off like naturals.
“No, statistics are so much better.” Twilight said.
“That’s stupid! Statistics can’t exist without mathematics!” Moondancer said, pushing her glasses closer to the bridge of her muzzle. Twilight rolled her eyes, but kept a tight smile on her face. “Therefore, mathematics are better!”
Twilight was flying above the ground by a few feet, and she was predominately spending the time dodging in and out of lamp posts like she was trying to park a carriage.
“Statistics and mathematics are the exact same thing.” Twilight said, looking up at the city street signs to get a read on where they were, and where they were going. Unless she was with her parents, she mostly flew over the city instead of partaking in trotting through it’s busy streets. Despite that, she still had a good sense of direction, whether that was because of her observations of the streets, or her Pegasus instinct. She didn’t know nor care.
Moondancer would’ve been completely lost without her. She had said that she had moved down here from living in the Canterlot Castle, which would’ve been a dream for any young filly. But in the way that Moondancer described it, with stuck-up nobles and stuffy halls, it almost seemed undesirable. But still, Twilight wondered what it would take for her to live in the castle someday.
“Statistics and mathematics- they- they are not the same thing!” Moondancer said, sounding genuinely offended, although her smile betrayed her. “Statistics is like displaying things on, an, uh, graph! It would be like saying science is the same as mathematics because they both use numbers. It just doesn’t make any sense.”
“Sure. I guess.” Twilight rolled over in the air, flying upside-down as she looked up at the clouds. A trick like this would’ve been hard for any other Pegasus, but for Twilight, it was quite easy, as she had managed to boil the entire thing down into the technique. “But I’m right. Statistics makes everything so much better. Like how much debt Equestria owes other nations! When I see the number in the newspapers, I just want to yawn and fall asleep. But it’s so much more fun when I can split it up into exactly what Equestria owes, who Equestria owes it to, and what that debt was-”
THUNK.
“Ow!” Twilight fell to the ground in a heap, sitting on the concrete floor and rubbing the sore spot developing on her head. She had completely forgotten she was dodging lampposts, and had managed to run head-first into one without looking.
“Ohmygosh, are you okay?” Moondancer asked, quickly coming to her side. The materials in her saddlebags clanked and made noise as she leaned forwards, touching Twilight’s head. “Are you hurt?”
Twilight felt a twinge in her heart, and heat radiate off of her face.
“Me? Pfft, I’m fine!” Twilight pushed Moondancer’s hoof away from the sore spot. “Us Pegasi are real tough!” She said, although the top of her head was still radiating pain in waves. “Our bones are squishy and hollow. A little bump isn’t enough to hurt me.”
And then Twilight did something that, ten years from now, she would lay in bed late at night and cringe at, wondering what in Equestria compelled her to do something as terrible as what she was about to do.
Twilight flexed her bicep at Moondancer.
She had no muscle to flex.
“See? I’m tough!”
Moondancer blinked behind her large glasses.
The silence that permeated through the city block was the loudest silence that had ever permeated in the history of forever. Twilight felt her ears slowly start to burn as Moondancer stared at Twilight’s bicep. Slowly, Twilight put her hoof back down.
“Um.” Moondancer cleared her throat, backing away from Twilight. “So… which one is your house?”
“That one.” Twilight quickly said, thankful that Moondancer looked away. She let out a deep breath she wasn’t aware that she was holding. Her ears felt like they were in directly sunlight as the burning embarrassment slowly caught up to her brain. Note to self: Never flex. Ever. I don’t even know what compelled me to do that.
“That’s your house?” Moondancer asked, craning her neck upwards. “You’re house is really big! Like, really, really big!” She said. Twilight jumped back onto her hooves, flapping her wings and soaring above her, landing on the front stony steps. Moondancer was still marveling at it, but Twilight, despite her embarrassment, seemed confused at Moondancer’s reaction. Sure, it might’ve been painted a very nice shade of blue, but it wasn’t anything particularly special. “You have an observatory? In your house?!” She almost shouted, pointing up at the glass dome.
“Oh, uh, yeah.” Twilight trotted up the remaining steps to her front door. “That’s mine and- uh, my room.”
“Your room? Your room is in an observatory?” Her eyes took one last look at the observatory, before bounding after Twilight, the supplies in her saddlebags clanging loudly. “Well, come on! I can’t wait to see your room!”
“Yeah, my room is pretty awesome!” Twilight coughed nervously. “I mean, uh, it’s nothing special, really…” She chuckled, clearing her throat. “But yeah. Come on in, I’m sure my parents are wondering where I’ve been.” She pushed open the door, and Moondancer followed closely behind. “Mom! Dad!” Twilight shouted into the home, waiting as Moondancer followed her in to close the door. Twilight trotted ahead of her as Moondancer followed slower, taking in the home.
“I’ve never been in a house this decorated before.” Moondancer murmured, taking a moment to stop by what appeared to be a shrine, entirely dedicated to photos of the family. “Or lived in.” She adjusted her glasses, leaning forwards and looking at a photo.
True to her word, Twilight’s parents were both Unicorns, as was her apparent brother. But what made Moondancer narrow her eyes was another Pink Pegasus in the photo, who looked wholly unrelated to any of the family, yet was also a Pegasus, just like Twilight was. Moondancer wasn’t one to speculate on the ongoing of another family, of course, but she couldn’t help but wonder what in Equestria was happening here.
“Mom? Dad?” Twilight asked. She trotted past the living room, also empty. “Where are-”
She turned the corner into the dining room to a peculiar sight. Despite being the middle of the day, after lunch and before dinner, her family was sitting at the table. Velvet sat on the right, as Night sat on the left and Shining took up the head, facing her. In Shining’s hooves was a manila folder, full of a lot of thick and long documents poking up from the visible sides. Printed on the front of the manila folder was a strange looking logo of a sword and shield.
“Hey there, Twilight.” Night greeted her, somewhat more downtrodden than usual. “I, uh, think Shining wants to tell you something.” Night cleared his throat, setting both of his hooves on the table. “I think I speak for Shining when I say we’ve thought about this for a long, long time, alright? He still loves you, and he wants the best for everypony. With that being said-”
And then Moondancer caught up to Twilight, standing next to her and also looking out at the family. She offered a nervous smile as the other three ponies in the room blanched in silence.
“Did…” Shining blinked a few times, rubbing his eye with a hoof, and then refocusing on the two ponies. “Did Twilight clone herself, or am I just seeing things?”
“I met somepony new today, and I invited her over!” Twilight said quickly, wrapping her wing around Moondancer’s withers and pulling her close. “Everypony, meet Moondancer!” The silence finally ended as the tension in the room eased up between the three adults. Even then, however, Velvet still shot a glance to Shining that screamed of ‘We will talk about this later.’ None the less, she hopped off of her seat.
“Oh, how nice!” Velvet said with a genuine smile, approaching the two fillies. “I’ve always told Twilight she has to go make more friends, but I wasn’t expecting this! My name is Twilight Velvet.” She presented her hoof for a bump. Moondancer, upon hearing Twilight’s mother’s name, felt her brain do a small somersault, but bumped anyway. “There is my husband, Night Light.” She turned around, pointing to the nearest stallion, giving a smile. “And that’s Twilight’s brother, Shining Armor.” She pointed at the other stallion. Shining gave a short wave, setting the manila folder on the table.
“Oh, uhm, hi!” Moondancer said awkwardly. “Um… If you don’t mind me asking, but, I thought her name was Twilight?” Moondancer pointed at Twilight.
“Oh, no, honey.” Velvet gave a short chuckle. “It’s a Unicorn family tradition where we come from to name the daughter after the mother. My mom’s name is Twilight, as was her mom’s, and so on until about as far as history goes back.” Velvet gave a quick smile. “Are you staying until dinner? I’m sure we can set out one more plate.”
“I mean…” Moondancer looked to Twilight, who was smiling herself. “If it’s not too big of an issue…”
“Great!” Twilight interrupted. “Come on, Moony. You wanted to see my room, right?” She asked, giving one big flap with her wings to propel her into the air. Moondancer laughed, immediately taking chase to Twilight, watching the Pegasus navigate the halls of the home and following her closely underneath. It was obvious that this type of architecture was not designed to have somepony fly through it, as the halls were way too tight. Velvet watched them scurry up the stairs with a smile.
“You’re going to have to tell her.” Night Light sighed out, resting his elbows on the table. “Not while Moondancer is here, but… It should be tonight. It’s not worth putting it off.” Shining responded with a grumble, adjusting the manila folder on the table slightly.
“I don’t want to do it to her.” Shining whispered as Velvet reapproached the table, putting a comforting hoof on his shoulder.
“I just hope you know what you’re doing.” Velvet sighed out.
Upstairs, Twilight pushed open the door to her room, and moved out of the way so Moondancer could properly awe at the slight, slowly inching forwards. Once she stepped in, Twilight closed the door behind her, flying over to her bed in the corner of the dome.
“This is amazing!” Moondancer sang suddenly, galloping towards the middle of the room. Despite the sun beating through the windows, it wasn’t particularly warm inside of it. It was quite echoey, however, which let Moondancer’s voice ring out in an echo. “There’s so much floor space! It’s like the size of our loft in the castle! Why is your room so big?”
“It used to be an observatory.” Twilight said, adjusting herself on her bed so her hind legs were tucked in and her front hooves were hanging off the edge. “Before I was born, my dad used to study the stars in here. Apparently they read a book that said Pegasus foals get claustraphobic, so they put me up here.”
“Well, they’re not wrong.” Moondancer shouted, listening as her voice echoed off the glass panes. She did another spin before galloping over to Twilight’s bed and leaping onto it. Twilight felt herself rise up as the addition of Moondancer changed the shape of the mattress. “I’ve also read that. It’s about how Pegasi evolved in the clouds, and aren’t used to closed ceilings.” She said, adjusting herself on the bed until she was sitting upright. “But why is it so empty in here?” She asked, motioning out to the room. “The entire room looks… barren.”
Twilight felt her heart tug as she turned to look at the rest of her room. The room that was now solely hers. Once upon a time, she vividly remembered a pink Pegasus trotting in, excited that she had bought brand new fairy lights to hang up around her side of the room. Twilight could still almost see her doing it, as she looked over the edge of her book. Twilight coughed, coming back to the real world.
“I’ve just never felt the need to expand, I guess.” Twilight mumbled.
“But, I mean…” Moondancer bit her cheek as she pushed herself off of the bed. “You could do a lot in here. Put a desk there.” She pointed to an empty space. Truly, the only objects in this room was Twilight’s bed, a small dresser, and a single lowly nightstand by the door that once held a lamp. “You could put a telescope here.” She pointed at the window. The same window that Cadence had fled from. “Maybe you could even make a staircase here, to like, a small reading room!” She gasped. “Ohh, I’ve always wanted a reading room! That would be so cool.”
“Yeah, maybe.” Twilight shrugged, clearing her throat. “Hey- can we get started on the project?”
“Oh, come on.” Moondancer turned around to face her. “This place is so cool! Why did you never expand? I’d line the walls with bookcases!” She did a short spin. In another life, perhaps she might’ve been a ballerina. “I don’t understand…” Her eye, in the middle of yet another spin, caught something. “…why you didn’t…” She hummed, trotting towards the only solid wall in the room leading back into the rest of the house.
By the door was what appeared like a bulletin board. Lining the entire thing was a bunch of instant-print photographs, pinned to the cork. All of the photographs had Twilight in them, and they seemed to loosely document Twilight’s early life.
The first few photographs had obviously been taken very early in Twilight’s life. The very first one was of Twilight in her crib, looking up at the camera as the flash lit up the entire area, giving Twilight a sort of pale look.
Halfway down was a photograph of the same pink Pegasus Moondancer had seen in the hallway. She had turned the camera to face her and Shining, with a very young Twilight in the middle. They were all dressed up, with Shining dressed as a guard, Twilight as some kind of Alicorn, and the pink Pegasus as a witch. The background, however, was the same dome Moondancer found herself in. Except it was decorated beautifully. Fairy string lights lit up the entire area, giving it a vintage orange glow in the photo. Bookshelves, carpets, and dressers lined the area. It looked very lived in, a stark contrast to what the place looked like now.
“Twilight, who is this?” Moondancer asked, pointing at the pink Pegasus. “Do you have a sister?”
“Uh…” Twilight swallowed harshly, playing with both of her hooves. “I, uh, used to.”
“Used to?” Moondancer asked, adjusting her glasses. “What do you mean used to?”
“She…” Twilight made a motion with her hooves. “...Isn’t here anymore, basically.”
Finally, it looked like Moondancer got it. She let out a short gasp, facing Twilight immediately. Twilight offered a weak smile.
“Oh! Oh, um, I’m so sorry! I didn’t know, uh-” Moondancer quickly said, covering her mouth with a hoof. “Is that why this place is so empty?”
“Well… yeah, I guess so.” Twilight blew a bang out of her eye. “I just… didn’t want any of her stuff here anymore. And I didn’t want it. It felt… tainted, somehow. Like she was still using it, I guess.” Twilight cleared her throat. “I mean, it’s fine. It’s all cool. You didn’t know, and were curious.” Twilight cleared her throat again, this time louder. “Can we get started on the project now?”
“Oh, right!” Moondancer used her magic to unclasp her saddlebags, dumping them on the ground in front of her. “Of course we can get started.” She pulled out the map and laid it on the floor. Twilight inched closer to the edge of her bed, looking down at the map. Despite being needed to be ‘finished,’ the thing looked very close to being done already, if not already done. Despite this, however, the two fillies both agreed it needed a little extra pazazz that something two bookworms could only provide.
“Okay, um…” Moondancer bit her lip as she pointed to Canterlot. “We can draw the flags here, starting with Canterlot, for extra points.” She sat down, reaching into her saddlebags and pulling out markers.
“Her name was Cadence.” Twilight said, at apparent random. Moondancer paused with her markers, looking up.
“Oh. Um…” Moondancer looked back down. “If you could get started on some of the smaller cities, like Hoofberg and Ponyville, I could work on Manehattan.”
“Right.” Twilight stepped off of her bed and laid down onto the floor, using the tips of her wings to pluck a marker from Moondancer’s small collection.
For a small period of time, the two worked in silence, only broken by the sounds of marker scratching onto the floor. Every once in a while, Moondancer would catch Twilight’s eye, but the two kept working.
Soon, however, the silence was broken.
“What was Cadence like?” Moondancer asked.
Twilight took a moment to bite the inside of her cheek.
“She was the best sister anypony could ask for.”
…
“Do you want to talk about it?” Moondancer asked. Twilight stopped drawing for a moment, and looked up at her.
“I think… I really want to talk about it.”
It didn’t take long for the hours to start to melt away.