The Forgotten Family

Twilight and Rarity had been walking all morning when they finally arrived at Baltimare. Twilight had spent the day telling Rarity all of the legends that she did and did not believe. Apparently, what she had found most believable was that the legends were... well, legends. Rarity and Twilight did indeed have two of the most extremely rare special talents. However, Twilight did not believe that seven of them could truly change the very basis of reality.

Rarity had spent the morning walk trying to absorb new information, but her mind continued to wander. Specifically, her mind wandered to her marefriend. Twilight was absolutely the best thing to come out of this impromptu adventure and Rarity felt that all of the pain and suffering over the past few days would be completely worth it if she could call Twilight her own.

"We're here, Rarity." Twilight smiled.

Rarity returned the smile and then looked at the bustling city before them. Baltimare was amazing. There were tall buildings as far as the eye could see and, the locals seemed friendly. They smiled and nodded and Rarity heard the occasional "Good morning." from a passerby. It was a quite a grand city, and Rarity made a note to return to Baltimare sometime after their journey was over.

"Hey, Rarity?", Twilight asked. When the white unicorn looked at her she stopped walking. "I wanted to go.... take care of something. Can I meet you at the train station in about an hour?"

Rarity was slightly confused but, nodded anyways. "Of course, dear. What ever do you need?"

Twilight blushed and shook her head. "It's just something I wanted to get while we were here. I'll be okay.", the alicorn said with a warm smile.

Rarity nodded. "That's fine. If you need anything though...", she added, putting as much care as she could into these words. "I'll be there for you."

Twilight blushed adorably and smiled. "Thank you.", she said. She then kissed Rarity firmly before cantering away. Rarity watched her walk away with a sense of longing. She knew that she could not spend literally every moment with her, but she realized this would be the first time in several days that she was not accompanied by Twilight. Rarity was not sure she could handle it... even for an hour.

Rarity found a newspaper stand and purchased a Baltimare city map from it. Upon looking at the map she realized that there was a chocolate shop on the way and decided she would get something for her new marefriend. She trotted happily to the chocolate shop, "Heart's Sweet", humming a tune to herself.

Upon arriving at the shop, she wondered if maybe she should go somewhere else. The shop was small, dirty, and leaning to one side. Reviewing the map, she realized that for some strange reason, this city only seemed to have one chocolate shop. She sighed and approached the building. Maybe the inside would be an improvement from the outside.

A bell rang above the door as she entered, and she saw that the inside was clean, a bright room full of display cases. The counter was full of enticing looking chocolates and Rarity immediately knew which ones she would get. "Welcome to 'Heart's Sweet'!" A voice rang out as she closed the door behind her . An old earth pony with a bright pink mane and vanilla coat walked out from the back of the shop. "I'm Sweetheart, how can I help you?"

"Hello.", Rarity said as kindly as she could. "I was wondering how much it would be for a box of those there?", she pointed a hoof at the heart shaped chocolates sitting on the counter.

Sweetheart smiled at her. "Depends.", she said warmly. Rarity raised an eyebrow as she continued. "Who are they for?"

Rarity giggled slightly at the chance to tell somepony. "They are for my marefriend.", she said proudly.

The woman smiled at her even bigger than before. "What's her name?"

"Twilight Sparkle.", Rarity was very proud as she spoke those words. The woman's jaw dropped.

"Princess Twilight Sparkle?" she asked.

Rarity giggled girlishly. "Yes, Princess Twilight Sparkle."

Sweetheart positively beamed at Rarity. "One bit." she said. Rarity visibly balked at the price. In Ponyville one bit would not even get tomatoes.

"Are you sure?", Rarity asked. Sweetheart did not know her and yet her she was just giving her the chocolates for probably what it cost to make them. Sweetheart nodded at her. Rarity was unused to being on the receiving end of somepony's generosity but, she was not about to turn down such an offer. Still, she had to ask. "Why?"

"Well, you see, my special talent is making candy. These chocolate hearts you picked out... they are the chocolates I made when I discovered my special talent. I gave some to my husband when we first met, and we have been together for twenty years. We have a daughter who lives in Ponyville, and I run this shop all day. I've always been happy, and I think that it was, and still is, because of these chocolates. I give them to you for one bit per box because I love to see a pony be so proud of who he or she is with. Be happy with that mare!"

Rarity smiled as she fought back tears. In four days, two ponies in all of Equestria had gone out of their way to make her happy, and she could not be more grateful. "Thank you, Sweetheart.", she said as she levitated a single bit to the counter. Sweetheart simply smiled and shook her head while she filled a large box with a generous amount of chocolate hearts.

Rarity took the chocolates and placed them in her saddle bags. With one final "Thank you!" she was off walking happily through the streets to wait on Twilight at the train station. She did not notice the streets were becoming less and less lively. She also did not notice that the area in front of the train station was abandoned. She did, however, notice the group of several unicorns standing in her path. She counted six of them.

She thought for a moment about asking them to politely move, but the way they looked at her, they were standing in her way for a reason. She stopped in the road several paces away from the group. In the most calm voice she could muster, she spoke. "Can I help you?"

All of the unicorns (stallions, she noted) seemed to shift about. Then one spoke. "Where is she?", the largest of the group asked. He had a blue coat and no mane or tail to speak of.

"Who?", she asked.

"The princess.", he said stepping towards her. There was a slight snarl to his voice that unnerved Rarity. "We was told she was comin' this way. Said she was with you. Where is she?"

Rarity panicked for just a moment before realizing that if they had hurt Twilight, they would not be here now. Still, she was in a rough spot and knew that her magic was no match for six others'. She began backing away as the group stepped closer.

"Where is she?", he asked again, never breaking eye contact. Rarity felt her flank hit a wall as one of the unicorns lit their horn. "Where is she!" he did not ask, so much as scream.

Rarity looked behind her and saw the wall of arcane energy. She was on the verge of tears, and she felt as if she were about to hyperventilate. "I don't know. She said she had some errands to run!" It was the truth, but she knew they would not accept that answer. They continued to close in on her when the most unlikely of things happened.

Twilight swore. "Don't you bastards touch her!"

Rarity looked up to see lavender wings speeding directly down at her would-be assailants. A wave of energy was being charged above, and Twilight's horn began to glow several different colors. Rarity had only seen this spell once before, and from a distance at that. Still, she knew what her marefriend was about to do.

Twilight threw back her head, preparing to launch the spell with all of its strength. The ground beneath all of them shook as the colossal ball of energy sped towards them. The smarter members of the group ran.

Three unicorns (Including the ringleader) were caught in the blast. The wave of power sent everypony in the area flying back. Rarity felt herself get thrown through the air, and then a sharp pain in the back of her head as she lande. Darkness crept into her vision. The last thing she saw was a crying princess running towards her, yelling her name.

"Rarity!"

"Your big brother loves you.", his voice called out of the darkness. Rarity could see nothing. She was in a sea of blankness. Neither dark nor black, just blank. The memory was gone, but the voice was there. It soothed her to the core to hear those words.

"Mythic?", she called into the emptiness. "Mythic? Please, answer me."

Silence.

"Mythic?"

"You know your big brother loves you, right?"

She then recalled where she had heard those words before. She was falling, watching a pair of white-coated hooves push a green pegasus filly out the window.

Funny. she thought, Last time I couldn't remember his coat. Was that little filly a pegasus last time?

Her heart felt as if somepony had just shoved a nail through it as she saw the explosion. As she screamed, she could see the pegasus filly fly to Rarity and wrap her hooves around her. The filly was not strong enough to lift them both as they fell, but she did not let go. Rarity knew their fall would be over soon. She remembered her last thought before she hit the ground.

I wish....

Rarity woke to find herself in the crying embrace of lavender hooves. "Twilight..." Twilight looked down to see Rarity was fine. She then held her even more closely.

Rarity could see the damage her marefriend had done to the area surrounding them. A large crater sat just outside the train station, smoke rising out of it. She also saw a bundle of unicorns, the ones that had attacked her, laying next to the station. "Twilight, dear?", Rarity said.

"I'm so sorry.", Twilight said as she rocked Rarity in her hooves. "I shouldn't have left you."

"It's quite alright." Even if she was dirty, beaten, and crying slightly, she would still behave like a lady. "No permanent damage done... to me at least.", she giggled slightly. "You really can be quite the madmare when you so choose, can't you?"

Twilight relaxed her hold on the unicorn long enough to glance at the bundle just next to the train station. She then laughed lightly. "They had it coming. I just... I saw you.... y-you looked so scared..."

"It's alright dear.", Rarity wiped away Twilight's tears with her hoof. She then kissed Twilight softly, relishing the feeling of their lips pressed together. After she broke from the kiss Twilight managed to stop crying. "Now, what do we know?"

Twilight scoffed slightly, an angry expression covering her beautiful face. "Bandits. Apparently their boss-" she looked at Rarity with a slight grimace "-is in the bottom of the crater over there. He thought that if they ponynapped my marefriend, they could ransom her. I dealt with them though, apparently it was just the six of them."

Rarity smiled at the princess. She had never heard Twilight refer to her as 'marefriend' before and she had to stifle a giggle at the revelation. "Well, good." Twilight looked at Rarity and smiled. "I suppose we should alert the officials?", Rarity asked.

Twilight shook her head. "No. While you were sleeping, a mare came. I sent her to fetch the guards." Rarity nodded and got to her hooves. She wobbled slightly, but was no worse for wear. She looked at the powerful princess and found herself wishing....

"I wish...", she said. "I wish I could be like you." She wrapped her forehooves around her marefriend's neck. "I wish I could be strong, or even just a little more useful to you...", she sighed.

Twilight pulled away from the hug, giving her a stern look. "You are plenty strong, and I have never considered your 'usefulness to me' to be an important quality.", Rarity noticed she used the same tone she used when scolding spike. Her voice became much more gentle and warm with her next statement. "Rarity, I care about you. Just you. You really are nothing less than perfect."

Rarity smiled at her. She knew that Twilight cared for her but, she could not stop herself wishing.

I wish...

After giving their report to the officials, Twilight and Rarity boarded a train headed for the Crystal Empire. They sat in a passenger car close to the back of the train. Rarity was dozing in Twilight's lap while the alicorn read a book. Rarity opened her eyes and looked at Twilight.

"Twilight?" Rarity said. "Where did you go?", she winced slightly as she realized how accusatory her tone sounded. Twilight looked down at her and smiled. The smile had such warmth to it, Rarity could not help herself as she giggled.

"I went to get something, of course." Twilight's tone indicated that there was more to the story. "I thought about how I wanted to get something for a while, so I got something."

Rarity pouted at Twilight's friendly teasing. She knew her marefriend was just enjoying a little teasing, but Rarity wanted to know.

Twilight laughed slightly and levitated her saddlebags over from the next seat. "Fine.", she said, still smiling. "It's not much....," she levitated a book to Rarity. "But I wanted to get you something..." Rarity looked at the title of the book and smiled. "I remembered you said you wished you could have finished it..."

Rarity remembered the tale of a princess and her magician. She kissed Twilight and whispered "Thank you...." She then remembered her trip to the chocolate shop. "Oh, I got you something while I was out, too." She levitated the box of chocolates to Twilight.

Twilight smiled at her and levitated a chocolate out of the box. She broke the heart in half and handed one half to Rarity. "Let's try them together.", she said with a cute smile. Rarity gasped as she realized what Twilight's smile really was. It was a smile she had only ever seen her give two other ponies: Princess Celestia and Shining Armor. She smiled back just as warmly (she hoped) and bit into the chocolate.

It was the best she had ever eaten. Then she remembered the thoughts in her mind. "Twilight?"

"Yes?" Twilight looked worried. Apparently, Rarity's tone had sounded more desperate than she thought.

"You said you think there are other facets to my special talent. Can you teach me? She knew there was little chance. She also knew that Twilight would probably know why she was asking, but she did not think Twilight would be cross with her.

I wish I could be a worthy princess.... the thought struck her as random and a little silly, but she wanted to be worthy of Twilight.

Twilight smiled sadly at her. "No." The single word seemed to crush all of Rarity's hope. "I'm sorry but... I don't know. I don't know what those other skills might be, and I don't know if I have those skills to teach... I'm sorry."

Rarity fought back the tears and smiled at her. "It's fine dear..."

Twilight looked unsure, but smiled politely back at her. She then levitated another chocolate heart to Rarity while saying in the meekest (cutest) voice Rarity had ever heard, "Chocolate makes everything better."

Rarity laughed loudly before nodding and biting into the chocolate. It really did seem to make everything better.