A year ago, Flash and Twilight didn't think there could be anything worse than the terrible twos. That is until Starry reached a stage that Flash so correctly dubbed, the 'curious threes', called specifically because at three and a half years of age, Starry was know curious about everything in her life. Spanning from weaponry, to the outskirts of Ponyville. Normally this wasn't a problem because Flash and Twilight were always there with her when she got too curious to keep her out of trouble.

Until today that was.

Having gone out early this morning with Pepper for a military meeting, Flash was to be out most of the day. Because of this, for a majority of the day, it was just Twilight and Starry in the castle, making it difficult for Twilight to be able to watch over the curious toddler at all hours of the day.

That is where the trouble started.

Not long after Flash had left for the day, Twilight had gone upstairs to do some much needed housework, leaving Starry to play downstairs. The three year old hadn't seemed to be in a curious mood when Twilight left her to it, so what happened next was beyond anything Twilight could've predicted.

Starry got her hooves on Flash's sword.

Having gotten her first toy sword for her previous birthday, Starry had become curious as to how to use a real one. The three year old had always watched in awe as Flash practiced with his from time to time and because of that the little filly had decided SHE wanted to learn how to use one too. It didn't look to hard and all the young filly water was to show her daddy that she could be just like him!

Looking up at the top level of the private chambers (it's basically got two floors, ok?), Starry searched for any signs of her mother. Now, what was interesting about the private chambers was that the top story had a balcony that stretched all around the diameter of the chamber, making it easier to walk around the whole top level and easily enter the four rooms on the top. One room was Flash and Twilight's bedroom, one was her bedroom and the other two was a spare bedroom and a wash room. Near her parent's room and the washroom were stairs that lead down to the bottom level of the chamber.

Unfortunately this design also made it easy to check if you were going to get caught doing something you shouldn't be, which was exactly what the inquisitive three year old was doing. Seeing Twilight was in her room, with the door only just ajar, Starry quietly went over to the table where Flash's sword was laying. Rearing up, the little filly could only just reach it, but after a few moments she managed to get it down without any problems.

The sword was about six inches longer than the three year old and Starry could barely lift it. She tried to hold it like her father did, with his teeth, but it weighed her down. The same thing happened when she tried to hold it with her wing like she sometimes saw Flash do. Holding it awkwardly with her hooves, the weight of it was less pronounced, so with the sword firmly in her hooves, she swung it.

As she swung, the sword flew out of her hooves and landed with a loud clatter. The little filly winced when it clattered to the wooden floor. Nervously looking up at the top level, Starry was surprised that the noise hadn't alerted her mother to her actions. Double checking her mother's whereabouts, she went over to retrieve the sword.

It had landed with the tip stuck firmly in the wood. Starry tried to pull it out as hard as she could, but it was stuck tight. Sticking her tongue out in concentration, she tried again, but before the young filly could even react, the sword suddenly came loose and wheeled back towards her, with one of it's sharp corners making contact with the top of her hoof.

Blood came gushing out in a rush of scarlet and the pain was like a thousand bee stings all at once. In shock, Starry just stared at it for a moment, before tears began to well up at the corner of her eyes, and bursting into tears, she began to scream.

"MUMMMMMMMMMY!"

"Starry, what is it?!" Rushing out onto the upstairs balcony, Twilight looked down at the filly, only to freeze in horror at the sight in front of her for a moment, before panic overtook her mind as she raced down the stairs towards her panic stricken daughter.

"Starry! What in Celestia's name have you done?" Twilight screamed hysterically as she grabbed a cloth, before she fell to her knees beside her weeping daughter.

"I use daddy's sword, mummy. I sorry," Starry sobbed, as Twilight quickly applied the cloth around her daughter's bloody hand in an effort to stop the flow of blood. The pressure of the cloth on her stinging hoof, though, just made Starry recoil and sob harder as she buried her head into Twilight's chest in pain. Twilight's heart broke at seeing her little filly in so much pain, as mush as the young mother wanted answers for why her daughter would do this, now was not the time to reprimand her. It would have to wait.

Starry let out another whimper. "Oh, I know sweetie, I know," Twilight whispered softly to her as she got up to collect another bandage. "It's alright, I'm right here," Twilight reassured the toddler as she let out another sob.

"Alright sweetie," Twilight said soothingly, "let's see what this looks like, ok?" Taking Starry's hoof in her own, Twilight gently unwrapped the piece of cloth around the little filly's hand with her magic, making Starry suddenly hiss in pain and sob harder.

"Oh baby I'm sorry, but I have to look at it," Twilight told her softly. "It's alright, I promise."

(because I can't be bothered...)

Starry had apologized for attempting use Flash's sword and scaring the living daylights out of Twilight. Flash had come home later that afternoon, and couldn't be bothered about Starry using his sword, only that she was okay. Flash knew that Twilight was more worried than she was letting on too, and decided to ask about it later that night.

And he was right. He had asked her why she was so worried while they were getting ready for bed. She had felt overprotective over Starry for the rest of the night, and that was because she had blamed herself.

"As I just told you Flash, I thought our daughter had lost her hoof!" Twilight said through gritted teeth. "My daughter could have lost her hoof at three years old, Flash, all because I'm an idiot!"

"Twilight, it wasn't your fault. You thought the sword was out of her reach. You couldn't have known that this was going to happen," Flash replied.

"It is my fault Flash. I should have kept it wa-" Flash embraced Twilight in a hug. She squirmed a bit, trying to escape, but he didn't let her.

"It wasn't your fault Twi," He whispered into her ear, brushing her mane away from her eyes and placing a kiss on her forehead, "Stop blaming yourself."

Twilight's lower lip quivered before she burst into tears, flinging her arms around Flash's neck as she buried her head into his chest. Wrapping his hooves around his distressed wife, Flash pulled her into a tight embrace, stroking her mane as she cried.

"Shh, I'm right here. Just let it out," Flash whispered softly.

It took several minutes before Twilight finally began to calm down. Sniffling, she looked up at Flash and gave him a small grateful smile, which Flash returned as he kissed her forehead lovingly.

"You alright?" he asked softly. Twilight nodded, keeping her hooves around his neck.

"Let's get some sleep then."

Author's Note

Lesson learned: Don't leave three year olds alone...ever

Sorry for not updating in a while. I had major writers block. I should have mini one-shot come out in a few days. Hope you enjoyed!