The Night's Justice

by JadeLightning

Rating: teen
Tags: Romance, Adventure, Braeburn, Big Macintosh, Berry Punch, DJ P0N-3, Alternate Universe, Sad, Main 6, Lyra, Princess Luna, Gore, Original Character, Trixie, Apple Bloom, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark, Soarin, Bon-Bon
Length: 5367

An Equestria of nocturnal ponies ruled by Queen Luna, and a search for true justice.

Set in an alternate version of Equestria, nocturnal ponies thrive under the light of the moon and celebrate their benevolent Queen Luna. But all that shines beneath the light is not peaceful, as Twilight Sparkle, inquisitive explorer extraordinaire and five unlikely companions, must overcome tragedy and find the secret of a power that has been lost to Equestria for centuries.

Published 2011-11-17 07:01:28 UTC
Last updated 2011-11-17 21:31:26 UTC

Prologue

Justice of the Night

-Prologue-

By JadeLightning

For thousands of years, citizens of Equestria have lived in general peace underneath the brilliant moonlight provided by their benevolent Queen Luna and would take their rest beneath the sunlight provided by her sister, Celestia. As the centuries went on, Celestia became angered by Luna and the rest of ponykind who would not wake to see her brilliant sunlight. Celestia grew angry, and her blind rage and feelings of worthlessness turned her into an avatar of destruction known as Sol Fury.

Sol Fury’s connection and ability to manipulate the sun allowed her to achieve incredibly destructive ends. With her ability to intensify the sun’s rays, she burned countless villages and destroyed lives, all during a single sleep cycle. Luna, being peaceful, but not wanting to see her land destroyed and shame brought to her family, destroyed by her hand, decided to confront her sister, using her connection with her people’s fabled artifacts, the Elements of Justice.

Luna underestimated the power of the elements, however, and judging Sol Fury’s actions unspeakable, the Elements took the destructive mare’s life. Luna, realizing she couldn’t truly control the power of the Elements, had them sealed away and forgotten, so that nopony could ever use them again. Since the passing of Sol Fury and the return of Equestria to relative peace, Queen Luna and her subjects have lived upholding the tenets of truth and justice.

“What? I’m not studying that! Why is this book here, anyway?” Twilight Sparkle groaned. She had spent the past night, and every other night for the last two weeks studying for the next day’s hardships . Twilight’s studies were in preparation for the entrance exam at Luna’s School of Sorcery, the most prestigious school in Equestria. She didn’t truly understand why she needed to go to such a school anyway. She was a fairly good student, and did more studying than the average pony, but she couldn’t see why her parents thought her capable of a school like that.

She gazed out longingly at the starry night past her glittering windows. She wanted nothing more than to give up her studies and leap out the window to explore what lay beyond. She loved exploring the world, both physical and ethereal. That was what she loved about magic. It let her discover things not everypony, or even unicorn knew about the world. For that, she loved it. But she was no bookworm. Unfortunately, she didn’t want to let her parents down, so she studied a little longer, and then passed out only a couple of hours after Luna raised the sun.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next evening was, in Twilight’s opinion, the most stressful of her entire life. Twilight’s father, Midnight Sparkle, had quite a few things to say.

“Twilight, you look terrible. Did you get any sleep last morning? And I hope you studied. Today’s the big day, and those judges aren’t the most kind. As I understand it, Bastion Yorsets is the lead judge, and I know him personally. He’s a rough soul, and a hard judge to say the least.” Twilight, a filly as she still was, cringed, and a tear formed in the corner of her eye, not able to handle the pressure her father was already hitting her with before her exam.

“I…I’ll do my best, Daddy. I’ll make you proud, just like you did your father. “Twilight trailed off, tears forming in her eyes as she looked down, her mind anticipating all sorts of failure, and what was going to happen.

“Oh dear, don’t worry her so, I’m sure our brilliant Twi’ will do just fine!” Twilight’s mother Stardancer trotted into the kitchen, nuzzling both Twilight and her husband before sitting down to breakfast. “As long as you studied your best, Twilight, you’ll be fine. Just keep a clear head, don’t worry about what might happen, and ignore your father’s stressful banter”.

After finishing, and taking a quick bite of her blueberry oatmeal, she shot a look of daggers at her husband. Midnight Sparkle recoiled, looking a tad embarrassed, realizing how what he said to his daughter might have frightened her even more than she plainly was already.

“I…well…I’m sorry Dancer…and to you, Twilight. I’m sorry I keep putting this kind of pressure on you. We just have so much riding on…” He stopped talking as his wife shushed him again. He could positively feel the heat radiating from her bright pink fur. “I…very well. S-shall we get going then? It’s a big day ahead of us.” At this, Twilight gathered her things, and the family of three, with a flash of Midnight Sparkle’s horn, teleported toward their destination.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As they family of three materialized, Twilight took a look around, unsure where exactly they had landed. Up ahead, a bright sign flashed the words:

Ponyville International Flightport: Concourse A

“Hold on, Twi, we’ve got to hurry to catch our chariot! It’s going to leave soon, and I’ve done enough teleporting today!” Twilight then felt her father pick her up and put her on his back, before his father and mother set off at a run down to their chariot’s docking bay as the attendant made the last call. As they boarded the chariot, Twilight’s father heaved a sigh of relief, and Twilight sat with her hooves hanging out one side, her eyes ready to absorb everything they’d be passing by as they flew through the sky.

After a flight that lasted several hours, the chariot finally touched down in the golden mountaintop city of Canterlot, the gilded halls and towers shining beautifully in the night. Twilight had never seen Canterlot, and her mouth fell open as she tried to take in the city’s majesty. As they departed their chariot, Midnight spoke up:

“Alright! The building we’re looking for is right over there. It’s half-past midnight, and the appointment is in thirty minutes. We should still be able to make great time. Let’s go!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Twilight and her family arrived at the doorstep of the second-largest building in all of Canterlot. The great bleached marble building towered over them, little Twilight falling back on her flank in awe. At the top of the entryway sat, in brilliant golden letters: Luna’s School of Sorcery, and beneath it, in Ancient Equestrian, read:

Luna splendet super splendorum.

“The Moon Shines Upon the Brilliant” Midnight Sparkle said calmly, looking at his daughter. “That’s you hon’. Now let’s get in there and prove it to everypony!”

At this, Star Dancer flapped her wings in frustration. “Midnight, dear, what did I say about pressure on poor Twi? She doesn’t need to prove anything to anypony.” Twilight sighed, trying to keep the tears from flowing as the stress crept up on her again.

“I-it’s…it’s OK, Mom. It’s just another day of school!” She took a moment to strike a confident pose, and, not looking back toward her parents, she marched toward the entrance.

She and her parents had spent about fifteen minutes wandering the halls, quick to note that they were not the only ones under the same stresses today at the academy. Twilight had seen her friend Moondancer and her parents, although she thought Moondancer looked really sad. She figured she’d ask her why later, if she got the chance.

She also took note of a young green filly, who had already gotten her cutie mark, a lyre, and was positively beaming. Twilight had gotten up the nerve to talk to her, and she said her name was Lyra and that she had passed her exam with flying colors. At this, she bounced out the front door. At last, they found their destination. Twilight glanced up at the door, which read “Examination Room B” before she pressed it open gently, only to be brushed gently out of the way by the parents of the most eccentric filly she’d ever seen.

“Out of our way, rabble!” A very sophisticated-looking, highbrow unicorn stallion said to both Twilight and her parents as he passed. Twilight took a minute to register both the filly and her parents. All of them had a pure white coat, and a deep blue mane, and all of them were unicorns. The filly however, had a very interesting feature. She seemed to be wearing black-rimmed glasses with magenta frames that completely covered her eyes and gave her an otherworldly appearance. As she and her parents moved past, she quickly turned to apologize.

“I…sorry about that. My Dad is…well, I didn’t pass my exam, and he’s not happy about that. But I don’t care; I’d rather rock Equestria with my beats, because one day, I’ll be a star!” She took a moment to wiggle her flank, displaying an obviously recently-acquired musical note cutie mark. “I’m Vinyl Scratch, by the way.” She extended her hoof, and Twilight took it, shaking it gently. Twilight’s father was glaring at the filly’s parent’s backs as they moved away, shocked at the father’s rudeness, but didn’t want to start anything. Twilight casually said good-bye to her new acquaintance, and she and her parents trotted into the room.

As the three of them stepped into the room, they were greeted by a very unhappy-sounding voice. “Twilight Sparkle, I presume? You’re late.” Twilight and her father shared anxious looks, and her father spoke up.
“Bastion Yorsets, correct? I’m sorry, but I recall Twilight’s examination was scheduled for one o’clock this evening. It’s now...” He frowned. His watch showed him two minutes past the hour.

“Mr. Sparkle, I must tell you that I do not appreciate tardiness, nor does Ms. Nexus here.” He motioned to the female unicorn on his left. “But, seeing as you are already here, and the exam has been prepared already, Miss Sparkle is allowed to go ahead. Just be glad that today, of all days, I’m feeling generous…”

Midnight Sparkle scowled dangerously at Bastion Yorsets’ callousness, but, recognizing the situation again, glanced anxiously at Twilight, and gently nudged her toward the exam table. Star Dancer placed her hooves on her husband’s shoulders, and whispered gently at her daughter as she turned to look at her mother for last minute encouragement.

“Go on Twi, you can do it, Mama’s got your back all the way!” Twilight shrugged her nervousness off and moved finally up to the table, where a single egg was placed. Bastion Yorsets coughed impatiently, but it was Dream Nexus that spoke up, in the same impatient tone that should have been expected, but in a much higher pitched, song-like voice.

“Miss Sparkle, are you going to take your exam, or can we be on our way? We do have a schedule to keep and many more unicorns to test…” She tapped her clipboard, and Twilight frowned down at the egg, not wanting to let them get to her.

“Alright, Miss. Sparkle...” Bastion Yorsets began, realizing he could finally start the exam. “What you have there is an unhatched dragon egg. All you need to do is use your magic to make it hatch. It’s a standard test, really. You will of course be graded on time. Begin.”

Twilight gulped and started running through the pages of the spell books she had studied in her mind, thinking of the spells she’d need to perform such a task. She thought hard, sweat already dripping from her forehead as she felt the time drag on. She glanced back at her father, who returned her glances with his own nervous-yet-confident looks. Finally, after turning back to the egg and thinking a bit more, a moment of brilliance struck her. She realized she needed to weave together a spell to speed up time around a certain area and one that simply generated warmth. After finding the strength and magic for the task, her horn glowed as she focused on the dragon egg. After channeling the spell for what felt like an eternity, she heard a cracking sound and stopped casting, to watch a little purple baby dragon crawl out from egg debris.
At this, Twilight started jumping up and down, bouncing her way over to her mother and father, repeatedly squealing “Yes”, amazingly pleased with herself that she actually did it. And then the sound of a pony clearing his throat filled the room as Bastion Yorsets began to speak.

“I must say, I’m impressed that you managed to succeed. Your time was…average, to say the least, but one minute and forty-five seconds it was. So you’ve passed, Miss. Sparkle. Welcome to the academy.”
Twilight and her parents simultaneously jumped into the air and cheered as Bastion Yorsets trotted down to hand a plaque to her signifying her entry to the school. Dream Nexus trotted down the stairs to curtly congratulate Twilight, before teleporting the newly-hatched baby dragon and its broken egg shells away from the room. As Twilight’s father thanked Bastion and they proceeded to exit, the examiner spoke up, as if only to poison the moment a little bit.
“Just remember, Miss Sparkle, be glad I’m feeling generous, today.” Twilight’s father scowled at him again, and she frowned, her mother immediately moving to comfort her.

“Don’t worry about him, Twi’, you did it!” Her mother cheered, and her father rejoined them, Twilight cheering up immediately as they quickly left the room. As they exited the building however, a most unexpected event happened, and a great crash hit their ears as they watched a purple baby dragon that had apparently grown enormous come smashing out of the roof of another examination room.

“What the hay?” Twilight’s father said, aghast as the dragon began moving about. The family and the examiners just stood there, transfixed, as they watched the scene, even more stunned as Princess Luna herself swooped in past the now-grown dragon. And as suddenly as it had grown, the dragon shrank.

“W...what was that? What was all of that?” Twilight’s mother was floating beside her family, flapping her wings frantically, unsure what to make of what just happened.

“I…I don’t know, Star. I don’t know. And what…how, did Princess Luna know what was happening? “They both stood there, shocked. Twilight, however, having passed her exam, was beyond ready to find out, and ran towards the lowest window of the spire, which was miraculously intact after that event.

What she saw inside was a face she wasn’t soon going to forget, whether she knew it or not. There was Princess Luna, standing next to a normal-sized baby dragon, a couple of cacti, and a small blue unicorn filly with a silver mane, who was grinning happily at her flank. Twilight gave it a closer look, and saw a crescent moon made of stars, with a magic wand lying across the south end.

Chapter 1

Justice of the Night

-Chapter 1-

By JadeLightning

Twilight Sparkle had spent the past decade learning the sorcerer’s craft at Luna’s prestigious school. Now a lovely mare in her twenties, Twilight had learned a great deal about magic and herself during her time at Queen Luna’s school. She had made some great acquaintances and friends, and they had helped her along with her own studies towards becoming one of the greatest sorceresses in all of Equestria. At least that was what she told her parents with every letter she sent home.

Twilight Sparkle’s time at Luna’s School of Sorcery had certainly been fruitful, but near-half of it was not due to studying or passing courses. Twilight had learned the magical craft to an effective level, wanting to at least honor her parents’ wishes for her to become a great sorceress to some degree. Twilight however, always felt more comfortable learning about magic and her surroundings in a more hands-on fashion, and her parents hadn’t really understood that side of her, but supported her all the way, which she loved them for. There were a few things she didn’t have the heart to tell them, though.

She would often sneak out in her youth during the daytime and explore the bright world nopony else saw when they were slept. Although she had heard that in other towns and cities, there were lots of things to do during the daytime, Ponyville was a quiet burg and she liked the privacy her explorations outside of Ponyville gave her, especially when she dared cross into the dangerous Everfree Forest. No one needed to know about those ventures.

While at Luna’s school however, Twilight had learned a great deal about other ponies, and in the last couple of years, things citizens of old-time Ponyville didn’t dare. The most fun for Twilight of course manifested itself in the form of parties with lots of drinking and dancing. Twilight had quickly become a master of the funnel as well, something used to drink a whole lot of what one of her closest friends at school would call “Lunashine” very fast.

One of her other “friends” had also tried to get her to give what he called “Alicorn Dust” a try, but Twilight was at least smart enough not to go for that. And that sort of fun, mixed with a variety of spells including Twilight’s oldest favorite, teleportation, made for all kinds of amazing adventures, at least in Twilight’s mind.

Even with all of her crazy misadventures and the trials and tribulations of growing and schooling, Twilight missed her parents dearly even if she didn’t want to tell them the truth of most of her fun. Twilight had not spoken to or seen her parents in a couple of years, since it wasn’t cheap to hire passage from Canterlot to Ponyville, and Twilight had been afraid to return home since her questionable activities had started. However, she and her parents had been planning her return trip for months now, and a chariot was to arrive for her at Canterlot International Flightport near sunrise.

“Perfect” Twilight said to herself, checking over the flight schedule again as she checked the clock behind the schedule post. “I’m right on schedule. It’s a long flight, but I should be able to sleep through it and wake up right as the sun sets to go give mom and dad a big hug. I wonder if mom’s going to make those hayseed biscuits and cornmeal for breakfast. She always saves that kind of thing for a special occasion…”

She thought to herself for moment, trying to remember what her mom’s special meals actually tasted like. She hated being gone for so long, but she couldn’t help the personal guilt.

“Twilight!” came an energetic voice from across the waiting area. Twilight turned to face the caller.

“Oh, hey Lyra! Fancy meeting you here!” Twilight galloped over to greet her friend, nuzzling her gently in greeting.

“Oh I know!” Lyra said with a look of cheerful surprise still lingering on her face.

“It’s great to see you too. How’ve you been these past couple of years? How are things at the academy?”

Twilight giggled, rolling her eyes gently. “Oh you know, the same boring schoolwork, all to help us get ahead, apparently. I’ve had some great times otherwise though, met a lot of interesting people these past couple of years. And some…I’d rather not talk about.” Her mind lingered back to the phrase “Alicorn Dust” for a moment.

“Well that’s great, Twi! I’m glad I graduated early, but I sure do miss some of the fun you only get at LSS. And their music program just can’t be beat!” Her eyes turned back to her cutie mark, a brilliant gold lyre, earned at the school eight years before as she came to understand her masterful skill with the instrument. “But enough about that, what brings you to Canterlot International? Heading home?”

Twilight beamed; her violet mane flying as she nodded vigorously. “Oh yeah, got a month-long break coming up. Going to head home for the first time in a couple years and see my folks. I get enough letters about them missing me, you know?” She lowered her head, sort of embarrassed even telling an old friend she hadn’t been home in a two years. “But what about you?” She looked up at Lyra, hoping to redirect the conversation.

“Me? Oh, I’m heading back to Manehattan to get home to Night Whisper. He’s been missing me so these past couple of months. He’s had to work from home and I had a string of concerts in New Colt City and Trottingham. Poor dear. Hard to believe we’ve only been together a couple of years, and it feels like a lifetime.” Lyra’s face reddened as she finished her sentences, but Twilight just smiled at her.

“All that sounds wonderful, Lyra, at least you’ve found somepony who cares and moved on in your career, I’m Twilight Sparkle, Student and Partier Extraordinaire right now.” Twilight’s expression turned to a sly grin before she spoke again. “But tell me, Lyra, whatever happened to that mare that used to follow you everywhere? Did you ever finally explain yourself to her? What was her name again? Bow-Wow?”

Lyra’s happy expression faded completely. “Oh Twilight, you always were the adventurous type, asking questions no one else would dare. At any rate, her name was Bon-Bon. She was that creepy, but really good natured mare who would always try and talk to me after meals, or slide notes under my door. It was all well and good, until she finally told me she was in love with me. I…suppose I gave off the wrong signals?

Although I think that’s hard to believe when I told her many times I just wasn’t into mares. Poor dear, I think it might’ve broken her heart. But now that I think about it, I’m not even sure how she knew where I lived or was around at mealtime. She’s an Earth Pony. I don’t really know what she was doing at LSS anyway.”

Twilight nodded in agreement, her mind returning to the reason she was in the flightport at all. “Omigosh! What time is it?!” Her eyes darted past Lyra’s head toward the enormous clock ticking away at the wall between the concords to chariot docks. The time read 9:56, four minutes before her flight’s departure. “Sweet, merciful Luna! I’m sorry, Lyra, but my flight’s chariot arrives in less than five minutes! I have to go! It’s been amazing catching up. Tell Night Whisper I said hello!”

With that, Twilight teleported in a flash to the end of the concourse and Lyra watched her trot up to the reception desk and hold out a ticket. Lyra then turned around and made her way towards her own flight’s concourse, as Twilight boarded the overlarge commercial chariot for hers.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As Lyra trotted down her concord, she panicked, realizing that she didn’t have much time left until her own flight and tripped as she picked up speed. She quickly righted herself, picking herself back up off the floor, rather upset that nopony around had offered her any help, and leaned down to pick up her things, only to realize that somepony was now standing with her.

Lyra gasped and jumped back, her things spilling out of her hooves. The pony that now stood before her was cloaked in a bright white garb, with a hood covering his head. The more distinguishing feature, that had caused Lyra to jump back, was that the pony was wearing a thin black blindfold across his eyes. As Lyra started to back away, the pony spoke:

“Hello there, miss. May I inquire as to the name of the pony you were just conversing? I do hate to be a bother, but it’s of the upmost importance that my colleagues and I know exactly who she is.” Lyra grew even more uncomfortable, still backing away slowly.

“I...I don’t know…or…well, I can’t tell you. Why do you need to know, anyway?” Lyra looked around frantically, hoping that somepony walking down the concord would notice, and maybe even try to help her. This situation had to look suspect to somepony.

“Oh, they can’t see us.” The cloaked pony chuckled and glanced around at the travelers moving past the pair of them. “They’re as blind as I am. They all are. It’s alright though. I don’t mean any trouble; I just need to know who that lovely mare was. Then I’ll be out of your hair, Miss Lyra.”

Lyra stopped for a moment, her distress escalating, but now curious. “Y-you know my name? Why? Who are you?” The cloaked pony chuckled again, a delighted, condescending sort of pitch following his voice now.

“I know many more things about you, Miss Lyra, mate of Night Whisper, a famous archaeologist from Manehattan. Your talent with a lyre is unmatched, and there are even things we know that you hide from yourself. We know so much about you, but the name of the mare you just spoke with escapes us; we have a hunch, but it’s so very important we find out…”

Lyra frowned, still slowly moving away from the stallion. “Wait...you just said we, are there more of you?” The blind stallion nodded.

“How astute, Miss Lyra. There are many of us, and we all seek to find reality in justice. My own search has brought me to you, Miss Lyra and has demanded I know exactly who that mare was. If you cannot help me…” The stallion gave a curt nod, and a movement behind her caused Lyra to jump backwards…into another pony. She turned quickly, now coming face-to-face with what was obviously a younger mare, wearing the same garb as the stallion, including the cloak and blindfold. When she spoke, the mare’s voice carried a softer tone with a higher pitch.

“I have the mystery mare’s name. Her name is Twilight Sparkle, age 21, and she is indeed daughter to Midnight and Stardancer Sparkle, and quite the explorative type. Her cutie mark is a black magnifying glass draped across a sand-colored map. As far as my sources tell me, she should have boarded a chariot for Ponyville around ten minutes ago. Probably to meet her parents and they’re just the ponies we need to see. What have you been doing all this time, Captain, and why did I have to do all this work for you?”

The mare finally turned her attention back to Lyra. “And what is she doing with us? Nopony is supposed to know about us, you fool! You were probably intimidating her with your hocus-pocus mystical bravado again. Idiot! Oh well, it looks like I’ll need to clean up your mistakes again. I still have no idea how you actually made Captain…”

She lowered her hood, apparently-blind eyes still trained on Lyra. She then placed her hooves along the sides of the blindfold and lowered it. There was a flash, and Lyra let loose a piercing scream. Hours later, the peaceful ponies following the concourse to their chariots had no idea that anything unusual had just taken place in their very midst.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Twilight Sparkle’s flight had been particularly uneventful. She had enjoyed an in-flight daisy sandwich and had taken a few hours to rest her eyes. Most of the flight took place during the daytime; so naturally, everypony onboard had decided to rest their eyes. After a while, Twilight felt herself shaken awake by the passing steward stallion, who explained to her and all ponies around that their flight would be landing on Ponyville in minutes. Ecstatic, Twilight leaned her head out of the chariot and looked toward her hometown, a wonderful place she hadn’t seen in years…which was of course on purpose, to avoid displaying her “party self” to her loving parents.

Her parents, much to her delighted surprise, had been waiting for her at the Ponyville flightport, and when she saw them, descending the ramp from her chariot, she simply teleported right over to them and gave them both a giant hug.

“Twilight!” said her parents in unison; “It’s so good to see you again!”

Stardancer stepped back, flapping her wings happily and giving her daughter a good look.

“Well, it looks like you’re eating well, and you’ve gotten even more beautiful during these couple of years! I still don’t see why it had to be such a long time, but in your letters it sounded important, and your father told me not to worry…so I did anyway…”

She sighed and gave Twilight another big hug. Stardancer finally released Twilight, and her father stepped up to her, his face beaming.

“Lookin’ good, Twi’. Since you’re here, I guess you kept yourself safe after all. I knew you’d be fine, I’m just hopin’ all the extra studyin’ was beneficial to you!” He chuckled happily for a moment before continuing; “And if it wasn’t, there are always jobs around here in Ponyville. Luna knows I’d give my left foreleg to have you stick around for a while. Has that cutie mark proven useful to ya, hon’?”

Twilight smirked at her father, a twinkle in her eye. “Oh sure it has Dad, amazingly. You know how I like to explore, good and bad, y’know? And I’d love to be around more, but I’ve got at least a semester of studies left, but after that, who knows? I’d love to come back to Ponyville, but you and Mom both know me too well to think that’s a definite.” At these words, Twilight lowered her head and blushed slightly.

Stardancer trotted up to her daughter and nuzzled her. “It’s alright, Twi’. We know you need to get out and find your own way, and we don’t want to hold you back from going where life wants to take you.”

Midnight Sparkle walked up to the pair and nuzzled them both. “Well, we all know you’ll need to get out into that wide world very soon, but hey, you’re home now, and we should enjoy the time we have! How about dinner? I’m thinkin’ something small, maybe Desperado’s?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For the next few hours, the happy family of three enjoyed a night on the town. It had been a long time since Twilight had been to Desperado’s, but their salad buffet and was something had loved since she was a filly. They sat and talked, eating their meals and watching the live band who came in from Appleoosa every now and then to drop off supplies and play some tunes for the patrons of Desperado’s.

The restaurant had been started by a native Appleoosan, Lone Star. Lone Star had dreamt of moving to a town like Ponyville and bringing with him some Appleoosan flavor. His ideas had been a success, and right now a certain family of three couldn’t be happier about that.

As the moon descended toward the horizon, the family left Desperado’s and began their journey home. Twilight and her parents enjoyed a quiet stroll back to her parent’s home, meeting nopony on the way back, as it had gotten pretty late and most ponies in Ponyville tended to be asleep by sunrise. As they entered the threshold of the two-story, lavender-tinted home, Twilight was hit by a child-like nostalgia she hadn’t felt since her last visit two years ago.

“It’s the same home I remember!” she said quietly to herself. Her mother trotted up to her and chuckled, smiling over at her warmly.

“Yes Twi’, we haven’t changed anything. All the while we’d been hoping you’d just come back eventually, and so we’ve kept it the same as it was when you left. All of your things you didn’t take with you are just where you left them. Then again…”

Her mother thought for a moment, a hoof to her chin. “I don’t really know what we’d do with anything here otherwise, it’s not like we’ve got any place to go, your father and I live very solitary lives you see, and we only ever need each other’s company. It would be nice to have some friends around occasionally though…”

Stardancer then gazed out the nearby window, as if to see somepony who wasn’t there. Unfortunately, there was somepony there, and they were staring right back at her, or they would be, if their eyes weren’t obscured by a thin, black stripe.

~~~~~~~~~To Be Continued~~~~~~~~~