Mid winter had settled over Ponyville leaving the rooftops covered with a layer of snow. At the midnight hour all with any sense were snug in their beds, all but one purple alicorn princess. Twilight Sparkle stalked the halls of her castle as if she was searching for something. Periodically she would pause at the bedroom door of her number one assistant as he slept soundly.

No she thought, my son. Ever since Twilight's magical mishap the relationship between herself and the baby dragon had changed. She felt shame at how she had treated him over the years, as a little brother at best and a servant at worst. Yet still Spike loved her dearly. As he had put it in one of their many talks since her death and rebirth, she hatched him, raised him, schooled him, and in all the ways that mattered she was his mother.

Since that day when the strange Blacksmith had brought her back she had prowled the castle at night, unable to banish the visions of the other side from her mind. As such she had taken to turning her insomnia fueled wanderings in to a vigil of her home and her draconic son. What's more she considered Spike her reason for being now. The pursuit of knowledge and magic had been her life up until that day. Now...she only found joy in being a mother.

Her death had wrought unthinkable change, or unthinkable if her friends knew, books left unread, assignments incomplete, experiments unfinished, and even research abandoned. She had focused all her energies on being a mother, and Spike adored it. For the first time in his life, Spike truly felt valued and loved.

Twilight though, she felt shame and regret. She had come to Ponyville to learn the magic of friendship, yet had failed to learn the friendship between a parent and child. This weighed heavily on her soul as she stalked the halls of her castle. She shook her head vigorously as yet another fleeting image of the other side popped in to mind. It had been months now and the visions persisted.

She thought back to the last exchange she had with the Blacksmith, how he had told her that the visions would fade, but they had not...

"Seek me at the edge of the forest that borders the town."

Those words of the Blacksmith echoed in her mind. It was not the first time she had thought of him but she had not gone to him for council as he had suggested. In the darkest of night when all was still and only her thoughts remained would she admit this Blacksmith, this strange creature that had restored her life cut short...terrified her.

On this wintry night though, Twilight's fear-fuel resolve broke. It was too much, what she saw, what she increasingly longed to return too... Twilight found her wandering had taken her to one of the balconies of a smaller tower of the castle. With one last look back she flapped her wings and flew off in to the night.

Four purple pony hooves gently alighted on on the fresh fallen snow at the edge of the Everfree. The night was black under the new moon with only the stars and the gentle glow of magic off Twilight Sparkle's horn lighting the night. Twilight stalked the tree line like a predator sniffing out prey, her head low and swinging about looking for some sign of the Blacksmith.

Four an hour she alternated between searching on hoof and searching by air, but no sign of the Blacksmith could be found. With her frustration building she finally set down back where she had originally landed and planted her haunches on the snow covered ground. She lowered her head and began to weep, whispering softly to herself, "I can't unsee what I saw...I can't go back until my time is done...what do I do?"

From behind her a gentle voice spoke, "We endure."

With a startled gasp Twilight spun to find herself facing the Blacksmith, "What...how did you get behind me? How long have you been there?"

"I was always here. Except when I wasn't. Or sometimes when I will be." He replied.

Twilight paused a moment trying to make sense of his answer. A moment later she gave up and simply said, "You told me the memories would fade...that I would forget...they haven't...please...help..."

Tears once more began to fall from the corner of the alicorn's eyes. The Blacksmith knelt before her and laid his hand upon her shoulder, "Come with me Student of Magic. Let us get out of the cold."

With those words he walked past the teary Twilight towards a small half-acre clearing with a single pine tree in the middle and a small, warm, and inviting looking hut.

As Twilight turned and followed him in a haze of near despair her analytical alicorn mind registered two things as she followed him in to the cottage. The first being that this clearing had not been here a moment ago and the second that no snow was falling within it's bounds.

The interior of the Blacksmith's cottage was warm and cozy by pony standard, if somewhat simply adorned. A stone hearth took up the center of one wall with a roaring fire lighting the room. A cooking pot was hung on an iron hinge above it bubbling and wafting out the pleasant smell of cooking vegetables. Against the opposite wall was a simple, if large, bed. Gracing the rear wall was a rather large bookcase filled with tomes and folios of all sizes. Where the bookcase ended another door stood open showing a glimpse of a humble bathroom.

In the middle of the cottage stood a table and two chairs, a pair of steaming mugs sitting at each place. The Blacksmith took a seat and beckoned for Twilight to take the other. Somewhat timidly Twilight stepped forward and climbed up on to the large (for a pony) chair.

"Have some tea." The Blacksmith said while gesturing to the steaming mug before her.

"Ummm...I don't really drink tea...I...I like coffee." She mumbled.

"Of course you do, so have some coffee, black with two sugars, just like you like it." He replied.

Twilight looked down in her cup and where a moment before was reddish colored tea was now a mug of black coffee. Shaking her head she took a sip of the black bean brew. With a contended sigh she set the mug back down and allowed a small smile, it was very good coffee.

"Now, don't you feel a bit better?" Asked the Blacksmith.

To Twilight's surprise she did. Maybe it was the coffee, maybe the cozy surrounding, or maybe it was just some special magic...but she did feel better. "Y-yes sir I do. The tea err coffee is very good."

"Excellent. Now, let's have a look at you and see what we can do about those pesky memories and your depression." He said in a matter-of-fact tone.

Twilight was taken aback, out of the blue he just seemed to know she was depressed. He said nothing for some time. He simply sat, staring at her with an unnerving, unblinking, stare. Twilight made to say something several times over the course of a silent hour but each time it simply felt...wrong...to break the silence.

After what felt like hours the Blacksmith blinked and let forth a heavy sigh. Emptying his teacup in one draw he finally broke the silence, "Student of Magic, I fear I have done evil to you that can not be undone."

Twilight looked at him with an owlish stare before stuttering, "Wha...what do you mean?"

Setting his elbows on the table, the blacksmith cupped his face in what Twilight took as a gesture of shame. He then spoke, "The magic I worked on you, it is only to be worked on mortals taken before their measure. The memories would fade over time as the mortal mind is unable to hold on to what is to come."

Pausing he refilled his tea from a pot that twilight swore was not there a moment ago. Bracing himself with a strong mug of coffee and setting the coffee pot aside he continued, "I realize now my folly Student of Magic, you have been touched by the divine. Inside you is carried just a small spark of something...greater...than others. That is why you retain the memory. For you Student of Magic, you can comprehend."

With shame in his eyes he took the bottle of whisky on the table and refilled his glass, twirling it around the ice, and then downing it in one go. Twilight sat, he mouth opening and closing trying to find words. Finally she spoke in a soft voice, "I...I want to go back..."

The Blacksmith stood and walked around the table an knelt beside the chair Twilight sat upon and to her surprise wrapped her in a pony-crushing hug. A strange sense of warmth suffused Twilight as she felt a sense of patronly safety in this strange creature's arms. After a moment Twilight felt dampness on her fur as she realized the Blacksmith was weeping silently. She rested her head on his bald pate and the one in need of comfort became the one to give it.

Taking comfort in each other the Blacksmith finally spoke, "We can't go back. Not until our measure is lived. We can only endure."

Twilight said her goodbyes and made her way back to her castle with a promise to visit again and an open invitation for the Blacksmith to visit her in kind. As the Blacksmith watched her take wing in to the night he turned to a luminous alicorn with a flowing red mane at the border of his half acre.

"You should have told me what she was. I could have better prepared her for the burden." He spoke without making eye-contact.

The alicorn let out a heavy snort in reply.

"You let me enter your domain and preform the ritual. You bear equal responsibility."

The alicorn merely pawed the ground.

"She will carry those memories until her measure has run it's course. They will always hang over her. She is no longer innocent." He spoke with no small amount of sadness in his voice.

A pair of alabaster arms encircled him from behind as woman with fiery hair embraced him, resting her chin upon his shoulder.

She spoke two soft words, "Forgive me..."

Twilight arrived back at her castle to find Spike still asleep in his bed, snoring up a storm that would have been the envy of some adult dragons. With a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth she went to wake him knowing the sun would be up soon. She paused though when she saw his clock. That can't be right. She thought.

Stepping out of his room she caught sight of a purple alicorn mare with a very familiar cutiemark taking flight from a balcony window off towards the forest.

Author's Note

I made you dis.

Also updated the information blurb regarding sex and romance etc. That plot line has been removed from this story and will become a different one at a later time. Rating and tags adjusted accordingly. Apologies if this upsets anyone. The direction I want to take this just doesn't seem fitting to have that kind of content.