Chapters Two-Hundred and Thirty Four Days until the Summer Sun Celebration
The Everfree Forest was a place that exuded a sense of foreboding throughout all times of the day and any season that passed through it. The late fall was no different, as the chilled wind worked its way through the trees. The eerie shadows that were cast by the crooked wooden guardians gave them the visage of malicious watchers waiting to pounce on any creature that dared to pass with their attention not on their surroundings.
One little filly didn’t care about the throngs of timber that surrounded her. She didn’t care about anything today. She had left her house and just started walking to get away from it all. To her, the forest didn’t seem as dangerous as the situation back at her home. The screaming, the crying, the arguing, it was much worse than some dark trees.
“You did the right thing, Lily…” she told herself, stepping over roots and foliage that were in her way. She had to keep reassuring herself that she had made the right choice to get away. She had to keep telling herself that Rose and Daisy and her dad didn’t understand, that they would never really get it deep down.
The news still made her blood run cold, it made everything in her head stop and shut down. Just seven years after meeting her mother for the first time and now it was all going wrong. The mare who had abandoned her on her father’s doorstep had finally reconnected and now it all seemed so pointless.
“Sky’s sick and not getting any better,” the letter from somepony named Hard Bargain had started. Apparently her mother’s uncle and one of her last remaining family members. “The rot’s back and it’s going to get her this time,” had been where she had stopped reading. It had been the point that made everything feel so helpless.
Lily would be the first to admit that her relationship with her mom wasn’t the best. ‘Skyward Glory was an upstanding citizen of Canterlot’ had always been the thing she heard, but that didn’t make her the best mother. The sporadic visits had been consistently marred by spats and history that Lily couldn’t let go.
Ever since she was six, ever since those first days that she had met her real family, Lily had wanted to forgive her mom. She always thought that you needed to give ponies a second chance, that there was always something good deep down and you just needed to work to find it.
Every time her mom came to town it felt like that belief was tested.
It wasn’t her mom’s fault either, the kindly pegasus could never even attempt to be hateful or rude, Lily knew it was her problem and hers alone. There were just some things that Lily felt were insurmountable, that you couldn’t just forget and leave behind you. For better or for worse, it regularly colored the filly’s view of her mother, and not in a positive light.
How were you supposed to get over an abandonment like that? Lily’s aunt, Vinyl Scratch, who she hadn’t seen in seven years, once told her never to forget it. To hold onto it, and Lily had. It was close to her heart and it was a poison she couldn’t ignore or dispel easily. The immense need to get over it, to just move on and try to forgive her mother was always there. The strangling plant that grew from that seed of distrust so long ago had been the barrier to it all, one that either needed to constrain everything or get burned away, now that there was a time limit it seemed that the decision needed to be now or never.
“I just want more time…” Lily sighed as she stepped over a series of roots that curved out of the ground and between a series of rocks that were strewn across the dead-leaf covered ground.
Pulling herself from her thoughts, the little earth pony looked about to see if she had any semblance of an idea of where she was. The answer was a pretty solid ‘no’. Most of that changed however when she saw the mass of ruins looming through a dense fog in the distance. She had heard of the ruins, but thought of them mainly as a myth or legend, and the only thing it told her was that she was pretty deep in the Everfree. The haunting castle seemed like the perfect target to unleash her frustration at.
“I JUST WANT MORE TIME TO MAKE IT RIGHT!” Lily screamed across the chasm that separated her from the castle. “WHAT DID I DO TO DESERVE THIS?!” The tears started to well in the corner of her eyes as she let out her frustrations.
“H-hello…?” A voice called back from across the chasm. It was soft and plaintive, like a scared child that had been reprimanded. “Wh-who’s there…?” Lily was taken aback at the voice, she wasn’t expecting someone to answer her. After a period of silence, the voice piped up again. “I-I didn’t mean to frighten you, I promise I’m not a monster or anything.”
“What are you, then?” Lily called back across the gap, looking at the shattered wooden bridge that once connected the castle to the mainland. Nothing should be out here, not anything normal or even equine.
“My name’s…” There was a hesitation. “...Mia. My name’s Mia. I’m a pony, like you presumably.” Well that raised more questions than Lily had originally, but it did answer some at least. “What’s your name?”
“Lily.” She called back. “I’m from Ponyville, just outside the forest.” There was again a silence, as she hadn’t provided an opening for more conversation. So Lily decided to carry on. “What are you doing out here?” The most pressing question to be sure, and one that needed answering.
“I live out here, I have for almost a decade now.” The next sound was either a sigh or gust of wind, Lily couldn’t tell. “What about you? This is no place for a little pony.” It was Lily’s turn to sigh now.
“I don’t know, I just felt like I needed to get away.” Lily had been really bottling it up for a while and she needed to talk to somepony, even if it was just a voice across a canyon. “I’m not sure if you’re real or not, so I’m just going to talk until I feel better, okay?”
“I’m a good listener, so please go ahead.” That was comforting, even if this voice was some figment. Even if this was all some sort of stress hallucination, it would be worth it just to expel all of the nonsense from her system.
“My mom is sick, like really sick.” That word, ‘sick’, it weighed so much on the tongue. “Wing rot, and it’s bad. She’s had it for a long time, but it’s always been managed.” Her mind drifted to the myriad of hospital visits over the years, each worse than the last. It was never easy to see her mother’s ribs poking painfully through the skin, or her gaunt face and glazed over eyes. “They don’t think she’ll make it through this time.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.” Mia’s voice echoed across the canyon, a sad twinge pervading the apology. “It’s never easy to lose someone, but you have to make peace with it. Trust me, I’ve seen what happens when you don’t. It will be hard, but I think as long as you say your goodbyes it will be okay.”
“It’s not that easy.” Lily sat down on the ground, kicking up several dead leaves as she did so. “We-we’ve never had an easy relationship. When I was younger it was a lot simpler, but we’ve both said some mean things, things we both regret I think.” Words, Lily had learned, were always heavy and always carried real meaning even if you never meant them to. Something said in a moment of blind passion could destroy something good, it could devastate a relationship.
“How old are you, Lily?” Mia asked. Lily swore she saw a thin patch in the fog and could see the silhouette of a tall thin pony sitting on the opposite side of the gulch. Maybe there was a horn sticking out of the form’s head, she just wasn’t sure. The distance and the fog made it difficult to actually determine any concrete features.
“Twelve,” Lily responded. “Almost thirteen, just like my sisters.” Another thought that just drifted through her mind, Daisy and Rose. They didn’t understand, yeah they saw Skyward Glory as a surrogate mother but they didn’t have the same connection that Lily did. The same history of pain wasn’t shared there.
“You’re very well spoken for somepony so young.” Lily could feel that warm, almost proud undercurrent in the words. They were almost motherly in that regard and full of an inherent love. “It’s very admirable.”
“My dad makes me and my sisters read a lot. He took us out of public school and started homeschooling us because he didn’t think the stuff they were teaching us was intensive enough.” Also the fact that there was a boom in the flower business and he needed the help was a big player, but they didn’t really acknowledge that. “It doesn’t stick as well with Daisy, and Rose is more into the earth sciences, but I like learning new words and reading.” ‘Verbose’ was a word she had picked up in a novel a few weeks back, and thought that it described her aptly.
“Well your mother, however she is medically, should be very proud of such a smart filly.” A small amount of pride welled beneath Lily’s pink coat. Between her very busy father and sick mother, there wasn’t much pride spread around the household anymore. “I’m sure that you and your mother will both see a need to reconcile before she moves on.”
“Yeah…” Lily wasn’t too sure of that. From what she knew, the last time that Skyward Glory had been told or asked to apologize for abandoning Lily, it led to Vinyl Scratch disappearing completely from everypony’s lives. That kind of pain didn’t need to exist between them this close to the end. “I just don’t think she’ll ever be ready, Mia.”
“I-” Mia’s words caught in her throat. “I did something wrong too-a long time ago-I hurt more ponies than I ever thought possible. It was all because I was afraid of standing still and letting everything go around me, I was so scared of all of the uncertainty.” There was genuine pain in those words, anguish layered beneath piles of self-loathing. “I intervened where I shouldn’t and it backfired, all I did was hurt those I was trying to protect. I lost my friends, my loved ones, and ended up here.” There was a long, pregnant pause after that statement. “But if I could go back and change it, I wouldn’t. I acted, and I did what I thought was right. I tried.” Confidence surged back into the words, and a sense of pride. “Doing nothing, just being a passive observer, that’s easy. Taking action and actually doing something, even if it end poorly will always be worth it because at least you didn’t just stand by and watch. At least you tried, even if you failed.”
Lily desperately wanted to act, she wanted to go to that shining city on the hill and tell her mother how beaten up she was over all of this. How much the sheer knowledge of her abandonment wrecked her self-confidence and fractured a lot of her personal relationships. Maybe Mia was right, maybe Lily just needed to stand up and confront her mom about everything. Try to get some closure, and even if her mom failed to see what Lily was trying to say then at least there would be some sort of conclusion for one of them.
It would just be hard.
“So why are you out here?” Lily decided to change the subject, she would ruminate more on it later. For now she had poured her heart to this stranger, and she would like to know more about this advice giving voice in the mist.
“Me?” Mia asked with a hint of guilt. “Atonement.” That was a very heavy word, one that Lily really didn’t understand fully.
“You’re looking for forgiveness?” she asked, cocking her head to the side.
“Yes, or something close to it,” the voice answered, her voice level and calm. “I was sent here by my family, to keep me out of the public eye for a while. I’m just trying to make the best of my time here, trying to reflect and understand what put me here.”
“So...you’re in prison?” Lily asked with no small amount of uncertainty. It sounded barbaric, prison, but that’s what the situation seemed like. What an awful thought, being locked away, alone, with nopony to talk to.
“No, no, no,” Mia rebuked adamantly. “I’m not in prison, I’m just...sequestered for a while.” Lily wasn’t sure that even Mia believed what she was saying. “You should know we don’t have prisons in Equestria.”
“Except for Nightmare Moon’s,” Lily reminded the pony on the other side, her gaze turning skyward. She could just barely make out the moon through the quickly thinning canopy overhead, it’s cratered face staring down at her.
“Th-that doesn’t count!” Mia shouted back across the chasm, panic coursing through her words. “I-it’s totally different! I-I’m not locked up or in prison.” Lily knew denial pretty well, and there was a lot of it on the other side of the gap.
“Can you leave that place whenever you want? Like, if the bridge was fixed could you just walk over here and talk to me?” Whatever the answer, it would cement whether it was a prison or just voluntary confinement.
“I don’t need the bridge, I can fl-” Mia caught herself mid-sentence and Lily heard the very faint sound of cursing. “I’m not a prisoner here.” The reaffirmation came swiftly on the tail of the last statement.
“So you can just fly over here whenever you want?” Lily questioned.
“No…” Mia responded in a small voice. “I-I’m tied here, I can’t leave.” After a book she had read recently, visions of spirits tied to their former dwellings ran through her mind. They quickly dissipated and were replaced by more thoughts about the possible prison across the pit. An uncomfortable silence filled the void between them, it was laced with problems and sorrows from both ends.
“It’s hard to be alone.” Lily nodded with her own words. “It’s really hard to just stew in everything and have nopony to talk to about all of the bad things in your life.” She knew that Mia needed something to get her to talk, some sort of pep talk or encouragement. “But it’s harder to be alone with somepony else, somepony who you know won’t understand what you need to get off of your chest. Because you know that they’ve never been through what you have and they just won’t get it, they’ll judge and write you off as handling it wrong. I get how hard it is to be alone with someone else.” Lily stood up and turned back the way she came. “...I think I need to get back home before it gets dark.”
“Wait…” Mia called out from the other side weakly. “P-please, if you can, come back tomorrow? I think...I think I could use somepony to talk to.”
“Yeah, I’ll be back tomorrow.” This felt like the beginning of something new, something that Lily really needed. It felt like a kindred spirit in a way. She wanted to come back, maybe every day. It seemed like they both could use a friend .
Author's Note
Things are going to jump around in this story. Things aren't going to be published in any certain order, so the little countdown at the top of each chapter will let you know where it takes place chronologically.
Have fun and enjoy this little embarkation into a bridge between bigger stories.
Seventy-Two days until the Summer Sun Celebration
“Hello Ponies. Welcome back to the Canterlot News Network. As always, I’m your host Air Waves.” The familiar greeting felt good for the veteran reporter each and every time she said it. It wasn’t just her calling card, to her it was a sign of quality, that even after almost two decades of service she was with the most prestigious news network in Equestria.
With a confident grin, the light blue pegasus brushed her cobalt and white mane from her face and behind her headphones. Today’s story was a doozy, and she was relishing in being the first one to break it. Late last night, a folder had been dropped off at her apartment with documents that could turn all of Equestria on its side. She had contacted everyone she knew in the palace and had corroborated almost everything in the file.
It wasn’t just any old bombshell, this was a bunker buster that would level Mount Canter.
“Today I have the privilege of breaking a story that is a shocking revelation of what our government has been doing.” Air Waves flipped the folder open and rustled the papers audibly until she found the one she was looking for. It was a copy, she could tell, but it said everything she needed. “Project Carrier. A secret operation carried out by our very government to spy on its citizenry, courtesy of the Department of Equestrian Intelligence. ‘Project Carrier’ involves highjacking the magical sensors in post offices that detect dangerous materials to scan every piece of mail, read it, and send everything back to the Department of Equestrian Intelligence. The government is reading everything you write and using that to detect ‘possible corruption or probable criminality’.”
Air Waves let the words hang for a few seconds, letting the masses soak in the possibilities. It was heavy, she knew that much. It could be used for so much bad, it was ripe for abuse and the ponies deserved to know this.
“What happens when they decide somepony is a threat? Somepony is corrupt or might do something wrong? Will they follow the correct protocols, make them face justice through all of the proper channels? Of course not, because then they would have to reveal how they got all of their evidence. This is how ponies disappear, this is how justice and the rule of law die; secrets and spies.”
Air took a deep breath as the telltale beep came from her headphones, letting her know that they had just went to commercial. With a deep sigh, the seasoned pegasus killed her microphone and took off her headphones. Her producer had told her how dangerous this was to put out there, how much the government would be on her flank and just how much trouble she would be in. It was a risk she was willing to take, she had even told them that she would take the heat for not submitting their broadcast schedule copy to the communications board in the palace. Everything would be on her shoulders with this, no one else’s.
And as long as there were secrets in Canterlot, as long as they deserved to be exposed, Air Waves would be there to expose them to the people of Canterlot, she would be there to shed light on whatever shadows where dirty deeds were being dealt with.
“We’re coming back.” The voice of the pony in the booth came over the dinky speakers in the small and cramped studio. Air Waves leaned forwards in her seat and put her headphones back on and prepared to hit her mic. “Wait, hold on….I can’t seem to get a stable connection...it’s out.” The voice was half frustrated and half worried. Since the booth job was practically a revolving door, she would advise him to be more worried than anything.
A sharp and impatient knocking came at the studio door. One that sent the fur along Air’s spine on end. She had locked the door for a very good reason, so if someone was knocking…
“Canterlot Royal Guard! Open up or we’re breaking this door down!” That deep, masculine voice was the last thing she wanted to hear, but the top thing she was expecting after her report.
In an instant, the pegasus was out of her seat and on the other side of the small studio, standing over an empty metal trashcan, a lit candle that she had prepared in one wing and the file in the other. Whatever brave soul that had gotten this to her couldn’t be jeopardized. If any hint of their magic, or saliva, or feather dust was on this, it couldn’t get into the hooves of the guard. They would be crucified, maybe literally, by Galea.
She closed her eyes and brought the two objects closer and closer together until she head the file catch light, once the heat licked the tips of her feathers, she dropped the now burning bundle into the trashcan with a dull thump, shreds of burning paper flying up into the air.
The sound of a powerful spell charging up from the other side of the door rang across the room, the dull hum of horns building power. It all discharged at once, the door practically disintegrating from the raw power output and causing Air Waves to bring a wing up to shield her eyes.
As soon as the heat from the spell dissipated, an intense chill came over the room. Air Waves felt it in her very soul, that familiar biting cold. It wasn’t just fear, a certain pony exuded that freezing aura.
“Ms. Waves, I am very disappointed.” The smoke cleared slightly and revealed a petite baby blue mare with a graying mane and the harshest set of gray eyes that could pierce stone. Captain Galea herself.
Air Waves had faced this mare before, in multiple interviews where they had sparred verbally and usually came to a stalemate or a humiliating defeat for one of them in the papers the next day. Those moments, where they were sitting across from each other, playing chess with their words and wits, had never scared the pegasus. This time, it was different, it was physical.
“I was doing my job, reporting what was g-” Magic formed around her muzzle, solidifying into ice and leaving only her nostrils unobstructed. Futily, Air Waves tried to scratch away the ice, but found it too resilient.
Galea moved ahead of her contingent of guards, the unicorn seemingly towering over everyone else in the room despite her much smaller stature. She walked until her muzzle was just inches away from Air’s and sneered.
“I don’t care what you say, what you did, or if you say it was given legally to you, you will give me a name. I do not care how long it takes, I will throw you into a cell and you will rot until you give me a name.” There was fury and truth in those words, undeniable truth. Even if Air Waves knew who gave her the file, which she didn’t, Galea was going to make her talk...and it wasn’t going to be pleasant.
Instead of showing her fear, Air Waves stood defiant and glared back at Galea. She wasn’t going to be bullied, she wasn’t going to let anypony get away with what the Captain and her ilk were doing, she couldn’t. It was her job as a member of the free press to expose this.
“Prep her for transport, we’re taking her to the mines.”
Author's Note
Have a short little vignette about Air Waves and Galea.
Two days until the Summer Sun Celebration
Twilight sighed and closed her book. Today was turning out to be one of those days where she just couldn’t focus easily on the task in front of her. Too much was just on her mind; Moondancer’s birthday, the Summer Sun Celebration, and the emergency session that Vinyl had scheduled.
Thoughts just buzzed around her head, obstructing her attention and clouding her ability to concentrate. She picked up the book in her magical grip and levitated it to its proper spot amongst the hundreds of tomes that covered the walls in her private tower room. She would have Spike do it, but the little dragon was out and about running errands for Princess Celestia.
“Right, now to prepare for Vinyl.” These little ‘sessions’ they had were the product of necessity on Vinyl’s part and an intense need to set things right on Twilight’s. After the whole mess with Cadance all those years ago, Twilight had seen what magic could do. She had been there as her brother slowly recovered his memories, she had been witness to the memory problems that plagued him to this day...more importantly, she had seen the inner-workings of the charm that the Princess had placed on Vinyl’s mind.
Twilight had spent years trying to figure it out, trying to figure out how to pry it apart or break it outright. It was all to no avail. If she was stronger, if she was just as powerful as Cadance she could do it. But she wasn’t, and Celestia had relegated handling the matter to Twilight personally as a lesson. Well, Twilight had been handling it.
Magic couldn’t break the charm, magic couldn’t alter the charm or fend it off for any amount of time. The charm itself was just a constant suggestion, always reasserting itself, so Twilight had found a way to combat it.
Hypnosis.
At first she had been skeptical, as had Vinyl, but after a metric ton of research on the matter, Twilight had become convinced. It was just suggestion, that’s all. Induce the subject into a relaxed, open state, and then suggest whatever you and the subject agreed upon. It was simple in theory.
The main obstacle was Vinyl herself. The subject had to believe in it, they had to do everything instructed and trust in the process. Vinyl’s stubbornness was something that they both had to overcome over time. At first, Vinyl thought it was a ‘bunch of bullshit’ as she had so eloquently put it. It had taken multiple sessions and a lot of coaxing by Twilight to get Vinyl to trust her and the process. The whole situation had, in the end, helped the unicorns grow closer over the years. Even to the point where Twilight could consider her brother’s marefriend a close friend of her own.
“Twily, you in?” The grade school name had stuck with Vinyl. Twilight wasn’t much of a fan of being called that anymore, but judging by how Vinyl still called Shining ‘Twinkle, Twilight knew it was a fruitless endeavor to demand change.
“Come on in, Vinyl.” The bookish unicorn stood up from her cushion and picked up various academic papers that were scattered around and gathered them in a nice stack before stashing them on a nearby table. She turned towards the door just in time to see it open.
Despite pushing thirty, Vinyl still kept a very youthful exuberance about her. The cocky grin, the mischievous glint in her magenta eyes, even the telltale swagger of the coolest pony in the room. It all just screamed, young and ready for anything.
Considering she used to be depressed and dependent on alcohol, this was a good change.
“Sorry about the sudden...thing.” Vinyl stepped into the room and looked around, taking in a bit of everything. “Twinkle and I are headed out to Baltimare tomorrow for the Summer Sun Celebration, y’know? Kinda hoping to just get everything reinforced so I don’t do anything stupid out there.”
“It’s no problem, Vinyl. Come right in, I always have time to help.” That had become one of Twilight’s pillars, helping others when she could. She had seen what selfish hoarding of emotions and power did, holding onto things without talking or opening up, it only lead to hurt.
That didn’t mean much, because Twilight was still...awkward around other ponies. Despite wanting to help, her studies under Celestia had left her more than a little sheltered in regards to social interaction. It left her high and dry when thrust into situations where tact and social graces were needed, and that kind of handicap was not conducive to wanting to help others.
“Same stuff as usual?” Vinyl asked, setting her saddlebags down with her magic and withdrawing a silky red string from it. In a simple and practiced motion, the mare took her wild mane, tamed it, and pulled it back into a ponytail. They had learned a long time ago that her mane could become distracting during sessions.
“Yeah, just get comfortable anywhere.” Twilight watched as Vinyl gathered two cushions and put them together to form a makeshift bed. The pearlescent mare laid on her side and closed her eyes.
This was where every word had to be right, all annunciations had to be perfect and intent had to be clear. The wrong wording could turn a meaning in the mind in the subject. Working this close with one pony for long, you learned the way they would interpret certain things and could plan around those things.
The induction, the part of the session that relaxed the subject and opened them to suggestibility, was the easy part. Just getting them to control their breathing, stretching and relaxing their muscles and getting them into a serene and calm state of mind. The words came simple and easily, and once she was sure that Vinyl was under and tranced, she could start with the meat of the session.
“You are in a field of flowers
The wind flows neatly through it
Blowing flowers to and fro
Now
Focus on your thoughts.
They’re wild and untamed
Chasing momentary fleets of fancy
Like a wild dog
It runs around the field
Tearing up the grass and disturbing the flowers.
The dog that is your thoughts run circles around you.
It tugs you along, pulling you every which way.
It is uncontrolled and undisciplined.
You are in control, though.
There is a leash trailing from it
Grab it
Take hold of it.
You hold the leash now
Gripping it tight and not letting go.
They only go as far and fast as you let them.
They can tug and pull, but you hold all the power.
The dog obeys it’s master, not the other way around.
The thoughts are yours, not the other way around.
The thoughts can be controlled and disciplined.
You have that power.
Now when I count down from five you will wake up.
The leash of your thoughts will be yours and you will be in full control.
Your wild thoughts will not dictate your actions, you will.
Five
Four
Three
Two
One”
Vinyl’s eyes opened and she blinked a few times, languidly stretching out. From how Vinyl had described the experience in the past, ‘waking up’ was a bit like coming out of a mental haze. It took the other unicorn a few seconds to gain back all her senses and look up at Twilight again.
“Celestia, I love that feeling.” Vinyl grinned and stood up, her joints popping slightly as she did. “It’s like a high without the hangover, y’know?” Twilight didn’t actually know, but had learned that ‘y’know?’ was actually a rhetorical question, so instead she just nodded in response. “I still got the shivers.”
“I hope it helped, Vinyl. I know we’ve had a lot of success, I’m just worried that one day it just won’t work anymore.” Twilight looked down, scenarios where it failed flooding her mind. That charm had to wear out sometime, and the sooner it did, the better. This couldn’t go on forever, Vinyl and Shining didn’t want to be in Canterlot forever and Twilight couldn’t be on call forever.
Something had to give.
“Hey, don’t worry about it.” Vinyl came up to the younger unicorn’s side and put a hoof over her. “Don’t worry about tomorrow or whatever, alright? Hell, don’t even worry about today. Just live. Do what you think is right and what’s best in the moment. When problems come, handle ‘em. That’s what I do.”
That did not inspire confidence.
“Thanks Vinyl.”
“No problem, squirt. Now, how’re you holding up with your whole grandma thing? Twinkle ain’t too broken up about it, but I know their relationship.” Twilight sighed and let her shoulders droop. Yeah, Grandma Satin. She was sick, pneumonia. She had been in the hospital a few weeks now, and the doctors had told the family she probably couldn’t fight it off. It had been rough.
“She’s almost one-hundred, so I’m not surprised. It’s been bad for mom, though. She’s taking it really hard.” Even though her mother and grandmother constantly bickered and fought, they were still family. Twilight Velvet still loved her mother and wanted her around. Losing a parent was hard, Vinyl knew that.
“I’ll send flowers from Twinkle and I, alright? You take care and just come over if you ever need anything. Like, anything at all. Advice, a fun night, booze. I’m your mare.” Twilight chuckled and shook her head.
“Thanks. Have fun on your trip, alright? Don’t get into too much trouble.” Twilight gave her not quite sister-in-law a hug as the older unicorn began to head for the exit.
“No promises, Twily. You know me.”
Author's Note
Hey, shoutout to the people over at Positivity Hypno for both inspiring the subject of this chapter and helping me write it.
Hope you enjoy it!
Sixteen days until the Summer Sun Celebration
Twilight Satin hated hospitals. The white everything and muted ‘sanitary’ colors were just awful for anyone feeling ill. How could Satin feel better about anything, let alone her condition, when everything around her was an eyesore?
Absolutely disgusting.
Worst of all was her family always coming around and crying over her. How ridiculous of them. Ninety Seven years she had been on this planet, Ninety Seven years she had done her best to help her family and advance the legacy she would leave behind. She had been in the House of Nobles since she married, she had made her family’s lineage a household name alone.
She had lived a good long life, they had no reason to cry. If she was some no-name who had worked every day of their miserable life they could cry. Or if she was some mudpony or featherbrain, sure. But she was a unicorn who had served the crown to the best of her ability! There was pride in her life! They should be reveling in everything she had left them.
Ungrateful, like always.
“Mother, how are you feeling? Are you comfortable?” Her daughter, Twilight Velvet, asked. Her voice was quavering, eyes bloodshot and puffy bags had formed beneath them. Such a bad look for a mare of her stature.
“Quit your crying, I’m fine!” To punctuate her point, a vicious cough wracked her body, causing her to shake and take deep, labored breaths. “I am dying, I am not dying painfully. Now wipe your eyes and splash some cold water on your face, Velvet. You look awful.”
Like the pushover she was, Velvet obeyed and scurried over to the sink in the room. She turned the faucet on and did as she was told.
Satin scoffed.
“Just try to relax, Satin.” The spineless welp that Velvet called her husband chimed in. He was a stallion who favored jokes and avoiding conflict over actual manners, tact, and standing up for himself or his family. “Just try to relax and think that you’ll be with Red Tape soon.”
“Ha!” Satin rasped out as loudly as she could. “Why should that relax me? So he can moan and complain at me for all of eternity about being to ambitious? Oh yes, I cannot wait Night Light.” Her late husband, who had died of a heart attack in his sleep when Velvet was three years old was not one of her favorite ponies. They had been married out of an arrangement between families.
Now Satin’s father, that was a stallion. Bold, ambitious, working towards his greater goals. When he had died, Satin had weeped for weeks because the world lost a true force of nature. He had been someone that a young Satin had looked up to and continued to revere. He knew the meaning of legacy, he knew what a family name meant. Not like her own husband or Velvet’s, who were to preoccupied with being likable over actually accomplishing things.
“Well I give up, dear.” Figures, he couldn’t even deliver her any kind of resistance. Weak. “At least we can be certain that this is indeed your mother.” Night Light rubbed his wife’s back and hugged her like a mother would her newborn foal, softly and with no conviction for fear of breaking something.
“It’s okay, Night. You can go out and join the others.” The sorry excuse for a stallion meekly nodded and left the room, leaving the mother and daughter alone.
Satin meant to be hard on her daughter, it was the only way to push her. Velvet knew that Satin still loved her, with every ounce of her being. Velvet was the culmination of everything she had fought and clawed so hard for. Velvet was the continuation, the next step.
Considering how that traitor Galea had ruined everything that the elder mare had worked so hard for, Velvet was going to need to step up and build something new. All the tools were there, all the money, all of the connections, Velvet just had to use them.
“Are your children here?” Satin asked, curious. “I would like to see my grandfoals at least one more time, even the boy.” Things needed to be said, and given to the both of them. Very important things, things that could and would affect their lives. “And send the boy in with a pen and paper, I don’t want his head problems to interfere.”
The fool, Shining Armor, had gone and messed everything up some number of years ago. First he went and broke up with that ditz of a Princess over some magic or some such nonsense. She had spent all that time and all of those favors getting them into the same school, into the same classes! Did that ungrateful whelp even know what she had to go through with her marriage? She didn’t even have a choice like he did, and he went and threw it away.
Disappointing.
Despite the disappointment in both him being a male, and thus unworthy to carry the name Twilight, and ruining their one chance at ascending their family into being royalty, Satin still had something to give him.
“Y-yes Mother, of course.” Velvet scurried off with that, off to retrieve her foals from the waiting room. This left Satin with time to reflect.
Had she been harsh in life? Of course. Did she regret a single moment? No, she could not afford to.This world was filled to the brim with more ponies liable to stick a knife in your back than stick up for you. She had learned that lesson early on.
When she was five, Nomme De Plume, an heiress and descendant of the great Princess Platinum, had held a party for all of the filly socialites. Satin, being a filly of money, but no substantive claims to the family name other than ‘also a descendant of Princess Platinum’ had been invited.
That backstabbing mare. All throughout Satin’s life, starting at that very moment, had done nothing but humiliate her. She openly criticized her gown at the function, calling it names and exposing its price tag to every other guest. It had been absolutely devastating. Everypony else there, her peers and rivals for life, had laughed at her. They had laughed her right out of the ballroom, right out of their circle.
That night, her father had told her the secret to everything. The secret to life and success and every goal you could dream of. ‘Fuck everyone else.’ Satin had taken that to heart. Every step of the way through her life, she had used any means necessary to advance.Even when courting her husband, the other debutante that had been vying for his hoof had an ‘unfortunate accident’ that had left most of her face burned. Even in the House of Nobles, she had used bribery and blackmail to get everything her way.
Nothing was off limits. Nothing was forbidden. Everything was fair game.
That was until Galea came into the equation. The absolute tart. The uppity no-name had come to her first, angling for a way into Knock Out’s good graces to become his assistant. Satin should’ve known from that moment the mare was trouble. Cold, heartless, seemingly devoid of passion. It was a mark of evil.
Naturally, Satin had accepted the mare’s request and directed Captain Knock Out towards the mare when promotions came around. In return, Galea had one of the noble houses angling for her seat investigated and humiliated for their foal-fiddling son-in-law.
That was their relationship. Satin would make Galea look good and in return Galea would help advance Satin’s own goals. Then they devised a plan, or at least Galea had. That should have been a red flag, the lowly assistant wanting to lock up most of the nobles in Canterlot using all of Satin’s knowledge on their finances and illegality.
Satin had been a fool.
The upstart, the twit, the fool had crossed her. Instead of consolidating power to a few choice houses, Galea had them all replaced with some voting nonsense. What did it mean to be a noble now? Nothing. It meant you were either a criminal, or you had been accused of it.
Galea had ruined everything, and she was going to pay one way or another.
“Grandma?” Oh good, the boy came first. If it wasn’t bad enough that he was the first visitor, he also had to call her that awful name. ‘Grandma’ was such plebeian speak. ‘Grandmother’ would be the most appropriate and articulate way to address her, but it was too late for that now. “You wanted to see me?”
The one thing that the boy had over little Sparkle was the coat color. Royal white like all good unicorns, just stunning. And with the mare he was with now, they would make good stock if her ever grew the stomach to propose to the poor mare. The color was the one thing that Satin could even be proud of him for, and he had nothing to do with it.
“Yes, yes. Come in. Did you bring a pen and paper like I said?” He held up a pad and pen in his feminine magical grasp, displaying it. “Good, take notes. I don’t want your head ruining this.” The boy visibly deflated at that. Perhaps the fact that she was on her deathbed had made him a bit more tolerable. No more back talking or fighting. It felt right.
“What am I taking notes on…?” He asked, stepping into the room. That infuriating hitch in his gait ruined any chance of him walking into any gala, but Satin supposed it could be covered if he actually tried.
“Everything I say!” She declared, pointing a shaky hoof at the boy as more coughs ravaged her frail body. “Seven Oh Three East Street, unit number eight one six, combination seven four oh, thirty six, fifty-eight. The lock has to be precise, so only a unicorn can open it.” The boy scribbled things down as she talked, like a good little colt. “What’s in there is everything I’ve ever collected on every pony I have ever needed to know about. There is enough information in that storage unit to topple most families in hours.” At that the boy hesitated, but then continued scribbling. “It is not for you, though. Sweetie Drops in Ponyville. Tell her it wasn’t an accident.”
“Wh-who is Sweetie Drops?” He questioned, not writing it down.
With all of her remaining strength, Satin grabbed a clump of fur in her magic and puled the boy so close he could practically smell the death on her. She narrowed her beady and cold eyes and told him one last thing, one thing she meant with all of her being, with the full weight of her life behind it.
“Do not fuck this up, Shining Armor.”
Author's Note
Hey, this little anthology series is over now! Now I gotta get started on the real sequel! I've just been setting some things up, answering a few questions I had about events and getting back into the world I created.
I hope you all enjoyed it a little and I'll see you in ASOSA 2.