Dreams of the past flowed through Solar's mind as if he were at a movie theater- displayed in the form of an old film. He was the sole member of the audience, watching his own memories from a third-pony point of view. He watched as a younger version of himself galloped through the streets of Manehattan, slowing down when he caught up with his father- a tall stallion who wore a neat business suit, who smiled as he ruffled his son's mane up a little. "Glad you could make it, sport." his father smiled before gesturing for the young pegasus to follow him. Solar fixed his mane as his father brought him to a corner, smiling. "Ready for the magic show, Solar? Time to show you what you're old colt can do." the dressed up stallion replied before looking over at some stallions. "Come one, come all! To Neighthan D.Trot's street-magic show!" the brown pegasus called out, inevitably drawing the attention of a few colts along with their parents. Solar stood next to the colts, excited to see the trick.

"For today's show, I will require a volunteer to lend me an piece of jewelery, such as a necklace. I will make it disappear, and then reappear. I assure you all, it will be returned without any harm." D.Trot replied, waiting until a young mare raised her hoof, taking off her pearl necklace, lending it to the

"Was I really that naive?" the Solar Chaser in the audience asked aloud, knowing what this memory was. This was one of Neighthan D. Trot's classic switch-aroo scams- and while he didn't know it back then, the pegasus in his seat remembered full well that he was part of the scam- used as leverage as his father would explain how he loved seeing magic shows and did the stunts not only for the public, but for his son. In the end, he was used to lull the unsuspecting ponies into a false sense of security.

"As you can see, nothing up my sleeves." the pegasus started, actually taking off his suit to assure the audience he wasn't going to stuff them in such a cliche spot before doing a quick twirl. "Abra Cadabra!" he shouted, the necklace having vanished, inevitably impressing the colts and fillies, while their parents couldn't help but clap along with their children. "And now, I'll make it reappear. Nothing hidden and- Hocus Pocus!" the stallion shouted, doing a backflip- holding the necklace in his hooves before returning it to the mare. "Thank you for being such a great sport about this." he sincerely thanked the mare, who put the necklace back on.

"Oh come on! He hides them with his wings!" present day Solar shouted- as if trying to inform the audience that was not around to hear him. His dad had known what he was doing this whole time, having been studying potential marks for about a week before having purchased some convincing, fake jewelry. Putting a hoof to his face, Solar didn't even watch the screen as his father shouted 'Hocus Pocus', having down a twirl and seemed to pull the same pearl necklace out of thin air. "Thank you for being such a good volunteer." Neighthan thanked the mare, returning the necklace to the mare, who gladly put it on.

Solar Chaser had been so convinced his dad was a magician back then, but now he knew better- his father had stolen the real pearl necklace right from under the mare's nose. He remembered that mare had been wearing the same fake necklace before he had left Manehattan, still blissfully unaware of what his dad had done to her.

"Do it again, Mr. D.Trot!" a young colt requested, but Neightan chuckled. "Sorry, but a magician never does the same trick twice." the stallion chuckled, but it was at that point that Solar woke up to the sound of his door opening.

"Sol, dear? It's time to get ready- we're going to Auntie Breeze's house." the earth mare chimed happily as the pegasus got off the bed, stretching. He was looking forward to this- anything that would get his mind off of his father's shenanigans. Straightening the sheets on his bed, Solar Chaser quickly joined his mother, carrying some of the comics his cousin sent to him as they trotted down the road. The mother looked at her son, noticing the effort he had gone through to hide his feelings, she knew something was troubling him. However, before she could ask anything, Solar had been caught in a mix of a tackle and a hug, losing balance and falling on his back.

"Huh?" he asked, looking up and seeing a familiar face, who quickly nuzzled the colt. "Sugar Heart? What are you doing here?" he asked, trying to push her off gently, the mare only seeing it as a reason to hug the colt closer to her, every second bringing about more enthusiasm from the mare. His mother could only giggle at the scene as Sugar Heart finally stopped nuzzling Solar, a warm smile on her face.

"So this is the mare who got you all flustered, Sol?" Solar's mother asked teasingly as Sugar Heart gasped lightly, hopping off of the colt- her cheeks read from embarrassment of having made such a scene, allowing Solar to stand up and pick up the comics he dropped. "I'm sorry, ma'am, I just couldn't help myself- you have such a cute son, after all." she apologized with some flattery, giggling at the fact she had made the yellow pegasus blush even more. "My name is Sugar Heart, it is nice to meet you, miss...?" she asked, and Solar's mother smiled.

"I am Cosmic Zephyr, it is nice to meet you aswell, sweetie." she replied, unable to help but fire off a pun as Solar raised an eyebrow. Last time Solar saw this mare, he did not see any wings on her, but the fact she just suddenly had them troubled him. "Hold on, Sugar Heart- since when did you get wings?" the pegasus could not help but ask, and the blue mare blinked, stretching her wings a bit as she giggled. "Oh, these things?A friend of mine wanted to try out a spell that could make me look like a pegasus. I can't fly with 'em or nothing, just thought they'd look cute." she replied, and after a moment of trying to see if it was a lie or not, Solar nodded and smiled.

"Solar, come on- we'll be late." Cosmic Zephyr interrupted, and the pegasus nodded, only to be nuzzled softly by Sugar Heart once more. "Maybe we can hang out tomorrow?" the mare asked, and Solar shrugged. "Maybe, who knows what the day will bring." he replied, trotting off with his mother as the mare stared at him for a bit longer, a smile on her face before she trotted away herself.

Ten minutes passed by the time the mother and son made it to Breeze Runner's house, Cosmic Zephyr knocking on the door. Within moments, the door opened, and a dark blue mare with a straight mane. "Oh! C.Z! It's so good to see you. And you brought Lil'Solar with you too!" she greeted the two, pulling them into a hug before a dark yellow filly came by. "Cousin Sol!" she cheered, jumping to hug her older cousin once her mom had released him from the hug.

"Sunny Day, it's been too long." Solar smiled as his cousin instantly grabbed his hoof, trying to pull him with her. "Come on! I got another comic today and I thought we could read it together!" she explained enthusiastically, and Solar followed his cousin with a smile. Once the two went upstairs, the blue mare looked at Cosmic Zephyr. "Does he know about her...." she went to ask, and Cosmic nodded, a sad look in her eyes. "Yeah...to have to leave his father, and the knowledge of what's to come...I hope Ponyville will be kinder to him than fate has so far.." Solar's mother replied, and Breeze Runner wiped a few tears from her eyes as she gestured for her sister to follow her

"Come on...I'll make us some tea while they read their comics." she stated, and the two mares walked into the kitchen, while Solar Chaser and Sunny Day began reading comic books together.

Author's Note

I made a bit of a retcon in this chapter, but the recton is not about Sugar Heart- just thought I'd say that now.