Twiastasia

“Can’t believe we gotta do this…”

“Just suck it up Gile, she’s probably not even alive anymore.”

Twilight had said little once she awoke, sometime in the afternoon. The few things she did say, however, were demands.

“Don’t you guys wanna see your old home again?”

The thieves answered with a resounding “no.”

One of these demands was to see the orphanage Anon and Gile had grown up in. Her reasonings were vague, along the lines of “I want to see if you two hadn’t lied about that as well,” but the others had no choice regardless. If they wanted Twilight to cooperate, she’d need to see their past with her own eyes.

Ugly smog billowed out of distant smokestacks, climbing up to the sky and staining the clouds with their unnatural color. Drachen was a place of progress, and that progress had downsides. As far as anyone in the group knew, this was the only place in the world that had such advancements. The Victorian city was home to much hoof-traffic into Echidna, bringing many into her stony buildings of brick and cement. Inventors and investors came here with dreams of one day propelling their city, and themselves, into riches they couldn’t gain anywhere else. The rampant industrialization had been a new sight for the creatures who once called this place home. Here, the citizenry worked. They worked and worked, hoping tomorrow would allow them another day to earn their bits, lest some bright mind think up another invention to do their jobs more efficiently. One day, Drachen might topple even Bowline or Cabaluus as the trade hub capital of Echidna, if the city’s machines could be kept working that long. Creatures cared little for the safety of others, working in their factories.

The dull red of the constantly-exposed brick work matched the increasingly gray skies that permeated around Drachen quite well. The choking atmosphere was a worthy price to pay for the paved sidewalks, Anon had thought. Up and down the congested streets, ponies, griffons, and other more exotic creatures rode upon their carriages, pulled by cheaply paid laborers.

The buildings grew increasingly taller in Drachen, though no creature could guess why. Twilight, though still upset, would often be caught gazing upwards in awe at the multi-story buildings, each seemingly housing not much of note.

“I had thought buildings with more than two stories were reserved for nobility.” Fizzy remarked.

“What would make you think that? Who’d make a law stopping somepony from building something as big as they could afford?”

Fizzy averted her eyes. “Well, couldn’t afford any more than a one-story building for my bar…”

Drachen, unlike most places in Echidna, had the potential for a future. A good future. But, as the group passed by the somber creatures going to and fro on their way to the orphanage, good things were either still a long ways off, or never coming at all.

…

After what seemed like miles of directionless heel-dragging, the two thieves unceremoniously stopped the group in front of a small complex.

“Well. Here we are.”

Their three-mare entourage stared up at a two story building, though it made up for it’s lackluster height with a larger width. Though only slightly.

“Tender Heart’s Home For Wayward Youths.”

The sight had made Anon and Gile more melancholic than they would’ve expected. They never thought they’d see this place again. Especially not as dilapidated as it seemed to be now.

“Was Tender Heart your mother’s name?” Twilight asked, an inkling of emotion fading through her voice.

“Mhm.”

“... Do all businesses have to be named after the pony who runs them?”

Neither human nor griffon was expecting that question.

“... Uh, no. It’s just easier to recognize as a place belonging to some creature specifically. Plus, I don’t think I’d consider an orphanage a business necessarily.”

Twilight’s slight embarrassment at her poor choice of words went unseen by the creatures in front of her.

“Well, we saw it, let’s get back on the road-”

“Not so fast. I wanna… meet her.”

Anon hung his head and sighed while Gile turned to look at the purple unicorn. “Why?” He was truly more confused than anything else.

Twilight didn’t have much of a response. “I… I just do. Now c’mon.”

Without waiting for further questions, she walked ahead and through the doors to Tender Heart’s.

…

“J-just a second~!” A strained voice called out, before a much more hushed command echoed through the foyer. “Cotton Clove! Stop pulling on Whisper’s mane! There’s somepony here looking to adopt!”

After what sounded like pots and pans fumbling to the floor from a room unseen, a withered old earth pony came rushing into the room, putting on a big smile.

“Hello! And welcome to-”

Her cheery voice died in her throat as she stared at the two thieves, particularly the human.

“... A-anon? You’re…” she stumbled, looking for her words “... here?”

“I’m here too, ‘ma.’ “ Gile sarcastically threw out.

Wonder on her face, she had to shake her head about to resume talking.

“W-why yes of course Gile, but… But why?”

Gile sat on his rump, unamused at the situation. “We’re here to adopt, obviously.”

“... What?”

The griffon turned to Twilight. “Can we go now?”

Twilight peered up to Anon, his face… Unreadable. Or, at least, expressing some very complicated emotions.

“... H-hello mom.”

…

No one was quite sure how it happened, but here they were, sitting down for dinner with Mother Tender Heart. The once rambunctious little foals and chicks now acted standoffish, cautiously eyeing the group of older creatures eating a meal with their Mother. Oftentimes, Twilight’s eyes would wander and catch theirs, only for them to bolt out of sight.

Tender Heart was a very old mare. Her kind face was aged with wrinkles and wisdom alike. Gingerly, she sipped from the soup in front of her, ever staring at Anon. When she spoke, her words were heavy with nostalgia. There was no hidden ire in her voice. “So… my little ‘hooman’ and his partner in crime finally came home… Awful long time to be gone at the candy store, wouldn’t you say? Must’ve been a long line…”

She chuckled a little at her joke, though ‘partner in crime’ had made Anon and Gile squirm a little in their seats.

“Where have you two been all this time? I’d reintroduce you to your old brothers and sisters, but… Creatures come and go, I suppose. It’s nice to see that, sometimes, they do come back to visit though.”

Anon hadn’t yet touched his food, despite not eating in well over a day.

“We’ve been… Traveling. We didn’t um, stay, in Drachen very long after we… Ran away.”

“Foals, your age? Traveling? Wherever did you go?” Tender’s voice was filled with her reserved shock, a sign of her old age.

“All over Echidna, really. Wherever we could. We… We were thieves, for a very long time.”

Gile choked on his soup, casting a wild eye at his friend. “Ack! How much more awkward you gonna make this, man!?”

If Tender was upset, she masked her feelings well.

“Pickpockets eh? Hmm… Well, at least that explains my missing bit purse from that next morning…”

Gile let his face drop into his now empty bowl while Anon just shook his head, years of regret sinking into him.

“We were, but… we’re trying to be better now. We came to Drachen… Well, hoping to restock on supplies. We’ve been the road with this one,” he motioned to Twilight, who had been silently taking in the situation around her since she’d entered the orphanage “for months now, trying to get her back home. We had to… Deal with some enemies we hadn’t known we made. It’s been a long journey, and there’s still a lot longer to go.”

Tender took another sip from her bowl, taking every word of Anon’s into consideration.

“Why ever did you come visit me then?”

“... She wanted to meet you.”

Twilight recoiled slightly, the conversation now focusing on her. Tender leaned in a bit, intrigued.

“Well darling, what’d you want to come see me for? Did those two tell you stories? Oh! Did they tell you about the time Anon and Gile made up their own language? Hoh, it was adorable!” The old mare trailed on, reminiscing on the silly things children do, until Twilight spoke.

“I… They told me about… Bad things. About how the other foals would try hurting them.”

Now, Tender’s demeanor shifted. Her eyes fell and a somberness overtook her.

“Ah… It’s one of those constant fears we mothers have. We… We can only be in so many places at once, doing so many things… The foals… they don’t always get along with their brothers and sisters. Cliques form, if you can believe that. Gile and Anon had theirs, even. But they had to stick together because nopony else would stick with them.” Tender gazed upon the thieves and smiled sadly. “So many times, I found these two fighting off some of the older bullies who were still hungry. We don’t always have enough for seconds, you see, but sometimes the older foals would do it just for… I don’t know, the feeling of having some control. It’s hard living in Drachen, and, for some,” her eyes wandered over to the hallway, where some foals and a young hatchling griffon scampered away “even harder.”

“You know, I never blamed you two for running away. I’m glad I get to say that to you now. I was just… S-so worried if you’d be okay-”

Tender let out a quiet sniffle, rubbing her eye with an ancient hoof. Without a word, Anon excused himself from the table and stepped out of the room. Gile was going to follow, but Tender spoke up before he could.

“Ohh, now look what I’ve done. Went and upset Anon. I should go talk to him-”

Surprisingly, it was Twilight who cut her off. She quickly scooted away from the table.

“N-no. It should be me.”

…

Twilight found Anon sitting on the first step of the porch outside. He looked out into the street, focusing on nothing, maybe the distant lights. Slowly, she took a seat beside him. It would be a quiet few moments, until she noticed the small specks of something wet, falling to the ground.

The unicorn was momentarily frozen in some strange mixture of emotions. At first, she thought it was fear, but it quickly melted into something that felt much worse.

‘Regret, and guilt.’

“You know, I didn’t think… I didn’t think that’d hurt so much. Seeing all this again. Seeing her. Gile and I, we did what we thought we had to, and by the time we knew it was wrong, or even, when we had enough money to just lay low and maybe seek out another way… We didn’t. We had normalized our actions.”

He wasn’t sobbing by any means, and his voice hadn’t changed much, but it had changed. He spoke in a tone, with emotion Twilight hadn’t thought possible of the human. He laughed darkly.

“Heh, I don’t even think I like her that much, but just… Fuck, you know? It’s strange. When you think you’ve done everything on your own for so long, you forget anyone had ever helped you to begin with. For decades, it had always been just me and Gile. I hadn’t forgotten about her, I had forgotten about her influence.”

“I-I’m sor-”

“It’s fine, Twilight. You couldn’t have known. I didn’t know myself.”

As he wiped his eyes, Anon heard the door to Tender Heart’s Home For Wayward Foals creak open. Gile, Fizzy, Cozy, Tender, and, from beyond the door, a few wide eyes peaked out at the two outside. His friends.

“I think it’s time for us to go.”

…

“You two keep her safe, wherever you’re going, you hear?”

Tender jokingly shook her hoof at Anon and Gile, before wrapping them each in an individual hug. While she was close, she whispered in Anon’s ear.

“You were always my favorite, you know. So strange.”

Anon just shook his head, laughing a bit and wiping a lone stray tear.

“G-goodbye, Ms. Heart. I’m sorry for making everypony drop in on you unannounced.”

The old mare wrapped Twilight in a hug as well.

“Think nothing of it dearie. Tartarus, please, come again someday soon! I’d love to hear more about your adventures with these two!”

“Maybe someday, ma.”

Tender gave the both Fizzy and Cozy hugs as well. They’d felt awfully awkward throughout the majority of the visit, keeping their farewells short.

“Stay safe kids!”

With that she, the door to the orphanage closed, and the gang was free once more. The evening was quickly turning to night, as the magic lamps that dotted every street corner shifted brighter. Anon turned to Cozy.

“Don’t suppose you’d give us one more night in the Inn, hm?”

Cozy was about to nod assuredly, but frozen in fear.

“HOLY TARTARUS! THE INN! OOOH HOW MUCH MONEY HAVE I LOST DEALING WITH THIS SAPPY CRAP ALL DAY-”

The mare’s frantic yelling slowly faded from earshot as she galloped down the streets of Drachen.

“Think that’s a yes?”

“... Yeah.”

…

With ponies like Tender, though perhaps a dying breed in Echidna, so dark as it was, at least this city had a chance for a future. A good future.