The Family Cygnet

Shining sat on the train in his private car, going over the files. There were ten free rebels. Ten ponies that his teams hadn’t been able to find. The other fifteen that he’d crossed off last night had been caught.

They were dangerous, but everypony deserved a chance. Still, he couldn’t let them roam free. Sombra’s danger was too strong. More to the point, he wouldn’t sleep at night knowing there were ponies with designs on Flurry. He’d make sure their designs were never realized.

She had to have the opportunity to grow up and choose what and who she’d be. He’d love her regardless. Duck or swan, she was his daughter and he’d do anything for her to be safe.

The train car swirled, and popped as a magical explosion happened out of nowhere. Reflexively, he was already coated in his shield spell, and his hooves were blocking his face. He didn’t have a weapon, but he didn’t need one. With his spell he was sturdier than any amount of iron.

Focusing through the blinding light, a shape took form and he grumbled unhappily before he dropped his hooves. “You need to send a missive before you do that, Twilight.”

Twilight was a wreck, but different than this morning. Her face was wet with tears, and her eyes were puffy. She just glared at him and said in a ragged voice, “I’m coming with you.”

He sighed. “No, I have this. You go back to… home… and I’ll take care of it. My ponies have already caught most of them. The rest wont last long.”

She looked at him confused. “What? What are you talking about?”

He blinked. “The rebels? That had been trying to kidnap Flurry? The ones that had a stallion posing as a coltfriend for her? The ones that want to bring back Sombra?”

Twilight seemed startled. “When did this happen?”

He pressed his hooves into his forehead, moving to clean up all the papers that had been sent flying across his car. “Last night. It was the letter I was resolving while you were fucking Mom and Dad.”

She blinked, wide eyed. “You didn’t tell me about this, Shining! I would have dropped everything!”

He grumbled. “I told you, I have it taken care of. I also told you that I had to go back to the Empire.”

She wilted. “I thought… I… Shining… We need to talk.”

He neatly stacked the papers. “We are talking.”

Twilight took a step back and sat on the opposing bench. “I told Mom and Dad everything.”

He focused on the paper on top. The name on it was “Dire Knowledge”. He frowned. What a suspicious name for a pony. He wondered why the bad guys all had names like that. “Mhm,” he said.

Twilight frowned. “They were furious with me.”

He looked up with an unearthly exhaustion. “I… don’t really want to hear about your little hobby any more. I need to focus on these files. These ponies are still out there.”

She shook her head. “No, not like that. Actually furious. And they were right. I was being selfish and cold, and arrogant, and… I’m sorry, okay? I am…” She looked at him with large, wet eyes. “So sorry.”

He shrugged. Dire Knowledge apparently had a very comprehensive education. The pony had been top of every one of his summoning classes. He was probably the ring leader. “Me too.”

Twilight stamped her hoof. “I… broke up with them.”

He looked up from the paper. “You were happy. That’s not worth losing.”

She glared. “No, it wasn’t… well it was, but it wasn’t worth… you.”

He glared at her, feeling anger surge. “Worth me? Twilight, you and I are not sexually compatible. That’s fine. I’m okay with it. It’s okay.”

She stomped her hoof. “No, I mean… It’s more complicated. I’m more complicated. You’re more complicated.”

He shrugged. “No it’s not. I’m a swan. I live in a castle. I look pretty. Ponies look up to me, and I love one pony very much. I’m also territorial and possessive, and somepony went after my daughter. I am going to fulfill my calling and end that problem. Viciously and like an animal. Ponies forget, a swan is a guard animal. They’re relentless when their family is concerned. You raise one swan in a family of ducks, and that swan will fight like hell to protect them.” He glared meaningfully at her. “All of them.”

Twilight shouted, “You’re not a swan! You’re a pony. So am I. We’re complicated. There are layers and emotions and all kinds of feelings, and I’ve failed you so badly right now and I failed myself and I need to make it right.” She started to cry.

He glared in frustration. “There’s no privacy charm on this car, Twilight. Keep your voice down.”

Dire Knowledge looked to be impressively resourceful. He managed to put together quite the plan. He likely had access to one of Sombra’s artifacts. But what and where? Shining pondered this.

Twilight sobbed quietly.

He looked up, feeling… something again. “Twilight, just… It’s okay. You’re fine. Go home.”

She looked at him again, with wide wet purple eyes. “I didn’t think about it, Shining. I was too caught up and didn’t consider… anything. I didn’t follow a book, or a plan, or anything at all. I just… did it. That never ends well for me. After you left, I hurt and I didn’t understand why. I talked to Mom and Dad. They were not very happy. They made me think about it from your perspective. We all feel so bad.”

He sighed, frustrated as he picked up Dire Knowledge’s file. “You don’t need to feel bad. You’ve always had a hard time empathizing with others. Everypony is different and you just assume other ponies feel something like you do. But we don’t. And nopony feels like me either. We are all unique, Twilight. And it’s fine. I still love you. I’d still like to be your BBBFF. But I am hurt right now. Shocked. Confused. Betrayed. I need time. I also need to catch this guy.”

Twilight looked at the file, and frowned. “Check the caves northwest of the Clear Crevasse. He needs a specific spellform to complete his ritual, and the stalagmites in it have a high percentage of gypsum. It would make his casting easier. If he’s not there now, he’ll have a repository of spell components nearby.”

Shining stared at her, and then sighed. He’d forgotten that she was a genius with how much of an idiot she’d been. Without saying a word, he wrote a quick note and sent it via magic to his spymaster. Twilight glared at him.

“Now can we talk?”

He sighed. “Fine…”

She got down on her belly, and bowed her head, speaking frantically towards the floor with tightly shut eyes. “Please, Shining. I love you. I love Cadance. I love Flurry. I also love Mom and Dad and everypony. I don’t want to hurt anypony. I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

He sighed. “I forgive you. Is that what you needed to hear? I still don’t think you did anything wrong. I was just… surprised.”

She looked up. “No, I was wrong. I talked you into something you did not want to do. I manipulated you, however obviously, into wanting to be with me. And then I, without talking to you, took the absolute first chance I had to be with somepony else. Worse, it was somebody you loved and trusted, and I didn’t tell them about you. They didn’t know. They never would have let me if they did. I was at fault. I caused everything.”

He shrugged. “Just like you caused the fire. It’s who you are. I told you, I’m okay with that. I understand it.”

She shook her head. “But I’m not! It hurts, Shining. Thinking about how alone and abandoned you feel hurts. Realizing I’m the cause hurts more. I’m not a duck. Oh stars, I’m not a duck…” She began to weep as she lowered her head and muttered, “I’m not a duck. I’m just an idiot.”

He laughed, suddenly feeling a spark of warmth from her. “Well, that’s something we certainly have in common.”

She smiled up at him. “Can we… start there, at least?”

He tilted his head. “Start? What do you mean?”

She bit her lip, tears still streaming. “Start again? I’ll spend the week with you, console Flurry, help you clean this up, maybe, uh, go over some of your game books?”

He frowned, furrowing his eyebrows. “That’s fine, but what would we start?”

She took a deep breath. “I… we… I thought I was a duck. An ugly little duck. But I was hoping you could teach me to maybe… be a swan?”

He took a deep breath. Everything hurt, but it was also warm. She was crying. He loved her. He wanted to say no. He wanted to say yes. Instead, he just looked at her while she silently but hopefully stared back.

Shining took another deep breath as Twilight’s eyes lowered sadly to the ground.

“I don’t want to start anything right now, Twilight. But I also don’t think we need to. We’re not birds. We’re ponies. We build off our mistakes, we learn and grow. I’m not going to teach you to be a swan. We just are different creatures than each other, with different needs and feelings. I still don’t think you did anything wrong, exactly. But if you want to spend some time with me as… something more than your BBFFF… well, you’re welcome to stay for the week regardless. But I’m not promising anything.”

Twilight looked up with a smile on her face. “I’d love that very much.”

He smiled back, closing the portfolio of files. “Me too.”