Temple Grandon comes for a visit
It was a calm and sunny day in Ponyville, Twilight sat in her castle, surrounded by books and scrolls as usual, she was reading several books at the same time on various topics, including about a very important pony~ a mare named Temple Grandin.
Twilight had always read about her in ancient Equestrian history books, she had read about her many achievements in the humane preservation of animals.
Suddenly, a loud knock echoed through the castle halls. Twilight got up and walked toward the door, she was already bubbling with excitement at the prospect of visitors coming to see her.
Reaching the door, Twilight opened it with her magic, standing before her was Tempest Shadow, a mare who had once threatened Equestria with the storm king’s army, now stood in the doorway with a calm demeanor on her face.
“Tempest! It's been a while. It's so good to see you again,” Twilight said, embracing her friend in a tight hug.
“Well! I have been pretty busy spreading the message of friendship beyond Equestria,” Tempest said, as she walked into the castle.
When Tempest had walked into the castle and made herself comfortable on one of the velvet cushions that was laid about the entranceway, she motioned to a mare standing by the door, the mare slowly made her way inside and sat down beside Tempest.
The mare was dressed in a black cloak, only her eyes were visible, and they were a nice shade of green.
“Would you like to introduce yourself?” Tempest asked, turning to the mare.
“I’m……Temple Grandin and I’m a unicorn,” The mare spoke rapidly, removing the cloak to reveal a green coat and horn glowing with green magic.
“Well, it’s very nice to meet you, I’ve read all your books, but why won’t you look at me?” Twilight asked, noticing Temple was looking at the ground the entire time she had spoken.
“She’s……special, I met her in a village that the Storm King destroyed during his rampage. She was very shy. Then I found out that her family had been taken away from her. She agreed to come with me and together we spread the message of friendship,” Tempest explained, seeing that Temple was very uncomfortable.
“I'm autistic and very interested in animals. I have my master's degree in the humane preservation of animal species around Equestria,” Temple rapidly explained after a long silence.
As the day wore on, the three mares shared stories and memories. Twilight talked about Fluttershy and how she loved to communicate with animals.
Temple, who had been listening very intently, spoke up when she heard that Fluttershy was very good with animals.
“Can I meet her one day?” She asked.
Twilight nodded. “Sure, I bet she’d love to meet you.”
Temple smiled the biggest smile Twilight had seen all day, shifting on the cushion she had been seated on for the majority of the day she faced Tempest.
“Thank you for bringing me here,” She whispered.
Tempest smiled and nodded. “You’re welcome.”
Lighting up her horn, Twilight got a quill and a notepad to take down some notes.
“So Temple, what’s it like……being autistic?” Twilight asked with the slightest hint of hesitation in her voice.
“Well, let me see,” the older mare replied, scratching her chin with a hoof. “I don’t like noisy places or large crowds, but I am a very good visual thinker, which means I think in pictures. That’s how I created the squeeze machine, it’s a machine where a pony can get in and pull a rope and it’s almost like the machine is hugging the pony,” Temple explained.
“That’s very fascinating,” Twilight said, writing down notes on her notepad.
“Anything else you wanna know?” Temple asked after a moment.
The three mares continued to talk well into the evening, but Tempest had to leave midway through the conversation for an emergency.
Twilight looked up briefly, her quill still writing on the piece of parchment. “There’s always more to learn,” She replied with a smile. “But I think I’ve asked enough questions for one day.”
Temple chuckled softly as she got up and walked to the far side of the room and sat down.
“Good night, Twilight, I’ll be here doing my research,” Temple replied.
“If you’re sure that you want to stay up all night,” Twilight said.
Temple nodded. “Yes, all night is what I tend to do, helps me think better, some ponies might think I’m crazy but that’s who I am.”
Twilight looked at her new friend and walked away to her bedroom, gently closing the throne room doors. Sitting in the dark, Temple began her work by the light of a single candle that Twilight had left in the room.
As the light of the candle flickered, casting a shadow on the crystal walls, Temple looked over the ancient texts that lay before her on the floor, her eyes focused. The room was quiet, except for the quiet ticking of a clock from somewhere in the castle.
She was startled out of her thoughts by a small knock on the door, she let out a sigh walked to the door, and opened it.
“Yeah?” Temple asked when she saw Twilight on the other side of the door.
“Just checking in, to see how you’re doing,” Twilight smiled.
“I’m fine, now if you excuse me, I have a ton of work to do,” Temple said, attempting to shut the door but Twilight blocked it with her hoof.
“Can I come in?” She asked.
“No, I have lots to do. I don’t have time for chitchat,” Temple said, forcing the door shut in Twilight’s face.
Temple walked back over to her work picked up a scroll and began reading it. She tried to focus but found that she couldn’t, she briefly glanced at the clock on the wall, shook her head, and continued reading.
“Why does she have to do all this research?” Twilight asked herself out loud.
“I don’t know, maybe she’s looking for something,” Spike, who had to come up behind her, remarked.
“But what, also I’m not buying for a second that her parents are gone, she doesn’t seem like a pony who handled change very well, something is going on,” Twilight mused, scratching her chin as she sat down on the floor.
“And you’re also going to find out what?” Spike questioned.
Twilight gave a slight nod as she got the backup and walked away with the teenage dragon following her.
“But how are you going to figure it out?” He asked, trying to keep up with her.
“We are going to ask Tempest what happened,” Twilight said, as she turned around to face Spike.
“And how are we going to do that?” Spike asked with a grin.
Twilight paused for a moment before speaking again. “We ask her, sometimes asking some pony what is wrong is easier than letting it linger.”
“Ok, so we need to ask her why she brought Temple to us, but isn’t it a bit late for that?” Spike asked, pointing a claw to the window where darkness had overtaken the land.
“I guess you’re right,” Twilight replied with a yawn. “Maybe it’s better if we ask her in the morning.”
As they began walking again the princess glanced back at the throne room with an uneasy look in her eyes.
Reaching her bedroom, Twilight opened the door and walked over to her bed to climb into it. She briefly sought to go and check on Temple but then thought better of it and turned off the lights with the magic.
Author's Note
This is a new story I have written, I hope you enjoy it.
