Chapters CH 1: Welcome to Ponyville!
By NocturneD
"Just put that over there!"
"What about this big box ma'am?"
"Oh that has to be the priceless artifacts from Saddle Arabia!"
"Careful with that!"
"Sorry sir..."
A little filly, about eight years old stood at the top of the stairs. With luscious light fur, perfect straight dark blue combed mane tied into a rather sloppy pony tail and small ice blue eyes she watched as her mother and father instructed their bulky mover employees to move certain crates to different parts of their house. Their huge house, to be exact. They lived in a museum in the northern side of Canterlot called the; "Museum of Equestrian History" and its been ran by the Sparkle family ever since it first opened one hundred or more years ago. Possessing various forms of art and artifacts from all over Equestria.
Oh I'm sorry... I forgot to tell you her name. This little one goes by the name; Twinkle Star. She is the youngest sibling of the Sparkle family. You could say, she is a curious child but none the less, a bit of an unfocused one as well. You see, young Twinkle Star gets distracted very easily making it tough for her school work. Her parents try their best to help her but their jobs as curators of the family museum often get in the way. Even if the museum closed, Twinkle's parents would often find something a miss that needed attention on fixing, polishing, moved. Could say, Twinkle really does not connect well with her parents.
She would go to school everyday and try her best, the school would sometimes call her home to report on her behavior and grades. That would sometimes lead trips to the family doctor or even a psychiatrist. She would be later diagnosed with A.D.D. which often her parents debated even among themselves. The school even recommended to transfer her to some classes that were let's say, remedial. Her parents could not understand it they raised successful and genius children before her but yet, she was the one that stuck out because of this disorder having to take pills to focus or sometimes trying other alternatives. At her age, her older sister was performing spells at an eighth grade level. Often Twinkle would always hear how great her older siblings were from her parents and relatives, even friends of the family that come to visit. Only that kept her happy were playing video games, drawing art and watching movies which her family does not invest a lot of their money and time into.
At times, her parents threw parties in their museum ranging from new years celebrations to the typical benefit and charity balls. Her parents would always mingle with the guests while she just stuck herself upstairs in her room. She never liked big crowds, especially crowds that focused all of their attention on her. Fearing that if she slips up they would laugh at her, give her a mean stare or anything because the upper class unicorns of Canterlot were known for their snootiness. Sometimes she would have a panic attack from being in a big crowd. In short, she does not like parties. Her mother would always keep the birthdays small inviting only a few of Twinkle's friends and maybe a few relatives. But all those weird strangers in her home, let alone during certain hours of the day just stand around all day. Her house was pretty big anyway but it still bugged her to have art fanatics walk though the first floor and give their opinions to their followers who would eat up anything they said.
"Oh honey will you just look at this!" Velvet Sparkle levitated a miniature statue of a stone unicorn with emerald eyes to her husband's face using her magic. Almost brushing it too close to his face.
"Yes I see it Velvet." Orion gave the statue a light push away from his direction. "Why don't we just figure out where we're going to put all these?"
"Where do you want the skeleton?" One of the movers asked.
"The skeleton?" Velvet blinked.
"Oh right, right the skeleton of the ancients of Saddle Arabia." Orion walked up to the tall glass display containing an earth pony's remains. "Surprised they were willing to part this."
"I don't like it." Velvet felt unsure of having something that grotesque sitting in one of her exhibits. "Why would they even send us something like that?"
"Well... it's here now." Orion chuckled, "Come on, not like its going to magically jump and scare you."
"Er..." Velvet paced away from the glass display, "I'm putting a sheet over it until opening day of the Saddle Arabian exhibit."
"Come on, putting a sheet over this beauty for two weeks?" Orion frowned, he really thought the skeleton was impressive.
"Eh Mr. Sparkle they also sent over some weird piece of art that needs to be put together." Another one of the movers shoved a box towards Orion and Velvet.
"Oh good." Orion smiled, "The more the better."
To make the long story short, after making peace with the dignitaries of Saddle Arabia. Canterlot was privileged in showing their artifacts and art from the foreign nation as a form of good will. It was going to be the biggest events in Canterlot; second to the royal wedding of course. All the important ponies were invited ranging from princess Celestia herself to Mayor Mare. It was another high society party, no doubt. The media was definitely going to be there to cover it.
Twinkle Star already made her way down the stairs to look at all the artifacts and pieces her parents unboxed already. Some of them were beautiful, others were dirty, others were just meh. Stone tablets, scriptures, weapons, vases, blankets, other pottery, jewelry, even replica animals that live in the nation.
"Hey mom look. They call this a camel spider." Twinkle levitated a huge arachnid to her mother to see.
"AH! PUT THAT THING DOWN!" Velvet shrieked, Twinkle only raised it higher to show her it was not real. "Get! GET IT AWAY!" Velvet continued shrieking while she backed up into her husband who was trying to set aside an expensive vase. Only for him to lose focus and drop it on the marble floor where it shattered into many pieces.
"Oops.." Twinkle put down the spider replica where she found it, tried to smile as her parents looked sternly at her.
Later that day, Orion and Velvet were still a little sore over the broken vase. They forbid Twinkle from going anywhere near the artifacts until they were put into place and behind casing. The small violet unicorn walked back downstairs into the main hall to see crates still being pushed around by the movers. She kept a safe distance and let them work, not long she found her father standing on a ladder doing something with the prehistoric dragon skeleton they proudly owned. For a special occasion the diplomats from Saddle Arabia wanted to see the dragon remains so Orion spent a lot of nights touching it up.
"D...dad?" Twinkle eased her plot on the floor and looked up.
Still her father was tinkering with the dragon skeleton.
Twinkle figured her father did not hear her the first time, "Dad?"
Orion tightened one of the screws that kept the skeleton structure together. "What is it Twinky?"
She hated it when her father called her that, but a good sign as it showed that he was not mad at her anymore. "Can... can we talk?"
"Ugh..." Orion grunted as he tightened another screw this time was tougher than the last. "Sorry Twinky but can it wait for a bit? I'm in the middle of some calibrations."
Twinkle blew a piece of her hair away from her face. Left frustrated from her own father's excuse. How much he loved tinkering with that dragon skeleton and how many stories she used to tell her that it was once a threat to Equestria, burned down whole villages and now just sitting in one of the exhibits. Twinkle admitted it was cool but had her fun with it when no pony was around by making the jaw move with her magic. Even she tried to make it flap its bony arms that were once wings, only for a few bolts to loosen in the progress. Made her father go up and check now and then, made sure they were nice and tight.
Until suddenly Orion dropped his screw driver by accident. "Twinky can you levitate that back up for me?"
"S-sure." Twinkle hobbled over to the tool slowly and surrounded it with her pinkish purple magical aura. Only thing was, Twinkle really had trouble with a few basic spells that required tutoring as of lately. Apparently she was skipping on assignments for her own enjoyment. Slowly the screwdriver started to levitate upwards until she heard a big bang from the next room. She panicked and shot the screwdriver like a gun at her father. Orion dodged in the nick of time or... so he thought. Parts of the dragon skeleton started coming apart like a domino effect, a simple nudge from Twinkle's shot caused some bolts to loosen up and fall out of place. After most of the bones fell, Orion just sighed while he rubbed his forehead.
"Oops..." Twinkle put on an embarrassed smile.
"Go to your room Twinky..." One of Orion's eye started to twitch. Slowly Twinkle crept out of the room and away from her father, who she could hear a mixture of frustration and crying.
Maybe she could redeem herself for the day. She stopped by the kitchen to get herself a glass of cranberry juice and carried it with her. "Maybe mom needs my help." She crept into the Saddle Arabian exhibit as it entered its first stages of being set up for the party. She found her mother sorting out the blankets she planned on hanging for display.
"Oh these are going to look so nice." Velvet lifted a white blanket over her head and placed it on the wall in front of her deciding which way it should hang.
"Um..." Twinkle tried to speak up.
"Oh. Twinkle Twinkle my little Star." Velvet turned her head and smiled, "You talked to your father?"
"Y-yeah." Twinkle let her eyes wander, "But he told me he was in the middle of some cali...calibrat... something."
"Your father and that dragon..." Velvet shook her head in disapproval, "Makes me wonder if he wanted to marry that dragon instead. I swear he's in love with it, if something were to happen to it he would cry."
"Yes... yes he would." Twinkle put on a poker face and let her eyes wander again.
"Well I better go check on the rest of the crates. Don't touch anything while I'm gone okay?" Velvet rested the blanket back to where she had it before. As soon as her mother left, Twinkle started playing around with the priceless blankets pretending she was a ghost, the sheets had a couple of holes in them already somehow. Unaware that she placed her glass of juice on a nearby table.
"Woooooo!" Twinkle bounced around.
*BAM*
Twinkle fell backwards on to the floor. The table she ran into; as it jiggled back and forth almost like it was going to fall on top of her. She got up and pushed the table back into place but only to have the juice fall on top of her blanket covered head. The cranberry juice flushed all over the white sheets.
Twinkle moaned from her dumb luck. She took off the sheet and looked at the mess and gasped. Surely her mother was going to tan her behind for this. Only one solution, do the laundry! She raced to the laundry room and tossed the sheet into the washing machine and poured a lot of soap in. Set it for super wash and hoped her mother would not notice the blanket missing. She kept racing back and forth to see if her mother was back yet. The washing machine finished its job, most of the stain was out, Twinkle threw the blanket into the drier next then set it to the highest setting. She raced back outside to see if her mother came back yet, with a pleasant sigh she went back to the laundry room only for... Velvet to be standing there.
"Huh... that's funny. I don't remember starting the wash today." Velvet pondered.
"Uh... hi mom." Twinkle crept her head in through the doorway.
"Oh hi, Twinkle Twinkle. Being a good girl and doing the laundry I see?" Velvet approached the washing machine.
"Well... Yeah... Maybe..." Twinkle again made her eyes wander, not directly answering the question. She rubbed her hoof into the floor and traced little circles.
This was unsurprising for Velvet, she knew her daughter was lying. Lying about something, "Alright... what did you spill juice on this time?"
"Um..." Twinkle trailed off. "A... b-blanket."
"Your blanket from upstairs I hope." Velvet gave the scolding stare at her daughter.
"Uh... the one you... were playing with." Twinkle formed a half-smile.
Velvet let a scared expression wash over her face, her dull grayish white coat probably went even whiter as she heard that. "Please don't tell me you put it in the dryer."
*DING*
Velvet sighed, "Of course you did."
And out came the blanket that used to be white, now with pink splotches. The foreign text almost washed away now even harder to even read. The older unicorn bit her bottom lip almost to the point it almost bleed. Twinkle slowly tip toed out of the laundry room and figured it was best to go up to her room as her father ordered earlier. And waited for her fate to be sealed. She was only trying to help but often it would lead to mistakes happening.
Dear Twilight Dawn Sparkle,
I am writing to you to see if you are willing on short notice to let your sister; Twinkle Star stay with you in Ponyville while your father and I work on setting up the Saddle Arabian exhibit for the show. While her heart is in the right place, a few accidents happened back at the house while unloading the artifacts for the exhibit. It will only be for two weeks until everything placed and safe behind the displays. We will pay ahead in advance for Twinkle's needs and a list of what she can and can't have during her stay. Please write back if you are willing to help take Twinkle off our hooves to get this project done.
-Mom
"Oh I can't wait to see the little darling." The fashion white unicorn squealed.
"Me too! Me too!" A younger white unicorn with green eyes squeaked as she bounced up and down. "We can make her our newest member!"
"Yeah..." A cyan Pegasus smirked as she crossed her forearms, "If you don't mind me asking Twilight how many siblings do you have exactly?"
A lavender unicorn with dark blue hair smiled and got all giddy, "Oh I got five brothers and three sisters. You already met Shining Armor. Then there is my big sister; Nora, then my big sister Andromeda, then my big brothers who are twins; Vanishing Star and Fade Away, you met them awhile ago." Twilight Sparkle kept tapping her hoof with her other to keep count, "Then there's me, then my little brother; Canis... you had the displeasure of him flirting with you all."
"Oof..." Rarity rolled her eyes, "I hope he learned his lesson the last time."
"Trust me, after the Canterlot charity ball he did." Twilight narrowed her eyes, then smiled again, "Then there is my other little brother Lucian and finally our star for this evening. My baby sister Twinkle Star."
"Wow... big family." Rainbow Dash nodded, "So you close with Twinkle?"
Twilight frowned, "Actually... not really. She was born while I was still at the gifted school for unicorns. I never really got the chance to bond with her because of my studies" With a bit of hope she smiled again, this time determined, "But I do plan on changing that. By the time she leaves in two weeks for the Saddle Arabian exhibit to open up, she's going to beg my mom and dad to come back here. We're going to read books together, show her how fun the world of magic can really be, we'll learn new spells and make up our own language." Twilight clapped her hooves together excitedly, "Really my parents could use the spare time to shape up the museum without Twinkle running around breaking things."
"My word." Rarity gasped lightly.
The four ponies heard the train whistle blow as it pulled into the station. The doors opened up and a slew of random ponies started to pour out. Many ponies of different shapes and sizes from really tall to really small. Some dressed nicely, others dressed not so nicely. Some with hats, some with glasses, some with slacks, some were fat, some of them with jewelry, some of them looked at you rather crudely.
"Um... Do you girls see her anywhere?" Twilight poked her head out of the crowd, looking left and right.
"What does she look like darling?" Rarity tried to squeeze past the crowd as well.
"Like a miniature version of me. Jus with..." Twilight tried to explain.
"A better haircut?" Rainbow Dash hovered over her friends.
"Hey!" Twilight frowned, then fiddled with her bangs, "My hair isn't that... bad is it?"
"Oh no darling..." Rarity reassured her unicorn friend, and then mumbled, "Could use a new style though..."
"What was that?" Twilight turned her head towards Rarity.
"Nothing." Rarity put on her best poker face.
"So is this her?" Rainbow Dash while flying held up a small violet filly with blue straight hair and blue eyes. The filly was around Sweetie Belle's age, she looked around confused and wondered why some random flying pony picked her up.
"Rainbow Dash put her down!" Twilight demanded.
"Pfft... fine." Dash floated downwards and let the little filly down easily. "Sorry kid."
"I guess its okay." The filly frowned, "I'm here to stay with my big sister and I don't know where she lives."
"So you're young Twinkle Star Sparkle?" Rarity asked.
"Uh huh..." Twinkle nodded.
Twilight wasted no time as she stepped forward to get a better look at the filly, "It's been awhile Twinkle." The older unicorn threw her fore legs around the younger one for a good welcome, "Big sister Twilight is going to show you how fun it is in Ponyville." Twilight was expecting the younger unicorn to hug back but felt an absence of little fore legs around her.
Twilight eased away from her little sister, "Come on I bet you know the Sunshine Sunshine dance." Giving herself room, the older unicorn sister performed the dance, "Sunshine Sunshine ladybirds awake, Clap your hooves and do a little shake!" Twilight turned her rear end up in the air and waved it. But Twinkle just sat there, dumbfounded. Almost like she was not impressed but also not paying attention.
"That's for babies..." Twinkle blinked.
"Oh..." Twilight turned around disappointed. "Well... I guess Cadence never taught you that..."
"She did..." Twinkle blinked again. "Baby stuff."
Twilight chuckled while a blush ran across her cheeks, "Yeah I suppose. Come on, I want to introduce you to my friends." Rarity stepped forward, "This is Rarity, she runs the Carousel Boutique downtown. She makes dresses and deals with all sorts of fashion."
This caught Twinkle's attention, "Fashion as in art?"
"Oh yes, all my works are like art." Rarity giggled. "I'll happily show you during free time."
"And I'm Sweetie Belle!" The white unicorn squeaked, "I'm Rarity's sister, we're the same age huh? You're going to have so much fun here that you are never going to want to leave."
"Yes. Calm down sweetie, I'm sure Twinkle will need companions to show her around and play with." Rarity reached with her foreleg to reel in her younger sister away from Twinkle to give her some breathing room.
Twinkle took a deep breath in relief, "Than-thanks."
"And this here is..." Twilight was about to introduce her flying friend.
"I'm Rainbow Dash. Fastest flier in all of Equestria." Dash entered show off mode again as she zoomed back and forth across the train station. "You might have heard of me."
"N-nope." Twinkle blinked.
"Well we're going to change that." Rainbow eased herself back on the ground and chuckled. "Welcome to Ponyville by the way."
"Oh you're just going to love it the tree house." Twilight squealed, "It's going to be like a slumber party. Come come! I already got your room all set up!"
"You're going to like the cutie mark crusader club house too!" Sweetie Belle squeaked again.
"Um... Okay." Twinkle went along with the four. So far they seemed very nice. With an interest in art, Rarity should be a big help. A filly her age is a good start in making friends in the area. Rainbow Dash, she could already find having fun with. Twilight was really the only pony she was familiar with, family yes, friends no. And for the next two weeks she's going to be living with her. Twinkle brought a few duffel bags and a suitcase with her to stay with, filled with clothes, toothpaste, toothbrush, socks, crayons, paint set, Nintenpony 3DS and secretly her Ponybox 720 with a few games and other things to keep her tided over.
The walk from the train station to the library was not far. Twilight must have pointed that out a few time. Twinkle gasped about suddenly remembering that she was supposed to give her sister something. She nudged herself against her older sister to get her attention and levitated a note to her face.
"Oh the list mom wanted to look over." Twilight unfolded the letter and read it through, "Twilight, your sister can be very sensitive at times. So please, avoid leaving her alone in large crowds as she has a mild case of agoraphobia meaning no large parties either. If you ever find yourself in a situation where she loses control, try to reassure her of her happy place and give her support. Twinkle also needs to take a daily medication to help concentrate and keep focus, she takes other forms of medication too as sometimes she gets headaches now and then. If you would ever happen to lose her medication. Please write to us ASAP! We will send another bottle as soon as we can. Also be careful, Twinkle sometimes tries to be sneaky and doesn't take them, make sure she does!" As she finished the letter, she looked down at her little sister. Hard to believe in a family filled with scholars, her younger sister was the unfortunate one that had to be subjected to taking pills to help her along. Subjected to a life in high expectations and yet she can't do to the expected levels the Sparkle family was known for.
She looked at the letter again, "No large parties... Fair enough, we'll just have to warn Pinkie Pie so she knows this. I heard of agoraphobia before. It's a condition where the pony becomes anxious in unfamiliar places, large open spaces, crowds and sometimes traveling which could lead to a panic attack."
Rarity and Rainbow Dash froze in place. They were right in front of the library as Twilight was ready to turn the knob, "Surprised Pinkie didn't come with us to welcome Twinkle. She loves meeting new ponies."
"Uh Twilight..." Rainbow Dash, "Oh no..."
"Twilight darling maybe you should wait ou..." Rarity was about to cut Twilight off from walking into the library but the lavender unicorn went in any way with Twinkle in tow.
"Welcome to my home Twinkle." Twilight smiled, "Now where is the light switch?"
"Twilight!" Rarity and Dash shouted from the doorway trying to make her come back outside with Twinkle.
"What? What's wrong?" Twilight looked back at the very well illuminated doorway that the sun still poured out compared to the very dark room she was in currently.
"It's really dark in here Twilight." Twinkle shivered.
"Here I know where the light is!" Sweetie Belle raced to the light switch.
"Sweetie Belle wait!" Twilight realized finally what Rarity and Dash were trying to tell her. She tried to stop the little white unicorn but ended up falling over a displaced stool. "OW!"
"What?" Sweetie Belle flipped on the light switch.
*Click*
"SURPRISE!" A loud shrill came from a bubbly pink familiar party pony. As well as other ponies she invited to welcome the new filly, she must have invited over fifty, sixty, maybe almost seventy ponies from the area. Party cannons fired off in front of the poor little filly, she was shaking from all the loud noise and felt trapped. A lot of unfamiliar ponies surrounded her, in an unfamiliar area that felt small to her.
*BOOM*
*BOOM*
Another couple of rounds from the party cannon fired off. Pinkie was in the middle of singing the annual "Welcome to Ponyville" song she recently made up on the spot. Yeah I know how could it be annual if she started doing it now. Twilight tried to make Pinkie to stop but the party pony was having so much fun with waving sparkles and throwing streamers.
"PINKIE!" Twilight shouted.
"Please stop!" Twinkle tried to say, sweat started to drip from her forehead. "I don't want to be here!"
"Pinkie darling!" Rarity tried to help.
"Stop it..." Twinkle's pupils shrunk, "Please..." She slowly lowered herself to the floor and started shaking. "It's happ..happening ag...again... I don't want...to be here."
"PINKIE STOP PARTYING!" Dash shouted as well.
By now... young Twinkle Star was on the floor, curled up in a ball, shaking. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she was breathing irregularly. Pinkie blew one last time on the party kazoo but then finished in a sad tone.
"Give her some room every pony!" AppleJack raised her voice. The guests backed as much away from the filly as they could.
"Wha-what's happening?" Fluttershy asked.
"Mommy!" Twinkle heaved and cried fiercely, "MOMMY!", trying to kick away any pony who got close.
"Oh no! No!" Twilight tried to support her younger sister as she cradled the smaller unicorn with her fore legs but was still trying to get loose, "I think she's having a panic attack!" In no time, nurse Red Heart eased herself out of the crowd of guests and raced over to the little filly.
But to Pinkie Pie with the kazoo still in her mouth, felt terrible as she backed away as far as possible. Never did once her parties ever scare some pony to extreme fright, sure she scared a few ponies now and then. The pink earth pony lowered her head in shame while the guests either left to give the filly room or to just watch the spectacle unfold. Only thing Twilight could do is reassure her little sister was in a safe place as nurse Red Heart told her to relax and held her hoof, showing a form of trust.
First day of Ponyville... a disaster...
Author's Note
Note 1: Just a little note for my readers. I'm not sure how panic disorders and A.D.D. can coexist in a person while one is about not focusing and the other is a form of extreme panic on a particular thing. I'll admit I went into this blind but I want to make Twinkle Star have real problems. Sometimes you're the unlucky one in your family to be diagnosed with a disorder when everyone else is fit and healthy. Trust me there is more to this though why she is having these attacks.
Note 2: I won't be updating this story as much because I still got two or three stories I got to get out of the way. I really should have been working on those but instead I did this. At least not frequently because what happens is, I got myself busy with other stories and I just start a new one that takes away from the others. So just a warning, don't expect this to update as frequent. Oh by the way, I know my grammar is bad so bare with it I'm trying some new program out to check my progress.
Note 3: If you followed my other stories like the Vanishing Star. You might have noticed some references as in character names like Vanishing Star, Fade Away and Lucian. I'm going to tell you this once and once only, this story is NOT canon with the Vanishing Star. Why Vanishing Star and Fade Away are twins in this one, I dunno I just did it. Same with Lucian, he's probably adopted or somehow got worked in because I liked him as he's supposed to look up to Fade and Van so why not?. Again, NOT CANON! Call it a cameo if you want. Alternate universe whatever.
Note 4: Some ideas I used in this story like Twilight's parents being curators at a family owned museum was discussed as a "What-If" on the My Little Pony threads on the cartoons and animation boards of Gamefaqs. While it was thought up as a parody for Twilight to play around with the statues and items in the museum, it was an interesting idea. I would like to thank the many posters of the MLP threads on that section for being supportive and putting up some pretty interesting theories which we sometimes like to discuss. Give us a visit sometime.
CH 2: We're Gonna Have Ants!!!
Twinkle Star
By NocturneD
Dear Mom and Dad,
I'm writing to you to say that Twinkle Star had arrived safely to Ponyville and is taking up residence with me. At first I thought this was going to be easy experience to start with a clean slate and get to know her better. Well, after her arrival I learned a few things about her. I assume she is forgetful at times because she did not mention that she was to give me another letter until we got to my place. I could not blame her, Rarity, her sister Sweetie Belle and Rainbow Dash and I showed her a bit of Ponyville just to show there was neat stuff to do.
Twinkle Star was very clingy when we were trotting through the streets. She did to take a shine to my friend Rarity once she mentioned dress making was like an art and she seemed to put immediate trust into Rainbow Dash. To me, we started off pretty slow and unfortunately its still going slow. I will admit, I was too excited when I first got your letter asking me to take care of her for a couple of weeks because I never spent time with her because of my studies at the castle. Not even when she was born I rarely got to see her but I had to admit, all I ever wanted was a little sister of my own to follow me around. Of all the times I followed Andromeda and Nora around I wanted to be like them. Hopefully, Twinkle will feel like that after the two weeks.
We did run into a problem once we got to my place. While I was reading off your other letter that you asked Twinkle to give to me, I got the notice for the medicine and her schedule when to take them. It's just her phobia of large groups of ponies in one place. You remember my friend; Pinkie Pie? The one that likes to throw parties for all sorts of reasons? She planned a surprise welcome party for Twinkle Star and... things turned sour.
While there was an impressive display of streamers, balloons and ponies wanting to greet her... Twinkle Star just laid down on the floor in a ball, shaking and crying for you. I did what I thought was best, to hold her to let her know she was in a safe place. Thank goodness nurse Red Heart was one of Pinkie's guests. Twinkle kicked and shouted she wanted out and to go home, I think that was the phobia talking. If it were not for nurse Red Heart, I would not have had an idea how to handle the situation any better. Red Heart told me some steps to use incase Twinkle had another panic attack, if they were to go anymore extreme then a trip to the hospital might have been necessary.
Pretty much the party ended early to my request. The guests went home, some apologized while they left and wished they would have met Twinkle Star under better circumstances. Only my friends stayed to make sure Twinkle calmed down and settled in. She was still a bit fussy and clung onto me muttering for you. I thought about this long and hard after I put her to bed. Holding her hoof until she finally went to sleep. I have to admit something, I was a little scared too at the thought of taking care of Twinkle once you mentioned all these things about her. But as she clung to me I noticed that was probably the first ever hug we ever had.
I'm sorry that you had to read a letter like this. But you put your trust in me and I will make sure Twinkle will have a good time here, I got the best support Twinkle can ever get incase anything ever goes wrong.
-Your daughter,
Twilight Sparkle
The lavender unicorn processed the exact words in her head. It all seemed good in her mind but what happened earlier that afternoon was totally unexpected. Well, unexpected on her behalf. Still her conscience banged and banged inside of her. She bit her lower lip in frustration, she blamed herself for this. Sure Twinkle could have spoken up earlier but she was shy. And that's what shy ponies do, they wait for an opportunity. She had no way of knowing that there would be a pink pony that would be up in her face blowing on kazoo and firing off party canons that could have ruptured her hearing. Thank goodness she left that out of the letter, thank goodness Twinkle Star could still hear after that. Then again, thank goodness any other pony could hear after Twinkle's ear-piercing cry as she kicked and screamed. The faces the guests varied between shocked and confused, others worried.
Twilight Sparkle read her letter over and over. Debated with herself even if she should send it. She weighed her options. Tell her parents; only to have them race down to Ponyville to cuddle their youngest. Or not, risk Twinkle's issue further and try to fix them up by herself.
"Then again..." Twilight looked down at her letter, "They did trust me... and I got support incase anything happens." The lavender unicorn folded the letter and placed it in an envelope with the address already written out on the center. It was already late anyway with one good look at the clock, "10:54. Guess I'll seal it and stamp it in the morning." She said to herself quietly. A quick look over her shoulder revealed two beds next to each other. Her own and a guest bed, Spike's basket was at the food of hers with an already sleeping baby dragon occupying it.
A pinkish aura illuminated from her horn and used it to switch off her desk lamp with a simple click. Only source of light was Luna's moon that peaked through the window that dazzled onto the center of the room. Highlighting the round brown rug; in which Rarity deemed ugly on many occasions. Twilight excused her friend's drama about style, that's who she was and accepted it but really, that rug was actually comfortable to sit on while reading a good book. Hopefully she could let Twinkle snuggle up next to her while reading her something.
Speaking of Twinkle Star. The older unicorn let her curiosity glide her over to the smaller unicorn. All tucked in, her little lavender head rested on the cold pillow decorated with little stars for show. Something that the little unicorn brought with her from home. Dark blue sheets covered her little tyke body, her chest rose up and down with each small breath she made almost sounding like a coo. Twilight could not help but smile down at the younger unicorn. Just earlier she was screaming bloody murder while kicking away any pony that tried to come near her. Now just a sleeping angel. She was just so fascinated how they looked similar on the outside almost, inside was another story. Twilight could just sit and marvel at her sister for a long time, but she needed her sleep as well. She climbed into her own bed and slid her own bed sheet over her own form. And rested her head, then closed her eyes. Hopefully the next day will go over better.
"Are you sure?"
"I'm serious I heard she's from a mental hospital."
"That sounds made up."
"Yeah why would a filly like her be crazy is she was sent to live with her sister?"
"That's just it. Maybe her parents can't take her anymore?"
"That's cold."
"I heard she might be the librarian's sister."
"Uh... She is."
"Oh really?"
"Did you just see Snails eat glue?"
That's been pretty much the entire backdrop for the day as the Cutie Mark Crusaders listened in to hear what the other kid's opinion on the new pony. Most of them were wild claims and surely made up stories. To kids, first impressions always set themselves in stone in a kid's mind. Also affects the social status and social ladder. Applebloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo just listened while they sat behind a bush while earlier trying to play a game of old maid. For an old-fashioned town like Ponyville news tends to spread fast among the social ponies then to the gossip ponies, then to the ponies who just like spreading rumors. Sweetie Belle felt terrible with each new rumor that came around the playground, she was there first thing when she met Twinkle Star.
"So... what kind of pony was Twinkle Star before she... you know?" Scootaloo held up about six playing cards with her hooves then aimed her sights on Sweetie Belle.
"Well she was shy." Sweetie Belle raised an eyebrow while trying to pick one of Scootaloo's cards. "But once Rarity mentioned her dresses she started talking a bit more. Then Rainbow Dash did some fancy flying and Twinkle got a bit more excited. But she was pretty clingy to Twilight once we started walking." The white unicorn pointed to the card she wanted from her friend.
"Makes sense for a new pony." Scootaloo slid the card in her friend's direction.
"Yeah. She seems like a nice pony." Sweetie Belle frowned as she flipped her card up and found the old maid. "She mentioned she liked art and said she brought a sketchpad. Still have yet to see it."
"She must be good if she carries one around wit' her." Applebloom cracked a smile while Sweetie Belle held up her cards for the farm filly to pick one. She picked a card on the far left then received it, flipped it over to find a number three.
Applebloom the found another three in her cards then discarded the pair, then held her cards up to Scootaloo to pick. The orange filly raised her fore leg to tap the card she wanted, "She's on medication isn't she?" Applebloom slid her chosen card in her direction, Scootaloo turned it over to show a black eight.
Sweetie Belle shifted her shoulders, "Twilight read something out loud saying if her medicine ever got lost to call right away and get another batch."
Scootaloo discarded two cards into the center pile then lifted her cards for Sweetie Belle to pick. In response, "Huh, guess it something really important that she can't go without."
"Whas it supposed ta do?" Applebloom asked while waiting for her turn.
Sweetie Belle raised her cards to her friend, "I don't know, I think I heard something about head aches." Applebloom was about the pick the hidden old maid due to Sweetie Belle not being able to keep a straight face, so the farm filly picked another. She found another pair of what she needed and threw the pair towards the center pile.
"We shud still make her feel welcomed." Applebloom smiled, "Who knows mayba' she's really nice."
"I dunno, what if she's like Twilight?" Scootaloo raised an eyebrow then went back to trying to pick a card.
"Why dat a problem?" Applebloom frowned.
"Well... Twilight is kinda..." Scootaloo shook her hoof, "You know... boring at times?"
"You know... she can be but I'm sure she can spice it up for Twinkle." Sweetie Belle giggled, "Shining Armor didn't seem boring."
"Still have a crush on him Sweetie Belle?" Scootaloo chuckled.
The white unicorn suddenly flashed red across her cheeks, "Oh..."
Scootaloo and Applebloom looked at each other, and said at the same time, "She isn't."
Suddenly a whistle blew. "Alright kids time to wrap it up for the day!" A male voice came from a distance. "Make sure to bring back whatever you took from the toy bin and locker!"
"Well girls another fun day at the Youth Center." Scootaloo smirked, "Wished the other kids didn't hog all the other stuff before we got here."
"Why is it so hard ta get a ball?" Applebloom collected all the cards and slid them back into the card packet.
"Dumb dodge ball game going on with the boys." Sweetie Belle grunted.
The three fillies walked toward the Ponyville Youth Center. A building meant for kids and teens to hang out after school or on vacation. Many parents and older siblings like to push their fillies into this project in hopes of bettering their children in social skills and learning hoofs on. Many fun things go on depending on which pony volunteers to teach the kids anything, like arts and crafts, music, computer knowledge, the fun stuff. Each of the children lined up and turned in the toy or piece of equipment they borrowed to a thin white unicorn male with yellow eyes and dark hair that went down to his neck. He wore an apron that tied from his lower neck to his stomach just in case of any emergencies happened with the children, carried band-aids mostly.
"Thank you Sunny Days. You almost nailed that triple axle." The male unicorn put on friendly smile.
"Thank you Pipsqueak. Next time go easy on the sword play. Some of the other colts are not as good as you." The little colt from Trottingham raised a plastic sword for the unicorn to place in a locker behind himself. Behind Pip was another colt with a plastic sword.
Next up was Dinky Doo, the little grey unicorn approached the taller unicorn sadly, "Sorry I broke the chalk for the pavement."
"Ah it's alright. It's just chalk." The white unicorn smirked as he engulfed the pieces of chalk in a red magical aura then placing them in the locker.
Next came Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon turning in the jump ropes. The white unicorns, "Thanks you two."
"It's like no trouble Mr. Kirin." Diamond Tiara stiffened a quite mischievous giggle.
"You think maybe next time you two can share the jump ropes with the other kids? I don't think you need it for the entire recess session do you?" The unicorn asked while he raised an eyebrow. He knew these two fillies were infamous from the other children, thinking they were higher on the food chain and social ladder. Mr. Kirin would often had to come in and wedge himself in between arguments between them and other fillies just to keep peace on the playground.
"We're like going for a record... or something." Silver Spoon chuckled as she dropped the jump rope in front of Mr. Kirin as her friend did the same.
"Now girls. Pick those up, we talked about handing things over nicely didn't we?" Mr. Kirin asked.
The girls only grunted. They had no intention of picking up the jump ropes but Mr. Kirin would always remind them constantly to play nice with the others, figured it would shut the bozo up. "Here you go." Diamond Tiara frowned, Silver Spoon did the same.
"Thank you girls." Mr. Kirin said, now satisfied with the snobby girls. Next up were the boys who took the balls. "Okay boys time to put away those balls." And as boys were always mischievous they took advantage of the situation, ganged up on the older unicorn and threw the balls at him. "OH COME ON!" Mr. Kirin dodged one ball that whizzed past his head. Then he dodged another then another, "Seriously guys do we have to do this every time?" Well a blast to the face with a rubber kick ball answered the question. The group of boys continued throwing until they had nothing to throw, probably around ten, eleven or twelve of them just laughed and walked away. Mr. Kirin was now buried under a mountain of rubber.
Just then a small white male unicorn around the age as every other colt and filly there. He had short blue hair and yellow gloomy eyes as he approached the mountain of balls. A purple aura emitted from his little horn as he started to put a few of the balls away where they belonged. Just then Mr. Kirin stuck his head out of the mountain with a gasp of air. The smaller white unicorn looked up quizzically. "Again?"
Mr. Kirin sighed, "Again..." An appreciative smile graced his lips, "Thanks Synn."
The smaller unicorn smiled, "Anytime big brother."
The Cutie Mark Crusaders did not take long to show up after the ball throwing fiasco. Applebloom was the first to speak, "Thanks for lettin us play with the cards Mr. Kirin."
"Anytime girls." Mr. Kirin again smiled as he let his red magical aura engulf the playing cards then slid them into his apron. "Next time I'll try to save you a ball."
"It's fine, we really weren't that in the playing mood today anyway." Scootaloo smirked.
"Plus we were talking about the new girl." Sweetie Belle brought up.
Mr. Kirin finally able to free himself from the mountain of balls. He used his magic to scoop them up and put them in the locker with the help of his little brother, he pulled out a key then inserted it in the lock. With a quick turn he heard a click telling that it locked. "Oh right, the librarian's little sister. She feeling any better?"
"We really didn't pay her a visit yet." Scootaloo frowned.
"She's a nice girl I heard." Mr. Kirin started to undo his apron straps. Then discarded the piece of clothing and folded it with his magic.
The three fillies looked at each other with troubling eyes. Sweetie Belle broke the silence between the three, "We're sure too. It's just she probably won't be treated like a regular filly after what happened."
Mr. Kirin raised an eyebrow for concern, "She just had a panic attack that's all. Those happen and can happen at anytime and there ways to help calm it down."
The three fillies looked at each other again, this time worried. This time Applebloom spoke, "Anytime? Anywhere?"
Just then Mr. Kirin shrugged his shoulders, "Who knows maybe that will be the only time she does it. It's like how Featherweight back there needs an inhaler now and then before he comes out to play in the grass and dust with others." The girls did remember Featherweight had to take a prescription inhaler everyday from the school nurse. The three were curious as they would peek into the nurse's office just to see what weird contraption the frail Pegasus was trying to put into his mouth. The kids treated him differently because of it they thought he was weird that he had to do it but thanks to their teacher Mrs. Cheerilee had to explain how it worked. More kids understood, but still Featherweight would always be a target for Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon for whatever lame reason.
It was a pretty good lesson that had to be learned, just because a classmate had to take something for them to keep up performance does not make them any different from the rest. The girls bid the Youth Center employee and his little brother a good day and thanked him for the lesson. But something still irked them, they knew Twinkle was a good filly, they were more worried that she might not fit in normally.
The three fillies soon walked through the business district. Applebloom spoke up, "Ya'll think we could give Twinkle a quick visit?"
Just then Sweetie Belle's stomach rumbled. Almost roared as loud as a lion, "Oh I think I'm going to go home. My mom usually has dinner ready right about now."
"Yeah I need to get home too." Scootaloo brought up, "My dad is building a new scooter for me and I want to go over what I want it to look like."
"Alright then. Tomorrow then?" Applebloom hoped they would help Twinkle Star get a better hoof in and be part of their team.
"Sounds good to me." Scootaloo smiled. Sweetie Belle agreed.
"Good. We're gonna make Twinkle Star feel welcomed." Applebloom nodded. "Meet back at here at eleven A.M.?"
"Wait I got an eye doctor appointment tomorrow at eleven." Sweetie Belle brought up.
"Alright then maybe lunch time?" Applebloom asked.
"Rainbow Dash is supposed to take the three of us to the grand opening of Daisy Burger tomorrow for lunch." Scootaloo remembered.
"Fine. After lunch then?" Applebloom puffed.
"Think I..." Sweetie Belle looked at yellow farm filly, then retracted, "Yeah after lunch is good."
Later that night. A noble friend of the mane six arrived at the tree house. With ominous yellow glowing eyes that pierced the darkness and a hood that covered her white and black striped Mohawk. She knocked not once, not twice, but thrice on the library door. The lavender unicorn pulled open the door to look at her guest. And greeted her not with a gasp, but with a smile.
"Ah you made it Zecora!" Twilight smiled and stepped aside. "Please come in we were just about the begin the meeting."
"With pleasure in walking through Ponyville like a fine comb, I find it very it cumbersome as you welcome me into your home." Zecora stepped inside. "But on my way I was met by some unfriendly poodles, but the good news is that I remembered to bring this dessert called Snicker Doodles." The zebra held up a tray of snacks like she said.
The zebra walked further into the library with Twilight in the lead. There in the center of the round room were a circle of chairs facing in, ten to be exact. In one of them sat Rarity, then Fluttershy, then Rainbow Dash, then Cheerilee, then Mrs. Cake and the mayor, next to her was Bon Bon and finally Derpy for some reason. Zecora took a seat next to the pony with the out-of-place pupil.
Twilight remained standing, "Welcome every pony to our book club meeting. Recently I given you all a copy of The Jump written by A. ." Once you get Twilight talking about a book, she will not stop. Spike was serving drinks to the girls as he wandered over to each guest and poured them some orange drink with a thank you from each glass poured. "I especially wanted to talk about the very first couple of chapters because some of you seemed lost after reading those."
"Uh yeah..." Rainbow Dash raised her foreleg, "Those first few chapters. Were they a dream or something?"
"I was just getting to that." Twilight Sparkle smiled, "If you read them carefully the writer tends to drop little hints in his story that will play out in future chapters or other stories. So instead of a dream, the main character projected himself into his own fantasy world which later plays a bigger role going back and forth from there to the real world."
"So its pretty much a dream world anyway." Rainbow Dash frowned.
"How about we wait and talk about the other aspects of the book?" Twilight asked, "There is just some other things I want to talk about chapter by chapter. But first I do want to ask what every pony thought about the book overall."
"Stupid." Rainbow Dash plopped her copy onto the coffee table.
"Had something good going but then slowly it went downhill." BonBon gave her opinion.
"Author dropped the ball a couple of times." Rarity swirled her glass of orange drink with her magic. "Story was just too confusing and how it was worded. The first pony perspective was nice but felt cheap because you did not get the entire story. Only through the main character's point of view and not only that but the main character we're stuck with started off impressive but then just felt boring towards the end." Rarity took a deep breath then a sip of her drink, "There were other characters I would have liked to see more detail on but there just wasn't. Felt like they were just stand ins for the sake of the main character. Sorry to say Twilight, but this one was not to my liking."
"Well Rarity you got a few points but the main character to me seemed like a really well-built pony." Twilight countered in a nice way. Her eye twitched a little earlier because of a book she liked was getting torn to pieces by her book club ponies in a negative fashion.
"Can I give my take on this book?" Derpy raised her foreleg.
"Sure." Twilight nodded.
Derpy cleared her throat first then started her analysis, "You probably do not know Twilight I have read this book before and all the other books you let us borrow by the same author. I did some research on the author and found out some pretty interesting things about this book and his other works." The grey Pegasus lifted the book with her hoof to present to the others, "This book in particular is part of an ongoing series, in the author's head only. If any of you remember there were characters from other stories popping up in other books, even the fantasy world did not début in this story."
The others raised an eyebrow at what was going on. Their ditzy friend was actually acting intelligent for once, "The author wanted to make an ongoing series but did not plan it very well where he intended to write each book as a new starting point using characters from other books that he thought worked well and mix them in. Such as the Mad Hatter pony and the devil pony from the Beyond story, both were antagonists of earlier books now somehow reduced to anti-heroes."
Derpy took another big breath then continued, "The author you can say is stuck as in he does not know where he wants to take his series. That's why everything is discombobulate, the only thing that stays the same was the fantasy world where the creatures with ooze dripping out of their mouths in which characters from other books actually visited. Some characters worked well in the newer stories he put out because now he might have a better grasp of what he wants. This story, the only thing that felt right was the fantasy world... if it was a character itself. So this book right here, is a just a bunch of rambling and build up to another story the author might want to go with. So literally, the books he put out have nothing to do with each other. Or do they?"
"But you just said none of the books had anything to do with each other." Cheerilee countered. At this point Zecora for the first time since her visit in Ponyville, she was bored. Her face did not let her show her bored mind, she reached for another pastry until she noticed what seemed to look like a sketch book discarded under the coffee table. The edges just jutted out from shadow of the table, Zecora knew in a form of manners that it would have been rude to pull another form of entertainment out and read while a meeting was going on. The other ponies were distracted by Derpy giving her out of character analysis so why not? The zebra opened the sketch book to the first few pages and found some pretty interesting sketches. Done in pencil of course and some in ink. A lot of them are very well detailed. A lot of them are more finished than others because of the darker outlines, some of them are sceneries of familiar areas along with some ponies.
Zecora flipped through a couple more pages and saw some sketches of random ponies. Some she knew, some she did not. The foreign zebra enjoyed flipping through the pages, she seen many variations of art across Equestria but she had to admit, whoever drew these had some emphasis on detail. She flipped to another page that seemed a little off, it was a drawing of another pony but... something was off about this pony. The spot for the eyes were filled in with ink like it was done on purpose, the pony's mouth had a very wide smile that stretched ear to ear. The rest of the pony appeared to have splotches over its body, also filled in with ink. Zecora could have sworn she seen a pony like that before, or something out of legend. Whoever drew this also must know some form of mythology.
"Here comes the weird part. They are both, he wanted them to confuse us. Some of you did not pick up on the alternate universe plot I was dropping on. The fantasy world was the only thing that was kept the same for most of the stories the author put out." Derpy raised her foreleg to point out, "As you could say. The fantasy world, is the center of the series. The avatar of the fantasy world is stuck in a loop while everything outside of its world keeps changing." At this point, Zecora closed the sketch book and leaned it up beside her chair. Even for her she was a little disturbed by the dark pony sketch.
Derpy took one long deep breath after talking a mouth full, "Muffin." She reached for the plate that had at least a dozen different flavored pastries on them and picked up the obvious.
The rest of the book club members had their mouths open. Some even asking themselves did Derpy actually explain a complex plot? Twilight cleared her throat this time, "Well... That was an interesting analysis that Derpy contributed."
"Mmm... Muffin." Derpy reached for another.
"Okay this book series was obviously too complex for every pony to enjoy even if it was filled with paradoxes." Twilight again explained. Just then a small violet unicorn descended the stairs. She kept to herself and went straight for the kitchen without trying to attract any attention. And yet little did that do any good as the cyan flying pony craned her neck as she tried to avoid little eye contact with the rest of the group as possible.
"Hey squirt." Dash smirked.
Twinkle gasped then quickly regained her composure, "Oh... hey."
Just then the rest of the group turned their attention to the little filly as well. Twilight smiled, "Hey Twinkle, need anything?"
"Just... Just a snack if that's okay. And want to get my sketch pad I left down here." Twinkle twiddle her hoofs from her fore legs together in a shy matter. Zecora immediately looked down to her side and figured this was the same book the little one was talking about.
"Alright sweetie, you want Teddy bear graham crackers?" Twilight smiled while she got out of her chair ready to aid, "I just bought them yesterday."
"I can get them!" Twinkle immediately jumped at the chance by scampering to the kitchen.
"Well that was a surprise." Cheerilee watched as the filly blasted off, "I thought she was going to be a shy filly."
"Well to new ponies that's understandable." Twilight frowned as she sat back down in her chair. "But she has trouble paying attention in school from what my mom tells me."
"Ah attention deficit disorder." Cheerilee reached for a snicker doodle Zecora brought earlier. "I had a few of those during my career."
"So um... if you don't mind me asking." Fluttershy peeped in her shy voice, "How do those children differ from regular children?"
"Just that they have trouble concentrating and can get easily side tracked, distracted." Cheerilee answered. "Just because of that some of them were unfairly labeled because of their grades. Sometimes the kids diagnosed with ADD don't even have it because some doctors figured that was probably it. Ritalin, really makes a pretty bit today with the wonders of modern medicine."
"Twilight where are the graham crackers again?" Twinkle called from the kitchen.
"In the cabinet!" Twilight called from her seat then turned her attention back to the teacher, "Pretty important pill too, I gave Twinkle one this morning and she seemed pretty quiet then just sat doodling in her sketch pad, I showed her around my library and I figured she got the jest of everything. I almost did not give it to her because she tried to out smart me. Nope. Though she was a bit disappointed when she saw my television set for some reason."
"Then... what caused her to scream like that?" Fluttershy asked.
"She has a phobia of a large amount of ponies in one room." Twilight answered, "Plus if you remember Twinkle was pretty much surrounded with party noises going off where she was looking around for a way out."
"Yeah. Pinkie Pie is still feeling pretty bad about that." Rainbow Dash brought up.
"I'm terribly sorry by the way Twilight." Mrs. Cake apologized, "Pinkie really does go all out with her parties and just wanted to give your sister an honest welcome."
"It's okay. Pinkie had no way of knowing." Twilight smiled.
"I don't see them Twilight! Oh well I'll get myself some juice." Twinkle called from the kitchen. "Oh wait..." Just then the mares heard a glass spill and shatter on the kitchen floor. "Twilight where are the towels?!"
"Excuse me girls. Twinkle the towels are in another cabinet!" The lavender unicorn got up from her chair and raced off into the kitchen. And just expected Twilight found her little sister racing around in circles trying to find something to clean the mess up from off the floor. One of her favorite drinking glasses, broken.
Meanwhile back in the circle. The mares listened in. Twinkle was asking for where the towels where again, "Where?"
"In the cabinet next to you sweetie." Twilight replied.
"I don't see them!" Twinkle called back.
"Right in front of you." Twilight explained.
"There aren't any!" Twinkle commented.
"Just use a dish towel then." Twilight ordered.
"I can't reach the sink!" Twinkle said.
Just then they heard another glass break. "Oh no! Oh no! Twilight the juice is going underneath the fridge!
"Oh great we're going to have ants." Twilight grunted.
"Any pony want some more snicker doodles?" Zecora asked as she raised the pastry plate to the others, "Much tastier than a what they call a strudel."
Author's Note
Note 1: Alright, I'll admit it. I don't know how to use Zecora right. All I know about her is that she rhymes in a clever fashion and I reduced her to talking about pastries. I guess this will start her off this way but I do want her to be part of the story as well in some way.
Note 2: Reason why Twinkle was not given much freedom in this chapter was because I wanted to set up the surrounding she will be facing in Ponyville. Because of her situation at the party, some ponies are going to be treating her differently, especially the other kids.
Note 3: Original characters, they won't be appearing as much because I want Twilight to be the main focus with her sister. Some original characters don't hurt every now and then as I find them to help the story along. Mr. Kirin is another alias for a character that came from my previous stories, some readers might recognize him from the details given about him. Also, the character of Synn, should be a dead give away. Also, the reason for the youth center is just a place for kids to hang out and do activities after school or other days, I used to work at one of these places and the kids were interesting as I taught them about computers. Though this is when Myspace was still the rage, yeah that long ago.
Note 4: The chapter will go under some re-edits to shape it up better because people are still feeding me facts on ADD, want to say thanks to those people who stepped forward to help. If anyone has suggestions on what they might want to happen with Twinkle Star and Twilight Sparkle, also the other ponies. Just write out what you think should happen in the reviews. Thank you for reading.
Note 5: Oh yeah. The story the girls were talking about by the author A.J. Clop? Its sort of an inside joke poking fun at myself of tending to use reuse my characters from different stories and start a new plot with them. None of my stories are ever canon with each other as well because I don't have quite a fanon universe I want to use just yet. The Ooze world I do say, is something that never changed. I love that place and those creatures running around. Sort of trying to come up with my own mythos.
"Ugh..."
"I...I'm sorry."
"No it's fine sweetie. Just be more careful next time..."
"I really am."
"No more pouting okay? It's just to be on the safe side let me get things for you."
"You think I'm clumsy then?"
"I never said that sweetie. You just tend to take on more than you can handle."
Twinkle Star counted the same conversation playing between her and her older sister probably from five to eight times in the span of just one day. The purple unicorn let the younger pony sleep in until she was well and ready to get up and moving again. Still cautious from her freak out the other day, Twilight memorized the steps nurse Red Heart shared with her and played it over and over in her head. Just in case that is if it were to ever happen again. The protege was known for crazily taking things too seriously but as for taking care of a child for the next two weeks, some eyebrows were raised but assured it was to be alright.
The morning played out with a simple breakfast of the option of French Toast or pancakes. Twinkle Star could not remember when the family sat down together for a simple meal. Always got up for school and made her own breakfast of cereal or a piece of toast. Only a few times her mother or father would scrabble around the kitchen to make a quick daisy breakfast sandwich for her. The weekend was pretty much the same. Walk down to the kitchen early in the morning, try not break anything along the way but still end up making a mess from just pouring milk into the bowl. Simple enough right? Well if you count one of the shelves falling over along pages falling out of books because they were old delicate pieces of work. As well as placing no longer useful books into the trash when really they were supposed to go back onto the shelf then maybe she was going to be more than a handful.
After breakfast, Twilight rummaged through the medication pouch her mother packed for Twinkle Star. The size was about the same as if a pony wanted to carry a normal purse around, she unzip the top and used her magic to reach in. Quietly she said the names of the medication bottles to herself and checked back to the note her mother left her to make sure what goes to what. The most important pill of all, Ritalin is to contain Twinkle Star's hyper activity in check and to make sure she could focus. Twinkle knew what was coming once Twilight unscrewed the cap and pulled out a single pill. Instantly the smaller unicorn tightened her lips and stood her ground, she hated the pill no doubt. To her it made her feel, what would you say? Empty? Unfulfilled? Lack of spirit?
At first, Twinkle tried to show a little protest by keeping her mouth shut tight. Twilight Sparkle knew by her mother's note the smaller unicorn was stubborn when taking medicine. That was not foreign to her when she was younger. Often always tasting icky cold medicine every time she had a little cough or a runny nose her mother or nanny made her take it using the familiar tablespoon. Princess Cadence at least tried to make it fun by pretending the tablespoon was an airplane or a train.
"Okay Twinkle it's time to take your pill." Twilight levitated the white chalky tablet towards her sister. Still her sister would not open her mouth, the lavender unicorn figured she was just being stubborn. Not very surprising from a child her age. "Come on sweetie, mom told me that you had to take one of these at least once a day."
"Mmmm..." Twinkle moaned in protest. Her shoulders pressed forward as her eyes showed some form of resistance.
"The faster we do this it will be over." Twilight put on a warm smile to show assurance.
"I-I don't want to." Twinkle's voice started to tremble.
"If mom says you have to do it, then I'm going to make sure you do it." Twilight reminded her, "Look I know it might taste icky but its to help you focus."
At this point Twinkle crossed her fore legs in protest. "I'm not even in school while I'm staying here. So why?" The lavender unicorn scratched her chin in wonder, that was a good point an eight year old could make. Mostly this form of medication was indeed for educational purposes, but Twinkle was not in school because of Golden Spirit Week let alone along with some odd days off leading up to it.
"Well regardless. You have to take it." Twilight hated being the bad guy, let alone this was technically a first impression on her younger sister. The one she barely even knew, even at all except save for each others existence. How that was possible, it was complicated. "Come on sweetie. Be a good girl."
"Mmm... I hate taking it." Twinkle mumbled.
"Why do you hate it?" The older sister asked.
"Makes me feel funny inside." Twinkle bit her lower lip after she explained. "Makes me feel empty."
Twilight then lowered the pill onto the table to show a sign of peace. "Now this medicine here is supposed to help you with your school work. But since you mentioned you were not in school you raised a good point." The pill remained at the center, Twinkle still with a sense of dread tried to look away from it. "So here's what's going to happen. Since mom and dad are asking me to take care of you for two weeks, it's up to me to make sure everything goes right... including your necessities."
"But..." Twinkle tried to say.
"But..." Twilight held her hoof up, "As much as I don't want to force this on you it's my responsibility to make sure you're alright. So here's what I'm going to do." Twilight proudly explained, "I want us to start off on the right hoof and to get to know you better. I just want to see how this works to see if its really necessary or not because... I believe you're a bright little girl with a lot of potential. Mom though wrote that you were having trouble in school and said you had to take this to focus better, not only on school work... but with other things." Twilight picked herself off from the ground to walk towards the smaller unicorn, to show her that she was caring on the subject. "I want you to be happy, but I can't know that if we don't trust each other. So here's the option you take the pill today and then tomorrow you don't have to. If I see a difference that you need it, then you'll have to take it."
"Guh..." The smaller unicorn gasped as the lavender pony reached around her with her longer fore leg to comfort her. "So if I take it... Today I won't tomorrow?"
"Mom and dad put their trust in me taking care of you as I'm sure they keep tabs on the pills. So..." Twilight used her magic to cover the pill and made it levitate, "We will try this once." Her face crept to the smaller unicorn, "Just... once." The thought of the quiet little filly in front of her being rambunctious was sort of hard to image in Twilight's head. Almost, a little too tempting, quizzical, and even scary at the same time.
The little unicorn could not pass on the offer yet still warned her sister what the pill made her feel like. Twilight took that into account but still made sure she held up her part of the bargain. The lavender unicorn was curious as here that sat not even a foot away was a pony she barely even knew, as well not even knowing anything about her likes, dislikes, her hobbies even her fears. Well if you count panicking in front of a lot of unfamiliar ponies. The smaller unicorn plopped the pill into her mouth, as her cheeks puffed her tongue inside was trying to wrap around the pill. Her eyes twitched from the bad chalky taste, she reached with her fore legs to grab a glass of orange juice that was still left over from breakfast earlier then gulped the remainder down. With a deep sigh of relief, Twinkle shook her head and frowned.
"You swallow it?" Twilight asked. Twinkle proved it by opening her mouth to show her sister and lifted her own tongue to prove it. The older unicorn was surprised that her sister just snapped open her mouth like that, maybe her mother used to tell her to show her mouth. As said before in her letter, Twinkle could be sneaky when taking medicine. With a simple glance from left to right, Twilight nodded, "Alright good."
It did not take long for Twilight to command... I meant ask Spike to do the dishes so she could at least try to bond. The little dragon just mumbled to himself as he wandered over to the sink area then pulled a wooden stool to give himself a boost. Twilight ignored the little back talk, well maybe it was not back to but it was one of the typical Spike things whenever Twilight asked him to do stuff while she walks away to spend time with friends. In this case, she would not be far.
The two decided to take the conversation into the next room, the main floor of the library. Something that Twinkle Star never really cared for during her time in Canterlot, to her reading was not all that exciting unless she really had to look something up. Twilight lead her baby sister to the middle where the round funny colored carpet rug was and laid down in the middle of it. With her lavender belly pressed against the rough rug, she reached with her fore leg to wave to Twinkle. Assuring her that she won't bite.
"Wha-what are we going to do?" Twinkle shivered.
Twilight picked up on this, "Are you cold?"
"...A bit." The smaller unicorn nodded. Twilight lifted one of her fore legs, slowly either it was a matter of trust or not Twinkle slivered her little body under her sister. Her little head nuzzled into her sisters neck, Twilight smiled and adored the small body pressed up against hers. There was something that Twinkled liked about the feeling. Maybe she was happy? Or maybe something felt right? Was it something she longed for? Her little ear pressed against her sister's chest, she felt her heartbeat and... it felt warming. She mumbled softly, "Mm...Like mama..."
That took Twilight a little by surprise. Sure she got the idea of her being almost a spitting image of her mother but the personalities were off. Twilight was a book worm who adored literature while her mother was more into the importance and meaning of cultural art. Sounds something like Twilight sure, but its just that her mother does it at shocking levels. Almost filling most of her time that made Twilight wonder how she could ever have the time to do what she did let alone mother nine children. Then that's when Twilight Sparkle frowned, remembered exactly how her mother was when she was her age. Always busy and finding something for her kids to play with so she could work in peace. Immediately Twilight Sparkle shook the bothersome thought out of her head.
"T-Twilight?" The little unicorn moved her face away from Twilight's neck and looked up in confusion.
"Oh... sorry. Just remembering something." Twilight smirked innocently. "Now..." She looked down at the little blue eyes as they were filled with childish confusion. "I think we should take this moment to catch up. That sound good?" Twinkle replied with a simple nuzzle against Twilight's neck for a bit of approval. The older unicorn giggled, "Alright, I take it that means yes."
Twilight started off with a simple question, "So... how's school?"
Smooth move Twilight. Twinkle frowned, "It's... alright I guess."
"Come on, school can be fun." Twilight smiled, Twinkle's lips were not moving nor her sad eyes. Her cheerful voice then turned to sympathetic, "School is not your thing huh?"
"N-no... I'm not smart enough some ponies tell me." Twinkle lowered her head. Her chin supported by the tacky rug, felt rugged and rough against her fur.
"Now who would say that?" Twilight raised an eyebrow.
"Basically every pony back at home." Twinkle moaned.
"That's impossible, you're probably a smart filly underneath." Twilight raised her sister's chin with her hoof. "You just need to find a certain area to shine in. And... if I picked up already I heard you like to draw."
"In... in my spare time." Twinkle sighed.
"I noticed you brought a sketch pad." Twilight smiled, "Think I can take a peek at it?"
"I guess..." Twinkle trailed, "It's in my bag by the bed."
"Oh don't worry, I can get it." With a simple spark from her horn Twilight used a spell that worked as combination of a tracker and fetching spell.
Twinkle watched as her duffel bag floated down the stairs engulfed in a glitter filled purple glow. The bag slumped down in front of the two mares as the aura died down. Twinkle this time, tried to show off her magic of.. fumbling with the zipper. With a tug and pull, it still did not come loose, the little unicorn gritted her teeth and focused with all of her might on what should be a simple task. With a loud grunt, the zipper finally undid itself. Twilight took a minute to examine Twinkle's fault in magic.
Twilight thought, "Well she is young still. Probably around the same age when unicorns should start getting the feel of how levitation works." With a quick excuse, she put on a proud face, "You're the best... zipper undo-er I ever seen at your age."
Twinkle knew sympathetic praise when she heard it. All the time whenever she struggled with something that should have been simple, some pony would tell her "good job," or "you're getting better". Those would not be bad, if it were not for the half cracked smile. She knew she was horrible and she never really fought it. She knew where her faults were and never really exceeded to quickly fix them. How could she? She was diagnosed with a disorder that often caused her parents to sometimes fight over about, let alone the schools wanted to put her in classes for children who had certain needs. Let alone any friends that she had were never there with being in different classes, sometimes she was lucky enough for them to even come over to her house. All that, was pretty damaging for a child's self esteem. And most of the time, she let it go to go play video games by herself.
Twilight took over and started pulling various objects, mostly books and pencils. "Let's see. A video game magazine, another game magazine, magazine about Japonies cartoons, Japonies comics, oh a stencil set, another Japonies comic... Another comic..." Twilight started to frown as she levitated a very thick book and thought at least her sister was trying to read something interesting, "A strategy guide for Pony Fantasy sixteen?"
Twinkle pushed her little head into her duffel bag and bit down on the thing she wanted to find. With an easy pull of her neck the sketch pad wiggled from her mouth. Twilight set down the rather large game book and pulled the pad out of her sister's mouth. "This is it huh?"
"Yeah." Twinkle answered quickly.
Twilight placed the sketch pad down in front of herself. With her magic she flipped the cover and onto the first page. A sketch of an earth pony, female doing yard work, "Oh... Is this some pony in particular?" It was... actually pretty well detailed with the pencil markings and shadowing effect.
Twinkle shook her head, "That's Mrs. Tall Grass. She really likes working on our lawn back home."
Twilight flipped to the next page, "Oh right. Did not know mom and dad hired a lawn car mare. It was nice by the way, oh. Another pony." The older unicorn flipped through some more pages, more ponies as Twinkle explained who they were. Again they were in pretty good detail for an eight year old. "Do you draw often?"
"Pretty much when I'm lonely..." Twinkle lowered her head to have her chin once again be supported by the rough rug.
"Oh sweetie it doesn't have to be like that here." Twilight pulled her sister closer to her larger frame. "How do mom and dad feel about these?"
"They don't know about them..." Twinkle said sadly. "I try to show them but they're always busy doing something."
That was so typical of her parents Twilight thought to herself. Always putting the family museum as a high priority over their own daughter's hobbies. Then again, Twilight's own childhood was bound to reading books as she pretty much preoccupied herself.
Twilight flipped to another page to find instead of ponies there were now sceneries. From meadows, to certain parts of the park back home, to old stone buildings. Giving them more of fantasy vibes to them instead of realism, then again when you live in a world with flying dragons and sorcery everything is basically fantasy.
"Oh. Is this of the museum?" Twilight blinked.
"Actually, yeah the main hallway mom likes to call it." Twinkle tapped on the picture.
"Yeah I just call it the lobby." Twilight rolled her eyes and giggled.
Twilight flipped more and more pages to find some pretty well drawn pictures. She grew more and more excited with each turn almost like it was a book. Then she got to a certain page. One she rather found strange, it was of a pony, an alicorn to Twilight's amazement but the detail was. Something else. The mouth was stretched, smiling from ear to ear but there contained no teeth just a black void. The eyes contained no eyeballs, just complete darkness. Something rather disturbing for a child to draw, let alone any pony to draw.
"So what's this one?" Twilight asked.
"Oh... That's Ebony." Twinkle smiled, "I named her that because mommy describes it as black and that's what her eyes are, black."
"I can see that. But..." Twilight tilted the sketch pad to its side. "Why would you draw something like this?"
"Oh..." Twinkle puckered her lip, "I drew it because I saw some sad picture in mom and dad's art storage. I really liked her but mom said the picture gave her the creeps."
Twilight raised an eyebrow, "In that case I would no blame her." She turned her head to look down at her baby sister, "And dad?"
"He said he was holding it for some pony who might want to buy it someday." Twinkle frowned, "I heard something about I guess..." She let her eyes wander, "Said the painting was haunted so that's why they keep it in there."
Twilight rolled her eyes, "Yeah don't let whatever the movers mom and dad hire get to you. Mostly just dumb stuff and gossip." Her eyes went back to the ink sketch, it was pretty morbid for a kid to draw. What stumped her is that she only knew of three alicorns, why this sketch was an alicorn she did not have the slightest clue. "So in the original painting was Ebony an alicorn?"
"Yup..." Twinkle nodded. "She was very pretty too."
"Huh..." Twilight frowned, "I'll have to ask mom and dad to let me see it sometime." Plus if it was really haunted that struck her curiosity. She looked up at the round clock above the doorway, "Oh shoot... Sorry I'm going to have to cut this short I need to get started setting up for my book club tonight."
"Oh... alright then." Twinkle lowered her head in disappointment and slid her books back into her duffle bag.
"How about you go play your games while I get the place ready?" Twilight suggested, "It's going to be awhile..."
And that was it?
Twinkle Star did not argue, she knew her sister was the busy type. She wandered back upstairs to pull out another duffle bag to bring back downstairs, with permission she asked her sister if it was alright to plug in one of her game systems to the television. Only problem was that the only television in the library was something you would find in a school and the TV would be on a giant rolling cart. Twilight asked if she knew what she was doing but Twinkle assured her she knew everything about hook ups. She often moved her game systems around and switched them out from time to time.
"Wow... This place is like a mix of home and school." Twinkle sighed, "Just my luck..."
She unzipped the duffel bag with her teeth and dived in to pull out random wires and controllers. Finally one of the few game consoles she decided to bring with herself. An original Nintenpony console with a good few chose select of games. Then there was a Nintenpony 3DS, Ponystation 2, a Ponybox 720 and a Pony Dreamcast. Sure it seemed like a lot but Twinkle knew at least a few spells that worked to her advantage, a compression spell to make things smaller. Something she rather keep secret to herself so she could easily sneak things into the house. She had to admit to herself, if she did not have five older brothers she would have not ever found a love for these types of things. How much she loved watching them play when she was younger, sometimes one of them would sit her in their lap and pretend she was playing too.
*CLICK*
*CLICK*
"Just snap that into place." Twinkle mumbled with the wire in her mouth.
*CLICK*
"Tighten the adapter cable." She grunted.
"Need any help?" Spike asked as he approached from behind, curious to what the little unicorn was doing.
"I think I got everything. Ah done." She sighed in relief, "Does this TV run on a video option or do I have to put it to channel three?"
"Uh..." Spike scratched his head.
"Never mind I got it." She pushed the power on button and set it channel three anyway. With success, "IT WORKS!" The screen was filled with eight bit music blaring out the small speakers with a catchy tune. "Wanna play?" She held up a second controller to the baby dragon.
"Well... Maybe for a little bit.." Spike smiled.
And then the two played together. What would seem like sheer enjoyment of minutes, really numbed down to hours. Twilight soon stopped behind the two children who were busy playing.
"Alright you two its been a few hours. Time to take a break." Twilight smiled.
"Just five more minutes." Twinkle asked.
"No way you two. I've came here about three times and you asked the same thing. It's been like a couple of hours already." Twilight frowned, "We're going out for a late lunch as I scored maybe a couple hours of free time."
"Can you bring mine back?" Spike tapped on the buttons with his fingers.
"Yeah me too." Twinkle mumbled.
"Come on. I know a good place you would like." Twilight smiled.
"Eh..." Twinkle frowned.
"It's got an arcade." Twilight smirked.
Twinkle paused the game, "I'm listening..."
Twilight sighed, if this was the only way to get her sister's attention she might have to resort to tricks.
Author's Note
Just to let you guys know, this chapter happens before chapter 2. I should have clarified that earlier. Also, the updates are going to be a bit slower and before anyone gets on my tail about changing the progress tag, its going to be awhile until another update.
I have yet to still get through the proper grammar channels but I wanted to give you guys a sneak peek first.
Yes little Twinkle is a gamer and having older brothers has their advantages. About the compression spell, its not perfect in the eyes of average magic users so there's a bit of still trouble her learning some stuff.
Also to add, I don't know if you need to take Ritalin all the time or just sometimes like when you're going to school. As stated her, Twinkle is taking it pretty much often by her parents. Maybe because of the whole museum issue I guess.
Dear mom and dad,
I know this is too soon for another letter but I wanted to report on my little sister's behavior as so far. Don't worry I will not be writing one everyday but only if things ever do get out of hoof Twinkle Star finally settled into her new surrounding but there is still much for her to explore here in Ponyville. She's an honest little ladybug who had a nice little quiet and shy charm to her as some of the mares around town would describe her. Some ponies came by to see if she was feeling better from her little panic attack I mentioned earlier. They brought little gifts of candy, desserts and toys. To see her little face light up like that was adorable after she was too shy to even say hello. Well... Guess that makes her a normal kid huh?
I would like to point out her hobbies though. Even though I'm not very much of a fan of her forms of entertainment like video games. I really did like going through her artwork that she drew up. You should really see them sometimes as they are very detailed for a girl her age. I wonder that maybe her being surrounded by art at home inspired her any?
As for her medicine I do ask on the Ritalin. If it would be okay that Twinkle be able to skip a few doses? I mean, I know she has to take them for educational purposes but as far as I know. She's not in school for the next week and a half so why would it be necessary? I however will be tightly on her about her other medication.
your daughter,
Twilight
P.S. We're off to a good start. I think Spike and Twinkle made fast friends.
The lavender unicorn looked over the latest letter Spike jotted down before he bolted back down the stairs to play another round with his new gaming buddy. It was only the third day of the two-week intervention and already Twinkle pretty much made her marking in the library. Gaming magazines, comic books, manga thrown about.
A sudden urge to go downstairs and tell Twinkle to clean up her mess was rearing its ugly head. The lavender unicorn did not like messes, unorganized messes, despite creating some of her own from time to time when studying. A simple trot to the bedroom door, Twilight was ready to call her sister. With a deep breath while she stood at the top of the stairs, she eyed the little unicorn playing with the dragon.
"Twinkle Sparkle!" Twilight gave a stern shout. Twinkle did not respond, her eyes glued to the screen and continued to play like she did not hear anything. Twilight frowned, she could let this go and make Twinkle feel welcomed and lazy. Or she could make her chip in and help around the library to learn the aspects. "Twinkle Star Sparkle!" Twilight stamped her hoof on the hardwood.
"Yeah?" Twinkle asked, her face remained watching the screen while she played.
"Time to put the game down and clean up this mess you left in the room upstairs!" Twilight sternly commanded. "As it's also time to rearrange the books too."
Twinkle turned her head to Spike, "How often does you two rearrange books?"
Spike shifted his eyes and grunted, "Usually every three days, two days when she gets an idea for a way that she finds it easier to find books easier."
A sudden eight bit version of the death song rang through the stereo. The little unicorn sighed and put the game controller down. The little dragon did as well then stood up from his seat to stretch. The little unicorn followed the example and extended one of her fore legs out. With a little moan she thrusts out the other fore leg, then the back leg.
"Well it's been fun playing with you Spike." Twinkle smiled as she reached for the controller again to wrap the cord around it. Then placed it near the console she played earlier, Spike being an honored playmate followed by wrapping his controller as well but done in a faster pace.
"No problem. Not everyday I get to play any kind of video game around here." Spike nodded. "I'm going to get started on my chores. If you need any help with yours I'll be happy to aid."
"Neat. A buddy system." Twinkle hoped up and down approvingly. Then halted to rub her chin, "Only fair that I help you then huh?"
"It be nice." Spike shifted his shoulders. "Just for whatever occasion."
They were interrupted by the sound of the older unicorn tapped her hoof at the top of the wooden stairwell. With a nod, the two playmates separated to do their tasks. Twinkle hobbled up the stairs, unsure of what made her sister so disapprovingly upset about. She looked up to her older sister, frowning then lead her towards the mess near her bed.
"What did I do?" Twinkle asked.
"Young lady its alright to read and play with your things. But I don't quite approve of messes just scattered about like this." Twilight explained with a stern tone. "I'm sure mom and dad told you that you have to pick up your things after you're done with them."
"But I..." Twinkle tried to explain. But this was too familiar with her, every time she got into trouble she would always sink deeper if she ever questioned it. She looked around to find her things from books to art papers scattered about. The little unicorn took her time picking things up with whatever limited levitation spells she knew. After three or four attempts her magical capacity ran dry to the point she was reduced to picking things up with her mouth. With each book, game and magazine she waddled back to her beside to slide them back into one of her carrying bags.
"I'm done..." Twinkle finished zipping her bag back up.
"Alright then." Twilight uncrossed her fore legs from her disapproval. "Just letting you know that I will let that slide by telling you. I want everything in this library put back the way it was alright? Same thing goes for anything in the kitchen or downstairs."
"Are... you mad?" Twinkle asked. Her little hoof rubbed her elbow.
Twilight brought her hoof to her chest then thrust her fore leg back out after she took a deep long breath. Her frown turned into a slight smile, "I'm sorry sweaty. I'm just a bit mad over last night that my favorite book got trashed by my fellow book club members."
"Oh..." Twinkle murmured.
Twilight shook her head, "Sorry it's... it's noth..."
Just then there was a knock at the door. Whatever it saved her a difficult explanation she really wanted to tell her sister. That she was actually evaluating her sister's magical ability only to be left, a little bewildered, maybe a little still mad from the book club. Spike answered the door and greeted whoever was on the other end.
"Oh hey Rainbow Dash. Hey Scootaloo, hey Sweetie Belle and Applebloom. What brings you here?" Spike asked.
"Hey squirt." Rainbow smirked, "I'm taking the girls here to Daisy Burger. Wonder if you, Twilight and Twinkle would like to come?"
"That sounds awesome. Though I got to check if Twilight is doing anything." Spike turned his head to see Twilight making her way down the stairs then with a smaller version of her waddling behind herself.
"Oh hello Rainbow Dash and crusaders." Twilight put on a welcoming smile. "Want to check out a book?"
"Eh no." Rainbow frowned, just then Twilight did as well. "I was wondering since I'm taking the cutie mark crusaders here to the grand opening of Daisy Burger if you three would like to tag along? And after that if you guys want to get some ice cream and go to the park?"
Spike's stomach growled in response. After that, Twinkle's did as well as she sat her plot down onto the hardwood floor and felt her stomach rumble. Within an instant Twilight answered, "I'm not entirely sure Twinkle is up to going. Usually grand openings have a lot of ponies and places like those can get packed easily."
"Oh right..." Rainbow Dash just then breathed through her teeth, "I completely forgot about that." The cutie mark crusaders frowned in disappointment. Clearly they saw Twinkle in disappointment as well, like she was not having any fun. "Well... there should be room to move about in there unlike here where Pinkie packed almost every pony in existence here."
Twilight rolled her eyes, "Well that's true for the most part. But still I don't want to take those precautions of her having another panic attack."
"Come on nurse Redheart showed you the exercises just incase." Dash smirked. "Plus it's not like she is going to be alone."
"Well..." Twilight squinted one of her eyes in uncertainty. "Maybe we could go some other place to eat? Somewhere less crowded like McHoofy's Eat-In or Ray's Pizza shop?"
Rainbow Dash and the cutie mark crusaders hung their tongues out disgusted. The cyan pony spoke up, "You eat there? Pizza there tastes like it had some pony's socks on it." Twilight narrowed her eyes, annoyed that something else she liked pretty much trashed. "Okay, okay sorry... Its not like Daisy Burger is exclusive to being only indoors, I heard they got tables outside."
Twilight frowned, "Well I guess that works then. More spacious for Twinkle to breath. BUT... you got to make sure we get a table outside. And most importantly we gotta make sure the food doesn't contain certain ingredients because Twinkle isn't..."
Little did Twilight know, Twinkle was huddling on the floor behind her. Her chin resting on the hardwood floor. The fun was sucked out the trip about three days in. Twilight officially became the guarding pony that had to check whatever Twinkle ate or did. Twilight listed off things for Rainbow Dash on what Twinkle could and could not do to the point that it was making Rainbow Dash feel uneasy.
"You got to make sure there are no poppy seeds in the bread they use as well. My mom wants her to eat only wheat bread." Twilight listed, "She might have an allergic reaction to it. Also, no soda or any other drinks that have caffeine in them. Also check with the chef or waiter to see if their foods are fried with peanut oil."
Twinkle mumbled to herself, "I hate being treated like a special pony..."
"Most importantly." Twilight said while the cutie mark crusaders watch as Twinkle tries to cover her face, "Make sure you have easy access to the bathroom because Twinkle can get pretty gassy after eating... Also check the toilet paper in there because her tush can get a rash from the wrong kind of toilet paper, especially the rough kind. Oh yeah she needs to take a pill while she eats so make sure she takes this one. It helps her go to t..." Just then she heard a thumping sound, then again, and again, and again. "What's that thumping sound?"
That was the sound of Twinkle pounding the floor with her forehead repeatedly. Twilight Sparkle, the sister she barely knew was becoming like her mother, maybe... maybe even worse. Slowly she regained her balance and hobbled back up the stairs.
"Eh Twilight. Don't you think this is a bit much for a filly?" Rainbow raised an eyebrow. "I mean yeah some kids are special but..."
"And most importantly..." Twilight was about to finish. Then suddenly she heard a loud slam from upstairs.
Twinkle wasted no time throwing herself onto the bed. Face down trying to hide her face. She hated herself, she wanted to be normal and not a filly who had to have her life revolve around medication and special needs. Her back twitched up and down, again and again. She hardly made any other friends in this town yet and already her sister was showing a list to whatever pony was interested of what she can and can't do. The urge of wanting to go home was steadily growing higher. Just wanted to be in her room again and play herself stupid. Just wanted to rest her head on her mothers stomach during nap times like she used to if she ever had free time. At least then that's when her mother stopped worrying about art and let a bond happen. But snuggling up against Twilight... felt like being with her mother yet so different at the same time.
Author's Note
Is Twilight turning into a super protective sister? Well who saw that coming a mile away? Also with her being so straight with check lists its no wonder Twinkle might feel a little discouraged. Twilight is just being Twilight, though about the book thing she's trying to show Twinkle even though she's a guest and a child she needs to take some responsibility. So does that make Twinkle lazy or a slob? Well... she's a kid and they don't have the best organization skills just yet. So Is Twilight trying to act tough? Maybe. Also for the sudden check list of what Twinkle can and can't have, I probably should have mentioned this earlier with previous chapters of Twilight get another note from her parents. How she's sending these letters, well let's just go with Spike being able to send letters anywhere but not getting them back quite as fast.
If anyone has suggestions on what to do with the story for future plot ideas? Like any arguments or bonding these two can have? I can go back and redo some stuff but will have to be another time.
The story will have its ups and downs, pretty much the whole idea of the story of those two to bond and work things out. Also, concerning the finale of the third season, I might try to work it in here but who knows. There is a good chunk of people in the fandom that don't like the episode, I thought it was so-so nothing really to write home about.
That Was Quick
The small lavender unicorn threw herself onto the guest bed and landed face down. Her face pushed into the pillow as she tried to hold back her tears. It was Canterlot all over again and she barely even made a decent impression. She barely even wanted to come here in the first place in fear of Canterlot repeating itself, not at first but it slowly crept its way in there.
The train ride had her worried at first as she thought she was going to be stuck with a bunch of ponies she did not know and crammed into a corner. But luckily, her parents shelled out the extra money to put her in a cabin, though not a private one. She still had to share it with another pony who had a small filly with her. The older one was a teenager, pink and had a red mane and tail. The younger one was green with an orange mane and tail, rested her little head on the older siblings stomach. Gently petting her and letting her sleep for the rest of the train ride from Canterlot to wherever. How Twinkle envied that, to have an older sibling that could actually spend time with her, not that she could anyway all of her older siblings moved out and rarely visited. That was the whole point of the trip, well to keep her out of her parents way to be exact. Which sent a negative shake into her thoughts. Worried that no pony ever really wanted her help or even her to be around.
Still the small unicorn cried into her pillow. She hated being treated special. Not even enough room to leave her mark, her own sister already told a group of strangers that she has issues with toilet paper leaving a rash on her behind. Not only that, but a huge complex list went on as her sister listed off what she can and cannot have to make it seem like she could barely even function in everyday life without some pony to remind her.
Meanwhile downstairs...
Twilight Sparkle was going over the check list probably for the third time. While she was repeating herself, her pegasus friend; Rainbow Dash just rolled her eyes and hoped that her librarian friend would finish. Dash's insides were growling and she was dying to get a taste of their new daisy deluxe burger but for the same reason, Twilight always had to play it slow to make sure they got everything or just to waste more time. Take your pick.
The Cutie Mark Crusaders moments ago, saw that the filly they were eager to meet. Perhaps even coax to join just sat on the floor behind her bigger sister. More and more as Twilight read, Twinkle turned around without her sister's attention and walked slowly up the stairs. They knew misery when they saw it. But this was a bit different, Apple Bloom's cousin; Babs Seed acted out because she was picked on for not having a cutie mark. Though, from what they gathered. Twinkle seemed embarrassed once her sister mentioned bathroom needs. The three filles looked at each other.
"Oh... she must be one of those fillies." Scootaloo murmured.
"What kind of filly?" Sweetie Belle whispered.
'Shh... I'll tell you once we're by ourselves." Scootaloo whispered back.
"And most importantly..." Twilight read from her list.
Sad thing was, Rainbow Dash noticed this as well. She saw Twinkle waddle up the stairs slowly and closed the door behind her. There were times when Dash would think toilet talk and bathroom humor was funny, but from hearing what Twilight was reading off. It sounded unnecessary to say out loud like she did. For some reason this irked her. Either it was her conscience talking, or it was her stomach wanting food.
"Hey Twilight. Can we wrap this up?" Rainbow Dash frowned. "Because I want to get to something in my stomach before the day is over."
Twilight raised an eyebrow then frowned after she levitated the list past her own face. "Rainbow I think I really need to tell you this incase you ever do take my sister out. From reading this her whole body might not be able to take certain foods and without the proper pills she probably can't go to the bathroom."
"No offense Twilight." Rainbow Dash frowned, "But me and the fillies here just stood here for five to eight minutes of you reading that Twinkle has bathroom problems."
"Ew..." Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo turned their head.
Twilight was not pleased. "I'm just reading off what she needs."
"Did you really have to read it in front of us like that?" Dash asked. "I mean... Did you not notice that his probably makes Twinkle feel a bit... freakish?"
"What?" Twinkle crinkled the letter with her magic.
"Twilight you just read that your sister has bathroom issues to a group of ponies she does not know or at least not for very long." Dash crossed her fore legs.
"I didn't outright say she had bathroom problems!" Twilight scoffed.
Dash threw her fore legs up in defense, "No but a filly can pick up on what you meant."
"On what?" Sweetie Belle asked.
"Not now the mares are talking." Dash waved.
"I'm just telling you just incase we are ever met with a situation. Plus she has certain needs." Twilight defended, not in a foul mood but still a bit defensive.
"Okay, but could you have told me in private?" Dash frowned. "I mean, what if your sister read off a list that was too embarrassing?"
Twilight froze. Then nodded, "I guess I would not be too thrilled either, but still..."
"Twilight... did you even notice Twinkle left?" Rainbow raised an eyebrow.
Twilight gasped at the sudden thought. She stood up on all four legs and turned herself around a full three-sixty. The door to the room creaked open. A lavender unicorn poked her head through. Her violet eyes scanned the room until she found the filly on her bed. Slowly she pushed further and stepped in. A gush of worry crossed her expression.
"Twinkle?" Twilight paused. With a simple look, she found the filly with her little face pressed into her pillow. "Twinkle-Twinkle?"
The little filly did not reply. Only motion she could give was her little back rising up and down. Heaving, like she had been crying or wore herself out. The larger unicorn proceeded to the guest bed while the filly had her back facing her sister. Slower and slower Twilight made her advances. Thinking back to what Rainbow Dash told her about.
"Hey..." Twilight reached out and tapped her sister's shoulder softly. "Twinkle. Dash and the girls are waiting."
"N...not going." Twinkle mumbled.
Twilight blinked, "Not going? Why?" With a sad frown she asked, "I thought you liked Rainbow Dash."
Twinkle moaned while her cheek still rested on the pillow, "I think she's cool... but I don't think she sees me like that."
"Now... Why would you say that?" Twilight wanted to kick herself for asking that.
"Because you read off mom's list saying I can't eat good stuff without me having bathroom problems." Twinkle mumbled and let cheeks bloat.
"Twinkle..." Twilight frowned, "I think Rainbow Dash and the girls needed to know you can not have certain foods if I'm never around."
"Did you have to tell them about the toilet paper?" Twinkle groaned.
Twilight unfolded the list again, "Well mom did say you got a history of rashes. Usually on your backside."
"Ugh..." Twinkle grunted.
Twilight sighed, "I'm trying okay?"
"I know but..." Twinkle mumbled, "But why do you have to say it like that?"
"Like what?" Twilight asked.
"Saying I have a rash and I can't poop without help." Twinkle frowned.
"Er..." Twilight frowned, "I do not follow."
"Did mom ever embarrass you when you were little?" Twinkle turned over to face her sister.
"Of course n..." Twilight stopped herself, let her memories do the talking.
A young Twilight Sparkle trotted through the hallway of her home. Anxious and ready for the arrival of her grandparents. She loved them very much, always was a treat whenever they visited, but down to business, they always brought gifts after their trip from vacations. She could just feel that wrapped present in her tiny hooves. Last time her grandfather; Draco and grandmother; Lucrecia brought her a novelty chemistry set, sure it was not the legit thing. More of a novelty item used to make candy with. Oh how fun it was making your own candy and eating it.
She heard the doorbell ring. She gasped, "They're here! They're here!" The lavender filly trotted down the stairs. Eager to see her grandparents from her father's side, she loved their company. They were the coolest grandparents ever and were never boring. Unlike her mother's parents who were down right unbearable that would bore you to tears. All the children of the Sparkle were lined up from oldest to youngest; from Shining Armor to currently the youngest sibling at the time; Canis.
Orion checked his children to make sure they were ready and on their best behavior. "Alright kids, make sure to be respectful to your grandparents." Something was off, Twilight could feel it. Orion opened the door to reveal, that it was not Draco and Lucrecia at all. It was grandpa; Northern Lights and grandma; Twilight-Glimmer. The children's happy faces them fell to disappointment. How much they disliked their grandmother and felt bad for their grandfather for putting up with such a strict controlling mare. Heck she even showed up wearing her former head-mistress gifted school uniform along with a small tassle whip... for apparently misbehaving actions.
"Well hello there children." Twilight-Glimmer frowned.
"Hi grandma Twilight-Glimmer." The children greeted, not in a positive fashion.
"Now children." A heavy pregnant Twilight Velvet stood beside her parents. "Your grandparents do not visit often..." Then she mumbled, "Thank goodness too..."
"What was that Twilight-Velvet?" Twilight-Glimmer turned her head.
"Nothing mother." Twilight-Velvet panicked then slipped back into place. Her bulging pregnant belly stuck out to her mother's attention.
"Good." Twilight-Glimmer grinned. "Now your grandfather has some good news and some bad news..."
"Uh oh. Good news first." Orion tried to make conversation, but then backed down once Glimmer eyed him.
"Go ahead dear." Glimmer patted the grey unicorn stallion on the back.
"I bought an ostrich farm." Norther Lights smiled. "I would like for all of you to come see it sometime in the summer."
"Oh boy an ostrich farm!" Twilight bounced, "I've been reading about those. They're really big birds taller than horses." However, young Twilight stopped bouncing once her grandmother locked her eyes onto her. She coward back.
"Tell them the bad news." Glimmer frowned.
"Apparently the ostrich farm was next to a coyote farm." Northern Lights sadly added.
"So how does this relate to mom embarrassing you?" Twinkle asked.
"Oh wait... Sorry." Twilight blushed, "Long story short; I was... well... still wetting the bed at the time and mom told grandma Glimmer. So she made me wear a diaper while I was there at the farm because she did not want me ruining the sheets. Because Glimmer would... well... make me wash it and I had no idea how to do laundry."
"Mom does not like grandma too much huh?" Twinkle asked.
"Nope. Made mom cry on some occasions." Twilight frowned.
"So... She would have killed me if I ruined that towel back at the museum?" Twinkle asked again.
"Oh Glimmer would have killed you and sent your body to the moon. Mom just... well sent you here." Twilight brought up.
Twinkle let her chin lay on the pillow as she sighed, "She was mad. I could tell."
"She was frustrated, but could you blame her?" Twilight asked. "It's a hard to find item."
"I know..." Twinkle sighed.
"Are you still feeling up to getting lunch with Rainbow Dash and the girls?" The older sister asked.
"I don't know." Twinkle frowned sadly again.
"They really want to get to know you. They came all the way here so you can be part of their group." Twilight added., "Plus, you could make fast friends this way and show off your... um... gaming skills at the arcade there."
*WOOSH*
"Twinkle?" Twilight blinked, in the spot where the little filly was sitting was now vacant. Twilight then turned her head to see the door swinging on its hinges. "Well.. Crisis averted... Barely" Her stomach rumbled, "I could go for a Daisy burger myself."
Author's Note
Yeah just more problems arise for Twinkle.
Also the whole ostrich farm joke should be obvious to some 70's Show fans