On arrival to the city, Fast landed near the edge and slipped out of sight. She returned to them, her dull off-red color, her natural color, as Silver remembered. She was a unicorn with no extra parts or frills, like the other two of them. The trio of unicorns trotted along in a loose bundle through the streets, blending in quite well in the unicorn-dominated city of Canterlot.

Silver let his vision sweep idly over the other ponies milling about. He spotted a pony that was familiar, with blue coat and an hourglass on her flank. What was her name? Colgate? There wasn't time to consider on it heavily as they walked past where the pony was standing and on to others.

Fast leaned in towards the other two. "The hive's not in the best part of town. We only had so much money to work with, and the richer ponies were feeling generous enough to let us be here at all, but not right on top of them, so we got what we got and made it work."

Luna nodded. "We see. You got them in quite the giving mood. Having a changeling hive at all in Canterlot was quite the achievement."

Silver looked around as the buildings became less immaculate as they went. It was like the opposite, when he was a she, walking out of the slums. He licked over his lips. Was it a dream, a vision? What could it fall under. "I think I've been on this street before."

There they were. Or at least, there he was. Tumble's father was reclined on a swinging couch on his porch, watching the world go by. As Silver spotted him, he was spotted, and their eyes met with mutual disbelief. In the vision, they were gone, but clearly at least one of his parents were still around in this reality.

"It's you!" He hopped down from his couch. "The pony that couldn't leave well enough alone!"

"Who are you talking about?" asked a voice from inside the ramshackle house. The door creaked open, allowing Tumble's mother free. "Oh, isn't that him?" She glared at Silver. "The one that took our son away and taught him to raise tail for other stallions."

Fast snorted at them. "Trot off. We're busy."

Silver raised a hoof. "No, I..."

"You'll make some damn time for me." The stallion approached with a limp in his front right leg. "Where do you get off, taking away our only son like that? Corrupting his soft little head?"

Silver rose as tall as his teenaged unicorn body allowed. "Your son is a captain of the royal guard, serving faithfully as a respected and valued member of the community."

Tumble's father slammed a hoof down into the dirt, making a divot in the shape of his hoof. "Don't feed me a bunch of cow dung and call it chocolate. What corner did you abandon him on?" He raised a hoof as if to strike, but Luna was there, placing a hoof against the arm and immobilizing it as she shook her head. "Who are you? Let go of me!"

Luna did release him, stepping half a step back. "Silver wishes to speak to you, do so, but attempt to lay a hoof on him again and I will not hold myself back."

"That goes double for me!" Fast was bristled up and ready to scrap.

Silver nodded at them. "I'm sorry, they're defensive, but I do want to talk to you." He sat on his haunches lightly. "Tumble is one of my best friends. I know, without a doubt, he is a wonderful pony." Silver reached out a hoof. "Why are you so convinced he isn't?"

His wife came up beside him. "What kind of 'wonderful pony' makes friends with the same ponies that attack his parents? What kind of 'wonderful pony' abandons his parents to run off and wave his rump at any stallion that so much as look at him? It's shameful is what it is, and you should be ashamed just talking about him!"

Tumble's father pointed a hoof at Silver but didn't try to wield it. "Exactly right. Boy ran off the moment he could and didn't look back."

Silver nodded. "That's true. He did. There was a reason for that. He loved you very much, but you didn't show it back."

"Show it?" they both echoed.

The father frowned. "I put a roof over his head and paid the rent to let him go to a nice school right here in Canterlot. What's a stallion gotta do to 'show' his love for an ungrateful little moron?"

Mother Tumble nodded firmly. "I made him three meals a day and helped him with his homework."

Fast rolled her eyes. "You drove his car off the edge of the city."

They shared a glare at Fast before Father Tumble coughed softly. "It's a terrible thing, those cars. They have no place in polite society!"

"And I bet you told him that." Silver sighed softly. "You told him that even when his mark was brightly emblazed, speaking of his purpose and attraction to those same cars. He needed your support, but you told him his very purpose was evil and terrible."

Father Tumble shrank back a little, not as quick to retort. Mother Tumble scowled. "So?"

"So... Your son is still your son. If you were willing to put aside the things you personally don't agree with, and just go to him, he would be so happy."

Father Tumble looked at Silver, pawing at the ground. "But... he hates us..."

Silver smiled gently. "No. He wants to love you, both of you. Please, give him a reason to again."

Mother Tumble stomped the ground, making a print beside Father Tumble's mark. "How do you expect us to do that? You said Ponyville? Like we're gonna afford a ride to Ponyville!"

Luna glanced at Silver, then her horn glowed, drawing out a small bag from somewhere and a few coins from there. "Here. Go and visit your son, if you can do it with an open mind. He is a proud member of the national army, and serves its only alicorn prince with distinction. Seek Twilight Sparkle's castle, it's difficult to miss."

Father Tumble snatched the coins out of the air, breathing heavily and looking uncertain a moment before he fled into the house without a single other word. Mother Tumble snorted loudly. "After all this time... He probably doesn't even remember us." She glared at Silver. "Why aren't you angry with us?"

Fast rolled her eyes. "Oh Celestia. Silver doesn't do that. Go on, hug him."

"What?"

Silver recoiled a little, but Mother Tumble went ahead and dared it. Soon he was being embraced by the older female in a crushingly powerful hug that only earth ponies could deliver properly. She let him flop to the ground before she trotted back inside.

Luna offered a hoof to help Silver to his own hooves. "That was good of you."

Silver shook out the new kinks with a chorus of popping joints. "It felt like the right thing to do. I hope the meeting goes well."

Fast pointed at the house. "This was before my time, right?"

Silver nodded at Fast. "It was when I met Night, and when little Luna was still with me." He looked to Luna. "I still miss her, at times, but then I remember you're here."

Luna smiled gently. "I am not her, nor was she me, but I do carry a part of her with me." She set a hoof at her chest. "We both love you. Come, let us see this matter dealt with."

As one, they all turned back down the road and continued on.

Author's Notes:

I didn't plan on this when I first started this chapter. I thought they'd be at the hive already. Is it a typo? I can deal with this kind of typo.