Velvet’s voice was deceptively calm.

“Twilight, dear, we would like your opinion on something…”

Twilight swallowed a lump of anxiety that was rapidly rising.

“Yes?”

Celestia smiled reassuringly. “Satin would like to make you an offer, a once in a lifetime opportunity.”

Satin cleared her throat. “Twilight, it’s clear you have a gift for magic. You’ve exceeded my expectations long before I even thought about setting them. I think you should come on a journey with me. Learn new magic and become an Archmage.”

“Uhh…”

“You don’t have to give a response straightaway,” Velvet cut in, glaring at Satin. “Not until you’ve heard what I have to say.” She smiled sweetly. “My dearest daughter. Why don’t you consider settling down? I might not have been clear enough in the letter, but you’ve certainly grown into a bold, strong mare, and you’ve achieved a lot that you and I can be proud of.”

Twilight flushed at the public praise. “Thanks, Mom.”

Velvet waggled a hoof. “I think the next step is to create a family of your own.”

“Okay—” Then it sunk in. “Wait, what?”

“Think about it, Twilight!” Velvet continued. “You need to consider the future! You’ve achieved a lot, but maybe settling down should be on the table. There are some great stallions—”

“What!”

“Or mares, if that’s what you prefer—”

“What?!”

“You can adopt, I’m not fussy. There are wonders of medical treatments. You can certainly have a foal—”

“WHAT?!”

‘Oh Twilight, you don’t need to be such a drama queen about it. Motherhood is great! Imagine a family of your own! Look how happy Shining and Cadance are!”

“I-I—”

“Oh quiet you,” Satin cut in. “Twilight doesn’t need the pressure, poor mare.”

Twilight sighed in relief. But Satin continued.

“She’s got a lot on her mind to think about. Family is a decision you can make later, but being Archmage, that’s a decision you can make now.”

“Uhm, what does being an Archmage involve?” Twilight asked tentatively.

“Oh travel around the globe. Adventure—”

“Yes!” Rainbow cheered.

“Great knowledge and power for good—”

Celestia smiled as Luna frowned.

“The freedom to pursue your own interests and passions at your own leisure—”

Fluttershy tilted her head at that.

Twilight considered all this. It was tempting.

“You mentioned a journey. Last time you were back…”

Satin chuckled. “Oh right, I forgot to mention. With all the travelling you have to do, there’s no time to come home.”

“But my friends—”

“You make new ones.”

“My family—”

“You’ll see them eventually. They’re not going anywhere.”

“Being Princess—”

“Being Archmage will allow you to be a great force of good in this world,” Celestia answered for Satin. Satin, for her part, nodded sagely.

“But you won’t be seeing your friends and family here!” Velvet exclaimed, injecting herself back into the conversation. “I think that Twilight should stay where her family is. There’s no rush. Time enough to make her own.”

“Easy for you to say,” Satin shot back, “what about the good work she can do? Not anypony can be an Archmage. Especially when the predecessor quit halfway through!”

Velvet sucked in a shocked breath. “You bring that up now?! What about all the times you’ve been on journey, leaving Dad and I by ourselves!”

“I can’t help it, there was—”

“An emergency! There’s always an emergency! See, this is what happens when you’re the Archmage. No time for family!” Velvet turned in Twilight’s direction, but her words were aimed at Satin.

Satin went red. “I have to think about other ponies too! Being an Archmage is about hard work and perseverance. Putting the good of other ponies above yourself!”

“What would you know, you were barely a mother! I worked hard to raise a daughter that was brought up in the right environment. With friends and family for support! I did everything!”

“Friends, huh? You must have been amazing, because she certainly had many during school!” Satin shot out, sarcasm practically dripping from the words.

“Grandma!” Twilight blurted, shocked.

Velvet narrowed her eyes dangerously. “You wouldn’t know a thing about that, unless you were sneaking around when Twilight was growing up! You didn’t visit me? Your own daughter? You’re a poor excuse for a mother.”

“Mom!” Twilight could feel tears gathering at the corners of her eyes.

“As far as I’m concerned, my daughter stopped being mine when she refused to continue her journey.”

Frosty silence followed as mother and daughter glared at each other with seething rage.

Twilight was the first to break it.

“I don’t want either.”

Satin and Velvet turned to Twilight in shock.

“But Twilight—”

“Twilight, honey—”

“No!” Twilight shouted. Then she took a deep breath and spoke again, in a softer tone. “No. Both of you, I’m… I don’t want to see you both until you’ve sorted out everything.”

“But Twilight, we were only thinking about you—”

“Don’t give me that!” Twilight snapped. Again, she took another breath to steady herself before ploughing on. “You’ve both used me like a tool for a fight between you two. Worse, you dragged my friends and the Princesses, some of the closest ponies to me, into that fight.”

She stared at Satin. “Is this how an Archmage operates?”

Satin shifted her gaze to the floor.

Twilight turned to Velvet. “Is this how my Mom would want to celebrate a reunion?”

Velvet joined Satin in staring at their hooves.

Twilight felt the anger cascade out, leaving her weak and exhausted. She blinked away a couple of tears. To think, the most she was worried about was some embarrassing antics at dinner, not a out-of-proportion feud.

“I will give you two some time alone. Come on girls, Princesses, let salvage some of the day back.”

——————

Apple Bloom had wandered around Ponyville asking around, but couldn’t find hide or hair of Twilight.

“Drat,” she muttered, making her way back to the castle. “Where’d she go?”

It was difficult to find an alicorn that could teleport.

Apple Bloom met Spike in the foyer as he was coming down the stairs.

“Spike! Have you seen Twilight?”

“Apple Bloom? What are you doing here?”

“Ah came with Applejack, something about Twilight’s reunion. She thought she’d be with you.”

“Oh, well, Twilight came in with Celestia and went to put back that book on complex barriers. She was going to join the Princesses once they made it to the room. I was just finishing up something with Princess Luna.”

Apple Bloom drooped. “Aw fiddlesticks, so Ah looked around for nothing?”

Spike patted her on the head, trying to think of a way to cheer her up.

“Hey, want to see something cool?”

Apple Bloom perked up. “What is it?”

“A literal hoard of gems.”

Apple Bloom’s eyes sparkled. “Sooooo like treasure?”

Spike grinned. “Yep. Want to take a look?”

“Yeah!”

They raced upstairs and into the room. A finely dressed pony was in the midst of shovelling the gems and jewellery in the bag. He froze as they spotted him.

“Toodles!” he sang out, burning a pony-sized hole in the floor with his horn.

“Who the hay was that?” Apple Bloom cried.

“Never mind that, the Princess is going to kill me if we don’t stop him! How in the world did he get in?!”

——————

The silence was unbearable.

Neither had said anything when Twilight had stalked off with the Princesses and her friends. The room was empty save for the two of them and a table set for seven. Velvet and Satin found something interesting to look at in the floor.

“Look—” Satin began, then the ceiling fell in.

“Ahahahaha!” A unicorn cackled as he dragged a bag in his telekinetic grip.

Velvet and Satin stared in shock as he burst out through the door.

Spike and Apple Bloom poked their heads through the hole.

“Get him!” he yelled. “They stole the Princesses’ gems!”

Velvet and Satin sprung into action.

“Teleport!”

“Right!”

They both flashed outside, where the brown-coated stallion stumbled to a stop and darted around the pair.

“Haha, try again!”

Velvet narrowed her eyes. “How dare you steal from my daughter’s castle!”

“Your daughter must be stupid to leave a bunch of gems just lying about!” The pony stuck out a tongue as he galloped around the corner.

“Stupid?!” Satin growled. “That does it, I’m going to flatten that pony.”

“Agreed,” Velvet said with murderous intent. “He’s the halfwit to pick a fight with a mother and her daughter.”

“Launch me!” Velvet said, and instantly she was in the air, flung by Satin’s magic as she catapulted her above the houses. Velvet spotted the thief and threw a spell at him. He stumbled slightly, but kept running.

“Hah!” he called back. “Didn’t hurt at all!”

Velvet cushioned her fall with a hasty shield, glad she still remembered some of her training. Then she teleported.

Satin was already there, binding the pony’s arms and legs with an elegant restraining spell.

“Nice work with the tracer… daughter.”

“Thank you… mother.”

“I would have gotten away with it if it hadn’t been for you meddling ponies!”

“Oh shut up,” Satin said, gagging the pony.

“Aw yeah! You caught them!” Spike waddled up with Apple Bloom, followed by a contingent of guards.

“Good thinking, Spike,” Velvet said.

“Yeah, he said we’d need them,” Apple Bloom said with a smile. Her expression turned serious. “We should get all the gems back and leave the guards there so it won’t happen again.”

“Nice one, Apple Bloom,” he said, “you’re thinking like Twilight.”

Spike gestured to the guards and they picked up the struggling pony and the rest of the gems between them. Spike and Apple Bloom followed the contingent, chattering excitedly between them.

“Spike has really grown up, hasn’t he?” Satin remarked.

Velvet nodded. “I guess Twilight did a great job in raising him. I guess she doesn’t need any help from me with her foals.”

Satin snorted. “Are you kidding? She’ll need all the help she can get, especially with a dysfunctional mother’s side like ours.”

There was a pause between them.

Velvet bit her lip. “We better get to Twilight.”

“Hold it.” Satin reached out and touched Velvet’s shoulder. “I’m sorry I brought it up again. The journey, I mean. When you told me you were quitting halfway it killed me at the time. I thought you were throwing away five years of work and abandoning all the ponies in need… Every time I think back on it, I blamed you, then I hated myself for blaming you, because I should really be blaming myself. When I realised how much time had passed, I found it hard to see you again.”

Velvet bit back a caustic remark and instead shook her head. “Not after so many years?”

Satin hung her head. “It was hard the first day, then a little easier the second, then the third, a week… a month, then years. I just put my full effort into my job. Fighting, that’s what I do. When I fight, though, I think about how I’m protecting you.” She sighed despondently. “But now I know how weak and shallow that excuse was.”

Velvet felt a prickling sense of shame wash over her. “It’s not weak,” she muttered in a small voice. “I’m sorry I said all those things about you. You’re right. I couldn’t handle it. It broke me too, I wanted to make you proud.”

“Oh Velvet, you’ve always made me proud. When I see Twilight, see how happy she is, it reminds me how sad you looked when I left. I always thought that Twilight would never be sad, at least, not like that because you’d always be around. You’ve always been so gifted in dealing with other ponies.”

“You’ve always had a good eye for bringing out the best potential out of somepony. It was your idea to try and enrol Twilight into Celestia’s School.” She swallowed. “You’re right though, I saw Twilight consume herself in studies, if it weren’t for Celestia’s intervention, I’m afraid Twilight wouldn’t have made any friends. You probably would have made that happen.”

“I guess we’re both getting good at regretting decisions.”

“I’m sorry, Mom.”

“I’m sorry too, Velvet.”

“There you are!”

A purple blur swooped low and landed next to the surprised pair.

“I forgot she could fly,” Velvet murmured.

“Tell me about it. She was a unicorn not long ago.”

Twilight glanced between them. “I’ve been looking all over for you two! You weren’t at the castle, I was getting worried!”

Velvet and Satin both crushed Twilight in a hug.

“Oh, I’m so, so sorry!” Velvet cried.

“Me too,” Satin mumbled into Twilight’s mane. “I’ve been so horrible to you.”

“Urk—uhhh…” Twilight awkwardly wrapped her hooves around them both. “It’s alright,” she mumbled back, somewhat embarrassed. “I said some bad things and I’ve made some pretty horrible mistakes today as well. I guess family makes me crazy, but I can’t have a party without my Mom and Grandma.”

Velvet pulled away. “A party, sweetie?”

Twilight nodded. “Dad, Shining and Cadance organised with the Cakes to have a party at Sugarcube Corner, they thought it would be a good idea to have backup arrangements, in case something went wrong in the castle.” Twilight frowned. “They were worried it’d be a smoking crater or something by now, but that would be ridiculous.”

Velvet and Satin chuckled nervously. Maybe they shouldn’t tell her the story of how Peacock Plains became the Burning Barren Wastes in a day.

Twilight smiled.

“Come on, the whole family’s waiting.”

————————

The party was filled with the sounds of animated conversation, laughs, shouting and carousing. Ponies gathered around talking about the last half a year and catching up on the all the gossip and history in the time they hadn’t seen one another. Even the pets were having a party in the corner, with Minnie being introduced to Opalescence, Angel, Winona and Tank, who had all come along. Spike and the Cutie Mark Crusaders were camped in the other corner, playing cards and besting each other in various party games that Pinkie had brought along, or made up.

Twilight drifted between each party member, giggling and guffawing and groaning at the myriad of jokes, stories and anecdotes. Especially the anecdotes, those never seemed to end, and they were all about her.

“Hey Twilight!” It was Applejack, looking slightly red, as if she were embarrassed about something. As Twilight approached, Applejack cleared her throat and continued, after a slight hesitation. “Ah’d like to apologise. It was my idea to round up our friends to join in and we butted into your family’s business. It was none of my business to come poking around, especially all nosey-like between your ma and granny.”

Rarity caught the conversation and dropped by. “Yes, well, I’d like to add my apologies as well, Twilight. You weren’t there, but we got carried away picking and choosing for you without really asking you for your opinion.”

“There’s no need,” Twilight replied with a smile.

“But—”

“But nothing, you all had my best interests at heart, and you’ve learned your lesson, right? It’s a party, we should enjoy ourselves.”

Applejack’s smile came easier. “Thanks, Twi’.”

“Thank you, Twilight,” Rarity added with her own demure smile. “By the way, who’s at the door?”

Twilight whipped around to the door and almost did a double-take.

“Moondancer?!”

The pony stood awkwardly, half-leaning on the door frame.

“Hi, I’m not too late am I? I started reading then lost track of time.” She coughed politely. “I didn’t know if I should come, because it said it was a family gathering…”

“Of course you can come! Come in!” Twilight ushered her in. “All my friends are pretty much my family.”

Moondancer took a cup of punch and settled in. “Did I miss anything?”

Twilight skipped a step, but then shook her head with a self-conscious laugh.

“No, everything is fine.”

————————

“Come on, get a move on!” The guard spoke roughly.

The unicorn rolled his eyes, the sclera flashing momentarily yellow.

“How about no?” he snarked, before simply disappearing before their eyes.

“What?” The guard cast around. “Didn’t he have an inhibitor on?”

“Yeah,” the other one said, “oh we’re in so much trouble! Find him!”

Discord watched the two guards milling about, chuckling to himself.

“Well, I hoped that helped, Twilight.” He spared a quick glance in the direction of Sugarcube Corner, then sighed and shook his head. With a quick snap he was back home, in an empty cottage.

“It’s good to have a family…”

Author's Notes:

Well it ended on a somewhat poignant note, but I think all endings are complex.

Next Chapter: Family Business

As always, my familiar readers, thanks for reading!

P.S. If you're new to my fics, I always put a 'Next Chapter' for somewhat romantic reasons. This is the end of this fic, sorry!