Rediscovery

Disclaimer: I do not own My Little Pony, nor am I profiting off this literary venture.

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Twilight Velvet was enjoying a quiet night alone with a book.

Her husband was restocking the shop and her daughter was off on a date with a cute football player. Every now and again she'd get a letter from her son, explaining how he was doing in the military, going through basic training.

She couldn't express how proud she was of him, joining the national guard.

She'd expected to get through a decent portion of her book before either her husband or daughter got home.

Not to be a dozen pages in when she heard the front door open.

She sighed and closed her book, getting up from her chair before the dark television set to see who'd come home.

"Twilight? What happened?!" Her daughter was standing in the doorway, talking to someone outside.

And she looked a mess! Her eyes were puffy and red, her uniform crinkled and stained and filthy, and her hair! It was unkempt and half out of the bun she kept it in.

"Just come on in, I want my mom to meet- Oh, hey mom!" But she was smiling, so bright and honestly!

Twilight barely ever smiled anymore.

Velvet knew that, she'd been told what to expect. She just hadn't known what to do, what to say.

And trying to treat her brilliant, brilliant daughter like a normal teenage girl often just made things worse.

"Err, hi?" The boy that followed her daughter through the doorway looked nothing like she'd been expecting. He wasn't tall or muscular, he didn't have the cocky, self assured confidence of a football player.

Instead he was half-starved and shorter than her daughter!

"I'm Spike." He held his hand out to her. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Oh... It's nice to meet you, too." She shook his hand and looked him over again, her gaze more critical than before. "Twilight, why don't you go on upstairs and get cleaned up."

It wasn't a request.

Still, Twilight flashed another smile at Spike and ran upstairs, the commotion setting Garble off to barking as usual.

"Alright young man, let's go on and get something to drink fixed up, hmm?" She was going to get to the bottom of this, mark her words.

He followed her into the kitchen nervously, his footsteps soft and he was glancing at her furtively the entire time.

Good.

"What would you like to drink? We've got soda, some apple juice?"

"Just some water, please." He was fidgeting by the doorway, one eye glancing around the kitchen.

She wondered how bad it looked under the eyepatch, but she knew when to draw the line between demanding and rude.

She could feel the subtle vibrations through the sink as she poured him a drink.

Twilight was taking a shower then.

Even better.

"So." She handed him the cup, a plastic one with some novelty cartoon mouse printed on it. "What happened to my daughter?"

"I wasn't there, I just know what she told me." He set the full cup down on a nearby counter. He hadn't been thirsty to begin with and the way the atmosphere shifted? He felt like he was in front of an angry dragon. Again. "Pristine Shield didn't want to date her, he just wanted her to do his work for him."

He met her gaze for a moment before looking down and clearing his throat.

"He said some nasty things to her and she took off. Ran me over while I was walking home. I barely had time to recognize her before she was out of sight and I followed. She was half hiding in an alley and crying when I found her so I-" Spike inhaled slowly, putting his thoughts together. "I sat down with her and let her cry on me. When she'd cried out the worst of it she said she wanted to go home, so I walked her home and that's how I got here and-"

She put her hand on his shoulder and squeezed gently, offering him a small smile when he looked up.

"Thank you, Spike." She wasn't sure what she was expecting, but this hadn't been it. Rejection in one form or another, certainly. This particular nightmare? Not so much.

"For what? She needed someone there and I wasn't just going to leave her alone like... Like that." He knew how it felt to cry alone until you just couldn't anymore. He'd done that more often than he was ever going to admit.

"For that. Garble is getting old and I can't be there for her all the time. For being a decent person where there aren't many left." She thought he looked absolutely adorable with a blush all the way across his face.

There was a squeak from upstairs, the shower was turned off.

"You'd best drink up, Twilight will be down in a minute I'm sure." She handed his cup back to him and turned around to get herself something from the fridge.

"Why is she here?" His voice was quiet, she couldn't tell if he was just thinking aloud or asking her something.

"Pardon? Why is who here?" She grabbed hold of the apple juice. Nearly empty, she'd have to pick up more.

Or have her husband do it.

"Why is Twilight at Crystal Prep? Wouldn't... Wouldn't Canterlot High have been better for her?" It was a good thing he didn't sound accusing, else this old argument would have turned from her husband on to him.

"It's what she wanted. Crystal Preparatory Academy is the fast track here in Canterlot for college bound students. Don't tell her I said this-" She caught sight of her daughter's feet lingering on the stairs outside the kitchen and grinned. "-but she really wants to take after her brother. He made the Deans List, one of the top performing students in his year."

Her daughter was just coming down the stairs.

Perfect.

"Now what's that nickname she gave poor Shining...? Oh right, she used to call him her BBBFF I-"

"Mom!" Twilight nearly bowled Spike over as she rushed into the room, too late to spare herself the embarrassment.

"I'm sorry, Twilight." She certainly didn't sound like it. "But how often do I get to embarrass you in front of your friends."

Velvet smiled as her daughter sputtered, glancing between herself and Spike and blushing.

And Spike avoiding Twilight's gaze and blushing himself.

Now this was just too cute.

"It's a Mother's prerogative, after all."