Starlight sat down across from Angel and threw her head back after she returned from the bathroom lamenting at her situation once more. The two girls sat in front of a meat covered pizza at Lucky’s Pizzeria; one of their most coveted pizza parlors in all of Sacramento. It was a relief to be home after all the traveling they had done in the past few weeks, chasing down leads to solve their magical mystery.

“I can’t believe it... I’m getting closer to thirty and I still don’t have a steady boyfriend. How is this my life? I’m attractive enough, aren’t I?” Starlight asked as she looked over at Angel from the corner of her eye, feeling a bit envious.

While Angel was built tall and lanky, she was just naturally cute. The girl didn’t have to put any effort into making herself attractive, it wasn’t fair. Sitting there in her white thin strapped dress with her exposed shoulders and fabric flowers decorating the straps that held the piece up, she was absolutely delectable. Any guy would pay money to have a minute with her.

Starlight guessed she was probably as tight as an eight-year-old down there too, given everything else about her screamed “perfection”. She was small chested, but you could see her curved breasts just fine in her outfits, somehow making her lack of cleavage or large breasts really work for her. Starlight had never seen her friend naked, despite living together for years, but it wasn’t mutual. Starlight was pretty open about her nudity around the apartment, but Angel often just covered her eyes or looked away.

While Starlight was certain she was completely straight, she wasn’t always sure about Angel. The girl never really showed any desire either way for men or women. Perhaps she was one of those “asexuals” that Starlight had heard about from time to time.

Her eyes scanned the girl’s blue hair that draped down her back and if she stood up reached her butt even when it was tied in the two pigtails that she had. Her hair had been growing quite a bit over the years, and this was the longest that Starlight had ever seen it.

Angel giggled and placed a delicate porcelain colored hand to her lips as she did. Even the way she giggled was adorable, it wasn’t fair.

“You’ve still got a decent way to go until thirty, Starlight,” Angel reminded with a finger lifted in the air.

She had a point there, thankfully. Starlight had just turned twenty-four, very much in her youth still and sexual prime, even if she felt that prime was being wasted with long dry spells.

“Yeah, but instead of getting laid on my birthday I’m spending it sitting here with you.” Starlight frowned and rested her head on the table in defeat.

“Is sex really that much better than my company?” Angel asked, her voice not seeming to show any kind of sadness about the comment, but instead genuine curiosity.

Starlight was going to instantly say “yes”, but she considered the question for a bit, and chewed her thoughts. “Well... Not always. I mean you rock, Angel, but orgasms are pretty hard to beat.”

“Why must we always find a way to end up talking about sex?” Angel rolled her eyes.

“Hey, it’s my birthday, so we talk about what I want!” Starlight protested.

Angel conceded that point and just rolled her eyes again, realizing there likely was no real counter-argument that she could make to change the conversation.

“How about we just celebrate that we’ve been friends for so long?” Angel asked.

A smile came to the young half-Asian girl as she sat up and nodded, picking up a cup of soda and holding it out to her fairer-skinned friend. “That is something I can drink to.”

Copying Starlight’s actions, Angel lifted her glass and tapped it to Starlight’s. “To us.” She said.

Starlight nodded in agreement. “To us, the best friends on the face of the planet!”

“Let’s not oversell it.” Angel chuckled.

Sipping from her soda, Starlight mad an audible “ah” before setting the glass down and looked over at her friend once more. “So, any leads on Rainbow Dash? I know it’s been a while since that dream about her...”

Angel’s face turned more serious as she nodded. She had dug up quite a treasure trove of information about the girl since the dream she had had. It took some time, but a good eight days after they had returned from a search in Kentucky for more information had turned up quite a bit.

The search in Kentucky ended up being a bust, but the online research ended up being a solid win.

“I’m pretty sure we’re close. I was able to hunt down Applejack’s facebook, and she was friends with a girl named Rainbow Dash, she looked similar to the girl in the dream, so I’m pretty sure it’s the same one,” Angel explained.

Starlight gave a confident thumbs up. “That’s awesome, so what else did you find out?”

Angel frowned and shook her head. “Her profile was private, so I couldn’t find out much about her, all I could tell was from a comment on a public photo of Applejack’s by her. It’s the only way I could even tell it was her, but going to her profile didn’t seem to get me anywhere.”

Starlight shook her head. “Actually, this is pretty important info, really...”

“How so?” Angel’s brow raised at Starlight’s suggestion.

“Think about it, it’s pretty clear that all of these girls know each other. I’m willing to bet if we study their group, we will find what we’re looking for,” Starlight explained.

Her logic made sense. “There is something else...” Angel added.

“What is it?” Starlight leaned in with intrigue.

“I think... Well, I get this feeling that we are going to reach a point where we have to meet these girls in person, you know?” Angel pointed out.

Starlight bit her lip and sat back. She actually had been considering that herself the longer this went on. At this point, it had been years since this all began, but she, like her friend Angel felt compelled to see it through, though she wasn’t sure why. The fact that both of them could perform magic might have played a role in it. It wasn’t an ability that Starlight could make herself ignore so easily.

“Yeah... You may be right, that’s been on my mind for a while too...” Starlight replied quietly.

“What would we even say to them? We can’t exactly just tell them some weird visions that I’ve had lead me to them, or that magical people who attacked us in an old abandoned house compelled us to seek them out... They’d think we’re crazy...” Angel frowned.

Starlight shook her head in disagreement. “Maybe not.”

“How do you figure?” Angel’s brow raised once more.

“Considering all we know, and all that’s happened... I’m willing to bet that these girls know about magic too, and maybe even about the visions we’ve both had... I mean at first it was just you, but now it’s been happening to me too. One person, sure that’s easily explained as a weird coincidence, but now two? My money is on these girls knowing about magic too.” Starlight placed her fist in her palm as she made her deduction.

Angel couldn’t deny that such a deduction made sense. It all fit together so perfectly. These girls had to have some kind of knowledge about magic, but they needed some kind of proof. Furthermore, they needed a reason to approach them. Angel didn’t want to get too close until she was certain it was safe and that they were going on the right hunches. It would take some time, but it was worth waiting if it meant they could get complete answers to some of their questions.

“I guess that all makes sense, but we should wait until we have more information and finish chasing other leads before we approach them. There’s no telling how much they know, or if it’s even safe for use to get close.” Angel nodded.

Starlight concurred. “True, I mean for all we know they could want to hoard magic all to themselves and take out anyone else who uses it.”

“That seems a little extreme don’t you think?” Angel gasped.

Starlight shrugged as she sipped from her cup and reached for a slice of food. With her mouth full she spoke, swallowing mid-sentence. “Could explain why we don’t see magic users all over the place, right? I mean think about it, if random people like you or me can get magic, why don’t we see it more often? Why is it a big secret? Someone has to be keeping the word from getting out, right? The easiest way would be to take anyone out who had magic, right?”

Angel didn’t like the sound of that. “What if they just removed magic from people instead of killing them?”

Starlight shook her head. “Then how do they keep them from talking?”

“Magic?” Angel shrugged.

Starlight disagreed once more. “Nah, doesn’t make sense. A lot of extra work for no real benefit. Killing them keeps them quiet indefinitely...”

“Assuming what you’re saying is true... Wouldn’t killing people leave behind all kinds of police investigation that would be done? That sort of draws more attention to the situation...” Angel pointed out.

Starlight admitted that it was a hole in her theory. She leaned back and nodded. “Alright, you got me there, I guess it doesn’t make much sense. Still, we shouldn’t really get too close at this point.”

That was a point they both agreed upon.

“We’ll take as long as we need to make sure we do this right, okay?” Starlight said.

Angel nodded and smiled as she offered her delicate hand to her friend. Starlight took it and squeezed with a nod as well. “We’re in this together, now.”

“You got that right.” Angel giggled.

Fluttershy arrived in her living room sporting an elegant green floral print kimono before sitting down across from her wife who was flipping through some documents, a pencil in her maw that she was chewing as she kept her legs tucked under the kotatsu in front of her. She wasn’t exactly dressed very immaculately, sporting a tank top and what appeared to be booty shorts.

Her impressive muscular physique was easy to see with her wardrobe choice and made the fairer of the two maidens blush upon seeing it, taking note of every single tender that moved when Rainbow moved her strong biceps. The army had made Rainbow far tougher and stronger than she had ever been, it had pushed her to her very limit, and now she was a force to be reckoned with. In the past, she was always able to beat Applejack in competitions of speed, but when it came to brute strength, the farmer had always bested her.

Now though, with her newfound muscles, Rainbow Dash could likely go head to head with the farmer in an arm wrestling contest with no worries. Fluttershy couldn’t be certain that she’d win, but she knew she’d give old Applejack a run for her money and a story to tell. It was interesting how seriously Rainbow took her physical fitness even before the army, but now she was a regular exercise addict. Two hours a day without fail, Rainbow was at the gym, and then did her PT at the start of the day.

Anyone who saw her would never have guessed she mothered two twin boys. She didn’t seem the type, but instead of making her more feminine, Rainbow took mothering two kids as a macho bragging right. She would go on and on about how she was so tough she went through the pain twice consecutively. The girl even went so far as to claim she probably could have done them both at the same time, that was how good she was.

Whenever the topic came up, Fluttershy just rolled her eyes and let her wife have her moment. There was no stopping Rainbow when she was on a macho trip.

Watching her examine her documents, Fluttershy noted how her hair had been tied up in a messy bun with another pencil stuck in it.

As Fluttershy sat down, she slid her legs under the tatami with her wife and smiled, causing Rainbow to look up and smile back as she set the paper in her hand down and reached across the table to touch the back of Fluttershy’s palm. “Hey, cute stuff.”

Fluttershy blushed and hid behind her long hair. “Hey...”

“Just got out of the bath, I see?” Rainbow asked.

She nodded.

“I decided to go to the bathhouse to get refreshed. It was quite nice actually, an older woman there told me that I reminded her of a goddess because of how beautiful I was...” Fluttershy blushed deeper.

Truthfully, she was a little shy about her own nudity, but it was not as big a deal in Japan.

The two of them had been stationed there for some time now, and Fluttershy had grown accustomed to it by now. Actually, she rather enjoyed it, the culture was fascinating, and most of the people were fascinated by Americans, and Rainbow and Fluttershy both went out of their way to show their respect for their culture.

Both had taken Japanese classes, and after a good year of classes, they were both conversationally fluent. They could read basic books, carry on conversations, but likely would get lost if they were reading complex instruction manuals or law books.

Fluttershy could hear the sound of video games being played behind Rainbow Dash and peeking around the corner of the wall, she could see their son Bolt sitting in front of a television with a PlayStation controller in his hands jabbing away at buttons. His tongue sticking out slightly, licking his lip as he concentrated hard on what he was playing.

The young boy had put a baseball cap on backward over his messy dark pink hair as he usually did. He was a scrappy young boy and seemed impervious to damage. From when he was just an infant, they always remembered he was resistant to crying when he hurt himself. He was the kind of kid who got cuts and scrapes and tried to hold in his tears (even though sniffles would escape now and then). He absolutely idolized Rainbow, and always said he wanted to be as tough as his mother.

Bolt Dash was almost like Rainbow Dash in a three-year-old’s body. He was pig-headed, reckless, full of energy and competitive. His competitive nature, however, often got him on the receiving end of a loss by his mother. Rainbow had a strict policy of not allowing her kids to win if they wanted to beat “the best” as she put it, they needed to play hard.

Unlike his mother though, Bolt wasn’t too interested in sports with the exception of skateboarding, which he grew very attached to, despite falling down a lot. The two parents agreed they wouldn’t buy him his own until he was at least eight. While he could hold in tears from when he got hurt, that didn’t mean his bones would not break from falling onto the pavement.

He was wearing a hoodie that his mother had given him from a store back on the army base that has the US Army logo on the back. He had grown to love it, and it was his favorite one, even if it was a size or two too large. He was a scrawny kid, but that just meant he had yet to fill out.

His magenta eyes focused on the television without blinking.

Behind him, his brother sat with his feet up on the couch, his arms wrapping around his legs, his hands concealed by a yellow knitted sweater that was definitely too large for him. Cloud Dash was always those awkward “in-between” sizes for clothing, meaning clothes were either too small or too large. He always settled for too large, which was probably for the best as the boy was always cold.

Like his mother, he had rainbow colored hair, though his colors were muted and appeared like they had lost some of their luster, like a shirt that had been washed too many times.

His hair draped down his body and reached his lower back. Unlike his brother with messy locks, Cloud kept his majestic hair brushed and clear of any and all knots. His silky hair was split closer to the left side, creating a cascading bunch of locks that covered part of the right side of his face.

From the moment he was born, both of the women had realized that Cloud was very effeminate, and his mannerisms backed that up.

He often occupied himself by drawing, which he was quite skilled at for his age, and reading children’s books. Cloud was advanced at reading, and Rainbow and Fluttershy had been told they recommended he get put into a program for gifted children upon entering school when he came of age.

Needless to say, both of the women were proud of their fraternal twin boys, and they were glad that the army had afforded them the chance to take them around the world so they could become cultured. Every night, the two would sit down and teach their sons Japanese. Fluttershy insisted that learning a second language was good for children and that it would open many doors for them later in life, Rainbow agreed.

The two were thankful for all they had acquired, and the life that they had grown accustomed to.

Fluttershy looked at her wife curiously as she looked down to all the papers in front of her. She hadn’t seen her that day until now, Rainbow had been held up at work for an unusually long time that day, and when she got home, Fluttershy was at the bathhouse, but now she was sitting across from her examining paperwork. Rainbow’s job with the army was rather complicated, and since she had all kinds of top-secret security clearance, Fluttershy was never entirely sure what she actually did for them, but she knew it involved combat.

“Something wrong?” Fluttershy asked quietly.

Rainbow sighed and glanced over her shoulder at the kids and gave a simple head jerk to Fluttershy, signaling she wanted them to be excused before she would speak about the matter further.

Nodding, Fluttershy raised her voice ever so slightly (though still fairly quiet by most people’s standards). “Boys, do you think you could pause the game and go to your rooms for a bit while your mother and I speak about something?”

Bolt blinked and looked over with a frown. He was about to tell her that he had been prepping for a big boss fight, but the moment he saw Fluttershy’s kind eyes, he just nodded and pressed pause, setting the controller down before standing up and gesturing for his brother to follow. Cloud didn’t need any further instruction as the two boys carefully made their way to their respective bedrooms.

Once they were gone, Rainbow Dash waited a few seconds after hearing their doors close before she stood up and shut the door between the dining room area and the living room.

Fluttershy already could feel her heart sink from that action alone. Whatever was to be discussed, Fluttershy already knew it was a topic she was not going to enjoy. She gulped as she braced herself; her feeble hands trembling already.

Rainbow saw back down and crossed her legs. She placed her hands in her lap as she leaned forward with her eyes closed, trying to think of a way to broach the subject without making it any more painful than it already was. A few painful seconds passed before she submitted that there was no way to talk about what she wanted to discuss without upsetting Fluttershy.

She took a deep breath and exhaled before opening her eyes, her expression serious and anguished. “Fluttershy...” She began.

Fluttershy squeezed her own hands together tightly as she prepared herself mentally. “Y-yes?”

“I hate to tell you this but...” Rainbow closed her eyes once more.

“Just say it, Rainbow...” Fluttershy frowned, trying to fight back tears.

Rainbow exhaled once more. “They want to send me to a mission somewhere in Europe for a few weeks.”

Fluttershy suspected as much, but it didn’t make it any easier.

“When are they going to stop deploying you? You’ve already been deployed twice!” Fluttershy protested.

Rainbow shook her head. “It’s part of my job, Fluttershy. I have to go when they say to go. It’s what I agreed to when I signed up.”

“I understand that, but it feels like they are sending you out there more often than others. I’ve talked to the other spouses on the base, and most of their husbands and wives have not been deployed in several years, but you keep getting sent out!” Fluttershy responded, her voice trembling as she did, not wanting any of this to be true.

“Different jobs, hun. Some get deployed more than others, and I’m not at liberty to explain why. You know how it is, my job doesn’t let me talk about it with anyone, including you...” Rainbow frowned, it pained her to keep secrets from her wife, even if those secrets were a matter of national security.

Fluttershy hated it just as much as Rainbow did. The army was always forcing Rainbow to do things that she clearly didn’t want to do, and keep secrets that she clearly didn’t want to keep, but she was obligated to oblige. Likewise, Fluttershy had no choice in the matter either. She gritted her teeth and closed her eyes with a frown.

“When are you leaving?” Fluttershy asked.

“They want me to head out on Friday to a briefing, then I’ll be heading to my mission. It shouldn’t take too long, I should only be gone for a few weeks, then I come right back here, promise.” Rainbow placed a hand on her head to show her sincerity.

Fluttershy sighed and nodded. “A-alright... I don’t like it, but it’s what I have to accept. I knew you wanted to join the army when we got married, and I guess this is part of that deal isn’t it?”

“Unfortunately...” Rainbow nodded back at her, hurting just thinking about how much this entire ordeal was harming her wife.

Fluttershy sighed once more. “You promise me that you’ll try and be as safe as you can? I know it’s unrealistic of me to think you’ll be completely safe, but I can at least hope you won’t take any unnecessary risks, right?”

Rainbow reached forward and gripped her wife’s hand. “You know I can’t promise that, Fluttershy. Any risk I take is going to be completely necessary for my job, but unexpected things happen sometimes...”

The pink haired woman wanted to object, she wanted to tell her not to go, but she knew it wasn’t any good. Rainbow would have to go regardless of how Fluttershy felt about it, so it was better for her to at least go believing that she had her wife’s blessing. Fluttershy gritted her teeth for a moment but then unclenches them. She gave her wife’s hand a squeeze and nodded. “I trust you, Rainbow. Just come home to us, okay? You have a family to think about now.”

A smile came to the multi-color haired maiden as she gave a wink. “Don’t worry, nothing will keep me away from you all. I’d slay a thousand terrorists to come back home to you and the kids. You’re all too important to me.”

Rainbow wasn’t usually one for being sappy, so when she had her weak moments where she gave in and said something heartfelt, it always made Fluttershy smile.

“Sometimes I wish you weren’t a soldier...” Fluttershy admitted.

Rainbow chuckled. “No matter what, you’re always the most important soldier in my army.”

“You’re too sweet...” Fluttershy blushed.

“I only got that way from being around you for so long.” Rainbow caressed her wife’s hand affectionately.

For that moment, everything was fine, even if the future was uncertain.

Twilight smiled at her two friends as she kept her hands on Horizon’s shoulders and looked them both in the eyes. “I appreciate you two looking after Horizon all the time, are you absolutely certain I can’t pay either of you for the trouble?”

Applejack shook her head and grinned. “Shucks, Twilight, she’s such a well behaved kid that it ain’t no trouble; ‘sides we’re family, ain’t we?”

Twilight was tempted to correct her and point out they had no blood, nor marital relation, but thought better of it and just shrugged. “If you say so...”

“We always love having little Horizon over, she and Jasper get along so well.” Rarity wiggled in place, clearly finding it cute how well the two children got along. Horizon had said before that Jasper was her best friend and that he understood her. There was a distinct possibility that he got what went on in the girl’s head more than Twilight did, though to be fair it was easier to understand a child when you were one.

Twilight recalled a lesson from her psychology class that suggested that adults lost a lot of the same thought processes they had as children when they reach maturity, thus making it hard to remember what goes on in the mind of a youngster; though Twilight was still on the fence on if she actually believed such a thing.

The two children had become close over the years, and Twilight was thankful for that. Jasper was a good kid, with good values, thanks to Applejack and Rarity’s teachings. He had a strong sense of honesty and respected his parents deeply. As a result, some of that had bled into Horizon, and she too found herself respecting the authority of her parent.

“You two are such great friends, you know that?” Twilight grinned sheepishly.

Applejack shrugged. “Y’all have been good to us, so we ain’t got no reason to not be good to y’all, right?”

As always, Applejack kept it simple.

“I suppose so... Anyway, I should be heading to class.” Twilight rubbed her neck.

Rarity nodded back and shooed the girl away with her hands. “Go on now then, we wouldn’t want you to be late! We can take it from here!”

Awkwardly, Twilight released Horizon and knelt down to speak with her directly. “Alright, I have to go but you behave for Applejack and Rarity, okay?”

Horizon nodded and opened her arms to offer Twilight a hug, which she accepted. She gave the child a gentle squeeze before releasing her and smiling as she brushed a strand of her wavy hair out of her face. “I’m sure Jasper would love to hear about your trip to the zoo.”

The little girl nodded in agreement as Twilight came to a stand and nodded at Applejack and Rarity. She turned to take her leave as Horizon waved at her. “Bye, Twilight,” the little girl spoke.

Twilight waved back and winked before she exited the house and headed back to her car.

Applejack and Rarity were silent until Twilight’s car started and they could hear her driving away. Rarity reached down to take Horizon’s hand and smiled as she led the girl to the backyard. “Jasper is waiting out here for you, darling. I heard you went to the zoo recently?”

Horizon nodded as she followed Rarity.

“What was your favorite animal there?” Rarity asked.

“Wolves.”

She blinked and raised a brow. “Why’s that?”

“They’re like big wild dogs,” Horizon responded plainly.

“I take it that you like dogs?” Rarity asked.

She nodded. “Dogs are cool.”

Rarity giggled and nodded before reaching the back porch and releasing the girl’s hand. “They sure are, now go play.”

In the distance, Jasper stood under an old apple tree with a book in his hand, waving with his free hand for Horizon to come to join him. Casually, she began to walk over to him, not bothering to run to decrease the time it took to travel to him. What a patient child, thought Rarity.

Applejack sat down at the table on the patio, and Rarity joined her, sitting next to her, the two of them watching as Horizon reached the tree where Jasper was. The two children sat down and Jasper opened his book and began reading aloud to her.

“What a gentleman,” Rarity said.

“We raised him right.” Applejack nodded.

“But of course,” Rarity replied.

“Them kids remind me of me and my older brother...” Applejack commented.

“Oh?” Rarity tilted her head curiously.

Applejack nodded again, her eyes focused on the children in the distance as she spoke. “Yup, he used to read to me as well. Jasper really cares about that girl, ‘Ah can tell.”

“She’s like a sister to him; is that what you’re saying?” Rarity blinked.

A smirk came to Applejack’s face. “Eeyup.”

“She’s such a sweet little girl,” Rarity said, now she too was focusing on the children.

Applejack’s face turned more serious as she leaned in, placing her hands on her thighs. “Sure is, amazin’ considerin’ her mom up and vanished like that... Ya’d think the kid would be actin’ out or somethin’. It’s strange, ain’t it?”

“To be fair, both of her parents are rather strange, aren’t they?” Rarity asked.

A chuckle escaped the blonde haired farmer as she nodded in agreement, looking over at Rarity from the corner of her green eyes that Rarity adored so much. “Got that right. Them two are about as weird as they come. Twilight’s a sweet gal though.”

“And Sunset?” Rarity raised a brow.

The mention of Sunset’s name made Applejack’s chuckles stop abruptly. “Ain’t so sure about that, to be frank.”

“It sure is sad that she disappeared like that...” Rarity frowned.

“Ain’t sad to me.” Applejack shook her head.

“How so?” Rarity blinked, not expecting such an answer.

The two had not spoken much about Sunset’s disappearance since it happened nearly three years ago. There was a silent oath not to comment on it for so long, but it looked like Applejack was prepared to finally break that oath and reveal her true feelings on the matter.

“Selfish to me,” Applejack spoke bluntly.

Rarity should have expected such an answer, but still wanted Applejack to elaborate. “Selfish? How so, darling?”

Applejack’s eyes squinted as she looked back at the two children. Horizon had rested up against the tree close to Jasper as he read to her.

“She got a wife and a daughter and she up and vanishes like that? Runnin’ away from her responsibilities? Left poor Twilight by herself to have a go at parentin’ all by herself? The poor thing don’t know what to do, and she’s holdin’ in all her pain, ‘Ah can tell. The worst of it is that Sunset didn’t even have the decency to tell the poor woman where she was goin’? Twilight deserves an answer to why Sunset abandoned her.” Applejack found herself squeezing her thighs and grinding her teeth. Just thinking about Sunset ditching Twilight like that was enough to get her considerable temper going.

“Applejack, darling, we don’t know for certain that’s what happened. There may be extenuating circumstances that caused her to-“ Rarity got cut off.

“Like what!?” Applejack hissed. “What excuse could she possibly have for not even tellin’ them two girls why she’s leavin’? She’s got a lot of damn nerve!”

Rarity reached over and placed a hand on Applejack’s shoulder to soothe her. She could already see Applejack’s temper getting out of control. “Calm down, darling. It’s not worth getting worked up over.”

Feeling her wife’s touch, Applejack found herself centered just a little bit. Her boiling anger had cooled down and she nodded, submitting to Rarity’s words. She was right, after all, it really wasn’t worth getting angry over, after all, Sunset was not present to direct her anger toward.

“Sorry, ‘Ah guess ‘Ah just get worked up thinkin’ about it,” Applejack apologized.

“It’s because you care, so it’s alright.” Rarity smiled, squeezing Applejack’s shoulder softly.

“That girl don’t know what she’s missin’. Her daughter ain’t gonna be young forever. She’s missin’ out on that kid’s life,” Applejack stated.

Rarity leaned back in her seat and nodded in agreement. “I have to agree there. Horizon is quite a wonderful child, and Sunset is missing out on her childhood, but that also makes me believe we may be jumping the gun here...”

“What do you mean?” Applejack turned to her with a confused look.

Rarity recalled her feelings when their son was born. She remembered how attached she was to him, how she never wanted to leave him alone, how even as he got older it hurt to be away from him. Those maternal instincts were all very real, not just concepts that they put in psychology books. She had a connection with her child, a connection that Applejack likely didn’t even understand. Jasper was created inside of her, he was a part of her, his life and hers were connected in a way that only another mother could understand.

Applejack was a parent, sure, but she didn’t create life from inside her body as Rarity had. It was an experience that was impossible to forget, a bond that was impossible to break.

“Applejack... Don’t forget, I’ve given birth too,” Rarity reminded.

Applejack raised her brow, only becoming more confused by that statement. She leaned in to hear Rarity better. “What’re y’all talking about?”

“There’s a bond between a mother and her child. Strong feelings that are hard to ignore. For Sunset to leave, it must have been extremely difficult. If I even thought about doing something like that, my entire body would scream not to,” Rarity rambled.

Applejack said nothing, instead, she sat and waited for her wife to finish, hoping what she was saying would start making sense.

“It’s a mother’s instinct, Applejack. If Sunset was able to push that away, if she was able to ignore her mind screaming to turn around and go back...” Rarity bit her lip.

“Then what?” Applejack tilted her head and reached forward to coax Rarity to finish her sentence.

“Then whatever was going on must have been pretty bad. It would take a lot to rip me away from Jasper. I’d cut through mountains to get to him, so whatever is keeping Sunset away must be pretty dire.” Rarity closed her eyes in thought.

Was Sunset even alive? It was possible she wasn’t returning because she was no longer of this world. It was a thought that had happened many times in her mind, but she tried to push it away, but there were times where she welcomed it. Sunset seemed so happy when Horizon was born, Rarity had seen it on her face, she had seen it on her facebook where she fawned over her daughter. If she loved her that much, then it was easier to believe that Sunset was deceased. It was far easier to believe that she didn’t leave, but that she was taken. To imagine she had left voluntarily was ironically much harder.

Rarity didn’t know what to believe anymore. She didn’t know what was right or what was wrong when it came to Sunset Shimmer. Her feelings were a cocktail of confusion, annoyance, anger, sadness, hope, and despair. Twilight was hurting, and there wasn’t much that she could do to help her friend aside from looking out for her and Horizon for when Twilight finally decided to open up.

“Either way...” Applejack leaned back and placed her hands back on her thighs. “If ‘Ah ever see that girl again, ‘Ah’ll deck her so hard her ancestors will feel it.”

Rarity chuckled at the thought. “A punch from you? That might kill her.”

Applejack shrugged. “No one can say she didn’t deserve it.”

Rarity laughed and shook her head. “My goodness, darling.”

“Just don’t take too well to folks who abandon their kin,” Applejack stated plainly.

Rarity knew that was an understatement.

Shining Armor had a day off from work and utilized it to visit his mother at her home. His father had gone with Cadance to a play for Flurry Heart, giving Shining and his mother a chance to bond since she was complaining they never spend time together anymore.

Time together ended up being Shining helping her with a lot of housework, much to his chagrin. Naturally, though, he didn’t dare complain, after all, he knew his mother appreciated anything he did.

Their small talk had traveled from various subjects, though avoiding the subject of work since Velvet didn’t like to hear about Shining’s dangerous job. He still remembered when he had become an officer how against it she was. She supported him, but she worried about his safety. He could only imagine the kind of internal conflict she was dealing with. A mother’s place is to support her children, but also to protect them. What did they do when those two interests conflicted with each other? In Velvet’s case, she had decided to go with support and tune her concern out, though she still didn’t like hearing about it.

Any time Shining had gotten shot at, he made sure not to make a single mention of it. To his good fortune, he had managed to avoid ever getting hit by a bullet, but he knew the possibility of one actually connecting with him was always there. He was reminded more just a few weeks ago when he was asked to make sure his will was up to date. He told himself he would do this until retirement and that he would focus on staying at a desk as much as possible, which he managed to do right after Flurry was born. Unfortunately, though, he could not stay in that role forever. Every now and then they’d send him out.

He tried to push thoughts of work out of his mind while he stood next to his mother drying dishes with a hand towel as she passed them to him. She was humming a gentle tune that he recognized from when he was a toddler.

“So, how’s your newest book coming?” Shining asked.

She grinned and nodded at him. “Oh, I’m sure it’s going to be a bestseller. I’ve been planning it for a long time, and I think this is going to be my best one yet.”

“This makes how many that you’ve gotten published?” Shining spoke while focusing on his drying.

“Eight, dear.” Velvet seemed to stand up taller at that proclamation, taking some pride in her work.

His mother always was a good storyteller, it was no wonder that writing was the career path for her.

“That’s pretty impressive. You have more books that I have commendations.” Shining chuckled.

“You’ll get there, dear. Everyone has to earn their stripes after all.” Velvet winked at her son.

There was a long pause after that, but both of them knew what the other was thinking about, Twilight. There was a sigh that escaped Shining as he approached the delicate subject. “Hey, mom...”

“Hm?” She kept her eyes on the dishes.

“About Twilight...”

“What about her, dear?” Velvet asked. Her voice seemed so innocent as if she wasn’t thinking the same thing that he was thinking. His mother was exceptional at hiding her concern sometimes, he was rather jealous.

“I just can’t stop thinking about her situation. Admittedly, it keeps me up at night...” He frowned.

“You’re worried about her, that’s natural.” Velvet nodded.

Shining shook his head. “No, well yeah, but that’s not what keeps me up mostly...”

“What then?” Velvet looked in his direction with a blank face.

“I’m kind of angry on her behalf,” Shining admitted.

“Angry?” Velvet blinked.

He nodded before focusing back on the plate in his hand. His eyes studied it carefully as he gathered his thoughts. “It’s just... It’s really asinine that Sunset basically bailed on her. She has to raise Horizon all on her own while Sunset is fucking off doing whatever.”

“Language.” Velvet wagged a finger covered by a rubber glove.

Shining blushed and nodded. “Sorry.”

“Anyway, it just ticks me off that she basically ditched Twilight and Twilight isn’t doing anything about it.” Shining growled.

Velvet shrugged and returned to the dishes. “It’s none of our business, Shining.”

“Sure it is! She’s our family, right!?”

“Yes, but it’s not our place to get involved where her wife and the mother of her child. This is something that Twilight needs to figure out on her own. We can’t get involved.” Velvet nodded.

He knew his mother was right to a degree, but Shining couldn’t control himself. “Like hell, we can’t! I stuck my neck out for that girl! I filed a false report to save her ass and she turned around and betrayed Twilight like that!? I could have lost my job, I could have gone to prison, hell worse!”

Velvet frowned and kept her eyes on the sink as she replied quietly. “Calm down, Shining...”

“We risked a lot letting her into this family. She’s an alien from another world if she ever got discovered they’d be kicking down our doors too. There’s no telling how much of a risk we’ve put ourselves for her sake...” Shining shook his head.

“Shining...” His mother attempted once more, but her soft voice failed to reach him, instead, he continued to ramble.

“She played us all for a bunch of saps. Now she’s gone and we’re left with the consequences. Twilight’s Daughter is half whatever the fuck she is, how are we ever going to explain that to her? What are we going to do if she ever finds out?” Shining asked rhetorically.

“Shining!” His mother yelled, banging her fists on the edge of the sink, causing all the dry dishes on the rack to rattle. Shining blinked and looked over at her. Her arms were trembling and tears were welled up in her eyes.

“I told you, it’s none of our business. The past can’t be changed, we can’t focus on it, we have to focus on now. These are all Twilight’s decisions, and we have to let her do as she sees fit. It’s not our place to decide, but we have to be ready to support her no matter what she decides.” Velvet paused and closed her eyes for a moment. “Even if those choices lead us all to ruin.”

“That’s bullshit.” Shining grunted.

“No it isn’t bullshit,” His mother retorted.

Shining seldom heard his mother swear, but when it did happen it always caused him to shut up, this was no exception.

“We all knew what Sunset was. We all knew what this could mean for all of us when we welcomed her to our family. We knew the risks, we chose to take them, we can’t blame it all on her now after we accepted the risks.” Velvet glared.

It was now clear to Shining, Velvet was doing everything in her power to stay strong, to keep the face of the mother that Twilight needed to see to keep her sanity.

“So we just wait it out and hope everything works out?” Shining lowered his voice this time, not wanting to evoke more of his mother’s wrath.

She sighed and nodded. “Yes, that’s exactly what we do.”

“And what if things don’t work out?” Shining suggested.

She returned to scrubbing the dishes in front of her with a smile out of the corner of her mouth. “Then we prepare for the storm. That’s all we can do. Twilight wasn’t the only one who chose Sunset Shimmer, we all did. Maybe we were all wrong in our choice, maybe we’re wrong to doubt it, but it’s all we have now. We made our choice and now we have to stick with it.”

It was somber, but Shining recognized his mother had a solid point. All he knew is that if he ever saw Sunset Shimmer again, he had a few choice words for her, most of which he would never repeat in front of his mother.

Horizon being the curious child she was had wandered into her mother’s old study, a room that wasn’t frequented too often these days. Twilight had made a trip or two into the abandoned study from time to time to retrieve a book or two, but for the most part, the room remained unoccupied on a regular basis. Horizon was the first visitor in probably a good few months at this point.

Searching through her mother’s old belongings in the desk there, Horizon opened a drawer that was close to eye level seeing an old tome sitting there staring back at her. Something about it drew her to it. Taking her small hands, she reached into the drawer and retrieved it. She tried to open it only to notice that someone had placed some kind of strap locking it shut upon it. Horizon peeked her eye into the small keyhole on the book but could see no way to open it. With the heavy book between her arms, Horizon looked toward the door when she heard the sound of footsteps.

Twilight had found her way to the room and peered inside, noticing her daughter standing there in front of the opened desk with the old book pressed to her chest; the girl’s black and orange dress being covered partially by the old tome.

“Horizon, I told you not to come in here, this room is...” Twilight paused trying to think of a way to word her next thought. “It’s... Off limits, okay?”

Horizon blinked but said nothing.

Noticing the book in her arms again, Twilight tilted her head. “What do you have there?”

Answering the question with action rather than words, Horizon scurried over to her parent and presented the book to her.

Twilight’s eyes widened as she saw the book. Of all the things for her daughter to find, it had to be that book. Twilight reached down and took it from her and smiled. “It’s just an old journal your mother kept, that’s all.”

“Why is it locked?” Horizon asked.

“It’s a journal, sweetie. It’s where people record their private thoughts,” Twilight explained, patting herself on the back for a logical explanation as to why her daughter was not allowed to look inside.

The lock was not on it previously. Twilight had placed it on the book sometime after Sunset vanished. She didn’t want to risk Horizon seeing inside of it and learning about all of Sunset’s letters to Princess Twilight. The last thing she needed was to have a discussion with her three-year-old child about alternate universes, magic unicorns, and that her mother was an alien from another world, thus partially making her one too. It was a conversation best left for... Never.

“Mommy kept secrets from us?” Horizon asked, her question didn’t sound like she was hurt though, more like she was curious.

Twilight nodded. “Yes, sweetie. A lot of people have secrets, sometimes they’re just not ready to share them yet and I think your mother had her share that she just wasn’t ready to tell us about.”

“What kind of secrets?” Horizon tilted her head.

Twilight knew better than to play the twenty questions game with a three-year-old.

She laughed and reached down, scooping Horizon up into her arms, grunting as she did so. Her daughter was getting bigger every day, and Twilight was starting to have trouble carrying her places. Before she knew it, Horizon would be in school.

“That’s a question best left for another day.” Twilight tapped the child’s nose playfully.

“Can we go see the painting of mommy again?” Horizon asked.

Blinking, Twilight nodded. Without saying another word, she carried her daughter out of the room, with the journal in her free hand. The two came to a hallway where the entire Shimmer family had portraits done, and there to the far left next to her lost sibling was the painting that Twilight had a hard time looking at now.

It had been commissioned shortly after they had gotten married, and Sunset had opted for an immaculate black lacy dress in it. Her makeup was perfectly done, and her hair was expertly tamed (a challenge for Sunset). She was leaning over a chair looking at the viewer with an innocent look in her eye. Her lips gently parted which felt almost seductive to Twilight.

Her daughter just stared at the painting, no words came from either of the girls who stood in the hallway. Instead, they just looked onto the redhead that had left a hole in both of their lives.

A lot of sadness in this act, I apologize. :c

Hey, let's talk about Velvet!

So Velvet I've always enjoyed making her a peppy and playful mom character. It's not even that she's "Twilight's mom" she's sort of "everyone's mom." We can see her being fairly motherly to Sunset as well, and out of Twilight's family seems the most forgiving toward her.

This is mostly because she understands that Twilight has to choose what makes her happy, and even though she can't understand why Sunset would leave, she herself endured similar feelings of resentment for her choice in a significant other. It's not really mentioned in the story, but I had it as her backstory that her parents disapproved of her not marrying a wealthier man.

On top of this, we can see she clearly doesn't like conflict, and she doesn't want to be a helicopter parent, thus she allowed Twilight to make her own decisions.

Part of her personality and her teasing nature is a parody of many fandoms themselves, where she is somewhat of a "shipper" in that she enjoys seeing cute romances between other characters, and often will pressure them to get together (ala Twilight and Sunset). We can see her and her daughter-in-law have this in common.

When Twilight approached high school age, she begged her husband for more children, but obviously, that didn't end up happening.