Chapter 38: Terra
*in Canterlot with Thunder and Lightning, it is the weekend, the same time it is with Lucky last chapter when Tiara came to her office*
Thunder and Lightning have arrived at the house they are supposed to foalsit at. Lightning has knocked on the door and after a minute a pony opened the door. "Hello girls. Come in. Terra will be happy to meet you two." The twins follow Golden inside and to the living room where they see a stallion playing building blocks with a very thin and fragile looking foal. "Huh? Is that the foal we're supposed to foalsit?", Thunder asked. "Yes, that is Terra. As you know, she is 4 years old. She likes doing anything she is physically able to do. She draws strength from the Earth, so she can walk, but after a certain amount of time, she gets tired. Right about now is when she likes to take a walk in the park and watch the other foals play.", Golden says. "Aww, poor filly. That's gotta stink, not being able to play with other foals.", Lightning said.
"Yes. It does…", Terra said weakly and quietly. Terra stood up shakily and slowly. The stallion, obviously Terra's father, helped her up gently. Terra walked over to the twins and looked up at them as best as she could. They took pity on her and laid down so they were at her level. "My wheelchair is behind the door." Thunder stood up and got the wheelchair for Terra. "Well Terra, we have to go now. We'll be back later ok sweetie?", Golden said. "Ok. Bye mommy and daddy. See you later." Terra nuzzled them when they nuzzled her. They left and then the three were alone. "So, how about that walk?", Lightning asked. "Ok.", Terra said, and then slowly climbed into the wheelchair. "Doesn't your mommy or daddy help you in your wheelchair?", Thunder asked.
"Yeah, but only when I am not strong enough to.", Terra said, finally in her wheelchair and buckled in. (The wheelchair's buckles are much like a baby's car seat in our world) "Why are there buckles?", Ligtning asked. "So I don't fall out if I get extremely weak and can't sit up by myself.", Terra replied. "Oh… um, well, let's go then.", Thunder said. Lightning pushed Terra's wheelchair out the door and to the park and Thunder followed. Yes, the house has a ramp. Also, the house does not have a floor, as it was specially designed for Terra's ability to draw strength from the Earth. When they got to the park, Terra told them to stop at the benches in front of the playground. They did so. The foals all looked over to see Terra and smiled. They all came over and talked with her.
Lightning smiled. Thunder grinned and sat on the bench next to Terra's wheelchair. Lightning then sat next to Thunder. After her friends left, Terra turned to Lightning and Thunder. "Can one of you take me to the swings and put me in a foal swing? Daddy always puts me in a foal swing and pushes me." Lightning stood up. "I'll push you on the swing." Terra smiled weakly, "Thanks." Lightning smiled back and took Terra over to the swings. Lightning parked the wheelchair next to the swing set, though not in the way of the swings obviously. She unbuckled Terra and gently picked her up and gently put her in the foal swing and started gently swinging her. "Thanks Lightning." Lightning smiled at her in response. After a while of that, Terra wanted out so she could walk around the park. Lightning took her out and set her gently on the ground and then Thunder went to them wheelchair and walked with them. More ponies greeted little Terra. Terra smiled weakly at all of them.
When it came time for lunch, Lightning took Terra back home, Thunder pushing her in her wheelchair. After lunch, Terra said, "I wanna go to Ponyville. My doctor said he is not sure how long I will live with this crippling illness, to say how he said it. Mommy and Daddy are too busy with their jobs to keep up with the hospital bills to take me." Lightning looked unsure. "I dunno Terra. We would have to ask them. Where do they work?", Thunder asked, knowing what her twin was thinking. "Mommy works at Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns and daddy works at the castle as the new guard captain after Shining Armor left for the Crystal Kingdom." Thunder and Lightning's jaws both dropped at hearing that. "Oh my goodness. That means you guys are practically rich. How do they need to keep up with the hospital bills? You can't be in the hospital that much, can you?", Lightning asked. Terra made a :/ face and said, "Yeah actually. Because I'm so frail and weak, my bones break easily because of this stupid illness. I don't know why I was even born with it in the first place. My doctor says it's a rare disease that only one foal in 10 generations really ever get."
Lightning looked at Thunder. "Well Thunder, should we ask?" Thunder just shrugged. Lightning gave her an exasperated look and then looked at Terra. "We'll ask your daddy, he would be easier to get to than your mommy." Terra smiled weakly, "Thanks Lightning. You two are the best foalsitters ever." Thunder grinned. Lighting gave her a look saying, 'don't let that get to your head'. Then off they went to the castle. "Maybe we'll meet the Princesses while we're here.", Terra said. "We both actually met the Princesses. They're very nice. Our dad is one of the guards here too." Terra looked at Lightning, though with difficulty. "Really? That's so cool." Lightning smiled, "Yeah, it is." Terra then looked forward, as looking back and up was really hurting her neck. "What's his name? Maybe I know him." Thunder responded, "Golden Knight." Terra blinked, "I know him!" Then she coughed from the outburst and put a hoof to her chest. As her voice is normally weak and quiet, having had a loud outburst affected her. "Are you ok?", both Pegasi ask. When Terra is able to, she says, "Yeah. I'm ok. Just saying things loudly like that hurts my chest and makes me cough. This is the second time I said something so loudly."
"Well, be careful, please.", Lightning said. "How do you know our dad?" Terra smiled, "Cause daddy brought him home when he came to check up on me once and introduced me. I know the word introduced because daddy told me and told me what it means. I didn't know he has twin Pegasuses though." Lightning giggled. "The correct term would be Pegasi, and he just adopted us 5 days before Hearth's Warming Eve." Terra looked confused, although the two couldn't see. "Adopted?" Lightning explained. "Oooooh. Wow. Why did you get adopted?" Lightning and Thunder looked at each other. "Um, I think I'll tell you when you're older… I don't think right now is a good time." Terra pouted, of course, with difficulty. They then finally arrived at the castle gate. "Name and reason for coming.", then when the guard saw Terra, he smiled, actually smiled. Lightning and Thunder blinked twice. They never thought they would see a guard on duty smile ever. "Why hello little Terra. Here to see your daddy?" Terra smiled and nodded. "Yeah, I am. My foalsitters brought me here so I can ask him a question."
"Well go right on ahead." Then he stood by to let the three in. That guard the twins didn't know yet, but they'll probably meet him sometime. They walked the castle gardens and saw Princess Celestia working on some papers at a table, as it's a fairly nice day out and there is no snow around the table. The Princess probably cleared it out though so she could enjoy the nice day, despite it being winter still. "Princess!", Thunder called out. Celestia looked up and smiled. "Well hello Thunder, Lightning. Who's this little filly?" Lightning answered, "Her name is Terra, the guard captain's daughter." Celestia smiled gently, "Hello Terra, I'm Princess Celestia. Welcome to Canterlot Castle." Terra smiled the biggest smile she could muster. "Hi. Nice to… meet you. Um, I would bow, but… these buckles help me stay in my wheelchair, in case I get too weak to hold myself up while sitting." Celestia nodded, "I understand little one. Are you looking for Broad Sword?" Thunder nodded. "He's in the castle on patrol." Lightning smiled and bowed, as did Thunder. "Thank you Princess.", Lightning said. "You're welcome." They then went inside the castle, then commenced searching for the captain of the guards. They walked past Luna's bedroom, which Luna looked up as she saw three civilians go by from above her papers. She's holding them up in the air and reviewing them.
"Halt you three! …. Oh, Thunder, Lightning! I did not recognize you two from just seeing a little of you over my papers. Being Princess is grueling work." Terra tilted her head, but then straightened it out again as soon as she tilted it. Her neck still hurt a bit from looking up and to Lightning earlier. "Grueling?" Luna smiled and explained. "Oh. So you're Princess Luna then?" Luna smiled gently. "Yes, I am Princess Luna. Are you two foalsitting?", she asked the twins. "Yup. We're foalsitting for Broad Sword, the captain of the guards. We're actually looking for him. Know where we can find him?" Luna thought for a second, then said, "I think he went down to the throne room. Tch, dunno why we even have a throne room, we hardly even use it." Thunder grinned. "Thanks Princess.", Lightning said. "You're welcome." So, on to the throne room the three went. When they reached there, "Sword!", Lightning called out. "Finally we found you." Broad Sword turned around and much to his surprise, there stood Thunder and Lightning with Terra in her wheelchair. "What's wrong? Did she get hurt?" Thunder shook her head. "No, not at all. She has been having fun all morning. She wanted to know if we could take her to Ponyville. We both know the Princess there, as the Princess helped us out immensely at one point. We could take her to meet Princess Lucky Fire."
Terra gasped, "You really would do that?" Thunder smiled, "Sure, why not?" Terra smiled happily, though still weakly. Sword smiled. "Well, wouldn't that be nice? Did you get to meet both Princesses here too?" Terra replied, "Yeah, I did. They're both really nice. Princess Luna told us you would be here." Sword nodded, "Yes, they both are really nice. It also sounds like the Ponyville Princess is really nice too. I will allow these two to take you to meet her. Your trip to Ponyville would be most of the night though. The next train to Ponyville leaves at 7 and this one serves you dinner and then it takes most of the night to get to Ponyville because there are some foals who travel with their parents so they go slower than usual, but… you'll arrive in Ponyville at midnight, so you'll need to find a place. It seems the Ponyville Inn would be best. The Princess and her parents would be asleep and it would be rude waking them up." Lightning nodded. "What time is it now?" Sword looks at his watch. "It's 2:07 right now." Thunder then said, "So we have time before going to the train station. Maybe we can talk to Princess Luna or Princess Celestia until it's time to go. I wonder how long it'll take to walk to the train station from here?"
"About 15 to 20 minutes.", replied Celestia. Thunder, Lightning, and Terra all got startled, then the twins turned around, Lightning turning Terra's wheelchair around so Terra can face Celestia. "How long have you been standing there Princess?", Lightning asked. Celestia smiled, "Long enough to hear Thunder ask how long it'll take to get to the station from here after suggesting talking to Luna and I." Thunder and Sword chuckled, and Lightning and Terra giggled, though Terra's giggle was quiet. Then they saw Luna come in with her papers. "I got these papers all done sister. Oh, hello again you three, it seems you were able to find Broad Sword just fine after my help." Celestia took the papers in her magical grasp, putting them on top of her own paperwork. "Very good, thank you Luna. You too helped them find Broad Sword?" Luna nodded, "Yes. I told them he was in here." Celestia nodded. "Well girls, I need to turn these papers in then I will be able to spend time with you until you leave." The three nodded and Celestia went on her way. Luna went over to her throne and sat down. The twins and Terra went over to her. "Can I sit with you Princess Luna?"
Luna smiled, "Sure." She unbuckled the buckles on Terra's wheelchair, then magicked Terra onto her lap. "That felt weird…." Luna chuckled. "I thought so too when I got magicked onto my mother's lap the first time. You get used to it though." Terra then asked, "Where are your mommy and daddy?" Luna replied, "They're somewhere else. They'll be back though. They always come to visit when they are able to, and they always visit on mine and Celestia's birthday." Terra smiled, "When are your birthdays?" Lightning and Thunder are also interested. "Mine is December 22nd. Celestia's is June 22nd. Celestia is older than me by (A/N: mou. I can't find the chapter that says how far apart in years they are…. I think Stella was 1,040, Celestia 1,036 and Luna 1,030… don't quote me on that though. If one of you finds it, plz tell me so I can edit this to be the right ages) 6 years and 6 months exactly." Lighting and Thunder grinned. "6 years and 6 months. Nice.", Thunder said amusedly. Luna grinned too, then Celestia came in and sat in her throne. Broad Sword then asked, "Princess Celestia, is there a spare piece of paper and a quill and ink? I need to write Golden Quill a note saying I gave the twins permission to bring Terra to Ponyville." Celestia replied, "There should be some in the study." Sword nodded and went to the study. When he was finished writing the note, he went back to the others. "I have the note written, so when school ends, you can take this to Golden Quill." Thunder and Lightning nodded. "Actually, school should be getting out very soon. I'll take you to the school and show you which classroom is Golden Quills' room."
"Ok." It being 2:17 right now, then taking them probably 10 minutes to get to Golden Quill's room, her being on the second floor. So Celestia takes them to the school. "Wow. I wonder if I can come here when I learn magic?", Terra asked. "Well, this school is for gifted Unicorns. If you show that you are gifted, then you may enroll here.", Celestia said. "I know… mommy said that she works here and this school is for gifted Unicorn foals. I just hope I can come here when I learn magic and am good enough to come here." Celestia smiled, "We'll see when the time comes." Terra nodded. Then they finally reached Golden Quills' room. It's 2:27 and 3 more minutes until the foals get out. "Wow, this school is huge.", Lightning said. Celestia smiled at her. "Yes, it is. It's my school for Gifted Unicorns. I established this school many many years ago." Terra tilted her head very slightly. "Established?" Lightning smiled gently, "It means built." Then the foals all came out of the classroom, but then when they saw Princess Celestia, their eyes got wide, then they all bowed. Celestia smiled gently, "You may stand up. How was your school day today everypony?"
"It was fun!", they all said, after standing up. "What did you do?" One foal said, "We practiced magic. We all had to practice our magic that goes with our special talent." Thunder said, "That does sound fun. I would love to practice my special talent, but my special talent is thunder. I make the thunder for my twin's lightning. She makes blue lightning. It's special lightning and I make the special thunder for it. We're a storm team." Another foal pointed out, "You have rainbow waves behind your lightning bolt. Can you do a Sonic Rainboom?" Thunder shook her head, "No, that's something only Rainbow Dash can do. I wish I could do the Sonic Rainboom too. That would be awesome." The foals all smiled, "Yeah it would!" Golden Quill then came out of her classroom. "Oh, hello everypony, Princess. Thunder, Lightning, Terra, what are you all doing here?" Lightning stepped forward with the note under her wing. "Broad Sword wrote a note giving us permission to bring Terra to Ponyville." She gestured to under her wing. Golden Quill took it with her magic and read it. "Ok, thank you for bringing me the note. I too give you permission." Terra smiled. "Thanks mommy." Then another foal asked, "Why are you in a wheelchair and why are you so quiet when you talk and why is your smile not as big?" Terra looked at that foal. "Midnight Walker, that's not something you ask right out of the blue. Plus, that's rude to ask somepony that. It's ok to ask why they're in a wheelchair, but not everything else you just asked.", Golden Quill said.
"But I'm curious!", Midnight complained. "I know you are, but only asking why she's in a wheelchair would have sufficed. You would have found out the rest from her answer to why she is in a wheelchair." Terra replied to Midnight's question, "I was born really tiny and really weak. My doctor said I will stay weak and frail all my life. I draw strength from the Earth though so I can walk, but mommy says I walk all wobbly and I am very slow. The illness is also why I talk so quietly and can't smile so big or normal smile." The foals all looked sorry for Terra. "Well, now that we know, we can go home and do our homework. We also did math, Equestrian, social studies, and science. We have science homework.", another foal said. "Ok, good idea Snow Fall. Good bye everypony.", Golden said. "Bye!", the foals said and then left. "What time is it?", Terra asked. Golden looked at the classroom clock. "2:40." Terra groaned. "I wish time would go faster… I wanna go to Ponyville…" Celestia, Golden, and Lightning giggled as Thunder chuckled. "Sorry hon, but that's just the way time works, but I really should be getting back to work now. I have papers to grade. I'll see you tomorrow. Oh, before I do go back to work, Terra will need bits to for the ride to and back from Ponyville and bits for the stay at the inn. Ask your father to go to the bank and take out what you need." Thunder and Lightning looked at each other, then nodded.
"We can take care of the expenses Golden. Our dad works as a guard at the castle too, his name is Golden Knight. We can ask him for the money. We don't have any hospital bills to catch up on, so we can easily pay for her and ourselves and still have enough money left." Golden shook her head. "Oh, no. I couldn't let you do that. She's my and Sword's daughter. We've got to cover her expenses." Thunder then said, "We're the ones who are taking her though, and as Lightning said, we can easily pay for her while still having enough money left over." Golden tried to argue back, but Thunder and Lightning held their hooves up. "We're not taking no for an answer.", they both said together. Golden lowered her head and sighed. "Oh, alright. Though we'll pay you back." Lightning shook her head. "No need. We're doing this out of the generosity of our hearts." Golden smiled a small smile, "You two really are generous. Thank you girls." Celestia smiled as well, "You two are exceptional ponies for your age. Generous, kind, caring, responsible, offering to pay for Terra so her parents can keep up on their hospital bills." Then Terra said, "Come on, let's go to Golden Knight." The older ponies smiled. "Have fun Terra. I'll see you tomorrow, and behave for Thunder and Lightning ok?", Golden said. Terra nodded once. Then the four went back to the castle. When they arrive, it is now 3:16. It took them until 3:44 to find Golden Knight.
"Dad, we need bits to go to and from Ponyville and for the inn for Terra and the both of us. Golden Quill and Broad Sword already gave us permission to take Terra to Ponyville.", Thunder said. "That's quite a bit to give. 50 times 3 times two…so that's a hundred, three hundred bits plus 30 so that's three hundred thirty bits in total. Well actually, we do have that much plus more. I think it'll be fine. Just this once though, right?" Thunder, Lightning, and Terra nodded. Knight sighed, "Well, go find your mother, let her know I said it was ok. She'll take you to the bank and get out the bits needed." Thunder and Lightning grinned and hugged him. "Thanks dad!", they said. "Yeah, thanks Golden Knight.", Terra said. "You're welcome. You two be on your best behavior though, be good role models for Terra." The twins nodded, then bid Celestia and their dad good bye and left for their home. Right now it's 3:59. When they arrived at the twins' home, it was 4:13. Thunder went inside while Lightning waited outside with Terra. It was 4:18 when Thunder came out with Harper. "Oh, why hello little one. You must be Terra." Terra nodded a tiny nod, "Yes, I am. Thank you for agreeing to help me and my foalsitters, who are your daughters."
"It's not a problem, though we can't be doing this all the time. I am happy my twins are very generous and kind hearted, but money doesn't simply grow on trees." Terra nodded a tiny nod, understanding they can't do this all the time. So, off they went to the bank. When they arrived, it was 4:25. When they left, Thunder had the bits in her money pouch. They went back to the castle and to the throne room at 4:40, and hung out with the Princesses until 6:40. They had played games that Terra would be able to play. Then they left for the station and arrived at 6:55. They paid for their tickets and boarded. When the supper cart came, they ate and then watched the scenery go by until they felt tired. They went to bed and when midnight came, they were woken up by the conductor. They first asked him how to get to the Ponyville Inn, he told them, then they went to the inn, paid 30 bits, 10 bits for each of them for one night, and then went up to room 3 and went back to bed. Tomorrow would be a big day for Terra.
A/N: wow… 7 pages XD Well, to explain the foals in the park, they would be Terra's age and younger of course. Next chapter I hope will be good and I hope this was a good chapter as well.