A Different Kind of Family

I had thought that it was just another cold and breezy morning. I was just reading peacefully in the early hours, savoring the warmth of the fire burning happily in the fireplace, ignoring the small amount of snow falling when she came. Rainbow Dash, known by most Ponyville residence as the most trustworthy and loyal athlete in the whole town and another bearer of the Elements. She nearly busted down the door to the library, saying something about having another contest with Applejack when some loud noise 'shocked' her into the sky and she saw some new random house by the fringes of the Everfree. Even when I was trying to calm her down she still said words like 'spirits' and 'ghosts'. After getting her to sit and relax, which is still a feat in itself, she explained a bit more, saying that a house that was never there just popped in as if it always did.

After a hearing a bit more I decided to investigate, donning my winter saddle and taking flight with my still new wings and setting off to the odd house by the Everfree with Rainbow.

When we got there I had noticed the change immediately. The somewhat wall-like edge of the untamed forest bulged out quite a fair amount a couple hundred meters away from the main path into the heart of the Everfree. The trees were as barren and dead looking as any other tree, but had an odd dull look to it. Even the snow on the ground, though only a few inches seemed to be duller and somewhat disturbed. I played it off as a trick of the light but continued on. When Rainbow and I were nearing the edge, I saw through the trees to find the house that Rainbow was talking about. It looked to be only one story with a small attic with a singular window. The ground floor was built into a small hillock, and near what I assumed was the front entrance was a large, pale and dull yellow deck. A small, narrow. shoveled path led from the unusually small stairs of the deck to another shoveled section, wider than the small path, where two large and odd things made of shiny metal, one iron grey and the other an oceanic blue, both with light grey glass and wheels covered in rubber.

Our duet walked slowly into the small thicket of trees when we stopped a few feet from the odd carriage-looking things and Rainbow asked, "So what're you going to do Twilight?" a small shakiness in her voice. I could tell she was a bit skittish about the whole thing. Even if she didn't admit it outright, her body language told me all I needed to know.

"Investigate, what would you think Rainbow?" I mumbled to myself.

Rainbow let out a nervous laugh and rubbed the back of her head, "So, uh, should I go and get the others or something? Not that I'm afraid or anything! But for um...extra...uh, what's the word? In-sue-rinse?"

"Insurance." I sighed, staring intently at the mysterious house, trying hard to pay attention to it alone, thinking of many ways I could try to discover why the new shelter was here in the first place. No lights, no sound, no movement of any kind...Could it be abandoned? I wondered, before nodding to myself. "Rainbow, if you want to go, go ahead. I'll be fine."

If I were focusing on Rainbow any more I'm sure that I would have heard her relax. "Alright, but if you're not back by sunset I'm getting the girls and coming in after you." Rainbow said with trepidation, though it wasn't as prominent. With a few flaps she was in the air and rocketing back to Ponyville.

I steadied my breathing as I watched her fly back to town. Don't worry Twilight. I reassured myself, If Princess Celestia believes in you enough to make you a princess too, then you can go into a weird house that nopony has ever seen before. With a calm smile on my face I made my way to the small deck, the thin layer of snow nearly muting the sound of my hooves against the wood as I walked up the five small steps.

When I reached the door confused to see a very small doorknob with an even smaller keyhole, as though somepony with very small hooves was the only one supposed to open this door. Though doorknobs were used on some outside doors, they were uncommon and tended to be bulkier and lager than a handle and lock. Something else that was surprising was the pure size of the door, being almost double my own size and much larger in height than width, it could have let the Princess' through with plenty of headroom.

Ignoring the architectural oddities I lit up my horn an used my magic to manipulate the finer workings of the knob and after finding resistance a faint click sounded and I opened the now unlocked door. The house was dark and considerably warmer than outside when I first entered and closed the door, but I refused to illuminate my horn to fend off the dark, just from a creeping feeling in my spine. As my eyes slowly adjusted to the dark I saw that I was in a small but long greeting area leading into a very advanced looking kitchen. Well, at least in terms of appliances. As I walked into the kitchen, it being my only route, I saw two doorways, one with a closed door and the other leading to a hallway. As much as I wanted to investigate every bit of this house that just popped into existence, I decided to explore the more public areas first. Slowly tip-toeing into the hallway and seeing what looked like a living room of sorts at the end of it, I had a feeling. The kind of feeling you get right before something big happens.

Squeeeak

I froze. My muscles tensed up before I saw it. A human. Tall and lanky standing on its two legs wearing some light and seemingly unseasonal clothing. He, or at least I assumed it was a he, brushed his short, shaggy blond mane to the side with one hand and squinted at me with shining teal eyes.

His eyes widened and he was still too. After a moment he spoke, "Bosee Rivah?" came the human's tenner level voice. I blinked, at a loss. All I remembered about humans was that they were considered extinct well over a thousand years ago, but here on stood, speaking in a tongue I failed to understand. Bow-say Re-vah didn't sound familiar in the slightest.

He took a step forward, a jovial expression on his face as he said Bosee Rivah once more. More out of fear than anything else I took a few steps back. A hurt look crossed his face and he stopped once again.

There was some shuffling behind the somewhat broad shouldered human, "Ivan? Gresn rete a ve bedy? came a sleepy, female voice. Cocking my head to the side, I got a glimpse was behind the male human. A shorter, stouter female human with a long, curly, dirty blond mane covered in what appeared to be a bathrobe. Her small eyes seemed to shrink even more before she screamed.

As I stumbled back in shock I made an indistinguishable sound that even I don't know how to describe. Stomping sounded behind the female and I saw a much taller and very muscle bound male, in a short sleeved shirt and loose trousers, charging past the female. The one directly in front of me turned around with his hands braced in front of him. When the hulking male reached the smaller one he was nearly stopped right there.

"No, stuv Papa! Stuv nah!" the smaller one cried, struggling to keep the larger back. With a monumental shove, the smaller pushed the larger away a few paces. "Stuv! Iso Bosee Rivah, ah ahmles penon!" taking up a dignified stance he puffed out his chest slightly and seemed to be showing his authority. "Jesuse nam ah penon en TV va at I. I kow at ve dew."

In my transfixed state, the words failed to filter at all and my tongue was tied. Though I knew I could speak, I figured I should try my best not to interrupt whatever the humans were doing. Heated words continued to exchange between the large and small males, and as they talked I noticed that the word penon came up several times. Not only that, but the two males shared many facial similarities, so I assumed they were father and son and the female was the mother.

After a moment, the house was silent. The smaller male returned his focus to me and gave me a small smile, turning around completely. Seconds passed before he slowly lowered himself to his knees, his hands moving in front of him in an almost soothing fashion. His ever movement seemed to be calm and steady. Once he was kneeling, he lowered himself into a pose all could recognize. This human was bowing before me. I just sputtered quietly, trying to understand what was happening. The smaller human raised his head, still bowing before me, joy and what seemed like a knowing spirit lay behind his teal orbs.

Raising up he sat on his knees, obviously trying to keep the calm. "Dobvla usia I Bosee?" he questioned. I just stared at him blankly.

"Penon fe dumba." what I assumed the father of the small one said. Small just turned his head and glared at him before returning to how he was.

He sat for a moment, obviously mulling something over before he brought one of his hands up, pointing to himself, "Ivan," he said, pointing to himself once again, "I-van"

With a shaky voice I attempted to repeat the obvious introduction, "I-I-van?"

The human named Ivan nodded with a smile, pointing to himself and repeating Ivan once more. Looking over his left shoulder, pointing to the female that was keeping a fair distance, " Mama."

Looking to the female I repeated, "Mama."

Pointing over his right shoulder Ivan said, "Papa"

"Papa"

Ivan had me repeat those three words several times before he stood up, gesturing to all three of them, "Femil"

I repeated the word three times before I realized what it meant.

Family.