Twilight lead the trio into the house after retrieving their things from the back of the car.

“Laundry room is here, I can help you with that if you need it.” Twilight said as she gave a small tour.

Opening the door to that room, all four of them caught the scent of spices and cooking meat.

Twilight smiled as she stepped into the kitchen.

“This is the kitchen obviously. Mostly the domain of Jesamine here, but I have been known to turn out a few good meals.” Twilight said motioning to the woman working at the stove.

“I’d shake hands, but I’m in the midst of making wings.” Jes said as she dropped more chicken wings into the sauce.

“By the smell, they’re going to have a kick.” Twilight replied as she motioned for their three guests to follow her.

“Here’s the dining room, normally it is just the two of use, so it will be nice to have a full table.” Twilight said as she exited the kitchen.

“Living room is over here. It is going to be your classroom in a couple of days. Bedrooms and the guest bath are this way.” Twilight said as she gestured towards the living room and walked towards the back of the house.

Opening the door to the first room, Twilight looked into it before saying, “Shining, Flash, this is your room. Take your pick of the beds.” She said before motioning to the door across the hall. “Bathroom is in there. I have a tankless water heater, but that does not mean you can spend all day primping.” She said with a pointed look to her brother.

“What?” Shining asked.

“Mum used to joke that you should have been born a mare because of how long you would spend in the bathroom.” Twilight replied with a raised brow.

Shining spluttered as he blushed.

Twilight let out a “Mmmhmm” as she turned to Applejack. “Alright Jackie, follow me. Your room is over here.”

Once they had entered the room, Twilight turned to Applejack. “AJ, how has Spike been since Discord pulled his little stunt?”

Applejack paused from opening her bag. “How come you’re asking me and not Shining Armour?”

“Because, I know Spike. He would stick around Ponyville for you girls. You all are family to him.” Twilight replied.

Applejack paused and thought about her friend’s assertion. She never did claim to be the smartest when it came to book learning, but she realized that anyone could see the truth in what Twilight had said.

“He did stick around. Grew up finally. Physically I mean, and not like the whole greed growth incident. You raised him right Twi, a real gentledrake that one.” Applejack said with a wistful smile.

“Twilight smirked. “He looks good I take it?”

“Sugarcube, if I was a few years younger and he wasn’t so focused on running the library all the time, I might have considered it.” Applejack said with a smirk of her own.

Sobering, Twilight asked, “Does he at least go out and have fun?”

“He does. Tries ta spend as some time with all of us. Finally got over his crush on Rarity.” Applejack replied.

Twilight cocked her head to the side and twitched her ear. At Applejack’s questioning look she explained. “I heard a great cry of anguish and then silence as thousand of shippers had their dreams snatched away from them.” She said with a chuckle.

“Shippers?” Applejack asked.

“Yeah. Fans that like a particular pairing of characters in a story will pair them up or ‘ship’ them in stories they write. Sparity, or Spike and Rarity is a common one.” She replied.

“What are some other popular ones?” Applejack inquired with trepidation.

“Let’s see… there’s Twilestia, Twiluna, Rainshy, Rarishy, Raridash, Rarijack, Appleshy, Appledash, Twidash, Twijack, Sunlight, Sunota, Fluttermac, Cheerimac,Flutterdash, Princest, Sparklecest, and Applecest. That’s all that I can think of off hand. Disturbed yet?” Twilight asked as she rattled off the various pairings. “Oh, can’t forget the harems. Those are kind of fun to read.”

“How can those be fun to read?” Applejack inquired, looking a little green.

“The hijinks that go with forming a harem are amusing most of the time, regardless of who is involved.” Twilight replied with a shrug. “Don’t worry though, I doubt that I will be forming a royal harem anytime soon.” Twilight replied with a wink, causing Applejack blush.

Suddenly a thump came from down the hall.

Twilight rolled her eye and shook her head before heading to the other guest room.

Looking in the door, she saw Shining and Flash having a near silent fight over the bed closest to the door.

Quickly schooling her expression, Twilight barked out, “What the hell is going on in here?” at a volume that would have impressed a drill sergeant and a certain lunar princess.

The two males immediately stopped fighting and snapped to attention, purely out of reflex.

“You are both grown stallions! Why are you two fighting like a pair of fillies over a doll? I honestly expected better out of you Shining Armour.” She said as she marched up to the pair. Turning to Flash, she started in on him.

“And what about you? Getting into a fight with a superior officer? I would have thought you would have been taught better than that.” Twilight said with a glare.

Both stallions looked ashamed and, quite frankly, pitiful. Twilight took pity on the pair.

“I get that you guys are tired and are all kinds of out of sorts, but I will not tolerate incidents like this happening under my roof. I expect you two to sort this out in a gentlemanly fashion. Now, come on. Dinner should be about done and I would like to enjoy it as a group.” She said with a smile before turning around and heading to the dining room.

Shining and Flash looked at each other.

“That was rather unprofessional of me wasn’t it?” Shining asked.

“I should have deferred to you as the ranking officer though.” Flash replied. “And as the Consort to Princess Cadence.”

Shining chuckled. “Come on Lieutenant. Let’s sample the local cuisine.”.

Author's Note

And here is part two of the Reunion arc. Let me know what you think.