Band of Five Attributes (Re-Written)

The sun was setting, giving way to twilight and, ultimately, the night that would soon follow. Many ponies bustled about in an effort to get to some destination somewhere; this evening bustling including a group of seven ponies led by an older white-pelted duo that seemed to have known where they were going in spite of the bickering that ran rampant amongst the lot.

“Shut it, weed-whacker.” Yuuki hissed, glaring at Nagare in such a way her eyes seemed to glow under her bangs.

“It wasn’t me who said that, Miss Purple. It was Mister Suntan.” Nagare replied, faint smile present on his face as he rolled his eyes.

“Oh, nononono.” Yuuki snapped, shaking her head disapprovingly at the green stallion as she and the other teens followed the elder ponies. “I could’ve easily sworn that YOU said ‘curlycue!’ My mane is NOT curly!”

“‘My mane is not curly.’” Nagare imitated, smile widening as he said that. “Don’t get me wrong, Amethyst, there is indeed a little curl of hair sitting right on top of your head.”

“You do know how much I HATE the name ‘Amethyst,’ right?” Yuuki snarled, her face turning a dark red under her hair. A pink vein appeared on her cheek, and her mouth was twitching one corner as if about to be pulled straight off her muzzle by an invisible hand.

“What’re you going to do to me, Lavender?” Nagare taunted, stopping and sitting on his rump to place his front hooves on Yuuki’s cheeks so he could make her look as silly as can be. “Call me names?”

01 immediately stopped in his tracks, turned around, and then trotted to the arguing teens before literally pushing them apart with his hooves. “Enough, the both of you!” He snarled, his own face darkening as he spoke. “Must I reprimand you two? Because it sounds like a good idea to me at this moment!”

“No, sir.” Nagare and Yuuki answered in unison, ears flat on their heads and sweat beginning to form on their faces.

“Then behave. We’re almost to our new house anyway, so I better not hear any more bitching from either of you!” 01 replied, turning around and trotting to his place alongside Kaguya.

The elder mare groaned. “Again?” She asked, shaking her head as she swiveled her body to the left, and her eyebrows twitched in annoyance.

“Yes, again. Just how much more are they going to argue?” 01 answered, keeping up in perfect tempo with the mare all the while his ears were twitching as he spoke. “It’s the third time today.”

“I’m still wondering why Nagare threw accusations left and right before you broke up the verbal fights he was having with Yuuki.” Kaguya sighed, glancing behind her briefly to ensure that the teens and two fillies were keeping up. “Something’s definitely fishy; he’s usually not this uppity when speaking to anyone, let alone with Yuuki of all ponies.”

“Teens will be teens. I’m blaming hormones.” 01 replied as he and Kaguya stopped before a house with a straw roof, causing the rest of the group to stop as well. It was a fairly big house, with windows near the roof indicating that there was a second floor, and the woodwork looked fairly decent and polished up. There were also windows on either side of the sturdy wooden door, and they looked spic and span.

Instead of stairs that led to the aforementioned door, there was a well-slanted ramp that was lined with carpet. Not the best quality of carpet, considering it had an aged look as well as day-old hoofprints, but a carpet nonetheless.

The elder stallion groggily yawned and scratched his head with the back of his hoof. Kaguya sighed and sat on her rump, raising a hoof to reach into her saddlebag. She shuffled through what little contents were inside, which included an empty bag, a pencil and notepad, before pulling her hoof out and taking a key with.

“The ponies who sold this place to us even gave you the key?” 01 asked, still scratching his head with his hoof.

“I very politely asked them to.” Kaguya replied as she thrust the key into the lock and turned, a click signaling that the door was unlocked. She then raised her hoof to the knob and turned it, the door opening without so much as creaking hinges or other inanimate fuss a door could produce.

The white-pelted ponies trotted in, followed in short order by Rekka and Koto. The living room in which they now stood had a round table, just big enough for eight ponies. There was a couch in front of a nearby wall, and an entryway to the second floor: a normal flight of stairs that curved at a sharp 90-degree angle at the middle, providing a nice platform for a potential crowd should the need arise, and it also gave the living room more space. Part of this stairway was a ramp, much like the one before the front door, providing a means for the crippled to go upstairs if they wanted to do so.

In another room, this one also with a door that stood ajar for some reason, was a kitchen complete with fridge, stove, and cupboard. There was also a counter that had drawers for plates, bowls, and the like.

“Whoa,” Rekka sighed, glancing around before trotting towards the kitchen and then back to the elder ponies, who had noticed the rest of the group already trotted inside, “I like this.”

“I second that.” Tenmei commented, setting one of his hooves on the first step of the stairs.

“Here, here.” Koto chimed, a small grin on her face as she hobbled up the ramp part of the stairway. She soon stood on the second floor, which had a hallway with five doors (and a sixth she was standing next to that she failed to notice) on one side and four on the other, as well as another stairway at the end of the hall that had to have led into an attic.

Tenmei also rounded the platform as he ascended the stairs towards the second floor. Upon seeing the second set of stairs that led further up, he quickly galloped to them and shot up the small flight like a rocket, only to stop dead in his tracks as the top of his head suddenly met with a door built into the ceiling.

“No roughhousing up there!” 01 called from below.

“I found an attic door and accidentally hit my head on it!” Tenmei called back, rubbing his head with a hoof.

“Alright, just be careful!” Kaguya called.

“Okay!” Tenmei replied, opening the door with his other hoof and peering beyond the wooden, horizontal frame to find a small room that had some lingering dust which caused him to sneeze. Other than the dust and a window allowing sunlight to pass through and illuminate the polished wood floor that collected the aforementioned dust, the room contained nothing of interest. The teen sighed and trotted back to the second floor, making sure to close the door behind him and to look where he was going this time.

Koto was busy waltzing in and out of all the rooms the hallway had to offer, a small smile on her face as she did. Yuuki emerged from the stair that led to this hallway, eyebrow arched as if she were confused.

“The hell’re you doing?” Yuuki inquired as she watched the blue pony continue walking in and out of rooms like her life depended on it.

“I’m not sure which room to take; they’re all so nice!” Koto answered, her grin widening as she entered another room.

Mimu ascended the stairs, utilizing her pixie wings in the process, and found herself hovering over Yuuki as though she were an annoying fairy. “What’cha doin’?” She asked, poking Yuuki with a hoof to get her attention.

“Trying to comprehend what Koto is doing. Just look at her, going back and forth through all the rooms.” The purple mare answered, holding a hoof before her as the spectacle kept playing out.

“Sounds like fun!” Mimu cried as she proceeded to fly in and out of the rooms herself.

“Ehh?!” Yuuki wailed, an eyelid twitching and mouth hanging ajar as she watched the fairy-winged filly dart all over the place.

Mimi suddenly shot past the purple mare and she too joined in the going-in-and-out-of-rooms charade.

“Not you too….” Yuuki sighed, eyelid still twitching as she stood there watching. Her ears fell flat on her skull again, and sweat was beginning to form on her face.

Nagare trotted up the stairs, only to see what it was Yuuki had been looking at. He sighed, rolled his eyes and shook his head disapprovingly before trotting down to the fifth door on the left. He opened it, and ducked in the nick of time as Mimu whizzed overhead. He rushed into the room and closed the door behind him, shouting “I am claiming this room!”