Family Origins #1 Prequel: Gator Bait and Monsoon

By Daisy Daedal

She dove from high in the cerulean sky towards the boat my Pa and I were floating in the middle of Froggy Bottom Bog. Granted, it wasn’t unusual to see pegasi flying aerial ballets amongst the clouds. Their city made of clouds, Cloudsdale, floated in the air above Equestria and often near Ponyville. But what the free fall pegasus was doing in was dangerous for two reasons:

The splash she would cause from that height could capsize our boat.We were feeding a crocodile.

I only caught a glimpse of the dark grey mare before she disappeared under the murky bog water, and I’ll never forgot the expression of closed-eye bliss she wore. Wasn’t she at all worried about where she was going?

The ripple of the splash swayed our boat, and my Pa cursed as he tried to keep it steady. If we and the fish chum fell out of the boat, it could cause more predators to approach than we could handle, and we were nowhere near the shore.

But the crocodile had already turned around, moving towards the pegasi mare as she surfaced, unaware of what she’d done. I didn’t hesitate.

I leapt into the water soundlessly and swam fast for the hungry predator, thanking the princess that was my special talent.

I got behind the reptile and grabbed its tail. The beast whirled around to get me, but I used the force of the turn to propel me above water and unto its back. It was stupid, I know. I wouldn’t have done it with any other reptile, but our family domesticated this croc. Still, any predator is dangerous, no matter how much training they’ve had.

The Crocodile- we called him Fred- barrel-rolled his body around and around, disorienting me as I was thrust in and out of the bog. It was a race to see whether my earth pony strength could last long enough for my Pa to figure out a way to help- before I accidentally breathed in too much Bog water and drowned.

It seemed like ages passed, but finally I felt Fred’s body go limp, and strong hooves grabbed my torso, dragging me back into the boat. I coughed as the world around me began to stop spinning. With water in my ears I couldn’t make out my Pa’s voice, but I knew his repertoire of foul language was in full use. Then my ears popped and the voices became clear.

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I’m so sorry!” a feminine voice repeated in panic. It lead me to believe the other blurry gray and teal shape hovering over me was the pegasus. I chuckled in relief, my throat quickly tightening into a coughing fit.

“That’ll teach you to look where you’re going,” I managed to croak out, smiling weakly at the mare. The look on my father’s face told me I was in for a lecture back at home. But for now, he lashed out at the newcomer.

“Sorry’s not bringing Fred back! He was our best @#$*ing breeder for pets,” Pa snapped. My heart sunk a little- Fred had been in the family since before my older sister was born. But fights broke out among our captive reptiles, so deaths weren’t uncommon. Pa tried not to let us get attached, but when you feed something long enough bonds can happen.

“Fred’s really gone?” I asked softly.

“The family comes before the dang-blasted livestock, son,” Pa growled in response. “As for you,” he snarled at the pegasus, “as soon as you’re dry enough to fly I want you to fly out of Froggy Bottom bog and never come back!”

The mare’s gaze moved between us, receiving cold iron from Pa and silent sadness from myself. Her gaze settled a little longer on me before she bit her lip and nodded. The boat ride back home was silent, except for Pa’s muttering. As we tied our boat to the pier, the pegasus only said,

“Thank you for saving me,” before morosely flying off.

There was a barrel of apples on our front door the next morning, with a simple note sitting on the top. It read “please forgive me” in delicate, loopy script.

“What the &%&$ is that?” Pa demanded.

“Looks like apology fruit,” I replied, showing him the letter. He ate the letter on the spot instead of reading it.

“Roll it into the Bog!” Pa snarled.

“Croc Bait! I’ll have you not waste food due to petty grudges,” Ma, who had come up behind us, scolded. The pink unicorn lifted the barrel easily with her light blue magic, levitating it into our house. Muttering obscenities, Pa stomped off to start his morning chores. Thanks to that barrel, we were well stocked with applesauce, apple bread, apple pies and dried apples for a good long while. It felt a little like I was eating to fill the hole Fred’s death had left, but it wasn’t quite working.

The following day, I spotted her above us in the trees while we were fishing to feed our captured reptilian charges. Her wide-eyed curious gaze was pretty cute, I admit, but she seemed to be hiding so I choose not to point her out to Pa. He hadn’t let go of his anger. I kept an eye on the mare lest she put herself into danger again. She may have been able to fly but the Pegasus was a poor judge as to what branches would hold her. Multiple times Pa would whip his head toward the sound of a snapping a branch, so I did my best to distract him to keep the mare out of his sight. What if he surprised her by yelling and she lost the little balance she had? So far her wings kept her safe, and I wanted her to stay that way.

Unfortunately, one branch broke in an especially tight bunch of branches that were too dense to fly in. I watched her fumble to get a grip on the other branches, only to have them to snap at her touch until once again, she was in the bog.

“Dang blasted female! You're scaring away the fish!” My Pa yelled. Damp from the splash she made, I looked around for anything that might want to eat a pony. Thankfully, there was nothing. She surfaced nearby, and I leaned over the boat and held out my fishing net to her so she could pull herself to safety. But she ignored me, swam to the nearest shore and scampered away.

Three more days she watched us work “in hiding”, but she'd flee whenever her eyes met mine. The night of that third day I went outside our home to get water from the pump, She flew down from and walked towards me, her certainty lessening as she moved closer. When she was a step away from me she looked terrified, but she squeaked out a question anyway:

“Why aren't you mad at me?”

“Who says I'm not? I'm just less obvious about it then my Pa.”

“Then why aren't you shooing me off like he is?

“It's not everyday I get to rescue a Damsel in Distress, and you certainly got yourself into a lot of it,” I replied with a chuckle.

“I'm not a damsel,” she muttered, scrunching her face into a pout. She launched herself into the air rather than argue further.

“Good night damsel!” I called after her. Her annoyed expression kept a smile on my face all night.

Catching wild alligators and of caring for the ones you’ve already captured is dangerous work. Luckily, as professionals, getting hurt was rarer than a flower in the snow. The Pegasus mare was back again, watching from a distance. And I’m sure she found our safe habits irritating, not that the mare wished us harm, but whenever it looked like one of us was in trouble she'd raise her wings eagerly, as if she hoped she could come to our rescue, only to drop them to her sides when she saw we had it under control. My current theory was that she wanted to prove herself more than a damsel.

I have to admit, most of the trouble happened due to my watching her rather than paying attention to my chores. The Pegasus wore her heart on her sleeve and her expressions were charming to see.

“Do I have to send you home, son? My Pa snapped at me after I knocked an entire bait bucket into the bog by accident.

“No Pa,” I replied sheepishly. He stomped off, muttering as I tried to fish out the bait that was floating on the Bog’s surface.

“That was awfully clumsy of you,” the mare giggled.

“Look who’s talking,” I zinged back.

“But I’ve only fallen by accident once this week. You’ve been making mistakes all day!” she sneered.

“And who’s fault it that?” I snapped at her, facing her nose to nose. Her face grew red and her gray eyes widened. I realised too late what I said. It was darn embarrassing, and I decided right then to take a swim to cool off. I dove off the pier (we kept the area free of reptiles) and swam underwater until I was far from the pretty creature I’d left behind.

There were fireflies that lit up the path one twilight Pa and I were traveling towards our home while we checked our land traps. Some of the traps even caught Crocs that hadn't grown very large yet - anything was fair game to feed our sanctuary.

I always wondered what the damsel thought of us trapping critters - did she- like other ponies outside the bog- think we were monsters, or violent cannibals? Certainly she had been watching us long enough to notice we'd never snack on anything we caught, but she didn't see what we ate inside our home, either.

There was one trap left that was camouflaged, so it was pretty dangerous if you didn't know where it was. It snapped around the foot of whatever stepped on it, so I made certain it wasn't anywhere near where the Pony public walked. We were just a few feet away from it when a figure lit by the moonlight gently floated to the ground.

The damsel wore a lacy peach dress, and her usually thick, long teal hair was braided back with tiny peach and white flowers woven into it. My heart beat faster at the sight of her, but not due to attraction this time- she was mere inches away from the trap.

“Don't move!” Pa yelled

“But I wanted to apologize properly this time,” she said, unknowingly lifting her hoof over the trap as she made to step forward. I tackled her, knocking her away from the trap we rolled in the mud.

Maybe it was a mixture of being tired from today's work, being filthy, and fear but something inside me snapped. I pushed myself off the Pegasus and scooped the trap off the ground, bringing it into her sight.

“What? What did you want today? You're so caught up with repaying us that you're just getting us in more danger!”

“I'm sorr-”

“If you were really sorry, you would learn from your errors! Then you wouldn't need to apologize!”

“Gator Bait!” Pa snapped. I shook my head and stomped all the way back home without looking back. Slamming our front door open, I ignored Ma and stomped into our bedroom, slamming the door closed behind me. I paced back and forth, thinking. I felt like I wanted to stay angry, but confusion and sadness seemed to keep slipping in, too.

I heard Pa come in the main room not long after, exchanging a couple words with Ma and talking with a third pony- the mare. The sounds of water running started, and right after Ma came into the bedroom in a huff.

“You haven't behaved this way since you were a colt. A stallion should always keep a cool head.”

“Pa doesn't.” I replied simply.

“Your Pa wasn't raised by me, so he had different priorities where manners are concerned. But I have drilled this into you since you were young, so you have no excuse.

“Now let's get you cleaned up before you sit on anything with your muddy body and I have more to clean.”

“In the bath? With the mare?” I asked, shocked that my ma would suggest I do something so intimate with somepony we barely knew.

“No, out back with the hose. All that leftover warm water from her bath is going for cleaning the mud you trailed in.

Ma shoved me out of the bedroom, where Pa grabbed my ear and dragged me into our backyard. being hosed down was how our parents clean my sister and I after a particularly messy day playing out in the Bog back when we were barely out of diapers. At least my sister wasn't here to witness my shame and tease me about it.

The water’s spray was freezing, especially without the sun to dry off my fur. The shock it gave me woke me up in more ways than one, my childish behavior was especially clear in my mind. When all the mud was gone mom tossed a towel over my head and roughly rubbed me dry.

“Now, I want you to get out of your head and actually listen to that mare, ya hear?”

“Yes’m,” I replied.

“Don't agree like it's an easy thing! Too many ponies think so hard about what they're going to say during a conversation that they don't hear half of what's being said to them. That mare at least deserves the respect of being fully listened to. And then, if your head is quiet enough, focus on what you're feeling and tell her. No games.”

“I'll try, Ma.”

The Pegasus was sitting on a porch swing on our front porch, holding a half drunk lemonade glass in her hooves. At the sight of me she seemed twitchy, eyeing the sky like she wanted to fly away, but also appearing to have trouble forming words.

“May I join you?” I asked, and she nodded, scooting over to let me sit. The mare gulped down the last of her lemonade to avoid speaking, so I tried a question to break the ice.

“You took a lot of trouble with your appearance earlier, damsel - do you have somewhere to be?”

“My name is Monsoon, not damsel.”

“I'm Gator Bait. Sorry for the belated introductions”

An awkward silence followed as I waited for the mare to speak again. She opened and closed her mouth a couple times, until finally closing her eyes in shy determination.

“I was hoping you would have dinner with me tonight,” Monsoon said with one breath.

“I think the apple barrel was thanks enough for saving you,” I replied, smiling. She opened her eyes to glare at me.

“No it's not- but that's not what's dinner would be for.”

“Oh?”

“I like you.”

I blushed, despite myself. I looked down at the wooden planks below us and replied:

“Me? I'm not any pony special.“

She grabbed my hooves into hers, gazing intently into my eyes.

“Are you kidding? You're brave, thoughtful, quick-witted, strong in all the right ways - a total catch. I just thought if I prettied up a little you might forget the clumsy Pegasus who keeps ruining your work and instead be a mare you might be interesting in.” She looked sadly into her lap, her cheeks flushed to soft pink.

“I think you have me at a disadvantage, Miss Monsoon, because I don't know you as well as you know me. I'll have to treat you to dinner to remedy that.”

I was swept up in a giant hug as Monsoon giggled in joy.

“But I want to pay! I was going to ask you!”

“I asked first, so I pay.”

“You can pay next time since you stole my idea.”

“How about I pay you back with my strong body?”

“I take back about what I said about you being a total catch. We need to work on that ego. And the teasing.”

“Hey, you get what you paid for.”

And so we strolled off together to dinner, sharing the first of many star filled nights together.

The End

Author's Note

Snails' Paternal Grandparents' love story. Sorry no Cutie Marks on the illustrations- I was rushing and forgot.

More love stories related to Snails' family members possibly coming up, if you want to track the story.
Also, if you're curious about a specific couple among my OCs, let me know! It's been fun developing these characters. :)