Your Family and You

“I can’t believe you actually fell asleep,” Twilight snickered, looking back at me.

We made our way through the marketplace, most of the activity from earlier in the day having been completed while we were inside the spa. It was late afternoon now, creeping steadily into the evening, and most ponies were making their way home for the day. Deep orange sunlight broke through the cloud cover here and there, but a rumble in the distance promised more rain was headed our way. A flash of lightning on the horizon confirmed it.

Twilight and Cadance walked in front, their coats shining in the sunbeams. Their manes were brushed and trimmed, and their wings were fluffed and freshly oiled. A new application of hoof polish adorned their hooves; black for Twilight and turquoise for Cadance. Both of them were positively radiant. Each looked the part of a princess.

Behind them, I limped along, not as heavily as before and thankfully without any pain. There was still discomfort from the stiffness of the leg, but Lotus had done amazing work. When I tried to pay her, she had blatantly refused to take any of my bits. “Non, it was pleasure enough to ‘ave been able to ‘elp my most favorite ‘uman customer again!” had been her excuse.

I had glared at her as I deposited fistfuls of bits into their tip jar before being chased from the building by a broom-wielding mare.

“I couldn’t help it,” I said, sticking my tongue out at Twilight, “it’s the best I’ve felt in a while.”

Twilight returned the gesture with one of her own before turning back around. “You certainly look much more relaxed than you have been lately.”

“I’ll say!” Cadance chirped. “You’re positively glowing! Your emotions too! They aren’t as chaotic as they were when I first arrived.” She bumped Twilight with her hip. “Maybe you should make this a regular thing.”

“We could,” Twilight hummed. “I definitely wouldn’t mind. Especially with what’s coming up.” The tip of one of her wings brushed against her stomach.

“Just you wait,” Cadance tittered. “Your back will be killing you before this is over. You’ll be half-tempted to just have a masseuse on standby in your castle.”

Twilight’s ears splayed back. “R-really?”

“It’s what I did!” Cadance said in a sing-song manner. “Paid to have the Acu twins move into the palace for the last few months of my pregnancy. A massage in the morning before getting up in the morning, and a massage at night before heading to bed. Pressure and Puncture really earned their keep too.”

“Hmmm,” Twilight hummed thoughtfully. “I’ll keep that in mind, but I’ll hold off for now. Besides, I think I might have a decent masseur already.” The smoldering look she shot over her shoulder caused me to blush, but I returned it with a wiggle of my eyebrows.

“Alright you two,” Cadance said. “Calm it down. While it’s wonderful to feel the love coming off of you both, I don’t want to be kept up all night.”

Twilight looked mortified, but I just gave Cadance a bemused look. “You’re staying in the guest room. You couldn’t hear us even if we tried. Besides, Twilight likes to scream into her pillo—” My mouth kept moving, but no sound came out. It took me a moment to realize what was happening, and I glared at Twilight.

“Shush you,” she said, horn glowing.

I gestured in hoof language and a massive blush exploded across her face.

“Goodness! What did he say?” Cadance asked.

“Y-you… you don’t want to know,” Twilight stammered, fanning herself with a wing. When I started gesturing again, she squawked. “Okay, okay! I’ll turn it off, just… stop!” Her horn stopped glowing, and I got my voice back.

“The offer’s still on the table,” I teased, and Twilight buried her head in her wings. Chuckling to myself, I turned my attention to Cadance instead. “So, that reminds me. I was going to ask earlier but fell asleep… how long do you plan on staying with us?”

“Well,” she hummed. “Originally, I didn’t even know what I was coming down here to do, so I cleared up my schedule. Once I figured out what the issue was—” she gave both Twilight and me pointed looks “—I was going to stick around for a couple of days to make sure both of you patched things up. However, Twilight’s mentioned that traveling museum which I really want to go to, plus there’s that cookout she mentioned as well, so I’ll probably be here for about a week or so.”

“Cookout?” I scratched at my beard for a moment before my eyes widened. “Oh! The anniversary cookout! Yeah, you’re totally invited to that! That reminds me too, I need to make a special order from Canterlot here in the near future.”

“Special order?” Twilight asked. “What are you ordering?”

“It’s a surprise,” I said. “Something food related, although I shouldn’t order too much. It won’t be overly popular, but I really want some, so…”

Twilight gave me an uneasy look over her shoulder. “It’s not more alcohol, is it?”

“No, it’s not,” I said, kind of hurt.

“Is it poisonous?”

“What? No! God no. What the hell made you think that?”

“Well… can I eat it?”

“Yes, you can,” I said slowly, “but will you eat it? Probably not.”

“I think I know what it is, but I’ll wait to see what you’re cooking up,” Twilight hummed.

“Oh, trust me. What I’m cooking up is going to be delicious.” I grinned at her, and she rolled her eyes, but I could see the hint of a smile playing across her muzzle as she faced back around.

“Delicious is good!” Cadance chirped. “I’m always up for some good food! The cravings might be over with, but I still find myself starving half the time. It drives Shiny crazy whenever I sneak off to the kitchens in the middle of the night for a fourth meal.”

The conversation was interrupted by a drop of rain landing on the top of my head. Peering up, I realized that the dark clouds were rolling up faster than expected. What little patches of sunlight had been present before had closed up. The wind was picking up and a curtain of rain could be seen slowly creeping across the hills towards Ponyville.

“Oh dear,” Cadance gasped. “We better hurry before that reaches us!”

Twilight nodded. “Agreed!”

Picking up our pace, we hurried across the marketplace towards the treebrary. The few ponies that were still present saw the encroaching wall of water as well and made similar decisions, galloping off towards the nearest shelter. The only one that didn’t seem all that concerned was—surprisingly—Vinyl, who was seated in an empty cafe patio.

“You, uh… gonna find some shelter?” I called out as we passed by.

“Nah, I’ll be good, brony!” she called back, watching the approaching rain with disinterest.

“You sure?”

“I’ll be good.”

“In trouble with Octavia again?”

“I’ll be good.”

“I’m sure,” I said, shaking my head.

We staggered into the library right as the rain arrived, the sheets of water slamming against the window panes. Wind tore at the branches, causing them to lash about wildly, leaves flying off to god knows where. Lightning forked across the sky, accompanied by the deep, echoing boom of thunder.

“Damn, that was close!” I said, watching the storm through the open front door. “It almost got us.”

“We certainly cut it close,” Twilight said, dabbing at the damp end of her tail. “A few more seconds and we wouldn’t need a shower tonight.”

All three of us stood in the entranceway, watching the pouring rain and flashes of lightning. Twilight leaned up against my left hip, and a moment later Cadance did the same with my right. We stayed that way, enjoying each others’ company, until the rain started splashing inside, soaking the mat and forming a puddle. With that, we closed the door and locked it for the night.

“Right,” Twilight said, turning around and moving into the library. “Does anything need to be done before we can relax?”

“Not that I can think of,” I said. Stretching, I yawned before continuing. “I cleaned up after breakfast, and then took care of the main room. Spike had the upstairs and it sounded like he was wrapping up when I left.”

“Good. That means we… can…” She stopped, her words trailing off. Confused at her sudden pause, I glanced around, only to pause as well upon seeing what had caught her attention.

Spike crept across the room from the staircase, clad in dozens of pillows. A hoofball helmet was crammed on his head, his green fins sticking out the ear holes. His claws were covered by a pair of oven mitts, and he held a broom out in front of him like a lance, bristles outward. Perched on the end of said broom was an apple.

As he moved past us, he nodded in our direction. “Oh, hey guys. You’re back!”

“Uh…” I looked at Cadance and Twilight, but they appeared to be just as bewildered as me. Turning back to Spike, I tried again. “Uh, you okay there, dude?”

“Library’s haunted,” he said.

All three of us deadpanned. “What?”

“Library’s haunted.”

“Spike, that’s not…” Twilight began, only to yelp when a low moan echoed around the room. “What was that?!”

“Library’s haunted,” Spike insisted, “and I’m giving the ghost what it wants so it’ll leave us alone.”

“And… what does the ghost want exactly?” I asked.

Saying nothing, Spike moved forward. Still balancing the apple on the bristles of the broom, he slowly stalked closer and closer toward the book return box. Right as the fruit was in range, a hand darted out of the return slot, snatched up the apple, and disappeared back into the box in a blink of an eye. The sound of crunching came from the box a moment later, followed by a low growl.

“Crunch-crunch.”

Closing my eyes, I let out a deep sigh before burying my face in my hands.