Your Family and You

A soft rain pattered against the reading nook’s window. It was a gentle rain—the final whimpers of the storm as the weather team worked on cleaning it up. By the afternoon, sunshine and warm weather were promised for the next week.

It was early in the morning—at least early for me—and sleep still clung to the edges of my vision as I nursed a glass of mango and pineapple juice. A plate of toast and candied orange slices sat on the nook’s table, along with a small cup of strawberries and blueberries. I picked at the food absently, not really savoring anything I ate. Watching the rainwater trickle down the window pane, I sipped at my drink before turning to the pony sitting across from me. “So, what does the damage look like?”

“Hmmm?” Looking up from her papers, Octavia peered at me over her reading glasses.

“The concert?” I asked, nodding to the papers. “How bad was it?”

“Oh.” She looked back to the papers and shuffled through them. “I suppose it really depends on how you look at it. It seems that several of the nobles that were in attendance weren’t too happy about the… end of our concert. I’ve already received several letters of complaint… which I allowed Vinyl to use as kindling. Some of the more proactive ones have even attempted to contact the Canterlot’s Royal District Orchestra to try and get me fired. I don’t think they realize I haven’t worked for them for years.”

“And if they happen to contact the right orchestra?”

“I’m not worried. My conductor doesn’t care too much about ‘reputation’. As long as you play well, you still have a chair.” She picked up a crimson paper and glanced at it. “Oh, and apparently one of the more extreme nobles is petitioning for our arrest, of all things. For crimes against music. Not the first time I’ve heard that one, surprisingly,” she muttered under her breath.

Sitting back, I sighed heavily. “So basically… I fucked up.”

“I didn’t say that,” Octavia said. “Yes, the major nobles are upset, but on the other hoof, several minor nobles have asked me for the name of your song. I don’t believe they know the origin is not of our world and thus they won’t be able to find it without you, but they were eager for the name nonetheless. Additionally, many—many—common folk have been sending in requests for more performances, similar style performances, and one or two are even asking for lessons.” Putting the papers down, she smiled. “So you see? Some bad reactions, some good reactions, but more good than bad.”

“If you say so,” I said.

“I do say so,” Octavia huffed. “Overall, I’d say this positively impacted our reputations. If anything, it’ll keep ponies talking for a while, which is always good in show business.”

Taking another sip of juice, I glanced into the library center. It was dimly lit; none of the lamps had been turned on and there wasn’t enough ambient light outside to illuminate the interior yet. Primrose was seated in a beanbag chair, reading a book on exotic wildlife by the light of a single candle. Avera was asleep in the upper rafters, having gotten back an hour ago from an overnight shipping order she had to run to Hollow Shades. Spike was puttering around, putting away a few early morning returns. And then there was Twilight.

The cupboard door was propped open and inside, snuggled down in her nest, was the princess herself, with blankets draping around the entrance to her nest-cave, forming makeshift curtains. A book was balanced casually upon a pillow in front of her. There was a bag of chocolate chip cookies betwixt her forelegs that she was snacking on. A bandana was wrapped around her forehead, keeping her bangs out of her eyes. She had one of my ‘stolen’ shirts on: a black one with her cutie mark on the front. Unlike Pyresteed, Twilight only seemed to wear the shirts while she was ‘nesting’. Turning a page, she fished a cookie out of the bag, dipped it into a jar of peanut butter, and then popped the morsel into her mouth. She chewed happily, her wings quivering at her sides.

A smile touched my lips as I watched her. I wasn’t sure how long she had been hiding the nest from me, but now that it was out in the open, she had decided to leave the door open. I don’t know what it was about it, but seeing her snuggled down in her little cupboard made my heart flutter.

“So, where do we go from here?” I asked, turning my attention back to Octavia. “What’s the plan? Do we start slamming out concerts like there’s no tomorrow, or…?”

“No, I don’t think so,” Octavia hummed. “Not for a while, at least. There are several things that need to be done before that happens. I need to talk with a few ponies, organize a couple of things, and find a few more pieces of music so we aren’t playing the same things over and over again. We don’t want to get too stale.”

“And buy a new cello, too,” I said into my juice cup.

This earned me an affronted look. “Hey! It was your song that caused me to smash my precious child in the first place!”

“Don’t blame me for that,” I shot back. “I didn’t smash my cello after the song. You’re the one that went all rockstar on it.”

“A moment of weakness, nothing more,” she said through gritted teeth. “I wasn’t used to music that is that… intense. It wasn’t classical. It wasn’t normal.”

“More intense than making out with your marefriend in front of several hundred ponies?” I asked. “‘Cause… that didn’t happen to me. That sounds more like a ‘you’ problem.” She started grinding her teeth, and that’s when I figured it was time to cash in while the getting was good.

Finishing off my juice, I sighed heavily. “Anyway, I’ll leave the details to you, I guess. Just let me know when and where the events are. I’ll try to keep my schedule open as much as possible.”

“That won’t be necessary,” Octavia sighed. “As we are technically the managers of this duet, we set our own times. Sure, somepony can request a certain day, but for the most part, we decide what days we are free. Clashing events won’t be a problem.”

“Gotcha.” The last of my breakfast finished, I leaned back in my chair. “So, change of topic. Are you planning on coming to the cookout tomorrow?”

“Of course! Vinyl and I will both be there. We’re even bringing something to share.”

“You didn’t need to do that. Food will be provided.”

“We are bringing something to share,” Octavia said firmly.

I held up my hands. “Okay, fine! Bring something to share.” I laughed. “I’m just repeating what Twilight told everyone. She and Ebony are organizing the food. The only thing I’m in charge of is my special order which came in last night.”

“Special order?” Octavia asked.

“It’s a surprise,” I said with a smile. “Granted, a lot of ponies might not care for the surprise, but it’s my party, I can splurge if I want to. Besides, it’s been a while since I’ve been able to cook and enjoy this, sooo… I’m doing it anyway.”

Octavia gave me a curious look. “If it’s what I think it is, Vinyl might be interested in having some.”

“I’ll be sure to offer her some then,” I said. Gathering up my dirty dishes, I made to get up. “Is there anything else we need to discuss about our concerts, or was that pretty much it?”

“That was pretty much it,” Octavia said, closing up her ledgers with a snap. “Anything not mentioned was either not important enough to matter at the moment, or something we can handle at a future time.” I nodded before carrying my dishes to the kitchen.

Ebony was at the counter, doing prep work for tomorrow’s festivities. Fruits and vegetables soaked in the filled sink, from which she was snatching and chopping those she needed. A container of water waited for the sliced foods, and once full she placed them in the stuffed fridge.

Stepping around her, I placed my dirty dishes off to the side, out of the way of her prep zone. I watched her work for a moment before grabbing a piece of apple as it floated past. “How’s it going?” I asked, popping it in my mouth.

“So far, so good,” she said, not turning her attention from the task at hand. “Most of the food is fairly fresh. We have one or two misfits, but I’ll just use those as compost for the greenhouse, so they aren’t a total waste. I’m almost done with the prepping. Everything should be ready for tomorrow on my end.”

“Awesome.” Snagging another piece of fruit, I double checked the fridge—which was crammed full of containers of sliced fruits, vegetables, various beverages, and a large package crammed onto the bottom shelf. I’d deal with that later in the day, so for now I just closed the door and left everything as it was.

Exiting the kitchen, I stood in the doorway, contemplating what to do. Part of me wanted to go back upstairs and get a few more hours of sleep, but I knew if I did that, the rest of my day would be thrown off. We had kept up on the library so it wasn’t in need of cleaning or organizing. For the moment, there wasn’t really anything I needed to do.

And if that was the case…

Twilight squeaked as I entered her nest, collapsing down onto the piles of pillows and blankets and pushing her aside. She started to protest before I threw my arms around her and pulled her against my chest, resting my head on top of hers as I placed her in my lap.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

“Relaxing,” I muttered into her mane. The scent of lilacs tickled my nose.

“Oh…” She was still until it became apparent that I wasn’t moving. Slowly, she returned to her book. The soft sound of pages turning came every few minutes, along with the faint sound of Twilight’s breathing. Eyes closed, I sat there, holding her close and timing my breaths with hers. Her hoof brushed against my hand, the strokes gentle and caring. I could feel myself starting to drift off, a haze creeping in from the edges of my consciousness.

I was just starting to embrace the nothingness when something bumped against my lips. Cracking open my eye, I gazed bemusedly at the cookie floating in front of my face.

“Can I help you?” I mumbled tiredly.

“Cookie?” Twilight asked, and from the sounds of it, her mouth was already full.

Sighing, I opened my mouth and the cookie slowly drifted in. “Fank you,” I said, chewing.

Twilight hummed before snuggling back into me. Together we sat there, lost in each other’s company, while outside the rest of the world slowly woke up to the gentle sound of the pattering rain.