Leaving on the table alternating stripes of shadows and bright warm light, the morning sun peeked into the kitchen window and made the sleepy unicorn girl squint and move slightly aside hiding her face in the shade of the frame. The last week passed under the auspices of approaching transfer exams, which generally meant more time and effort devoted to additional preparations. No wonder all the girls felt exhausted at the end of each second day; and if the studying stretched late – looked like zombies the next morning, unable to operate without a refuelling coffee dose. Musingly chewing on her toast, Misty kept dreaming over her cup and felt that reviving aroma rising from it was affecting her that day especially slow, no matter how deeply she sniffed it in.
The noisy titmice joyfully chirped behind the window; the most impudent and daring of them even jumped from the nearest cherry-tree onto the edge of the open window leaf, making aunt Anaesthesia Caring jokingly shoo them with a towel twice, as the sly birds already aimed at her muesli. Despite the weekend, it was her turn of duty in the hospital – Misty’s aunt was a pediatric surgeon, thus her morning was going to be habitually busy.
“By the way, Misty, dear,” the mare took her seat across the table, her eyes studied the filly with concern for a moment, “do you sleep well? Never noticed yourself having some… sort of somnambulism? I’m simply worried because you are overloaded by these preparations already, the sleep deprivation would be quite unwelcome…”
“Huh?” Misty raised her sleepy eyes from her cup, focusing on aunt’s face and trying to concentrate on the phrase, she undoubtedly heard but hardly managed to comprehend. “Sorry, auntie Ana, what?”
“I said you were not sparing yourself, dear!” Anaesthesia smiled sympathetically. But her next assumption made Misty wake up at once, almost choking on her lettuce sandwich. “Your usual studies and all the recent exam preparations keep you on the edge already. The lack of sleep may occur, of course. But using that time to work even more…” the aunt shook her head slowly. “If some dishes are left on the eve, I find them washed the next morning. The washing machine becomes loaded and launched, and if we have some laundry done I often find it ironed, when I clearly remember about not doing that myself. There are more small things, but… Don’t you know Misty that actively doing something through your sleep or semi-sleep may be dangerous?”
“Ahem…” Misty coughed and grabbed her cup to make a large sip; actually, she wanted to hide her abashment curtaining the flush behind her loose mane. “Khm… I… errmmm… really can’t remember myself sleepwalking… But if you say so, auntie Ana… I guess… I need to put a wet towel beside my bed… to wake me up if I decide to take a walk in my sleep again. He-he… won’t hurt anyway, will wake faster in the morning stepping on it,” she chuckled nervously, taking another large sip of hot coffee.
“You need to have enough rest, dear!” Aunt Ana glanced at the filly surprisedly, while Misty savvied hectically how to rule out the situation. “If you want to succeed in your exams. I’m not insisting, you know what you’re doing, Misty… Just worried a bit and… If you want to talk… you know, I will listen,” the mare leaned and stroked Misty’s hand lightly.
“Thanks, auntie, I know… and appreciate!”
The aunt was telling something else during the breakfast, but Misty listened to her half-heartedly, deep in her thoughts, replying monosyllabically. Finally, the mare left alone the thoughtful girl and headed to the hospital; it wasn’t clear if that talk helped dispel her worries.
‘I really need to talk to her,’ gathering her mane into a ponytail at the hall mirror, Misty took a lost look around. Fran tried to keep out of sight during the day, at least when those, who didn’t know about her, were present. That practically ruled out everypony except Misty, her three friends and… miss Singularity. The latter knew about Fran and sometimes Misty pondered if she had a word with the ghost mare during the day between the girls’ adventure and Fran’s decision to stay with Misty. ‘Fran must be more cautious, considering she isn’t an ordinary pony… One thing is to find things on the places different to those you left them on and completely another – to suddenly discover a ghostly mare in your house!’ Misty chilled at the thought about aunt Ana accidentally running into Fran during her “nightly chores”. Despite how progressive and sober her aunt was, it was only natural for her to have ambiguous feelings about a ghost-teacher becoming your niece’s older sister and moving to your place. That promised certain troubles.
‘It’s not yet time and place to tell auntie Anaesthesia everything,’ Misty pensively wrapped up in her morning gown. “Granted, auntie shows the polite interest of my interests and she isn’t of a scaredy-pony kind, but I need to be sure.”
Aunt’s house was relatively new and quite spacious: two floors, a basement and an attic. Thus the filly could look for a while without success: even being disparately smaller than the old school their house was still the new ground for Fran, who spent there less than a week. Happy about the opportunity to “live” normally, miss Von Selle found something new for herself every day, doing her best to conform to the modern life of ponies. She explored the house when possible avoiding the basement so far, but Misty could hardly blame Fran for that, knowing the reasons.
‘And where should I look first?’ biting her finger, Misty recalled that last time she saw Fran this morning. Well, to be exact, this morning she woke up in Fran’s cuddle; thinking of which brought a pleasant flush to girl’s cheeks. ‘Thank Celestia, auntie never enters without knocking!’
Anaesthesia treated her niece’s privacy with due respect and that was truly a blessing. At least they could be confident about nopony suddenly running into Fran and Misty cuddling in their bed or sisters (sisters! at that glimpse girl’s heart happily fluttered) sharing the tub.
‘What a foal!’ Misty slapped her forehead. ‘We’re alone at home, auntie left for the hospital…’
“Fran!” she called loudly, as the house was surrounded by the garden and no neighbours could listen or peek into their windows directly. “Sis! We need to talk?” For a while Misty kept an ear for the tiniest sound, stopping in the hall.
Finally, the hoofsteps reached her from the first floor and the long legs appeared on the stairs descending and revealing Fran Von Selle in entirety. The unicorn mare appeared mostly in her usual teacher clothes: above-the-knee skirt and a light blouse – she could easily materialize only those clothes she was well familiar to. She could manage a bathrobe already and once demonstrated Misty her ancient lush dress and something similar to Misty’s usual apparel – shorts and a t-shirt; both equally impressed the girl speechless.
“Did you call for me, dear?” Fran looked over the sleepy girl quite sympathetically for somepony who didn’t need to sleep for the last thousand of years.
“Ehhh… Ummm…” Misty confusedly lingered, she snuggled into the mare instead, wrapping her arms around Fran’s waist. Finally, the girl spoke out. “It seems… Fran, auntie noticed your presence…”
“Well… Not literally…” elaborated she, looking up at the mare lovingly, “But she started noticing things changing places and… stuff happening… I simply don’t want her to get scared… or something,” quickly added she, not wanting to offend her newly acquired older sister. “I mean, I know why you are doing all these things and I’m truly, sincerely thankful, but…” she guiltily snuggled deeper into Fran nuzzling her chest, while mare’s fingers brushed through girl’s hair tenderly.
“Oh, I understand, Misty, don’t worry,” Fran sighed with relief; evidently, she treated the issue less seriously than the filly. “I just wanted to become as much of a real sister to you as it was possible. It calls for some responsibility as well, doesn’t it?”
“I know, Fran!” Misty raised on the tips of her hooves and smooched mare’s cheek softly. “I don’t want troubles for us both and I don’t want to scare my aunt… but keeping her in suspicions isn’t the good alternative either…”
“But she is mostly at work during the daytime,” Misty’s voice brightened. “I thought… maybe you could be more active during the day… if… it’s not troublesome for you, sis…”
“What is some curious pony sees me then?” the unicorn mare watched the cheered up girl with a tiny smile. “Everypony knows you live with your aunt here, they may think that I broke in, and call the police or do something else equally disturbing…”
“It’s not a problem, Fran. Nopony approaches our house, the garden around is wide enough and it’s private property, nopony will peek in…” the filly waved airily. “Unless you open the front door to a postpony…” she smirked slyly.
“Besides,” Misty parted hands with Fran and jumped happily, making her morning gown hem flutter around as she spun once or twice. “We can spend more time together this way and, the main thing,” Misty glanced at her named older sister meaningfully, “I can complete my studies and help you, whichever you are going to do.” She quickly pulled Fran back into a cuddle.
“Hmm… That idea certainly has some practical value,” noticed Fran with feigned pensiveness while inwardly enjoying Misty’s suggestion but trying to tease the younger sister a little. “Truth be told, I quite lost the habit to show up during the daylight,” she tapped on her chin with the finger raising her eyes to the ceiling, while Misty looked up at her from the cuddle with glowing puppy eyes. “Hey, won’t it interfere with your studies, let alone exam preparations, dear?”
“Because I can help you with arts or, for example, literature only; most natural sciences are… Neighponese to me though!” she looked into Misty’s eyes, booping her on the nose slightly.
“That would be awesome, sis!” the girl squeezed her, nuzzling affectionately.
“Oh, I almost forgot!” Misty made a funny face. “Girls were going to come after lunch… So, I need to address my studies first!” she rolled her eyes in a jokingly exhausted manner, finally waking up completely.
“Need my help?”
“Ehhh… Physics!” exhaled Misty meaningfully. “It seems that miss Singularity is going to tumble us like a sponge judging by the numbers of her additional tasks… And what did you plan?”
“Well, I’ll mind my own business around the place then,” Fran waved with a smile. “Don’t worry, for all that time I learned the methods to busy myself no matter what.” She winked jocosely. “By the way, that room upstairs… the guest room, right? Did your parents occupy it, Misty? Some photo-books are truly fascinating, but… it won’t hurt to set the whole place in order a bit.”
“They visited us recently, right before their expedition,” giggled Misty, “thus stormed out on the day X somewhat hectically. I’m sure they wouldn’t mind, so dig through the books as you please… all the stuff generally; I do sometimes, they don’t mind as long as everything is returned on the places.”
*
Skimming through the books, Fran completely forgot about the time; some photographs were truly marvellous. She was to admit that there wasn’t anything alike in her times – the technology made a tremendous leap, allowing deepest sea dives and saving the moments of otherwise hidden life and beauty. Needless to say, that she started from those and the whole “bringing in order” process progressed slowed down noticeably.
When she put the last book on the shelf, the large clock on the dresser showed 12 already. Throwing an intent look around the room, Fran made sure that everything was shelved, aligned and tidied up. Thankfully she got used to doing a few things at once, thus even her interest to the photographs of oceanic sights didn’t distract her much.
‘Hmm… That’s much better!’ nodded Fran inwardly, when the slightly open door of the built-in wardrobe drew her attention. Maybe it was open from the beginning, or maybe the light breeze made by the mare fluttering around the room pulled it; Fran was sure that she didn’t pick up, fold and put away any clothes.
A glimpse of white beckoned Fran from the insides, making her approach and open the door wider. Nothing special, it was a common wardrobe, half-filled with the clothes Misty’s parents left behind, considering unsuitable for the scientific expedition. Mostly formal stallion suits on the hangers, but Fran’s eyes became chained to the single long white summer dress. Light and airy, with thin straps and open back, with large scarlet roses printed all over it forming a nice pattern.
‘So cu-u-u-ute!’ Fran caught herself staring at the dress with her fingers over the open mouth and glowing eyes. ‘Must be of Misty’s mother…’
The mare giggled over the image definitely suggesting her behaving as all big sisters do, trying mother’s clothes, shoes and accessories. But the temptation was stronger than her. She reached it and for a while enjoyed the touch of the cloth, which was familiar to her; the fashion, however, was completely new for Fran. If she was asked to describe it in just a few words, Fran would most likely use bold and daring, darer than anything she came across till that moment. Of course, she realized that her experience during the years was quite limited, but…
It didn’t matter! She wanted to try it so much; in a moment, Fran was holding the hanger, stroking the wave of fabric tenderly.
‘And I don’t care if I look hilarious at the moment!’ frankly admitted she, while her own clothes started fading, so Fran could slide into the subject of her desire in a wink enjoying its feel on her bare skin. ‘So be it, it’s worth it a million times!’
Finding the large mirror on the floor stand, Fran examined her reflection thoroughly flushing lightly and biting her lip. The dress left her shoulders and back open, thin flowing fabric jauntily covered mare’s excitedly billowing breasts; tightly fit in the waist, it flowed down in a multitude of loose folds and fanned up attractively when Fran spun on the spot. Apparently, she was taller than Mrs Lagoon and two long cuts from mid-thigh down started in Fran’s case noticeably higher, making her look truly daredevil.
‘Mmmmm…’ miss Von Selle set her mane loose, thus covering the shoulders a bit, and let out a laughter of delight, unwittingly saying aloud. “Misty needs to see this! No, girls need to see this. Definitely!”
With all the serenity and new impressions, with the closeness of the solicitous girl, the last few days on the new place with Misty were the first time in the thousand years Fran felt truly happy.
‘Happy, happy, happy!’
The rest didn’t matter.
*
“You have completely dug into those books, bud!” chuckled Windy Mane; she sat on the sill of the open window dangling her legs and letting the wind ruffle her short red mane. “Didn’t open for so long, we got tired to ring and were going to climb into your window already.”
Misty didn’t hear the first few bells indeed, delved into her studies, so she rightfully received girls’ jokes on herself when she finally opened the front door and let them in. Right after their talk with Fran, she changed into the top and comfy shorts and immediately set to her exams preparations not raising her head practically till noon. Thus she was glad to see her friends, whose arrival meant freeing her head for a while from studies.
“Sorry, mates,” Misty gathered the books and papers, arranging them and moving aside on the table. “I’m done for today. So nice that you came! It’ll be awesome to talk about anything but physics. Know what, we could make some cookies and…”
“Yay! I like the sound of this,” Windy sported a wide grin jumping off the windowsill and stretching. “We managed to feel peckish this morning with that new club activity.”
“Club? Activity?” Misty blinked in confusion. “What are you talking about? It seems I’ve fallen out of the life cycle with all those studies.”
“We have quite a few news to tell you, Misty,” Lacy Reins habitually examined the plants in Misty’s room. She did that each time automatically, moving from one pot to another, checking the condition of the green inhabitants; once accepting the patronage over them came out naturally and without objections from her friend. “Physics included.”
“Oh! Well… I think I can cope with one-two phrases more about it,” Misty rolled her eyes jokingly, “if you all promise to help me with home-made cookies and… eating them after. We could occupy the kitchen then… And… Oh, I will need to help Fran as well…” remembered she, grabbing the pile of books from her desk.
“By the way, how’s Fran doing,” reminding about her brought a smile on Flaunty Mane’s face, other girls showed vivid interest as well. “I hope she is accommodating well in the new place. Where is she now?”
“We are perfectly fine,” said Misty making her friends exchange understanding glances, while she was placing the books on the shelves. “She accommodated to the point that she was almost caught by auntie Ana!” added she giggling.
“You don’t say! How come?!” under the tripled surprised glance, Misty was to elaborate.
“You know, mates, Fran is not used to messing around, so… she decided to take some household work,” Misty made a significant face. “Naturally, auntie noticed that some things in the house began… errmmm… “do themselves”, so she got suspicious.”
Windy and Lacy began snorting and Flaunty shook her head with a smile.
“Don’t you plan to tell her everything someday? I can imagine it to be next to impossible to hide the presence of another family member in the house for ages,” winked she.
“Probably when the time comes, but I’m unprepared right now…” Misty sighed with concern. “Or better say, I’m not sure if aunt Anaesthesia is prepared for such news. Anyway… We decided to do things together during the day, not to attract unnecessary attention. So, what’s about that physics and stuff you started about?..”
“Well, I spent some time asking around,” Flaunty leaned on the dresser holding a large folder with sheets of paper in her embrace. “And it seems that only we four got additional classes in physics.” She made a meaningful pause. “However, the tasks themselves are not extremely hard; we all are coping without wrecking our brains much, right?” Misty agreed with Flaunty on reflection. “So I naturally wondered, what was the point. I know repeating and fixation, but I think there is more to that. I didn’t come to any plausible conclusion yet.”
“Another thing is the extracurricular sports club,” Windy noticed in her turn. “Those willing to attend can train even during the summer break. Moreover, we are welcome to take training on weekends, just like today.”
“And what’s strange in the sports club?” Misty was genuinely not getting the problem.
“That every its course is practically some self-defence training rather! By very modest standards. However, I tend to call it martial arts…” uttered Lacy crossing her arms, Windy and Flaunty nodded. “Some of us received the informational booklets… and strangely we found the thing worth attention, but I can’t remember something similar being held in Pinewatch before. Moreover, only a few including us interested…”
“I didn’t get any booklet!” Misty felt puzzled and even slightly deprived, not to the point of taking offence though. “It’s strange…”
“Strange indeed,” Flaunty threw back her hair with the hand pensively, then made an assumption without even guessing the importance of it. “Maybe, somepony sending those offers didn’t consider plain force to be your method.” She pondered for a moment, then shrugged. “And one more thing is – we will have a summer camp this year, all volunteers can apply.”
“Now, summer camps are pretty common for every school,” smiled Misty.
“Maybe… But we heard that miss Singularity is among the organizers and curators,” Lacy said weightily. “And she isn’t even in the Sports Committee…”
“Hmmm… A few new things, except maybe the sports club, as we don’t know for sure about it, seem to be bound some way or another with miss Singu… And us…” Misty finished arranging the books on the shelves and turned to her friends. “I seriously don’t know what to make of it yet, mates. She never mentioned our last adventure in school, but personally, I catch her evaluating glance from time to time.” The girls nodded. “By the way,” Misty just noticed, “what is that folder with you, Flo?”
“Oh!” the pegasus filly smirked a little confusedly. “These are some of my works, I wanted to show them to Fran… Want to know what she thinks. Where is she by the way?”
Feeling herself like a filly again, Fran paraded across the corridor in the most floating and dreamy way not forgetting to stop by the large mirror in the hallway and savour her new look once again.
‘If I were Mrs Lagoon, I’d take that dress even to the expedition,’ smirked she widely, examining herself from different angles. ‘Hmmm… Interesting, does Misty have something alike? I saw her in the t-shirts and shorts only so far,’ Fran giggled. ‘We could look like real sisters! Alas, not many to show to, but… who knows?..’
Floating like a kite she approached Misty’s door; her head was filled with pleasant images.
“She is somewhere around the house, Fran wanted to bring the guest room in order this morning but I have no idea about the rest of her plans,” Misty turned to some rustling she fancied from behind the door. “I guess it’s her, there is nopony except us in the house.”
The four fillies were familiar with proverbial ghosts’ habit to infiltrate through solid objects, such as walls, doors and so on. Moreover, they were sure that Fran could perform that trick and even witnessed her peculiar method of doing it. But that exactly appearing exceeded their most wild expectations.
With the most joyful and happy expression they ever saw on her face, Fran simply seeped through the door of Misty’s room and swirled making her loose mane and tail flow around her. Windy and Flaunty, Misty and Lacy felt how their eyes widened becoming round of surprise.
“Hi, girls!” intoned the unicorn mare lively. “Look, what a beautiful dress I found! Little sister, it is simply unfair that it was forced to stay in the wardrobe instead of impressing the eye…” she turned to Misty and stopped, seeing the flush of embarrassment on girls’ faces and at the same time excitement flaring up in their eyes.
“Yeah, that was impressive, definitely,” slowly said Flaunty. Windy and Lacy muffledly giggled staring at Fran with glimpses of desire.
“Ahem… Fran… Errmmm,” barely hiding the smile and failing to hide affection, Misty couldn’t find proper words at once; she realized what was that rustle behind her door. “The fact is that common clothes… can’t come through solid objects!”
With eyes getting round, Fran threw a look down on herself; not finding that marvellous summer dress on, the mare made a timid attempt to cover herself with her sumptuous mane and tail, without much success though, flushing and closing her eyes.
“SQUEEEEE!!!”
“Hi, Fran! How’s it going?! I see you’re enjoying the new place! I love you, sis!!!” the girls rushed to hug and squeeze the abashed but actually taking pleasure in the situation mare.
