7 Flower Moon 1008

Flurry was laying under one of the trees, enjoying the shady reprieve from the sun. A book was in front of her, but Flurry wasn’t reading it right now, and so it was closed.

Flurry liked reading. It was fun and it helped her understand the world. She could definitely understand why auntie Twilight liked reading so much.

Maybe, she thought, I like it because it reminds me of auntie?

When Flurry had asked Dad about auntie Twilight, he had said that she was likely fighting against Nightmare Moon and that Flurry wouldn’t be able to see her. Dad couldn’t say when Flurry would see her aunt again.

Auntie, I hope you’re proud of me. I can read!

Not very fast, true, but she was getting better every day with Dad and Mom’s aid. When Dad had first suggested that she’d be taught to read, Flurry had immediately jumped at the chance, especially when it became clear she could manage it.

Flurry saw something move out of the house. Her father looked at her and waved his hoof, before gesturing that Flurry should come to him. Curious, Flurry grabbed Whammy and her book, then spread her wings and flew over to him.

‘’Hi daddy,’’ she chirped as she landed in front of him.

‘’Hello sweetheart,’’ her father replied with a smile. ‘’Do you know what day it is the day after tomorrow?’’

‘’No?’’

‘’Mother’s day.’’

Immediately, an image of mommy Cadence appeared in Flurry’s mind. Last year, her daddy and her had baked a cake and presented it to mommy in the morning. Mommy Cadence had loved it.

‘’Flurry?’’ She looked up to see Dad was watching her with a concerned look on his face. ‘’Are you alright?’’

Sniffing, Flurry nodded. ‘’It’s fine… I was just thinking back to what we did last year.’’

Dad reached out and put his foreleg around Flurry, pulling her close for a hug. Flurry hugged him back, enjoying the softness of his coat and the safe feeling she got from being in his embrace.

‘’Do you want to get Mom something for mother’s day?’’ Dad asked after a minute of comfortable silence, looking down at her with a soft smile.

Flurry nodded. ‘’Sure.’’

‘’Excellent!’’ Dad declared. ‘’I have an idea, but I’m going to need the help of you and maybe your friends.’’

‘’Okay, daddy. What do we have to do?’’ Flurry asked him.

‘’Find the prettiest flowers you can - but don’t steal from other people’s gardens!’’ Dad waved a hoof half-threateningly. ‘’Then weave them into a flower crown, or flower crowns. And then you and I can go into the town and bake a cake or something similar tomorrow. How does that sound?’’

‘’It sounds great, daddy! Let’s do it!’’ Flurry cheered.

Dad pressed a kiss to her forehead, then let her go. ‘’Go on then. Remember, pretty flowers. I think white and yellow match well with Mom’s mane, and maybe some blue and yellow for you?’’

Flurry imagined it in her mind. Since when can daddy match colours?

‘’Daddy, can you take Whammy and my book?’’ When Dad nodded, Flurry gave him both items. ‘’Bye daddy! See you at dinner!’’ Flurry spread her wings and flew away from Dad into the gardens.

‘’Bye Flurry!’’ she heard Dad say behind her. ‘’Good luck!’’

Flurry flew to the edge of the gardens, landing next to the fence. She kept her wings open to relieve some of the heat. How people lived through temperatures like this every year, Flurry didn’t know. It was warmer in spring here than it was during the summers in the Crystal Empire!

Time to find some flowers!

Flurry kept the fence on her left and followed it, looking around for any flowers that looked nice. By the time she reached the corner of the fence, she had gathered eleven flowers, three blue ones and eight yellow ones. They weren’t the flowers of the Crystal Empire, but they were pretty nonetheless.

Flurry peered down the fence. It ran all the way down to the end of the grass, where it gave away to a cliff and then the beach. She could go on and search for some more flowers, but it was getting late, and she was feeling thirsty.

I should go back to the house. Don’t want Dad to worry.

Flurry held the flowers to her chest as she flew back to the house, quickly making her way up to her room once she got there. She spread the flowers out on her desk, sorting them by their colour. When that was done, she quickly got a glass of water from the kitchen.

Only to almost bump into her mother as she was walking out of the kitchen. ‘’Hi Flurry,’’ Mom greeted her.

‘’Hi mommy,’’ Flurry replied. ‘’What are we having for dinner?’’

‘’I was thinking mashed potatoes with some carrots,’’ Mom replied. ‘’Why, are you hungry?’’

Flurry shook her head. ‘’Just a little thirsty.’’ She took a sip from her glass, enjoying the cold water running through her mouth and down into her body.

‘’Okay.’’ Mom smiled at her. ‘’I’ll go start on dinner now.’’

‘’’Kay,’’ Flurry said. ‘’Bye mommy!’’ And she trotted past Mom.

‘’I’ll call you when dinner is ready!’’ Mom called after her.

‘’’Kay!’’

Once she was back in her room, Flurry sat down at her desk and stared at the flowers. What am I supposed to do now?

Just as she was about to get up from her chair, there was a knock at her door. She turned her head to see Dad standing in the doorway. ‘’Found the flowers?’’ he asked quietly.

Flurry nodded. ‘’Now what?’’

Dad entered the room, closing the door behind him with his magic. ‘’Let’s see…’’ He peeked over her shoulder. ‘’Beautiful flowers, sweetheart,’’ he said after a moment. ‘’I’ve gathered a few myself.’’ Seven flowers, green, yellow and blue, dropped onto her desk.

‘’What do we do with them?’’ Flurry asked him.

‘’We weave them into crowns,’’ Dad replied. ‘’Want to know why?’’

Flurry had been curious about that. ‘’Sure!’’

‘’It’s a tradition in the Crystal Empire,’’ her father explained. ‘’Flower crowns are worn during important celebrations. It used to be a sign of wealth to be able to get live flowers that far north, especially in winter. Nowadays that’s different, but the tradition persists.’’

I wish I knew about this earlier, Flurry mourned. It’s my home, I should know about it.

‘’Come,’’ Dad said, oblivious to her inner musings, ‘’let’s see how much of a crown we can make. We need at least three.’’

Flurry nodded, and together they started to work on it. By the time Mom called for dinner, they had made one flower crown already and were well on their way with their second.

‘’We’ll need more flowers,’’ Dad mused softly as they made their way downstairs. ‘’No matter, we can get them tomorrow.’’

‘’Sure, daddy.’’ Flurry brushed up against his leg. Dad stopped, turned his head to look at her, then nuzzled her back.

Mom was waiting for them when they finally got into the living room. ‘’What were you two doing together?’’ she asked.

Dad immediately replied, ‘’Flurry and I were just talking about the day.’’

Even Flurry could see that Mom didn’t fully believe Dad, but she nodded anyway. ‘’Okay. And how was your day, then?’’ The last part was addressed to her.

As Flurry began to talk about her day, she saw her father give her a wink out of the corner of his eye. In return, she smiled brightly at him.

|-x-X-x-|

8 Flower Moon 1008

Emerald didn’t miss that Star and Flurry left for Sunville together early in the morning. What they were going to do, she had no idea of. Star’s excuse of simply visiting the town held little worth when it wasn’t even noon yet.

Oh well. If it was something for her, then Emerald would allow herself to be surprised. She had something to occupy herself with anyway.

The library Star kept was impressive, both in size and in variety. Emerald had expected only books about magic, but she had found a number of other topics as well, such as politics, geography, history, science, and even mundane things like cooking and basic economics.

She had picked out a few that had caught her eye, and with Star’s blessing - ‘’Everything in the library, you are free to take with you,’’ - she was now sitting with them on the couch. The sun was falling through the windows and the hearth was crackling softly but merrily.

Emerald opened the first book. The cover read ‘’Magic for the uninitiated’’. Why Star would keep a book like that in his home, when he was one of the most knowledgeable mages in the world, Emerald didn’t know. But she was eager to find out more about magic.

Half an hour in, and Emerald was starting to understand why magical studies took so long to complete. Her mind was filled with terms she barely understood, and this was a book for those that knew nothing about magic! She put the book away and slipped off the couch.

Let’s get some air. The windows could not be opened safely without destroying them, which Emerald had no wish to do, and so she walked to the outside of the mansion.

The pond seemed like a great idea. Star had made a small stone bench, partially overgrown with vines, next to it, built against the bark of a large oak tree. It was out of the sun for now, but still comfortably warm even in the shade.

The water sparkled in the sunlight, and the wind blew in her face softly, caressing her cheeks. Emerald swept her mane behind her head again, and considered.

All things considered, she was settling into New Mareland rather well, she supposed. It was certainly different from the Crystal Empire in many ways, but Sunville reminded her of Fairhall. That too had been a small, close-knit village, where everyone knew each other.

Emerald missed it, to be sure. But she was determined to give Flurry the same loved childhood she had enjoyed herself, no matter if the location was different.

One thing she wasn’t sure she liked was the warmth. Flower Moon in New Mareland was warmer than summer in the Crystal Empire, and Emerald wasn’t used to it yet. Perhaps she would grow used to it, in time, but that time had yet to come.

Emerald rose from the bench. The fresh air was nice, but she wanted to do more than sit around all day. Occupying herself was hard at times, but she managed.

Perhaps I should start a little garden. Star has enough space, he won’t mind if I take a little patch for myself.

Emerald had noted a distressing lack of flowers inside the house when they had first arrived, and in the past months she had done her best to remedy that. She was happy with what she had done now, but there was always more that could be done.

But before she worked on that, she was going to take a walk on the beach. Star had made a path down the cliff and set up a tent which contained a set of beach chairs, towels, and anything else one could need at the beach.

The sea wasn’t like the river Emerald had played in with her friends in the summer. Instead of gravel and rocks, soft white sand was under her hooves. Emerald didn’t know if she liked it, but Flurry certainly did.

Emerald considered getting one of the beach chairs out, but decided against it. Simply walking would be enough to clear her mind, as long as she took care to not stray too far from the mansion.

|-x-X-x-|

8 Flower Moon 1008

‘’So daddy, what’s the plan?’’

Flurry had had the good sense to wait with that question until they were far away from the mansion. Star appreciated that about the filly.

‘’Well,’’ Star said, ‘’it’s simple: we go to the bakery and ask if we can borrow one of their ovens this afternoon. If we can’t, we shall have to order one instead. And in any case, we’ll have to gather some more flowers for the final crown.’’

Flurry nodded seriously. ‘’Okay, daddy. I can do that.’’

‘’I know you can, sweetheart.’’ Star gave her a kind smile as they continued walking, Flurry beaming at his words.

They entered the village, idly greeting back to those ponies that were outside and greeted them with waves and hello’s.

The bakery was, in Star’s opinion, quite a beautiful building. No two houses were alike in Sunville, for it’s residents had had quite enough normalcy in their lives. Star could sympathize: their story had been a tragic tale.

Flashback

There were some fifty ponies in total, gathered around the trees of the market square. Most of them were earth ponies, the rest were pegasi and a few were unicorns.

Star was not afraid. He had not been raised spoiled, but he had been raised amongst the Canterlotian elite, and the looks of curiosity were far better than the thinly veiled mistrust or dislike so many of his supposed peers had worn.

A glance behind him showed Emerald and Flurry approaching the group of foals, who were watched over by a unicorn mare. If it was needed, he could teleport to them, grab them both and teleport to the mansion in seconds. The shock and confusion, plus the distance, should give them a few minutes to flee. But surely that wouldn’t be necessary.

‘’Good evening,’’ Star greeted the assembled villagers.

A chorus of careful greetings came back to him. They’re fearful, cautious. They know who I am and who Flurry is.

Star introduced himself anyway. ‘’I am Star Tower Spellweaver, formerly the Royal Magician of Canterlot.’’ With that done, he waited.

It was Sandy that spoke first. ‘’Star has a request for us.’’

He inclined his head at her, before clearing his throat. ‘’As you might have guessed, I live in the mansion down at the coast.’’ He glanced behind him, and saw Flurry and Emerald hugging each other.

‘’How did you get here?’’ The question came from a bulky pegasi stallion, watching him with more displeasure than curiosity. Star could not fault him for that.

‘’I escaped with Emerald and Flurry from Crystal City as it was being sieged, on command of Princess Cadence. We made our way to a friend of mine in Turhamn, in Vedina, and after staying there for a short while we took a ship to New Mareland. Before it docked, I teleported us off it to the mansion.’’

He saw a few faces, mainly the unicorns’, light up at the mention of teleportation. I am powerful, yes, thank you for noticing.

‘’And your request is?’’ the same stallion asked after a moment.

Star swallowed. Here goes nothing.

‘’For the three of us to stay here in secrecy.’’

Silence greeted that statement. Star saw the hesitance, the caution, but there was something else. Sympathy? Star would take it.

‘’And what of the trucks in front of your house yesterday?’’ a mare suddenly asked. ‘’What did they mean?’’

‘’The president paid me a visit,’’ Star replied casually. ‘’He offered me a job and ratified the adoption papers for Flurry that Cadence had given to me.’’

‘’The president,’’ the bulky stallion echoed, doubt lining his voice.

But doubt was something Star had anticipated. ‘’I can show you his job offer, if you’d like me to,’’ he offered. ‘’Though I’m afraid I don’t have it with me.’’

The stallion shot a look at an orange unicorn, then nodded. ‘’We’ll do that later,’’ he said. ‘’I think we should vote on if Star’s request will be granted.’’

‘’Aye,’’ rippled through the crowd.

‘’Very well.’’ The stallion looked around the group. ‘’All in favour?’’

Star had expected a close vote.

The almost deafening chorus of aye’s had not been his expectation. He blinked rapidly. It seems there is a story here.

‘’Welcome to Sunville,’’ the stallion said, and now he was smiling. ‘’My name is Featherbulk. I apologize if I sounded rude.’’

‘’No harm done,’’ Star soothed, now smiling as well. ‘’Though before I go tell my daughter the good news… I’d like to know why the vote was so overwhelmingly in my favour.’’

The silence that greeted him made him wonder if he had just massively fucked this up. It was Featherbulk that broke the uneasy silence after a long moment or ten.

‘’We’re all orphans.’’

Star was definitely interested in this story.

‘’Oh?’’ he asked.

‘’Yes,’’ Sandy said. ‘’It’s a long story. Basically, we all grew up together in the same orphanage, in Manebourne. Nobody wanted us, for reasons we’ve never figured out. Our orphanage did not have the money to support us all, and so when the oldest of us reached adulthood, they took us - with permission of the orphanage, mind you - and we made our own little village here.’’

That was… not what Star had been expecting, and he was not sure how to react to it. It did explain why they had not balked at secrecy, and why there was no one older than thirty-five present.

‘’I am impressed,’’ Star said, and now he understood how the town had suddenly sprung up when he visited here again, two years after the mansion had first been constructed. ‘’I’ll want a longer story in time, but for now I think it’s best if I go to my daughter.’’

Flashback end

‘’Daddy, we’re here!’’

Star shook himself, and looked up to see the yellow and green building that was the bakery. A trail of smoke blew out of it’s chimney even at this early hour. And unlike the busy bakeries of Canterlot, there was no line in front of this one.

They stepped inside, a bell attached to the door announcing their arrival.

‘’Good morning!’’ a shapely pegasus mare called out. Her mane was white and yellow and her coat was a pale shade of pink. ‘’What can I do for you two?’’

‘’Good morning,’’ Star replied. ‘’Flurry and I were wondering if we might use one of your ovens and ingredients to bake a cake for tomorrow.’’

‘’Of course you can!’’ the mare replied excitedly. ‘’Oh, but I didn’t even introduce myself! I’m Strawberry Spike, but you can just call me Berry. Is it going to be a cake for your wife?’’

Wife?

‘’Emerald is not my wife,’’ Star explained. ‘’She is- was a hoofmaiden of Princess Cadence and the Princess sent her with me to care for Flurry.’’

‘’Oh!’’ Strawberry - Berry - gasped. ‘’I’m sorry for assuming!’’

‘’It’s alright,’’ Star dismissed. ‘’It was a logical conclusion.’’ And he could never fault those.

‘’Okay,’’ Strawberry said, sounding eager to move on to another topic. ‘’You wanted to bake a cake?’’

‘’Yes,’’ Flurry replied before Star could. She slipped past Star and looked up at Strawberry, eyes wide. ‘’Can you please help us?’’

It took Strawberry all of two seconds to capitulate to Flurry’s cuteness, and the mare led the filly around the room, Star following behind the two of them with an indulgent smirk on his face.

Brilliant.

|-x-X-x-|

9 Flower Moon 1008

‘’Good morning, mommy!’’

Groggily, Emerald opened her eyes. As she yawned and sat up in bed, she saw Flurry was standing next to the bed stand. Now what could the filly want at this hour?

‘’Good morning, Flurry,’’ she replied, before looking at the clock.

9:00. Huh.

‘’Why are you up so early?’’ Emerald wondered aloud. ‘’Is something wrong? Are you sick?’’ It hadn’t happened yet, but it could, and Emerald had worried that if it happened, she wouldn’t be able to help and everything would be terr-

Flurry shook her head. ‘’I’m not sick, mommy. I’ve got a surprise for you. Come on!’’

Emerald let out a sigh of relief, before sliding out of the bed. She grabbed her hairbrush from her bed stand and ran it through her mane and tail. She would have to do it properly later, but that could wait for now.

‘’Where’s the surprise?’’

‘’In the living room, mommy.’’

‘’Why there?’’ Emerald wanted to ask, but didn’t. Flurry probably wouldn’t tell anyway.

So instead, she just followed after her adopted daughter, walking down the stairs to the living room.

Emerald looked around, and proceeded to see nothing out of the ordinary. Everything looked just like she had left it last night, before going to bed.

She glanced down at Flurry. ‘’Are we waiting on something, sweetheart?’’

Flurry glanced at a corner in the room, before looking back at her and nodding. ‘’Just a few more seconds, mommy.’’

One, two, thre-

‘’SURPRISE!’’

Emerald yelped in fright at the sudden sound, coming both from Flurry and from the corner. Her eyes darted towards it to see Star suddenly standing there, smirking at her. She looked back at Flurry, and-

That’s a cake.

‘’It’s for you!’’ Flurry said, gesturing at the cake with her wing. ‘’Happy Mother’s Day, mommy!’’

Mother’s day?

The cake looked really good. Emerald suddenly smelled it; had Star masked its smell with a spell? She smelled strawberry, and pear and apple too.

The strawberries were laying on the frosting of the cake, sticking out among the green frosting. The pear and apple she smelt had to be inside the cake then.

Emerald stared at the cake, then looked at Flurry and Star’s smiling faces. ‘’I…’’

‘’Do you like it, mommy?” Flurry asked. ‘’Daddy and I worked really hard on it.’’

‘’Sure did,’’ Star chimed in.

‘’Thank you,’’ Emerald breathed. She felt a tear run down her cheek.

‘’Mommy, don’t cry.’’ Before Emerald could reply to that, Flurry had wrapped around her leg, hugging her tightly. ‘’Did we make a mistake?’’

‘’No,’’ she choked out. ‘’I-’’

She was a mother.

‘’It’s okay, mommy.’’ Flurry’s voice was muffled because her mouth was pressed into Emerald’s leg, but she could still hear the understanding in it. ‘’I love you.’’

‘’I love you too, Flurry.’’ Emerald used her other leg to hug Flurry back. ‘’Thank you.’’

She pressed a kiss to Flurry’s forehead, then lifted her leg up and used it to wipe her tears away.

Star approached them, three plates with neatly-cut slices on them floating along in his magic. ‘’Here you go.’’

‘’T-thanks.’’ Emerald grabbed one of the plates and sat down on the couch, before taking a bite from the cake.

It tasted heavenly. The taste of still-warm pears and apples entered her mouth and lingered in it even after she swallowed the piece.

‘’This is delicious,’’ she remarked.

‘’It was a lot of work,’’ Star said, acknowledging her compliment with a nod. ‘’It’s what we spent yesterday doing. But it was a lot of fun as well, and the final product is very tasty.’’

‘’Can we do this more often?’’ Flurry asked.

Star chuckled, before leaning forward to brush the crumbs away from her mouth. ‘’Sure,’’ he agreed.

‘’Where did you make it, then?’’ Emerald inquired. She was definitely ordering this one again.

‘’The bakery. It’s owner helped us make it.’’

Flurry suddenly frowned. ‘’Daddy, what about the flowers?’’

Emerald looked at Star, whose face could be summed up as ‘Oh shit’. ‘’What flowers?’’

‘’The flowers I left on my desk,’’ Star answered absently. ‘’One moment.’’ He vanished in a golden flash, only to reappear five seconds later with flower crowns?

‘’Here you go.’’ Star gave one of the crowns, with blue and yellow flowers in it, to Flurry. He put another with white and red on his head, while giving her the final one, which had purple and blue flowers in it.

‘’Thanks,’’ she managed to say, before putting the crown on her head. ‘’How did you know about this?’’

‘’Come now,’’ Star said, ‘’I spent two years in Crystal City reading through every book I could find and talked with dozens of ponies about the Empire. This was one of the first things they told me about.’’

Emerald reached up and touched the crown to make sure it was placed on her head correctly. ‘’You made these yourself as well?’’

‘’Yes. We picked the flowers yesterday and the day before that, and then made the crowns together.’’

‘’I helped a lot!’’

‘’You did,’’ Star confirmed with a smile.

Author's Note

So I actually wrote this back when Mother's Day was happening, and before Chapters 7-10 were there. So if you're wondering why the characters introduced there don't show up here, that's why.

Also, in case you missed it, I uploaded a one-shot a couple of days ago. Check it out: https://www.fimfiction.net/story/499274/the-wrong-mare

(Edited on 9-10-2021)