20 Thunder Moon 1008

‘’Like this?’’

‘’Yes…’’

‘’Ow!’’

‘’Sorry!’’ Skystreak apologized immediately. ‘’I should have been more careful!’’

‘’It’s alright,’’ Flurry said before Mom or Daygleam could say anything. ‘’Pain’s already gone.’’ It had only been there for a second, and then it was gone again.

‘’Still should have watched better,’’ Skystreak replied, smiling sheepishly. ‘’This braid is more difficult than I thought.’’

‘’You just have to keep a steady hoof,’’ Mom explained gently. ‘’Keep in mind what you want to do, and do it carefully.’’ The twin-linked braids in her hair showed her point.

‘’Sound advice,’’ Daygleam added. ‘’It’s good advice for life in general too.’’

‘’I guess,’’ Skystreak said. She glanced down at her barrel and smiled. ‘’Though sometimes not being careful can end up good as well.’’

Daygleam and Emerald both smiled, and Flurry smiled as well. She couldn’t wait for her sibling to be born!

‘’Speaking of, how is the little one?’’ Daygleam asked.

‘’He’s been quiet so far.’’ Skystreak was beaming as she spoke. ‘’I’ve only felt him a few times.’’

‘’He doesn’t keep you up?’’ Daygleam pouted. ‘’Magic did with me. Though I guess you’re not that far along yet.’’

‘’I’m sorry for keeping you awake, mommy,’’ Magic spoke up, before rising from the floor and walking over to her mother.

Daygleam turned to her and nuzzled her face. ‘’It’s alright, sweetie.’’

‘’Okay.’’

I wonder if I kept mommy awake at night, Flurry thought.

‘’Do you know if it’s gonna be a colt or a filly?’’ Magic asked, and it was a pretty good question.

Skystreak shook her head. ‘’We’ll have to wait a little longer for that,’’ she answered. ‘’But when I do know, I’ll tell you, alright?’’

‘’Yay!’’

‘’So what do you want it to be?’’ Mom asked either Skystreak or Magic. Maybe both, Flurry wasn’t sure.

‘’I think it’s going to be a colt,’’ Skystreak answered Mom’s question. ‘’But I’d be just as happy with a filly. As long as they are healthy.’’

‘’Hear hear,’’ Daygleam said, before raising her glass of lemonade. ‘’To health!’’

Mom and Skystreak raised their glasses as well. ‘’To health,’’ they repeated. Then the three of them drank at once.

Flurry lifted her own glass, but instead of raising it she just drank from it. What does raising your glasses even mean?

‘’Mommy, why did you all raise your glasses when you said that?’’

Looks like I’m not the only one.

Daygleam laughed. ‘’It’s called toasting, sweetheart. It’s something you do when you want to celebrate: you raise your glasses and sometimes touch them together, and then you all drink at the same time.’’

‘’Okay,’’ Magic said, before turning to Flurry and whispering, ‘’Grown-ups are weird.’’

‘’Yeah, they are,’’ Flurry agreed.

|-x-X-x-|

20 Thunder Moon 1008

The things Star had to do were numerous. However, one matter currently held precedence above all else: expanding the mansion.

They didn’t need too much, just a room for the foal; however, Star wasn’t going to do this halfway. Aside from a new room for the foal, a more public study might not be such a bad idea, considering Skystreak’s work also covered doing paperwork, and a lot of it at that. Emerald didn’t even have a job, at the moment, but Daygleam would probably appreciate a small working space as well; Star had yet to decide if Skystreak’s study and Daygleam’s workplace would be in the same room or split.

Before he decided that, however, he needed to know what was possible. And for that, he’d headed into Sunville, to the house of one Wide Woods, who had apparently led the construction of Sunville.

Wide Woods’ house was located on the other edge of Sunville, close to one of the many small forests sprawled outside the village. Like all the houses in town, it was made of wood, painted in sandy colours and with a blue roof.

And someone was, evidently, working with wood, if the sawing noises were any indication.

Probably so far away from town because of the noise, Star noted amusedly.

The noises came from the garden behind the house, and so Star walked around it until he arrived in the backyard.

There stood a big earth pony stallion, deep purple coat with a chocolate brown mane, and a log with a saw in it for a cutie mark.

‘’Excuse me?’’ Star asked.

Wide Woods evidently heard him over his noise-making, as he turned around. ‘’Good afternoon, Mr Spellweaver,’’ he greeted with a smile. ‘’Can I help you?’’

‘’Good afternoon,’’ Star returned the greeting, ‘’and yes, you can. I’m planning to expand my home and I heard you designed and led the construction of Sunville.’’

‘’That I did,’’ Wide Woods acknowledged. ‘’What kind of expansion do you have in mind?’’

‘’On the left wing, when you approach it from the gate,’’ Star began to explain. ‘’I want another room on both floors. Or rooms, I suppose.’’

‘’Well, you’ve certainly come to the right stallion,’’ Wide Woods quipped with a grin. ‘’Do you have schematics of the house?’’

‘’I do,’’ Star affirmed, bringing the rolled-up paper out of his saddlebags. ‘’Is there a table here?”

Wide Woods pointed at a table on the porch, which Star hadn’t yet seen. They both got on the porch and Star spread the schematic out on the table.

Wide Woods took a quick look at it, and whistled. ‘’That probably wasn’t cheap.’’

‘’Well, I didn't build it, I just bought it from the previous owners,’’ Star explained. ‘’But it did cost a pretty penny to buy, yes.’’

Wide Woods hummed. ‘’I’ve got a feeling this’ll take a while,’’ he said after a few seconds. ‘’You want something to drink?’’

‘’What do you have?’’

‘’Beer?’’

‘’Sure.’’

Wide Woods nodded, then went into his house and came out again less than a minute later with two bottles of beer.

One of the few things they import, Star noted, seeing the label on the bottles.

Wide Woods set the bottles down on the table, which was big enough to fit both those bottles and the schematic, though not by much, and popped one of the bottles open. Star followed his example, and after a quick toast they set to work.

|-x-X-x-|

29 Thunder Moon 1008

Thunder Moon was almost over, and on the first of Harvest Moon, school would start in Sunville for the very first time. Flurry’s class - which also held Magic, Berry and Lily, as well as the other friends of the latter two - was the first class Sunville School had ever had, seeing as no foal was older than four yet.

Emerald was worried, even though it really wasn’t necessary.

Flurry had all her friends with her in the class, and there were only twelve or thirteen foals in the class aside from those four. She was only ten minutes away from home, and Emerald had already met with the teacher, a nice and quiet stallion who sounded like he knew what he was doing.

And still, she worried. What if Flurry didn’t like it? What if she couldn’t keep up with the work? What if-

‘’Evening,’’ Daygleam breathed into her ear as she slid up on her left side. ‘’What’s got your mind in a knot?’’

‘’Nothing,’’ Emerald replied, before realising Daygleam was probably thinking about the same things as her. ‘’Flurry,’’ she admitted.

‘’School, huh?’’

‘’Yeah.’’

Daygleam put her foreleg around Emerald’s neck and pressed a quick kiss to her cheek. ‘’They’ll be fine,’’ she said, softly but confidently. ‘’Don’t worry about a thing, love.’’

‘’Hmm....’’

‘’I know White Quill,’’ Daygleam continued, ‘’he’s a good stallion. And if he does turn out to be shit at it, Star can always sub in.’’

Emerald snorted. ‘’He’d love it.’’

‘’Of course he would.’’

Emerald returned Daygleam’s earlier gesture of kissing her cheek. ‘’Thanks,’’ she whispered.

‘’You’re welcome.’’

And they watched the sunset together.

Author's Note

Here we are then; the final actual content chapter of Act 1. Ch 20 is a character sheet, which imo is handy to have, no?