A Herd in Maretime Bay

After the group got back from the beach Misty closed the curtain around her bed, laid down and stared at the ceiling, deep in thought. Should the others have told her they were a herd? Their love lives were none of her business, but as Jazz pointed out, the others were probably getting up to who knows what in the bedroom she was sharing with the other mares. She did deserve to know so she didn’t accidentally walk in on something she didn’t want to see. Granted, she already knew to be careful whenever she came home so she didn’t walk in on something, but that was only because she figured out on her own the others were a herd. And then there was something else Jazz brought up.

“Are you part of their herd?”

…

“No. No, I’m not.”

Misty was part of their friend group now, but that didn’t mean she had that type of bond with the others. She knew how close the others were. Sunny and Hitch had been best friends since foalhood, Zipp and Pipp were sisters and Izzy quickly grew close to everyone she met (Misty being an example). The five of them had formed a companionship with each other when they went on a quest to restore magic to Equestria and Sunny, Izzy, Zipp and Pipp then grew closer still when they made the decision to move into the Brighthouse together.

By comparison, Misty’s connection to the others was… complicated. She had begun their friendship by lying to them, and while she was completely honest with them now and they assured her it was water under the bridge as far as they were concerned, she just didn’t click with the others the same way they did with each other. And yet, when Alphabittle asked the others if Misty could move into the Brighthouse with them they agreed immediately and welcomed her with open arms. And she felt less alienated from them by the day.

The image of her lying on the beach with the others while Hitch massaged her back returned, and she had to shake her head to get rid of it. Now wasn’t the time to be thinking about any of that. Right now she needed to talk to them about their herd, and if they weren’t going to bring it up then she’d have to. But since they hadn’t told her about it yet, or told anyone about it as far as she knew, that meant they evidently wanted it to be a secret. This meant the topic would need to be approached with delicacy, something Misty wasn’t exactly the best at.

Suddenly she was snapped out of her thoughts by a voice yelling “Hey, Misty!”

Misty shrieked and jumped, only to discover it was just Izzy poking her head through the curtain.

“Izzy?” Misty asked, calming down slightly. “What are you doing here?”

“It’s dinner time,” Izzy said in her usual overly cheerful and energetic tone. “Sunny said to come get you.”

“Oh,” Misty regained her composure. “Right. Okay. Coming.”

The next morning when Misty woke up there was no sign of the others in the bedroom. It didn’t take long to work out where they were as she could hear the shower running and the others tended to take group showers, having installed a shower taking up an entire wall of the bathroom for that reason. Sometimes Hitch would come over before breakfast and the five of them would shower together, entrusting Misty to look after Sparky while they did so. Misty showered by herself, which left her with a lot of empty space to work with since the shower was big enough to fit eight adult ponies if it needed to.

Deciding to go grab some orange juice while she waited for the others to finish in the shower, Misty walked downstairs in her pyjamas, only to find Hitch sitting on the couch. He looked exhausted.

“Morning, Hitch.” Misty greeted as she walked over to him.

“Being a single parent is exhausting.” Hitch responded. He leaned against the couch with his arms lying across the back of it. His eyes were closed.

Misty nodded. “It definitely is. I don’t know how Queen Haven would have managed it with Zipp and Pipp if she didn’t have her castle staff to support her, and I don’t know how dad managed it with Izzy after he lost me, but you’re not alone Hitch. Sparky has four amazing moms to help look after him.”

Hitch opened his eyes to look at her. “Technically, he has five moms now.” He corrected.

“But I’m not part of your herd,” is what she wanted to say, but she found the words stuck in her throat, so instead she asked “Where is Sparky anyway?”

Hitch closed his eyes again and pointed with a finger off to his right. “He’s over there, playing with some building blocks.”

Misty looked to where Hitch was pointing, and smiled. “Correction, he was playing with building blocks.”

Looking over to see what Misty meant, Hitch discovered that Sparky had turned the building blocks into picture frames with his dragon fire.

“Oh, Sparky.” He whined.

Misty laughed before walking over to the baby dragon. “It’s alright. I got him.”

Sparky giggled as Misty approached. She leaned down and picked up the picture frames. They all had photos in them; one was of Sunny giving Sparky a piggyback ride after taking him to try cotton candy for the first time, Sparky still happily chewing on his in the photo. The next was of Izzy and Sparky from the time Izzy tried to teach him how to paint. They were both covered in paint in the photo, but smiling happily. The third photo was of Sparky posing with Zipp in her detective gear after he helped her solve a case by picking up what turned out to be a vital clue. The fourth photo was of Pipp and Sparky backstage during one of Pipp’s performances, with Sparky sitting on Pipp’s lap and the Pegasus dressed up for her performance. Then Misty got to the last photo, and a small tear appeared in her eye. The last photo was of her and Sparky sitting exhausted on the couch, leaning against one another. Misty remembered that day, the others had been helping Queen Haven in Zephyr Heights so she looked after Sparky all day.

Feeling something pulling at her top, she looked down to see Sparky tugging at it. Curious, she bent down to his level and put the photos on the floor. Sparky hugged her, burying his head in her neck. Misty was taken aback, but wrapped her arms around him gently.

“See what I mean?” Hitch said as he walked over and put his hand on Misty’s shoulder. “He has five moms.”

Misty stood up, still holding Sparky. She carefully handed him to Hitch. “I’m… gonna go see if the others are out of the shower.”

Running back upstairs Misty found the others coming out of the bathroom, wrapped in towels. “Hey, Misty.” Sunny greeted.

“Hey, guys.” Misty greeted back.

“Misty,” Izzy said cheerfully, running over to hug her friend. “How are you?”

“I’m fine,” Misty replied, smiling. Classic Izzy, always so perky. “Just waiting to use the shower. Hitch and Sparky are downstairs, by the way.”

“Right,” Sunny said. “We’d better get changed.”

“You guys go,” Misty said. “I’ll join you down there in a few minutes.”

When Misty came back to her bed after getting out of the shower she found her phone ringing. The caller ID showed it was her father. She picked it up and answered. “Dad?”

“Hey, honey.” Her dad answered.

“Hello, Misty dear.” Said a second voice over the phone.

“Queen Haven?” Misty asked, recognising the voice.

“The one and only.” The queen answered playfully, followed by a bark from Cloudpuff.

“Okay…” Misty was surprised, though she should have known Queen Haven would have been with her dad. The two were dating after all. “So, to what do I owe the pleasure?”

“We were just wondering if you’d like to come have breakfast with us tomorrow morning?” Queen Haven asked.

Misty’s eyes narrowed. Something seemed… off about the tone of Haven’s voice. “Just me? And not the others?”

“Haven figured it would be a good idea,” Alphabittle explained. “We’ve had some family time with Zipp and Pipp so they could get used to their mom dating again. You deserve the same chance to get used to your father dating again.”

Nothing seemed off with her father’s tone. If Haven was planning something, her father didn’t seem aware of it. “Sure. I’d love to.” Misty answered cheerfully.

“Excellent,” her dad said. “Meet us at the cafe on Mane Street, ten o’ clock tomorrow. Got it?”

“Tomorrow, ten o’ clock, cafe on Mane Street,” Misty repeated. “Got it. See you then. Bye.”

“Bye.” Haven and Alphabittle both said, followed by another bark from Cloudpuff before Misty ended the call.

Misty stared down at her phone. She now had to have breakfast with Queen Haven and her father tomorrow and talk to the others about their herd at some point. She could do this. Totally.