The Family Cygnet

Everypony had come back at once, with a with a strange whirlwind of activity that Shining had heard from his room. When he went to go check on them, he was surprised by the monumental amount of stuff they’d bought. A replacement table. Boxes of wood for finishing. A new set of chairs. Some tiles for some reason. Half of it looked like building supplies, and Twilight was orchestrating a small army of couriers that were dropping it all off.

Velvet was setting up far too much takeout on the table, ignoring the bustle around her. Shining grimaced, but didn’t say anything when he noticed what tablecloth she’d picked. Night was nowhere to be seen.

Shining smiled and started helping his mother arrange the boxes of food, his eyes glancing at a wet looking spot on the tablecloth between two candy canes. It was grease from the food, he was sure of it. “This is a lot of food, Mom. Where did you all go?”

She laughed. “Oh, a little bit of everywhere really. Twilight arranged for it. Sometimes I think she forgets that we all don’t eat like her. She’s like an empty pit that just needs to be filled.”

“Yeah, that sounds like her. I assume she’s also responsible for… this?” He pointed at the increasingly industrial looking boxes. Was that un-mixed concrete in bags?

She looked around her, seemingly surprised at the quantity of boxes and raw materials. “Oh. That’s… huh. Well, don’t worry about the bill. Twilight’s coughed up for it all. Her father and I had to beat it into her a little, but I think she finally understands that she’s the only one responsible for her actions. Or she’s at least pretending she does. I know you feel bad, but really the money was never the issue and we never actually blamed you. I was just… upset at how irresponsible the two of you had been. I expected more out of my very adult children.”

He felt a wave of shame. “I’m sorry. I really wasn’t in the right mind.”

Velvet smiled softly, opening a box of some unidentifiable noodles that smelled of spicy peanut sauce and burned rubber. Her eyes drifted to Twilight, watching her daughter marshal the last of the couriers. “I understand. Relationships can be hard. You spend a long time working them, things get hard without warning, and sometimes they can explode all over the place. It’s messy, but it’s also not necessarily a bad thing. It can be a productive process. You can learn things about yourself, your partner, or, perhaps, somepony new… Or somepony you didn’t think of that way before.”

Shining nodded, trying to decide if the sticky red sauce went with the burgers or the nachos. “Tell me about it.”

Velvet laughed. “Night and I don’t need to share everything with you, Shining. We share plenty with each other, but sometimes you need to keep a secret or two from one of your kids.”

He snorted. “I suppose what you and Dad have been through is none of my business.” His eyes darkened as he remembered Flurry and her missing coltfriend. “And I understand the sentiment. Being a parent is… complicated.”

Velvet took a deep breath in a moment of shared empathy. “You aren’t kidding, Shiny.”

Twilight walked over as the last of the couriers left the house. “Well, that was more complicated an order than I’d planned. I know I promised to re-do the kitchen, but how do you feel about an extension and new dining room? Something to add a little space here in case you have company over more often?”

Velvet looked at her daughter and smiled warmly, leaning over to give her a hug and peck on the cheek. “Oh, that would be wonderful. I’d love a little more space to breathe now and then.”

Twilight kissed Velvet’s cheek back with a giggle. “Well that’s settled then. I don’t want you too breathless.”

Shining watched the interaction, amused as Velvet took a step back in surprise. His mother flashed a quick frown, glanced at Shining and Twilight, then smiled and sighed. “I’m going to find Night. I think he was taking some of our other purchases to the bedroom.”

Shining looked at Twilight and chuckled. “Laying it on a bit thick, are we?”

She blushed. “I burned down their kitchen, Shining. I almost burned down the house. If letting Mom get her hooves on matching carpets and drapes are what makes her forgive me, then I’ll lay it on as thick as I can handle…” Twilight furrowed her brow in curious contemplation and quietly mumbled, “Which turns out might be pretty thick.”

He shrugged. “Then I’m assuming the extra supplies are exactly enough to finish whatever plans your architect has already finished?”

Twilight smiled with her eyes, but pretended to frown. “You shush. She doesn’t need to know that.”

“I’m sure she does, actually. We all know you pretty well, Twily. You don’t make those kind of mistakes.”

Twilight frowned in response, her eyes casting downward. “You’re right. I don’t. Speaking of which, we need to talk about the ki…”

Velvet and Night came into the room, causing Twilight to immediately stop talking. She glanced at them, then at Shining, trying to communicate something with her stony silence and rapid eye movement.

The message was clear. She wanted to talk later, when their parents weren’t around. He nodded back in understanding, and she seemed relieved.

Velvet and Night both sat at the table, each on either side of Twilight. “Hey, kiddos,” Night said. “Sorry, just had some packages to hide. Buried them in the closet. They’ll be gifts for later.”

Twilight snorted, oddly amused. “You would bury your packages.”

Velvet stifled a chuckle and Night looked offended, glancing at Shining. “The nerve of these girls. First my wife was picking on me upstairs, and now my daughter is being mean to me. How are they ever going to learn some respect?”

Shining smiled back, amused. “Stallions like us just don’t get the respect they deserve in this house. It’s one abuse after another.”

Twilight looked down and twirled her necklace in her hoof, thinking. Velvet winked at Night with an evil smirk. “Maybe you can teach us some respect later?”

Twilight looked up from her necklace curiously, still holding it in her hoof. Shining frowned. “Mom, don’t flirt at the table.”

Velvet sat back and began to pile her plate with a variety of disorganized food. “I’m not flirting, Shining. I’m merely stating that if your father wants to be respected, then he needs to do something about it.” She pointed a fork at Shining. “And that holds true for you as well. It’s not that you’re a stallion, it’s that you’re so quick to sacrifice yourself for others. Stand up for yourself. If your wife says…”

Twilight glared, interrupting her mother. “Mom! No relationship advice at the table. Especially not right now.”

Shining prepared himself for the inevitable shouting match between the two, steeling his focus on his plate.

Surprisingly, it didn’t come. Instead, Velvet sighed and put her hooves up in the air. “Okay. Okay. But we’ll talk about that outburst later, young lady.”

Twilight nodded, suddenly serious. “That’s fine. Thank you, mother.”

Shining looked back up as the two of them calmly went back to piling their plates and picking through the random assortment of food.

What the ever living fuck had just happened? Twilight and Velvet always had shouting matches when they disagreed over something—always. This was something entirely new.

Shining looked at his father, who seemed nonplussed as he tried to determine which fried lump was a potato and which was a pierogi. No help there. Shining turned to Twilight. “Uh, you two were very calm about that.”

Twilight snuck a glance to Velvet, who seemingly actively ignored them to decide between the broccoli covered in what might be cheese, or the broccoli covered in red sauce. “Mom and I had a… breakthrough in our conflict management styles last night. We have decided that our mouths aren’t for shouting.” She paused, then awkwardly added, “At each other.”

“Uh-huh.” Shining was confused, but this was better than before. It only took them thirty some odd years. Was he finally going to have a family dinner that didn’t devolve into angry screaming? He wasn’t sure how to feel about this.

Twilight finished serving herself, and took a bite of something orange and spongy. Shining didn’t think it was a sponge, but he certainly didn’t put it on his plate. As she chewed it, she frowned, took it out of her mouth, then floated the box it came from off the table.

“Don’t eat that,” she simply said.

Shining looked at the chaos all around them. Suddenly, everything felt slightly wrong. “How did you guys decide on where to eat?”

Twilight smiled. “Oh, I just asked some royal errand runners to pick up a little bit of everything for us.”

“So you had ponies do your re-building shopping, and you had ponies pick up the food… What did you three shop for?”

Night coughed, choking on his fried, cheese filled potato. Velvet looked nervously at Twilight. Twilight looked between them, and then put her hooves on her necklace. “We went shopping for some accessories, and, uh gifts. Our necklaces for instance.”

Shining looked at the necklace. He’d noticed Twilight had been wearing it, but hadn’t looked too closely before. It was a dark blue little heart, with a gold chain. There were pale stripes across it. Fancy, but not too fancy. His eyes went to his mother, who was wearing one as well, dark blue with purple stripes on it. “I see.”

Night added, “I felt bad for the whole tiff these two had last night, and decided to get them a little something pretty to remind them that they are my… uh…” He paused, seemingly to decide what exactly to say. “That we’re still family. Even after a burned kitchen.”

Shining sighed. “I’m sorry I hid away the last night couple of nights. I had to take care of some issues for Cadance. We had a… parenting concern with Flurry, and, well, you know how hard it is to be good parents.”

Night and Velvet looked guiltily at each other.

Shining continued. “By the time I was done, the house was dark and you two were in your room with your privacy ward on. So I wasn’t about to interrupt. It must have been some altercation.”

Night sighed, looking relieved. “They really went at it. I uh, might have joined in as well.”

Twilight stabbed her fork into a blue salad, her voice cold. “Yeah, Dad really gave it to me.”

Shining bit into a surprisingly sour sandwich, forcing himself to chew it as a sandy, sugar like substance flooded his mouth. “I heard some shouting last night, but I’ve never heard you get involved before, Dad. Must have been pretty heated.”

Velvet looked intently at Shining, seemingly studying him closely. “You heard, huh?” She shrugged, seemingly deciding something as she relaxed. “Heated is hardly descriptive enough. I’d call it… reformative.”

Shinning nodded. “Well, as long as you three are getting along, then I suppose it was worth it. No harm, no foul.”

Twilight shivered, mumbling, “Maybe a waterfowl.”

Velvet glared at her, but didn’t say anything.

Night sighed, looking at the table’s offerings then pushing his chair away from it. “Twilight, this food is great, but, uh, I was wondering if you could help me take care of something real quickly? It’s a package for a certain princess, and I’d appreciate your depth of, uh, attention. I wasn’t very worried about it earlier, but it’s becoming a bigger and bigger concern the more I think about it.”

Twilight grabbed at her necklace as she magicked another box of green things off the table. “Don’t eat that, either. I’m happy to help, Dad. Let’s go wrap your package. I’m sure your gift will be fulfilling for the princess in question when you give it, but I’m happy to give it some attention now. Especially if it will make you feel better,” she said with a friendly smile.

Shining watched the awkward exchange as the two of them practically ran from the table. He looked at Velvet, who was watching the two run off with an amused smirk. He whispered, “I get it. I don’t like the food either.”

Velvet smiled back. “Oh the food isn’t that bad…” She lifted her fork and smelled it before putting it down again. “Well, most of it. I think I saw some dessert over there? Can you pass a cream puff?”

Shining found the box and opened it to find baked treats. “Finally. Something obviously edible.”

Velvet and him each ate one of the puffs. He sighed, sinking into the seat, his eyes lingering on the embarrassing stain on the table. Something had changed last night with their family chemistry. It wasn’t bad, honestly. There was no screaming, no fighting, and tons of laughing. They really had somehow solved a decades long problem between Twilight and Velvet.

Why did he feel so uneasy about it? Everypony here was having a good time, even with the disaster of dinner. There was some lesson to be had, he was sure of it. He and his mother ate in a strangely comfortable and serene silence for a good few minutes. He’d never seen her be simply so… relaxed. And happy. It was a good change.

But his stomach hurt. Then again, it could have been from the peanut noodles that turned out not to have anything peanut in them. Or the blue flat papery board that turned out to not be seaweed. He’d made it halfway through that one.

Eventually Twilight and Night came back to the table, both looking content. Twilight’s hair was slightly frayed, but her smile was wide and easy. Even her tail was swishing like she was immensely pleased with something. Night was looking far more relaxed as well. Must have been an interesting gift, Shining mused. Probably some kind of dress that had to go over her head. Makes sense he’d need Twilight’s input. Alicorns were simply built different.

He offered the box of crème puffs to his sister. “Want one?”

She looked at it, and smiled with an amused but deep blush. “No thanks. I’m already crème fi… I’m full… of… that is… No thanks!”

Night laughed. Velvet laughed. Shining frowned, somehow unsettled by his family’s mirth.