Source Code

We all woke up the next day, Celly demanded she sleep alone with Button last night, but my tired, monkey brain forgot that. So I had woken up, snuggled into something, something female. So my pony brain decided it was time to groom it. My eyes opened on the third grooming lick when a snicker soon followed it. I was snuggled into something blue, Ma was blue. Katie had blue, but she was mostly yellow. Dave and Dan were orange and cyan. So logically that… ended up meaning I was snuggling with Ma.

“What the fuck?” I asked. My tongue stayed stuck out of my mouth, still stuck to Ma. “Good morning?” I said, before letting my pony brain take over, while I wondered why I didn’t shoot it yet.

“Good mornin’ Kodi.” The rest of my siblings were sitting around the coffee table in our room, silent for once, and staring at us. Probably because I just licked Ma. “I see you slept well,” my legs were wrapped around her neck. “I need to pee, Kodi. I’ve been awake for an hour, waiting for you to wake up so I can go use the restroom.” Oh. I groomed her neck a few more times, before letting my Ma go.

“Sorry Ma.”

“Sorry nothin,’” Ma stood up and hopped off the bed, after kissing my forehead. “My big baby wanted to sleep in, and I let him. I didn’t get the chance to comfort you, since after yer exhibition match, we all got herded up into a small room, those who competed in the tournament, and I saw what happened, Kodi. The last time I saw you free up like that, you came running to me and yer father while crying.” She smiled. “You needed something after that. I went to the organizers of that tournament by the way. I yelled at them and may, or may not have, challenged them all to duels right then and there.”

“Ma,” I sighed. “Why?”

“They made you and Luna fight! You weren’t comfortable with it. You and Celly were barely comfortable with fighting each other, and with how you finished that first fight, you wanted it done and over as soon as possible.”

“Ma, you just challenged a bunch of old dudes with a lot of combat experience.”

“And?” Ma asked. “I enchanted myself to high hell yesterday, damn near every round so I could go without a shield. I took part in a few bar fights back before I met your father. I know what a good opening is like, and ponies leave way too many of them open when attacking. Anyways, I kicked their asses,” Ma chuckled. “Nobody gets away with doing shit like that, to my son, especially when it’s at the expense of everybody else.”

“Ma…” I snickered. “Here I was thinking you took a telekinetic blast from Shiny and got right back up. "

“Oh, I did. Just with some magic. Also that mare that had hit me? Yeah, I didn’t enchant myself before that match. I got back up and kicked her ass on pure adrenaline.” Ma snickered. “Twilight just decided to let me do my own thing after that.” She chuckled. “She got mad at me when I took Shiny on by myself, and then got shocked when I took that hit from him!” She laughed. “Feck, that was fuckin’ funny, Kodi.” She hugged me. “I’ll be back!” She went into the bathroom.

Oh shit, I feel the scene shifting… to what Ma did last night.

Maeve

After I had my trophy, me and Twilight stood side by side, I sat like a cat while Twilight just smiled and waved for the cameras. It then dawned on me… Cadance is my grand niece. She’s married to this mare’s brother. Hmm… I wrapped a hoof around Twilight’s neck and pulled her in for a hug. She may not realize it, but she’s family now. Twilight eeped, before suddenly looking at me. The poor lass just stared at me while more photos were taken of us.

“What?” I asked, before letting her go. “Yer sister in law’s my grand niece; Cadance is Celly’s niece.”

“...Oh.” Twilight chuckled. “Uh… You’re not like Source, are you?”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Source has a habit of smothering ponies, that he deems as family, with cuddles. It still hasn’t really hit him that Shiny’s my brother, and thus makes me his niece in law.” That is such a long, convoluted way of saying yer all related.

“Now that, that won’t do,” I shook my head. “He adores ya, lemme tell you.” She chuckled.

“Why do you say… that?” Twilight asked. “I know I’m his friend, but… I’m just his friend.”

“I’ll tell you later,” I shook my head before glaring at the camera ponies. “Alright, y’all had enough photos, right?” I asked. “And before you feckin’ ask, no, I’m not gay and dating Twilight Sparkle.” I shook my head. “Hug one mare and everypony assumes you swing that way, I swear.”

“Why do you look like Prince Source?” One reporter asked. “You’re learning from him and Princess Celestia and…”

“Man, nunya listened to what me and Twilight just said? Prince Source is my son. Get outta my face, anyways, my son’s holdin’ onto my daughter in law like she’ll go away if he lets go.” I grabbed Twilight and stuck her on my back. She eeped, as she laid on her back, on my own, but made no effort to reposition herself or get off me. I teleported us off of the stands, and down to where Kodi was, he was laying practically on top of Luna, despite him cuddling with Celly earlier. Despite me making him laugh in the first fight I partook in, his eyes occasionally darted off my fights, to his sister in law.

Luna’s boyfriend, I believe his name’s Fabled Tale, stood off to the side, respectfully, only to be swiped up by Celly. Button and Dave were snuggling together, and Dan was sitting beside Katie. My daughter was being pestered by a few teenagers who probably thought she looked pretty. My daughter was the prettiest filly around, so it only made sense. Rarity was sitting next to her, holding my daughter; those two are getting along very nicely. Dave soon found himself dragged off of Button, by the three little fillies that blew up a building with bread, and soon they saw that Dave had no cutie mark.

They dragged him off too.

Luna… I may give her a hard time, but I love her. Kodi told me about her before my family chose to move to Equestra; he adores her. Despite how those two behave around each other, I knew off the bat that Luna had no romantic interest for my son. She was just happy to try and be the big sister that she wants to be, to Kodi. Luna was actually grooming my son, his eyes were closed while the two of them were cuddling in the grass.

“Kodi,” I trotted over. “Yer doing alright, right?” I asked.

“I am now,” Kodi hummed. “Luna, I’m going to fall asleep if you keep licking my ears.”

“So maybe I want you to sleep.” Luna giggled. “Seriously, if I did not know any better, and you did not know any better, this could be considered very… intimate.”

“That’s a light way of saying I’m cheating on your sister with you,” Kodi joked. “Celly, I’m joking, don’t murder me.”

“I know, dear!” Tia said from her own spot in the grass. She rolled her eyes and turned herself to me and Twilight, after I set the unicorn on her back.

“So why did everyone want Luna and Kodi to fight?” I asked, looking Celly in the eye. “If my eyes weren’t foolin’ me, you two visibly flinched while attacking each other during that first match, and I saw my son freeze while fighting Luna again.”

“...” Celly hummed. “For that, I am not sure. Some are saying your son did not beat me through fair means, or saying he cheated, or that I went easy on him. I did not go easy on my husband; to do so would be an insult to him as a mage and a combatant.” Celly sighed. “I saw how Source froze up too; if Luna and I were not occupied, we’d both go yell at the ‘counsel of unicorn magic education’ for deciding that a second sparring match was necessary.”

“Point me to the ones directly responsible for it. I’ll kick their ass!”

“That would be me,” some old lookin’, sad, piece or worthless shit stallion walked up to me. “Getting a little cocky because you beat up a bunch of amateur duelists?” The old fart asked. “Because you may have fought the captain of the royal guard, but he is no duelist.”

“Bitch,” I rolled my eyes. “That guy can and probably has kicked your shit in, in the past. Now explain to me why my son had to take part in yet another fight he wanted no part in?” I asked.

“Simple, he did not beat Princess Luna, nor was there a decided winner from their exhibition match.” The stallion tilted his head. “Nor does he play fairly; he’s a weak, pathetic excuse of a magician that it’s laughable to assume that he could beat even Princess Mi Amore Cadenza in a fight.”

I felt my blood begin to boil. “You want your ass to be kicked in?”

Kodi walked past me. “Yo dude, quit trying to piss my Mum off, aye? You aren’t that strong looking, and also my mother will rip your dick off and fuck you with it if you don’t stop-”

“Are you implying I’m weak? I’m a top tier duelist, winning hundreds of tournaments in a row.”

“And my Ma took a spell from Shining Armor, and got right back up without a shield.” Kodi tilted his head and sat on his ass. “Now, put your money where your damn mouth is; show everypony here I’m weak, right here, right now. Get in the arena, asshole.”

“No Kodi, let me-” Kodi interrupted me by tapping my nose with his horn.

“Nah,” the two walked into the crowd.

We all found ourselves sitting in the bleachers and ponies were cheering for the old fart… Most of them were cheering for Kodi; he’s developed a bit of a fanbase with his match against Celly, Cadance, and Luna.

“Our very own Battle Brawler!” the announcer just gave a big, hyped up speech for the old fart, but… “And Prince Source Code!”

“I feel bad,” Celly giggled. “Battle Brawler won’t be able to touch Source… and it’s about time that stallion quits looking down on everypony.”

Brawler shot six spells in quick succession at Kodi, who blocked one with a shield, side stepped another, ducked under the fourth, Light Shielded the fifth, which grinded that into nothing, and shot the same spell, a lightning bolt, into the sixth one. Both lightning spells crashed into each other and blew smoke and dust clouds into the air as ponies cheered. The smoke cleared; Kodi was standing there, stoically staring at his opponent, before he sat back down… What’s sitting down there isn’t my son… Jesus christ.

“Ooo!” Pinkie giggled. “Source may talk down on himself a lot, but he’s scary.” She clapped her hooves. “Last time something got Source genuinely mad, he threw a magic resistant, giant bear into space like it was nothing!”

“And…” Twilight shrugged. “Why did Brawler decide to insult Source, and Maeve? Neither of them did anything wrong, and are very capable mages.”

“His wife probably left him,” I snarled.

Everyone flinched at the venom. In my voice. "Or she cheats on him, or has somepony cuck him everyday. I can't find another reason for hin to be such a sad sack of shit." Luna mouthed 'what the fuck' at me before snickering.

“Hey dickhead,” Kodi’s voice resonated across the whole arena. “My fuckin’ son’s faster at casting spells than you are,” he grinned maliciously. “Eat my asshole.” Kodi shot… fifteen Stuns, then fifteen telekinetic blasts, and then a mixture of fireballs and ice shards. Brawler smirked and brought a shield up… only for the inside of his shield to catch fire. “D’aw, you fell for it…” My… son grinned. I was grinning. Luna and Cadance, I don’t know how, had got ahold of cheerleader outfits. “I casted… what? Forty five spells in three seconds, about as long as it took you to cast six. I can cast spells seven and a half times quicker than you.

“Like you can hear me, since you’re cookin’ in your shield of yours,” Kodi’s horn stopped glowing. Laying on the ground, twitching, was Brawler. The old geezer, to his credit, got back up. “Damn, you’re conscious…”

“...How did you cast so many spells at once?”

“Eh, turns out casting a lot of the same spell at once is pretty easy; Rarity does it all the time with Levitate even if she doesn’t realize that… doing that is pretty advanced Levitation. You cast a Fireball? Well, you could cast a lot of fireballs with one set of Runes and Equations… also I can cast a lot of spells, naturally, in one sitting. So, I suck at using magic, right?” Kodi asked, his voice still carried throughout the arena and into the stands. “Right?” He asked.

“I suppose I’ll get-” a giant lightning bolt struck Brawker and knocked him out.

“Shit, that casted too early.” Kodi chuckled… “I'm feckin’ tired and my horn feels like shit. Peace!” He teleported to me, flopped over onto me, and fell asleep. That makes me happier than you can imagine.

…He’s not going to remember exactly what happened tomorrow.

After breakfast, Cadance gave me a hug, right before everypony else had to go back to Canterlot and resume living our normal lives. Twilight and her friends did get to ride in Cadance’s train car, despite my niece not coming with us, and Twilight was given Starswirl’s spell with instructions very finely set out by Celly; do not open, do not read, do not cast, until you get to Ponyville and have some rest after sitting in a train car for a week straight.

With that said, now there were four Irish, Ma’s half Aussie, half Irish, idiots wondering what to do. Celly and Button had gone and snuggled up together and decided to read a book.

That was a good idea.

Dan sighed. “I don’t wanna just sit around and nap until we get home,” he groaned.

“We could read a book,” Dave pointed out. “Celestia and Button seem to be getting along just fine, doing that.”

Katie was now sketching sonething… until Dan interrupted her. “C’mon, Katie, you can help us all come up with something to do! Kodi’s gonna just be boring and try and join his wife, like a fuckin’ freak, and rest and relax for the whole trainride!”

“But I wanted to sketch that,” Katie pointed at Celly and Button, and me after I had joined them. “Look at that, and tell me that it shouldn't be immortalized on paper.”

“And in words so sweet!” I said

Katie and I almost started singing that song, until Dan groaned. “C’mon, that song-”

“Is good,” I interrupted him. “I heard you singing it in the shower a few times, Dan.”

The door creaked open, and the outside air, which was cold as hell, rushed in, and Spike walked in, before he quickly closed it. “Hey guys,” he waved. “Twilight sent me to go get snacks, despite our car literally having a snack bar and mini bar in it, so I pointed that out to her, and walked out the door.” He gestured to all of us. “I’m here now,” he gave a quick bow to Celestia, before walking over to Katie. “Hey!”

“Oh!” Katie started blushing when Spike ran up to her, hugged her, and nuzzled into her chest. As per usual, Katie was wearing a sundress, a yellow one today. Spike wasn’t nuzzling into her fur, but he didn’t really care. Katie soon found herself laying on a cushion, curled around Spike, while he rested his back against the side of her belly, showing him her drawings.

“Ma,” Dan whined. “Do-”

“Shush,” Ma said, laying on her side, facing away from us. “I spent all of yesterday kickin’ ass, and the other half watching Kodi kick ass. I wanna nap. Go bother Rainbow Dash, or something, I don’t fucking know. And don’t wake Luna or Tale, or Snowdrop up; this is around when they’re getting some shuteye, so be polite, and be quiet when moving through their car.”

“Actually,” Spike interrupted. “They’re wide awake. Snowdrop was hoping to come over and steal Source for a bit.”

“Meh, still, be polite with them. I know you will, as Kodi probably raised you to be good, but Luna deserves some respect.” Dan saluted Ma, before excitedly running out the door Spike came in from, so he could annoy Twilight and her friends. I felt bad for them; Dan won’t leave them alone. I glanced over at Dave, who was being silent and usual, but he was just staring out the window, instead of reading or something. “Everything alright, Dave?” I asked.

“...Do you know a filly named Diamond Tiara?” Dave asked.

“Oh her… I should go check in on her; I know she came along to study the Crystal Empire and unicorn culture, but I didn’t get the chance to talk with her. Why’dya ask?”

“...She found me and Button’s friends while we were ‘crusading for our cutie marks’, which is really funny since they’re the cutie mark crusaders and…”

“The crusaders done and failed.” I chuckled. “Yeah, thanks for pointin’ that out. What did Diamond Tiara do?”

“She has a fucking crush on me, Kodi. She kissed me!” Dave threw his hooves in the air. “How the hell do I respond to that?”

Ma was up in a heartbeat. “A little girl’s chasin’ ya, aye Dave?” She asked.

“...Yeah.”

“Do you like her?” I asked.

“She acted like a rich kid, because she is, but… she’s really timid. I only met Diamond because she came up to Button’s friends, and especially Button, to apologize to them. Then she was bumping into me a lot… and we were talking, and before I knew it, I got kissed on the cheek. She’s a nice girl, but… she’s a pony, and also it’s probably just a crush thing you told me about Kodi, about how childhood crushes just come and go.”

“Funny that is,” I chuckled. “Me and Celly are a rare case, but most foals that end up being friends, statistically, end up dating more often. Button and Sweetie Belle are bound to date each other at some point-” Button smacked me gently, but made no further comments.

“So you’re saying there’s a chance that Diamond Tiara will want to sleep with me when we’re both older and have cutie marks?” Dave asked.

“Yeah.” I shrugged. “I dunno, I’m not a pony.”

“Mmm,” Celly hummed. “I know Cadance and Shining Armor had known each other since their first year of secondary education, though Shining only showed romantic interest in their tertiary level of education… after Cadance got picked up by a… wonderful stallion that I told her to ditch after the first date.”

“As in that dude was a douche and Celly’s too nice to describe anypony as such,” I added. “But yeah, don’t sweat it too much, Dave. You’re ten, a lotta shit can happen in ten years.”

Dave just started staring ahead, I could see the gears turning in his head. “...I don’t think I wanna imagine ten years from now; what if she wants to marry me or something?” He asked.

“You can turn her down,” I pointed out. “No shame in not being interested; Celly coulda said I was buttfucking ugly and annoying, and I woulda got it. Granted, it woulda fucking sucked, but hey, Celly didn’t have to date the weird alien from another world.”

“And yer father and I definitely had turned down a few partners before we met each other,” Ma pointed out. “Personally, I’d say just give Diamond Tiara a chance if she asks you out. If anything builds from there, beyond bein’ friends, I’d say go for it.”

“Okay,” Dave nodded.

“So,” I stretched. “How much do you wanna bet that Dan’s being pinned down by one of the girls?” I asked.

Katie piped up. “He’ll either enjoy it and not care who’s sitting on him, or realize he’s made a mistake.” She and Spike snickered before going back to focusing on the notepad in front of the two.

Dan

I walked into the train car that Source’s friends were in. Er, Kodi, either or. I find it funny that my brother has zero sex drive, besides when it comes to his wife, but then damn near every one of his friends are mares. I mean, there’s Shining Armor, and then there’s a pony named Fancy Pants and another dude named Solar, that Kodi’s mentioned hanging out with, or enjoying the company of, but most of his friends are girls.

And according to him, mares out number stallions, and thus have herds.

Or literally just harems.

“Oh Spike are you back-” Twilight paused when she saw me. “Dan, what’re you doing here?”

“Family’s being boring. I was hoping we’d play cards, or something, but then Spike stole Katie for a bit, Kodi’s being a virgin and hanging out with his family, and Ma wants to take a nap. Dave’s processing how a filly is chasing him. Basically, I’m here because I’m bored, and I’m trying not to get snuggled to death by Luna or Snowdrop. With that said, I’m here now, how’s it going?” I ask as I make my way deeper into the car.

I plopped my butt on an empty cushion that just happened to be there.

“Everything’s going alright,” Apple Jack shrugged. “Ah’m a bit surprised your first thoughts were to come in here, rather than… take a nap or something. Your brother sure does love his naps… and cuddling whenever he gets the chance.”

“I kinda… I can't sit still for very long, I’ll be honest. Not without at least doing something to keep me busy. Usually I’d try reading, or writing, or anything, really, but I don’t have a notebook to write in, I read everything that everyone brought for the trip, and I don’t have much of anything else to do. No puzzles, I suck at magic, like actually suck at it, so I can’t practice that, like I could if I were any good; it’s noisy to practice the stuff and we’re on a train. Can’t really practice when the train’s not magic proof.” I sighed. “Seriously, what can I do?”

“You could read a Daring Do book,” Rainbow suggested, in her hooves was a book from the aforementioned series… Daring Do, and the long, dramatic villain thing, or mystical item or whatever the fuck she’s after in that current book. “Surely, you’re cooler than your brother and like Daring Do, right?”

My eyes twitched at that. “Okay, Rainbow, I’ll let you in on a fun little fact… I entered freshman year, I was at an advanced reading level; comprehension and all. I like writing in my free time, I love reading whenever I get a new book that grabs my ADHD for more than two minutes. I read one Daring Do book, guessed the whole plot after the first paragraph, and was proven right when I got done with it. Hence why I kinda… hate Daring Do.”

“...What?” Dashie asked.

“I hate Daring Do,” I repeated myself.

Twilight blinked. “No means to rain on your parade, Dan, but I’ve a feeling I’m at a higher level of reading comprehension than you are, even then, I like Daring Do…”

“Fair, Twilight, this may be because of human literature, or because of my hobby back home. I like picking apart stories. It’s just that everything in Daring Do, the first one at least, was laid out in such an obvious fashion, for me, that I guessed the plot. The book after that wasn’t too much better. So I stopped caring about it and hate how popular it is here. It’s the same formula; Daring Do finds interest in treasure, thing, or place. Daring Do researches the treasure, thing, or place, and comes up short. Some old dude, or mare, or whatever, knows about the treasure, thing, or place and how to get to treasure, or thing, or place containing the treasure or thing, or just the place Daring Do is interested in. Bad guy shows up, screws with Daring Do and knocks her down at the moment of the climax, and then Daring Do comes out on top, saves the world, and has obtained treasure, thing or place and learnt a very valuable lesson that she forgets in two books later.”

Twilight blinked a few times. I wasn’t done, though.

“This is fine, the formula's great, don’t get me wrong. Indiana Jones is basically the same thing, but Indiana Jones, a human thing, is iconic, and very cool. He stands out. Daring Do… feels like a very basic protagonist, young, ambitious, a bit stupid, and adventurous. None of the scenes are very special either. There are scenes that people on Earth made that have zero dialogue, and hit hard. Like say… if Daring Do found the thing, place, or treasure, randomly and doesn’t essentially go… ‘whoa’, and instead, does something like this:

“‘Daring Do came across the Pool of Yavin, a small lake hidden in a cove that was just barely covered up by the thick canopy above. Sunlight just barely cracked through, its beams gently lit up the cove, and the Pool of Yavin. The serene sounds of birds singing, the fresh smell of dew in the air… Daring Do had never seen anything like it. The Pool of Yavin was real…’ yaddda yadda, it’s beautiful, or whatever. Instead it’s just ‘woah… This is beautiful!’” I threw my hooves in the air. “Uh, anyways, I ain’t judging if you like Daring Do, I get why it’s popular, but it’s just not up my alley for me. It’s a story, but not a lot of meat to it, y’know?”

Rainbow Dash just kept glaring at me. Twilight, however…

“Okay, I see where you’re coming from, but it’s just a fun little series.”

“Yeah, the Lego Movie was just a fun little movie that’s a classic… It’s a human thing. I may rewrite that for the fun of it. I heard Luna’s boyfriend’s a writer; he could help me with that.”

“The heck’s a Lego?” Twilight asked. “Source explained what movies are…”

“Basically, a toy. It’s a bunch of bricks of various sizes and colors that you use to build things. Somebody made a movie on that, and it was for kids younger than Dave is, and it’s one of the best movies… ever. It was funny, the characters were great, the plot… everything. Simply incredible. I’d show y’all if… I think I brought my portable DVD player, and Tia went and enchanted it so it’d never die.” An idea came to mind.

“Okay, mister ‘smartass’,” Rainbow rolled her eyes. “I bet this…”

“You got a piece of paper? I need to send a note to Kodi.”

“I do! But I know what you’re looking for!” Pinkie reached into the suitcase… case, thing, and pulled out my suitcase… That was on Tia’s train car. She pulled out the DVD player and the small collection of DVDs I had brought with me. Among them… was the Lego Movie…

“Hey Dash, you like flying, right?” I asked as I sorted through the collection.

“...Are you stupid?” Dash asked.

“Yeah. I am.” I nodded. I picked up my copy of How to Train Your Dragon, the first one, and turned on the portable player. “Which movie do y’all wanna watch first? We’ve got a week to kill.”

“I’d like to see the Lego Movie,” Twilight raised a hoof. Feckin’ ponies have no need to be this adorable, the head tilt this mare did, and the flop of her ears…

“Any objections?” I asked.

“...Can we watch the one about dragons?” Fluttershy spoke up. “It looks… fun.”

“Hmm…”

“Yeah, let’s go with Fluttershy’s choice,” Rainbow admitted. “It has to be cool.”

Everyone overruled Twilight’s vote.

I popped the disc in the player and let it run.

About an hour and thirty minutes later, I was laying under Dash’s wing. The credits were playing and Dash was freaking out about it.

“So anyways, that was made for kids,” I hummed. Before we could ask, Pinkie grabbed the Spongebob Movie, the only good one, which is the first one, and stuck it in the player. She did, very gently, put the disc in it previously in its case, and into my suitcase.

I’d guess that Pinkie is going to like this one.

Katie

Me and Spike were chilling on our own little cushion in our own little cushion. I’ll admit, this cool little dude was nicer than most of my ex’s back home. Kodi and his family, nor did Ma, really pay attention to us. I had Spike curled up on a cushion, asking him to take a nap so I could sketch him out, and subsequently try to ‘animate’ him sleeping. Spike actually went and pretended to sleep on a cushion for a bit until I had it all sketched out and everything. After I got it sketched out and started focusing on details, such as Spike’s… spikes, scales, class, he stopped pretending to sleep and started chilling on the side of my belly again.

“You’re a good actor, you know,” I chuckled as Spike grinned. “I thought you genuinely took a nap.”

“Well… I might’ve actually tried, but I wanted to watch the… animation? That’s what that flippy thing is called, right?” I nodded.

“Yeah.” Katie nodded. “How does it look? I took a few liberties with how you looked.” As in I made him look cuter on paper. That was kinda hard, but… a slightly scrunched up nose here, a leg twitch there… and it’s an extra cute animation of Spike.

“Do I really sleep with my nose scrunched up like that?” Spike asked.

“Maybe a little.”

“Howdy hey,” Ma slotted her head right above my neck and looked over my shoulder. “How’s yer date going?”

Spike was drinking water at that exact moment and started coughing and wheezing at that.

“Ma!” I rolled my eyes. “We’re just hanging out.”

“That’s what I told yer grandma when I was datin’ yer father.”

“Ma…” I sighed. “You almost killed Spike with that!” I pointed to the poor dragon that was pounding on his chest to get some water out of his windpipe.

“I’m good!” Spike wheezed. “I’m just dying slightly!” He coughed some more. “Mrs. Code, I thought you were napping!”

“And I’m checking in on how my babies are doing. I see you’re gettin’ along nicely with Katie.”

“Is that bad?” Spike asked.

“Oh, no, I think it’s adorable. Just… if you two get to that point, treat her well, alright?” Ma asked. I knew what she was talking about. Spike just gave an inquisitive little head tilt at that. My eyes rolled for the sixth time in that second, and I regret to say that my yellow coat didn’t help hide my blush; Ma and Kodi were already somewhat protective of me, with both of them just being like that for Dan and Dave as well, but I think they’re a little… extra protective after Star attacked me. I appreciate it, I know I’ve got family keeping me from falling off the deep end.

Being babied isn’t any less embarrassing.

“Well, I’ve gone done botherin’ Dave; he’s over there, cuddling with Button after grumbling about how he isn’t cute. Button couldn’t care less about being called cute. I’m going to go annoy Kodi and check in on Dan.” Ma planted a kiss on my forehead, patted Spike on the head, and went to do exactly that. She dragged Kodi, by the tail, off of his wife… for a wing hug from Tia. I snickered at Kodi’s yelp, but Ma was quick to hug and apologize for scaring Kodi out of his nap like that. She then walked out the door heading towards where Dan went.

She came back with a stupid grin on her face. “Yer brother’s got a crush on Rainbow Dash; snuggled up with her with a dumb little smile on his face while they watched an Indiana Jones movie.”

“Oh…” I chuckled. “Isn’t Dash and Apple Jack a couple?”

“They are,” Kodi answers. “If they want him when he’s of age, I hope he understands the ramifications of just choosing Dash; Jackie’s a part of a packaged deal when you date her marefriend.” He hummed. “Dunno the last time Dash willingly cuddled anyone other than Apple Jack or the rest of the girls during that one sleep over we had, so that’s probably a good sign that she likes Daniel at least.”

Tia got up, flipping Kodi in the air with her magic, before promptly setting him on her back. “I’m going to take Kodi and get us all snacks, and possibly something for Luna. Do any of you crave anything in particular?” She then moved Kodi so that she was holding him, ass up. Luckily his tail spared us the view of his private regions. My brother crossed his forelegs before slowly looking at his wife after everyone made a request on what they wanted.

“Why are you holding me with magic?”

“You like it,” Celly sang. “Don’t deny it!”

“Yeah, when you aren’t holding me ass up!” The two of them, mostly Kodi, bickered with his teasing wife as they left our train car in the pursuit of snacks.

Dave sat up and stretched like a cat. “I’m going to go hangout with the Crusaders after Tia gets back. Wanna come, Button?”

“Yeah. I’m waiting until Mom and Dad get back, though.”

“Fair enough.”

Ma snickered. “I might’ve told Celly to carry Kodi like that, in her magic.”

…

“Grandma, you’re lucky that Kodi adores you so much, or he would do the same to you. You wouldn’t be able to fight back.”

“Oh, I know, and I’m fortunate that my son has so much respect for me-”

“Feck, feck, feck, feck!” Dan ran into our train car. “Feck.”

“What’d you do?” Ma asked.

“I said that Rainbow was a little more pleasant to lay on than Apple Jack… because Dash is slightly fatter.”

“Welp, yer dead,” Ma shrugged. Dash flew into our car, tackled Dan. “Yep, yer dead.”

“Hey,” Dave spoke up, before Dash could make any remarks. “I know my brother’s an idiot, because he called you fat, but perhaps… he mistook your muscles as fat?”

“Maybe,” Dashie said before eying Dan closer. “But he called me fat!”

“Well, Celly’s great to cuddle with and she’s practically a horse-shaped muscle mass with very nice fur. You’re kinda like that too, y’know.” Dave shrugged. “I’m just saying, my brother’s dumb, and probably didn’t know how athletic you actually are.”

“That is true, stallions do tend to be pretty stupid…” Rainbow looked back down at Dan, who had managed to escape out from under her. “Where the buck-”

Snowdrop walked back into our car, holding Daniel the same way Celly carried Kodi out with her talisman. “Come on Dan, being chased by a mare is fun; stallions like that.” She said with a shit eating, knowing grin. She handed him off to Dash… so Dash sat on him. Kodi and Celly came back, with the snacks they had procured on Celly’s back.

She was still carrying him ass up.

“Couldn’t you have put me on your back instead?”

“But where would the snacks go?”

“Into the bag, and into your magic that the snack guy offered to give us?” Kodi stopped and saw what was happening to Dan. “You called Dashie fat, didn’t you?” He asked.

“Please help me.”

“Can’t, my wife’s being a bitch as usual.”

“What?” Celly asked. She was playing into it at least. “As far as I’m aware, Kodiak, I’m not a female dog.”

“C’mon, I know you don’t care about me calling you that. Sun Butt.”

“Oh come on! I insult a mare, by accident, and get sat on! You literally called your wife a bitch and you get nuzzled for it?” Dan asked.

“To be fair,” Celly hummed. “I was being a bit of one, by doing this to Source.” She then eyed Dan. “Since you called me a bitch, however… Rainbow Dash, for every hour you sit on Daniel, I’ll give you twenty bits.”

“Eh,” Dash got up. “I’m not that mean, or hungry for money. I know Dan meant well in saying he liked me more, even if he put his hoof in his mouth while doing so.” She shrugged. “I’m going to go take a nap, c’mon, Daniel, I need a pillow, fat boy.”

Spike slowly sat up. “Katie, your family’s stupid.”

“Yeah,” I nodded. “I wouldn’t have it any other way, though.” I noted as, after Celly distributed the snacks, laid Kodi on his back and started making up for teasing him so hard earlier. Or Dan and Button running off to go play with their friends. Ma had settled back down and had started reading a book.

“I like it,” Spike admitted before flopping onto my stomach one more time. He was conked out by the next minute.