In front of a Flame

She entered the dim room, where she found her partner with his chin on the edge of one of the cribs. As she trotted closer, his ears twitched, indicating he had heard her hoof steps.

“Hey, I put them to sleep,” Hitch whispered, looking at the foal sleeping peacefully inside the crib, his multi-coloured wings fluttering slightly under the soft blanket.

“Yea, i can see that, you better sleep, you look tired” Zipp whispered back, giving him a small kiss on his cheek before heading towards the bed, her partner following close behind. The 2 of them climbed into bed and fell asleep.

Hitch thought his partner fell asleep, but really, she was awake all night, watching her filly and foal in the crib. She was too alert to sleep. Suddenly, there was some movement in the crib, and the filly began to whimper. As Zipp slid out of bed, she began to wail, not loud enough to wake the tired stallion in bed, but loud enough to wake the foal beside her. She walked over and peered into the cribs. Upon seeing their mother’s face, the filly stopped crying and the foal opened his eyes wide and began to giggle. She gave her a wistful smile and carried the duo out of the crib with her wings.

“You really are a night bird aren’t you?” Zipp asked softly. As the foal and filly began to shiver, Zipp picked up the blanket in the crib with her teeth and draped it over the both of them. The trio went down to the kitchen, where she made them sit on the counter. The filly became captivated by her mother’s wing colours, and reached out to touch them. In doing so, she nearly toppled off the counter. Thankfully Zipp turned around in time, her now motherly instincts telling her to. She caught the filly just before she hit the floor. She began to giggle, while Zipp began to hyperventilate.

“Oh my pony, that was so dangerous,” she said breathlessly. “Don’t do that again,” she said playfully reprimanding her daughter. She giggled again and her mother touched her nose with her own. She fit the tip of one bottle into the filly’s mouth, and the other into the foal’s. They finished it fast, now of age to be able to hold the bottle on their own. The white pegasus put the bottle into the dishwasher. As she was doing so, her daughter began to play with her mother’s feathers. Zipp noticed, her wings being a very sensitive part of her body. She noticed her daughter touching them, and smiled. She carried them in front of the fireplace. She placed both of them on the rug, before going to collect some wood for the fire. She placed the logs in the fireplace before using her hooves to start the fire, the same way she did one of the first times she talked to Hitch. She flapped her multi-coloured for the other pieces of wood to catch fire. Once again, her filly and foal were captivated by the way their mother’s feathers glowed in the light of the fire. She sat down beside them before placing them underneath her chest on the floor, the blanket still draped around them like a cape. She extended her wings so that it was covering the both of them. They playfully touched her wings as they glowed in the light of the fire, now emitting a soft crackling sound. As they began to feel sleepy and coo, she leaned against her mother’s foreleg. Zipp looked down, seeing their eyes closing slowly. She wrapped her wings tighter around, so as to keep them warm. She too began to feel sleepy, when suddenly there was a loud bang from beside her. The trio were startled awake, the foal beginning to whimper. She turned to her side, her wings tensing up. It was coming from the main door, somepony was banging it. She was alert now, ready to spring out of her position. Her daughter began to wail, disturbed from her slumber. The bang came again, and this time she stood up, her children behind her. There were 2 consecutive bangs again, louder than ever. She didn’t need to shout for her partner to come down. He trotted down at a great speed, finding Zipp with her wings flared and their son and daughter wailing on the ground behind her. Seeing her partner in front of them, she grabbed them and tried to quiet them down, unsuccessfully. There was another bang, and they all flinched. Hitch slowly approached the door peeping through the peephole, only to find a young colt banging the door and running away, as though it was some joke. He sighed, and turned around, the only thing to be heard in the room was their daughter’s wailing. “Just some colt who thinks it’s fun to wake people up at 2 in the morning,” he lamented. Zipp let out a sigh of relief, as her wings lowered.

Zipp sat back down on the rug, trying desperately to calm both of them down. She flared her wings, displaying all the beautiful colours again. It didn’t work this time, and the duo continued to wail. Zipp then did what her father would do for her, she began to sing the same song her father would for her. As she began to sing, the filly and foal quietened down and their eyelid’s started to droop. Zipp smiled, and set them back in the same position that they were in before, her children between her 2 forelegs, and her wings around her in front of the fireplace. This time Hitch sat beside her, and she rested her head on his shoulder. “I was really scared just now, y’know, i thought, something would happen to them,” Zipp whispered. Hitch wrapped his hoof around her shoulder. “It’ll be okay, i’m here remember,” He said, consolingly. “Yeah, it’ll be okay,” She said, keeping her head on his shoulder. “Y’know, they have your eyes, Zipp,” he said, a smile on his face. Zipp let out a soft chuckle.

In a house lit by the fireplace, in front of it a new family slept together, knowing that they would always be there for each other.