Our Days

"Mommy!" Luna and Celestia simultaneously cried as they burst through the backdoor.

"What?" Lauren asked, looking up from the magic box that had been in the room since... well, ever. "Is it another frog?"

"No! There's... there's...." Celestia sputtered.

"A new filly! The liveth down the threet, but the'th all weird and thtuff." Luna said through her speech impediment.

"Weird how?" Lauren smiled.

"The hath holeth in her legth," Luna began.

"And in her mane and tail!" Celestia added.

"The hath bug wingth and pointy teeth like thith!" Luna put her blue hooves in front of her mouth, mimicing fangs.

"And she doesn't talk normal!" Celestia exclaimed. She glanced at her sister. "Not like you, though." she added sweetly.

The smaller filly bodyslammed her older sister. "Take it back! Take it back!" she cried.

Hooves and horns flew until Lauren separated the two with red magic. Her expression was one of anger, filling up the cozy room. "Stop fighting you two! Tia, apologize to your sister."

"Thorry,"

"Tia..." Lauren warned.

"Sorry,"

"For what?"

"Sorry for making fun of you," Celestia muttered.

"Now hug,"

"WHAT?!" the two exclaimed. They glared at each other and made horrified faces. "Ew."

"Fine, no hugging." Lauren sighed. "That would've been good material, though," she muttered.

"Good what?"

"Nevermind. I want both of you," she pointed one white hoof toward the screen door. "to make a gift basket and welcome her to the neighborhood."

"What?" Tia and Luna moaned together.

"Go."

"Thith ith worthe than when the made uth give Dithcord a houthe-warming party," Luna whined.

The duo went through the kitchen. Tia levitated an ancient bag over that had Save money, live better plastered on the side. Luna rooted through the junk drawer and fished out a broken crayon, a few pipecleaners, and tape. She dropped them in the bag. Tia levitated a paper over and hastily scrawled a small happy face and their names on it, then stuck it in the bag. She held the screen door open for the darker colored alicorn that stalked past.

She was just about to slam the door behind her when she heard something.

"What?"

"I said I want you two to play with her. She sounds lonely." Lauren ran a hoof through her stressed red mane.

"Got it," personally, Tia didn't have a problem with the new filly. It's just Luna that she's afraid of.

She shuddered. The very thought of Luna's wrath caused goosebumps to rise.

"Tiiiiiiiiiiiiia! Watcha doin'?" Luna asked impatiently ahead.

"Oh. nothin'," she mumbled."Mom just said we have to play with her."

"Ugh, the'th alwayth makin' uth do stuff like that." Luna rolled her eyes. "And I bet the'th buthy, anyway."

They walked across the cracked cul de sac road to a house with darkened lights and muddy hoofprints leading up to the door.

"I thay we dingdong ditch 'er." Luna whispered.

"No, mom'll be mad. She'll make you talk real loud again. 'Member what happened last time," Tia asked the blue filly.

"Fine," Luna spat angrily. Tia preened her wings nervously. Maybe the filly was judgmental; she was open to making a friend other that Luna.

Luna banged loudly on the door. She dropped the bag and waited.

No answer.

"Thee, they're not-" Luna began.

The door opened and a tall, black form stood in the doorway. "Yes?"

Tia cleared her throat. "We're welcoming you to the neighborhood."

"Okay. Thank you," the mare rasped, fangs glinting scarily in the sunlight.

Luna gulped.

"Who's there, momma?" a much smaller filly barreled into her mother's cheesy legs.

"Er, this is my daughter, Chrysalis. I'm Metamorpha, by the way. But you can just call me Morpha, honeys." Morpha held out a hoof in suggestion to shaking.

Tia took the opportunity eagerly. "Pleased to meet you, Morpha. I'm Tia, and this is Luna," she recited what Lauren taught her to say.

"And you can call me Chryssy! Chrysalis is a reeeeeeaaaaally long name for someling as short as me!" Chrysalis giggled.

"Thome...ling?" Luna snorted.

"Luna, be nice," Tia scolded.

Luna snapped her head in Tia's direction. "Excuthe me?"

Tia shrank. "Sorry, Luna."

"That'th what I thought."

"Do you want to play out back? We have this really great tree for climbing." Morpha suggested.

"Sure do!" Tia beamed. "Come on, Luna!" Tia and Chryssy sped around the house to the back with Luna trailing behind.

"So what do you want to do?" Tia asked once they were leaning against a millennia aged oak.

Chryssy rubbed her chin with a black hoof. "Hmmm, how about.... cutie mark acquisition!" she said excitedly, noticing that Tia also had no cutie mark.

"Nah, I've tried too many things already." Tia shut down the changeling's idea down.

"Meh, me too."

Their haunches dropped to the ground, the owners deep in thought.

"I know, how 'bout War?" a new voice suggested.

Tia and Chryssy jumped; they hadn't heard her approach.

"That sounds fun! I call dibs on being Commander!" Tia cried immediately.

"I call being General!" Chryssy said a moment after Tia was promoted to the rank of commander.

"Then what am I?" Luna whined.

Chryssy and Tia glanced at each other. "Private," they said together.

Luna kicked a twig. "Fine,"

"Commander, take evathive actionth!" Private Shiny warned.

Commander Sunny jumped from side to side as suicide bombing leaves fell. "How dare you?! I thought we were friends, General Lovebug!"

General Lovebug stuck her tongue out at her.

Commander Sunny, as her last action, tackled the treacherous General Lovebug into the Pit of DOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

She pinned the General down whilst Private Shiny tickled Lovebug's sides until Commander Sunny gave the word.

"Alright, stop." Tia crouched down by the filly whose uncontrollable laughter was contagious. Soon they all began giggling and then escalating into loud guffaws that echoed throughout the nearly-abandoned neighborhood.

Inside the Celestial Sisters' house, Lauren smiled. Her daughters finally had made a friend.

"So then I was all like 'whoa' and then I was all like 'WHOA' and then I was all like 'whooooooa'" Chryssy dramatically finished her story by splaying her legs everywhich way.

"That'th cool, Chryththy," Luna commented.

Tia agreed. Then she noticed the sun. "Hey, Luna."

"What?" Luna asked with annoyance.

"It's getting late. Mom'll start to worry." Tia said, walking away. She waved to Chryssy. "Bye! I'll see ya tomorrow!"

Chryssy nudged Luna. "Better go. See ya later!"

"Bye Chryssy!" Luna shouted.

The sisters galloped home within seconds.

"Did you girls have fun?" Lauren asked rhetorically.

"Yeah!" they said enthusiastically.

"I have some sandwiches on the table; I thought you'd be hungry." Lauren told them.

Tia levitated her sandwich over and ate it right there. Luna, on the other hoof, couldn't use magic yet so she had to actually use her legs to go get it.

"It's time for bed," Lauren announced when the stars had come out and he win retired for he evening.

"Aw come on!" Luna whined.

"Bed. Now." Lauren said, this time adding a hard glare.

With much complaining, Lauren successfully wrangled her fillies into bed for the night. She walked past a large bookshelf full of fanfictions scavenged to print before the internet collapsed. She paused.

"Haven't read Past Sins in a while..."