//------------------------------// // Chapter 2 // Story: Ouranios // by Amadeus //------------------------------// Chapter 2 Later that evening as the rain was pouring from the sky Gold Rush was busy putting away the last of his tools in the barn. It was a hard day but he had been able to finish planting the last of the orchard before the rain had become too heavy. Now, as he wiped the sweat and rainwater from his eyes, he just wanted to get clean and grab some food. He hung is harness on the hook by the door as he walked out into the downpour, closing the door behind him with a flick of the latch. He quickly made his way to the house and came through the backdoor, lest he track mud over Lavender’s carpet. Which he had had the misfortune of doing once before and his sweet wife had beaten it, for lack of a better term, into his brain that he was never supposed to do that again. As he came in through the door he watched Lavender Breeze jump by his sudden entrance. “Oh Gold Rush I didn’t hear ye coming in,” She said as she held a hoof to her chest trying to regain her composure. Gold smiled sheepishly, “Sorry about that.” “So how did the work go?” Lavender asked as she hurriedly tried to set the table. “It went well dear. Got all the work done just in time and with some luck we should be well on our way to having our dreams become a reality.” Gold said as he sneaked behind her and grabbed her in an embrace. She squeaked in surprise at his action and soon found herself giggling as he nuzzled her neck. “Speaking of dreams -” Lavender said as she wiggled out of his grasp, “- something happened today after I talked with thee, something wonderful.” “Really? -” his ears perked up as he saw the sparkle in her cerulean eyes,”- That’s great! I can not wait for thee to tell me all about it over dinner, but first I need a bath.” “Yes but I –“ but he was already out of the kitchen and into the bathroom. Oh dear I hope he doesn’t run into them by mistake. At that point Lavender saw Celestia come from around behind the couch, giving her a look as if to make sure that it was safe. Lavender just gave her a heartening smile and beckoned the little filly over. To which Celestia happily obliged bounding over to Lavender and nuzzling into the mare’s chest, her tail swaying in excitement. Lavender gave her an affectionate rub with her nose remembering to be wary of the little pony’s horn. Stopping the moment she remembered one very important detail. There were two fillies originally. “Stay a moment, Celestia,-“ the white filly looked up at Lavender at the sound of her name with that same smile, ”-where is Luna?” Celestia just continued to smile at her. Obviously unaware of what the mare was asking her and a sense of dread began to overtake her heart as she began to look for the missing filly leaving Celestia standing in the dining room. Wondering with a tilt of her head, what the violet pony was doing by looking under the couch before rushing into the kitchen. Oh no. Gold Rush gave a relaxed sigh as he slowly dipped into the hot water. He could feel his knotted muscles relieving their tension one by one as he sank deeper allowing the water to kiss his skin. He could feel the loose dirt releasing its hold from his tan coat, and the stray pieces of hay become untangled from his long black mane and tail. Closing his eyes he settled so that he was lying comfortably on his stomach with his head and front hooves resting on the rim of the tub. Ah…this is what I needed. Gold thought as he half heartedly tried to not fall asleep in the welcoming warmth. He could still hear the rain falling on the roof above him; it seemed to finally be slacking up, which wasn’t helping him in his battle against sleep. Plop-plop-plop-clop-plop-plop-clop W-what? Clop? Gold thought groggily as he willed his brain to start working again. He rotated his ears from side to side trying to pinpoint what was making that noise and waited. Silence-clop-That sounded like it was from inside. In fact-clop- that almost sounds like it was right in front of m-clop. He slowly opened his eyes to find himself staring into the biggest pair of aquamarine eyes he had ever seen. Eyes which belonged to a small navy blue unicorn filly with a long indigo mane and tail; he also noticed a black blotch on her flank with a white moon cutie mark. Wait a moment…not a unicorn. - He thought to himself in a daze- unicorns don’t have wings. Shimmering gold stared in to pools of blue-green for what seemed like eternity. The little filly smiled at him and took another step closer, her little hooves causing the clopping noise he had heard earlier. Her long wavy tail flicked with excitement as she took yet another step closer. The stallion and filly just stared at each other for a moment, before Gold’s mind began working at full capacity and he remembered where he was. He sat up in the tub with a jolt, spilling water, and startled the little filly who ran to find cover. “Lavender Breeze!” She heard her husband’s scream from the kitchen where she was busy looking in the cabinet under the sink. It startled her so much that she hit her head on the cabinet’s face frame, and fell back on her haunches. She let out a hiss of pain as she carefully touched the spot with a hoof where a bump was no doubt forming. Celestia came over and rubbed her little nose against Lavender’s neck, in an attempt to ease her pain. Lavender reassured the filly to let her know she was okay, but quickly remembered her husband’s outburst and the mystery of the missing filly. She quickly stood up, startling Celestia in the process, and headed towards the bathroom. Before she could reach the door though, it flew open to reveal a very upset and dripping wet Gold Rush. He had a slightly irritated look on his face; ok strike that, a very irritated look on his face as he narrowed his eyes at his wife. “Lavender…-“ he began as he took a step forward and she took a cautionary step back, “- can thou tell me why there is a filly in the bathroom?” Lavender tried to play it off like nothing new, “Oh I see that thee found Luna. That’s great I was just wondering where she had gone.” “Luna?” he asked raising a single golden eyebrow, but was soon frowning again, “And when was thoust planning on telling me about this?” Lavender let out an irritated humph as she sat on her haunches and crossed her arms, “Right before thee went to go take a bath.” Gold let out a sigh of defeat, knowing that arguing with his wife on this would be a loosing battle. Luna poked her head out of the door to see what was going on, and quickly galloped past Gold over to Lavender, her little wings fluttering as if trying to carry her there faster. She wrapped her arms around the light purple mare’s stomach and nuzzled into her warmth. Lavender ran a hoof through Luna’s blue mane eliciting a giggle from the filly. She was lost in the tender moment as she continued to stroke Luna’s tresses till she heard Gold gasp in shock. Lavender followed his gaze towards the white filly that had positioned herself at her side, next to Luna. “There art two of them?” Gold said in disbelief at what he was seeing. “Well yes, this one is Celestia.” Lavender said motioning to the white pony, which held her head with pride at having her name called out. “From where did they come?” The stallion asked, beyond confused at the situation. “I know not,” Lavender admitted, “I found them in the barn earlier today, and they haven’t said a word yet. Then again, I’m not even sure if they know how to speak. They do seem to know what I’m telling them but that’s about it.” Gold thought about this for a moment trying to put the pieces together. They certainly didn’t look like any pony he had ever seen, they seemed to be about the size of a normal school age filly, but their action’s where more like that of a newborn foal. He took a step towards the females and saw Celestia and Luna get in front of Lavender their heads low, pointing their little horns at him, warning him to stay back. The big stallion and the little fillies had a staring match for a moment, before Lavender walked between the two and stood next to Gold Rush. “It’s alright little one’s. Come here-“ she said beckoning the two, who seemed to be relaxing with Lavender’s approval of this big tan pony, “-I want thee to meet my husband Gold Rush.” Celestia and Luna took a couple of steps closer to Gold, who tried to give them a reassuring smile. Luna took another couple of steps forward while Celestia stayed back, keeping a wary distance. This action came as a surprise to Lavender, due to the smaller filly’s actions in the barn earlier that day. Luna gave a wary look between Lavender and Gold, as if silently asking if it was okay to trust this big pony that towered over her. Lavender gave her a reassuring nod and Luna’s mood immediately brightened, and Gold soon found one of his legs on the receiving end of a filly hug. Gold looked down at the filly, which was currently trying to rub against his chest but was too short to reach. He took one of his powerful hooves and gently rubbed her head which just made Luna hug tighter. Celestia, on the other hand, waited a few moments still wary of him. But just like Luna, all it took was a reassuring nod from Lavender before Gold found himself in a filly sandwich. As the two fillies continued to shower Gold with affection, Lavender just had to smile at how cute the scene looked. That and she was secretly relishing on how uncomfortable they where making the usually well composed stallion as he fidgeted under their continuing affection. But there was something else that this scene reminded her of …a family. After a couple of minutes she decided to step in and save her husband before he could no longer feel his legs. She clopped her hooves together to get everyone’s attention. “Okay little ones it’s time for dinner. Let us go to the table so we can eat.-” Celestia and Luna quickly let go of Gold Rush’s legs and bounded into the kitchen and sat at the table with eager faces. Gold also moved toward the kitchen but was stopped by Lavender placing a hoof on his powerful chest. “-Not so fast; thou still needs to finish thy bath.” With that she pushed him towards the bathroom. ________________________________________________________________________________________________ “Thou knowest that they can’t stay, Lavender.” Gold told his wife later that night as they prepared to bed down for the night. Lavender just nodded absentmindedly as she slowly brushed her white locks in front of her vanity. She knew that he was right but she wanted to hold onto that sliver of hope as her thoughts drifted back to earlier. From the moment that those precious fillies hugged Gold’s legs, to the dinner where Gold and her had tried to explain to them the intricacies of dinnerware. This didn’t end as well as she would have hoped for, as stew ended up all over Celestia and Luna along with the kitchen. Which earned the two another bath after that. All the way to when they tucked the two tired little ponies in a makeshift bed that Gold and Lavender had laid out for them in the family room. As she stood in the doorframe of her room and watched them snuggle into their pillows, she found herself not wanting them to leave her sight, least they disappear. It eventually took Gold to physically guide her into their room so that the two younglings could sleep in peace. She was so wrapped up in her thoughts that she didn’t hear her husband calling to her. “I’m sorry, what did thou say honey.” Lavender said as she sat down her brush and turned to face Gold. “I said on the morrow I shall go into town and see if I can find any information about them, and hopefully I can find their parents. Okay?” He looked at her with eyes that where screaming for her to agree with him but she just hung her head and gave a little nod. With that they crawled into the bed, pulling the covers up to their necks and extinguishing the lamps on the nightstands. Gold was asleep almost the instant his head hit his pillow, more than likely worn out from all the happenings from that day. Lavender rolled over to face away from Gold as she continued to dwell on her thoughts. She knew it was selfish for her to want them to stay, because she couldn’t imagine being a mother and not knowing where her offspring where. Yet she also couldn’t deny the feeling of fulfillment that she got from watching those two. As she laid there trying to calm her mind to sleep, she heard the bedroom door open. She looked up towards the door to see the shadowy outline of the two fillies. “Celestia? Luna? What’s the matter honies?” She whispered to the two, but they just ran over to her side of the bed and stared up at her with eyes that shone in the dark under the moonlight. “Art thou scared?” Celestia and Luna just gave her a whimper that melted the mare’s heart and she pulled her cover’s back inviting them into the bed. “Come hither you two.” The two fillies jumped up into the bed and snuggled in between Gold and Lavender and where soon snoring peacefully along with Gold. She smiled peacefully as she absentmindedly stroked their manes as she slowly drifted off to sleep. She saw Celestia peek open an eye and smile sleepily at Lavender before uttering her first word in a quiet whisper that sounded like the squeak of a mouse. “Mommy” Lavender stopped her stroking at that one little word and she could begin to feel her heart swell as her eyes began to water. She leaned down and kissed the two on the forehead before wrapping them in her embrace and began to drift off into a peaceful sleep. Tomorrow we’ll look for their parents, she thought to herself as she closed her eyes, but for now I’m going to enjoy this. At least, until…tomorrow.