Judging from Pet’s reaction to first meeting Stew Pot, Chivalry figured getting her to leave the apparent safety of the carriage would prove difficult. Unfortunately, he was right.
“Come on Pet, I promise nopony’s going to hurt you. Just come out of there.”
Her face briefly appeared in the window of the carriage. She quickly shook her head and disappeared again.
“Her name is Pet?” Chivalry hadn’t noticed his wife coming up behind him.
“Long story,” he replied distractedly as a pair of green eyes showed themselves in the door’s window again.
“It sounds like one I would very much like to hear…” she trailed off as Pet looked out the window at them again.
“Daddy is she nice?” an excited voice called over. “Can I meet her yet?”
“Just a minute, sweetie!” Chivalry turned back to the carriage. “Pet, come on out of there,” he took several steps towards the carriage door.
“No! I want to go back to the hive!” Chivalry face-hoofed; he’d had a long shift and his patience was wearing thin.
“What do I say to her?”
Minty muttered something under her breath about “stallions” and walked to the carriage. As she passed her husband she whispered angrily at him.
“Later, you explain to me why she just said ‘hive.”
“Hey, Pet? Would you mind coming out of there? Please? We have dinner almost ready and I think Waffle Cone really wants to meet you.”
…
From within the carriage, a small voice could be heard.
“What’s a ‘waffle’?”
“Well Pet, the Waffle I’m talking about is a very nice filly who just wants to be your friend.”
“What’s a ‘friend?”
Minty threw an inquiring glance at Chivalry, who mouthed “later”.
“A friend is somepony who is nice to you and cares about you. You should come inside, and meet her. I think she’d be a great friend. Would you like that? Would you like to have a friend?”
After a few moments of silence, the carriage door opened and Pet stepped out still trying to hide behind her mane.
“I think having a friend would be nice.”
“I think so too. Than why don’t you meet her? Waffle!” No sooner had she looked at her daughter than she ran over in a pink blur.
A very excited Waffle Cone led a very nervous filly into the house. Minty pulled her husband aside.
“We’ll talk later, but for now, just one question. Am I right in guessing she needs our help?”
“Yes, most definitely.” Chivalry replied.
“Well, then… come inside. Dinner’s waiting.”
With that, Minty Green followed the two fillies back into the house. The smell of freshly baked bread greeted them. A young mare with a bright smile was stirring a pot on the stove, a small bundle lay on her back wrapped in her wings.
“Waffle, who’s dad’s frie- oh, hello there.” She turned to look at Pet, who was busy staring wide eyed around the room, as if the humble kitchen and dining room was the most impressive thing she had ever seen.
“Laurel, this is Pet! She’s going to be our new sister!”
“Well, I wouldn’t quite say that.” said Chivalry as he crossed the threshold into his house.
“Honey, why don’t you go get out of your armor while me and the girls set the table?”
“Sure thing, Minty, I’ve been in this thing for almost a whole day.” He turned and made for the stairs. As he did so he whispered quietly to his wife.
“Just make Pet feel welcome and don’t mention changelings. I’ll explain everything later.”
Leaving his wife with more questions than she had before, he began a tactical retreat up the stairs.
“Actually dear, let me help you out of your harness. You look exhausted.” As she pulled closer to him she whispered-
“You’re not getting away that easily.” Then in a louder voice, she called back over her shoulder to her oldest daughter.
“Laurel, can you help our guest with her things? She may be staying with us for a while.” With that, she disappeared up the stairs after her husband.
“Okay!” Laurel turned to Waffle and gently handed her the small bundle from her back. “Waffle, could you hold Crème for a bit?” She then turned quickly back to Pet and the front door. “Let’s go grab your things from the carri-” she cracked open the door to an empty street. “That’s odd, where did it go? How are we supposed to grab your stuff if it’s not there?”
“I don’t have anything.” Pet spoke up for the first time since abandoning the carriage. She said it like it was the most natural thing in the world to have literally no possessions.
“Oh…” Laurel replied sounding somewhat deflated before brightening back up. “Traveling light, I see. I normally don’t bring too much with me when I go places either. Let’s go back inside. I need to get the bread out of the oven.” They re-entered the small home with Laurel’s curiosity suitably piqued surrounding the origins of the strange filly. She would be sure to ask her father about it.
Pet was still visibly nervous around her so Laurel sat her down at the table and went about getting dinner ready to serve. Waffle sat down next to Pet and showed her the small yellow baby filly. Crème had had some health problems in the first few months, but now she smiled and gurgled like any other baby. Laurel was content to finish dinner and let her sisters work their charming magic on Pet. Waffle Cone and Crème could make a rock smile if they tried.
Sure enough, after Waffle handed her the foal, Pet smiled. It looked like an expression she didn’t make often. As Laurel opened the oven, she found herself wondering what it was her parents were discussing on the floor above. Whatever it was, they were discussing it loudly.
* * *
“CHANGELINGS!?”
“Yes Changelings, we conducted a r-”
“The same monsters that attacked during the wedding?!”
Chivalry took a breath and removed his chest plate before replying.
“Yes, Minty, the same. We stormed their hive to make su-”
“Oh, Gods… that’s why you said that when you left. You said goodbye.”
“Honey, I always say goodbye.” It sounded fake even to Chivalry. “Minty, I knew it would only worry you mo-”
“Worry? WORRY!?”
Ah scrap. Chivalry thought to himself.
“Was I worried when I heard the princess disappeared in Ponyville? You were there, and so was Nightmare Moon! We heard that guardponies had engaged her, should I have worried then?!”
“Minty, you know that it was the pegasi that tried to stop her. I wasn’t anywhere near when that happened. She was long gone by the time I was on scene. Nopony was inj-”
“What about the wedding?! Do you think I was worried then?! Thank the gods Laurel was sick and had to stay home! What she had been out in the street with her friends? She could have- she could’ve- sh-she”
“Mint don’t even think that. We can’t do that to ourselves.” He put a hoof on her shoulder to comfort her and balance himself as he slid the segmented barding off. “Let’s just be thankful that we all were sa-”
“Don’t even get me started on you, mister! Where were you? Oh right, at the palace! Safe in sound, wrapped in a drekken cocoon! We didn’t even know what was happening, nopony knew! All we could do was stay inside and pray. We thought you-”
Chivalry didn’t let his wife go any further. He embraced her in a warm hug, stifling the sobs he knew could easily come.
“Mint. Listen to me. I’m not going anywhere. I will always come home for you and the girls. Always.”
Minty just nodded her head and took few moments to compose herself while Chivalry placed the armor on its proud mannequin.
“It’s good to see you with your normal coloring.”
Chivalry turned to watch as the enchantments slowly left with the armor, changing to his normal muddy brown. His crimson helmet cutie mark shimmered back into view upon his flank.
“I do prefer this to that bright white. Though I fear the blue hair and most of the white will stick around until about after dinner.”
“So you found her during the raid and decided to take her home with you?”
“Well, yes and no. Princess Luna just about asked me to watch her. So I volunteered. Besides, she also gave me fully paid leave and I get to spend more time at home, so everypony wins.”
They heard Laurel calling them down so they made their way to the stairs. As they closed their room door behind them, a thought struck Chivalry.
“Any word from Praiseworthy?”
“Yes, he was supposed to be home last night.” Seeing her husband’s shocked face, she continued. “It was supposed to be a surprise, but a friend told me his train was delayed.”
“Maybe it’s for the better. As you might’ve noticed, Pet is still very nervous around new ponies.”
The sound of laughter greeted them as they reached the first floor.
“Well you could hardly tell from that.”
Waffle, Laurel, and Pet all sat round Crème, who was happily laughing and gurgling as they took turns rubbing her soft belly. They were laughing and smiling as if they had known each other their whole lives. It made Chivalry smile too see Pet laugh and smile. She looked up and saw him.
Then screamed and fell from her seat.
“Pet, are you ok?” Chivalry hurried over to her, concern written on his face.
“GET AWAY!”
Suddenly, the front door banged back on its hinges and a cloaked stallion stormed into the room, horn aglow.
“Royal Guard!” Both Chivalry and the strange stallion shouted at the same time, both dropping into low fighting stances. Pet screamed again, Crème started crying, Laurel threw herself in front of her sisters, and Minty struck up her own horn aiming for the stallion.
Needless to say, it was a tense situation. Or, at least it was until Minty, Laurel, and the cloaked unicorn started laughing.
“No place quite like home,” said Praiseworthy, dropping his fighting stance and traveling cloak.