Flame and Desire

by Masterweaver

OM NOM NOM

A single fold away table stood in the center of the living room, bedecked with a platter and six rather simple plates. A stir fry of asparagus, baked potatoes, and some hay fries was mounded on the central dish; Wishing Star smiled as she levitated portions of it off to each plate, pouring glasses of milk for the entire family. She and Fireflare had long ago agreed that the pegasus in the kitchen area was a disaster waiting to happen; the Incident Of Exploding Eggs alone had convinced all their foals save Glory Star of that truth.

Solar Flare was the first to arrive at the table, marching up to his stool and siting in a very straight manner. Here he could keep an eye on the hall, silently noting which of his elders would emerge and planning his own militaristic rebukes. He snorted as Glory Star emerged, circling the table twice widdershins, once deiseil, and once more widdershins before jumping onto the stool two places to his right.

"Do you have to do that?"

"No." Glory Star looked into her saddlebags. "Hmm. I need a new onion."

"...why do you even carry those things?" the unicorn grumbled. "Waste of food."

"Trolls," the pegasus replied simply. She set to preening her feathers, careful of the second primary that extended from the middle of her wings.

Moonshine clipped out with a yawn, shaking his head and plunking himself into the seat across from his eccentric sister. "Morning Mommy. Wow, this smells good!"

"Thanks Moony!" Wishing Star pulled out the stool next to him, nuzzling her firstborn gently. "It's just a little something I threw together. Do you know where Madre and your sister are?"

"Comet Trail had another nightmare," Glory Star reported calmly. "They'll be out soon."

The unicorn mare gave her daughter a stern look. "You know, some ponies might be hurt to discover that they were being talked about so casually without them knowing about it."

This statement so confounded the pegasus that she tilted her head, tapping her hoof against the table.

Fireflare and Comet Trail eventually came out of the hall, the small brown filly riding between her madre's wings. Solar Flare gave a small snort, but Moonshine flicked a hoof against his blank flank to prevent any commentary. Wishing Star smiled gently at Comet Trail as she clambered awkwardly into her seat, giving her wife a significant glance. Fireflare tilted her head toward the counter that separated the kitchen and living room, flicking a wing at the large picnic basket to the side as she sat between Glory Star and Solar Flare.

"Sorry to keep you all waiting, kids. Comet Trail was just helping me wrap my hoofbands, they came loose." The pegasus tapped her rear hooves for emphasis, adjusting the hat upon her head. "Wow, Starry, this smells amazing!"

Wishing Star gave her a wry grin. "Almost as good as what your madre makes?"

"Hey, her special talent is cooking, don't be too harsh on yourself." Fireflare dug into her meal with much aplomb; while years of training by her wife had improved her manners significantly, she was still a ferocious beast when it came to the consumption of foodstuffs. The rest of the table began to quickly eat at their own half-as-big shares of breakfast, hoping to keep her from taking their necessary meal.

The unicorn mare turned to Moonshine. "So, how's school going?"

"Well, I don't really understand what all this literature stuff is supposed to be, but I'm really good with geography!"

Solar Flare nodded his agreement. "Literature isn't real. I keep a high grade only to maintain excellence, but in the end it isn't worth anything."

"Solar!" Fireflare rebuked, managing to swallow the mass in her mouth. "Only nothing is worth nothing!"

"What do you use literature for?" the colt replied snidely.

"Research," Wishing Star quipped.

Her wife blushed. "Er... yeah. That and... Literature is about... expressing yourself."

"To put to page the thoughts unknown so others may wander your mental realm, to understand patterns in world and self, to express the soul in matter most profound, to act in thought what never wouldst do in realms of reality."

Everypony turned to Glory Star with amazement.

The little pegasus shrugged. "Well... that's how I interpret it anyway."

There was a moment where they all contemplated her words.

"...I like reading," Comet Trail offered.

"That's great!" Fireflare replied enthusiastically.

"I like reading Mommy's magic books," Moonshine explained, "but the teacher says that's not literature."

"Sweetheart, you know that you shouldn't cast new spells without adult supervision," Wishing Star reminded him gently.

"I don't! I just read them!"

"Speaking of spells," Fireflare segued, "I was thinking maybe you three should get ready to have a cloudwalking spell cast on you this afternoon. A picnic in the sky, when was the last time we did that?"

"Three months, four days ago," Glory Star replied idly. "It was windy, and you yelled at a pegasus trying to get Mommy to come home with him."

"...yeeeeeeah, but other then that it was fun, right?"

Glory Star nodded. Suddenly she scooted away from the table. "I'm going to get a new onion." She wandered round the table, twice deseri, before walking into the kitchen.

"Has everypony eaten enough?" Wishing Star asked. A moment later she rolled her eyes. "Everypony except Madre?"

"I'm good!"

"Rations consumed dutifully ma'am."

"...I, um... well, if we have to go right now..."

The unicorn nuzzled her younger daughter warmly. "We've got a few minutes. Finish up."

Comments

[Herr Wahnsinniger]

Chapters are a bit short, little to no character introduction. This chapter in particular seems unfinished; it just stops right at the end of what would have otherwise been a perfect intro.

[Shellsh0cker]

I'm loving this. Your characters are wonderfully colorful (I'm especially fond of Flare's no-doubt adorable military approach to everything, and Glory's brilliant Cloudcuckoolander-ness) and your prose is nice and solid. Couple things, though:

"Speaking of spells," Fireflare segwayed

That's "segued". "Segue" is the present tense. Pronounced the same, but a Segway is a personal transportation device, not a smooth conversational trasition from one topic to another.

The other thing is that there are a bunch of typos in Glory's lovely description of literature. Normally I'll let typos slide, but given that it's the most poetic line of the entire chapter, that's the one place where you really don't want any mistakes.