Today had been scheduled for a ‘light rain’ in the afternoon, but, obviously, something had gone wrong, as there had been bucketloads of rain pelting down from the blackened skies even through the late evening.
Apparently, it was just some freak weather storm that would pass in a day or two.
The rain had halted most outside activities, yet there were still ponies running about, the rain being no excuse not to do their jobs.
One of these ponies was called Hail Storm, a pegasus mare with a coat dark as the sky above her. She trudged through the streets, wearing a warm coat as to not let the cold get to her. Not that it worked entirely.
Her ears flicked, and she slowed down to a stop. A gentle frown caressed her face, and she looked around her.
She could have sworn she had heard something, but it was hard to hear anything over the rain impacting the cobbles beneath her.
There it was again. It sounded like a somepony calling for help.
“...H-hello…? Is anypony there?” Her voice echoed down the empty street, muffled by the rain.
“...help…”
She looked over to the alleyway to her left, her ears fully up. She quickly trotted over towards the voice.
In the corner of the alley was a curled up ball of a pegasus foal, around seven or eight with a coat to match her own, but a little lighter.
She gasped, and crossed the distance between her and the shivering little foal in a moment, picking the poor little thing up gently and cradling it.
The foal clung to her, a small whine escaping it.
“Oh, you poor thing,” Hail Storm murmured, taking off her jacket and wrapping it up in it, before placing the bundle on her back, safely between her wings and trotting home as fast as she could without jostling the cold thing too much.
The door to her apartment opened, and Hail Storm stepped in through it, her mane and coat dripping wet. She moved her wet fringe out of her eyes with a hoof, then shut the door with it.
She glanced at the mostly dry bundle on her back, and after a moment, trotted into the bathroom, using a wing to flick on the heater as she did.
Now dripping onto the tiles instead of the carpet, she took the still shivering bundle off of her back and placed it down on the floor next to her, unwrapping the foal and grabbing a few towels from the pile.
The foal looked up at her with wide and, finally, awake green eyes, the color of emeralds.
She halted the toweling down of herself, and lowered herself down to the foal’s height, her own amethyst eyes looking back at the other’s.
“hi there little one,” she said softly.
“...h...h-hi…” He murmured back, looking away after a few moments shyly.
Hail smiled softly, one of her ears flicking slightly. “Do you have a name?” She asked after a moment, ignoring the coldness of the tiles on her stomach.
He shook his head softly, attempting to wrap himself back up in the jacket.
She frowned slightly. “D...Do you have parents?”
Again, he shook his head.
Hail Storm blinked, and let out a sad, pained noise. “you poor thing,” she repeated, wrapping her hooves around the little colt and pulling him to her in a soft hug.
He snuggled into her fur and clung to her tightly.
She nuzzled the top of his head instinctively, before shivering.
Carefully standing up using three hooves proved to be a bit of trouble, but with her wings, she was able to. “How about we get you warm then?” She asked softly, one hoof keeping the foal up, the other three walking her into the lounge and towards the heater.
He nodded softly and mumbled a quiet ‘yes’ into her chest fur.
Hail Storm smiled faintly and sat down in front of the heater, which was beginning to send out warm waves of air.
The little foal pulled away from her to look at the heater, his ears wiggling happily as the warm air washed over him.
She let out a quiet giggle, and gently set him down. “You stay right here, alright? I’m just going to duck into the kitchen and grab something to eat,” she said softly, and, as if on cue, his tummy let out a grumbling noise.
She smiled wider, and looked at him. “I suppose you’ll be wanting something too?” She asked, and when met with a nod, chuckled softly and began to walk to the kitchen. “Just one moment.”
As she went to go get something suitable for the foal and herself, he approached the heater and rested his head down in front of the vent. The way the heat rolled over his body and warmed up his body limbs made him giggle quietly.
A few moments later, she returned with a small bowl of cut up carrots, and set it down next to him, before setting herself down on the other side of him, her wings ruffling up and spreading over him slightly.
He looked up at her curiously, and then looked at the bowl. He leaned over it and tentatively sniffed a few times, before reaching a hoof in and grabbing several of them out.
She smiled as he began to snack on them, and nicked a few of them for herself using her wings, setting them in front of her, before returning to resting over the foal.
He froze up as her wings lightly touched his back, and she paused, slowly lifting her wings back up.
After a moment, he relaxed, and moved closer to her, pressing into her side gently, murmuring something quietly.
She smiled softly, slowly extending her wing to cover him like a blanket. She picked up a bit of carrot and began nibbling on it, looking down at the foal next to her.
He continued eating the carrots, wriggling a bit before getting comfortable, his left ear flicking a few times.
She looked out the window, watching the rain impact the glass heavily, creating the noise she had grown to love.
Her ear flicked, and she looked back down at the foal. He had finished all the carrots and was looking up at her pleadingly, pawing at her stash of them.
With a small giggle, she nodded softly, pushing them closer to him with her opposite hoof.
He let out a cute sound of delight and quickly pulled them over to him, picking one up and nomming on it, his ears wiggling happily.
She “awww’d” quietly, and nuzzled the top of his head with a smile on her face.
Once again, he froze up, but only for a few seconds, before returning it, rubbing the top of his head against her cheek.
It was Hail Storm who froze this time. Many thoughts ran through her head, such as ‘why am i reacting like this’, ‘who’s foal is this’, and ‘oh my celestia he’s so cute i want to keep him’.
A yawn gained her attention, and she looked down to the little foal, who blinked tiredly, then headbutted her chest and stayed there, seemingly intent on sleeping there.
She chuckled softly and gently nudged him. “C’mon, let’s get you to bed,” she said softly.
He let out a quiet whine, before slowly getting up, looking at her.
She got up herself and shut off the heater with a wing, letting it cycle down. “this way,” she began to walk down a hall slowly, watching him scamper after her.
He slowed down too, what was for him, a brisk trot, matching pace with her. He looked up at her curiously, before looking at the darkness ahead.
She opened the door to her left, looking at the colt. He was staring towards the end of the hall, which was shrouded in darkness. “In here,” she said, slowly entering her room.
He half turned to her, looking back at the end of the hall, before quickly entering in after her.
She glanced back in time to see him stumble and nearly fall over, but not quite. Smiling faintly, she turned her gaze to her bed.
He came to a halt next to her, attempting to look up and over the edge of the bed, failing. “Up?” He asked, looking at her.
She nodded. “do you need help getting up?” She asked, only to be met with a shake of his head.
He looked up, a determined look on his face. His wings fluffed up, then half extended in readiness. A moment later, he jumped as hard as he could, pumping his little wings in time to give him a boost.
He sailed through the air, looking over to who he had dubbed as ‘nice mare’, seeing the look of mild surprise, before falling onto the bed with a muffled ‘fwump’.
She blinked, and, after seeing he was, in fact, alright, laughed softly. “I’ll be right back, okay? Make yourself comfy,” she said softly, laughter still in her voice.
“Mmhhm!” He nodded, beginning to seemingly strut all over the bed, testing for softness, and after finally finding a good spot, laying down in said spot.
She watched for a few moments, bemused, before exiting the room, quickly going around the house to turn off the lights, returning a minute later.
Hail looked over at where the colt was, and after spotting him, made her way into the room, flicking off the light, then hopping into bed.
She lay on her side, facing both him and the window, a gentle sigh escaping her. The exhaustion had finally crept up on her, and boy she was tired.
Movement caused her to flick an eye open. The colt had gotten up, and he had moved spots. Now he had his back pressed against her barrel, emitting a decent amount of warmth.
She smiled faintly, and gently put a wing over him before pulling the covers up a little higher, the rain lulling her to sleep.
Morning came swiftly, though it was somewhat hard to tell with the rain clouds blotting out the sky.
Hail Storm let out a soft groan, and slowly opened her eyes. She was greeted by a small muzzle inches from hers, and big green eyes staring into hers.
“...good morning,” she said surprisingly calmly, looking to the sides of her vision, then back to the colt.
“...morning,” he responded, moving back from her then sitting down, ruffling his feathers.
She sat up in her bed, and shook her head in an attempt to wake herself up a little more.
“Hungry,” he said, looking up at her.
She nodded, and began untangling herself from the bed sheets. During the process, she had somehow managed to fall to the floor with a solid ‘thump’.
He peeked his head over the edge of the bed to see her on her back, her hooves in the air and wings out. “...i’m okay…” she mumbled, before quickly getting up.
Hail shook her head and flexed her, now somewhat sore, wings, yawning loudly. She mumbled an ‘excuse me’, before setting off to the kitchen.
The colt watched her go out before jumping down from the bed, his wings flapping a few times before folding back to his sides. He quickly went through the door, following her down the hall and into the kitchen.
She was inside, getting out the ingredients for pancakes and setting them out on the bench. “Have you ever had pancakes before?” She asked, not looking behind her.
He stood still for a good few seconds before answering. “Pancakes?” He asked curiously.
“That’s a no then,” she mumbled to herself, setting about cooking the wonderous thing known as pancakes.
He jumped up on a nearby counter and watched her as she worked with mild interest, his wings fluffing up again for seemingly no reason.
Soon enough, the smell of pancakes made itself known.
The colt sniffed air a few times, his stomach grumbling hungrily. “...smells good,” he mumbled, his mouth watering.
She looked over to him and giggled softly. “That they do,” she agreed.
A few minutes later, the two were seated on the couch, the smaller one stuffing his face with pancake, and the larger one holding back laughter. Barely.
He gave her a strange look, before returning to eating his pancake, if you could call it that. It was more like ‘savagely tearing into it’, if anything.
It took her a minute, but she calmed down and began to eat her own pancake, eyeing him with interest.
He had finished his pancake, and was now wandering all over the lounge, exploring the place.
Hail Storm looked away from him and out the window for what felt like a few seconds, but, judging by the fact that the colt was now up on two legs with his front ones pushing against her, was a mite longer than that.
She looked down at him, noting that her pancake was gone. “Sorry, I don’t know why I keep dozing off,” she apologized. “What is it?”
He jumped back down onto the carpet, and said one word. “Toilet?”
“Oh,” she said simply, getting up with slight haste, walking down the hall. “This one,” she said, opening the door for him. “U-um, you know what to d-do?” She asked softly, somewhat embarrassed.
He nodded, and ducked underneath her legs to go through, his wings fluffing up as he did.
She pulled the door back to a nearly closed position, then returned to the lounge room, gathering up the minimal dishes, going and washing them up.
Hail began to hum a tune softly as she wiped down the plates, her wings twitching slightly.
The sound of hoofsteps on the kitchen tile made her ears flick back. “Better?”
“Mhmm,” he responded simply, standing next to her back leg.
She glanced back at him to see him looking up at her curiously. Laughing gently, she dried her hooves on a tea towel and turned to face him.
He blinked up at her, then sat down on the cold tile, cocking his head.
She looked down at him curiously. “What’re you doing?” She asked.
He shook his head, and quickly got up, turned around and exited the kitchen.
She raised an eyebrow at his behaviour, before shrugging it off and following him.
He wandered into the lounge, hopped up on the couch, then crouched down and jumped onto the windowsill.
While it was certainly strong enough to hold him, she still panicked, rushing over to him, ready to catch him in case of anything.
As it happened, nothing happened except for him sitting down and looking out the window. She let out a sigh of relief, and took a few moments to calm herself down.
Outside, it was still raining, but the clouds had cleared out a fair amount since how she had last seen them. No longer were the clouds absolutely covering the sky, instead it was now more like a thin blanket of dark grey.
A trio of pegasi flew past, flying up to the clouds and setting down on them, two of them discussing something as the third grabbed out a jar, scooped some cloud in and put it back in his saddlebags.
The foal looked on in interest for a few moments, before looking back to the city’s streets, his tail twitching slightly.
A rapid knocking on the door startled both the foal and Hail Storm, causing her to jump around, landing back on the ground with her wings bared, and him to nearly fall off.
Knock-knock knock-knock.
“Who is it?” She called, hastily trotting towards the door.
“I’ll give you one guess!” Came a stallion’s reply through the door.
“Princess Celestia?” She ‘guessed’, as she unlocked and opened the door with a grin.
She was met with an unamused glare. “Absolutely,” he said, sounding seriously serious, before breaking into a slight grin. “Storm, how are you this…” He looked over her shoulder and out her window. “...what?” He looked befuddled.
She glanced behind her, and saw the foal, now staring at the new pony.
She blinked.
“Uh, please come in, Dusk,” she said hastily, pulling him in through the door and all but slamming it behind her.
“How?” He asked, turning to look at her.
“I f-found him last n-night in the storm!” She explained quickly, walking around him and in between the two, her wings fluffing up nervously.
“...ah,” he said after a few moment of processing what exactly she had said. “...sorry,” he mumbled after a few moments.
“I-it’s fine,” she waved it off, looking over at the foal, who was now on the ground and slowly approaching the unicorn.
Dusk looked down at him, sitting back on his haunches. He looked curiously at the small one, and received a curious look in return.
“Hey there,” he said softly, giving a little wave.
“....hi,” came the quiet response from the foal as he sat down in front of him.
Hail Storm smiled gently. “A-anyway Dusk, this is… um...” She trailed off into a slight frown.
“No name?” Dusk guessed softly, looking over to her.
She shook her head gently, a sad expression on her face.
“Oh,” he murmured, turning back to the foal. quietly, looking over at her.
She gently shook her head, a sad look falling over her face and her ears flicked back.
Dusk frowned for a moment, before turning back to the foal, who was now right in front of him.
The foal gazed up at him, slowly reaching up with a hoof towards the larger pony's nose.
He blinked as the foal gently booped him and giggled, before smiling gently. He let out a few chuckles himself, before looking back out the window, watching the weather teams attempt to remove the clouds.
“Cloudburst?” He suddenly suggested, looking over to the mare.
She thought about it for a moment, before directing her attention towards the foal. “I suppose. What do you think?” She asked the small pony.
He looked over at Hail Storm for a few long moments, before looking at the ground, his wings twitching as he thought. He nodded softly after a few moments.
“...I guess that's that,” Hail murmured softly, her wings twitching by her side.
“Indeed,” Dusk agreed simply, looking around.
Cloudburst stood back up and began circling around the unicorn, headbutting one of his front legs gently after doing a full rotation.
“...really now?” He asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Mmmhhhmm,” Cloudburst murmured, nuzzling into him shortly afterwards.
An “aaawwwwww~” from Hail Storm made the two turn their heads towards her, much to her amusement. “You two are adorable!”
Cloudburst murmured happily, while Dusk just blushed silently.
Storm giggled softly, getting back up on her hooves.
Dusk looked up at Hail all of a sudden. “Wait a minute. Would Cloudburst here be, I dunno, registered as a citizen or something?”
“So?” Hail repeated, glancing to him, then back to Cloudburst, who was wandering a few steps in front of the two.
“...I forgot?” He frowned, then looked down at the cobbles beneath them for a few moments, before back up to her.
She shrugged slightly, continuing to walk down the mostly barren street.
The trio were on the way to the Canterlot Palace to set about adopting Cloudburst. Well, Hail Storm was, Dusk was just there to keep the two company.
The foal in question was having a ball running amuck in the street ahead of them, splashing into every possible puddle, giggling manically most of the time.
Hail smiled faintly as she watched him do so, a strange, warm feeling fluttering up in her chest. It felt nice though, so she wasn’t complaining.
Dusk sighed gently, looking around. It had cleared up significantly since the morning, and there was little rain to be seen.
In the distance there was a stallion running towards them. He had a brown coat with a slightly darker brown mane, and a green tie on.
Hail Storm’s face turned into a slight frown as he kept running towards them.
“Dusk?” She said to get his attention, half looking at him.
“Hmm?” He looked up, spotting the stallion in a moment. “Oh.”
The stallion began to slow down, coming to a near halt a few metres away from them.
“Which one of you is Cloudburst?” He asked hurriedly, glancing behind him. A grey pegasus mare with a blonde mane was half running half trotting toward him.
“Wh-wha? H-how do you know h-his name?” Hail Storm stuttered out, feeling panic bloom in her chest.
There was a moment of silence as the grey mare caught up to the group and exchanged looks with everyone.
Cloudburst took a step out from behind Hail’s legs where he was taking refuge a few moments ago tentatively.
“...hi?”
The other mare let out an “aww” softly at the cute foal, smiling softly.
The stallion looked down at him and regarded him carefully, before pulling something out of his pocket.
“This is yours,” he said evenly, and gave him a small pocket watch with a strange design on it.
Cloudburst hesitantly took it from the stranger. “...thanks,” he murmured softly, looking over the watch.
Both Dusk and Hail frowned slightly, confused.
“Let’s go Ditzy,” The stallion said before walking past the other two adults.
‘Ditzy’ watched him go for a grand total of three seconds, before looking to the three. “...Listen, I’m sorry about him,” she began softly, glancing at the retreating stallion. “But just take good care of this one, okay? It’ll all work out.”
After that, she walked away quickly, catching up to the brown stallion, then disappearing out of sight a few moments later.
“...what just happened…?” Hail turned to Dusk, very muchly confused.
“...not a clue,” he responded with simply, looking down at the watch that Cloudburst was rolling over in his hooves. “What’s that?”
“Broken,” he said quietly, poking the front of it for emphasis. “Won’t open.”
“...why would somepony give you a broken watch?” Hail murmured, a gentle frown on her face.
“Again, not a clue.”
“Don’t know,” Cloud said, and put the watch into his mane gently, it somehow staying in there. “Go?”
Hail blinked, then nodded, slowly returning to her previous pace.
Dusk took a few moments to glance back at where the strange duo had just been, before turning back and hurriedly catching back up to Hail and Cloud.
The walk was rather uneventful, with the exception of what Cloud had dubbed the "the watch stallion and the other nice mare" event.
As the three neared the outer gates, a guard called out to them. "Halt! What business do you have here?"
Cloudburst, once again, hid behind Hail, a squeak of fear emanating from him.
"u-um, i-we're h-here to... u-um..." Hail stuttered out nervously while taking a half step backward, her ears folding back.
"Here to see if this foal is in the system and potentially adopt him," Dusk filled in smoothly, his calm manner making Hail feel a little bit better.
The guard looked over the three before nodding. "Alright, go on through," he said, before channeling a spell through his horn, causing the gate to open.
"Private Sword here will show you where to go," he said as the three passed through the gates, said gates closing behind them a few moments later.
Cloudburst looked around the interior gardens in foalish wonderment, his eyes following the path of two butterflies, one light blue and the other dark green.
"This way," a voice said, disrupting the foal's train of thought. He trotted back over to Dusk and Hail, leaving the butterflies alone.
Dusk glanced at him before following the guard, with Hail doing the same but with a small and encouraging smile.
Soon enough, the sound of hooves impacting marble echoed into the ears of everypony present.
The foal looked around the hall boredly for a minute before focusing his attention on the two adults.
A moment passed before he looked around again, and sighed. He grabbed the watch out of his mane again and began fiddling with it using a wing.
Hail glanced down at him before looking back to where she was going, humming something softly as she did.
“There yet?” Cloudburst asked, having gotten tired of looking at the rather boring walls, ceiling and floor.
“We’re here,” The guard said, coming to a stop.
Hail stumbled, then stopped. “Huh, we are,” she murmured, then shook her head to get rid of the fog.
Dusk stepped through the open doorway, and gestured with his head for the two to go inside.
Hail Storm let out a gentle, relaxed sigh and shifted a little closer to the stallion next to her, glancing to him for a moment then to the colt on the other side of her.
After finalising everything with the adoption of Cloudburst, the three had gone to the park to spend a little time together.
Currently, said foal was curled up against her side, napping peacefully after running amok both in the park and castle.
His hind left leg twitched a few times, causing Hail to smile. She turned her gaze back to the park, admiring the view.
Dusk let out a gentle snore, his head resting softly on his hooves. He had been running amok with Cloudburst while she watched and had tired himself out as well.
She smiled and copied Dusk's pose, but not before wiggling a little closer to him. She looked around once more before resting her own head on her hooves, closing her eyes soon after.
A soft pressure against Hail's left cheek brought her out of her nap. She opened her eyes blearily, shaking her head to clear the cobwebs from her mind.
"Evening, sleepyhead," Dusk said from next to her.
She blinked, then looked to him, their muzzles centimetres apart.
"Oh," she murmured, looking away quickly to hid the fact that her cheeks were now a nice scarlet color.
He let out a quiet laugh and stood up gently, stretching out.
Cloudburst was still sleeping peacefully next to her, so she gently poked him with a wing, causing him to let out a tired mumble and curl up tighter.
She smiled faintly. "Cloudburst, wake up," She said softly, an ear flicking to register Dusk getting up and off the seat.
He let out a whine and slowly opened his eyes.
"There we are," she said with an encouraging smile.
Cloudburst looked up at her and smiled back, then standing up, stretching, and hopping off the seat.
"You too, Storm," Dusk said from beside her, startling her.
She yelped in surprise, jumping off the seat and doing a half turn in mid air to face him.
He laughed, Cloudburst joining in with his own giggles.
"Sh-shush," she mumbled, blushing in embarrassment.
"You're funny," Cloudburst said, setting his flank down on the ground for the moment.
Hail simply blew a raspberry at him in response.
"I thought he was supposed to be the one acting like a foal," Dusk commented, amused. "We should probably head home, it's getting dark."
Hail looked up and only then noticed the fading skies. "Huh," she said simply, before looking at the other two. "Let's go then."
Dusk nodded and began following after her, the foal falling instep a few paces in front of him.
The journey back to the apartment complex was rather quick one, with no pocket watch giving stallions.
As Hail began to go up the stairs, she let out a soft sigh.
Dusk made a questioning noise, looking at her.
She glanced back down at him, a somewhat tired smile on her face. "Hmm? Oh, I'm just tired," she said with a gentle wing shrug.
He nodded, glancing up towards Cloudburst, who had continued traversing up the stairs while the other two had stopped.
Cloud looked down at them with a small grin on his face, before poking his tongue out at the other two and darting up the stairs.
Dusk narrowed his eyes playfully and took chase after him, Hail following behind quickly.
The two came to halt at seeing Cloud waiting in front of the door to Hail's apartment, his tail flicking idly behind him.
The two adults slowed down to a halt in front of him, Hail however taking a few extra steps in order to unlock the door.
It swung open slowly and soundlessly, allowing Cloudburst to trot in through the door.
Hail Storm looked to Dusk, tucking a stray bit of mane behind her ear. "Um, you haven't had dinner yet, yeah?" She asked tentatively, looking to the side somewhat nervously.
He raised an eyebrow. "I've been with you all day, Storm," Dusk deadpanned, "So no."
A soft blush tinged her cheeks. "Hush and get inside so I can cook you dinner," She said, her ears flicking back.
He took a moment to chuckle at her before walking into her apartment, flicking Hail's nose with his tail as he passed.
She blinked then sneezed, glaring at the back of his head before walking into the apartment, pushing the door shut with a wing as she trotted into the kitchen.
The three were sitting in various places around the living room, Dusk on the couch next to Hail, who was, for whatever reason, sitting on the armrest of said couch, while Cloud was practically inhaling his salad on the floor.
She glanced at Dusk, then down at the ravenous beast on her floor, then back to the stallion, giggling quietly.
The giggle caught the foal's attention, causing him to look up, his head cocked. "What?"
Dusk laughed softly, a small smile on his face. "You are a strange foal," he answered simply, mirth in his voice.
He shrugged in response, returning to consuming his meal, Dusk doing the same but savouring the taste a little while longer.
Hail, having finished her meal but moments before the exchange had ended, gently slid off the armrest of the couch and onto the cushions and into Dusk's side, her fur brushing into his.
He froze for a moment, then giving her a slightly wary look. "Comfy there?" He asked, sarcasm lacing his voice.
"Mmhhmm," came the answer he wasn't expecting at all,
A blush rose on his face as a content sigh escaped her lips, a wing extending to cover his back lightly.
He turned his head towards her, his emerald eyes looking into her own ones.
The two began to lean in, Hail's eyes widening in, what he assumed to be, anticipation and nervousness.
"Can I have his food?" Cloudburst's request sent a crack running through the moment, ruining it.
They both blushed heavily, looking away, glancing back at the other several times.
Cloud coughed once to gain their attention, sitting up and looking towards Dusk's half empty plate.
"U-um, yeah, sure, go ahead buddy," the owner of said plate said, glad for the small distraction.
He quickly snagged the plate and began eating it's contents rapidly.
"...he certainly is something," Hail murmured, covering up a yawn a moment later.
"Eeyup," Dusk agreed.
Meanwhile, in an orchid outside of Ponyville.
A large, strong looking stallion sneezed.
He glared in the direction of Canterlot. "Somepony's usin' mah catchphrase."
Dusk suddenly shivered.
The mare next to him looked at him strangely. "Surely you aren't cold."
He shook his head. "Just... A strange feeling," he murmured.
"...You're weird."
He poked his tongue out at him.
Hail returned the raspberry in kind, then shifting on the couch, making a sound of annoyance. "Stupid cushions," she mumbled.
Dusk laughed quietly at her, then flinched back from her whack on the back of the head, laughing harder a moment after.
The foal looked at the two strangely, his head cocked. "Strange ponies," he commented dryly, jumping up on the couch next to Dusk, curling up against him.
Both Dusk and Hail turned to look at him for a moment, before Dusk shrugged slightly, turning back to face forward.
Hail raised an eyebrow at the almost sleeping foal, shifting in place slightly as she thought.
"...you know," the mare began slowly, "that the bed is more spacious and comfy, right?"
Dusk blinked.
"Dusk's a good pillow though," Cloudburst mumbled. "But okay."
Hail smothered a grin as he hopped off of the couch and wandered towards the bedroom tiredly.
"...c'mon, pillow pony, you are needed," Hail grinned at Dusk, sliding off the couch and following after Cloud quickly to avoid his glare.
She laughed softly to herself as she trotted down the hall, a click from behind her catching her attention. At the same time, the lights in the lounge went off, a faint green glow fading away.
She "ah'd" in understanding a moment later, resuming trotting down the hall, turning into her room with Dusk entering aswell a few seconds later.
Cloud was already standing on the bed impatiently, repeatedly doing little jumps on top of it.
"Really now?" Hail asked, a soft laugh escaping her.
"Seems so," Dusk murmured, his tail flicking behind him as he walked over to the bouncy foal.
Hail trotted past the two and to the window, looking out it.
The sun was setting slowly, already halfway down the horizon, casting orange rays of light all over the land as well as the sky.
She let out a sigh and sat herself down in front of the window, a faint smile on her face.
Dusk sat down next to her silently, the two meeting glances for a moment before turning their attention back to the sunset.
"...beautiful, isn't it?" Hail asked softly, looking to him.
He pulled his eyes away from the sun after a moment, looking into her eyes. "Yeah," he said equally quietly, a faint smile on his face. "It is."
She blinked out of surprise, then looked away, her muzzle now a pinkish reddish instead of the usual dark grey.
He chuckled softly, shifting slightly closer to her.
Hail bit her lip, then closed the distance and wrapped a wing around him gently, still looking away.
Then, out of nowhere in a rather Cloudburst-like fashion, Cloudburst wriggled his way between the two and sat down, joining them in looking out the window.
Both Hail and Dusk looked down at him for a few moments, before looking up at each other.
At was at this point that they, once again, noticed how close their muzzles were, causing a blush to flare up on both.
Dusk coughed and looked away, Hail doing the same but without the cough.
"Ma's right, bed more comfy," Cloud said, then walked around the two and back onto the bed, causing Hail to giggle, then freeze up after a second.
Dusk looked over to her with a look of minor concern, his left ear flicking a few times.
A moment passed, then he blinked, properly registering what Cloud had said. "Ah," he said simply.
Dusk glanced over his shoulder to Cloud, who was curled up on the bed in such a way that was he looking at the two, then back to Hail, who was back to normal now, abet more giddy.
She grinned widely at him, then, after a moment of mental deliberation, pulled him close and hugged him tightly for a few seconds, letting go and coughing to regain her composure afterwards.
"A-anyway," she said, folding her wing back to her side and getting up, Celestia's sun now having set to make room for Luna's moon.
"Agreed," Dusk said, standing up himself.
Hail bit her lip gently in thought, before hopping on top of her bed, then waving Dusk up with a wing.
A blush flared up on his face as he took a half step forward, his most frontal left hoof staying in the air.
"M-mind out of the gutter Dusk," she grumbled, turning and laying in the middle of the bed on her stomach.
He mumbled something sounding like "hush you" as he joined her, facing towards the window with his back to her.
Cloudburst immediately claimed the crook of Dusk's neck as his spot, quickly burying himself into his fur.
Hail smiled, then stopped and frowned.
The light was still on.
With a silent sigh, she got up and flittered over to the light switch, turned it off, then carefully walked back, not wanting to trip.
She slide back onto the bed next to Dusk silently, her front softly pressing against his back.
After a moment, she wrapped an arm around him and rested her head on his neck in a fashion similar to Cloud.
Dusk, who had been silent the whole time, spoke up. "Apparently I've been degraded to pillow," he mused out loud.
She giggled quietly. "Mmmhhmm," she confirmed, spreading a wing over the three over them gently. "Now shush and be a pillow."
He shifted in his place slightly but not in a way that disturbed the other two. "If I must," he sighed in a somewhat mocking manner.
And thus, Hail fell asleep with a small smile on her face.
Celestia's sun shone through the window in Hail's apartment, a thin ray of sun streaming in and just missing Hail's eyes.
Said mare let out a soft groan, and gently squeezed the warm and strangely pony shaped pillow, nuzzling into it's fur.
A moment passed before she realised that pillows generally don't have fur or breathe.
Her eyes opened, and she took in the scene before her.
She was currently snuggled into Dusk's chest, her front legs wrapped around him as his held her tightly in return.
A fierce blush came over her face, the warm breath down the back of her neck not helping either.
It was then she turned her attention to the weight pressing down on the side of her chest.
Carefully, she moved her head to look at what it was, and upon seeing it, let out a "aawww~."
Cloudburst was curled up on her, twitching every now and then as he dreamed.
While the sound she made was quiet, it had seemed to wake up Dusk, judging by the murmur of "wha?"
Hail giggled, nuzzling back into his neck. "morning."
She felt his grip on her loosen, and his breathing quicken.
"Hey hey hey, calm down," she said softly, pulling away from his neck and looking directly at him.
His eyes were wide and his breathing was much too erratic for her liking. "H-hail?" He asked, his voice fearful.
"Yes, now relax, nothing happened," She said in the same, calm tone, head butting his chest gently, simultaneously hugging him a little tighter.
She felt him relax at that, his glad-sounding exhale causing her ears to twitch for a few moments.
The mare laughed softly and made a careful attempt to snuggle closer to him, managing to do so successfully without disturbing the foal.
While she couldn't see it from where she was, she was all but certain that there was a blush on the stallion's face. She was right.
His forelegs slowly pulled her closer to him causing Hail to smile gently as she nuzzled into his neck in response.
She let out a content sigh as he began stroking her mane gently, a warm feeling blooming up in her chest.
The two stayed there for some time, quietly enjoying each other's company.
Until Hail spoke up, that is.
"...sleep well, Dusk?" She asked quietly.
"Certainly. No nightmares or anything," he said with a small amount of happiness.
"You have nightmares regularly then?" She asked.
"I feel like that may have been due to you," he mused. "And yes, sadly."
She hugged him a little tighter for a few moments and nuzzled into his fur, breathing deeply.
'Mmm, cinnamon...'
"Well?" His voice broke into her train of thought and hijacked it, causing it to get derailed.
"Pardon?" She looked up at him, head tilted to one side.
He raised an eyebrow. "I asked how you slept," he repeated.
A faint blush tinged her cheeks. "Oh. Um, rather well, thank you. I don't think I've slept this well in a while..."
He chuckled softly, leaning down and nuzzling her cheek. "That's good then."
Her blush intensified, the bright pink once again a stark contrast to her normal grey.
A yawn caught her attention and she looked down at Cloudburst, who was now awake.
"Morning, Cloudburst," she said softly.
He let out a tired mumble in response and rolled over into the gap between the two adult ponies.
Her ear flicked as she registered Dusk's chuckle, a soft smile on her face.
She watched the foal for a few more seconds before putting her head back down on the pillow, a content sigh escaping her.
Dusk did the same moments later and she almost immediately nestled into the crook of his neck once again, murmuring happily.
The three stayed there for some time, quietly enjoying each other's company.
That is, until a loud banging made itself known.
Hail let out a whine, but after a moment untangled herself from Dusk and fell off the bed with a quiet yelp.
"i'm fine!" she said, standing up and ignoring Dusk's worried/questioning gaze, her wings fluffing up self consciously.
"...Sure."
The the knocking resounded again, causing Hail to jump ever so slightly and all but bolt out the room, getting to the door in a matter of moments.
"Who is it?" She asked as she unbolted the door, taking a moment to fix her mane.
"Princess Luna!" Came the sarcastic but familiar sounding reply.
She opened the door, and lo and behold, standing in front of her was...
...not Princess Luna.
In fact, the pony in question looked exactly like the one she had in her bed.
'...That sounds kind of bad.' Hail thought to herself.
"I don't suppose you happen to know where Dusk is?"
It was then she picked up the key differences. The mane style was different, the body shape was a lot more feminine, and the voice was as well.
A muffled thump from the bedroom cut whatever Hail was about to say off, and the two's attention was redirected over in that direction.
While it took a few more seconds than expected, Dusk trotted out of the hallway, looking to the door.
"Hey Umbra," He said simply. "Wha's up?"
Hail looked between the two, confusion written on her face.
"The roof," she responded swiftly, ignoring Hail's expression. "Anyway, I need your help again."
Dusk sat down to think. "The runes again?" He asked after a moment of thinking.
Umbra nodded. "Eeyup," She said, causing a large red stallion to sneeze.
"...Can somepony tell me what is going on?" Hail demanded, her confusion audible.
"That's my twin, Umbra," Dusk began, only to be cut off by Umbra.
"I work as a researcher in the castle, and Dusk here knows a lot more about runes than I do, and I need some help with a thing I'm working on."
Hail blinked, then turned to Dusk. "I didn't know you had a sister," she said before turning back to Umbra. "Do feel free to stop standing in the middle of the hall and come in."
"...it didn't really need to be mentioned...?" He shrugged uncertainly.
"Like having a marefriend didn't need to be mentioned?" Umbra quipped, tapping her brother on the nose.
Hail froze mid-step out of surprise, and fell over, impacting the ground with an almost silent yelp. "...'m fine."
The two siblings stared at her for a few moments, before looking to the other, with Dusk shrugging.
The pegasus jumped back onto her hooves a moment after, her wings fluffing up then returning to their resting position.
After a moment of fixing her mane again, she trotted into the kitchen. "Imma make pancakes," she said in the direction of the lounge. "You want to stay for some?"
There was around three seconds of silence before Umbra spoke up. "Sure."
At that, Hail began to cook the best type of food; Pancakes.
"Waaakkeee uuuuuuuuppppppppppppp!" Cloudburst whined as he jumped up and down on Hail's bed, jostling the mare.
She let out her own whine, and rolled over, pulling a pillow over her head.
"Come oonnnn! It's Hearth's Warming todaaayyyy!"
"...Can I please sleep for five more minutes, Cloud?" She pleaded, curling up under the blankets.
"I'll be counting," He said after a few second's deliberation.
He sat down right where he was on the bed, and began to do so. "One... Two... Three... Four... Five... Six..."
She groaned and pulled the pillow closer to her, attempting to muffle his voice to no avail.
"...Two hundred and ninety six, two hundred and ninety seven, two hundred and ninety eight, two hundred and ninety nine, three hundred!" He returned to jumping on the bed.
"It's been five minutes Ma, get up!"
She sat up in her bed, the pillow falling off her face and onto the blankets.. "fine, I'm awake, Cloud."
"Yay!" He jumped off the bed and with a few flaps of his wings flew to the door. "I'm going to get Dusk!"
"M'kay," She mumbled, shaking her head to get rid of the fog.
"Wait..." She threw the covers off and rolled out of bed gracelessly, limbs and feathers going everywhere.
She got up and ran to the front door, already finding it ajar.
On the other side of the hall was Cloudburst, knocking rapidly on the apartment numbered '38'.
She let out a sigh and approached him slowly, just in time for the two to pull open to reveal a rather festive looking Dusk.
He looked down to Cloudburst, then up at Hail.
"Nice mane," she commented, referring to the mass of tinsel that was in his mane.
"It was Umbra's idea," he said firmly. "Anyway, you coming in or not?"
Cloudburst ducked under Dusk and went inside quickly, a "Happy Hearth's Warming Umbra!" a few moments after.
"Apparently he is, but I need to freshen up quickly," she said. "Mind looking after him for me?"
"You already know the answer," He nodded. "Do hurry back though."
In apartment 38 there was a total of four ponies. Two mares, one stallion and one colt.
Hail exited the kitchen with a plate of cookies on her back, her wings flared to stabilise them.
"...Hail, this foal must be cheating," Dusk whined, gesturing to Cloudburst.
While Hail had been slaving over a hot oven making cookies (And reading a book while waiting), Dusk, Umbra and Cloudburst had been playing some board games Dusk found in the corner at the top of a closet he never used.
Specifically, Mareopoly at the moment.
"Either Cloudburst's read the cosmic signs and the stars have aligned causing him to gain massive luck, or this dice is loaded," Dusk went on.
"...or he's just really good, Dusk," Umbra laughed softly.
"Actually it's because I picked the chariot piece," Cloud said with a giggle, poking said piece with a wing.
The two twins looked at him with raised eyebrows, causing him to fall into a fit of giggles.
Hail looked on, amused, before sliding the plate of cookies onto the coffee table.
"Well, either way, cookies."
Her words made Cloudburst stop laughing immediately and sit up.
"Cookies?" He asked simply, trotting over to the table, the other two not far behind.
"Cookies," She confirmed with a nod, grabbing one then fluttering onto the couch and only then began nibbling on it.
After Cloudburst grabbed a hooffull, Dusk snagged a few in his magic before hopping onto the couch next to Hail, Umbra doing the same but sitting on the opposite couch.
Hail smiled softly, leaning on Dusk rather heavily, her wings curling around herself.
In response, Dusk wrapped an arm around her loosely, pulling her closer.
She let out a content sigh, finishing off her cookie post haste then snuggling into his side.
Across from them, Umbra looked on, letting out a "awwww".
Hail looked up at her, then poked her tongue out at the mare.
Dusk glanced between the two before returning to eating his cookie.
"Aw. There're no more cookies," Cloudburst pouted, wiping about a dozen or so cookie's worth of crumbs off his muzzle.
Umbra glanced at him, an eyebrow raised. "I wonder why," she deadpanned.
"Me too," He nodded, sitting down on the floor at the foot of Dusk and Hail's spot on the couch.
Hail stared down at him. "You ate all my cookies?"
"Mmhhmm," he nodded. "They were tastey."
She blew a raspberry at him, then snuggled back into Dusk's fur, her gaze trailing out the window.
The city had a thin layer of white covering it, reflecting the sun's light, causing it to appear to shine a slightly painful bright white. There were quite a few ponies milling about in the streets, all wrapped up in scarves and coats.
"We should go out there soon," she thought aloud, shifting in place momentarily.
Dusk shrugged gently as to not jostle the mare in his arms too much. "I'm all for it."
"Snow?" Cloudburst looked up at them, hope in his eyes.
Umbra got up off the couch, stretching like a cat. "Shall we? Or do you two lovebirds wanna cuddle a bit longer?"
Hail blushed and blew a raspberry in a quite dignified manner. "A bit longer?" She asked, looking to Dusk, who nodded softly after a moment.
She let out a quiet 'yay', and hugged him, resting her head on his shoulder, her breathing gentle.
Dusk smiled and watched Umbra wander into the kitchen, seeming to begin washing up by the sounds of water running and pots and pans getting moved about.
After a moment more of that, he gave Hail a soft affectionate squeeze, hugging her a little tighter as he nuzzled the top of her head.
Hail shivered, and pressed her side into Dusk's in an attempt to steal his warmth, with moderate success. Her wings bristled up, fluffing out, before settling back down on her back.
"I'm starting to regret this," She said casually to Dusk, watching Cloudburst running amok with Umbra ahead of them.
"The cold?" Dusk 'guessed', giving her a sidelong look.
She nodded in response, pulling the striped grey and blue scarf around her neck a little tighter.
"I thought pegasi were supposed to be more resistant to colder then the other tribes," Dusk grinned ever so slightly, only half attempting to mask the playfully mocking tone in his voice.
She blew a raspberry at him in response, whacking him in the back of the head with a wing tip.
He laughed, only to cut himself off with a yelp from the somehow unexpected hit, then to laughed even harder.
She glared at him, huffed, and stomped off, her nose held high.
Then she lost it and started laughing, returning to his side.
Fwump
"Oh dear," Dusk said, looking at Hail, specifically the remnants of the snowball that were covering her muzzle.
Fwump
Dusk growled softly, wiping the snow off his face, then sending a glare towards Umbra and Cloudburst, the smaller of which was priming another snowball while the larger was creating a snow fort as fast as possible, slight panic on her face.
"Hail?" He asked, his horn lighting up to copy Umbra, but with a slightly higher quality craftsmareship^.
"Yes?"
"I don't suppose you'd mind joining me in kicking some flank, snowball fight style?" He looked to her with a rather menacing grin on face.
She gave a simple nod, the tips of her feathers reaching down to touch the snowy ground. "Sounds wonderful."
Umbra let out a yelp as a snowball impacted the left side of her head, falling over out of surprise. "Cloud! Deploy countermeasures!"
About twenty or so small snowballs launched from behind cover a second after she shouted it, causing Hail to blink in surprise, then yelp and duck behind the walls. "They've got us pinned down, Dusk!"
"I noticed!" He said back, also up against the wall, his horn glowing as several snowballs lifted up and got flung over the top of their fort.
A small yelp from the other side of the park informed the two of a successful hit, though Hail winced.
"Sorry Cloud!"
"It's fine Ma!"
Both Dusk and Umbra shared a laugh, only to be cut off by a Simultaneous Snowball Strike(TM) from Cloudburst and Hail Storm respectively, much to their amusement.
Hail let out a snicker as she watched some snow melt down Dusk's unamused face, wiping it off for him with a wing.
"Thanks," he mumbled in a none too sarcastic tone, half heartedly throwing a lump of snow towards the other's fort.
"Welcome~," She replied with a grin, quickly nuzzling him on the cheek, though regretting it moments later, taking a moment after that moment to wipe a small bit of slush off her face.
"We don't have team names," Cloudburst's voice rang out over No Pony's Land. "This is a very big problem."
Dusk gasped, and facehooved. "I forgot, somehow." He looked to Hail. "...Grey Ponny Industries?" He randomly suggested.
She pondered this for a moment, sitting down on the cold snow. "No, that won't do..."
"We're Green Team!" Umbra yelled, ignoring Dusk's heckle of 'How original'.
"Hmm," Hail looked up to the skies for inspiration, a hoof rubbing her chin contemplatively.
"Dusky Skies?" She suggested, looking down to Dusk hopefully.
He chuckled quietly, and pet her on the head twice. "Rising Storm!" He called to the other side, winking at you casually, pointing out the similarities between the team name and the story's title for a moment, before getting socked in the face by a snowball.
There was a moment of pause.
"That came from above?" Hail sounded confused, and for a good reason.
"But we haven't researched ground-to-air SnowBall-istic Missiles yet!" Cloud also sounded confused, and he, too, for a good reason.
There was a moment of silence.
"Fire main guns!" Dusk yelled, magicing a somewhat hefty snowball towards them, then peppering 'em with a few smaller-than-average sized ones.
"Deploy flares!" Cloud yelled, throwing a few cylinder shaped bits of snow into the air that somehow attracted a few of the frozen projectiles towards them, crashing together in a rather spectacular manner, not that anypony was really paying attention.
"Hail, the troops on the front lines are running out of supplies! We need those .97cal rounds delivered ASAP!"
"Speak something I understand please!"
"More snowballs!"
"That I can do!"
While the fight was most impressive and ended up drawing the attention of a nearby homeless pony (who made his own fort and completely and utterly kicked flank despite the 1 to 2 to 2 ratio), it was lost to all records, much like three player tic-tac-toe. (Which was totally a thing, by the way.)
Hail groaned softly as she nursed a bruised foreleg, looking at Cloud, pouting. "That last one really hurt."
"...sorry ma..." He mumbled. "Not my fault you got in the way of the snowball though," he shrugged, grinning.
She blinked, then laughed quietly, petting him affectionately on the head with her good leg. "You amuse me sometimes."
"He's taking after one of you, I can assure you that much," Umbra commented from the doorway of the kitchen, exiting with four mugs of warm MiloCocoaMilo Cocoa in her magical grip.
Hail chuckled gently, glancing over to Dusk, who was sleeping on his back, limbs in the air, snoring gently.
"Sometimes I feel like that's a bad thing," She joked, gesturing to the stallion.
His sister snorted back a few laughs, setting the drinks down on the table carefully before sitting down next to Hail.
"Sometimes I have to agree with you, H," Umbra said with a soft chuckle, taking a sip of her drink.
"'H'?" She asked, picking up her own cup and drinking from it.
"Eeyup, 'H', H."
The pegasus shrugged. "I guess," she said softly, watching Cloudburst wander up next to Dusk, then snuggle up against him and go to sleep.
It brought a smile to her face, suffice to say.
"Aren't they cute?" She murmured, glancing to Umbra after a probably a bit longer than moment or so.
"Yeah... I remember when Dusk and I were just foals. We'd do the same thing with our parents..." Her voice took a melancholy tone, and she sighed. "The good ol' days."
Hail nodded softly, not asked any more. "Oh, and Happy Hearth's Warming, Umbra."
"And to you too, Hail," She responded with a slight chuckle in her voice.
Dusk's eye flicked open. "And Merry Christmas, readers. Hope I don't break the meta too much."
Cloudburst giggled at him. "Enjoy yourselves."
A/N
Merry Christmas! This might be a little late, but I’m writing this at like 01:53 AM on whatever we call the day after Christmas. I think it's 'Boxing Day'? Probably.
Either way! Hope you enjoyed reading this little (for the most part) non-canonical chapter that I spent more time and effort in then the actual chapter four!
This is my gift to you, I suppose. Felt like I should do it, so I did. Also the whole 'might be late' part is a bit iffy because I still have to beg ask to use Ma's hotspot to get it sent off to get proofread and stuff.
And to finish in the same way I started,
Merry Christmas! ~Hail Storm, Cloudburst, Dusk Cobalt and Umbra Cobalt.
I still can't decide if they're Twins or just siblings. Twins works out so much better though... And also Happy Holidays, forgot that one.
"A'ight, so lemme get this straight," Umbra began through a mouthful of delicious pancakes.
"Don't talk with your mouth full," Hail cut in from the kitchen.
Dusk laughed quietly at his sister's misfortune, dodging the cushion thrown at him from point blank. Somehow.
"Anyway, as I was saying," Umbra continued with no longer a mouthful. "You found this foal in the storm a few days ago and now you both adopted him?"
"Actually Hail adopted him, I was just along with them." a grin cut across his face. "And good thing too, Hail could barely get a few words out without stuttering like crazy."
The sound of a raspberry came from the kitchen. The two siblings snickered before their attention was turned to the hallway, where Cloudburst had exited from.
"Morning!" Dusk greeted, waving at him.
"Morning, Dusk," he mumbled tiredly, wandering over to him and jumping up onto the couch next to Dusk, resting against his side.
"You a bit tired there buddy?" He asked softly, one of his ears flicking for no good reason.
"You snore."
Umbra snickered at this, only to have to dodge another point blank cushion, failing to do so. She let out a yelp that was muffled by the cushion, glaring at her brother as it slid down her face. He laughed at her quietly, even as she prepared to throw it back at him.
"Dusk, Cloud, pancakes!" Hail's announcement was a saving grace for him, as he didn't particularly want to get pummeled with pillows.
Cloudburst shot up and off the couch with a surprising amount of haste, considering how he was naught a moment ago. The siblings watched him go, the expression of "huh, that was something" on their faces.
"Huh, that was something," Umbra remarked with a small amount of amusement.
"Indeed," Dusk nodded in agreeance. "Either way, Umb, pancakes await," he said, got up off the couch, and trotted into the kitchen. Just as he reached the door, Cloudburst exited through it, a plate balanced carefully on his wings. Dusk dodged around him carefully. The foal glanced up at him for a moment before continuing on his path back to the couch. Umbra watched the exchange with a strange look on her face before shrugging it off.
"And get me a plate Dusky, will ya?"
"But of course, your majesty," came his sarcasm-imbued reply.
"My thanks, oh civil servant of mine," she shot back with a grin.
"...you two are weird," Hail commented, causing Dusk to chuckle.
"She has a point," Cloudburst said through a mouthful of his fifth pancake.
Hail snickered quietly at the foal's response.
"That she does, Cloudy," Umbra grinned. "That she does."
Dusk returned to the lounge room after a half a minute or so, three plates floating behind him in his magical grip. Umbra turned to him, and immediately after spotting the plates of pancakes, her eyes lit up. Hail laughed quietly, leaning against the doorframe heavily.
"Here you are, Umb," Dusk said, floating a plate to her, then sitting down next to her.
The remaining two plates floated down next to him, one of them settling down directly in front of Cloudburst. He took the plate and murdered the pancakes with his mouth. Umbra peeked around the front of Dusk to check what all the commotion was before leaning back, a look of faint horror in her eyes.
"That foal is terrifying," she mumbled, before snuggling into Dusk's side, eating her pancakes at a more sedate pace.
"Only if you think about it," Hail said from behind the two siblings, before she fluttered over the top of the couch, landing next to Dusk with a quiet thump.
"...I guess," Dusk said, making a 'so-so' gesture with his free hoof, the other holding his plate.
Hail chuckled softly, and leant against Dusk's right side, moving a wing to wrap around his back. A smile spread across his face and he quickly leant down and nuzzled Hail.
"'Get a room', as the cool kids say," Umbra grinned at the two, much to their displeasure.
Hail blew a raspberry at the mare, while Dusk just rolled his eyes. The sound of plates clanking together made all of the adults look over to Cloudburst, who was surrounded by crumbs, yet, by some miracle, was spotless. Even his mane was brushed.
"That was... quick," Dusk said after a few awkward moments of staring.
The foal nodded once, sat up, flared his wings out, and began to preen them. Hail shrugged after a few moments, and promptly returned to pancake consumption, the rest following suit. Breakfast was finished quickly, with Hail, once again, doing the dishes.
Not that she minded.
"Come on, let me do them for you," Umbra said to Hail. "I insist!"
She laughed softly, and shook her head.
"If you really want to help, the tea towels are in that drawer," She pointed out said drawer with her back leg.
"Sure," Umbra said, her horn's aura wrapping around the handle, pulling it open. Now armed with a tea towel, Umbra joined the other mare, drying the dishes.
"Must be thrilling," Dusk remarked, poking his head through the doorway.
"Quite," Umbra responded blankly, not even turning to look at him.
Hail giggled quietly, grabbing the last plate, dipping it into the water, then scrubbing it down and finally giving it to Umbra.
"...you're pretty fast at drying," She commented, gesturing to the empty drying rack, then to where the rest of the dishes were cleanly stacked, all dry.
Umbra grinned. "Magic has its perks."
"That it does!" Dusk called from the other room, then in a quieter voice asking Cloud something.
Hail's ear flicked at the barely incomprehensible sound.
"So, H, you don't mind if I steal him for the day, yeah?" Umbra asked, searching through the cupboards to look for where exactly the clean dishes went.
Hail’s wings fluffed up by her sides, then settled down. "Um, sure, I guess."
"Neat," Umbra said simply, figuring out where the plates were supposed to go.
"...U-umbra? Come here, please," Dusk's voice sounded slightly strained, with a hint of underlying fear.
She immediately put down everything and speed walked over to him. "What's wrong?" She asked swiftly.
Hail followed closely behind, worry evident on her face.
Dusk was standing in the middle of the room, Cloudburst sitting in front of him. In his magic grip was the foal's watch.
"I had forgotten about that," Hail murmured.
It floated over to Umbra, and all Dusk said was, "Read it."
A few moments of tense silence followed.
"By Luna's sweet flanks," Umbra uttered, her stare turning to the foal. "Where did you get this?"
"Um, a stallion on the street stopped us a-and gave it to Cloud. He knew his n-name though," Hail said in a low voice, glancing between the other three nervously. "W-why?"
"Brown coat, different brown mane and a tie?"
Hail took a step back. "...y-yes?"
"You know him?" Dusk asked, his head cocked.
"I-i've got to go, and I'll be taking this," Umbra said, her ears pinned back.
"Wh-what? Why?" Hail cut in.
"...royal business," she said simply. "My apologies."
Her horn charged up, and she disappeared in a muted flash of light, the watch going with her.
Hail stared, dumbfounded. "...Dusk?"
"...Yeah?" His voice was slightly shaky.
"Your sister is weird."
He laughed at that.
"Agreed," Cloudburst said simply, then standing up. "Can we go to the park?"
Hail blinked. "Uh, sure," she said after a moment.
Dusk shook his head to clear it, before shrugging. "Uh, I should probably go check on her. It... It was probably something important."
Hail nodded after a few moments. "It's fine, you do that."
He took a half step towards the door, before looking over his shoulder back to her. "...sure?" He asked.
She laughed softly, and pushed him gently towards the door with a wing. "Go."
He nodded once, then walked the rest of the way to the door, opened it, and stepped through.
Then he turned around quickly, "Bye Cloudburst! Cya Hail!" And then he shut the door behind him, his hoofsteps fading away.
"...bye Dusk," she murmured, before turning to Cloudburst, who was sitting on the ground and looking up to her.
"Can we go now?" He asked, his wings flicking restlessly by his sides.
She nodded after a moment. "Y-yeah."
"Can we fly there?" He asked, looking up at her hopefully.
She thought about it for a few good seconds. "Hmm... Let's head outside, then I'll be able to see how well you can fly, alright?"
"Yay!" A smile spread across his face, and he jumped up, heading towards the door.
She smiled, and quickly shut the apartment down, following him immediately afterwards.
The trip down the stairwell was a quick one, as Cloudburst decided on gliding down all of the steps, probably to show off that he could, in fact, fly.
Upon exiting the building, the two came to a halt to observe the skies.
"Blue box," the smaller of the two commented, pointing to a, well, blue box.
In the sky.
"Huh," was her reply.
It faded away moments later, not reappearing.
"...maybe one of the college students playing a prank or something," Hail reasoned to herself, shrugging.
"I dunno," Cloudburst added helpfully.
She shook her head, then looked to the foal. “So, you want to fly there, yes?”
He nodded rapidly.
“Let’s go, then,” the mare grinned, and flapped her wings a few times. “Stay close to me.”
The two shot off at a moderate pace towards the park.
Dusk frowned at Umbra. "What was that all about? 'Royal Business'?"
She glanced at him, then huffed. "What it is says on the tin."
He frowned. "So, it's important enough to warrant barging in on the Princess's day court?"
"Absolutely," she said in a firm voice, slowing down upon turning the corner into the waiting hall.
"That's a lot of ponies," Dusk murmured, looking down the length of the line.
"Sure is. Now keep up," she said, then resumed walking up the side of the line, much to the annoyance of the ponies in said line.
Dusk nodded once, and quickly caught back up to her, just in time to have to stop again.
"Ma'am, I'm going to need you to return to th-" the guard on the left began.
"Major Iron Shadow, I'm going to ask you to step aside," Umbra interrupted, pulling a small card out of her mane and passing it to him.
He blinked once, then took the card from her to inspect a moment later.
His eyes widened. "D-deepest apologies Specialist," he said, passing the card back. "But day court is currently in session and the Princess has asked for minimal interruptions today."
Umbra cocked her head in confusion for a few moments, before 'ah'ing in understanding. "Because of yesterday, right. Well, I'm sorry to say, but we've got to go in."
Dusk's gaze changed between the two guards, then to his sister.
The Major sighed, then nodded, and cracked open the enough for the two to slip through, the latter receiving a warning look.
Dusk repressed a shiver, and stepped into the room.
The door shut behind him without a single sound.
The throne room was quite impressive looking, but it barely scaled up to the pony sitting on the throne itself.
There she was.
The Princess of the Sun, leader of Equestria.
The was an aura of benevolence that surrounded her, washing over Dusk and filling him with a sense of calm.
"Woah," Dusk murmured softly, following slowly after Umbra.
She was walking straight forward, towards her.
"Hey Sunny! There's a problem we need to discuss," Her harsh voice cut in over the noble pony's monotone whining, causing her, and the Princess to turn to her.
"How dare you address the Princess like that!" The noble glared daggers at the source of the rude interruption.
Dusk just stared at his sister with a look of disbelief and amusement, before shaking his head.
"What is the meaning of this interruption, Specialist Cobalt?" Celestia's voice was calm, but she had a slight smile of her face and a thankful look in her eyes.
"I have news of,” she glanced to the noble for a moment, ”the Doctor, Ma'am."
The look in her eyes disappeared, as with her smile. "Everypony out."
The guards did so after a few seconds, as with the noblepony.
Dusk bit his lip. "...including me, oorr...?" He asked uncertainly, glancing around nervously.
"Stay," Umbra said flatly. "And quit whimpering."
"I am not!" He glared at her, before seeing a grin on her face. "Oh ha ha."
"Ehem," said the Alicorn in the room. "What news, Miss Cobalt?"
She levitated the pocket watch out of her mane, and passed it to Celestia. "This was given to a foal, Cloudburst a few days ago."
"...th-the stallion who gave it to him said it was his," Dusk added after a moment. "And he knew Cloud's name. Which shouldn't be possible, considering Hail and I were going to get him named."
He scuffed the ground lightly out of nervousness, glancing between the two.
"‘His’ as in the Doctor's or Cloudburst's?" Umbra asked, looking at him critically.
"The second one."
"Oh dear," the Princess of the Sun said. "This might get complicated quickly."
The a few times aforementioned park was quite a nice place, kept rubbish free, and tended to by the occasional pony ever so often.
However, due to the season, and the lack of regular maintenance, there were also a lot of leaves covering the ground.
As such, when Hail Storm and Cloudburst landed in the middle of a particularly leaf ridden spot, it sent a wave of varying browns up into the air, effectively creating a curtain for a few good seconds.
Hail stood in the epicenter, her wings flared and her legs spread, looking to Cloudburst with a grin on her face.
“I...Won...” he panted out, a grin on his face, too.
“Nuh uh,” she shook her head, carefully folding her wings and laying down on the ground.
“uh huh,” he said, doing the same and parking himself against his adoptive mother's barrel.
“Nuh uh,” she repeated, leaning down and nuzzling him.
“Uh huh,” his ears flicked in response to her touch.
“...okay, maybe you won,” Hail said begrudgingly.
“‘Maybe’? More like ‘Certainly’, slowpoke,” he said, blowing a raspberry at her.
She looked stunned for a second, before falling into a fit of giggles.
“A-alright, fine, you won,” she admitted.
She simply rolled her eyes and let out a happy sigh, leaning down to rest her head on her hooves.
“I guess we'll just have to wait and find out,” she said, wiggling a bit more down into the leaves.
“On the way back?” He asked, looking up at her.
She smiled. “Sure,” she nodded.
“Yay~,” he said not unlike a certain butter colored shy pegasus.
Hail let out a sigh, her wings going limp and one half hanging over Cloudburst.
She simply just laid there, watching the world go by, the occasional gust of breeze stirring the leaves up around her.
It brought her solace, and she shut her eyes, resting her head on her hooves.
“She is coming.”
She flinched and looked up.
In front of her was the brown stallion from a few days ago.
“P-pardon?” She asked, tensing her wing over Cloud out of instinct.
“Vague, isn't it? ‘She is coming’. Bah. Doesn't matter anyway,” the stallion rambled like a madpony. “Make sure to stay near him when everything goes to Tartarus, okay?”
His voice had a steely tone at the end, causing Hail to gulp, then nod once. “O-okay?”
“Doctor! Stop running off without me!” A female’s voice echoed from the far side of the park, where the grey pegasus that was with this doctor before was.
He half turned around to face her, before stopping and giving Hail a final look. “Trust me, when it happens, stay with him. And trust the broken one.”
With that, he turned the rest of the way around and trotted away back to the other mare.
Cloudburst poked his head out from beneath Hail’s wing. “...he seems… Off,” the foal commented.
“...yeah,” she agreed, her gaze trailing after him.
Hail let out a happy murmur as she snuggled closer into the fluffy warm thing next to her, her forelegs wrapped around it.
“...imma go get Dusk,” a voice said clearly but quietly.
The sound of soft hoofsteps faded away, the door shutting quietly behind them.
A tired half frown formed on the mare’s face, before she rolled over, taking the pillow with her.
A rapid knocking on the door of apartment 38 caused the stallion within to glance up from the book he was reading.
“Come in, Cloudburst,” he called, looking back down at his book.
The door opened promptly, and a small foal walked through, not bothering to shut the door behind him.
Dusk looked up over the top of his reading glasses at Cloudburst. “Alright, what are you planning?”
He was given a grin in return, one that caused him to put his book down.
“Follow me,” the foal said, jerking his head towards the door.
Dusk raised an eyebrow, before standing up and following him, pushing his glasses up to sit below his horn.
The door of apartment 38 shut, and the two walked over to the open door of apartment 37.
“...you like to leave doors open, don't you?” Dusk asked, a chuckle escaping him.
“Mmhhmm,” Cloud gave a single, over exaggerated nod.
“Heh. Figured,” Dusk said, coming to a stop in the middle of the living room.
“No, not there,” the foal darted around behind Dusk, and began pushing on the stallion’s back leg towards the hall.
He raised an eyebrow at the somewhat odd behavior, and walked towards the direction he was getting pushed to.
“Hail’s in there,” Cloud said, then disappeared around the corner, presumably into the kitchen, judging by the sounds of the fridge being raided.
“Oooooookkaayy then,” Dusk nodded slowly, raising a hoof to knock on the door.
Hail sat up in bed immediately at the sound of hoof on door. “I was draining the mongoose!” She blurted out. “It needed draining!”
“...what?” Came Dusk’s voice from the other side of it.
“D-dusk? Huh? Wh-what’re you doing here?” She asked, cocking her head. “Uh, come in if you want.”
The door opened, and Dusk took a slow step through. “Cloudburst pulled me over, for whatever reason,” he answered, looking over Hail before averting his gaze.
She glanced down at the bed covers she had unconsciously brought up to her chest, before shrugging lightly and rolling out of bed.
With a squawk, she landed on the floor in a tangle of sheets, a few feathers flying up.
“...why do you keep doing that? It confounds me,” Dusk raised an eyebrow at the heavily blushing mare.
“...i-it’s just what I do…?” She answered uncertainty, untangling herself with practiced grace.
“Aaallrighty then,” he nodded slowly.
“What day is it today?” Cloudburst asked the two as he trotted past Dusk, a tray of pancakes on his back.
“Huh?” The two older ponies said at the same time.
“Uh, the fourteenth I think?” Dusk guessed.
“Wednesday,” Hail added.
Cloudburst turned to raise an eyebrow at the two. “It's Heart’s and Hooves day,” he said, sliding the tray onto the bedside table. “Breakfast is on me, you two make out or something, I dunno.”
And with that, he pranced out of the room, leaving the two blushing ponies to themselves.
“Ssoooo...” Dusk trailed off before he really started, glancing around the room, then back to the mare beside him.
“Uh, you've got some pancake there,” Hail pointed out, pointing to the rogue bit of pancake with a hoof.
“Oh,” he said simply, causing Hail to giggle quietly, before wiping his muzzle clean. “Better?”
She bit her lip, before leaning her head in closer to check.
With a sudden movement, she quickly kissed him on the cheek, blurted out “better,” and then proceeded to bury her head in her hooves.
A light blush tinged Dusk’s cheeks, and he leaned down to nuzzle the mare. “Good to know,” he murmured into her ear, then looking out the window, watching a few ponies go about their day.
Hail smiled softly, and gently wrapped a wing around Dusk, moving herself a bit closer to him at the same time.
He glanced down at her, and nuzzled her cheek gently, leaning into her side.
She blushed gently and nuzzled him back, letting out a quiet happy sigh afterwards.
After half a minute or so, she leant her head down on her front legs, resting them there.
Dusk, somewhat copying her, rested his head, too.
On the top of her neck, though.
She giggled softly, smiling happily.
They laid there for some time, doing nothing more than enjoying each other’s company.
And they would have stayed there for longer, had Cloudburst not burst in through the door informing them of the restaurant reservation that had been booked for them.
Hail let out a surprised yelp and jumped up and the loud intrusion, just missing Dusk’s jaw. Somehow.
Dusk, however, just blinked, turning to Cloud. “...how did you possibly get reservations?”
He giggled. “I didn't.”
“Huh?” Hail’s confusion was quite evident. “How does that work?”
“Simple,” The foal said in something of an ‘I know something you don’t’ tone. “Umbra booked them for you two.”
“Oh,” Dusk murmured. “Of course.”
Hail giggled softly.
“Come oonnn, you've only got...” Cloud trailed off to look down at his left foreleg, as of a watch were there. “An hour and twenty seven minutes.”
Dusk glanced amusedly at him.
“Do you know how long she spends just doing her mane?” Cloudburst asked him.
“Hey!” Hail cried out indignantly.
“...point,” the stallion murmured, wincing slightly from yet another whack to the back of the head. “Ow.”
She blew a raspberry at the two, before rolling out of bed yet again, this time scoring a ten for a perfect landing.
Cloudburst applauded, and she gave a graceful bow.
“Alright, now get outta here and let me do my mane for an hour and twenty six minutes,” She said, making a ‘shoo’ing gesture.
Dusk laughed softly and hopped off the bed, trotting out the door. Cloudburst followed him quickly, glancing back at the mare once over his shoulder.
Dusk and Hail stood outside of a mid-end restaurant, looking at each other.
“...this is the place?” Hail asked, yet again, biting her lip.
“Stormy, it’s the right place,” Dusk answered. “Trust me.”
She let out a nervous whine, shuffling about on her hooves.
“Seriously, calm down,” he said softly, giving her a brief hug.
She returned it promptly, squeezing him ever so slightly. “okay,” she mumbled.
“Good, now, c’mon,” he said, slipping out of the embrace and gesturing with his head for her to follow.
She glanced around the street once more, before following Dusk into the middle class restaurant.
Dusk had seemingly already gotten the table number, as when she came in he was half-way across the room, and waving her over.
She quickly crossed the distance, and followed him to the table.
The two sat down and pulled up the menu.
“Hmm…”
Hail glanced up at Dusk, noting how he had already put down the menu and was now looking around the room half the time, and at her the other half.
“Already ordered?” She asked, an eyebrow raised.
“Eeyup,” came the sneeze inducing (for a certain farm stallion at least) reply.
“huh,” she murmured, glancing back down over the menu before finding something that peaked her interest.
She put her menu down, and looked back up at Dusk. “Soooo…” She trailed off immediately, a hoof idly curling her done up mane.
“Quite,” he said, gazing at her with a gentle smile on his face.
She giggled softly, stretching her other leg out on the table.
His hoof met her own, causing a faint blush to spring up on her cheeks.
“Are you two ready to order?” An almost sickly sweet voice asked, causing Hail to eep in surprise and pull her hoof back to her chest, while Dusk chuckled and nodded.
The two laughed boisterously, leaning on each other for support.
“I kn-know right! I m-mean, what pony in their right mind would?” Hail ignored Dusk’s slightly slurred speech in favour of laughing more.
The two were on their way home, and had had perhaps a few too many to drink.
“You're funny,” Hail giggled, nuzzling into his neck, breathing deeply.
Dusk shuddered slightly, and then managed to loss his footing underneath him, stumbling forward a few hooflengths.
Now no longer leaning on anything, the mare did the exact same then, falling onto her chest, her rump sticking up in the air.
She giggled, and flopped over onto the hard cobbles with a quiet whimper.
Dusk turned back around to Hail, and took a few slow, unstable steps towards her, leaning down and poking her neck with his muzzle. “Dead?”
She let out a giggle, and rolled over to bat a hoof at his nose.
He blinked once, before letting out a drunken chuckle. “Le...les’ go Stormy,” he said, poking her muzzle for emphasis.
Grumbling something about him being ‘far too demanding’, she stood up, immediately pressing into Dusk’s side, nuzzling his cheek once.
He grinned like an idiot, returning the nuzzle before slowly walking back towards his home.
“Slow down a bit Dusky,” Hail whined, having to walk a little faster than she wanted to.
He blew a raspberry at her, but did slow down, if only a little.
The two continued to walk at a sedate pace, switching between staring at the sky in drunker wonder, or at each other in drunken interest.
Thankfully for the E rating, it never really escalated past that. Probably.
The walk was normally a short one, around ten minutes or so, but due to ‘pacing issues’ they ended up taking an extra half hour on top of the norm to get there.
“There you two are!” Umbra’s worried voice called out as she approached the two. “Now listen, something’s...” She trailed off as she looked carefully at the two.
Now that she was standing right next to them, she could make out the smell of ‘one too many ciders’ on their combined breath.
“Heeyyyy Umbrrra~,” Hail giggled, and reached a hoof up to boop the other mare’s nose slowly.
“...Hey Storm,” she sighed, picking the two up in her magic.
“Wooaahhh, cooollll,” the other made murmured as she slowly spun around.
“...imma go sleep now, night stormy, night umb,” Dusk said, before passing out, causing Hail to (unsurprisingly enough) giggle, and Umbra to facehoof.
She sighed, and entered the apartment complex, pulling a snoring unicorn and a sleepy pegasus behind her.
“night,” Hail said, before following Dusk’s idea and passing out, dreaming of blue and green butterflies.
The door to Hail Storm’s apartment shut quietly behind its resident, a soft sigh resounding through the room shortly after.
Inside, it would have been pitch black if not for a pale beam of moonlight shining in through the window on the opposite side of the room.
Hail softly walked in the direction of the sole hallway in her apartment, stopping with her muzzle half an inch from the wall. After a moment of thinking, she turned to her bedroom door and reached out a hoof to open said door. Instead of a door, her hoof collided with air.
“Huh?” came the murmur. “I shut this before…”
Taking a slow step in, she shifted her wings to pull the bundle on her back into a bit more of a secure position. The lights flicked on with the simple application of her right wingtip, causing her to blink and look away for a few moments.
“Dusk, why are you in my room?”
“...eh?” came the bleary answer.
“I said, ‘Wh-’”
“Yeah yeah yeah I heard,” he grumbled, shakily standing up from the floor.
“Well?” She asked, trotting over to the bed, and placing Cloudburst down gently on it. He immediately stretched out on it, letting out a happy murmur.
“I, uhh…” He rubbed the back of his neck, looking away to hide the redness of his cheeks. “I may have locked myself out of my apartment.”
She gave him a deadpan look. “And how exactly did you get in here, then?”
“Your spare key,” he said simply, shrugging.
“...my key is on the roof,” she said, disbelief evident in both her tone of voice and her facial expression.
“And?” he asked, grinning slightly.
She sighed, shook her head, then turned and left to grab something to nibble on.
“You raided my fridge!”
“...maybe…?”
She sighed and let her head fall into the freezer compartment door, impacting it with a thud. Meanwhile, Dusk laughed silently, glancing out the window behind him to guess the time.
“It’s twenty past ten,” Hail’s voice said, right next to his ear.
He yelped, stumbling over his own hooves in an attempt to get away, failing and falling flat on his face. She giggled.
“How did you even do that?” he asked, rubbing his snout.
“Sshhh, you'll wake Cloudburst up,” she said quietly. “And, uh, it's a trade secret.”
He leveled his gaze at her. “Of course.”
She nodded, a somewhat smug grin on her face. Then, she asked: “I'm guessing you're staying here for the night, Dusky?”
“Eeyup.” he nodded after a moment of thought.
“...Hungry?” She asked after a few seconds of silence.
“Eehhh, only if you're cooking,” Dusk said with a shrug, stretching out one of his legs idly.
“Cool, I'm going to bed then,” Hail said, promptly moving up onto the bed. “Turn off the light, yeah? Thanks.”
Dusk blinked once, before chuckling softly. “Mind if I join you?”
She froze for a moment. “...s-sure.”
“Neat,” he said, flicking off the lights with a quick green glow of magic, before hopping into her bed, his back facing hers.
A few minutes passed in a relative silence before Dusk spoke up, his words barely a whisper.
“Hey Hail?”
She groaned softly and turned to face him. “Mmm?”
“I was just wondering...” he trailed off for a few moments. “...Nevermind.”
She giggled tiredly. “Mmkay,” she said, before shivering. “...C’mere.”
He blinked out of surprise but rolled over to face her and shuffled a bit closer to her. “...Yeah?”
Her legs pulled him into an embrace, and she buried her face in his chest fluff, murmuring contently. “Better.”
With uncertainty and hesitation, Dusk put a leg around her a few moments later; judging by the wriggle closer to him, he had done correctly. A gentle smile worked its way onto his face and he leaned down and nuzzled her between the ears, then rested his head there. Minutes later, he was asleep.
With a loud yawn, Cloudburst sat up, rubbing his eyes blearily. Glancing around the room, he noted that Mother and Dusk were still sleeping, locked in an embrace. He stood up, his wing joints popping as he rolled them around a few times. Shaking his head, he made his way over to the window, jumping up onto the windowsill.
Outside, the mid-day sun shone brightly through a massive pink dome of energy that looked like it was covering all of Canterlot. The dome made the buildings, the ground, pretty much everything slightly pink, including the foal himself.
Cloudburst growled softly and fluttered his wings, jumping back onto the bed. The sudden weight on one side of the bed made the other side jump up, which happened to be the side the two adults were on. Unsurprisingly, it resulted in them jumping up as well.
Hail let out a squawk, her eyes flying open and wings flapping in a state of mild panic. She hit the bed a moment later and turned to face Cloudburst, who was laughing his little flank off.
She blew a raspberry at him, then turned back to Dusk, who was looking at her with an eyebrow raised as to ask “really now?”. Her cheeks went a lovely pinkish color, not unlike the shield around Canterlot and she hid her face in Dusk’s neck.
The stallion chuckled softly, gently rubbing her back with his spare hoof.
“Morning, Stormy,” He said softly, then looked at Cloud. “Morning, Cloudburst.”
“Hi, Dusk,” he said simply, sitting back up.
Dusk felt the mare in his embrace relax, her breaths evening out.
“...annddd she's sleeping again,” he chuckled slightly.
“There's a weird thing outside, Dusk. I don't like it,” Cloudburst said after a minute, looking to the side.
The stallion frowned. “‘Weird thing’?” Dusk asked him, somewhat concerned.
The foal nodded.
Dusk gently nudged Hail. “I think this might be important, hop up.”
The mare whined softly but let him go after a few moments. Dusk stood up slowly, a soft groan escaping him as he quickly stretched, then hopped off the bed.
“It looks like an upside down fishbowl,” Cloudburst murmured, glancing back out the window.
Dusk frowned and looked out the window as well, moving next to it.
“I… I think I know what this is,” he said slowly, his tail flicking and his ears slightly down.
“And?”
“It ain’t good,” he bit his lip.
Hail groaned, rolling over to face him. “Whaddya mean ‘ain't good’?” she asked groggily.
“I mean, that's a pretty high power shield, and it looks like it's covering the entirety of the city. That doesn't exactly imply good things,” he explained after a few seconds of looking outside.
Hail shivered, pulling the sheets tighter around her.
“...I should probably ask Umbra what this is all about…” Dusk murmured, opening the window and sticking his head out of it.
“...what’s he doing?” Hail asked the foal, getting a very helpful “I dunno” in return.
A large flash of emerald green suddenly lit up the interior of the ‘fishbowl’, the source being a hovering ball of magic of the same color suspended high above the ground.
Half a minute later, another identical one joined it, then a dark blue and a yellow one a few seconds later.
A full three minutes of awkward shuffling, and the occasional rustle of wind from outside, Dusk pulled his head back in, looking pale.
“...D-dusk?” Hail immediately sat up, biting her lip worriedly. “What is it?”
He took a deep, shaky breath. “Grab something quick to eat, we’re going to the castle. There’s been a threat on Canterlot and it’ll be safer there.”
Cloudburst let out a soft whine and pressed into Hail’s side gently.
“A-alright,” she nodded once, looking between the two before standing up slowly, gently nudging Cloud towards the edge of the bed.
“C’mon Cloudburst.” she murmured to him, giving him a final push, before carefully stepping off her bed and onto the floor.
Behind them, Dusk’s horn was alight, parts of the wall were glowing in response, forming intricate patterns on them. Cloudburst walked past Hail and out the door while she watched Dusk for a few more moments, following the foal afterwards.
She walked down the darkened hallway, turning into the kitchen. “Cloud, you c-can go wait on the couch if you want.”
He shook his head quickly, pressing gently against one of her legs. She smiled softly, then leaned down and gently nuzzled the top of his head comfortingly.
"Hate to ruin the moment, but we'd better get a move on." Dusk said softly from the doorway.
Cloudburst looked up at him, glanced back at Hail for a few moments, then cantered over to Dusk hastily. Laughing softly, she turned to the fridge, opening it and browsing its contents.
She sighed. "Remember how you raided the fridge? There's no leftovers or anything."
"...oops, my bad," Dusk grinned sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head.
Hail gave him a deadpan look, loudly shutting the fridge door for emphasis. There was a moment of silence between the two, broken by Cloudburst's single fake cough.
"Right, right, we should go." Dusk nodded, herding the foal out the door.
She followed after them, getting to the apartment door before realizing that most of the lights were still on.
"You two keep going, I'll lock the place up." she said to them.
"Just don't go back in your room, you could, uh, upset the spells in there before they settle," Dusk said quickly, biting his lip.
Hail nodded slowly, walking back to the kitchen. "M'kay."
He shut the door and hurried down the stairs, Cloudburst keeping pace with only a little trouble. They made it to the ground floor within a minute to find the streets completely empty.
"...I'm not liking this," Dusk murmured softly, pulling Cloudburst a little closer to him.
In a whirl of dust and feathers, something hit the ground right in front of them causing Dusk to yelp and bring up a dark green shield in front of him.
"...back now," Hail said.
Dusk opened his eyes, seeing Hail in front of him, looking somewhat smug.
"...ha ha," He said sarcastically. "Now you're here, let's go."
She nodded and began to walk up the street in silence, Cloudburst next to her. They walked for a straight minute before Cloudburst froze suddenly, a whimper escaping him.
Hail let out a shrill yelp, and picked up Cloudburst by the nape of his neck, throwing him onto her back, then bolted forward.
"G-good idea!" Dusk remarked as he ran after the two, repeatedly glancing behind them.
As they rounded a corner, Dusk glanced behind him again just in time to see a sickly green magical blast smashed into the cobbles, sending plumes of dirt and dust into the air.
He slowed down a bit to see what it was, biting his lip.
The dust slowly settled, and it seemed everything was quiet for a few seconds.
Then, with a screech, a black shape leapt out of the crater, it's hungry bright blue eyes staring into his soul.
Dusk immediately regretting staying behind and tore down the street away from that... thing[i/].
Ahead of him, Hail was at a halt in the middle of a crossroads, very slowly backing up. Her ears were flat against her back, and her tail between her legs fearfully.
He swore under his breath, and looked around, spotting something useful within a second. An alley.
His horn lit up as a plan formed in his mind, rushing towards Hail. Now that he was closer, he could finally make out the black, pony-shaped terror things, closing in on her.
"Hail!" Dusk shouted, gritting his teeth and jumping towards her as hard as he could. "Don't dodge!"
He sailed through the air, his forelegs outstretch to her.
Time seemed to slow down a little as the pony things hissed and jumped towards her as well.
Right before Dusk hit Hail, his horn lit up a bright green, and he closed his eyes, looking away.
With an 'oof', he slammed into Hail, then through the ground, taking the two pegasi with him.
They popped out the other side of the portal Dusk had cast at the last second, falling onto the ground of the alley with a variety of pained noises.
"shh," he quickly said, doing his best to breath as shallowly as possible, even as the hissing from outside got closer to them.
They were silent for a good minute even after their pursuers had gone.
Dusk let out a quiet sigh of relief, turning to lay on his side, facing Hail and Cloud.
She was half-curled on her side, holding a foreleg in pain. Her right wing looked a little worse for wear, a majority of its feathers sticking out the wrong way or just plain missing,
Cloudburst, however, looked fine, disregarding the fearful look in his eyes.
"W..w-we good?" Dusk asked softly, reaching a hoof to gently rub the mare's shoulder.
"I think s-something's broken," she responded in a quieter and more pained tone than him.
He swore under his breath again, then rolled onto his front and got up, a grunt escaping him from the soreness of his legs. "I need to exercise more," he mumbled to himself.
Cloud got up a moment after he did, and hastily trotted over to hide beneath Dusk’s legs, shivering gently.
With a combination of a grunt and a hiss of pain, the mare got up herself, her injured foreleg up from the ground. Her wings ruffled up, and she looked to Dusk.
"...wh...where d-do we go?" She asked softly, her voice trembling.
Dusk was silent. He turned away from her to look to the sky, then to the castle after a few seconds.
"W-well?"
He exhaled loudly. "We're in the middle of this, I believe. Either back to your apartment to wait it out, or to the palace to group up with Umbra. Unless you have any alternatives, that is."
She bit her lip, a thoughtful frown on her face. "...Castle," she said after a few seconds.
Dusk nodded and looked down at Cloudburst, his head upside down. "Don't worry, buddy. We'll be safe soon, you have my word," he said with a soft grin.
The foal smiled a bit and nodded once. "Go?" He suggested.
There was a moment of resounding silence between the three.
More distant screams, and more sounds of crashing and general mayhem.
A shiver went down Hail's spine, "Y-yeah, let's," she agreed hastily, limping towards the exit of the alley.
"What if we need to run again?" Dusk suddenly spoke up, biting his lip at looking at her worriedly.
"I can still fly," she said after a moment of thinking, flapping her wings for emphasis.
That was a bad move apparently, and she cried out in pain. "O-or maybe not!"
Dusk winced at both the volume and in sympathy.
"Dusk can pick up Mother, yes?" Cloudburst spoke up after a few seconds of silence, stepping out hesitantly from the safety of Dusk.
"...that could work," Dusk mumbled to himself.
"A-anyway whatever works, we should move, I don't feel like staying in one spot is a good idea," Hail blurted, and limped the rest of the way out of the alley, peeking around the corners. "Looks clear."
Dusk quickly trotted after her quietly, making sure that Cloudburst was following. "We should stick to the sides of the streets," he said quietly. "Cross here first, though. If my knowledge of this area is correct, we should only have to cross any streets a couple times."
"Hope you're right, then," the mare murmured, and hastily crossed the street, glancing both ways constantly.
Once they reached the other side, they let out a collective sigh of relief. "That was stressful." Hail mumbled.
"Eeyup," Dusk nodded, then moved to Hail's left side, subtly pushing her towards the right-most side of the sidewalk, which was coincidentally the safest part, as it was covered by the roof extensions of the nearby stores.
They nervously made their way towards the castle, thankfully only encountering one of the bug-pony-things, and quickly hiding upon spotting it.
Soon enough, they were looking up at the golden gates to the castle, Cloudburst once again hiding under Dusk, who had Hail leaning against him.
“W..what now?” Hail asked, looking around quickly, whimpering as another scream filled the air.
Dusk took a deep breath. “Now, we get in,” he said, his horn lighting up.
His green magic surrounded a small section of the gate, wrapping around the bars, and then pushed them apart slowly and silently, which they were glad for.
Within half a minute, the bars were bent enough, allowing Dusk to slip through, followed by Cloud, then Hail, who quickly glanced over her shoulder behind them.
Nothing but empty streets.
She let out a soft sigh of relief, then turned to the two. “Looks clear to me,” she said softly, trotting closer to Dusk.
He nodded and gave the distressed mare a brief nuzzle. “Let’s get a move on, we need to find Umbra.”
She nodded again and followed after him as he snuck along the wall, keeping a constant eye out.
Luckily for them, there were no more encounters of the evil-bughorse variety.
Umbra continued to pace around the small room, her hooves scuffing on the carpet.
“By Celestia, calm down Umbra,” an earth pony by the name of Iron Hoof said to her. “You’re going to wear down the carpet faster than a parasprite can eat an apple!”
“You try calming down!” She retorted, only pausing to say that, then returning to pacing.
“Umbra,” he said firmly. “Sit your flank down or I’m going to do it for you.”
She growled softly, but sat down after a few seconds.
“There we go,” He said with a bit of a smile. He turned from her back to the smallish window, looking back at one of the courtyards.
There was a flash of movement against the outer wall of the castle. “Huh-?”
“What is it?” Umbra asked, quickly getting up and trotting over to him, looking out the window with him.
“I saw something over there,” He said softly, pointing over to where he saw the movement. “There! Again!”
Umbra’s breath caught in her throat as she recognised the three figures sneaking towards one of the entrances. “Th-that’s them!”
“And they’re heading to where the main changeling force is,” He added after a second.
“...by luna’s sweet flanks we need to go get them,” Umbra blurted, and then quickly moved to the other side of the room, grabbing a few things from the weapon rack there.
“...stun stars, ten, throwing daggers, sixteen, healing salve, thirty mil’...” she mumbled to herself as she packed said things into the multitude of small pockets in her armour.
“Umbra…!” He sighed, and then followed her example. “If you get us killed, I’m going to murder you.”
“Shush,” she huffed, and then pulled the straps on her specialist armour tight once more. “Let’s go,” she said, gesturing with her head for him to follow her out of the armoury.
“Normally I’d question who put you in charge,” Iron said offhoovedly to himself as he shut the door behind them.
Now they were out in the castle halls, the sound of fighting was once again audible.
Umbra gritted her teeth a little, and then began to trot at a fair pace silently, her hoofsteps muffled thanks to the magic of enchantments.
Iron Hoof kept pace with her easily, constantly looking around.
It was easy to lose yourself in some parts of Canterlot Castle. A majority of the halls were identical, which meant one would have to be able to keep count of how many lefts you passed before taking the right left.
Thankfully, it was a skill the two both had.
“We should slip out the window and stick to the side of the castle,” Iron suggested softly, his voice a murmur. “That way we’re less likely to run into any patrols.”
Umbra nodded, and then at the next window moved to it, looking out it. “Heh. All clear,” She said, and then began climbing out.
Iron followed immediately, slipping out and hitting the ground with a dull ‘thud’ seconds after her.
“They’re over there,” she said softly to him, pointing forward and a little to the left.
The three were crouched behind a bush, and Dusk was peeking around the side of it.
Umbra’s horn lit up with a soft green light. The tip of Dusk’s ear was covered by the same colour, and he sharply turned to the two.
Umbra gave a little wave, and then began to sneak over to the three, Iron following behind wordlessly.
It took the two two minutes to get around to them, having to avoid at least three changeling patrols.
“Umbra!” Dusk whispered happily, hugging her tightly for a few seconds, then pulling back and sitting next to Hail, who was hugging Cloudburst gently. “We good?” Umbra asked.
“We ain’t good,” Iron said quickly, and ducked.
What looked like to be a dozen armoured changelings landed in the middle of the courtyard, looking around the area carefully.
Hail whimpered softly, and then hid back behind the bush, holding Cloudburst to her chest.
