//------------------------------// // Chapter 8 // Story: Princess Twilight Sparkle's School for Fantastic Foals: Winter Break // by kudzuhaiku //------------------------------// “Oh look, they didn’t even make it till dinner,” Tarnish said in a low, soft whisper while he gestured over at the little fuzzy (and one scaly) bodies piled on the couch. “We should do something to mess with them.” Turning his head, he began checking for approval amongst the various ponies present in the living room. “Oh no,” Lemon Hearts moaned, shaking her head. “It would be wrong to violate their trust. We shouldn’t mess with them.” It was too late though, Tarnish seemed determined on his course of action and with Maud at his side, looking up at him, pranking seemed inevitable. Trixie remained neutral, while Twinkleshine showed some mild interest. Lemon, soft hearted, focused her attention on Maud, and then began to plead with her, trying to appeal to her maternal side. “Maud, how could you?” Lemon whispered. “It’s easy,” Maud deadpanned. “I squirted that out from my loins”—she gestured at Pebble—“and now it is complicated to have satisfying coitus with my husband without her interfering somehow. She must pay. Megara will also be guilty of this crime, no doubt, so I consider this a preemptive strike.” Hearing this made Lemon’s mouth drop open into a round ‘O’ of horror. Sleeping the sleep of the innocent, Sumac’s ear twitched, which made Tarnish as well as Maud both go silent and still. Octavia now stood beside Maud, and the two mares exchanged a knowing look with one another, then looked down at the sleeping form of Megara. Vinyl sealed their fate by placing a soundproofing spell over the couch, and the albino mare gave Tarnish what could only be described as a soul-chilling, wicked grin. “We could learn something here,” Trixie said to Twinkleshine. “I like this idea of preemptive parenting.” Nodding, Twinkleshine replied, “Indeed.” “So, what is the plan?” Octavia seemed rather giddy and was bouncing in place. “Balloons,” Tarnish replied with a nod. “Balloons.” With an explosion of confetti and the honk of a mysterious kazoo, Pinkie Pie appeared, and nopony did so much as bat their eyelids. She smooched Tarnish on the cheek once—because she appeared somehow in the shadow he cast—then she greeted her sister Maud with a kiss, and offered Octavia a gentle rub on her side. With a crazy look in her blue eyes, Pinkie looked down at the sleeping foals. “Did somepony say ‘balloons?’” Pinkie bounced in place, flexing her knees, and her voice became an excited squeal. “Did I miss dinner? Sorry I’m late, I was helping Twilight cheer up Adventus. He has the holiday sads.” “We were just about to have a little before-dinner entertainment.” Octavia pulled Pinkie Pie into a tight, warm hug, which Pinkie returned. “Poor Adventus. Perhaps tomorrow Lemon Hearts and I will go and visit him. A little music along with some tea and sympathy might set him straight.” With her hind leg, Pinkie Pie scratched behind her ear—after a few strokes, a whole mess of balloons fell out of her mane and down to the floor. Tarnish snatched one up, used a little magic to inflate it, and then tied it off. Grinning in the worst way possible, he began rubbing the balloon up and down his chocolate-brown hide, generating static. Once he had sufficient static, he let out what could only be described as an evil chortle, then held the balloon over Pebble’s head. When he relaxed his magic, the balloon shot down to Pebble and clung to her head with the crackle of static electricity. Pinkie was busy with her own balloon magic, inflating balloons and tying them off with a multitude of squeaks. When she had one finished, she passed it to her sister Maud, who began rubbing it up and down her neck. This made Maud’s mane begin to stand up and little arcs of lightning could be seen around her ears. While her husband continued his evil chuckle, Maud stuck the balloon to Sumac’s side, where it rose and fell with each breath he took. Trixie was laughing now, and so was Twinkleshine. The pair of them crept closer to the couch with the intent to join the mayhem. Trixie picked up a blue balloon, and Twinkleshine found a pink one on the floor. “Join us,” Tarnish said to Lemon Hearts, “join us and begin your journey to the dim side.” He finished up a balloon and stuck it to Megara, who had Boomer curled up in her forelegs. “I don’t know if I should.” Lemon Hearts shook her head. “I suppose a little innocent prank couldn’t hurt anything, right? I mean, we’re being playful, and not malicious, right?” “Be one of us, Lemon.” Octavia’s voice was pure silk and she made an inviting come-hither gesture to bring the lemony yellow mare closer, so that she might be drawn in. “This is unbelievably fun. It’s the reason why Vinyl and I wanted one of our own, so we could have the opportunity to mess with it every chance we had.” “Oooh.” Lemon let out a squeal and shook her head as she took her first step towards the dim side. “I can’t believe I’m about to help the Dark Lord Flornicator carry out his nefarious plans. What have I become—” “Dark Lord Flornicator?” Tarnish’s ears splayed out sideways. “Did you just call me a floral fornicator?” Pausing, Lemon nodded, blinked once, and gave Tarnish an apprehensive glance. Tarnish handed Lemon an inflated balloon and let out an evil laugh. “Now join us, little Lemon… join us or die! Mwahahahahahaha!” Pebble awoke to a very confused sounding “MEOW!” and found herself in a confounding cocoon of colours. She blinked once, heard another bewildered “MEOW!” and then the confounding cocoon of colours shifted, some of them moving, and the static-crackle of electricity filled her ears. Somehow, Pebble sat up, fighting to do so, as she was suffering her own confusion and didn’t know what was going on. Megara fell off of the couch and tumbled down to the floor, where she rolled around on her back, kicking her legs, trying to get free from… a whole mess of balloons? Pebble blinked as this realisation set in, but she didn’t have time to process it all. She heard Sumac cry out, and, fearing he was in danger, every muscle went rigid as Sumac too, slid off of the couch. He was too fragile to fall, so Pebble used her strength and dexterity to launch herself. Somersaulting from the couch, she landed on the floor hooves first just in time to see a faint magical aura appear around Sumac. As fast as Pebble was, magic was still faster, a fact of life that she loathed. Yelling at the top of his lungs, Sumac, who was encased in balloons, was set down on the floor, and he began to scramble around, much to Pebble’s amazement. She guessed that it probably had something to do with adrenaline jumping through his new connections, somehow forcing them to work. Megara yowled, trying to be rid of the balloons that clung to every square inch of her chocolate brown hide. The laughter of many adults filled Pebble’s ears and made them burn. There would be a reckoning for this, no doubt, but that would come later. Ignoring the many balloons clinging to her, Pebble went after Sumac, worried that he would fall or otherwise get hurt if his legs decided to stop working all of a sudden. Boomer lept from the sofa, claws extended, and she began attacking the balloons clinging to Megara. The first balloon popped—a terrific sound—and this startled Megara something awful, frightening her. The manticore spawn was on her paws in a flash and then scurried to the shadowy sanctuary that existed beneath the couch. A pitiful yowl could be heard from the shadows, and another balloon popped. Realising that Sumac was also in trouble, Boomer scrambled over the floor on all fours, her tail slapping from side to side, and smoke curled up from her nostrils. There was a thump when Tarnish fell over to the floor, pulling Pinkie Pie down with him, and Pebble cast a quick stony glare at her father while trying to reach Sumac. No doubt, her mother was also having the time of her life, and the living room was filled with riotous laughter. Even worse, Pebble realised, was that Vinyl had filmed the whole thing with the motion picture camera. Oh yes, there would be a reckoning for this. As a big wooden spoonful of potatoes au gratin was plopped onto his plate, Sumac felt a wet, curious snuffle against his neck, at the base of his jaw. Megara, who sat beside him, was checking him out, and it tickled something awful. Much to his own surprise, he was able to hold his head up on his own. Being scared stupid had done something to him, and he found himself with quite a bit of control over his extremities. Next came some peas, followed by paprika glazed carrots. “So, feeding Megara,” Lemon Hearts said to Tarnish as she served herself some food onto her plate, having finished with Sumac’s. “As it turns out, she’s capable of being an omnivore, due to being part pony,” Tarnish replied as his eyes went back and forth from Megara, his daughter, to Lemon Hearts, his friend. “She can get most of her special dietary requirements from eggs and dairy, with the occasional supplement of things like fish, shrimp, and shellfish. We just have to make sure she gets taurine, due to her felinoid nature. Fluttershy is going to help us make sure she stays healthy.” “Hmm.” Lemon Hearts looked curious and she turned to face both Sumac and Megara. “Taurine can be found in brewer’s yeast and certain types of seaweed. I found out there are vegetarian griffons from Fluttershy.” Tarnish waved his fork around like a conductor’s wand and grinned, looking pleased with all he knew. “I’m going to leave that choice up to my little Nutmeg though.” Then, without warning, Megara licked him and Sumac let out a startled gurgle as her rough, sandpapery tongue was dragged over his cheek. The manticore spawn’s whiskers tickled him. With a sniff, Sumac knew that she had bad breath—carnivore breath—and copious quantities of drool left the colt soaked. How did one respond to such an act? Sumac could only think of one way. “UGH!” “From what I’ve been able to figure out, Megara only licks things she considers hers,” Pebble explained while Megara once more licked Sumac. “She’s licked all of us, she got Octavia first, and I think it is her way of being affectionate. Should I feel brave enough, at some later junction I might try licking her back just to see what might happen.” “I feel wet,” Sumac stated in a wavering voice. “You nice.” Megara reached up and wiped Sumac’s face with her paw while her tail swished around behind her. “Taste like spark magic.” Without any warning whatsoever, Tarnish burst into tears and began crying, which was difficult for Sumac to see. The colt sat there, confused by his own sudden feelings, and he felt Megara pull away from him. He wished that she hadn’t, because he suddenly felt alone and vulnerable. Big, strong ponies like Tarnish weren’t supposed to cry, and Sumac had no idea what he was feeling. It was Maud that reacted first, and after wrapping her forelegs around him, she pulled him closer. Sumac felt eyes on him and after a quick look around, his eyes darting to and fro, he discovered Pebble was staring at him. Why? Why was she staring at him, and not her father? Beside him, Megara let out a confused-sounding whimper. “I lost so many years,” Tarnish murmured with his eyes closed. With the soft rustle of fuzz against wood, Pinkie Pie slipped out of her chair and trotted over to where Tarnish was sitting. She stood beside him, squeezing herself between Tarnish and Vinyl, who sat on his opposite side. With a soft whinny, she nosed him, pressing her muzzle against his neck while her sister Maud stroked him. It was a confusing family moment that Sumac did not understand. It left him bewildered, as he and Trixie hadn’t behaved like this during their travels, and even now, even after all of the changes, things still felt awkward. They were struggling to learn, to come together, to behave and act like family. Without Lemon Hearts, things might be a real mess. “Why crying?” Megara asked, her own voice creaking with emotional strain, and her ears were limp, as was her tail. “Your daddy loves you very much,” Octavia replied, doing her earth pony best to take up the slack. “He loves you very much and he wants to keep you. We all want to keep you. You didn’t do anything wrong, so you don’t need to worry. Your daddy just has some feelings that he needs to sort out, but you shouldn’t worry because you make him happy.” Not knowing any better, Megara lept up from her chair and onto the table. Mindful of the food, she crossed treacherous territory to make it to Tarnish, then flung herself at him. She hung from his neck with her forelegs wrapped tight around him, and her tail swished up against Maud’s face. “At least she didn’t step in the potatoes,” Pebble said, and then she began eating.