I stretched my legs lazily, blinking to clear the gunk out of my eyes. I’d gotten to sleep quickly when I'd gotten home, but it'd been late enough that I still felt groggy. I pulled myself out from beneath my sheets and crossed to the bathroom door. When I'd built the house, I'd decided it'd be easiest to have two doors into the bathroom, one directly from my bedroom, and the other from the hallway.
No noise, but that didn't mean much. I knocked. No response. It was safe to assume Spring was asleep already. Sharing my bathroom after so many years on my own still felt odd, but it wasn't terrible. It was a lot like when I'd lived in Cloudsdale, except less shoving. Honestly, it felt nice having a bit of company at home. I smiled to myself. Even if it is just my sister.
I turned the water on for the shower and glanced down at the sink counter. Spring's various beauty supplies were scattered about, some still open, others apparently empty but still set out. Toothpaste, hair brush, mane conditioner, rouge, eye liner, lipstick, I had never even seen Spring use half of this stuff. I spent a moment sorting everything, separating Spring's belongings from my own as the water heated up. At last, I stepped into the shower and let the water wash over me.
It’d been a day since I’d gotten home from Cloudsdale. By the time we'd finished talking to Dad, it had grown late enough that it was time to head for home. It was easier than I thought, but in part that was because I knew I'd be back. Mom had made sure I knew that, and Dad as well. I was welcome home whenever I wished. Dusky too, they'd insisted.
We'd flown home together beneath the stars. She left me to my thoughts as we flew, quiet, but close. She was giving me space, but letting me know she was there if I needed her. When I said goodnight to Dusky, I felt stronger than ever the desire to be with her. Saying good night to her had been harder in some ways than saying it to my parents. It wasn't because I feared I wouldn't see her again, but because I didn't want to stop seeing her. Missing her only made me love her more.
I'd spent yesterday alone, just time to myself, like it used to be. Everything was the same, but I wasn't. I wanted more than the things that I used to be content with, if I ever was truly content with them. Some part of me which I never knew existed now had a deep wish for something I'd never dared entertain. Family. Not just my siblings, nor my parents, but a family of my own. I had never imagined being a father, but spending time with my nieces and nephews made me want that for myself, and that feeling clung harder than I would have believed possible.
I turned off the shower and started to dry off. Before we'd parted, Dusky had asked if I wanted to spar with her today. I couldn't imagine I was up to her level yet, but I'd agreed eagerly. I had no idea what to expect, but I suppose I'd find out soon enough.
When I finished cleaning up after myself, I left through the second door into the main hall of the house. That's where the smell hit me. A sweet, perhaps slightly burnt cinnamon scent drifting from the kitchen. Following the aroma, I found Spring standing besides a number of saucepans and open packages.
"Spring? What are you still doing awake?"
She glanced away from the stove with a wide grin on her face. "Waiting for you, of course! I mean, I couldn't head home with you 'cause of my shift, and I didn't get to see you yesterday, but I wanted to get in on all the apologies and the hugging and stuff. So, I made you breakfast!"
I looked across the kitchen. Oats. Milk. Butter. Syrup. Spring had never done anything like this. "Breakfast? Are you feeling alright?"
She ladled a bowl of oatmeal out of the larger pan, then set it down in front of me, still grinning. "Of course! I mean, what's wrong with wanting to make you breakfast?"
I sniffed at the bowl. It at least smelled like oatmeal. "Did you... do anything to it"
"What?! No! I mean... no! Okay, yeah, that makes sense. I can't really blame you for being suspicious. But I'm a whole new Spring! I've matured, Nighty. I'm way too wise and cool for that kinda lame prank."
"Riiiight." I stirred the oatmeal slowly. Nothing seemed odd about it. "So then... why?"
"Why? A d'uh, Nighty. Cause you're my brother."
I stared at her blankly. 'Because you're my brother' had never been a reason why Spring did anything.
She frowned. "And uh, because you're so cool!"
Now I knew something was up. I put the spoon down. "Uh huh..."
She fluttered her wings, and unexpectedly blushed. "I uh, mean, it's because... I uh... really like the job."
"You... do?" That was not at all what I'd expected. "You made me breakfast because you like to work?"
"Well, you got me the job, right?" She laughed awkwardly. "I mean... okay, so this morning, there was some early morning rain scheduled, and I had to get the clouds into place, and I had some spare time, so, I started to play around with the clouds, and I... well, I made them look nice."
Early morning rain was a fairly common occurrence, along with laying down a little bit of fog some days. Still, the way Spring talked about it was familiar. "You arranged them nicely?"
She shook her head. "I made some shapes. Like, just some simple stuff, like I used to do when I was little. So, I had a few fun looking clouds all set up, when this... stallion... stepped out to open his shop. He said they looked nice." Her voice grew quieter as her blush intensified.
"So, it um, isn't exactly the job you're happy about." It felt more than a little uncanny to be on this side of things. Was this what Mahogany felt like watching me?
"Oh, nonono, I mean... that felt really nice to hear from, err, somepony else. But I love the job, Night. I love getting to spread my wings and touch the clouds and actually do something besides sitting on a factory line making the same stupid rain cloud or snowflake over and over again."
She held her gaze a moment, then lowered her head with a sigh. “I just… wanted to do something to thank you for the chance.”
Looking away from my sister, I cautiously lifted my spoon and dipped it into the oatmeal. I brought it up and cautiously put it into my mouth. It was sugary, nearly enough to hurt my teeth. I raised an eyebrow at Spring. She wasn't lying about making it, that was certain. I swallowed the first bite and breathed out. "It's... a bit sweet."
She perked back up, grasping at the excuse not to continue her story. "I used the last of your syrup! Oatmeal without syrup is just bluh. And you didn't have any mini-marshmallows for it." She poured herself a bowl, eagerly bringing it to the table.
"I, uh, can tell. Sorry about the marshmallows." I didn't use syrup often. Whatever jar she'd found must have been nearly full. Still, I took a second bite. It wasn't awful, just much sweeter than I was used to. "It's good, though. I, um... thanks. Thanks, Spring. This was a nice surprise."
She grinned. "The best kind of surprises, right?" She settled in and started to eat, shoveling the oatmeal in faster than could possibly be healthy.
I giggled, then resumed eating my bowl. It was practically a dessert for breakfast, and once I got through the initial bites, it was quite good. I'd nearly finished eating when a heavy rapping on the door interrupted our meal.
Spring glanced up from her second bowl, calling out "Awl gattit!" Before I could protest, she was up, rushing to open the door. "Mmmmnt!"
I tilted back to catch a glimpse as Mint stepped in, glancing about with a grin. "Swallow your food, Spring. That's gross."
Spring audibly swallowed her mouthful of oatmeal and then lunged into a hug. "Mint! What's up! You miss me that much?"
“Mint?” I tilted my head. “Did something come up?”
She waved her wing as she managed to pry Spring off of her. “You could say that. Remember last night? You asked Dad about training?”
It had been a brief exchange as we’d left, overshadowed by the talk about Mahogany’s father. “All he said was that he’d come up with something.”
Mint nodded. “Well, he did. Or at least, he sorta did. He asked me to step in and give you some help.”
Spring clapped her forehooves together. “Mint’s gonna live here too! Awesome!”
“What? No.” Mint rolled her eyes, lifting a hoof to her forehead. “I live in Canterlot, Spring. It’s not that long a flight. Not to mention my husband and son.”
“Oh, yeah. I guess if you moved in, Custard and Wintergreen would be moving in too. So how you gonna do your little train thing?”
Mint turned back to me. “Well, if Night is alright with it, I figured I’d fly in after my shift or on my days off, and give some extra tutoring on Royal Guard fighting style. I did tell you in Myrtail I’d be there for you if you needed it.”
I considered a moment. Not that it was really a tough choice, just that it wasn’t exactly what Mrs Ward had recommended. “I don’t think it’s Guard training I need, exactly. I guess I was hoping for pointers from Dad.”
“Then you’re in luck, Night.” Mint winked. “Dad taught me everything I know. Probably close to everything he knows too, though I’m sure he’s kept a few secrets to himself. I want to make sure you’ve got the basics down, then we can get into some more… unorthodox techniques.”
That was definitely more of what I had in mind. And certainly, spending more time with Mint couldn’t hurt. “Well, alright, then. I, um, can show you where I work out if you want. It’s not much, but maybe we can go over some of the basics, if you want.”
Mint grinned. “Sounds good, lead the way, Night.”
When I’d first started training with Merri and Starshadow, trying to be a knight and impress Dusky in all the wrong ways, I’d started building onto my house. Putting an expansion onto a cloudhouse was fairly simple, gather up enough clouds to form the base, add on whatever flooring or structure you desired for aesthetics. For some pegasi, home design was as much a hobby as reading or board games were for anypony else.
It hadn’t taken long for me to build the add-on that I just called my training room. Here, I had decided, I would be able to practice what Starshadow had been teaching me with the hoofblade. More than that, it had become a general purpose work-out room. It was nothing fancy, but it was enough for me to be able to train how I wanted in private.
Mint whistled as she glanced about. “Not bad. Clouds to cushion the impacts of falls. Training dummies too. You really have been taking this seriously, haven’t you?”
“The most serious.” I sighed. “You were there in Fillydelphia. That’s not something I ever want to happen again. Not if there’s any way I can help. I want to be stronger, Mint. For Dusky. For myself.”
She stepped closer and hugged. “Well, I’ll do my best. It’ll be hard work, but if you’re up for it, I’m here to help.”
“So long as I’m not too much of a burden, I’ll be happy for it.”
“Right!” Mint straightened up. “Then fall into the first ready position, if you remember it. I want to put you through the basic drills and see how much you remember.”
I was definitely rusty, I hadn’t been in the Guard long enough to develop muscle memory for the drills, but I still half-remembered a lot of it, and had been going through my own drills enough that what needed correcting was mostly cosmetic.
Mint worked with me as she would any recruit, and I started to see how she’d earned her position. Not to mention why Custard had seemed so well behaved. My sister really was a good teacher, and had a passion for, as strange as it sounded, fighting. She almost seemed to enjoy it like it were a sport. She stepped back to demonstrate a few of the maneuvers she described, and I started to realize just how much Mint had been holding back.
We’d been going at it for at least an hour. Finishing another routine, I took a deep breath and watched Mint. “How long have you been training ponies, Mint? When’d you get promoted?”
She tilted her head, then leaned back to think. “Hmm? Well, a few years ago. I didn’t want to get pushed up too fast or some ponies might call foul. Dad being a who he is and all. I pushed really hard to prove myself as more than just the Captain’s daughter, you know?”
I nodded. “Sorta. I mean, I was always trying to live up to Dad, until I left. I guess one advantage of being away for so long is I got to be myself without thinking about if ponies were judging me based on who my father was.”
“A lot of high expectations come with being a Light. I guess I can’t blame you for wanting— Dusky!” Mint suddenly walked past me back towards the entrance.
I blinked, feeling my face go red.
"Hello, Mint." Dusky stepped into the training room, Spring not too far behind. "You're helping with the sparring today?"
Mint nodded. "Yep! Today, and for a little while, I figure. I didn't realize you and Night were practicing together."
Dusky grinned. "We weren't before today."
I stammered as I found my voice once again. "Y-yeah. We've fought together often enough... I just thought, maybe it'd be smart if we, um, train together... a bit."
"Eh, he, he." Spring perked up. "Oh, I know how this goes. You and Dusky start to 'practice' and it's all in good fun, then things start to heat up, and you were all punch and kick and then suddenly you're wrestling to win, and Night looks up and sees Dusky standing over him, staring down, all covered in sweat. He reaches up to kiss her, and then they start t—"
Mint walked over and shoved a hoof into Spring's mouth. "That's just about enough of trashy romance theater, thank you, Sis’. You want to stay and make commentary, you have to stay and spar. Alright?"
Spring's face fell. "Awwwwww, fine. But don't blame me if it all ends with the two of them making kissy faces!" She turned and headed back towards the living room, closing the door behind her.
Dusky raised an eyebrow at Mint after Spring left. "Trashy romance theater?"
Giggling, Mint shook her head. "Spring has a not-so-secret love for a very specific genre of books. She thinks nopony else knows. We all know."
"Sorry about this, Dusky." I dipped my head. "I didn't know Dad would send Mint today to help me train. If you want to postpone our sparring, I'll understand."
"Postpone nothing, Nighty. This is perfect. If you're going to be training alongside Dusky, I can focus a little bit more on the gaps in both your knowledge." Mint smirked at Dusky eagerly. "Though, that means I'll need to learn where your strengths are. Care to go a round?"
Dusky glanced at me. "So long as Night's good."
"He can take five. I was running him hard on the basics when you arrived." Mint moved towards the center of the training room, stretching her neck back and forth. "Honestly, I've been wondering what you could do since Myrtail.”
Stepping in with a smirk, Dusky nodded. “I’ll try not to disappoint you, then.”
Mint grinned back, falling into a fairly standard Guard stance. She leaned in, almost seeming too eager to fight. She waited as Dusky carefully moved forward, content to let Dusky make the first move.
Dusky jumped in at last, striking with her wings one after the other. As Mint pushed each strike aside, she opened her own wings up and struck back with force.
With a quick leap to the side, Dusky avoided the wing strike, only to find my sister already in motion, striking at her new position. The two quickly fell into a rhythm of strike and counter, as Mint seemed to press every advantage and Dusky kept up her defense. Seeing her fight like this was as impressive as I remembered.
It was a lot like that first time I’d seen Dusky in combat back in Fetlock Falls. Though, this time, there were no stakes. The attacker wasn’t somepony intent to hurt or kill, but my sister, here to help me, maybe both of us, get stronger. In this context, somehow, it only highlighted just how amazing she was.
Like a mischievous imp whispering in my ear, I could hear Spring’s voice creep into my mind. Dusky standing over you, staring down, all covered in sweat. Dusky was fit, strong, muscular, but still lithe. She was indeed sweating from the exercise, her mane just a little damp from the perspiration clinging to her face. I shook my head before I found myself drifting any further into Spring’s tawdry scenario.
It shouldn’t have been so embarrassing, but somehow it was. I’d come so far, we’d come so far. Still, I couldn’t help but stare at her in awe. She was more beautiful than I could express, but I knew she was so much more than just the mare who’d first drawn my eye so long ago. She was patient and caring. She was loyal and strong. She was the best friend I’d ever had. She was staring at me.
I blinked, fumbling back into reality. What had I missed? They’d been talking, and Mint had asked me something. My observations? My mouth felt dry, and Dusky was still looking at me. “Oh, I, um, don’t know. It was hard to tell.”
Mint shook her head and sighed. "Spring might have been right about one thing. Distraction is definitely an issue."
“Or maybe we can put that focus to use.” Dusky continued to stare at me, her face breaking into a grin. She adjusted her stance and began to advance. “Coming at you, Night!”