It was the snap of timber in the crackling fire that woke me. Wicked was curled up under my wing, head pillowed in his hooves. His eyes were closed, his breathing peacefully slow.
Smiling warmly, I pulled the blanket cocooning us together even tighter, sighing in contentment. He stirred a little, but didn’t wake, latching onto my foreleg like it was a teddy bear. His ear twitched as I stifled a giggle, and he slowly opened his eyes to meet mine.
“K’re-t’ched…” he whispered, releasing my foreleg to stretch as he yawned. His illusion momentarily faltered, and I could feel the rippling wave of thousands of tiny, chitinous plates popping and cracking.
As he finished, his gaze locked on something above us and he momentarily tensed before chuckling. “Well, this is a conundrum….”
“What is?” I looked up to see somepony had strung a sprig of mistletoe above us. “Oh….” I blinked for a few moments before shaking my head. “Well, it’s not like we’ve never kissed before. It could be so much worse. I honestly expected more from Cadance.”
Leaning in, I brushed my lips against his.
“You hungry?” I giggled and moved in for another peck.
“Well, it is almost dinner time,” he thrummed, letting his real voice drop through his guise. “I wouldn’t mind something more than a nibble.”
I shivered a little at the sound – at the slightest hint of a hollow and hungry echo – and tightened my wing’s grip on him. He leaned in for one last kiss, and we melted into eternity as the taste of orange blossoms and daffodils danced over our tongues.
“Oh, gross! Get a room you two!”
I started back at Spike’s words, wings flaring as a few of Lyra’s warnings jumped to mind. We’d only been kissing, right? Right? Feeding time got so fuzzy sometimes. I’d just about die if I’d slipped up today of all days.
“Calm, Twilight. Calm,” Mo droned, pulling me back into my seat and brushing a hoof through my mane. “It was just a kiss.”
Yes…. Yes, it was just a kiss. There was no need to freak out. Mo never let more than that happen when he fed – even in private.
“Anything else, and I’d be serving roast bug,” Spike huffed, a small flame escaping him. “Dinner’s finished by the way. We’ll be eating as soon as Shining and Cadance get back.” He glared at Mo. “And I don’t want to hear anything about you being too full to eat.”
“It doesn’t really work like that,” Morpheus chuckled.
“Just making sure.” Spike squinted as he raised a claw to warily point between his eyes and my coltfriend.
“I won’t spoil his appetite.” I giggled for a bit then looked up to the mistletoe. “Cadance isn’t back yet, though? I wouldn’t have pegged Mom and Dad as the type to trap me under mistletoe.”
Spike arched an eyebrow. “What are you talking about? Mom and Dad have been in the kitchen with me this whole time.”
“Then who…?” I looked at Mo, who was frowning.
“Wasn’t me.” His eyes were glassy. Emerald fire licked me as he shifted back to his normal form, and his horn began to glow. “Odd…. Hera says she didn’t see anything, and she’s been monitoring the house via tremor sense. There were a couple reporters she scared off, though. Maybe one of them was hoping for a pic? I’m not quite sure how they would have managed to hang it with Hera bearing down on them, though.”
“Could someling be spying on us?” I tilted my head.
“Oh, someling undoubtedly is, but any proper infiltrator wouldn’t risk revealing themselves for something like this.” He tsked, looking up at the mistletoe.
“Well, it’s weird that it just appeared, but I guess there’s no real reason to worry yet.” I shrugged. “Who knows? Maybe it was there all along.”
“You’re far too optimistic,” Morpheus muttered. “It could always be one of Antiquity’s tricks. Mistletoe is poisonous, after all.”
“Well, you’re far too pessimistic.” I gently bopped him on the nose. “Mistletoe isn’t even that deadly a poison. What’s she going to do? Feed me an entire mistletoe salad?”
“Ve can recall crazier tales.” Mo drummed his hooves. “And I really don’t want you being caught unprepared again. You’re lucky she was feeling playful when you met.”
“Yes… playful….” I snorted. “You don’t need to worry, though. I have been taking precautions.”
“Right….” Mo’s frown deepened. “Celestia’s miracle spell… whatever it actually is…. You do know I don’t trust it in the least, right? Ve highly doubt even Celestia can prepare for every eventuality.”
I sighed. “Well, if you can’t trust Celestia, trust me. Besides, I’ve been taking a lot of other precautions too.” I looked to Spike. “That reminds me, you scanned the ingredients, right?”
“Yeah, yeah… I got some weird looks from Mom and Dad when I brought the crystal in the kitchen, but all our food has been cleansed.” He frowned. “Of course, the taste is going to be completely off now.”
“Spike!” I rolled my eyes. “I told you that I didn’t put any spells on it that would affect the food itself. It’s just a lot of really complex divination magic.”
Morpheus snorted. “Divination magic didn’t help you the last time, Twilight. Ve still don’t know why you think it’ll work now.”
“I told you.” I giggled. “It’ll work now because I’m not checking for poisons. Not even Mage’s Bane can hide from this.”
“Really?” Mo arched his brow. “Do tell.”
“But it’s so much fun to make you guess!” I stuck my tongue out at him.
Mo rolled his eyes. “Ve have guessed. Repeatedly. Honestly, ve’re starting to suspect foul play.”
“Well, keep guessing.” I smiled. “You haven’t even gotten close yet, and the longer it takes you, the more hopeful I am that Antiquity won’t figure it out.”
“Can I have another hint to tide me over?” he thrummed.
“Sure!” I ruffled my wings and puffed my chest out. “Let’s see what you think when I tell you it was inspired by my research into the hivemind.”
“Hrmm?” He bit his chops. “That seems… odd…. Would it have to do with—” His ear flicked as he tilted his head, and his tongue snaked out a few times as his face scrunched. “Well, that’s an unpleasant combination of tastes. Honey isn’t really meant to be spicy.”
“We’re home everypony!” There was a chilly breeze that swept through the house as the front door opened. Several sets of hooves made their way inside, stomping the snow from their fetlocks.
“You’re gonna wanna get up.” He nudged me with his muzzle. “Our guessing game can wait.”
“Why?” I looked towards the door. “They don’t sound angry.”
“Oh, wow! That smells good!” Cadance called from the hall. “Are we late for dinner?”
“See?” I arched a brow at my coltfriend. “Perfectly fine. Honestly, you’re so paranoid.”
“You’re not quite late.” Spike poked his head into the hall. “Everything was ready a while ago, but we were waiting for you to get back.”
“Sorry, little guy.” The ratchety clicks of Shining’s zipper bled in from the hall as he took his old winter coat off. “We would have gotten back sooner, but we lost Flurry Heart in traffic on the way. Somepony thought herself capable of finding Madame Butterhooves’ all on her own.”
Oh. Maybe Mo was right….
“S-sorry, Daddy….” Flurry Heart mumbled.
“You owe an apology to more than just me.”
I could hear Shining’s frown, and stood to go see if he was alright. Mo followed me – his mouth a pensive line – and stood in the archway with Spike as I rounded into the hall.
“S-s-s-sorry, Uncle Spike….” Flurry was a soaking wet mess in the hall, and her teeth were chattering despite the telltale glow of a couple of warmth spells from Shining and Cadance.
“What happened?” I galloped to my niece to envelop her in some spells of my own: a cantrip to dry her, an abjuration to shield from cold, and a small heat generating evocation to name a few.
“I t-took a shortcut.” My niece shivered.
“She ran through one of the giant snow piles separating the two sides of Tenth Street.” Shining half-smiled, half-scowled. “You remember playing in those, Twi?”
“Ooh…” Spike winced. “I remember those.”
I frowned in sympathy. “Oh, my. We had to wear more layers than one of Pinkie Pie’s Seven Layer Soufflé Surprise to come out of those mountains unscathed. How big a pile are we talking?”
“She charged right into Ol’ Faithful, Twily.” He gave me a haggard look. “Tunneled right under two whole stories of snow and ice like it was nothing. I had to stop an honest-to-Celestia avalanche.”
“I suppose that’s an alicorn foal for you.” I was torn between a giggle and a sigh. “You should just be glad she isn’t the real deal. Can you imagine how much trouble an ascended foal would be?”
“I don’t even want to think about it.” Cadance stopped tending to Flurry for a moment to shudder. “I had more than enough trouble learning to cast magic as an adult. The idea of an infant surging like I did is terrifying.”
“I don’t think you’ve ever mentioned your magic lessons before.” My face scrunched as I tilted my head. “Were they really that bad?”
Cadance actually blushed. “My early years as an alicorn make Flurry look like a cleaning service.”
“What did you do?” I raised my brow.
“Oh, I’d rather not—” she began.
“She caused a population boom in Istallia,” my coltfriend finally spoke from his post in the archway, chuckling. “It was the single largest recorded outburst of love ve’ve ever seen – enough to give every single agent in the country a mini-heart attack.”
“Eurgh…” Cadance groaned. “Why would you tell them that, Morpheus? Aren’t changelings supposed to be master secret keepers or something?”
“We are.” He bared his fangs in a grin. “But part of the art of secret keeping is knowing when to spill the secret. Think of this as a little preemptive revenge for all the teasing you’ll no doubt be giving me and Twilight.”
“That’s not fair!” Cadance pouted, causing Mo to squirm, confidence forgotten. “Shiny, tell him he’s not allowed to dig up old dirt on me.”
“You’re the one who says all is fair in love and war, sweetheart. Can you really blame him?” Shining chuckled. “Besides, I’m a little curious now.”
“But I’m the Princess of Love,” Cadance sniffed. “That rule doesn’t apply to me!”
The argument was cut short when Flurry sneezed, a puff of powdery snow flying into the air. “What’s papulation mean, and why does it go boom?”
“It means your mother helped create a bunch of brand new bouncing baby ponies,” Morpheus thrummed.
“It does?” Flurry scrunched her muzzle. “But why do they go boom, then? I don’t do that.”
Mo smiled. “Well…“ his grin grew as Shining and Cadance gestured vehemently for silence, “...that’s something you’re not allowed to ask right now if you want those pancakes your mother promised.”
Shining blinked a couple times. “You promised Flurry what?” The words were mouthed to his wife.
“Pancakes, Shining. A week’s worth of them. Try to keep up.” Mo winked.
Shining looked between my coltfriend and Cadance.
Cadance shrugged.
I smiled. “Aww… Were you actually listening in on us earlier?” I nuzzled him. “And here I thought you’d left me to face Cadance and my mom all alone.”
“What do you take me for, an amateur?” Mo snorted. “I was ready to send Hera in at a moment’s notice.”
“I appreciate that.” I hugged him as best I could with my wing, my head fitting snugly into the crook of his neck. “Although Hera wouldn’t have been my first pick.”
Shining growled a little before Cadance elbowed him in the ribs. His stomach made its own growls in response, and he rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. “So about that dinner….”
“Yeah, I’m hungry!” Flurry hopped up and down about us.
“I am a bit peckish myself,” Mo thrummed sending little vibrations through me. “And maybe afterward I can get—” the thrum deepened so I felt it in my bones, “—seconds.”
I giggled, thwapping him with a wing, and he nipped my ear in response. Meanwhile, Shining made a sort of strangled gurgling sound, and Cadance tittered with her hoof covering her mouth.
“What?” Flurry scrunched her face. “Uncle Spike’s food is good!”
“Yes. Yes, it is.” Spike smiled smugly. “So come and let me show you what we prepared!”
He marched his way into the kitchen, and Flurry bounded on behind him. The rest of us chuckled a bit before following. As we entered, Mom and Dad were rising from their seats at the kitchen table, having been diligently preserving the meal for Spike’s big reveal.
“So, the main course is a mushroom tortellini in an alfredo sauce.” My number one assistant gestured grandly to a large ceramic bowl. “There’s also the mandatory breadsticks with an oil and herb dipping sauce, and a freshly tossed salad.” He swept his arm to include a wooden basket and bowl.
“The real kicker, however, is dessert.” He pointed to a heavenly smelling tray, which sat in an elevated position behind everything else. “Roasted apples made from some of Sweet Apple Acres’ finest.” The smugness of Spike’s grin compounded upon itself as he looked to Mo. “They’ve been drizzled in some changeling honey Lyra gave me and dusted with cinnamon. Like I said earlier, you better not have spoiled your appetite.”
“Why, Spike, I’m touched you thought to include me this time.” Morpheus smiled a little before bowing his head.
“Meh… it’s Hearth’s Warming.” Spike waved a claw noncommittedly. “I decided to cut you a break.” He looked at me. “Will the others be joining us?”
“Others?” I blinked.
“The guards.” Spike waved vaguely off into the distance.
“Oh!” My face scrunched and I ruffled my wings. “Umm…”
“If you set aside some plates, Hera will discreetly remove her share and take Bulwark his.” Mo came to my rescue. “She’s making it a matter of pride to stay unseen until the trip home if possible.”
“Changeling… honey….” Shining was staring at the apples with a haunted look.
“What?” I shot him a look. “You’ve seen my reports. Did you think I was joking?” I frowned. “Science is serious business, Shining.”
“Yeah, but—” Shining mouthed wordlessly. “Changeling honey?”
“It’s actually really good.” I licked my lips. “I think you actually had it before, too. Didn’t Lyra and Bon Bon give you a bunch of sweets as a wedding gift?”
Shining grumbled something unintelligible.
“Come on, Shiny.” Cadance put a hoof on my brother’s withers. “You remember those honey drops, don’t you? We both thought they were good.”
“I know… I know….” Shining shook his head. “Well, let’s all get to it!”
Everypony grabbed a plate and began to load it with pasta. As we transitioned into the dining room, Spike made two extra plates and left them on the counter before carrying the basket of breadsticks and bowl of salad into the dining room.
I squirmed a bit as I passed the extra plates to join the rest of the family and sit next to Mo.
“You alright?” A breeze tickled my ear, causing it to flick as his voice filled it.
“Not exactly….” I ruffled my wings as I whispered back. “It’s just…” I trailed off, taking a bite of the pasta and humming in appreciation of the flavor.
“Excellent as always, Spike.” I smiled, eyes shifting to the kitchen and the unclaimed plates for just a moment.
“Ah, having second thoughts, are we?” Another breeze hit my ears, and Morpheus took a bite of his food and thrummed.
“My compliments to the chefs.” He flashed a grin at Spike and my parents.
“Oh, we’re just the helpers at this point.” Mom smiled and waved a hoof. “Spike surpassed Night and I long, long ago.”
It took awhile for the next breeze to come as Mo made a show of dipping a breadstick in oil and herbs before nibbling on it. “Letting Hera and Bulwark in wouldn’t help much, you know…. They still have their duties. They can’t relax and stand down just because you order them to. All you would accomplish is ruining the mood for the others.”
“I know….” I whispered back. “It’s why I didn’t want them here in the first place. Now they’re stuck out in the cold….”
“Hera won’t mind. Trust me. Her duty is her life.” The breeze that responded was almost instant. “And Bulwark’s loyalty may belong to Celestia before you, but I could taste the steel of his resolve. He won’t let a little cold bother him when his princess ordered that he follow your commands and watch over you.”
There was a pause as he waited, but I didn’t respond.
“If you’re really worried—” He took a bite of salad and the breeze cut off for a moment as the loud crunch of lettuce filled my ears. “If you’re really worried, look no farther than the kitchen. Hera already snuck in and out: no orders needed.”
My ears perked a little, and I snuck a little glance at the kitchen again. The plates were indeed gone, and I smiled a little at the sight, digging into my food with a little more gusto.
“Thanks.”
“Why so quiet, Twily?” Shining broke away from his conversation with Spike to look at me. “You trying not to break into tears of joy again?” He smirked.
“One time…” I muttered. “I do that one time…. And no, I’m mostly just thinking.”
“What about?” He tilted his head.
“Nothing you need to worry about.” I shook mine. “Princess stuff.”
“Princess stuff?” He arched his brow. “Want to elaborate on that?”
“Not really.” I took another bite of pasta. “It’s Hearth’s Warming. I should be focusing on being here with you guys.”
“You sure?” The brow arched higher and now Spike was looking on as well.
“I’m sure.” I levitated another breadstick from the basket. “What were you two talking about?”
“Comics,” Mo supplied before they could press me further. “There was also quite a bit about Ogres and Oubliettes.”
Shining and Spike squinted, looking between the two of us.
“Yeah…” Shining was the first to speak up. “We were swapping our newest O&O stories. Spike was just telling me you stomped another of his bosses.”
“Oh, you mean the lich he had been building up for like three months?” I giggled. “Yeah, he gave me way too much prep time. By the time we actually found his hideout, I had like seven different plans for beating the snot out of him.”
“She just waltzed in, wrote ‘I prepared explosive runes today,’ all over his phylactery and stole his entire library!” Spike threw up his arms in exasperation. “When the guy saw his books were gone, he teleported to his phylactery to check on it and blew both it and himself up!”
“Well, you did make it easy with all the mindless undead and constructs.” I tittered. “I barely even needed invisibility, just some minor illusions and hide-from-undead.”
“What about the traps?” Shining looked to Spike.
“She kept triggering them from afar by tossing pebbles ahead of her or using her bag of tricks,” Spike pouted.
“Oof….” Shining winced. “What about an alarm spell to alert the Lich that somepony was doing something to his phylactery?”
“I was an idiot and only placed one on the door…” Spike groaned. “She just went around it by passwalling through the side wall to avoid any obvious traps.”
I couldn’t help but laugh at the memory. “We all make mistakes, Spike. Besides, you got me back pretty good with the explosive runes he had hidden in those books.”
Shining sniggered while Spike smiled weakly. “Yeah, I did. And as annoying as all your prep can be, at least you don’t min-max your character like someling.” He glared at Mo.
“What?” My coltfriend blinked. “Ve simply prefer ensuring the party’s chances of success are as high as possible.”
“Hmph!” Spike snorted – little puffs of smoke rising from his nostrils.
“Oh, give him a break Spike.” I giggled. “He sticks in character the entire time. I can think of plenty of situations he’s avoided using his diplomancy right away because he thought the bad guys needed some good ol’ flank-kicking justice. Can you really blame him for wanting to make friends with all the villains we beat up, though?”
“I guess not,” Spike grumbled. “It just bugs me that he doesn’t even need to roll.”
“I don’t need to roll rules as written.” Morpheus droned in deadpan. “I can distinctly recall several failed attempts and a few cases of relapsing, mister almighty Game Master.”
“It’s the principal of the thing!” Spike crossed his arms and looked away, viciously biting into a breadstick. “Mrgmff….” A few crumbs trailed from his mouth. “I shouldn’t have to take as many liberties as I have to to deal with it!”
“All rules exist to be broken when the correct set of circumstances arise,” my coltfriend thrummed.
“Shush, you.” I lightly thwapped him with my wing. “Don’t antagonize Spike if you want any seconds from earlier.”
“Shutting up, now.” He flicked his wings, casting his eyes from side to side and squirming.
“Wow….” Shining Armor blinked. “Just like that.”
“Just like that.” I grinned, nodding.
“You really have him whipped.” Shining squinted at me. “You sure you two aren’t experimenting?”
“Shining!” I blushed hard, heat creeping up my neck. “I already said we weren’t.”
He shrugged, frowning. “You could always be lying, and it’s my job as your big brother to check. I know you well enough to know you’d be really embarrassed about trying out some of the stuff Cady and I do, so—”
“We. Did. Not. Lie.”
The harsh buzz of the Chitri word silenced all discussion at the table as everypony looked between my coltfriend and Shining. Cadance quickly covered Flurry’s eyes and ears as she saw all the signs of trouble, while my parents and Spike looked on worriedly.
Mo took a deep shuddering breath: his echo a fractured dissonant thing.
“We would never lie about that, and it baffles us that the subject needs to be broached so many times. Your approval means a lot to her and, through her, me. Do you know how important it is to me – to us – that I not mess this up? She’s the reason I learned to love. Of course I’m trying to take things slow with her. I may barely know what I’m doing, but I resent that you think me stupid enough to squander everything by barreling blindly forward.”
He turned and trotted to the door. “Now, if you’ll please excuse me, ve’d rather I leave before I do something I’ll regret.” With a snort, he filed out of the room, and I glared at my brother.
“Do you have any idea what you just did?” I turned the full brunt of Celestia’s Mother Equis voice on him.
“I— I—” Shining bit his lip. “I used the L-word, didn’t I?”
“Yes. Yes, you did.” I scowled, trying to ignore everypony else’s staring. “Do you know what that even means to changelings?”
“Apparently not.” Shining stared off towards where Mo had walked off. “I mean, I knew it was insult, but I didn’t think—“ His ears wilted. “I’m sorry. It just slipped out. If I’d known he’d react like that…”
“We’ve both been so on edge worrying whether this trip would go well,” I sighed. “The last thing he needed was hearing you call him a liar. You might not have heard it, but he was pretty close to tears there. He just hid it under all the anger.”
“Mommy? What’s happening? What’s everypony saying?” Flurry wriggled in Cadance’s grip, bumping the table and almost knocking her plate off of it.
“I didn’t mean it like that!” A bit of fire came back to Shining.
“I know…. He probably knows it too, under all the stress.” I sagged momentarily. “I spent too much time worrying about my own issues, and not enough time addressing his.”
“Well, I’m going to fix that right now.” I frowned, standing tall again. “If anypony needs me, I’ll be taking Mo to my room to calm him down in private.” I moved towards where Mo had gone, before turning and giving everpony a level stare. “And if you don’t want to spend time as a potted plant, then you’ll make sure you knock before coming in.”
