//------------------------------// // A Morning Routine // Story: In the Hands of a Hidden Caretaker // by Skipjumper //------------------------------// Duke was running. He wasn’t sure where he was, but it looked like somewhere in the Amazon rainforest. He looked behind him to see a giant purple banana chasing him. “Resistance is futile! You will accept the way of the BANANA SPLIT!!!!” the banana titan screamed as it started to throw various flavors of ice cream at Duke. “I always hated eating that dessert!” Duke yelled back at him, right before running straight into a tree. Duke woke up to the smell of something he wasn’t expecting. Breakfast. Like something straight out of one of those old brunch diners. “Guess this isn’t a dream.” Thought duke. “can’t really sleep in a dream, that’d just be redundant.” Grumble “Guess I should go see what Tempora's cooking.” Thought Duke as he got out of bed. “Tempora?” Duke called out as he exited his room. “In here,” Tempora Responded from her room. As Duke entered the room the scent of breakfast became much stronger. Tempora’s room looked how it smelled, like a diner. Complete with a single glass pane window, records on the walls, a sink and griddle, and even a jukebox to boot! The only thing that made it a bedroom was the bed behind the countertop. “Morning sleepy head!” the blue mare cheerfully greeted. “Morning Tempora.” Replied Duke with a yawn. “Aw, dropping my nickname so soon?” asked Tempora with an exaggerated frown and puppy-dog eyes. Duke shook his head a little at the unicorn’s antics, “Isn’t pouting a bit childish?” “What’s the point of being an adult if you can’t be childish sometimes?” Duke shrugged. “I don’t know how to argue with that. So, what…” Whaaa!!! “Didn’t this happen yesterday?” Duke thought to himself. “Whoops! Looks like the girls are awake. Could you get the highchairs out of the closet, while I get the foals?” “What about the food?” asked Duke pointing at the meals on the stove, most of which were meatless. “Oh, it’ll be fine, I’ll only be a minute.” Duke looked around for a minute as he searched for a closet door. The only doors he found other then the one that led to the hallway were two that should have led to his room. “Welp has to be one of them. What could go wrong?” Duke asked sarcastically. Tempora walked into the nursery to find the six foals starting to wake. “Hey, there girls! Ready to meet my new friend?” Five of the foals let a little happy squeal as Tempora lift them out of their cribs. Tempora noticed that the sixth was still sleeping quietly as she lifted the foal out of her crib. The little foal dreamed that she was following a thin little thing fluttering through the air. The wind flowed through her pink mane as she trotted after the fluttery thing. “Wait come back!” she thought. “Havin?” the fluttery thing asked as it stopped and turned around. The foal slowed down in front of it. “Havin, Sweetie it’s time to wake up!” The foal drowsily opened her eyes to see she was laying on the back of her mommy. “Good morning sweetie have a good nap?” Havin nodded. She was happy she and her sisters lived with mommy. Before that, all she could remember was screaming, and that scared her. But now everything was ok, they weren’t there anymore. “Fwoomp” “Clank Clang Clonk” Hearing this Havin tried to hide in her mommy’s fur. “Oh dear, what was that?” thought Tempora as she rushed out of the nursery, as the foals followed her. When she walked into her room she found Duke on his back with several sticks wrapped in fabric in a multitude of different colors laying on top of her guest. “What happened to you?” Tempora asked. Duke looked up at her. “How is it that you don’t know what cars are, but you have a room full of umbrellas!?” “Ok two things, I don’t know what an umbrella is, and thank you for opening that door.” “Why are you thanking me for opening the door?” “Because every door in this castle has something different in it, and I didn’t know what that one had behind it.” “But it’s in your room. Why didn’t you open it?” Duke asked as he got up. “Because this castle has thrown some weird stuff at me and when the foals came I decided to take a break from exploring.” “So that’s what you did with your time? Exploring the castle?” “More or less,” Tempora admitted as she went behind the counter. “You’d be surprised how big the place is, it’s like it goes on forever!” “Maybe we could go explore it some time,” Duke Suggested. Tempora raised an eyebrow and smirked. “Arthur Duke Winters. are you asking me on a date?” Duke let out a snort. “You wish! I've only known you for less than a day, Tempy.” Tempora stuck out her tongue than giggled. “I knew you weren’t going to drop the nickname!” Duke rolled his eyes as he walked over to take a seat at the counter. He noticed that his left leg had gotten heavier. He looked down to see Chaya hugging his leg giggling, while the four other foals stood around his feet looking up at him. “Um, hi?” Duke said to the foals, waving his hand uncertainly. “Hamds!” said Chaya eagerly. The foals looked at Chaya, then back up at Duke, then at each other. “Wa!” they all exclaimed eagerly as they all jumped on top of duke toppling him to the ground. “Aw! Isn’t that cute!” exclaimed Tempora watching the foals greet the newcomer as she flipped a flapjack. “Help!” pleaded Duke from underneath the cuddle pile. “And take away the foals’ chance at making a new friend?” Tempora put her hoof to her chin in thought, “Nah!” she said with a grin. “Well, at least give me their names!” “Oh goodness, where are my manners!” Tempora said in a posh accent. “The violet one with the indigo mane’s is named Alena, the orange one with the golden mane is named Theresa, the white one with the purple mane is named Phaedra, the cyan one with the rainbow mane is named Norah, the yellow one with the pink mane ridding on my back is named Havin, and you already know Chaya.” Tempora elaborated. “Ok, ok wait, don’t nuzzle my arm I’m tickleihihihihish!” Duke pleaded with the foals nuzzling just about everywhere. Half an hour later After the pile of cuteness, the group had a rather rumbustious breakfast, leaving most of the foals with syrup, bits of pancake, waffles, and French toast in their fur and manes. This resulted in a trip to a rather English-looking bathroom, complete with a bubble bath, another thing that Tempora was new to, and something the foals enjoyed greatly. “Why did you eat half of your breakfast and then try to use the rest of it as clothing?” Duke asked the white foal as he dried her off, whipping his hair to the side to get it out of his eyes. Phaedra just giggled at the human’s wet hair, which resembled a used mop. “Oh, you think this is funny?” Duke asked as he flicked his hair the other way, while he reached for a hairbrush. Phaedra just giggled some more as Duke started to brush her mane. “Hey, Tempora?” the mare looked over to Duke as she dried the rest of the foals with her magic and some towels. “Does this sort of thing happen a lot around here?” Duke asked. “Oh, no much…” Tempora said as she sheepishly looked away from him. “like once a month-ish?” “This happens every morning doesn’t it?” Duke asked with a deadpan expression. Tempora sighed, “Am I that easy to read?” “Almost.” Replied Duke. “I thought you were a pancake type of person, ere, pony, then you go and surprise me with you having French toast for breakfast! You're sneaky sometimes, you know that?” Tempora smirked, “Well you’re a bit sneaky too! Here I thought you were waffle pony, um, person, and you eat pancakes! I’ve never even made pancakes before!” “Waffa?” asked Chaya. Everyone in the room looked at her. Then Norah deiced to try. “Waffa…” Five minutes later the room was filled with the sounds of foals trying to speak. Tempora just looked shocked as Duke just grinned. “Well, they’re mimicking you now!” Duke noticed Havin shivering on her towel covering her ears. “Hey, hey! Kids quiet down.” Duke gently scolded as he put a finger to his mouth. It took a few minutes for the foals to quiet down, but the room did get quieter. Duke scooted over to Havin and scooped her up in his arms. “Hey, you ok?” Duke softly asked. Havin looked up at Duke a couple of tears forming in her eyes as she opened her mouth. “hehhhh hahhhh hehhh,” Havin tried speaking, but Duke noticed her voice sounded unnaturally strained. Duke looked at Tempora. the look of concern on her face was obvious. “Shh, if it hurts don’t try to talk, I don’t want you hurting yourself ok?” Duke spoke quietly. Havin buried her head in Duke’s chest and started to cry as Duke got up and moved into the nursery. Duke sat down by one of the cribs as he started humming a lullaby he couldn’t remember the words to. Havin quieted down after a few minutes but as Duke started to move her into her crib, Havin’s horn lit up and Duke saw a teal aura around his arms as they pulled Havin in close. Duke chuckled a little as he sat back down. Then Tempora entered the room with the other foals in her magical grasp quietly sleeping. “The foals seem to like you, especially Havin. It took about a month for her to even trust me, let alone get that close to her.” Tempora spoke quietly so she didn’t wake the foals. “You’re really good with children.” “Something I never found out I guess, I was an only child, and I never really had a girlfriend. The thought of having kids never really crossed my mind, let alone if I would be any good at it.” “Maybe that’s your special talent.” Suggested Tempora as she put the foals in their cribs for a nap. “Huh?” “Well you see, when a pony is around their teen years, they usually try and find their place in the world. When they do, a picture appears on their flank representing said talent, we call them ‘cutie marks’. So, I thought maybe your talent has to do with children.” “If I may ask where’s your mark?” Duke asked looking at Tempora. Tempora snickered and waggled her eyebrows, “Ignoring the fact that you’ve been looking at my flank,” Tempora paused and playful look died in her eyes as she looked down at the floor. “For some reason, I was born with my mark. The front face of a clock. Doctors were astounded, Wizards were baffled, and I have never figured out what it represented. You know what makes it even worse? It disappeared after I was cursed.” Duke looked at his friend in concern. “I’m sorry, these ‘cutie marks’ sound important. To have yours taken away from you…” “It’s fine, really. I’ve gotten over it.” Tempora stated. She looked back up a duke. “You two would make a really cute painting, it’s almost like your father and daughter,” Tempora said with a smile. Duke smiled back. “It would be a lot cuter if it had a mother in it too.” Said Duke, as he motioned her to sit by him. Tempora walked over, sat down, and cuddled up next to Duke, and closed her eyes. They sat like this for a while content, like nothing in the world could stop them from enjoying the moment. “Hey Tempora?” asked Duke. “Hm?” “You think we could look around this castle later? It would be nice to know where the front door is.” Tempora smiled. “It’s a date.”