The afternoon as always, was peaceful in Ponyville. Celestia’s sun has just begun to set, painting the sky a vibrant shade of orange, the walls of the houses glimmered like gold from its rays. The town glowed humbly from afar.
The heat was now gone. It was replaced by a soft, chilly breeze. A sign further indicating that night was approaching. It will only be a matter of time before Luna’s moon would rise. One household however, was not too fond of it. Well, at least not today.
“Come on, eat your veggies.” Mondegreen reminded her son, Evergreen who was furiously devouring his boneless pork riblet, dark teal hair swaying left and right as he did so, not minding the chopped vegetables paired with it. Heck he hadn’t even laid a single hoof on the mashed potatoes.
“Just because you’re part wolf doesn’t mean you’re exempted from eating vegetables.” She added. Both her hooves were holding a cup of coffee. Its fur of yellowish green shade jittered slightly, she’s now on her third cup.
“But I don’t wanna!” Evergreen complained. His mouth was wide open for a split second when Mondegreen playfully placed a piece of asparagus inside it before it went completely shut.
Upon tasting the dreaded green on his mouth, the young colt snarled at his mother, his green fur stood like spikes at the back of his head.
Mondegreen was concerned in her son’s behaviour, he acts more like a feral wolf than a pony. Was his father like this when he was young? Does this only happen in males? His sister hadn’t gone through this phase, will this go away eventually? Those were the questions that she’s been meaning to ask her husband, if it weren’t for the fact that she keeps on forgetting them!
“Oh hush with the protests.” She said, dismissing her son’s threat like it was nothing, which it is. “You may be in power now, but remember who’s in charge tomorrow.”
Mondegreen got up from her seat and trotted towards the fridge.
It was their time of the month again. Full moon transformations are tough, to her and her family. Before Luna’s moon has risen, they must already be deep in the woods to bind themselves around the trees in order to avoid causing trouble to the local populace.
She opened the fridge and pulled out a large pitcher filled with orange juice, its contents swished slightly upon swinging her hoof. She stared at the small mirror resting on top of the fridge, focusing on her long red locks.
Strands of hair were standing here, there and everywhere, giving her mane an unkempt look. She doesn’t know the reason why, but they always do that when she’s high on caffeine.
Before trotting back to the dining table, she raised her head a bit to the ceiling to call out the idling pony upstairs.
“Dusty dear come on down and join your brother for dinner!”
“Coming!” Came the reply, quickly followed by soft hoofsteps heading towards the stairs.
“Hurry up! It’s already six!” Mondegreen called out once more to hasten the pace.
“It’s still five thirty-two!” Dusty replied, shouting back.
“It is in mom time!”
Dusty combed her dark teal mane as she slowly trotted down the stairs. Her slow pace despite the already tight schedule made her mother’s left eye twitch in annoyance, what annoyed her even more is the clothing that covered her torso.
She’s wearing her favourite pink turtleneck sweater, its fuzzy fabric clinging close to her gray fur. Haven’t she forgotten that it’s a bad idea to wear clothing especially your favourite ones during transformation night? She was supposed to be the smart one in this family, and the sassy one as well.
“Dear Celestia, take that off! That’s your favourite sweater you’re wearing! You don’t want them to get ripped to shreds when you transform later do you?”
Dusty rubbed a hoof against her foreleg. “But it’s chilly outside! I don’t want to get cold.”
“What do you mean you’ll get cold? Your fur will get bushy later!” Mondegreen reminded her daughter. “You don’t have to worry about the cold soon after! Now take that off and go have dinner.”
Dusty ignored her mother’s scolding and proceeded to trot towards the dining table with the sweater still on, although she had to wonder if her rhyming was intentional or not. She’d bet a good bit that it’s the former.
Mondegreen was not having any of this. Dusty might be entering her rebellious years but she should be reminded on who’s the pony in charge in this house. And this pony only had good intentions for her children.
As Dusty passed by her, she quickly snagged the sweater off of her. It took a moment for things to register on Dusty’s mind. It was like a blur. For a second there, she had her sweater on, and then in a blink of an eye, the sweater was now on her mother’s hoof.
“Hey!” Dusty cried out as she attempted to grab her turtleneck. Using her advantage in height, Mondegreen held the sweater out of Dusty’s reach.
“You’ll get it later-er.” Mondegreen assured her.
She then placed the pitcher on top of the table. Trotting towards the sink, she opened the drawer at the side and took two glasses. She placed the glasses beside the children’s plates and filled them up with juice.
“Here, drink these.” She said to the two. Dusty has now begun to eat her meal, slowly. With both his hooves, Evergreen pushed his plate a couple inches away from him, vegetables and sides still untouched.
“You guys needed to stay hydrated. You do know that transforming can be very taxing and will leave you exhausted in the morning. And I want to see the bottom of this pitcher before you leave the house, understand?”
Mondegreen’s last line got a whine out from the two fillies.
“Oh come on!” Dusty protested, staring at her mother hoping that she would change her mind.
“I hate water.” Evergreen grumbled.
“A point to ponder children.” Mondegreen began. “It doesn’t move fast, regret comes in last.”
Dusty had to stop eating just to cringe at one of her mother’s rhymes
“Please stop with the rhyming.”She pleaded.
Mondegreen tilted her head, both hooves holding the now cold cup of coffee.
“What?” She asked, oblivious to the effect it brought to the children’s ears. “It’s educational.”
She took a sip from her cup, not minding that it’s no longer hot. She then placed the cup back on the table and grabbed the chain that was on the chair beside her, its thick links clinked as she placed it on top of the table.
The chain was long, about a meter or two in length. Its purpose was to bind the werewolf around a tree, and strong enough to keep the beast immobile until daybreak. Unlike the other two the children were using, this one had a combination lock instead of a normal one. And Mondegreen was fiddling with this thing for quite a while now in an attempt to unlock it.
“What’s up with dad’s lock?” Dusty asked, still far from being halfway through with her food. “Is it broken or something?”
“I’m opening his lock now so that he won’t trouble himself with opening it later.” Mondegreen replied, eyes still focused on the lock.
“Why is dad’s chain a combination lock instead of the normal lock and key anyway?”
“Well...”
Mondegreen went silent for a bit as she entered another set of numbers into the lock, hoping that this one would unlock it.
It didn’t.
“You do know that your father is no unicorn right? And yet he always makes his keys disappear as if by magic. So put those two things together and you got your answer.”
There goes another rhyme. Dusty thought. She looked at the lock and then at her mother who was now getting frustrated in each passing second. “Having trouble with the combination?” She asked, stating the obvious.
“A bit, yeah. I’ve almost spent an entire hour and already gone through with dozens of potential combinations that would get this thing to open including your father’s personal record of how much hotdogs he can eat in one sitting.”
Dusty’s ears perked up. “Ooh, how much?” She asked, getting curious of something trivial about her dad.
“Zero-zero-one-zero, then he would throw up afterwards.” Mondegreen’s reply earned a giggle from the two fillies. She’s not giggling though, only this small infernal contraption clicking open can make her giggle. Heck, she would laugh maniacally if she could get this thing to open up.
After the latest numerical batch failed to unlock said lock, she gave up and took a break. “It’s my fault for forgetting this month’s combination.” She let out a deep sigh before continuing. “All I know is that the combination sounds familiar.”
“You know, forgetfulness is a healthy sign of aging.”
Mondegreen’s muzzle scrunched up. Where’d that come from? She thought, and furthermore...
“How is that healthy?”
“How about this? Dusty said, having something devious in mind. “For the price of one sweater, I will help you crack dad’s combination lock.”
Mondegreen stared at her mischievous daughter blankly and gave out a wooden laugh.
“Nice try, but help me anyway.”
Dusty gave her uncompromising mother a scowl. Mondegreen pretended not to see it and leaned her head at the back of her chair to look at the ceiling.
“Is it both our ages combined?” She said to herself. “Four-two-four-four? Is it too predictable?”
Dusty’s ears perked up once more. Her frown instantly replaced with a surprised smile. “Wait, you’re already forty two years old?”
Mondegreen blushed. She looked away from her daughter’s direction. An awkward smile crept on her face. “Uhh...yeah.”
“Wait.” Dusty said, her eyes narrowing. “I heard a pause. Is it the other way around? So you’re forty-four now?”
Mondegreen went back to a normal sitting position. She held her cup with both hooves and looked at its contents. “It’s a secret.” She said, taking a sip.
“I just wanted to tell you that you look good despite your age.”
Mondegreen placed the cup back on the table and looked at her daughter. Aware of her intentions, she gave Dusty a smug grin.
“Flattery won’t bring your sweater back young lady. It’s for the best anyway. What’s more troubling is that you forgot our ages! You should start remembering your father’s age, but you can just forget mine.”
Dusty nodded mindlessly at her mother’s word and continued with her meal. She was chewing her last scoop of mashed potatoes when an idea struck her. She gestured to the lock with her head, swallowing the food before talking.
“How about you try putting our ages there, it just might work.”
Mondegreen was a bit sceptical about her daughter’s suggestion. “I ‘m pretty certain that it wouldn’t. Your father always aims to be unpredictable when it comes to things like this. Plus, it doesn’t sound familiar.”
“Who is he protecting his lock from anyway?”
Mondegreen scratched her mane. When she saw that more and more red strands stood up with every stroke of her hoof, she ceased her scratching.
“I don’t know.” She confessed. “Burglars I guess? Thieves? A concerned wife that just wants to make things a tad easier?”
Dusty was nibbling on an asparagus when another idea for a combination came up in her mind.
“How about the date of your marriage? If you separate the date into two groups, you can create two sets of numbers that can also be inputted in the lock. One will be the year while the other set will be the month and day. That’s gotta be unpredictable, right?
“Hmm, that’s a good idea.” Mondegreen replied, impressed with her daughter’s suggestion. She began to enter the numbers to the lock, first was the date of the year. “I wouldn’t have considered using those because they’d be too long to inpu-.”
The lock didn’t open. Mondegreen’s ears flattened. “Yeah, nope. The year didn’t check in...” She then entered the month and the day. But just like the year, the lock refused the combination. “And so does the month and day.” She sighed.
“Dang it!”
Dusty slammed a hoof on the table, the food in her plate bounced for a bit then landed back safely. The glass of juice however, left tiny stains on the table’s fabric after its brief splash.
“I thought I had that one.” She said while rubbing her chin, deep in thought once more. Another came to her mind as quickly as the other one.
“Oh!” She exclaimed, causing her younger brother to cover his ears in surprise. “He reads the newspaper everyday right?” She asked her mom. Mondegreen nodded while raising an eyebrow, wondering where this is going.
“Maybe he used his lucky numbers from the horoscope as the combination!” She gave her mother a look that screamed, ‘what do you think?’ then continued to chow down on her meal.
“That would be good if he was reading those. But unfortunately, he doesn’t. But I do know that he knows Luna’s favourite numbers.” This gave her an idea. Why not use those? She thought. Who knows, maybe it will be the set that will finally crack open this lock.
Dusty looked up from her plate. ”That’s a weird transition.” She tilted her head, slightly confused. “And him knowing the Princess Luna’s favourite numbers? Double weird. Why’s that though.”
“It’s a long story.” Mondegreen entered the final number, but the result was the same with the others. “Dang it.” She said as she put the lock down.
“So what’s the Princess’s favourite numbers?” She gave her frustrated mother an expectant look. Boy, is she learning a lot of trivial things today or what?
“One, nine, and seventeen.”
Dusty hummed in acknowledgement.
Mondegreen looked at the kitchen clock. It was almost six. They were supposed to leave the house at six. Her husband should be home be anytime, and she haven’t made any progress at all.
“You know what?” She picked the lock up again, entering another set of numbers, the ones she has passed before. “I’m getting desperate so I’ll just put your ages here...zero-eight-one-zero.”
The result was what she expected, still nothing.
“Yeah, no.” Mondegreen said, dropping the lock on the table.
“Umm...our ages are now nine and eleven.” Dusty corrected her mother. Then her ears perked up in amusement, a large smile emerged on her face.
“I can’t believe it!” She cried out, pointing a hoof at her mother. “You forgot our ages too!” She giggled. “Hypocrisy, my name is Mondegreen.”
“Hey, hey, hey, hey. Always address me as Mom.” Mondegreen jokingly scolded her daughter. “Or Momgreen, because it sounds catchy. Besides, you’re the one who said that I’m getting old, so I have a pretty good reason. What about you? Does that young mind of yours have any excuse? Hmm?”
“Geez mom, what made you so chatty?”
Mondegreen leaned back and fiddled with the lock again. “It’s the coffee, I’m on my third cup right now.” She entered the numbers on the small lock, expecting the same results.
“Hey!” Evergreen suddenly cried out. “How come you can have coffee at night and I can’t?” He then puffed his cheeks and crossed his forelegs in anger, feeling betrayed.
“Because I’m doing homework right now.” Mondegreen explained. “You can have coffee too if you do your homework.”
“No thanks.” The young colt quickly replied. But then, a sudden realization struck him.
“Wait, you’re a mom! You don’t have homework!”
Mondegreen smiled gently at her son and patted his head, slowly stroking his dark teal locks. Evergreen leaned in closer to his mother’s hoof, enjoying the sensation of the hoof as it caresses the good parts behind his ears.
“You are my homework sweetie.”
Mondegreen lamely inputted the last digit on the lock. The result was going to be the same anyway, so what’s the point? She’ll just have to ask him to unlock it for her later. Such wasted effort.
Click.
Mondegreen’s ears stood straight, and so did Dusty’s. In a split of a second, the young mare got out of her seat and stood beside her mother who stayed still, dumbfounded.
“Holy Celestia!” Mondegreen cried out in joyful surprise. “It is your names! Uh-I mean, your ages.”
“I’m home!” The familiar voice came out from the living room, along with the creaking sound of the swinging door. Exhausted from work, Luminous slowly trotted inside the house and placed his suitcase on the living room table.
“Dad!” Both of the fillies called out as they dashed towards the living room. They both hugged their father, hooves clinging tightly to his black suit. He giggled at their gesture and scratched their heads with his grey hoof as they looked at him with excited faces.
“Hey kiddos! Ready for tonight?” He asked.
“Uhuh!” The siblings replied in unison.
“Great! Because we’re going to-” Luminous paused as he spotted his wife approaching him in worrying speeds.
“Hey Honey!” He greeted the weary mare and then proceeded to kiss her in the cheeks, she did the same with his. He noticed her dishevelled mane. Is she already on her third cup? He thought to himself, they usually look like that during transformation nights when she dosed up on caffeine to keep herself awake and alert throughout the night in case some lycan related problems arise within the neighbourhood, for quick responses and all that.
“Quick, remove all your clothes and put them on the sofa.” She ordered him.
“Ooh...kinky.” Luminous replied in a sultry tone, a small grin forming on his face.
Mondegreen shot her husband an annoyed glare, but he had already turned around towards the sofa to see it. Luminous took off all his clothing and put them on top of the cushions. He started to fold his jacket first but Mondegreen stopped him.
“Don’t worry about the folding.” She said as she took his clothes away from him. “It’s getting late, you have to go to Whitetail Woods now!”
She rushed to their bedrooms and tossed the clothes in the laundry basket. When she got back to the living room, she was carrying a saddlebag filled with supplies that the lycan family will need for the night, the bag made small clinking sounds with each step she took. She placed the bag on Luminous’s back and helped him fasten the straps around his body.
“I’ve already put all your locks in the saddlebag along with a couple bottles of water and a first aid kit.” Mondegreen poked a hoof gently at her husband. “Yours took forever to unlock.”
Confused, Luminous looked at Dusty.
“Forever?” He asked her.
“An hour tops.” The little filly replied, shrugging.
Luminous looked back at Mondegreen. “It’s alright honey. We’re not using the chains tonight, we’re going to Everfree.” He looked down to the children, smiling. The two fillies’ eyes lit up upon hearing his words.
“Yay! Free roaming!” They both exclaimed while giving each other a high hoof.
“And did I forget to tell you that you can just input four-zero-zero-zero on the lock to reset it back to its factory setting?” He added.
Mondegreen stood still, eyes twitching, donning a face that looked like it’s between a smile and a frown. For a short while, she just stood there, staring at her family with that blank look on her face. She then spied the single pillow that was resting on the sofa. She will use it later, after they leave the house.
She has some frustrated screaming to do.
Before speaking, Mondegreen cleared her throat. “So, Everfree huh?”
She opened the saddlebag on Luminous’s back to pull the three chains out of the small pack and placed them on the table along with the suitcase.
“Just stay away from Fluttershy’s cottage okay?” She warned them. “We don’t want another incident now do we? The poor dear, you almost gave her a heart attack!”
“Almost?” Luminous retorted, grinning. Mondegreen scowled at him while the children snickered.
“I’ll wait for you at the extraction point at exactly six o’clock tomorrow.” Mondegreen said. “And please don’t be late. You still have to go to school after all.”
The fillies gave a disgusted look upon hearing their mother’s words. Evergreen took his protest up a notch by growling at her. Luminous had to scratch the back of his mane just to keep him calm.
“It’s still Wednesday tomorrow and Wednesday’s a school day!” Mondegreen added.
Terrified, the two fillies looked up at their dad with ears flat and gave him the best puppy dog eyes they could muster in hopes to avert their terrible fate tomorrow. Despite their ‘genuine’ sounding whimpers, Luminous could only give them a gentle pat on the shoulder.
“Listen to your mom kids.” He said to them.
Mondegreen was now looking at her husband. “And that goes for you too mister, you’re working tomorrow as well.”
It was now Luminous’s turn to whimper as well. He sat on the floor in a doglike manner and looked at Mondegreen with the best puppy dog eyes he could muster too. The two children joined in and pointed their sad puppy looks at their mother, who was this close to letting her lycan family take the day off tomorrow.
Mondegreen looked away while closing her eyes to avoid the bombardment of cuteness in front of her. She sat on the floor in the same way as her husband’s. She raised both her forelegs halfway upwards, and thought of a compromise.
“Alright, alright. How about this instead? When you get home, I’ll cook each of you guys your favourite meal. How’s that sound?” She offered.
The lycans turned their looks back to normal and looked at each other, muttering in agreement. They then looked back at Mondegreen and nodded simultaneously.
Now that they had an agreement, Mondegreen clapped both of her hooves. “Good. Okay then.” She then opened the door and gestured her family to go outside. “It’s getting late, off you go!”
“Bye mom!” The two fillies said as they exited the house, chattering excitedly about the things they’re going to do tonight. Luminous kissed Mondegreen on the cheek before he trotted slowly, tailing both the fillies who were now chasing each other under the darkness of the cloudy night sky.
“And avoid contact with timberwolves!” Mondegreen called out in reminder. “I’m looking at you Evergreen! You don’t want to be covered in splinters like last time, do you!?”
“Okay!” The young colt cried back.
“And Dusty! No more bunnies!”
“Okay!”
“And no more chickens!”
“Okay!”
“And no more bea-”
“Okay I get it!” Dusty interrupted her mother with an angry shout.
Mondegreen took her mug and brought it to the coffee pot. Realizing that it’s empty, she let out a deep sigh.
“Time to make another batch.”