//------------------------------// // Grandma's Home // Story: Love Tap of Marendelle // by Godslittleprincess //------------------------------// “Wahoo!” exclaimed Princess Little Button as she and her cousin Princess Apple Butter slid down a hill of snow. Little Button was riding a shield that she had snuck out of the castle armory while Apple Butter was riding a serving tray that she had snuck from the kitchen. They had sledded this way many times before when they were younger, but now that they were preteens, they had to scrunch a little so that they could fit on their chosen mounts. The two of them were inside Crown Princess Snow Pea’s bedroom with the rest of their cousins and their friends from Strapgart. Snow Pea was Little Button’s older sister and had used her snow magic to create an entire winter wonderland inside her bedroom. She didn’t really want to, but it was so hot out that day that her sister and cousins practically begged her to. Snow Pea and her friend Quill Scarlet were working on a snowpony together while Quill’s sisters, Barberry and Bubble Gum, were having a snowball fight with the twins Skater and Roller Blade. “Ow!” Roller Blade cried out as a snowball struck him on the face. He glared at his assailant before shouting, “That really hurt! You hid a rock in that one, didn’t you, you big jerk?!” Barberry glared back at him. “We’re inside. Where am I supposed to find a rock?” Skater and Bubble Gum watched the exchange with annoyed expressions. Skater rolled her eyes while Bubble Gum put a hoof to her face. “Gangway!” LB cried as she and Apple Butter made a beeline for the snowpony Quill and Snowy were working on. “Look out!” shouted Quill as he grabbed Snow Pea and pulled her out of the way sending the two of them to the ground as Little Button and Apple Butter crashed through the snowpony and slammed into a wall. “Are you two okay?” said Snow Pea as she and Quill got up and headed to where LB and Apple Butter had crashed. She was answered by Apple Butter getting up and shaking the snow off herself and Little Button spitting out a carrot. Quill turned his head so that he was looking out Snow Pea’s window, and what he saw made his jaw drop. Through the window, he could just barely make out a ship approaching Marendelle. It was a ship that he quickly recognized despite having only seen it once. “Our grandparents are back!” he squealed. Snow Pea turned and looked out the window, a smile growing on her face as she also recognized the ship. “They’re back!” she cried as she ran out the room to tell her parents. Meanwhile, in King Button Mash’s study, the king in question had fallen asleep at his desk while looking over some papers. “Daddy! They’re back!” Snow Pea shouted as she burst into her father’s study. Button woke up with a start. “They’re back!” Button cried as he bolted awake. “Wait. Who’s back?” “Grandma and Grandpa.” “What?!” Button exclaimed as he flipped through his desk calendar. Meanwhile, in the parlor, Button Mash’s wife Queen Sweetie Belle and her sisters Princesses Apple Bloom and Scootaloo were hanging out with their friend Princess Babs Seed of Strapgart. Their respective husbands Princes Pip, Rumble, and Featherweight were also with them. Everyone was laughing and chatting over drinks and pastries when King Button Mash burst into the room with Princess Snow Pea following him. “We need to get ourselves and the castle presentable NOW!” Button cried to everypony’s surprise. “Why? Did our parents get back early?” Featherweight joked. “Yes!” “What?!” Featherweight cried, eyes widening. “Are you sure?” “Snowy and Quill saw the Destiny coming in from her window, and they’re sure it’s the Destiny.” “B-b-but how could they have gotten here so fast?” “Did you have to make the ship go so fast?” Love Tap exclaimed. The ship had just docked at the Marendelle harbor, and Love Tap had practically leapt off the ship and was now crouched against the wood of the dock as if she didn’t want to leave solid ground again. “I wasn’t going that fast,” Scarlet Plume retorted as she got off the ship. “Besides, I thought we were in a hurry to see the kids and the grandkids again.” “We were,” Cinnamon Swirl conceded as he followed the mares before snarking, “but we were definitely not in a hurry to die of a heart attack.” “Aww, come on, we’re not that old,” Punch defended his wife as he wheeled himself down the gangplank. “Besides, we definitely didn’t live through all that just to get a heart attack and die.” A few minutes later, a team of page ponies arrived and bowed before them. “King Button Mash sent us to escort you to the castle and help with your belongings,” the head page announced as he rose. “We must have caught Button really off guard if he and Sweetie Belle aren’t coming to greet us themselves,” Cinnamon observed. “Well, at least this way we can get our stuff to where they need to go,” Love Tap pointed out before addressing the pages. “Thank you for the escort and the assistance. We need some of our bags taken to our manors, and the marked crates are for the museum.” The rest of the pages rose and got to work transporting the luggage and crates except for the bags containing souvenirs that the two couples had gotten for their families, leaving only the head page to escort them to the castle. A while later, Love Tap, Cinnamon, Scarlet, and Punch entered the throne room and were greeted with hugs and cheers from their grandchildren. “Oh, hello, my darling girls!” Love Tap exclaimed as she and her granddaughters exchanged kisses. Punch gave each of his grandchildren a kiss on the top of the head, causing Barberry and Bubble Gum to grimace. Button Mash and Featherweight along with their wives stepped forward to greet and hug their parents. “Mom, Dad,” Button greeted. “We’re all really glad to see you, but we weren’t expecting you until tomorrow at the earliest.” “We might have underestimated how fast the Destiny can go,” replied Cinnamon Swirl. “And how fast Scarlet liked driving it,” Love Tap added wearily causing Scarlet to roll her eyes. “Whoa! Just how fast were you going, Grammy?” exclaimed Bubble Gum. “Fast enough to give a pony a heart attack apparently,” Scarlet scoffed giving Cinnamon a pointed look. “Awesome,” BG gushed. “Well, I must say, Your Majesty. Going on your first adventure has done wonders for your complexion,” remarked Sweetie Belle. “Well, we did spend the last week just relaxing in Haywaii,” Love Tap replied with a laugh. “Was that all you did?” scoffed Barberry. “Spend your first time off the island relaxing in Haywaii?” “Barberry,” Babs scolded her oldest triplet with a sharp glare. “Yeah, Barb, just how lame do you think our grandparents are?” her sister added. “Was that all we did?” Cinnamon Swirl countered. “We got captured by poachers, rescued by our biggest fan, nearly got turned into dust by a giant talking stone head.” “And played the absolute worst game of mini golf in Equestria with possibly the worst mini golf player in all of Equestria,” Punch added. “At least I came up with a way to stop the balrog,” Love Tap retorted defensively. Button blinked and shook his head in confusion. “Wait. Poachers? Dust? Mini golf? Balrog? What? I feel like we’re missing a lot of context here.” “You are,” Scarlet agreed, “and we’ll tell you all about it later, but first, I think the kids are going to want their presents.” “Presents?!” Lil, Barberry, and Bubble Gum cried, their eyes lighting up. Button groaned while Babs put a hoof to her face. Love Tap smiled as she took out a wooden box out of one the bags. The box was covered in intricate markings including a relief of a pony head wearing a headdress. She gave the box to Snow Pea and said, “These are for you to share with your cousins. There’s one extra, so you all will have to decide what to do with it.” Apple Butter and the twins ran up and crowded around Snow Pea and Little Button as Snow Pea opened the box and pulled out six jeweled figurines. She pulled out a sapphire fish, an emerald monkey, a silver snake, an amethyst bird, a ruby cat, and a citrine lizard. Snowy, Lil, and their cousins oohed as they admired the figurines. “Dibs on the monkey!” LB shouted as she grabbed the monkey for herself. “I call the snake!” shouted Roller Blade. “I’m getting the lizard!” his sister exclaimed. “I want the cat,” said Apple Butter. The cousins each took their claimed figurines, leaving the fish and the bird for Snow Pea to choose from. Snow Pea looked from one figurine to the other, trying to decide between them and trying to decide what to do with the extra one. Finally, after much deliberation, Snow Pea took the fish for herself and held the bird out to her grandmother. “You should have one, Grandma,” Snow Pea said, “to remind you of your first adventure.” “Oh, thank you, sweetheart,” said Love Tap as she pulled her oldest granddaughter in for another hug. “What do y’all say?” Apple Bloom reminded the children. “Thank you,” chorused the royal Marendelle children. Barberry and Bubble Gum gave their friends jealous looks, which Punch noticed. “Aw, don’t fret. We haven’t forgotten about you three,” Punch assured his grandchildren as he rummaged through his backpack. His granddaughters smiled at hearing that. The triplets held their hooves out expectantly as their grandfather placed something into each set of hooves. The girls’ faces immediately dropped when they saw just what Punch had given them. “A dented pan?” said Barberry, holding up her gift in disbelief. “A tacky rainbow bird mask?” said Bubble Gum. “Cool!” exclaimed Quill as he held up his gift, oblivious to his sisters’ dissatisfaction. His gift was a coconut with two holes for eyes with a rather menacing face painted on. “You know, other than the creepy face, this little guy looks pretty cute.” “That’s exactly what I thought when I saw it in Haywaii, and I just had to get it for one of you,” Punch replied to Quill. Punch turned to Bubble Gum and continued, “You know, I actually have a picture of your Grammy trying that on. I’ll let you see it once I develop the film.” “Did you make her look ugly?” Bubble Gum asked with a mischievous smile. “If I did, which I didn’t, what makes you think I’d say so with her in the room,” Punch ribbed, getting a laugh out of Bubble Gum. Punch had the biggest smile on his face as he turned to Barberry, “I don’t mean to make your brother and sister jealous, but you got the best present out of all of them. That’s 100% dwarven iron, incredibly sturdy and great for breaking fey curses and shielding yourself from a fiery doom.” “You don’t say,” Barberry muttered. “Thanks, Gramps,” said Quill. For a while, the girls said nothing but just glanced from their gifts to each other. After a while, Bubble Gum decided that as tacky-looking as the mask was, its incredible craftsponyship was undeniable. Besides, if little else, she could always wear it as part of a Nightmare Night costume. “Thank you, Gramps,” she said to her grandfather. Barberry on the other hoof didn’t know what to say. Her grandfather was really proud of the gift he had gotten her, and she didn’t want to hurt his feelings, but she couldn’t help but feel the most disappointed out of all the triplets, especially since Roller Blade kept making an annoying face at her. “Nyah-nyah-nyah-nyah-nyah! My gift is better than yours,” it seemed to say. Barberry’s blood boiled just looking at it. She was mad at Roller for making fun of her, and she was even madder at herself for secretly agreeing with him. However, before she can get too angry, her sister nudged her, getting her attention. Bubble Gum tilted her head towards their grandparents, reminding Barberry thank them for the gifts. “Thanks,” Barberry said flatly. If Punch noticed his granddaughter’s disappointment, he didn’t show it. “Come on, everypony,” said Cinnamon Swirl. “Let’s head to the parlor so we can tell you about our trip over tea.” Everypony headed to the parlor with the children bringing in the rear. “Hey, I’ll trade ya for the snake,” Barberry whispered to Roller Blade. “Tough nuts,” Roller scoffed. He was answered with a dented wok to the gut. “You know what? I take my trade offer back. I think I like my gift after all.” After several rounds of storytelling and tea and cakes, Button left the parlor and returned with a few letters. “I’ve been having the servants collect your mail while you were away,” he explained handing the letters to his parents, Scarlet, and Punch. “Some of them look important.” “Hey,” Punch exclaimed as he opened one of the letters. “This one’s from my friend from the circus.” “The one who gave you your bottomless backpack?” his wife asked. “One and the same,” Punch replied as he read the letter. “Looks like Wheeler has finally decided to retire from trapeze and is moving to Sire’s Hollow. You know, we should pay him a visit soon, especially considering how his present helped saved us from a lot of scrapes in our last adventure.” “I’ll make a note of that,” answered Scarlet. “Check this one out, Love,” Cinnamon noted, holding up a particular letter. “It’s from some guy named Quirk Fog. Says he works for the publishing company that publishes Daring Do’s books and that he wants to meet up with us for an interview.” “What for?” asked Love Tap. “He thinks that our adventure through the Temple of Olmec would make a great kids’ game show and wants our side of the story so that he can better design a game off of it.” “Well, I suppose we’ll have time for an interview. I just hope the poor guy doesn’t end up too disappointed when his game show doesn’t catch on.” “Agreed.” At this point, Little Button decided to climb up her grandmother’s lap and give Love Tap a big hug. “I’m really glad you’re home, Grandma,” LB said. “You know what?” Love Tap began with a smile. “Me too. Going out on a big adventure like the one’s I’ve always read about has been more amazing than my wildest dreams, but at the end of the day, there really is no place like home.” “No, there isn’t,” Cinnamon agreed.