//------------------------------// // A New Normal // Story: In the Hands of a Hidden Caretaker // by Skipjumper //------------------------------// A few days had passed as the newly made family had settled in to the cottage. Duke was in human form looking around in the amber forest a little way from the cottage. “Let’s see… the book says the playground is right over… Here!” Duke said as he looked up from the picture of the treehouse and swing set in the book. The tree house was about an average size, made with the same materials as the cottage, and a big and sturdy spiral staircase leads around the trunk to a good sized deck and the front door both the staircase and the deck enclosed with side rails about as tall as his waist. two orange colored windows were on the left wall and one on the right. The swing set had four seats and a frame made out of the same materials as the cottage. Both were covered in a bit more moss than the ones in the picture, but other than that they looked completely stable. “Ok, maybe just a little bit of clean up and then…” Duke trailed off as he heard something rustle behind him. Duke held in a breath as he laid a hand on the handle of his dagger on his belt, then turned around quickly, only to let out a small sigh of relief as he saw an orange foal, covered in dirt and leaves. “Theresa, what are you doing following me out here? you should be napping. And look at you! You’re filthy!” Theresa just crawled up to him and gave his leg a hug. Duke sighed and knelt down and ruffled Theresa’s mane, “You’re too cute for your own good you know that?” Duke said as he tickled her belly, to which Theresa squirmed out of his reach giggling as ran off and hid in the treehouse. Duke smiled and followed the foal inside. “Hmm… now where did Theresa go, I wonder?” Duke said in a silly tone. Duke could hear the foal giggling from behind him. “She’s so sneaky, I bet she could get in the cottage I would never notice…. I gotcha!” Duke quickly turned around and scooped up the orange foal in his arms, Theresa laughing the whole time. “You need to practice a little bit more before you get one on your dad, you little sunflower.” Duke had come up with nicknames for each of the foals over the past week after the group moved into the cottage. Theresa giggled as Duke put her down. “Now come on kiddo, let’s see what your mom cooked up for lunch,” Duke said as he changed to his pony form and knelt down as Theresa got on his back, a new favorite activity of the foals when they got to go outside the cottage with Duke or Tempora. “Hold on tight Theresa!” Duke said as he galloped off towards the cottage, “High Ho Winters! Away!” “Wheeee!!!!” Theresa hollered as she held tight to one that she had come to see as her dad. Tempora was cooking in the kitchen while the foals were taking a nap. The kitchen was an average size, with a stove, a fridge, and a lot of counter space. there was a window-like hole in the wall that led out to the living room, with a table-like bar set on the bottom of it. a screen door led outside to a side porch. She looked out an open window over the stove to see Duke gallop into the yard with Theresa on his back. “I see you got followed,” Tempora said with a smirk. “Yeah, this little gal followed me all the way to the playgrounds, quite the little adventurer if you ask me,” Duke said as he slowed to a stop in front of the window, while Theresa gave a little wave to her mom, which was returned. “Alright my two adventurers, let’s get you inside and cleaned up for lunch,” Tempora said as she cut up some potatoes. “Fine by me Tempy,” Duke said as he came in through the kitchen’s open screen door, lowering himself so Theresa could get off. “What’s for lunch?” “Some potato salads for us and some applesauce for the foals, it’s not much but we’re running out of veggies, butter, and a few other things as well, ill have to stop by the storeroom to pick those up.” Tempora said as she worked on lunch, “After you get yourselves cleaned up could you wake the foals for lunch?” “Sure,” Duke said as he changed to human form then walked to the bathroom, with Theresa following close behind. The bathroom looked about as normal as you could get. A marble toilet and a matching sink, and a tub next to the wall with a showerhead. some wooden tile covered the floor. Duke walked over to the tub and turned on the water, testing every so often to make sure it was a good bathing temperature. When it was ready Duke added some bubbles to the water then picked up Theresa and slowly put her in the tub. Theresa giggled as she played with the bubbles ending up making herself a beard. Duke smiled at the filly’s antics as he started to softly wash out the dirt and grime from her coat, mane, and tail. A few minutes later duke opened the stop to the tub’s drain and Theresa watched in awe as the water spiraled down into the drain. “Come on Theresa, let's get you dry,” Duke said as he put a towel around her and lifted her out of the tub. A quick rub down later and Theresa was seated at the bar in the wall, while Duke went into the bedrooms to wake the others from their nap. As Duke walked over to the foals’ new bedroom, said foal tumbled out of the door awakened by the smell of food. Duke smiled as he ushered the foals over to the table bar, though he noticed something. “Where’s Phaedra?” He thought. Phaedra was scared. Scared of the voices. They were angry. They wouldn’t stop yelling at her. They had found her again. As she woke up crying she felt two arms wrap around her in a soft embrace. “Hey, hey, it’s ok, it’s ok… daddy here…. shhh…” Duke said as soothingly as he could as he hugged Phaedra. Duke had taken Phaedra out of her crib and had sat down next to it and was cradling her in his arms. Phaedra looked up at duke before burying her face in his shirt, crying and still very scared. As Duke continued to hug the white and violet foal, Tempora rushed in front of the doorway to the bedroom. “What happened?” Tempora asked worriedly. “I think she had a bad dream… she didn’t come out with the others, so I came back to look around for her and I find her crying in her sleep…” Duke said quietly to Tempora. Tempora sighed sadly, “You’ll have to watch out for that in the future… all of the foals have woken up screaming and or crying every once and a while…” “Go ahead and serve lunch Tempora… we’ll join you in a moment…” Duke reassured the blue unicorn. “Alright…” Tempora walked back to the kitchen. Duke cuddled Phaedra in his arms while humming the lullaby that he had uses calm Havin down a few days prior. A few minutes later Phaedra calmed down and Duke whipped her tears away with his sleeve. “Feeling better?” Duke asked softly. Phaedra nodded her head as she cuddled in closer to Duke. Grumble Duke looked at Phaedra gave her belly a tickle, “You ready for lunch now?” Phaedra looked up to him with a silly smile and giggled as she started to squirm in his arms. “Ok, lunch it is then.” Duke chuckled as he got up and carried Phaedra out of the room. Tempora was eating when Duke and Phaedra came out to the table. She got up and walked over to them. “You feeling better?” Tempora asked as she nuzzled Phaedra’s cheek. Phaedra just cooed as she was picked up out of Duke’s arms with Tempora’s magic. “Seems so.” Tempora Chuckled as she pulled out another plate and bowl of food. “That melody of yours seems to do wonders for these girls.” Tempora looked at Duke. “It was a song my mother sang to me whenever I Scared or crying, I can’t remember the words now, but the music stayed with me all these years…” Duke said as he looked at the salad. “Don’t worry, I did some looking up in the library, and oddly enough had some information on your race’s diet…… I also learned about some types of monsters from beyond the stars…” Tempora trailed off. Duke decided to change the subject, “Hey you didn’t happen to find anything on flying while you were over there, did you?” “Yes actually, I found a few books on flying, but do you think you’re ready to learn?” Tempora asked. “I have a feeling that if I have wings I’ll be expected to be able to fly at some point later, so why not figure it out now?” Duke said. Tempora nodded, “Ok, I’ll let you do some reading on it and then we can see if we can at least get you off the ground tomorrow.” The blue mare said with a small chuckle. “I’ll also look around to see if I can find anything on magic casting for you as well.” Duke nodded and started to eat, “Not bad Tempora. Best potato salad I’ve ever had. Granted it’s also the only potato salad I’ve ever had but still its good!” “Well regardless, I’m glad you like it!” Tempora said smiling at her friend’s praise. The day flew past peacefully until the moon was in the sky. Tempora was tossing around in her bed, having the same nightmare that had been bothered her for some time. She made enough noise to wake up Duke who was in the living room sleeping on the couch in his human form. Duke looked around before checking on the foals who were soundly asleep before going to Tempora’s room, to find that she had fallen off her bed and woken up in a cold sweat. “Hey, you ok?” Duke asked concerned. “Yeah… yeah, I’m… no. No, I’m not.” Tempora sais frustrated. Duke sat next to Tempora, “What's wrong?” “It’s the nightmares I keep having… I think I’m, ready to talk about it now…” Tempora took a deep breath then let out before continuing, “They start off as dreams… I see what the foals’ futures… their first day of school, their wedding days, days that show them at their best… but then I see really dark outcomes… what they’ll become if they go down the wrong path… but just now? It wasn’t just the foals, you were there too.” Duke stayed quiet but motioned for Tempora to continue encouragingly. “I don’t know what to do Duke… I want to help you raise the foals, I really do. but can’t leave this place. And I'm going to… to…” Tempora quietly broke down into tears leaning into Duke as he gave her a hug. “I don’t know what will happen Tempy, but I promise you I’ll raise these foals as best I can. And the will know about you I promise.” Duke consoled his friend. “That doesn’t change what will happen soon.” Tempora sniffed. “I know, but we have to be strong. For the foals’ sake and ours.” Duke said softly. The two sat there for a few moments. “How about we get back to bed shall we?” Duke asked softly. “Wait. Can… can we just stay like this for a little bit?” “Alright,” Duke said as he and Tempora cuddled next to the bed. Outside, a pony in an oversized green hooded cloak watched the cottage diligently from the shadows of the of the forest. “Just a little bit longer now…”