//------------------------------// // Plan For A Storm // Story: Creating A Hive // by Authora97 //------------------------------// Thorax held up a plate of chocolate chip pancakes. I gave him a ‘seriously’ eyebrow. “Our children love us.” Thorax stated. He hopped in bed. The pancakes continued to float above me. “Did they make these? Cause if they did that’s not love, that’s poisoning.” “Nah.” Thorax lifted one pancake to his mouth. “These are Eggo. Found them in the fridge- not your sisters I checked. These are totally from the kids.” I grinned, picking up a pancake. “Our kids love us.” We toasted our pancakes, lying back on the bed to enjoy a breakfast in relative peace. “So. What’s up today?” Thorax asked. “Huh.” I stretched out, snuggling up to his side. “Twilight gets a letter to check out the castle in the Everfree. Pretty much everypony joins in, mostly for their own purposes. You can guess how it goes.” “Like...bad?” “Hilariously.” “So...can we even do anything about that?” “I can always do something.” “...why does it all go bad?” “They think it’s haunted, but really it’s Pinkie Pie playing an organ that sets off all the traps.” Thorax paused. “How does that make sense? Really? I can totally see that happening.  Why?!” I laughed. “Ugh. I hate you.” Thorax complained, finishing off a pancake. “Think you have time to go shopping first?” “Yeah. Why?” I asked. “Is it cause I know how many-” “It’s cause you’re the one who knows how many bits we have.” Thorax agreed. “Numbers...they scare me.” I giggled. “Shut up. Shut up you know why they scare me.” Thorax accused. He tried to hit me in the face with his pancake. “It- it-” I could barely speak, I was laughing to much already. “It was just the 7-8-9 joke!” Thorax yelped, becoming so scared he flinched away then fell off the bed. What an amazing start to the day. ==CAH== I walked into the kitchen. Darcy was there, eating a bowl of cereal. “Hey.” I greeted, moving the dishes to the sink. “Whatcha doin’ today?” Darcy shrugged. “Not much. I was thinking about getting my old job back.” That made me pause. “...what job did you have again?” Images of Killjoy being an assassin flashed in my mind’s eye. “Bouncer.” Darcy answered. “At the Salt Lick.” She took another big bite of cereal, as I regained the decades of life that the stress of this conversation cost me. “You?” “Gonna get Bee settled in town.” I explained. My magic started to work to clean the dishes. “The girls were going to play with the Crusaders today.” “Ah the Crusaders. Those girls were insane.” Darcy snickered. “No wonder the dragon kid befriended them. Do you remember that?” “I remember being terrified for a full ten seconds because you had me thinking they would use ‘fire breathing’ for a new Cutie Mark scheme.” I recalled. Darcy snickered again. A cup went out, smacking the back of her head. “Hey it’s just training for your old job.” Darcy scoffed. She moved the bowl into the sink. I stared down at the offending item. “Hey, Morgue, it’s just training for when-owowow-” My magic gripped her hair, pulling it. “Bitch!” Darcy smacked my arm. “Whore!” I snapped back, punching her arm back. That’s what Thorax walked into when he came downstairs. Just normal stuff between sisters, ya know? ==CAH== When I arrived at the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters, I lowered the pair of sunglasses I wore. Then I pulled up a map, looking it over while also glancing to the castle. Thorax ran up behind me. He was panting, tripping over his own hooves to reach me. “You good babe?” I prompted. “Yes dear!” Thorax put himself to rights. He sat down beside me, running a hoof over the top of his head to seem chill. “Totally awesome...why?” “Cause you’re a stumbling mess of a changeling.” I replied. Thorax gawked. “Still love you though.” Reaching up I kissed his cheek. “Groceries made it home okay?” “Yep!” “You put away the frozens?” “We had frozens- I mean of course I did! I learned my lesson.” Thorax boasted. I gave him a look. Thorax steadily lost his boasting posture. “...okay don’t get mad-” “You lost them in the Everfree, didn’t you?” I prompted flatly. “...yes!” At my sigh, Thorax began rambling. “I tripped over a root which wasn’t a big deal because I was using magic to hold them up but while I was getting upright there was a Star Spider and it tried to bite me so I dropped everything!” He revealed. “It’s fine.” I shrugged. Thorax stopped in his panicked breathing. “What.” “You do realize I know how many bits we actually have right?” I asked. Thorax nodded. “I accounted for accidents like that. Well I expected a sudden sneeze from Lilac or Cookie using them for scratching posts.” I kissed Thorax on the cheek. “You’re still okay.” Thorax kissed me on the nose. “Thank you.” He stepped closer to the castle. “Now. What’re we doing here? And before you give a sarcastic answer, I mean what are we doing while they’re doing they’re stuff?” Pouting, I began. “Rarity and Fluttershy will be looking for the tapestries, didn’t see much I could do on that end. Applejack and Dash are seeing who’s the most daring, and Twilight-” “Let me guess!” Thorax raised up his hoof, waving it in excitement. “She reads a book the whole time and get super annoyed when everypony keeps interrupting her!” “Well yes to the book reading, no to the annoyance.” I answered. “Ready to get started?” “We need to finish before the stalls close.” Thorax remarked. “...what are we doing?” “...to be honest, honey, I don’t know if there is anything that can be done. Really there’s no publicly humiliating event, no villain to stop or outshow...just hijinks.” “Then what are we doing here?” “I wanted to see the Harmony Tree.” I admitted, smiling shamelessly. ==CAH== The Tree of Harmony was glorious. Thorax and I sat in the cave, staring at the Tree to just let it all soak in. I watched the shimmering lights from the Element of Magic. My reflection could be seen in the base of the Tree. If you looked behind the Seed of Harmony, that is. “It’s amazing.” Thorax remarked, after twenty minutes of silence. “Yeah...really beautiful.” I uncurled from his side to lie down on the floor. “Hey honey?” “Yeah babe?” “Wanna play where we’re going next?” I asked. Thorax chuckled. “We’re barely a month into this trip!” He laughed. “Yeah...but the months will go by so fast. We can at least pick where we’ll go.” Thorax tilted his head. He scratched the side of his head with his hoof. “Can we think about it tomorrow?” He lied down on the ground. “Sure.” I shrugged. “There’s plenty of time to Plan with the storm coming up.” “The what?!” Thorax sat up. At that moment, it started to pour outside. Thorax groaned as he fell back onto the dirt. I laughed, rolling on my back. ==CAH== Hours later when the storm ended, Thorax and I flew back to Ponyville. The replacement groceries floated behind Thorax, held together in his magic. I was counting the bits we had left, doing the quick math in my head. “So how are we looking?” Thorax asked. “Great. There are still a lot left.” I remarked. Tucking the bit purse away in my Bag, I walked closer to Thorax. “Still, it’s not gonna hurt to buy a few more things. We need more mugs.” “We do?” Thorax asked. “Killjoy.” I supplied. “We do.” Thorax nodded solemnly. “And for the other thing?” “I can go shopping for index cards tomorrow- Twilight gets the best discounts.” I admitted with a smile. “Can’t believe you agreed with me though-” “Well I trust you.” “You trust me not to kiss-” “I trust you not to sleep with him.” Thorax corrected before I could finish. “I won’t blame you for making out with him. You showed me the pictures, he’s beautiful.” I cooed, bopping him on the nose. He grinned flirtatiously back. As we walked towards the small store in town that sold dishware, there came a small voice in an alleyway. “Spare some c-change p-please…?” Thorax paused with me in our steps. Turning towards the voice, I saw a small pegasus foal walking out from the alley. She had a blue coat, dark red eyes, a dark red mane with purple tips, and one of her wings was encased in a bandage. “Sure.” Thorax reached for the bit purse. I stopped him. “Uh...babe?” I walked towards to the child, leaning down to her level. “Sup.” The foal- looking not much older than the Crusaders- glared up at me. “You look cool.” I commented. “Far from home too, I bet. What brings you to Ponyville?” The pegasus turned away from in a huff. “Nothing.” “Nothing? Oh Nothing is a good friend of mine. Why didn’t he tell me you were in town?” I clicked my tongue, tapping my hoof on the floor. “What a mess.” The pegasus glanced at me, quickly looking away when she realized she’d done it. Thorax talked my shoulder. “Starry-” “Hush Bee.” I scolded in a low whisper. “You know what? I’m logging a complaint with Nothing. He’s gone too far-” “Nopony brought me here! I brought me here!” The pegasus grumbled, stomping a hoof. “So your parents didn’t bring you?” Was my reply. The pegasus tensed, glaring down at the dirt. “Or...did you not-” “Starry no.” Thorax must’ve realized what I was doing. “Come on Bee! Look at her! She probably hasn’t eaten a proper meal in days!” “Weeks.” The foal answered. “Weeks?!” I nearly shouted. “She hasn’t eaten in weeks Bee!” Thorax moves me away from the foal’s hearing range. “I heard her, but we can’t. We’ve already taken two in. And your sister.” Thorax argued. “So? What’s one more?” Morgan asked. “It’s one more room that we don’t have.” Thorax explained. “We can construct one. Or we could get another house.” I explained. “Oh! Or we could ask Celestia or Luna if they would let us use their old castle. Twilight and Rarity would jump at the opportunity.” “Are you listening to yourself?!” Thorax questioned, gripping me by my shoulders. “Why am I the logical one right now?” “I have Loki on the brain.” I excused. “Everything is excused.” “You’re talking about adopting a third girl. Third, Starry. We already have two! Plus your sister who’s crashing at our place! And me- you have definitely adopted me into your weird family.” Shrugging off his hooves, I moved my hoof to put in me in ‘super hero pony pose’. “Every child deserves a home, Bee.” Thorax paused for a moment, trying to come up with an argument. “How can we afford it?” “I’m a Princess and you’re an ambassador. I’m sure we could find the necessary funds.” I argued easily. Thorax pointed directly at the blue pegasus. “What if she just ran away from home? Her parents might want her back.” “She doesn’t look old enough to cross the street by herself, and she’s been missing for weeks. I think her parents would’ve found her by now if they wanted to.” I pointed out. “What will Lilac and Cookie think?” Thorax asked, his resolve about to break. “Another sister. Yay.” I glared. “We’re taking her.” “We don’t even know her name!” Thorax used in a latch ditch effort. I trotted back to the foal. She had been staring at Thorax and me in confusion during our whole argument. “What’s your name kid?” The pegasus blinked her red eyes. Her jaw couldn’t decide whether to stay closed or to drop to the ground. “D-Dynam-mite Berry, Princess.” “Dynamite Berry, nice name.” With that handled I turned back to my husband. “We’re taking her in.” “Wait...what?!” The pegasus girl finally understanding the married couple’s argument. Thorax made a small whimper. “Ugh I hate being the Adult.” “Come on Bee, you know you want to. Just look at that wittle face.” I argued, waving my hoof at the shocked foal. The changeling sighed, looking between the maybe-orphan. Finally, his shoulder sagged and a smile formed on his face. “Okay. We can take her home.” Dynamite and I cheered. I picked the foal up, putting her down on my back. Her song was hurt after all. Before Thorax could stop us, I ran off in the direction of the dishware  store. If I stick around him, I would’ve heard him say “You’re going to keep doing this to me, aren’t you?” Oh yeah, I totally would.