Silence reigned over the Vanhoover manor as Fleetfeather and Magic Barrier shuffled about, barely a word shared between them since Daring’s departure.
The hours that passed felt like an eternity until the pair partook in leftovers from the previous night. The faint sounds of them eating and the ticks of a clock were the only things to break the dreadful silence permeating the place.
“Barrier…” Fleet spoke up, only to fall silent once more. The stallion across the table from her could only sigh.
Another hour slowly passed by for the pair until their ears caught the sound of the front door opening up once more.
“I’m raiding your liquor cabinet, sir!” A tired Verdant’s voice echoed out as he towards the den, not even sparing them a glance while the rest headed for the kitchen.
“What’s eating him?” Barrier asked as more of the former cadets began to pour into the kitchen.
“Well, we learned a valuable lesson today,” Winter Gem replied as she took a seat at the table. “Don’t try to have a stallion pop out of a cake if it’s for Pinkie. It won’t end well at all.”
“His day was pretty cr…” Hat Trick paused as he came up to Gem’s side. “Captain, is something wrong?”
“What makes you think that, Hatty?” The obsidian unicorn snorted before taking another bite of cold fries.
“Sir, your eyes are all red your face is tear stained.” Forge examined the stallion closely before moving onto Fleet. “The same with you, sergeant.”
“I…” Fleet bit her lip before a small pink and blue blur dashed to her side, hopping onto her lap.
“Mother, what’s wrong?” Wind Whistler stared at her mother, mustering the biggest puppy dog eyes in her vast arsenal of cuteness.
“Wind Whistler…” Fleet blinked as she took in the sight of her foal. “What… what happened to your hair?”
Wind Whistler looked up towards the top of her head, followed by a quick glance over her shoulder. Her once smooth and flowing mane and tail were both now shorter and spiky in parts.
“Oh, right.” The little filly chuckled, grinning and scratching the back of her neck somewhat nervously. “I tried to help those three fillies get a cutie mark for blowing the world’s biggest bubblegum bubble. This…” She paused, looking over her tail once more. “This is what happened to me.”
“Oh dear.” Fleet ran a hoof through the child’s short mane. “Are you alright dear?”
“Yeah, I’m fine.” Windy beamed as she nuzzled against her mother’s chest. “I got off lightly compared to those three.”
“I’m certain the body paint and wigs will do for them until their hair grows back.” Winter leaned forward on the table, her gaze hardening as her tone became more serious. “Now, onto the matter at hoof. What happened to you two?”
“It’s…” Barrier paused, carefully considering what to reveal to them. Taking a deep breath, he resumed speaking. “It’s not something I really think we’re ready to talk about just yet. Just know that Daring… she won’t be here for a while, okay?”
“Understood, sir.” Swiftsword nodded as she took a seat with them at the table. “Is there anything we can do for you two? The Four D’s should still be open, so I can get you something if you want.”
“No thanks, Swift.” Barrier sighed, leaning back into his chair. “I appreciate it, but I should be fine for now. Just make sure Verdant doesn’t empty my liquor cabinet.”
Winter Gem snorted into her hoof. “I doubt he could do that, even if he was twice your size, sir.”
The night trudged on until eventually the residents of the manor felt the inevitable call of slumber, beckoning them to their beds.
Crawling into his bed, Barrier shifted about. He wasn’t used to being in the large bed without Daring at his side. Though the night was comfortable - to be expected of early autumn, Barrier knew that his room was colder than any winter he’d ever struggled through.
Get used to it, Barrier. You did this to yourself. You’ve made your bed, now lie in it.
With a short sniffle, Barrier curled into the blankets as tears began to dampen his pillow.
***
As the early morning light struck Barrier’s eyes, he caught the scent of eggs being cooked up and freshly brewed coffee coming from the kitchen.
Pulling himself out of bed and tossing the sheets aside without a second glance, the sleepy unicorn slowly made his way to the kitchen, spotting Verdant at the stove.
“Morning, sir,” the shamrock stallion said, keeping his eyes firmly locked on the frying pan. “Breakfast should be ready in just a few more minutes.”
“Fine by me,” the older pony yawned as he took his seat. “One less thing for me to do.”
A few moments later, Verdant placed a plate of scrambled eggs in front of Barrier, followed soon after by a cup of fresh coffee with some ice cubes in it.
“By the way, sir, I’d like you to meet me at Pretty Petals so we can go out for lunch,” Verdant said as he placed more plates of food around the table. Barrier snorted and rolled his eyes as he took a sip of his coffee.
“And why would I do that?” Barrier gave young stallion a flat look as he set his coffee down.
The smaller pony gave Barrier a hard look before speaking in his approximation of the unicorn’s ‘captain’ tone. “One, I just cooked you breakfast. Two, I rarely if ever ask you for a favor. Three, you have nothing better to do. And four, if you don’t, I’m going to use my frying pan as a complying pan. Understood?” Verdant patted the pan against his hoof in an effort to be intimidating which quickly fell apart as he dropped the frying pan and winced from the heat.
Barrier choked back an amused snort as he poked at his eggs. “Nice try at looking intimidating, but it needs some work. Still…” The unicorn sighed as he set his fork down. “You do have a point. Where’s the store again?”
Verdant beamed as he placed the pan back on the stove. “It’s the north end of Rosedust Street. You can’t miss it.”
“Just make sure I won’t regret this, kiddo.” Barrier took a long sip of his coffee. “You’re up to something. I just don’t know what.”
“Why captain, I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Verdant nearly sang in mock offense. “I’ll see you around noon then.”
“You’re paying for lunch, at any rate,” Barrier muttered, making the younger pony roll his eyes.
***
The sun beamed down as a light breeze wafted down the busy street. Barrier was taking in the sights of the various multicolored shops.
Hard to believe I’ve been here for months and there’s still parts of this place I haven’t been to yet.
As noon quickly approached, Barrier found himself coming up to a two-story orange building. Upon the emerald green awning out front was fanciful writing that read ‘Pretty Petals Flower shop’.
Why do so many ponies have such bad taste in colors? The stallion rolled his eyes before stepping into the store.
Barrier immediately regretted entering as his eyes were swiftly assaulted by the vast rainbow of colors from the flower displays before him. With a sigh, he made his way to the front counter where a unicorn mare was flipping through a magazine until she spotted the strolling stallion.
“Welcome to Pretty Petals!” The mare’s curly, straw colored mane bounced as she moved to the register, quickly smoothing out her faded orange coat. “How can I help you, sir?”
“Hello, ma’am.” Barrier politely nodded once he reached the counter. “I’m supposed to meet my step brother for lunch. His name’s—”
“Oh don’t worry, I know who he is.” She chuckled before looking toward a doorway to the back. “Verdant, you’ve got somepony here for you.”
“One moment, Boss!” Verdant’s voice came from the back as Barrier picked up the sounds of squirting and shuffling.
“Ma’am,” Barrier asked, his eyebrow raising in confusion. “How did you know I was asking about Verdant?”
“Well mister,” the mare smirked, giving Barrier a half-lidded expression. “It may surprise you that not too many colts are interested in having careers based on flowers, so Verdant’s the only stallion on my staff. Quite the shocker, huh?” She started to chuckle at the flat look Barrier gave her attempt at humor as Verdant emerged from the back.
“I’m going on my lunch break, Ms. Spectacle,” Verdant said as he picked up his saddlebags from behind the counter. “We shouldn’t be too long.”
“As long as it’s less than an hour, it’s alright.” Ms. Spectacle cheerfully waved as the two stallions departed.
“So, how’s things been at work for you today?” Barrier inquired as they made their way across the street.
“Could be better, could be worse,” the younger stallion answered with a shrug as they turned a corner onto Seashell Street. “Ms. Spectacle’s happy since her daughter’s supposed to be visiting from out of town soon, and Maua was able to get some rare seeds in from Woolachia. On the other hoof, Banana Blitz knocked over a bunch of pots and somehow broke the water pipes, so we’ve had to run back and forth getting buckets of water from Bubbles’ Bathing and Beyond.”
“Well nothing’s on fire, so that’s a plus,” Barrier replied as they trekked onward. “And at least one member of the staff seems friendly.”
“They all are, though Blitz is a bit of a klutz.” Verdant chuckled before happily sighing. “Still, they’ve been very welcoming and I’m proud to now be their new floral aquatics maintenance engineer.”
“In other words, you water plants.” Barrier rolled his eyes and chuckled.
“Exactly!” Verdant happily exclaimed, a slight skip in his step. “At any rate, we’re here!” He pointed upward to the shop’s sign.
“Verdant…” the elder stallion’s eyebrow twitched at the sight of the shop. “Why did you bring me to Strawberry Sundae’s when you know that sweets and I get along about as well as cats and water? Why not go to the Four D’s?”
“Firstly, I wanted to see how Strawberry’s doing. And secondly, I figure I deserve to have a little treat like this after getting eaten alive for the third time in my young life,” Verdant answered as he nosed his way into the sweet shop.
“Fair enough, I—” Barrier paused as he realized something. “Wait, third?”
“Hey, Crush!” the emerald stallion ignored his onyx companion as he waved to the two-toned orange mare at the counter. “How’s things by you and your sister?”
“Well, I’m just waiting for some cookies to finish baking,” she replied as she pushed up her glasses. “As for my sister…”
A red blur dashed past the two stallions, rushing into the mares’ washroom. The sound of violent retching soon echoed out from the room.
“She’s tossing her cookies…” Crush clicked her tongue and pushed up her glasses. “Here’s hoping that’s ‘cause of Operation: Bats & Baby Batter and not Summer’s cooking or somethin’.” Taking a deep breath, she turned back to the stallion duo. “So what can I get for you today?”
“I think I’ll have a small plate of the strawberry cream sandwich cookies.” Verdant’s tail wagged like an overexcited puppy as Crush took his order.
“I’ll have…” Barrier glanced over the menu very briefly before answering with a sigh, “I’ll take an order of a dozen shortbread cookies. With any luck, they’ll leave my stomach intact and I’ve no doubt Wind Whistler will appreciate the leftover ones.” As soon as his order was placed he dropped tiredly into a booth.
“Alright, I’ll have those ready in just a moment,” the bespectacled mare replied before a loud ding came from the back. “Just give me a sec to take care of this first.”
“Not a problem.” Verdant waved as he took a seat across from Barrier. “At any rate, we need to talk, Barrier.”
“Knew that was coming. Before that though, why are you so insistent on sticking your nose in this?” Barrier’s gaze hardened upon the youthful stallion.
“Because we’re all worried about you,” Verdant softly said as he laid against the booth’s back. “We’ve all been worried about what happened between you, Fleet and Daring. Besides, you’re the closest living relative I’ve got. I’m doing for you what I’d do for—”
“Order up!” Orange interrupted as she quickly placed the pairs orders in front of them.
“Thanks, Orange!” Verdant waved before licking his lips at the sight of the sweet treat on his plate.
Barrier dragged a hoof over his snout with a groan.“I’m guessing you don’t intend on dropping this until you get an answer out of me.”
“Not really. Still,” Verdant leaned across the table. “If you tell me, I promise that whatever you say won’t leave this restaurant. I’ve never broken a promise to any of my sisters about their secrets before. Besides, you know me rather well.” The verdant pony picked up one of his cookies, bringing it up to his lips.
“And whatever you’re talking about’s just background noise for me. I’ll probably forget whatever you talk about in less than an hour.” Crush’s voice came from behind the counter as she diligently scrubbed its surface.
“Alright…” Barrier brought a hoof to his forehead taking a deep breath. “Fleet and I drank more than a fish and screwed like a pair of rabbits that night. That’s why Yearling’s gone.” He was unable to keep the bite out of his tone as he looked up and saw the stunned look upon Verdant’s face as his small snack fell back down to the plate.
“I...Wow… I thought the worst you two did was break some of her records or something... Damn...”
“I know, Verdant,” Barrier sighed, planting his face on the table’s surface. “On a screw-up scale of one to ten, I pulled an eleven.”
“Could…” Verdant scratched his neck as he considered his words. “Could you please give me a little more detail? Nothing explicit, but—”
“There’s not much to tell,” Barrier pulled himself up from the table. “Fleet and I cleaned up the house and told Yearling what we did as soon as she came home.”
Verdant nodded as he leaned closer to Barrier. “And what did she say afterwards?”
“She said she didn’t think she’ll break up with me, but she needed time to cool down and think things over. Think things through when she’s not so mad.”
“Yeah, I can see why she’s mad.” Verdant fidgeted in his seat, looking away from Barrier. “Still, hopefully she’ll come back to you. You didn’t try to hide things from her, so she knows you care about her and that you know this was a colossal mistake.”
“I hope so, Verdant.” Barrier rubbed his foreleg against his eyes, dispelling any trace of gathering moisture. “I haven’t felt what I feel around her since the last time I was with Ember.”
“I know,” the shamrock stallion replied as he picked up one of his cookies. “At any rate, I wish you the best with your second love.”
“Third, actually.” Barrier’s horn lit up, bringing one of his cookies up to his face before taking a bite.
“Third?” Verdant leaned against the table, an eyebrow cocked in curiosity. “Care to tell me about whoever this mystery pony was?”
With a swallow, a wicked smirk graced Barrier’s visage. “Tell you what. I’ll tell you about Orchid Blossom if you’ll tell me about this other time you got eaten.”
“Eh… perhaps later.” Verdant leaned back into the booth before grabbing another of the sweet treats. “Oh, by the way, you’ll have to handle dinner tonight. Erica and I are going to have a little competition, seeing whose father had the better stew recipe.”
“Nothing to worry about.” Barrier shrugged before taking another bite of shortbread. “And Verdant… Thanks. I feel a smidge better now.”
The emerald earth pony smiled and waved his hoof. “No problem. After all, what’s family for?”