//------------------------------// // Practical arrangements // Story: House of the Rising Sunflower // by kudzuhaiku //------------------------------// The pups sniffled, but were brave. They stood and watched as the sky truck was loaded, and Twilight Velvet praised them for staying out of the way. A small trunk with rugged, well-made clothing for the two of them. Containers of meat-treats. More books and some instruction manuals. Two crates of ‘institutional nutritional pudding’, whatever that might be—though the name lacked any sort of appetising appeal. One crate was listed as ‘brown’, while the other was ‘yellow’. Sundance could only guess that brown was a flavour, though he had no idea what flavour brown might be. Mysterious brown institutional nutritional pudding whose flavour wasn’t specifically listed as chocolate concerned him.  It concerned him greatly, but what worried him more was that this stuff even existed.  Why…  If this was the stuff they fed orphans, it made him wonder what they fed prisoners.  An intern came out of the back door carrying a small yellow crate made out of plastic. It wasn’t large, but seemed valuable somehow. Sundance noticed the pink butterflies stenciled on the crate and thought of Fluttershy. Then he realised that is exactly what the container was meant to represent. The pale yellow, the pastel pink butterflies, this was a crate of kindness.  “What’s that?” asked Sundance.  “Wartime relief crate,” an intern with a clipboard and a checklist replied. “Filled with antibiotics, vaccines, fever-relievers, medicines, and body spackle.” The young mare adjusted her glasses, checked something off on her clipboard, and smiled at Sundance. “You must be doing something right if Fluttershy has deemed you worthy. She pays for these, you know. Ultimately, she decides who gets them. Word has it that her friend, Applejack, helps to fund this project.”  “Huh.” This was unexpected and Sundance considered a trip to Ponyville to offer Fluttershy his thanks. He watched as the crate was lowered into the bed of the sky truck and then secured with a hooked rubber strap.  “You know, you’re kinda cute—”  “Oh come on, Miss Drizzle. None of that.”  “Can’t fault me for trying, Miss Velvet. It’s open season on available Lords.”  Sundance watched as the two mares eyeballed one another and it was only then that he noticed that he seemed to be the focus of attention for several of the interns. This was interesting; Sundance was so used to ogling others that it never occurred to him that he might be the target of ogling himself. Miss Drizzle turned away from Twilight Velvet, winked at him, and he felt a ring of uncomfortable heat encircle his neck. This traveled upwards, until his face was in need of a good breeze.  “You’ll have to forgive Miss Drizzle,” Twilight Velvet said to Sundance. “Her intentions are good. She’s ambitious. Wants to change the world. She figures that the best way to do that is to catch somepony with the ways and means to put her ideas into action. But she can flirt on her own time, off the clock.”  “Just because one might be on a diet doesn’t mean that one can’t check out the available deserts,” Miss Drizzle said to her boss. “There is no harm in looking.”  “Tell that to my hips,” Twilight Velvet remarked. “If I even look at a slice of chocolate cake, I pack on phantom pounds.”  “Oh, that’s dreadful,” another intern said.  “So, is there a lady in your life, Milord?”  “Steady Drizzle! Really… what am I going to do with you?”  “I, uh, well, uh…” Sundance scratched at the back of his head with his wing. “No.”  “Would you like for there to be one?” the bold intern asked whilst she ignored the ever-increasing ire of her boss. “I am open to practical arrangements. Give me what I want, and I’ll give you heirs. I have an itemised list of demands, and when agreed upon as a contract, I am willing to exchange my consent.”  “Miss Drizzle, that isn’t how you flirt! You kids these days, with your forward earnestness. Is romance dead?” Twilight Velvet rolled her eyes so hard that Sundance feared she might strain something. “Ugh, that’s just cringe-inducing to hear.”  “Uh, how do you feel about spiders?” asked Sundance.  “Spiders?” Miss Drizzle’s pen and clipboard quivered.  “Yeah… I need a Milady that can deal with turkey-sized spiders in the—”  “Lord Sundance!”  “—uh, the uh, the outhouse. Just the other day we found a turkey-sized spider in the outhouse. Legs as long as a pony is tall. What I need from a potential lady is somepony who can keep the sh—”  “Lord Sundance, please!”  “—shared outhouses safe from giant spiders.”  “Admirable recovery, but still. Now I worry about what sort of language your wards might learn.” Twilight Velvet’s expression soured as both pups started to giggle.  “Milord, I fear my interests are a bit more… refined and urbane.” Miss Drizzle bowed her head. “Forgive me, but I’ll look elsewhere to satisfy my arrangement.”  “Should we be sending our precious little ones to live with this guy?” an intern asked.  “I keep asking myself the same thing,” Twilight Velvet deadpanned.  “I’ll have you know, we have the finest outhouses.” Sundance drew himself up to his full unimpressive height and his chest scruffle puffed out. “Princess Celestia herself has pinched a loaf within those solitary confines.”  Miss Drizzle’s pen and clipboard fell to the tarmac with a clatter and the flirtatious mare scrambled to recover. Meanwhile, Twilight Velvet shook her head from side to side as several interns reacted in a variety of ways, which ranged from amused to horrified. Runt and Bonk held their paws over their mouths as they giggled, and Sundance rather enjoyed the commotion that he’d caused. It wasn’t hooliganism when he did it.  Sundance recalled all the times that Corduroy called him Baron Bedpan Mouth.  “No more slacking, kids. I want this cart ready to go no more than five minutes from now. Let’s show some hustle! We don’t want poor Bonk to face the dark! Hurry! Move it, move it, move it!”    A tailwind both helped and hindered Sundance on his way home. There was a little turbulence; well, perhaps more than a little. Poor Runt hung his head over the rear edge and spewed. Not much could be done about it, they had to get home, but in spite of this the little guy seemed to have a good time. When he wasn’t blowing chunks, he was cheering, or barking.  The transition from the lowlands to the foothills was a sight to behold. Flying low so that he might see more of the land below him, Sundance took it all in. The lowland marshes transitioned into sloped plains studded with massive boulders. Old settlements could be seen from the air; the ruins of old houses, buildings, and other civilised structures. He spotted the leaning, towering body of an old windmill, whose blades were long since gone. The stone base was still sturdy from the looks of things, but the wooden body was rotten and weather-worn.  No sign of a road could be seen, but Sundance was certain that these settlements once connected. There was a flooded quarry, which held a particular interest to him. Old mines yawned below him, gaping holes that went straight down into the stony earth. The foothills turned from marshy green to plains brown, and there were copses of trees that stood guard over old, decaying ruins. All he saw was once populated; a prosperous community that lived in the shadow of Canterlot. He wished that he’d done this sooner, and he reminded himself that he still had a lot of land left to explore.  As a pegasus, it was easy to cross the vast, empty spaces.    It was not yet dark as the barony grew larger in his sight. In fact, sunset was still quite some time away. There was maybe an hour of good light left before twilight purplefied everything and cast long shadows. He began to veer off to his right, so he could circle around and align himself with the runway. Down below, ponies already sprang into action, and Sundance spotted Potato among them. No doubt, she was the one who spotted him.  Primaries splayed out, he steered himself around after his long circle, and now faced a headwind as he began his approach. He hauled quite a load, so he needed a little extra wind beneath his wings for lift. This would be an easy landing though, he figured. He didn’t have to fight the wind at all; if anything the wind was helpful for once. Behind him, he heard exciting chuffing from the pups. He untucked his legs as the ground grew near and flexed his muscles in preparation for landing.  Touching down was almost too easy…    Sundance undid the straps that bound him, turned about, and saw Corduroy looking down at the two small pups looking up at her. He almost said something, but held his tongue when he saw how solemn and serious the moment seemed to be. The expression on Corduroy’s face was utterly unreadable, so her reaction was unknown. Sundance just couldn’t read canine expressions well enough to know how she felt.  “Are you mama?” asked Runt.  “No, I’m your nurse.” Corduroy leaned over to have a better look. “You have a dirty face.”  “He’s Runt, and I’m Bonk.”  “Nurse Corduroy. I’m not your mother.”  Paradox sidled up to Sundance, cast him a sidelong glance, but said nothing.  “Why?” asked Runt.  “Why?” Corduroy took a step backwards. “Because I want to be a nurse, that’s why. I could’ve settled down and had puppies right away. But I didn’t. I had other plans. So don’t get any ideas. Don’t try to look sad or give me puppy dog eyes. Those won’t work on me. Now, what are we going to do about that dirty face of yours, puppo?”  Moving faster than she had any right to, Corduroy reached down, snatched Runt by the scruff of his neck, and hoisted him up to eye level with one paw. He yelped, and Sundance was fearful that Corduroy had hurt him somehow. But then he figured that Runt was just startled, not hurt. It was scary just how fast and strong Corduroy was—just how much physical superiourity she possessed. Runt hung by his scruff, swung to and fro, and the little fellow was bold enough to look the intimidating nurse right in the eye.  “That’s a lot of evidence of head trauma,” Corduroy said rather bluntly while she examined the pup she held at arm’s length. “There’s vomit on your tunic. We’ll need to launder that. Also, I think a little tooth brushing is in order.”  “Help,” Runt said to Bonk.  “Nope, sorry, dog wash dog world,” she replied.  “While you go and sort out the pups, I’m going to go have a chat with Hollyhock,” Sundance announced. “Corduroy, if you don’t mind, take Bonk with you. Get her presentable. We want to leave a good impression on Holly.”  “Oh, I have to see this.” Paradox shuffled in place for a moment, lifted one hoof, waved at Bonk, and then smiled. “It’s not every day that a new mother discovers that she’s expecting puppies.”  Sundance snorted, tried to hold everything in, and failed. He chortled at first, snorted a few times, chuckled, and then laughed when his mirth could no longer be contained. Paradox laughed too; not her usual nervous titter, but the comfortable, hearty laughter that comes with familiarity. As for Corduroy, she hauled Bonk up by the scruff of her neck, and then held both puppies out at arm’s length.  “I suppose this was inevitable,” Corduroy remarked.  “Corduroy?” Sundance approached his nurse, cautious.  “Part of the reason why I left home,” Corduroy said to Sundance, “was to get away from other diamond dogs. I wanted to prove myself. Establish myself. Show the world what I could be. I didn’t want to start a family. Didn’t want to be held back from my plans. That’s why I had to leave. Why I had to get away. Too many expectations.”  Uncertain and somewhat confused, Sundance asked, “Did I… did I do something wrong?”  “No.” Corduroy’s ears sank and her jowls drooped. “No, you did right by the world. I just need to grow up and accept the fact that I can’t run away from my problems.” Then, with both pups held in her outstretched arms, she strode off with her tail almost dragging in the grass behind her.  “I thought this would be a happier time,” Sundance said to Paradox.  “We all come out here broken,” Paradox replied. “It’s up to you to put us back together.”  Unsure of what to do, Sundance hesitated. Paradox’ words rang in his ears like bells. He barely understood himself; how could he possibly put others back together? He glanced at the sky truck, then at Paradox, and then cast his gaze down upon the grass below him. Corduroy was now stuck facing—whatever it was that she faced, and it was his fault. Inadvertently, perhaps, but he was the cause.  “Actually, before I go and talk to Holly… Paradox, mind helping me unpack the truck?”