To see a carriage in the colours of Princess Luna's Night Guard moving through the sky in the middle of the day is quite the unusual sight. Even more so if said carriage is drawn by a thestral and a pegasus, instead of the usual two thestrals. Yet, that isn't everything unusual about it. Where they usually are filled to the brim with supplies for some remote outposts when not carrying the mistress of the night, this one has two large chests, a pegasus mare, and a thestral filly aboard.
As they approach a large forest with a canopy so thick that except for a few spots, sunlight doesn't reach the ground, where they are spotted by its inhabitants within moments. So it doesn't come as a surprise when they are intercepted and forced to land by half a dozen guards. "State your business," says the pony who’s clearly in command.
"My family and I are on our way to visit my parents in Hollow Shades, Sergeant," replies the thestral that drew the carriage. As he finishes saying that, he helps a very exhausted looking cyan mare out of the harness.
Barely does he finish saying, "I assume you know then what I want from you?" before he has his answer. The pegasus riding in the carriage had already disembarked with papers in hoof, introducing herself as he inspects them. The documents prove that, unlike most, they have Princess Luna's permission to approach Hollow Shades without hindrance.
The guard takes a good look at said documents before giving them back, and much to the surprise of a certain pony, calls out to one of the other guards. "Private Shooting Star you escort these four ponies to their destination."
"Yes, Sir," is her short reply before she forces the vehemently protesting cyan pegasus to continue the journey in the carriage, by strapping herself into the harness. "Come on bro, if we hurry we can still get home in time for breakfast."
"STAR???" The thestral shouts back in shock, never having expected his little sister to join the Night Guard as well. "When did you join the guard?"
"I am happy to see you too Mango. Now, let's get going or do you want to explain to mom, why we are late?" Her retort hits home and it takes less than ten seconds until the carriage is in the air again, now flying faster than before.
Usually you would complement a pony for getting ready and taking off that quickly, but not this time. No, this time it has the opposite effect, since not everypony got back on the carriage in time.
It takes almost five minutes for the two thestrals drawing the carriage to notice that they forgot somepony, if the stunned look on Star's, and the heavy blush on Mango's face are any indication. After all, the things Flitter shouts at them as she attempts to catch up with the carriage promise Mango a very interesting time.
"You really believe it to be a good idea to say such things in the company of a filly?" Star asks Flitter calmly, once the pegasus mare managed to catch up and is now flying next to her.
"Hey, at least now I know to put my ear plugs in before I go to bed. They can be very loud," said filly replies immediately, much to the embarrassment of her parents.
"Anyway, thank you for your help with Rainbow. I already feared she would never take a break. That mare can be so stubborn at times.”
“No problem,” Star replies kindly before she turns her full attention towards the sweating stallion next to her. “Now Mango, mind explaining to me, why you never wrote? I would have loved to hear about this sooner,” she asks her brother. As she questions him about everything she missed out on, she only gets evasive answers, making it clear to her that he doesn’t plan to explain it right now.
Half an hour after the questioning began, they passed through a small hole in the canopy and continued to fly only inches above the rooftops of a large city for around two minutes before they touched down in front of a large house near the city's center. “Sure you don’t want to go first, sis?” Mango asks Star futility, who instead just knocks on the door before quickly shoving him in front of her.
Several long moments pass in silence until a chartreuse green mare with a solid except for one silver streak, arctic blue mane, and two slitted light blue eyes opens the door. At first she appears to be a bit shocked to see her son, but that quickly changes as she pulls the stallion in front of her in for a quick hug. “Mango, I am so happy to see you again.”
Once she releases him from her embrace, she looks over his shoulder, only now realizing that they aren’t as alone as she thought. While she isn’t surprised to see her second oldest foal standing there, the sight of a thestral filly, that desperately tries to hide behind the legs of two pegasus mares, is something entirely different.
However, before she has the change to say anything, Mango steps aside. “Mom, meet my two lovely wives, Flitter, and Rainbow Dash, along with our daughter Silent Wing.” He introduces them to her before doing the same thing for the others. “Flitter, Dashie, Wingy, meet the oldest of my sisters, Shooting Star and my mother Silver Lining.”
“Your daughter?” Silver Lining asks in disbelief, once she recovered from the unexpected surprise, eyeing the filly curiously. As said filly notices the look Silver gives her, she is quick to shuffle closer to the mare her son introduced as Flitter, giving off the impression of a scared kitten.
She realizes immediately that it isn’t as perfect as it seems, since something is clearly troubling the filly. And so she can only wonder why the filly seems to be so scared, making a quick mental note to ask her son later about it.
"Well, then come in. Breakfast should be ready in a few minutes. It may get a bit crowded at the table, with almost everypony home, but I am sure we have enough space." She finally says, ushering everypony inside.
"And who exactly isn't home?" Mango asks, worried about overwhelming Wingy, should indeed the majority of his colony of fourteen siblings, two dads, and all three mom's be at home.
"Well, Pierce got called back to Canterlot by Princess Luna yesterday. Hammer and Anvil are on a business trip to Ponyville, but everypony else is at home." As he hears this news, Mango loses some of the color in his face. While he is indeed happy to see most of his family again, he also knows very well that the sheer size of his full family could easily overwhelm not just his daughter, but Flitter and Rainbow as well. After all, both of them come from very small monogamous families. So, how will everypony react when they meet his family?
“Okay mom, can we have a moment?” He asks hopefully, and much to his relief, his mother grants that small wish.
After Silver Lining went back inside, he turns his focus back on his three favorite ponies. “While I already told you that I have a large family, I never told you just how large exactly, correct?”
“No, you only said that your family is large even by thestral standards,” Wingy is quick to reply, now feeling a bit more relaxed since she isn’t stared at by Mango’s mother anymore. Relieved that she is able to take a breather before they enter that house.
“I really had hoped that we would arrive at a time where most would be away, but it looks like I should have thought more about the timing before coming home. Anyway, besides my three mothers, two fathers, and Star here, I have thirteen more brothers and sisters.”
“Fourteen,” Star corrects him, making him look at her in confusion. “We have fourteen siblings now, but I don’t blame you for not knowing, since you had been away for over one and a half years.”
“What?” He asks his sister, ignoring the three ponies staring at him open mouthed, still shocked from his last revelation.
“Just ask Stella, I am sure she loves to tell you everything about our little brother.”
Mango needs a few moments to comprehend this news before he is able to turn his focus back to his family. "Wingy, I want you to stay close to Flitter, and be careful, my siblings have always been on the wilder side."
Everypony waits for a few more moments before Star enters first, quickly followed by Mango, Flitter, Wingy, and Rainbow at the end. Not even ten seconds after Mango entered the house, still in the entrance hall, he already gets tackled to the ground and buried under six different ponies. "Mooom, can I have some help here?"
He pleads for help to get out of the pony pile but whoever of his three moms answered has different plans. "No! Mango, that's your own fault for not visiting sooner. Belladonna, Eclipse, what are you still doing here? Go "say hello" to your brother," she shouts before more hoofsteps are heard and two more ponies jump upon the pile.
Flitter, Rainbow, and Wingy just watch in amusement upon the scene directly in front of them. That is until somepony walks over and decides to interfere. "Now, don't you all think that was long enough? Even such a mean pony like Mango needs to breathe."
It barely takes a second until Wingy is in the face of the moderate blue mare, making clear what she thinks about this. "Hey, dad isn't a mean pony!" Wingy yells right into her face, stunning the mare into silence.
“Did, did you just say this mean pony is your father?” the mare stutters out in surprise, still slightly shaken from that revelation, ignoring the second half of what Wingy just said. When Wingy replies with a soft “yes,” she begins to fear that she made a grave mistake by getting into the mare's face, only to be scooped up into a hug.
This lasts for several seconds, with Flitter and Rainbow just staring into confusion at the mare holding their little filly, completely ignoring their stallion’s cry for help. “I can’t believe that Mango made you walk on your bad leg.” She says in addition, fully aware of the bandages around her granddaughter's leg, while carefully placing the filly on her back.
“I can walk just fine, ma’am.” Wingy replies upset, attempting to climb down, only for a hoof pressing her back down again.
“None of that, little one. You hold tight, while Grandma Rose shows you around the house.” She replies in a voice that, while still sounding kind, makes unmistakingly clear that you don’t protest against her orders.
“What just happened?” a confused Rainbow Dash asks nopony in particular, getting it answered by Mango, who finally managed to crawl out from the pony pile.
“That’s Bloody Rose for you. Fiercest Drill Sergeant in the Night Guard, but softest pony in Equestria when it comes to her foals.” He replies with a sigh, hoping that the mare in question didn’t hear that. She doesn’t take kindly to being called soft in front of strangers.
You could say that Rainbow, and Flitter aren’t strangers, since they are engaged with her oldest son, but she doesn’t see it like that. So it doesn’t come as a surprise when she demands retribution, calling in even more help to deal with her unruly son. “Crescent, Crimson, help Belladonna and Eclipse to deal with Mango. The rest say hello to our unexpected guests.”
“Not again,” is everything Mango manages to complain before he is being tackled to the ground by four ponies, who start tickling him immediately. Being taken completely off guard by this, Rainbow and Flitter follow soon, each being attacked by three different ponies.
However, Wingy doesn’t notice this, nor the cries for help from all three of her parents, since Grandma Rose had already left the entrance hall before giving her orders. The tour of the house begins with a quick march through the second floor, which, except for a bathroom, holds the rooms of the older foals.
The tour of the first floor takes a bit longer, where she shows her another large bathroom, the two guest rooms, the rooms of the younger foals, the bedroom she shares with her herdsisters and their stallions before they stop in front of a single door. “Now you must be extremely quiet, we don’t want to wake anypony, should they be asleep.”
Only when Wingy promises this, Rose carefully opens the door and steps into the room, being relieved to see both ponies wide awake. As she turns around to close the door again she hears a squeal of delight before the weight on her back vanishes. “Ooooh, he is so cute, who is this little guy?”
When Rose turns around again, she isn’t surprised to see Wingy balancing on her uninjured hindleg, her front hooves leaning against the side of the crib, allowing her to peek over the edge.
“That is Lucky Moonrise, but who might you be? I only remember having nine, not ten daughters.” The pale yellow mare approaching Wingy from behind asks, only to get ignored by the filly, who is more focused on the little colt than anything else.
The filly is so focused on the colt, that she only notices the two mares around her when Stella picks him up. “Why don’t you tell me a bit about yourself, while I change your little brother.”
“I don’t have a brother.” Wingy replies devastated, much to the surprise of Stella, only to continue with something even more surprising. “maybe in fourteen weeks, when Mama D is supposed to go into labor.”
“Oh? Who is this mama D and where can I find her?” Stella asks curiously, while throwing the used diaper blindly over her back and into the direction of the trash bin, missing it by a few feet and instead hitting a very displeased Bloody Rose. If on purpose or not, is a question to never be answered.
“Well, the last time I saw her she was down in the entrance hall with mom and dad before Grandma Rose sicced everypony on them.” Unnoticed by the filly, Stella’s ears peek upon this piece of information, making her very happy. How could she not be, if this still unnamed filly called Rose her grandma, this means she is her grandfoal as well.
“Do you want to tell me a bit more about your parents?” she asks curiously, after placing Lucky Moonrise on the ground, sitting down in a nearby bean bag.
Instead of sitting down in another bean bag, Wingy lays down on the ground, her eyes fully focus on the little colt. “Well, both of my mothers are weatherponies, while dad is a Night Guard.”
With the knowledge that weatherpony is a pegasus only job, Stella tries to figure out who the father of this little filly could be. Until it dawns on her that Mango is the only pony fitting the description. Still this raises the question how Wingy could be her grandfoal, since she is far too old to be his own foal. "Would you like to play with Lucky for a bit, while Rose and I go talk with him?"
The squeal Stella gets in return is more than enough of an answer for her, and she quickly tells Wingy which Lucky's favorite plushies are, where she can find the building blocks, and where most of the other foalproof toys are stored before leaving the room alongside Rose.
When the pale yellow mare returns around ten minutes later with Flitter in tow, they are greeted by a very peculiar sight. Wingy lies on her stomach with the tiny colt lying directly next to her, only into the other direction and with the tip of his muzzle shoved under her. Would it not be for the closed eyes and the soft sound of snoring coming from those two, you could get the impression that Lucky Moonrise is nursing on the filly and not sleeping. "I wish I had a camera. Those two look so cute together."
Flitter had barely finished her sentence when she indeed hears the sound of a camera going off. She looks to her right, spotting Stella holding such a device, just as she makes another photo. "I take it, you want copies of those?"
"That would be nice." Flitter replies hopefully, relieved that her little filly is alright. In truth, she had been a bit worried when Bloody Rose walked off with her daughter like that, even if she only saw concern for the filly written in the mare's face.
Still, the timing couldn’t have been better for Wingy to be distracted like that, so they could talk with Silver Lining and Ivory Moon, without the risk of triggering another panic attack. Too fresh are the memories of what happened the last time they discussed what happened in Ponyville, and how bad Wingy took it when they didn’t notice her presence immediately and just keeped on talking.
“So, do you want to wake her for a late breakfast?” Stella asks after a few moments of silence, enjoying the sight of the two sleeping foals.
“No, after all the stress from the last week she deserves every bit of rest she can get.” Flitter replies softly before settling down directly next to them, dropping a wing over both foals to keep them warm.