//------------------------------// // Out the Window // Story: The Alicorn Academy // by kudzuhaiku //------------------------------// Ivy pondered the bowl in her talons. She had just got done licking it clean. It was a crude thing, lumpy, slightly misshapen, thicker on one side than the other, slightly lopsided. And it was very clean. Ivy had licked food from every inch of it. Clean enough to go back into the cupboard… Something her father sometimes did when mother wasn’t there to watch and scold. Her father, Discord, had made the bowl. His talent as a potter left a lot to be desired for most ponies, but Ivy was a big fan of his work. Something that he did to the clay was delicious. Ivy considered the bowl, looking at it. The glazing was getting much better. There were faint claw marks from when the bowl was spun on the potter’s wheel. Her father made all manner of things out of clay. Bowls, plates, cups, pitchers, everything. It was a practical skill to have, Ivy reflected, and her father was getting much better. He had been practicing his technique using his tail and that produced much smoother work. Yes, Ivy thought to herself, making tableware was practical. She began to drool slightly looking at the clay bowl. She looked around the small dining room, her eyes darting to and fro. She heard a giggle from the kitchen. One of those sorts of giggles. She sighed. Fluttershy and Discord were in the kitchen, and her mother was giggling. Ivy felt a faint blush on her cheeks. She lifted the bowl closer to her muzzle and sniffed. It was licked clean, but still smelled faintly of apple butter. And there was a rich mineral smell. She opened her maw. “Climbing Ivy,” Discord said in his most authoritative voice, “what are you doing?” She glanced over. Discord was in the doorway, and so was Fluttershy. Both of them were looking at her. Her mother’s wings were somewhat flared and she looked flustered. Flustershy, Discord sometimes called her. Ivy sat there, frozen, holding the bowl a few inches from her partially open mouth. “Eating breakfast?” Ivy said as innocently as possible. “You literally eat us out of house and home. I can’t make tableware fast enough!” Discord said with a hint of annoyance. Ivy’s tail twitched and thumped the floor. She squirmed on her cushion. Ivy stared at her bowl, and then over toward her father. The bowl inched closer to her snaggle toothed maw. “Don’t you dare!” Discord warned. “We’re almost completely out again. The cupboards are nearly bare.” He was tapping one of griffon talon fingers on the floor, the claw clicking. “I was just admiring your handiwork?” Ivy offered. Ivy’s eyes darted toward the window. It was open. “You do really great work dad. You keep getting better.” Ivy’s tone was sincere. “Do tell.” Discord said. Fluttershy giggled. Ivy could no longer help her self. The entire bowl disappeared in one crunch. She swallowed. “Ivy! You little troublemaker!” Discord shouted. Ivy bonelessly slithered out the window and was gone. Discord took off, running toward the front door on all fours, his body looping upward like an inchworm, his claws scrabbling to find purchase on the floor. Ivy looked down from her tree and saw her father in hot pursuit. His many chases after her had conditioned him well, and he moved with surprising grace and speed. He glared upward at her. Ivy blew a raspberry in encouragement. “Come down from that tree this instant!” Discord insisted. “No.” Ivy replied. Discord rose up, sitting on his haunches, lifting his forelegs and waving them in aggravation. “You little monster, come down here!” Ivy blew another loving raspberry. Discord began to scale the tree, his claws on his forelegs digging in, his sinuous body wrapping around the tree trunk. Ivy waited patiently for Discord to come a little closer. She wanted him to feel that he had a chance after all. She remembered her mother’s long talk about encouraging her father to be physically active and exercise his body. Ivy was snapped out of her reverie by the sound of her father slinking up the tree. Wow, she thought, he was getting faster. He was close, too close. She took off at a run over the tree branch, spread her mismatched wings, and leapt. She soared through the air. Whatever she was doing, it was the exact opposite of majestic. She wobbled and lurched, gliding in a curve, as one wing had more drag than the other. She landed against the trunk of another tree quite some distance away with a satisfying “whump!” Her claws sank into the wood. She scurried up the tree. She pondered briefly what would happen if her father ever caught her. He was glaring at her now, from the other tree, where she had just been sitting a few moments ago. Ivy belched, causing a whisp of smoke to poof forth. “Ivy!” Her mother scolded. “Say excuse me!” Ivy looked down at her mama. “Excuse me!” She mimicked in Fluttershy’s voice. Fluttershy giggled. Discord was looping his coils down the tree. He hit the ground running, his body low to the grass, running toward Ivy’s current tree. He stood below, somewhat breathless. “Daddy?” Ivy asked in her sweetest tone. “What Sprout?” “What will you do if you ever catch me?” “I haven’t figured that out yet. I’ve never been able to catch you. But when I do, I am going to do something awful!” “Oh,” replied Ivy, unimpressed, “is that all?” Ivy reached up and rubbed an antler. They itched. Discord was scaling the tree. Ivy looked down. “The important thing,” Discord huffed, “is that I keep trying!” Ivy rapidly climbed up the tree to gain altitude, her father just below, almost in reach. A couple of times he had nearly grabbed her tail. Ivy was going to have to scold her father again at some point. Tail pulling was a no no. Near the top of the tree, Ivy hurled herself into the open air. The wind tore at her blue pelt, stinging her eyes. Ivy realised that she had undershot her mark. She shrieked as the ground was rushing up to greet her. She passed under the branch she intended to land on, it was too far above her. This was going to hurt, Ivy thought, preparing her self for impact. She closed her eyes, bracing herself. She prepared to pull in her wings so they wouldn’t get hurt again. And something gently collided with her in the air. She felt two forelegs wrap around her lithe body. “Mama”! Ivy cried in relief. She pried her eyes open. The ground was close. Close enough for her tail to drag along the earth. She was set gently down on the ground. She stood there for a moment, trembling, remembering the last crash. She had broken a wing. She felt a dull ache in remembrance. She took a few deep breaths, trying to calm herself. “You alright Sprout?” Her father was sitting near her, the chase forgotten. He looked concerned. “Bad memory?” Ivy slithered into Discord’s waiting forelegs. She felt her mother embrace her again. Fluttershy ran her foreleg over her foal. Ivy had grown. Her body was long now, like Discord’s coils. Her neck had also extended. She was slender and graceful. Her soft blue coat was covered in random scaly patches along the front half. Her body was at least twice the length of a foal her age. It was supple and capable of folding back upon itself. The only thing about Ivy that announced her pony ancestry was her face and head, if one ignored the horrifying double rowed maw full of teeth and the feathers where a mane should be. Ivy took a deep shuddering breath. Flying both thrilled her and terrified her. Not that she could actually fly. The best she could do was glide. It was unlikely that she would ever truly fly. Ivy hated being in the air, having nothing to sink her claws into. She liked having her claws attached to something. But gliding was the fastest way to get from tree to tree. And she relished the fear, something she couldn’t quite figure out. She liked being terrified. “We’re going to have visitors today.” Fluttershy said softly in Ivy’s ear. “Who?” Ivy asked. “Oh, lots of ponies are coming over. I think somethings up. I think Pinkie might be planning you a party or something. I’m not sure.” “Will Applejack make it?” “I think so.” Fluttershy replied. “She’s getting fat.” Ivy said bluntly. “Oh Ivy, you mustn’t say that!” “But she is.” “She’s pregnant again Ivy.” “You’re getting fat too.” Fluttershy squeaked, her voice dying. Discord grinned but said nothing. He poked Fluttershy in the ribs with his tail. “How does Applejack keep getting pregnant?” Ivy asked. “We’ll explain that later.” Discord muttered in reply. “Mama,” asked Ivy, her brow furrowing, “are you pregnant?” She poked experimentally at her mother’s side. Fluttershy sighed. “How does this happen?” Ivy asked. “We wanted to give you a special gift Ivy, for being a good filly.” Discord said, dodging the issue. “Is something in there?” Ivy asked. “Yes Ivy.” Discord said, his voice gentle and soft. “Oh.” Ivy said. She pressed her head against her mother’s soft side. “I remember when Maplejack was born. It was icky. He was icky. I remember seeing him come out.” She fell quiet, her crest rising. “I’ve been wanting to ask, what’s a Maplejack?” “Applejack’s fourth foal.” Fluttershy replied. “I know that,” Ivy huffed, “but what is a Maplejack?” “Maple whiskey,” said Discord, “Applejack is named after apple whiskey. Stumpy named Maplejack in honour of his mother, and the fact that he likes his whiskey the same way that he likes his mares. With a lot of kick.” Discord chuckled. “What’s whiskey?” Ivy asked. “When you’re older.” “Oh pony farts.” Ivy swore. “Ivy!” Scolded Fluttershy. Ivy flinched. Ivy squirmed free from her parents and ventured to the edge of the yard where there was a large sand pile. The sand was scorched. And some of it had melted into blobs of glass. Bits of gravel had been added to the sand. She cocked her back end toward the sandpile and farted, releasing an enormous gout of purple-blue flame. “Ah, that feels good.” Ivy exclaimed. “That had been building for a while.” She scratched her backside with her talon claws, producing showers of sparks. “I think I’m going to start molting scales again.” Discord groaned. “We’ll have to find you a supply of scrap metal and ask Rarity for some gems.” Fluttershy said. “And daddy needs to make more of his pottery. I can’t stop eating it.” Ivy loped through the grass back toward her parents, sitting down on her haunches. “Mama?” Ivy asked. “Yes Ivy?” “What is it going to be?” “I don’t know yet Ivy.” “It is going to be like me, isn’t it?” Ivy inquired. “Probably,” said Discord, “beautiful and pretty, Princess of the Pines. You’re going to have to share your kingdom.” Ivy giggled for a moment, and then a serious look crept back on to her face. “Cheerilee called me a draconequus at school the other day.” Ivy said. “She used me as an example of a highly crossbred creature.” Ivy slumped. “The way she did it made me feel bad. I don’t think she meant to hurt my feelings, but the way it made everypony else look at me kinda hurt.” Fluttershy felt a pang deep in her chest. She inhaled sharply. “Is that what I am?” Ivy asked, looking at Discord, interrupting Fluttershy’s outburst before it happened. Discord said nothing at first, his mouth moving, but no words coming out. “I don’t know what a draconequus is,” he finally replied, “I know that I am one. I don’t know how many generations of hybrids there has to be before we become well and truly mixed. None of my legs match. But yours come in pairs Ivy.” Ivy didn’t understand everything that was said. “Gala and Honeycrisp got in trouble and had to stay after school.” “Why?” Discord and Fluttershy said together. “They told everypony to stop looking at me and they told Cheerilee to shut up. Gala threatened to applebuck somepony for laughing.” Discord wrapped a foreleg around Fluttershy and pulled her close. She buried her face into his chest. Her wings wiggled, her chest rising and falling. “Cheerilee is a good pony though. I know she didn’t mean anything by it. She’s always looking out for me and making sure the other foals don’t tease me.” Ivy sighed. It had been bothering her for a while. It felt good to get it out, like farting. “If Gala applebucked somepony I think they’d explode.” Discord said absent mindedly. “Those fillies are going to be as big, or bigger, than their uncle Big Mac.” He looked directly at Ivy. “You probably don’t understand it yet, but you are a very lucky little filly having friends like Gala and Honeycrisp. And little Appleseed. Never forget that. And don’t ever take it for granted.” Ivy nodded, hearing her mother’s soft sobs. She wiggled forward, sitting next to her mother and nosing her. She felt herself pulled in, being squished between her father and mother. “It doesn’t matter what we are Ivy.” Discord said, stroking her back. “What matters is, what we make ourselves. We have to give them options.” “I don’t understand.” Ivy mumbled. “Well,” stated Discord, “we are crossbreeds. We can’t change that. But we can choose to become good friends. We can choose to love. We can choose to do good. If we do these things, those that know and love us won't think of us as crossbreeds.” Ivy closed her eyes, taking the words in. “Instead, others will call us friend. Family. Loved one. Crossbreed will be the last thing on their mind.” “What?” Ivy asked. “My dearest Fluttershy, what am I to you?” Discord asked. Fluttershy took a few deep shuddering breaths to compose herself. She wiped her nose with her foreleg. “You are my mate. You are one of my best friends. I can’t pick out a very bestest friend, sorry…” she squeaked, “you are Ivy’s father. And something I love dearly.” “And what is Ivy?” Discord continued. “My foal. My filly. Your filly. Our family.” Fluttershy sniffled. “Do you think of us as crossbreeds?” Discord asked in a low voice. “NO!” Fluttershy said sharply. “I rest my case,” stated Discord, raising his eyebrow, “do you understand Ivy?” Ivy said nothing, but nodded, rubbing her cheek against her father. “Your antlers are getting a bit pokey.” Discord said. “We should get your mother sorted out before company arrives.” Discord said, hugging them both gently.