"Looks boring."
Those were the words to instantly come out of Sister's mouth when she was told where she was going to be residing for the next while. Fluttershy's cottage was so far away from anything, Sister felt as if she'd never get to do anything fun. Fortunately, that's exactly why Grif asked Fluttershy to let his sister stay with them. Being so far away from everything, Grif felt it would be easy to watch her and keep her out of trouble. Knowing his sister,if she lived in town she would have performed naughty things for the stallions of Ponyville. The thing with her being so stupid meant that she was completely fine with the fact that she had turned into a pony. For her, that just meant her average partner would have a larger, horse-sized--
"Place isn't so bad," Grif said, trotting across the bridge that lead to the home, Fluttershy and Sister on either side of him. "Nice. Cosy. Lots of nice napping spots. On the opposite side of town from Sarge. It's pretty much the perfect place for me."
"I thought the perfect place for you was in an Oreo factory, fatty."
"I'd yell at you and correct you, but I guess that might be a slightly better place than this," Grif admitted, but then siled slyly with Fluttershy. "But having another relaxing person around is pretty fun."
"Uh-huh. Except she isn't fat like you."
"I'm not fat, I'm big boned."
"Fat boned, more like it."
"You see, now I kinda wish we didn't go back to Blood Gulch..."
"Yeah, but then you wouldn't get to rub it in my face of how good of a brother you are."
"Do you guys always fight like this?" Fluttershy asked meekly as they neared the door. She accepted Grif's request because she knew how much he cared about his sister, but she didn't realize how much bickering they would be doing. The few times she's seen Rarity and Sweetie Belle yelling at each other seems like healthy debate compared to these two.
"They started it," the two siblings said in unison.
"Whatever," Grif added afterwords. He gently pushed at the door and entered the cottage, instantly making way to the couch. From the kitchen emerged a running dog who jumped on the couch at the same time as Grif. "Hey, girl. Didja miss me?"
"That another one of Tucker's kids?"
"No, this is Hailey," Grif commented as he began munching on his snacks, placing the box on the arm of the furniture. "When I first came to this place, Fluttershy had this dog and nobody could come near it without her snapping at everyone. She was okay with me though, so I kinda adopted her.She doesn't like many people besides me and Fluttershy."
"That's cool, in a stupid cliched movie kind of way," Sister chortled, walking up to it.
"Hey, slow down. I don't want to have to take you to the hospital for getting bit by a dog."
"I could take it in a fight," Sister said, then held her hoof out to the dog. "Just gotta be relaxed and they won't feel threatened."
Hailey simply looked her hoof, then rested her head on Grif's leg, begging for a bite of Grif's food.
"Pft, bitch," Sister grunted, putting her hoof back down.
"Hey, at least she's not growling at you. Probably knows that you're my sister," Grif replied, breaking off a small piece of the donut and giving it to the dog. "You only get this, though."
"Oh, speaking of food, I should probably feed the animals! I've been gone all day," Fluttershy said, starting for the door.
"I'll do it," Grif said voluntarily, hopping off his spot, Hailey jumping with him, excited at the prospect of food. Looking at Fluttershy, he squinted slightly as he thought of his words. "I want you girls to, uh... talk, I guess. I don't know, really. Just try to get to know each other a bit more. Tell a few stories to break the ice, y'know? Talk about yourself."
Fluttershy and Sister sat near each other, remaining silent for two whole minutes. They didn't know what to say to each other, nor did they really believe they had any common ground.
"So, uh, what do you do around here?" Sister asked finally.
"Well, I mostly care for the wild animals that live in the surrounding area. They mostly come here for food, but while they're here they tend to play together and nap. Some ponies in Ponyville also pay me to look after their pets, and I use that money to feed the other ones as well as myself and Grif."
"You buy Grif's food for him?" Sister asked in surprise.
"Yes. It was my duty to look after your brother when he first came here," she said, blushing lightly. "And he's been so nice and helpful. He always seemed happy to lend a hoof around the house. It's the least I could do."
"Wait, wait, wait. Grif helps you?" Fluttershy nodded. "Grif Grif." Another nod. "Huh. Never thought I'd see the day he actually did anything for anyone."
"Doesn't Grif do things for you?"
"Pft, rarely," Sis rolled her eyes in annoyance. "If anything, he prevents me from doing my own thing, claiming 'I'll get hurt', or 'I'm embarrassing the family'," Sister grunted sourly. "The few times that bitch does do anything for me, it's just so he can say how good of a brother he is and how bad of a sister I am."
"Oh no, Grif doesn't work like that," Fluttershy said, shaking her head tightly. "He's been here for a few months, and I can tell that when he helps you, it's because he cares."
"Whatever, I guess," she scoffed lightly. "Kinda hate him sometimes, but I guess that's just because he's family."
A small thumping sound came from behind Sister, and she turned her head to see a small white rabbit looking at her.
"Who's this little guy?" Sister asked as she bent down to examine the small creature, smiling sweetly at it.
"That's Angel. He's been a longtime friend. I've known him almost as long as I've been living on the ground."
"What do you mean?"
"Oh, um... I suppose you don't have cloud cities where you're from, do you?"
"We totally do, but you only get to go to it when you die."
"Well..." Fluttershy said slowly, not following what she meant. "You see how we have wings?"
"Uh, you mean the things that make me look even hotter than I was before?" she asked as she unfurled her wings and looked at them. "No, I totally haven't."
"Well, most Pegasus like us live in a town called Cloudsdale, not too far from here. It's a lot more active than this place, which is mostly why I left. Everyone seems much nicer in Ponyville, so I was content to stay. Rainbow Dash was my only friend from Cloudsdale, but she moved to live by herself on her own cloud just outside of Ponyville."
"That's cool," she said, looking from Fluttershy then back to Angel, rump still in the air. "So do you, like, sleep with animals?"
"Um, sometimes," Fluttershy mumbled. "Some of the smaller ones have a nightmare and I let them sleep on my bed to feel safer. Also if it's the winter and it's too cold outside I let them in as well to keep warm."
"Really? That's kinda hot," Sister replied, looking back to the confused looking critter in front of her. "One of my friends slept with their dog and told me it was fun."
"Wait, what?" Fluttershy asked, blushing furiously. "No, no, I never would do anything with any of my animal friends!"
Sister shrugged. "I get that."
"Have... have you done anything with animals?" Fluttershy asked, instantly regretting asking that.
"Almost. This one time in high school, these guys bet me a hundred bucks and a bottle of painkillers to put a gerbil up my--"
"Sis!" Gri yelled as he began walking towards the house, hearing every word she was saying.
"What? You told me to share!" Kaikaina yelled, standing up and facing the window.
"Share family friendly stories!"
"It was the family pet! And I was totally being friendly with it!"
"It would have died!"
"You don't know that for sure! We could have found out if you didn't tattle on me to our parents!" Sister sighed happily, turning back to Fluttershy. "Grif's idea of fun is sitting around, sleeping and getting fat all day. Any time I try to have my own kind of fun, he ruins it."
"Mostly because your idea of fun will either end up with you breaking a bone, pregnant, kidnapped, or all three," Grif grunted in reply as he entered from the kitchen.
"Whatever you say. I'm going to go hang out with the animals!" Sister huffed, walking past him.
Fluttershy looked at Grif with a small look of worry.
"Don't worry, we won't leave any animals unattended around her..." Grif mumbled.
Fluttershy let out a relieved sigh and followed Grif into the yard, feeling like this might not have been the best of ideas.