Celestia’s Palace
Taz awoke with a groan as the light of his mom’s sun shone brightly on his face. His only thought was, ‘I forgot to close the curtains’. He swore his mom gave him a bedroom with a window to the east on purpose.
It was another day, another day of having to put up with his rather unusual family. Worse, it was another day he knew he would put off doing what he had to do. He wanted too… he needed too… he had to go see Sunshine. He needed to apologize for what he said yesterday, he needed to try and explain things. He needed to have that awkward conversation; he just did not want to have that awkward conversation.
As such, he found himself making every excuse under the sun not to have that conversation; he even agreed to go out with Ana today, something that always made her happy. He stumbled out of bed only for his hoof to get caught on some garbage on the floor.
“What I need to do is clean up my room,” he laughed at that. Yes, there was a lot he needed to do, yet little he would actually do, at least physically anyway. He’d make up excuses to get out of the stuff he did not want to do. After all, being lazy is a full time job.
“I wonder if my moms made it back in yesterday.”
He groaned as he realized that to find the answer to that question he would have to leave the room. Such things involved movement, movement hurt, as such he did not want to move, he wanted to crawl back in bed go to sleep.
“Best get this over with.”
He moved, as expected, it hurt. However, there was a reward waiting downstairs. The aroma of pancakes could be smelled all throughout the castle. No doubt something the designers did on purpose. It was accompanied by the smell he knew would get his parents downstairs soon: Coffee.
“That’ll get everyone up,” he chuckled. Taz tried it once when he was younger; it was not his cup of tea, although he did enjoy the smell.
Amazingly, he managed to put one hoof in front of the other and found himself moving out the door. His intent was to head straight to the kitchen, but a pressure from his bladder informed him that he needed to make one stop on the way there.
…
A sight greeted him when he made his way downstairs, a sight that was as foreign to him as the thought of Ataxia being polite. Princess Luna was at the table, reading. He rubbed his eyes, thinking that maybe he was imagining it. When that did not work, he lightly hit his own hoof.
The pain informed him that he was not dreaming. “Luna?” Taz asked.
The night princess did not look up.
“Princess Luna?” Taz asked again as he made his way to her.
She jerked her head back, the bags under her eyes let him know that it had been quite the late night for her. “Prince Taz,” Luna yawned. “What time is it?”
“Seven-thirty. What are you looking at exactly?”
She looked down at the book, as if to double check it was still there. “A most infuriating book. Seriously, how does Twilight stand to read such trifle all the time?”
Taz just laughed. With a wave of his hoof at a nearby serving pony signaling for him to bring his breakfast, he joined the princess at the table. “I think it depends on the book, Luna. What book is it anyway?”
Luna shut the book and slid it over to him. “Equestria’s Big Book of Riddles? Luna, why are you reading this?”
“I had the most infuriating hunt yesterday. A lead came in that an escapee was on the loose in the remains of Appleloosa.”
“Oh, what was it?” Taz always enjoyed these stories. He was never allowed to go on one himself, something about him being too young. Although, he suspected it was for another reason though. After all, even Starlight had been on a hunt, albeit with Night and Luna there.
“A sphinx actually.”
“A sphinx?!” A noise startled the two. They both turned their heads at the speaker to see Princess Night walk into the room. “I thought they were all gone.”
“They’re rare,” Luna admitted, “but they’re not gone, at least not all of them. This one survived because my sister locked her in Tartarus.”
Taz cringed when Luna mentioned her lost sister. He had never known such loss in his lifetime. While he had lots of stories and pictures of his lost brother, it was not the same. That was all he was to him, pictures and stories. He had never known Dayspring personally; as such the true depth of that suffering were a mystery to him.
Although, based on the breakdown his family would have every year on the anniversary of his death, he was very glad not to know such pain.
“What did it say? What did it look like? What did it…“ Night was on a roll, she could go on for days if no one put a stop to it.
“Night, after breakfast,” Taz said in a loud voice. He was already rubbing a headache that was starting to set in.
She blew her brother a raspberry before sitting across from him to join them for breakfast.
Night noticed the book sitting in front of Taz and slid it over with her magic. She smiled as she read the title. “Luna, this isn’t going to help you.”
“Trust me, I know that.”
“What was your riddle anyway?”
“Closer than you expect but never seen, fighting for a love never known, older than eyes can see, what am I,” Luna spouted the words off from memory, as much as she tried otherwise; she could not-not forget them.
Night whistled, “Good luck with that.”
Taz’s jaw dropped, “Wait, you’re not going to help her?”
Night just smiled. “Nah, it seems to me that the riddle was meant just for her, it’s up to Luna to figure it out on her own. I’ll let it go.”
“Night… not… solving… a… problem? My head hurts,” Taz went back to rubbing his head with his hoof.
“Shut up,” Night said with a smile at her brother’s overblown display of frustration.
Breakfast arrived soon after for Taz, he took to eating and found that it did wonders to sooth the pain in his head, he knew that logically it would be something about the nutrition entering his body causing it to settle down, or something like that.
All he cared about was that the headache was going away.
Or at least the headache was going away. “Taz! Are you ready for a fun day!?”
He looked up, a little bundle of troubles was walking down the stairs with a big smiled plastered on her face at the sight of the stallion. “Hey, Ana.”
“Is Starlight up?” Night asked her daughter.
“Yeah, she had to use the restroom though.”
Taz went back to his breakfast as the two of them started talking; girl talk was never an interest of his. While he enjoyed the meal, he did notice that the book Luna had been reading vanished in a flash of purple magic. A quick glance at his sister’s horn confirmed his suspicion. Night was indeed interested in Luna’s riddle.
‘Let it go indeed.’ Taz smiled as he figured out what was going on. He knew his sister all too well.
“Hey champ! What did you end up with?”
The voice brought Taz’s eyes back to the doorway. He looked up in time to see his moms come down the stairs. Yesterday, he had told everyone what had happened, everyone that was awake and there that is. He knew that such news would quickly disperse throughout the palace. However, Twilight and Rainbow were not in the palace. The two of them went missing for the entire day.
It seemed they had not heard the news yet.
“He didn’t get one,” Ana answered the question for him. He looked up at her, grateful.
Rainbow’s eyes went wide. “What do you mean?”
“It’s your talent, isn’t it?” Twilight asked. Taz just nodded. “Son, I’m so sorry.”
“It’s ok, mom, I’m done with that,” every time he said those words, it reaffirmed it in his mind; it made it that much easier to deal with. Ana sat down next to him, she ran a hoof softly down his back.
He appreciated the gesture, but it was unnecessary. He really was done with it.
“So, it’s true then?”
All eyes turned to the newest mare to walk into the dining room. Ataxia paused at the doorway. She had heard the rumors, but this was not the same, this was the truth, straight from the pony’s mouth.
They all held their breath as Taz answered the question. “Yes, it’s true. I’ll never have a cutie mark.”
“That sucks. What’s for breakfast?”
Every jaw in the room dropped at once, disbelief permeated in the air. No one present could believe this turn of events. Ataxia just looked on, confused at what they were gawking at. “What?”
“That’s it? That’s all you got to say?” Night asked; her own shock was palatable at her wife’s words.
“What? You want me to make a big deal out of it?” Ataxia asked, surprised at her wife’s reaction.
“You’ve been teasing me for months for not having a cutie mark, and now you just…” Taz could not finish the sentence; it was all too unreal for her not to care.
Ataxia laughed. “Only because then it was your own fault, but now we know it’s not. I’m not going to give you shit about something you can’t control,” Ataxia walked by Taz and ruffled his mane with a hoof. “Trust me; I’d never tease you about something that’s not your fault.” The mare looked down at that, she knew from experience what that felt like.
“I asked her not to,” Ana whispered in his ear. Taz just nodded, that made a lot more sense than Ataxia suddenly growing a conscious. While Ataxia always had the tough mare persona on the outside, when it came to Ana, she was nothing more than a big old softy.
“Where were you two yes-“ Night cut her question to her mom short when she noticed a dark blue bruise on Twilight’s neck. “Mom, what happened?” She tilted her head to get a better look at a bruise. One that looked rather painful to the mare.
Twilight blushed, she had thought her hair covered it, it did not. Rainbow just wrapped a hoof around the alicorn. “Oh, that was my doing,” Rainbow said with a grin on her face as she kissed her blushing wife on the cheek.
“Aren’t you two a little old to be leaving each other hickeys?” Ataxia asked with no small amount of sarcasm in her voice.
“I hope that day never comes.” Rainbow replied.
“Only my parents,” Night sighed as she moved her eyes back down to her meal. For his part, Taz just shrugged, he did not get the big deal of it all. His parents loved each other, that was a good thing as far as he was concerned. That Night seemed embarrassed by it at times seemed more like her hang-up than a problem with them.
He did notice a predatory grin on Ataxia’s face when she looked back at her wife, or more specifically, when she looked at her wife’s neck. Taz had a feeling that his youngest sister would soon have a bruise matching Twilight’s.
“So Taz, do you want to go flying today?” It was nothing for Rainbow to carry him while she flew, something that Taz enjoyed as much as Dayspring had.
“Sorry, he’s going out with me today,” Ana practically shouted the words; her excitement at spending time with her favorite uncle was obvious.
It was something that caused Twilight and Rainbow to chuckle and Shimmering Night to frown.
“You sure Taz? I’ll gladly take the day off,” Rainbow said with a smile, tactfully ignoring the death glare she was getting from her wife at ‘volunteering her time’ despite them being a day behind to cheer up their son.
Taz turned around, “Sorry, I did promise I’d spend today with Ana.”
That settled it for Rainbow, a promise was a promise. Twilight simply looked at Ana and sighed. “Well, I guess you can have another day off your lessons. Besides, it’s not like we don’t have to play catch-up or anything.”
Ana gulped, “Sorry grandma, I didn’t have a chance to ask you before.”
Twilight walked over and placed a hoof on her granddaughter’s shoulders. “It’s all right; we’ll just call this a friendship lesson.”
“You two want company?”
Taz and Ana looked over at the stairs; Starlight was walking down for her breakfast. A look at Ana’s face told Taz all he needed to know about inviting her sister along.
“I’d invite you along, but Luna and Night need your help to figure out a riddle,” Taz grinned a devilish grin at his sister as he said those words. Night and Luna both glared at him.
“Riddle? What riddle, I love riddles! C’mon, what’s the riddle?”
Luna and Night both gave the young stallion a death glare. He simply blew them a raspberry in response.
In the middle of her sister’s rambling, Ana brought him closer to her, “That was mean you know.”
Taz just smiled. “I know.”
Twilight and Rainbow soon joined their son for breakfast. Twilight even found herself interested in what Luna’s riddle could possibly mean, however, after missing the entire court yesterday, she simply had no time to figure it out. They were backlogged with meetings today.
Something the royal guards came in and tactfully reminded her about.
A white unicorn in royal armor walked in, saluted, and promptly gave his report. “Princess Twilight Sparkle, your first meeting is in three minutes.”
At first Twilight did not notice, lost in her own head at what ‘closer than you expect but never seen’ meant. Rainbow prodded her back to reality. “Hey Twi, we got three minutes and you haven’t touched your breakfast.”
“Oh shoot,” she began eating as fast as she could. Rainbow just smiled, it was not the first time she had to remind Twilight to eat. Many a nights would see her up late working on some report, a cold dinner pushed to the side. Rainbow made it her job to remind Twilight that she had to eat regardless what she was working on.
“What are you two doing today?” Ataxia asked the two kids, a yawn overtaking her as she did so.
“Oh, I got a great line up of events planned today!” Ana shouted, much to the detriment of everyone at the table. The fair was in town and she wanted to go to it with him.
Taz turned to her, “Don’t ruin the surprise,” his smile lit up her world.
“Okay.”
Ataxia laughed at the sudden one-eighty her daughter did, Night did not.
“Princess Twilight, it’s time,” the royal guard pronounced.
Twilight groaned, got up, and sighed at a half-eaten meal. Rainbow simply kissed her on the cheek, “C’mon, I’ll sneak you some food later.”
“Easy for you to say, you’ll just sleep on the throne like you always do.”
“Do you want my help?”
“No, no, no, no, no, no…” Twilight started panicking at that, last time Rainbow actually tried to help do something to run Equestria, well… some things were better left unremembered. No, Rainbow served better by just being there. Her presence more than made up for the distractions she would cause.
A sound dampening spell over her muzzle helped too. Twilight knew jackhammers that were quieter than Rainbow’s snoring.
Taz got up too. He looked at Ana and smiled. “Well, shall we get going?”
“Yep!” Ana laughed as she jumped up out of her seat and followed Taz out the door.
“Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do!” Ataxia shouted.
Taz just laughed. “So we can do anything we want?”
Ataxia chuckled.
Night elbowed her in the gut when they were gone. Ataxia just rubbed the spot with her other hoof. “What?”
“Don’t tell them that.”
“Oh relax. They’re just kids.”
“Yeah right.”
Ataxia sighed inward. ‘Great, she’s mad.’ “If you didn’t want them to go out, why didn’t you just tell her no?”
“Because she’s thirteen, telling her no is the surest way to ensure she does it.”
“What’s your problem, Night?” Ataxia glared at her. Every set of eyes turned to the two mares at the table. Night was about to reply when she noticed the looks their argument was getting them, including a look from Starlight.
“We’ll talk about it later,” Night's voice was deadpan as she turned her attention back to her dinner.
“Oh I don’t bucking think so,” Ataxia’s tone became serious. Even at her best, she hated the passive aggressive bullshit that Night would pull once in a while. She lit up her horn and teleported the two of them upstairs.
Something that did her stomach no favors, but between that and sitting next to a mad wife, she chose the lesser of two evils.
“Ataxia!” Night shouted as her rump suddenly made contact with the floor of her bedroom. Ataxia simply grabbed her stomach with her hoof in a desperate attempt to get it to settle down.
Even though she was mad at Ataxia for what she did, NIght could not help but feel sorry for her at the same time. “You ok?”
“I will be, give me a minute.”
Night just laughed at that. “You know that was dumb, right?”
Ataxia just nodded when her cheeks puffed out, “I think I’m gonna-”
Night levitated a basket close to the mare. For a second it looked like she was going to use it. The moment passed without issue though. “Lay down,” she gestured for her wife to get on the bed.
Ataxia just nodded. She moved to the bed and stretched out, letting her stomach settle on her side without any pressure from her weight or the bed.
Night went and sat next to her wife, she stroked her mane with a hoof. “You know teleporting has never sat well with you, but doing it after a meal, that was a new level of stupid even for you.”
“I know,” she rubbed her sore stomach with a hoof. “But I’m tired of having this fight with you.”
That made Night feel worse, Ataxia’s suffering, her using the one spell she hated most in the entire world, it was all because of her. “You know I don’t think they have a healthy relationship.”
“Yeah, but you’re not exactly the Princess of Good Decisions yourself,” Ataxia laid her head on her wife’s lap. Her weariness of being up all night was making itself known. Something made worse by the fact that the night court was especially busy last night.
Night laughed at the old joke. “I suppose that’s true. Still, I don’t like the looks Ana gives him.”
“You’re still worried about that?”
“It’s wrong.”
“Night, it’s just a silly crush. You know nothing will come of it.”
“How do you know that? She is your daughter after all.”
Ataxia rolled her head to the side to get a better look at her wife. She smiled at how cute Night looked right now. Her Rainbow mane was starting to cover her eyes. “She might be my daughter, but she’s a lot smarter than me. Besides, she's more like Fluttershy than me.”
Shimmering Night smiled at memories of her Aunt Fluttershy. It was true, although Ana preferred styling to helping animals, there were still a lot of similarities between them. “So, you don’t think we have anything to worry about?”
“Nah, I don’t think Taz likes her like that.”
“Oh, why not?”
“'Cause she’d be pregnant by now if he did,” Ataxia laughed at her joke.
Night did not.
…………………………………………………………
Canterlot
Taz followed a very excited Ana out the palace and down the steps to the city. The two of them received several glances from the palace guards as they walked by. Manly due to the way Ana was acting in front of them.
“Oh, this is going to be so much fun!” Ana shouted as she bounced around the larger stallion. Taz just smiled at her antics. Ana was always so calm and reserved, or at least that’s what every pony else told him anyway. That was a side of the mare that Taz never saw, he only saw the energetic, hyper young filly that was simply happy when he was around.
He soon found a grin had appeared on his face. With someone like that around, it’s hard to be anything but happy. “So, where to first?”
“Oh, let’s go to the fair!”
Taz laughed, “I figured you would want to go there, however, there is just one problem.”
“Yeah, what’s that?”
“It’s doesn’t open for five hours.”
Those words stole the wind from her sails.
“But we can probably catch a movie while we wait.”
“Really? Sweet!” Ana started down the street.
“Other way!” Taz called out.
“Oh, I knew that.”
“Sure you did,” Taz smiled as he led the way, Ana quickly caught up and started talking his ear off about all the new designs she wanted to try out with manestyles.
That’s when Taz really started to pay attention. More than one of them got caught absentmindedly agreeing to be her new test pony and ended up in some cockamamie new hair due. The Twin’s manes had yet to fully grow back after last time.
“No, Ana. I’m alright,” Taz caught that last question.
“Please, I know the perfect haircut for you, it’s not too short and not to fancy, you’ll love it!”
“I like my hair as is.”
“Oh, I do too, I just think that if you trim up your bangs, get an ACV wash, detangle the knots, and then we do a protective styling at the ends you’d look so pretty,” Taz glared at her, “I mean, handsome,” she corrected.
“Yeah, I don’t think so. Besides, what happened to liking my hair as is?”
“I do, I just think I could make you look better is all,” Ana tilted her head to get a better view of his mane.
“I’m still going to have to go with no.”
‘Luna please don’t let her…’ Taz did not even have time to finish that thought.
“Please!” He knew not to look, every part of his being told him to look forward, it told him to keep his eyes off the young mare, to look anywhere else but at her face.
He looked.
Ana’s eyes were puffed up, her brow crossed and her lips pouted forward. She looked… she looked… she looked adorable.
“Ana…”
“Please…”
Taz hated himself for being so weak, but he had no choice. His fate was sealed as soon as he saw those eyes. “Fine.”
“Oh thank you thank you thank you! I promise you won’t regret it!”
“Too late,” Taz said under his breath. Ana heard it, but said nothing. She pressed her coat up to his as they walked the rest of the way to the movie theater. He thought of something, “What is an ACV wash anyway?”
“Oh that’s an Apple Cider Vinegar wash; it’s great for cleansing the hair and scalp, treating dandruff, and restoring the pH of your mane!”
“Great… so my mane will smell like vinegar for a week. Is it too late for me to change my answer?”
“Yes,” Ana glared at him, Taz just shrugged. “Besides, I’ll put some oils and spearmint in it. I promise you it won’t stink for long.”
“Pinkie promise?”
“Pinkie promise.”
Somehow, as they approached the ticket booth, that did make him feel better about the whole thing.
……………………………….
The movie was a disaster. It was a cheesy action fic that had way too many fake explosions and not enough plot. Taz walked out of the theater shaking his head at the waste of bits.
“C’mon Taz, it wasn’t that bad.”
“Wasn’t that bad? How many explosions did you count?”
“Ah….”
“I lost track at eighty-six.”
“So? I thought you liked action movies.”
“Yes, when the action supports the plot, not the other way around. I swear to Luna that’s the last Misaki Barb movie I ever see.”
Ana just shrugged, “Your loss.”
“Wait, you liked it, how?”
She tapped him on his head with a hoof. “Sometimes you just gotta turn your brain off. I was expecting two hours of explosions going in, and, well, that’s what I got.”
Taz just stared at her, speechless. ‘Is it really that simple?’
“C’mon, you’ve seen his other movies, if you were honestly expecting anything different at this point, I’d say the problem was with you.”
“Keep your logic out of my bitching!”
“You’re lucky you’re cute,” she walked by him on her way to the next destination. “Lets go slowpoke, I want to whoop your flank again!”
“Wait, what?” Taz asked, Ana gestured to their destination. An arcade was set up at the corner of the street: The Button Mash Arcade.
“Oh no,” Taz sighed as he followed his niece into the arcade. At this time of day it was relatively empty, save for a few ‘way too old to be in here’ ponies, but he really could not blame them. ‘The day fun has an age limit is the day I kill myself.’ Taz thought with a smile.
Of course, that was not going to help him now. Ana was already heading to the one machine he did not want to play, but of course it was the one machine she wanted to play.
He cringed as she put the bit in and the two words he hated most in the world popped up.
“Pony Kombat!”
“Do we have to?”
“Yes, now get your flank over here before I get an easy kill.”
“Ugh, fine.”
It truth, Taz was quite good at the game. He had logged hundreds of hours playing his favorite character: Sorraia. He could easily place in the top ten of any competitions held in all of Canterlot, heck, in all of Equestria.
There was just one problem. His opponent was hoofs-down number one. For every hour Taz had on the game, Ana had six.
Seconds passed before the ending sounded. “Finish him!”
Taz could only groan as his favorite character’s spine was torn out through her mouth.
“Fatality!”
“Sweet, look at the blood.”
Taz glared at her, everypony else always talked about how passive she was, how nice, charming, kindhearted, and subdued Ana would be.
He did not see it, ever.
“Okay, you won now, can we play something else?”
Ana reached in her pouch and dropped a large bag of bits on the game controls. “Oh no, we’re done when you beat me or when this bag runs dry.”
The look on her face told him that yes; those were indeed the only two options.
……
Three hours later…
Taz tried every trick he knew, every single thing he could think of to pull off that ever elusive victory. He was sure that his skills in the game increased several fold during this course of playing. Sadly, it was not meant to be.
He reached into the bag to pull out another bit. ‘I got her this time.’
Nothing, there were no bits left. “Horseapples.”
Ana smiled as she looked down in the empty bag, “You were so close that last time too. Oh well, let’s get going.”
“Wait, one more!”
“Taz we’re out of bits.”
“I got some,” He started reaching into the bag.
“We can play more at home; we gotta save some to get into the fair.”
“Oh, sure,” he started to walk out of the arcade, downcast.
“Relax, you did almost had me that last time.”
“Yeah, I did. Didn’t I?”
“Yep!” She walked closer to him, pressing their coats together.
She stopped, dead.
Taz looked back, wondering why Ana was suddenly no longer by his side, why she no longer had her coat pressed to his. His answer came from a very familiar, very unexpected voice directly in front of him.
“Hey Taz! I was wondering where you made off to.”
Taz looked forward, the pegasus filly was standing right in front of him, a smile on her face that spoke of someone very happy to see him. “Hey Nighttide, what are you doing out here?”
“Looking for you actually, I swung by the palace, but they said you weren’t there, they said you went to take your niece out on the town.”
“Yeah actually,” Taz looked back, his smile left his face upon seeing Ana. Gone was the fun little energetic filly that was way too good at video games. In her place was a shy little unicorn that seemed way too interested in a rock on the ground. “I promised Ana that I’d spend the day with her today.”
“Oh, can I tag along?”
There was a whimper sound, so small he could barely hear it, yet he knew exactly what that sound was and what it meant. Memories of the disapproving look Ana had over Starlight wanting to come with them came back to his mind.
Nighttide was fun, a lot of fun. He knew that if she tagged along they would do fun things together, or at least, they’d do things he enjoyed. He wanted to say yes, he was about to until a memory came back to his mind, unbidden. The words Rainbow told him all those years ago.
“Remember Taz, a pony is only as good as their word. When you promise something, you're making a pact; you are saying that you're good for it. Intentionally breaking a promise is the sign of somepony who has no loyalty, no honor. Never make a promise you can't keep, and always keep the promises you make, even if you don’t want too.”
“Sorry, but I did promise to take her out alone,” while the ‘alone’ part was not the letter of the promise, it was the spirit of the promise.
“It’s okay. Hey, my family will be available this weekend; if you can find time you should come meet them.”
“I’d love too.”
“Catch you later?”
“Later.”
“Good talking to you Ana!” Nighttide said with a smile at that old joke and waved them both goodbye.
As soon as she was gone, Ana walked up to Taz. “Thank you for that.”
It sucked seeing Nighttide go, but Taz figured they would catch up later, right now he had a promise to keep. “Hey, I promised I’d spend the day with you and I’ll keep that promise.”