“Whose boneheaded idea was this ‘Contract’ anyway?” Loki grumbled as she tried to smooth out the uncomfortable dress she was wearing. She hated it. It was too tight, it rubbed her fur the wrong way and it didn’t go with her colors. Well to be fair nothing she had found had lived up to that mark.
“You. It was you, Loki.” Crimson said as she poured herself some water from the sink in the kitchen, her simple sundress fitting her well. “You ask that every time these renegotiations come up; twice a year like clockwork you forget that you were the one that did this to us.”
Conrad sat conspicuously quiet, reading from a tablet set in front of him. He carefully ate to avoid getting any breakfast on his shirt and tie. Having been tailored for pegasi it had the appropriate holes for his wings. This was the only reason he tolerated it.
Loki apparently gave up trying to fix her dress and grabbed an apple instead. Biting into it she continued to talk. “S’well, ah cahn’t be te h’only one who’sh come to hate it right? So why do we keep doing it?”
Alexia, who had been meditating silently to the side opened her eyes and joined the conversation. “Because despite the hassle we have to deal with twice a year, it keeps things easy to manage. If mostly because it keeps Precise happy. Remember when we decided to try things without ‘The Contract’? The summer of ‘28?”
Loki’s eyes bugged, apple spewed from her mouth explosively. “Wait! That’s what happened?! I thought we disturbed an ancient Indian Burial Ground or something when we expanded The Manor that year!” Loki began to rub her chin thoughtfully. “Huh. Then whose spirits did I appease with my offerings then?”
A chill passed through the other parents. The events occurring from May 3rd to the emergency meeting of August 1st 2028 were never to be relived. Keeping the Contract going, and subsequently keeping Precise Order happy, were the only relevant things they needed to remember.
Alexia shook the chill of those dark times away. With a quick flick of magic, her necklace transformed into its crown form. She wore no clothes as a point of pony pride, temporary anthropomorphisms aside. The crown offered a suitable air of formality to her presence, another thing Precise was rather insistent on. Through testing, Alexia had found her week following Contract Day always went noticeably smoother when she wore the crown rather than the regular necklace. She doubted Precise purposely made her week more difficult; more likely she just didn’t try as hard at… whatever it was she normally did.
“Well, shall we get this circus started?”
All sixteen children of the royal herd were gathered between the living room and dining room dressed in their best. Milling about, some were anxiously awaiting their turn while others couldn’t wait to get out of their clothes and get on with their day.
In one corner of the room Bella sat watching Ash play with some toys. She would occasionally glance up to deliver words of warning to the other children, keeping them in line.
The tv played in the background, filling the space between the small conversations the children muttered between themselves.
”-and that’s how the kitten found its way.”
“Ha ha! Dark stuff there, Amber. In other news, the reclamation of South America continues to hit bumps. The Warlord and self-proclaimed ‘President for Life’ Miguel Tomás Fransisco Rodrigo Julio César, or ‘Cesarinho’, continues to lay personal claim to vast territories. His forces currently lay claim to the remains of Fortaleza as their capital. In response to requests from Sol to give over control of the city, the aspiring potentate denounced the unified world government and proclaimed his intent to ‘retaliate against all attacks against the rightful future of the peoples of Brazil’. Meanwhile, in that part of the world, three more remote tribes of people were found in the Amazon just two weeks ago.
“Around the world meanwhile this coming weekend marks the beginning of ‘Culture Week’. Cities and towns putting on fairs and festivals to show off those differences that give our world such flavor.
“Meanwhile here on the North American west coast lucky contest winners from across the globe and celebrities including, according to rumor, the royal herd will be in attendance for the grand re-opening of-”
Joey and Ball sat along the wall near Bella, observing the goings on. Dusty sat next to them furiously writing, crossing out, erasing and then rewriting in his notebook.
“So, Dusty, what do you want to start with on the mower?” Joey asked.
“Dude not now! I’ve got to get this done in time or I’m not going to be able to get another advance on my allowance and then we won’t be able to afford the equipment we’ll need.” Dusty said, without even looking up from his apparently vital work.
Joey decided that was the most he was going to get out of Dusty so he switched targets. “Uhh so Ball, can you explain all this to me? What’s happening here? Why’s Dusty freaking out exactly? Is this a pony thing or just this family?” Joey said, confused by the family’s odd change in behavior.
“Umm, well, that gets a bit… convoluted. It’s not an Equestrian thing. I can tell you that straight out. It’s mostly this family, but being who they are, it’s become a bit popular with alot of terran pony families. Especially ones with more kids since it gets a bit tricky trying to keep a united front for the parents, with discipline and all that. The way I hear it, Loki started this ‘Contract’ so that they’d have a single unified reference to deal with punishments and allowances and stuff. So a kid can’t just avoid one punishment or whatever in exchange for one they’d prefer.” Ball said, trying his best to explain.
“Ahh, like when I want to do something so I ask my dad cause he’ll probably say yes but my mom’ll say no..” Joey related.
“Kinda, yeah. Anyway, if I understand it right, that’s how it started, but as it went on, each kid was different. They wanted different things or certain punishments worked with one kid but not the other. So they made individual Contracts that each parent would have to basically memorize or have to carry on them.”
“And they do that?! That works?”
“Pfft no.” Ball rolled his eyes. “It only works ‘cause of Precise. She lives this stuff. She got really dedicated to the idea a while after she got her Mark, and has been enforcing it ever since. Man, you should have seen it two years ago when they tried to stop doing this, it-” Ball froze as a mysterious chill passed through him. “Umm no, nevermind, forget I said that, In fact never mention the year 2028 here ever. Nothing good can come of it.”
Joey stared curiously at his friend. “Ooookay, I won’t. So uh, why are we here instead of starting on the mower?”
“Because Dusty will get all annoyed and mopey if we do. Look, they’ll renegotiate and allowances will get bumped up, and some will go down. Curfews will get moved around. The possibility of new privileges will come up, the punishments for wrongdoing will become more severe. They’ll sort that all out while we watch the show. Last year hehehe… That would be hard to beat. This time shouldn’t be too crazy, but I still expect a bit of a show.”
Joey was about to ask what happened last time when he noticed Ball freeze, his mouth gaping as he looked past Joey. Joey turned, and quickly joined his friend in the slackjawed department.
Aurora had come around the corner sporting her new ‘Anthro’ look. She immediately made straight for Violet on the other side of the room to make last minute preparations. What caught the boys’ attention however was Frieda, clip-clopping across the floor over to the boys on her four hooves, her arms folded across her chest. The centauress laid down opposite the boys and at an angle to Bella, finishing a triangular barrier around the baby Ash.
Frieda Duncan had a classic centaur body, a human torso attached where a pony’s neck would be. Her ears sat furry and tall on top of her head, her eyes and nose slightly more pony proportioned than usual. A small horn spiraled out of her forehead. Her pony body was standard as far as such things went, her fur light pink and tail the same black as her hair. She wore a black t-shirt on her human half, and a long skirt hung from the joint of her torso and pony body.
“Girl, what happened to you?” Bella asked flabbergasted.
“Aurora had another spell she wanted to try. She said I owed her from last night, and well… I like the tail okay?” Frieda rubbed her pony back where her buttocks would normally be. “You cannot imagine how weird this feels.”
“The walking on four hooves must be pretty weird, huh?” Joey asked unable to stop examining her.
“No not that, you just don’t think about it and move. No the weird part is my organs, cause normally-” Frieda poked her human navel. “this is where my stomach and various other bits would be. Those are now back there somewhere.” She gestured to her longer lower half. “I’m pretty sure Aurora filled my chest with a bigger set of lungs and heart too, but I’m not sure. And the more I think about it, how does my spine work now?”
“Wow, you must pretty used to all of... that if all you’re worried about is your organs.” Ball couldn’t help but give Frieda’s blank flank a long look.
“All this transformation magic! It ain’t right! You should be glad for the body you got. There shouldn’t need to be all this shape shifting!” Bella exclaimed excitedly.
Frieda tried to placate her elderly friend. “Miss Bella, it’s not permanent or anything. You’re acting like this is something ‘all the kids are doing’.”
“Oh you just watch, Frieda Duncan! I was a teen once too, and a parent to a teen so I know. Either you or Aurora is going to be clopping along out in the park or something, or go to school in your furry little half forms, and the next thing you know all the kids will want to show off their pony ears, or their fuzzy fingers or whatever! And with the world as strange as it is, I bet it won’t stop there! Oh no!” Bella said wagging a finger at the transmogrified teen. “Just you wait, this will lead to something bigger than you imagine.”
“Umm uh, so Frieda, uh wha-what’s the skirt covering?” Joey asked practically coughing on his words.
Frieda just stared at him, seemingly not quite sure that she heard him right. “You little pervert!”
Joey started to panic. “Ah-I, I just i-its just I’m no-not really sure what its for cause if you're built like a like a, uhuh centaur then it’s just kinda like y’know ‘why’?”
“Oh! So you want to see is that it?! Well take a good look!” Frieda hissed angrily. She lifted her skirt to reveal… nothing, just a plain pony chest. She started to snort and cracked up laughing. “Oh! I got you good! Heheehehe! Nah, Joey it’s not covering anything important, well not yet at least. We don’t know how long this spell’s going to last and I didn’t want to be naked when I suddenly switch back.”
“Oh Frieda! Be nice, don’t tease the poor boy like that. Teenaged guys just can’t handle that,” Bella admonished, trying to hide her snickering smile. She turned to Joey. “Though seriously, kiddo, what were you thinking asking such a thing? Especially in front of a little old lady like me?”
“I was curious! Besides, Ball’s the one checking out your butt.”
Ball snapped his head up. “Not! I am not!” He said a bit too loudly.
A knocking sound rang through the room, all eyes immediately focusing on Precise as she finished knocking on the hardwood floor of the dining room. “All parties are present and accounted for, so we’ll now begin.”
The parents came out from the kitchen, Alexia leading a single file line. They took their seats along one side of the dining room table. The raised dining room with parents looking down with judging eyes, the sunken living room with begging and bargaining supplicants, a long wood table in between both parties—For the children this was the highest court in the world; Forget the government’s Supreme Courts..
“Alright everyone, in light of last time’s… difficulties, we will be trying a few things a bit differently this time. We’re going simpler, you come up, we go over grades, your recent obedience of House Rules,” Alexia glared at the alicorn teens at that. “and how you’ve been doing holding up your side of the Contract. You tells us your concerns and what you want. Then we move on to the next, agreed?” A chorus of voices indicated their agreement. To the side Precise ‘hmphed’ in annoyance, her carefully meticulously created documents the victims of ‘simplifying’.
“Alright, we’ll start with the youngest first. If you want to switch places with someone talk it over between yourselves. As soon as your Contract is finalized you are free to go about your day. Should you like to discuss anything during this process with us privately, that will come last after everyone’s Contract has been dealt with. Alright? Okay, Ward, Noble Cause who would like to go first?”
“Wait!” The pegasus triplets Bloom, Foam and Typhoon shouted together, pushing their way through their siblings. Bloom took the lead, “You said youngest first and that’s us!” She gestured to to herself and her sisters. All of them were wearing dresses, obviously put on without help. Typhoon in particular seemed to enjoy her dress as much as Loki did hers.
Alexia brought a wing up to massage her temple. Today was going to be a long one. “Girls, you don’t have Contracts, you’re too young. We’ll start one for you when you get to first grade, Okay?”
Foam sat on her haunches and started to toy with her mane nervously. “But-but you said that we do this so we can say what we want and ‘camooniakate’ with each other and and we have things we want to say.”
“Alright girls, want would you like to talk about?”
“Ummm, I forgot,” Foam apologized.
“One sec, Mama.” Typhoon grabbed Foam and Bloom, pulling them into a group huddle. With hushed whispers and quick glances back at the parents, the girls seemed to work their demands out in fairly short order.
“We want less naps and more cookies.” Bloom said for the group.
“That sounds reasonable, and what chores will you do in return?”
This seemed to catch the girls flat-hoofed. “Umm, chores?”
“Yes, in exchange for less naps and more cookies from us you have to do chores. That’s how the Contract works. So what chores would you like?”
The triplets just stared at the parents.
Blink.
They looked at each other.
Blink.
“We’ll have to get back to you in a bit.”
“Take your time girls. Ward, Noble who’s next?”
The twins glanced between themselves, Noble Cause apparently deciding to go first. Loki beamed at her son. “Alrighty! Noble, let’s see what we’ve got here!” She started flipping through some papers arranged in front of her. “Well Mrs.Hinkle says you’re doing pretty well in class, your school work is good and you’re not getting in trouble. So what’s it going to be? Raise?”
Noble snapped into a salute. “Ma’am no ma’am! I’d like training as a spy ma’am!”
“Spy training?”
“Well, I wanted soldier training, but you guys were like secret agents so spy training please!” Noble said with a sweet innocent smile.
“I can do some exercises with you kiddo.” Loki smiled. For the next few minutes they discussed Noble’s overall behavior, which was good, and worked out a small raise for him. It was a straightforward and productive negotiation. It brought hope to the parents that this time they’d finally, after all the previous debacles, have a decent day working on the Contracts.
Loki turned her attention to her only pegasus son. “Alrighty! Ward, you’re up! Now let’s see… Mrs. Hinkle says-”
“Ugh, let’s get this over with,” Ward interrupted. “Yes, I admit it, I was the one that released the class hamster! But it wasn’t my fault, really! Larry was the one who put the lit matches in the cage! I was just trying to save the little guy, honest!”
The parents just blinked for a moment at that. “...I was just going to say she says you need some more work on your spelling.” Loki finished her earlier statement.
“...Soooo I guess you guys didn’t know about that, huh? Well it’s okay though. Mr.Pickles is still at school! He lives in the walls of the cafeteria now.”
“... Ward, maybe we should start from the top…”
“Pearl, you’re doing ok in school, but Mr.Jones has been telling us you’re having trouble getting along with others.”
The little unicorn had her face in her standard ‘unamused’ look. “They’re stupid.”
“Ugh, yes they can be, but please try to do better with them, will you?” Alexia smiled as genuinely as she could, though it was strained.
“I’ll try, but no promises.” Pearl said.
Alexia sighed. It was as good as they could get from her. “Well anyway, you’ve lived up to your end of the bargain, so how does a ten percent raise sound?”
“I’d rather have my own room. Burning’s too energetic.”
“Dear, we don’t have an extra room. Everyone’s sharing as is, and we can’t extend the manor without major landscape changes.” Alexia tried to explain.
“I need my own space.” Pearl insisted. “Burning keeps interrupting my meditations. Last time I broke our wall.”
“Mother,” Precise injected herself into the conversation, “Maybe Pearl could switch with Wish. I love Wish, but honestly the only reason we share a room is because we’re twins. This way Wish, Burning and Sunflower can share a room, and Pearl and I could share.”
Alexia thought on that a moment. “Hmmm, it’s certainly a solution, but we’ll discuss it with everyone after.”
“No need, mother. Hey Wish!” Pearl yelled into the living room. “Would you like to switch rooms with me?”
“Like oh my Mom yes! BC, SF we’re bunking together!”
“Squuuuueeeeeee!!!”
Precise looked back to Alexia. “See mother, it’s already done. I’ll get the paperwork started.”
Burning pranced excitedly in place, her smile wide and hopeful. She had been like that through her whole evaluation.
“Alright, Burning what would you like?” Alexia smiled down on her.
“Mother! I know something that can make us all much happier! One thing that can bring our whole family closer together and unite us!” Burning said, fluttering her wings and jumping high.
Raising an eyebrow Alexia decided to bite. “And what might that be?”
“A puppy!”
“No.” Alexia said reflexively.
“Whoa whoa whoa!” Loki shot up in her chair. “Why no puppy?! There’s nothing in these contracts that says no pets… I think.”
“We have sixteen kids we don’t need a dog on top of that!” Conrad said, the look on his face saying the idea struck him as insane.
Crimson perked up with a look of dawning realization. “We have sixteen kids. Sixteen children whose allowances depend on doing chores. Sixteen people to take care of a dog.”
A moment of silence fell on the parents as they realized what exactly that meant. Alexia looked at Crimson, then Loki. “Yes, yes we do. Ahem, upon further consideration we have changed our decision. Dog approved!”
“Yeeeaaaay!” Burning cried in joy, sadly not knowing the doom she had brought upon herself and her siblings.
Crimson perked up a bit as her youngest, Sunflower came up. Her smile was tempered a bit by the filly not looking up from her phone the whole while.
“I’ll just take the allowance raise please.” Sunflower said, texting with her feathers.
“Umm honey we should talk about your grades and such first.”
“I’m passing history, math, science, language, and I’m not doing to bad in P.E. Can I have my raise now?”
“Uhh, well there’s still-”
“I haven’t done anything you guys have had to punish me for and I’ve done all my chores. Raise please. Oh! Actually I’ll take my raise in the form of a new phone, mine’s getting a bit outdated.”
Grani walked up to stand before the table. Having not gotten a new shirt since his growth spurt his broad body was barely contained by the confining fabric of his black dress shirt. He looked up at the board of parents, his face stoney and determined. Right until his eyes met Loki’s.
Loki broke into a humongous smile at her eldest, as if it had been days since they last saw each other. “There’s my big handsome colt! Just look at you! So big you’re busting out of your shirt! And hey! Did you tie that tie all by yourself?”
Grani scuffed a hoof across the carpet bashfully. “Aww, Momma you always know what to say.”
“So kiddo.” Conrad interjected, “Mr. Parker was talking to me earlier and he wanted to know if you’d be interested in joining a team.”
Instantly a change came over Grani, he seemed to deflate trying to look anywhere but at his dad. “I d-d-don’t re-really llllike sp-sports dd-dad.” Grani stuttered out.
Conrad couldn’t help the concerned frown that drew across his face. Grani still couldn’t talk to anyone but Loki without stammering. What was odd to Conrad, however, was that was the only thing that needed to change for him to talk just fine. He could be on a stage in front of a crowd, but as long as he was talking to Loki he’d be fine.
Loki mercifully came to her husband and son’s rescue. “How’re your models coming along Grani? Did you finish the Pulsar Blue?”
Grani perked up even more at the mention of his favorite model spaceship. “Not yet mom, I still have the engines and then some painting but I think I’ll finish it this week. Are you going to watch ‘Buck Gordon’ with us tonight?”
“Like I’d miss it! Well let’s get this out of the way, honey, and we can get on with our days, right?” Loki shared her smile with her son as they smoothly made their way together through his negotiations.
“-And that’s why I’m doing so poorly in math!” Wish Well, explained. “Now as for my less than good results in history-”
“Wish, honey, your grades aren’t in question, they’re fine.” Alexia finally stopped her chatty daughter. “Would you like an allowance raise or something else?”
“Oh yes, definately! No wait! Normally I would go with the raise but I have a lot of my money saved up right now and I really need some help getting some more language books, since the language learning spell can only help you learn so many languages before it loses it’s effectiveness I’ve been learning them the old fashioned way and I’ve already gone over the ones I’ve got and the bookstore just got this one that teaches Catalan-”
“Precise, during our preliminary discussions we came to a decision.” Alexia said officially, organizing her notes. “The Contract will no longer be written on paper. Loki’s finally gotten some time and is creating an app for us to keep track of the details of everyone’s Contract.”
Precise was struck by this announcement, her lip quivered and her eyes misted up. “But but why?! I-I like paper! Is this some kind of punishment?! Haven’t I been doing a good job keeping everything up to date? What did I do wrong!?”
“Nothing!” Loki burst in. “You haven’t done anything wrong. Everything you’ve done is fine! It’s just that there’s no reason to keep using up paper when we all have phones. Besides, you’ve seen our paper bills! I actually have already finished writing up the app and you can help me put the final touches on it! Oh! And we’re giving you part of the paper budget for your allowance.”
Precise started to recover at that, though she was still sniffling and trying to stop her tears. “O-Okay, that sounds alright.” She said through a small, tear stained smile.
“Would you like to take a break Precise?” Alexia said, concerned for her little filly.
“N-no momma,” The young unicorn sniffed. “L-let’s talk about my grades.”
“You know, sometimes I forget she’s just eleven.” Crimson muttered to Conrad while filling her glass with water from the pitcher.
“Effervescent, your grades are terrible. Now we know it’s not because you’re not smart. The work you have done shows this should all be well within your abilities. Your teachers say you’re mostly just not doing the homework,” Crimson said. The light at the end of the tunnel could be seen at this point, though EZ slowed their pace to a crawl every time.
“Mom c’mon chill. I mean I know you’re grilling me but just call me EZ. It’s easier on the tongue.” EZ said with an easy smile.
Alexia stepped in, “EZ, answer the question: why haven’t you been doing your homework?”
“Alright Big Momma, so I do my homework. It’s just that a tornado eats it is all.”
Crimson and Loki both facehoofed. Alexia prefered to use her wing. Conrad became less than amused. “A. Tornado.”
“Yeah pop.”
“Everyday?”
“Well I do ride it to school, or at least I will when I figure out how to stabilize it.”
“Dusty you can’t have another forward on your allowance, you’ve already had three.”
“My grades are up to snuff and my business needs the capital! My budget got an added gum bill just yesterday.”
“So that’s how you dealt with Bozo huh?” Loki interrupted. “Sorry I couldn’t make it yesterday by the way. My tail fritzed and my ears spazed, but I was spending time with Ash.”
“Hrufhthy Loki please!” Precise took back the conversation before it could stray any further. “Another advance is out of the question, gum bills aside. You just have to learn to use your money more wisely.”
“Oh please! My costs are necessary! Look at my ledger if you don’t believe me!” Dusty pulled forward the notebook he had been working on all morning and part of last night. Somehow it had become impossibly dog eared in the short amount of time it had been in his possession. Receipts stuffed between pages threatened to fly out the corners.
Precise took the ‘ledger’ in her magic and started scanning through it. “Hmm, mhmm, ah! Okay what’s this expense for?” She said pointing with a pencil.
“Company luncheon to discuss our company’s direction.” Dusty countered.
“And this?”
“Supplies to test the effectiveness of Earth pony magic on various substances.”
“Hmm, wow, you are stretched razor thin here. Well what about… no. I’d say it looks more like you need a fresh investor instead of an advance.”
Dusty perked at that. “Are you offering?”
“What?! No! With the way this is going I’d get no return at all.”
“Well how about if you help us keep the books straight and manage the budget? Then you can have a hoof on how your investment is working.”
“Are you offering me a job?”
“Well why not? You do this kind of thing all the time anyway.”
“... I want you to match my initial investment in three months, and you stop calling me ‘Prissy’.”
“Depends on the investment, it’ll determine what jobs we can take on. We get paid by the job so I’ll cut you in for a full share for each one. If we don’t exceed your investment in three months, I’ll buy a hat and eat it. Oh and uh, I’ll stop calling you ‘Prissy’ in front of Ball, no deal for any other times though.”
Precise stared into Dusty’s face, reading him. “Alright. I agree, for now. We’ll hammer out the details after lunch.”
“Just go take care of it now you two.” Alexia decided to actually say something for this round. “All that’s left to take care of is Violet and Aurora’s Contracts, Precise. We can handle it, I think they want to go together anyway. We’ll consult you as we need to. Alright?”
A conflicted look crossed Precise’s face, but she relented. Walking off with Dusty back toward his friends, discussing her duties and such.
A sudden flash filled the room along with a bizarre *SsshvvvvmmmPOP*! Frieda fell over from the sudden loss of her hind legs. She tried to catch the air that had been knocked out of her, “I’m ok! *Gasp!* Smaller lungs! *Cough!* Man that felt weird! Aurora, you’re gonna need to work on the snap back!”
After checking to see that Frieda was alright, Violet and Aurora came before the table.
“And then there were two.” Loki said dramatically.
Alexia scanned the girls with her Mighty Mother Vision. “So, let’s get right to it. You want something. Your grades have seen marked improvements in very short order. Despite your little temporal escapade, you’ve both been on your best behavior. You’re coming at us together to make it seem like a single issue instead of two, so it’s something big. Gives you better odds. Am I right? Spill it.”
Violet took the lead. “We want our own cars.” Aurora agreed with a nod of her head. “We’ve both been driving now for some time without any incidents, and like you said, we’ve been doing well in school so we’d like our own cars for getting around with our friends.”
“And to run errands and help you guys out.” Aurora added stepped forward, “Also, beyond the initial cost of the cars themselves, we’d need a raise to our allowances to cover gas.”
Alexia tapped her chin with a wing in thought. “We will take a moment to discuss this.” With a flash of her horn, Alexia conjured a sound-proof barrier around the parents as they began their deliberations. Both Alexia and Conrad seemed rather calm, Crimson looked concerned and Loki gestured emphatically.
Aurora fidgeted with her hands and turned to talk into Violet’s ear. “Well , they’re discussing it soooo that’s a good sign right? I mean they didn’t just shoot us down on the spot.”
“Yeeaaah, but I think it also means this isn’t going to be as simple as we hoped.”
At this point Loki was standing on the table gesticulating passionately and looking like she was giving a heartfelt speech.
“What do you think they’re saying?” Aurora asked.
“Oh, gee, well I hadn’t thought to read their lips before, but I guess I will now.” Violet snarked back.
“I was just wondering. You don’t have to get all bent out of shape about it.”
“-And that is why we will never have ‘Live Free or Die Hard’ in this house!” Loki declared with grim finality as Alexia lowered the barrier.
Alexia cleared her throat and gestured at the girls. Loki smoothed out her dress again and got back into her seat.
“We have come to an agreement,” Alexia began. “You may have your own cars; we will buy them for you even. However, there are conditions,” She said pre-empting the girls celebration. “One! Your grades must stay at an ‘A’ average. Should they drop you will lose your privileges until they rise again. Two! Curfew will be enforced more strictly from this point on. Should you fail to abide by it, you will be barred from using the cars. Three: You must keep the cars clean. You can eat in them, go driving through mud or whatever, but they must be cleaned afterwards. Four: Any repairs the cars need you will pay for along with their upkeep. Should major repairs be needed, we may help you out, but we are not obligated to. Is that all agreeable to you?”
The girls had broad grins on their faces as they almost bounced in place from excitement. “Yes! Uh, I mean, those terms are acceptable.” Violet spoke for them both.
“Good. Now there is one more condition. In order to get the cars, you must show us you’ve been taking your other studies seriously.”
Now they became nervous. “Umm, other studies? Umm you don’t mean-” Aurora said uneasily.
“Yep, Training Day. Tommorrow. If you pass you get the cars, if we don’t think you measure up, you don’t. Is it still a deal?”
Violet and Aurora looked at each other holding a silent conference. Finally they came to an agreement. “You’re on.”
“Then we’ll have a nice day tomorrow! Alright now, does anyone have any private business they’d like to discuss?” No one moved to say so. “Okay! I officially declare Contract negotiations complete! Now let’s go get some lunch everybody!”
Walking off, the teens were satisfied. Frieda walked up to meet them both. “So how’d it go?”
“We’re getting cars!” They both squealed.
“Oh please. So you’re getting wheels, who else besides you cares?” Dusty said, walking past with Joey and Ball. “You’re just going to end up picking the younger kids up from school or something.”
“This coming from ‘Mr. Junk Ride himself.” Violet shot back.
“Whatever, just watch, you girls are going to be asking us to tune your cars up all the time. Come on guys, let’s get that mower taken care of.” With that, the three boys walked off to the garage.
Precise followed after them. “Please disregard any disparaging remarks made by my new employees,” she said in passing.
“Employees? Wouldn’t it be better to call them your partners or something?” Aurora asked.
Precise had an amused look at that. “Partners? Please Aurora, I own them.”
“Are you going to the watch them work?” Violet asked as she passed by.
“Of course! I’m their principal investor. Like I said, they work for me now. And as an investor I want keep on top of all projects they may work on. Excuse me but I have some... organizing to do.”
The girls watched the red unicorn walk off to the garage. Frieda decided to get things moving again.“Alrighty then. Oh! So, you gals looking forward to your trip this weekend? I think they were talking about it on the news a little bit ago.”
“Yeah, actually I’m going to show my anthro spell off there! Check it out! It’s stable whenever I cast it on myself!” Aurora gestured to herself and did a twirl only losing a little balance this time. “It will only go away if I dispel it. A bit more tinkering and I should also be able to keep the Taur spell going longer if you’re interested,” Aurora whispered conspiratorially to her. ”So anyway, what do you have planned for this weekend?”
“Well my folks and I were going to try applying for a cultural license at the festival.” Frieda said as they went off to face the rest of their Saturday.
Sunday morning found the three Alicorns of Terra sitting on comfortable cushions in Alexia’s study. Alexia herself sat in silent meditation blocking out the sound of her worshippers, her eyes closed and breathing measured. Aurora sat reading a book on anatomy. Violet’s eyes glowed white as she used her magic to paint an impression of her itineris system onto canvas.
For the two teens, this had been tradition for as long as they could remember. When they were small they too would try to meditate, but after a short while Alexia told them they could just read quietly or draw as they did now. It slowly dawned on the girls that there was no formality here. Their friends all had some religious practice that was observed with some solemnity and they had just assumed at some point that this was theirs.
Now in their teens, they would sometimes join Alexia in meditation again. Though honestly they didn’t really see the point.
Aurora set her book down and looked at her mother, “Mom, why do you do this every Sunday?” She asked, breaking the silence. “Why does the prayer song bug you so much? I mean you’ve told us before you’re concerned about the addictive nature of worship, but to us it’s just kinda like white noise.”
Violet nodded in agreement. “I totally get that you don’t think we alicorns are gods, but since we hear their prayers…” She sucked her teeth and made a ‘sorta kinda maybe’ face. “Then aren’t we pretty much their goddess?”
Alexia let go of her breath and opened her eyes. “Let me see if I can put this the right way.” She looked between her girls and gathered her thoughts. “I think it boils down to why. Why should they worship us? Because we have the magic of all the pony tribes and our own unique powers as Alicorns? Because we have the ability to live for millennia? Because we’re the tallest ponies?”
“Actually, Mom, Aurora and me are just as tall as normal ponies still.” Violet smirked.
“You know what I mean,” Alexia shot back while sticking her tongue out. “Anyway, there must be something subconscious in ponies that makes them naturally drawn towards alicorn worship, but if they want to worship something then why not whatever created reality? We certainly didn’t. I’m only forty-three. I concede that as an Alicorn, maybe I’m something ‘higher’ or greater or whatever, but many religions have creatures that are greater than humans that still aren’t worthy of worship.”
Aurora perked up,”You mean like the Angels of Christianity and Judaism, the Demigods of the Greeks, or the Devas and Asuras?”
Violet set down her brush.“Hmm maybe we should go with Deva instead Demi-Goddess. I’d love to be a singer!”
Alexia rolled her eyes at her daughters joke. “That’s a Diva dear, with an I. Day-vuhs are from Buddhism.” Alexia got up from her cushion and began to pace the room. “No matter what the truth is, the three of us have just as much of a need to improve our spirituality as anyone else; though maybe it isn’t as straightforward as it is in other religions.”
“Auntie Twilight doesn’t do this. Actually, I don’t think any of the Equus Alicorns do.” Violet pointed out.
“Whether the Alicorns of Equus do this or not isn’t the point. Talking with Sensei Twilight, I found that all the Alicorns of Equus found themselves briefly in another place full of stars during their ascensions. She said it was kinda like a nebulae in an old Star Trek episode. I’ve never seen that place, have either of you?” Both girls shook their heads. “That leads me to believe that Discord did something with us, to us, that made us fundamentally different from them. Maybe they gained some innate unconscious understanding of their nature when they ascended, but we didn’t. That’s part of the reason I do this anyway: to see what I can do about it.”
Alexia came to a stop in front of her bookcase. Dozens of books on various religions covered it. The musings on spirituality and faith from thousands of people from thousands of years from both worlds laid out before her. They were the materials for her pet project of comparative religious studies, and she hadn’t finished a fraction of them. It was going to be a long project.
Alexia turned back to her daughters. “But I think that’s enough meditation for now. Time for business.” She came to a stop in front of both girls, looking down at them she focused inward and unleashed her mana in a swirling tempest centered around her body.
Aurora and Violet had seen this many times, and it always made them shiver. Their mother’s lush blue mane began to writhe like seaweed in a current, it’s color becoming green throughout, almost black in the edges. Her kind eyes became golden and hard, the pupil a vertical slash. Her clean silver coat seemed to become the color of bleached bones. The study was secured against any kind of surveillance, magical or mundane, so they were the only ones that could feel the sense of claustrophobia that seemed to come from Alexia. There were only three ponies alive on Earth beside the alicorns who knew of this terribly secret power the girls kept—a power that scared them horribly.
Alexia looked down on them with seemingly cold eyes, and they couldn’t help but feel like prey. “Don’t stall. Transform,” she said curtly.
Just like hearing the prayers of ponies, this was something they had felt all their lives. A tight ball of mana, deep within their carbuncles. Its presence had always been a gentle thing that felt as natural as their heartbeat. The sisters became truly aware of it after a few years of meditation with Alexia. However, it’s true significance manifested during an incident that had occurred a few years previously. As one might imagine, it was not a pleasant experience. For anyone. Now all they had to do was build up rage within themselves until reaching a tipping point.
With one more glance between themselves, the sisters breathed deep, and focused in on their carbuncles. The act caused that gentle ball to explode in a rush of power, the feel of mana coursing through them, permeating every cell in their bodies. The torrent of practically uncontrollable emotions, as if everything they felt was magnified a hundred times. As much as their mother’s power frightened them, their own was much more terrifying.
Violet’s coat faded to a dark purple, her mane beginning to jump to life, twitching together as a single mass in time to the lightning blitzing through her hair. Aurora’s mane began to flutter like some great fire meeting a powerful wind, the whole thing becoming a solid blue that threatened to engulf one’s soul if you looked too deeply into it. Both teens opened their eyes revealing vertically slit pupils.
Alexia examined them both carefully as she circled them menacingly. Normally they would feel the pressure of her power as suffocating and predatory, but with their own power emanating from them it felt more like their territory was being infringed. They suppressed the urge to charge their mother, the source of the insult against their power and stood patiently, watching her circle them. A sudden shove of magic against their side, a flick on their horn, a pulled feather. It took everything they had to stay seated, to keep control. Finally Alexia came to a stop in front of them and nodded in satisfaction. The sisters let loose the breath they were holding and released their power, reverting back to themselves.
“Alright, now let’s finish this test day huh?” Alexia smiled. Aurora and Violet flinched slightly at her fangs. “Oops!” Alexia too ceased her transformation. “There, much better. Alright let’s go.”
Violet and Aurora stood up fully from their cushions and moved to the door behind their mother. “Hey mom, what do you think would happen if I became a Nightmare while using my anthro spell? I kinda really like it.”
“Hmmm, maybe we’ll try that after we get back from our trip.”
Training Days had come about due in large part to the incident that led to the twins discovering their Nightmare forms. It had been decided by the parents that the girls should be trained in ways to defend themselves and condition their bodies for the rigors that their lives might lead to. Many of the other children would join in sometimes. But not today.
Aurora stumbled slightly, gasping for air. “*Gasp* I’m so glad *Pant* I didn’t use my anthro spell. *Gasp* Need four legs!”
Violet came calmly trotting up behind her. “Really Aurora? You’re winded already? Come on just tap into some of that good old Earth pony magic! Or maybe you should spend a little less time tinkering with your spells and exercise a bit.”
“Oh shut up Vi.”
Crimson came from further up the trail. “Come on girls, get a move on! Oh! Or are you ready for Loki now? I suppose we can finish the run after.”
“No! No I’m up! I’m up! Loki, please don’t come out of nowhere, I’m running!” Aurora bolted up and dug deep, running up the trail. Violet picked her pace up as well.
Loki leaned out from behind a tree. “What’s her deal? It’s not like my part’s going to be any easier later on.”
“Yeeaaahh, but the running part is a lot easier before they get messed up by you.” Crimson said trotting after the girls with a smile.
“She’s everywhere!” Aurora said, sliding into a small ditch alongside her sister.
Violet pressed her wing into Aurora’s face to silence her. “Shhhh! Shut up! Don’t give her anything to find us with!”
“Too late.” Loki said, sitting calmly on Violet’s other side.
“Aaaaahhhh!”
“Yaaaaahhhhh!”
The sisters bolted, neither daring to try to stand and fight with their Earth magic against the master.
“Hahaha! Run little fillies run! Hahaha!” Loki started giggling madly, proinking after them.
The girls collapsed on a fluffy cloud, trying desperately to rest their aching wings.
“I can’t feel my wings Aurora.”
“I know Vi, me neither.”
Conrad plummeted out of nowhere, abruptly coming to a soft landing on the cloud the teens were trying to rest on. “Alright, breather’s over. Now go through the obstacle course backwards,” he said, punctuating his order by popping the cloud they rested on like a balloon. The girls flapped frantically trying to get right-side-up as soon as possible.
“Pulluppulluppullup!”
“What do you think I’m trying to do!?”
The girls stood battered and dirty: their legs felt weak, their wings ached, and yet they faced one more trial still.
Sitting placidly fifty feet away was their mother, doing nothing, just waiting for them.
“Circus maneuver on three.” Aurora muttered.
Violet nodded, they both limbered themselves up as best they could.
“Onetwothree!” They shouted at the same time.
Aurora broke left. Violet crossed behind her going right and disappeared in a flash. Alexia immediately formed three small barriers behind her. The moment Violet reappeared above her she was sent spinning from the barriers striking her like a fly swatter. Aurora, meanwhile, started firing off blasts from her horn only for them to meet their end against micro barriers summoned for each individual one.
Aurora created a shield in front of her to block her mother’s follow-up blast only for the energy bolt to corkscrew erratically and bypass her defenses, knocking her sideways. Suddenly the invisible barrier Alexia had set up behind herself flared to life against a massive blast from where Violet lay prone. Alexia let loose another blast at her ground bound daughter only for the attack to phase through her as the illusory Alicorn dissipated. Suddenly both teens popped into existence on either side of Alexia. Their horns charged for the attack, they let loose their blasts.
Only for the attacks to go straight through their mother and hit each other. Alexia decloaked right behind where her own doppelganger began to fade.
“Hey look at that! You got me to move this time!” She said, pride emanating from every word.
“Uggghh…”
“Oooowwww.”
“How is it I’m still this sore? I couldn’t sit right all day long.” Violet said to her sister. The two girls were currently making their way home from their classes, the turmoil of the previous day still wreaking havoc on them.
“Because our parents are thorough. By the way, I found out my anthro spell doesn’t help, somehow the soreness transfers.”
“All that pain and torment and nothing to show for it. Our lives suck so much right now.” Violet said kicking a rock with her hoof. My poor hooves, I have never needed a hooficure as bad as I do right now in all my life.
Chatting as they were, the girls didn’t notice their mother’s car pull up behind them. A quick honk of the horn had them jumping a bit, Alexia giggling at them through the open window. The teens decided that suffering their mothers chuckles was worth letting their bodies have a rest.
“You know, Training day wouldn’t be so rough on you if you’d practice.” She immediately started telling them as they piled into the car. “Remember your seatbelts.”
“Yes mom, we know.” They chanted at the same time, dutifully clicking their buckles in.
“It isn’t a matter of going out of your way to exercise or something. You just gotta find the time in your days to workout a little.”
“Yes mom, we know.”
“Grow some grass, flex your wings while you walk, you can find something.”
“Yes mom, we know.”
“Say something with more brains or I’ll drop you off on the other side of town.”
“Ye-uhh Very well mother we shall strive to do our best to incorporate more exercise in our daily lives.” Violet said, pumping as much vocabulary as she could.
“Umm ditto.” Aurora added.
“Very articulate Aurora.” Alexia said, smirking at her via the rear view mirror.
Pulling up to the house, the girls couldn’t help but be disappointed by the lack of cars. Sure they had it rough Sunday, but still they had hoped there would be some reward for their hard work. They got out of the car, their heads slumping from more than just neck pain.
“Oh hey! Before you go inside, I’ve got something for you.” Both girls turned to see their mother release a cloaking spell over the empty portion of the driveway, revealing two cars.
The wide smiles that broke out instantly across their faces froze and became forced as they saw that the cars were not exactly the new models that they had dreamed of. One was brown, the other was grey and that was the best way they could describe them.
“Aren’t they great?! They’re pre-war even! Don’t worry, we put in some ‘universal form’ seats so you won’t have to sit on anything too uncomfortable. I’ll let you work out between yourselves who gets which one. Soooo… What do you think?”
By some extreme force of will the smiles stayed on. “They’re… great!” Violet said.
“Yeah, just… super!” Aurora added with ‘enthusiasm’.
Alexia watched the stiff smiles on the girls’ faces for a moment. “...You thought we would get you factory new cars didn’t you?”
Violet hemmed and hawed at that. “Uh, we might have um, worked ourselves up a bit on the idea.”
Alexia walked up between the girls facing them. She gently wrapped her wings around them, bringing their faces to look at her. “Girls, You are just starting out. You may not realize it, but these cars are probably going to mean a lot to you. They are yours. Every nick, scratch and ding they have will be a part of their story with you. You’re going to learn how to take care of a car, and it’s going to be hard work. You know how to drive, but now you will truly know cars.”
Aurora and Violet looked at the cars. They looked at each other. They looked at their mom. “These are going to be total money pits aren’t they?” Aurora said.
Alexia gently patted her girl’s cheek. “Ohhhh sweetie… You have no idea.”