Chapter 4; A new day
"Doot-do-do-doot-doot-do-doot-doot-"
Luke opened his eyes, moaning as he reached over, picked up his phone, and turned off the alarm that was blaring on it. He sat up and rubbed his eyelids. It took him a moment to remember the events of the previous night, but once he did, everything came flooding back.
He got out of bed and dressed for the day.
"10:00 AM," he remarked, looking a the phone again.
He walked downstairs and quietly walked over to the door of the guest bedroom. When he put his head to the door, their breathing and snoring was quite apparent. Satisfied that his guests were alive and well, he quietly buttered some bread and prepared for a short, fast breakfast.
As he ate, he pondered over the situation yet again. There were a few things he thought of that could be the reason for leaving Equestria. Economic reasons might be one; they might, like the unfortunate pegasi earlier, be trying to set up a business. That explanation seemed to fall flat, though, given what Aurora had told him about thestral society. It was possible that she had lied, of course, but the information she'd given seemed to match everything he and everyone else knew about thestrals, so that didn't seem likely. Curiosity over foreign lands might be something, but he dismissed it; their application to become American citizens made adventure an unlikely reason. Furthermore, they seemed to be desperate to keep a big secret. Many people had secrets, but the efforts by Shadow to keep his family quiet and his cynicism were intense. It had to be something important.
Espionage? Luke looked at his glass of milk as he thought. He hadn't considered a negative reason, at least, not in that sense. Had they committed a crime? Had they done something illegal, or treasonous, or...
Stop it. He mentally slapped himself. He had no proof of that, and by their nature, they seemed like a caring family that had fallen on bad times. Maybe they'd open up later. Whatever the reason, making sure they were taken care of was his highest priority right now in an earthly sense. And right now, they were asleep, and they had access to food when they woke up.
He practically wolfed down the two slices of bread on his plate and chugged down the milk. Just then, the guest bedroom door opened. Luke turned around.
Aurora had emerged. She looked rather uncomfortable; Luke noticed very quickly that she tried to shy away from the windows, as he had pulled back the blinds earlier.
"Sorry about that," he said as went to put them back.
"Nothing to be sorry about," she replied, choosing, as a recourse, to keep her left eye closed. "I didn't think I would be awake now."
"Are Shadow and Bright still sleeping well?"
"They are, and they probably won't be up for hours. I'm really staying up long, I just want some water. Maybe a snack to go along with it." The bat-like pony yawned, but not for so long as she had the previous night. "Then I'm going back to bed."
"For how long?"
"Maybe a couple of hours. Maybe the rest of the day. I don't know." The dark blue mare turned an ear briefly back toward the guest bedroom. "Don't mention this to Shadow," she said, "but I think that, if we're really going to become citizens here, we'll have to get used to staying up during the day. I haven't found any elementary schools willing to teach at night, and the only other option would be to home-school Bright, and I don't want us to be an island; I want us to live."
"I suppose you'll need sunglasses or something."
"Probably. Do you mind...?" she asked, her hoof reaching for the fridge door.
"Be my guest."
"Thank you." Aurora took a jug of milk and poured herself a glass before chugging it down and filling it again.
"Feel free if you want some cookies from the cupboard."
"Much obliged." The thestral took the liberty of hauling out a pack of Chips Ahoy, pouring more milk, and setting herself up at the table.
"Sorry about my husband's behavior," she said, dipping a cookie in the milk. "He's really... sensitive these days."
"I gather that's from something traumatic that's happened not long ago."
"I... I still think that's private, for now," Aurora said, biting a piece off the cookie. "We haven't known you long enough to trust you with that knowledge. I will say this; what happened... really tore a piece out of Shadow. He was like many other fathers in Equestria; joyful, determined to help his son to be the best he could be, and we went out all the time. He could be... rough, true, but he was an optimist."
"And then what happened... happened."
"Yes." Aurora stared into her glass again for a moment. "He's never been the same. I know that deep down, he still wants to be that father and husband he's always been, but he's become edgy. I'm not surprised, to be honest, but it is depressing to see that change in him."
"Is there anything we can do?"
"I doubt it. I've tried everything I know, but he's never happy for long." The thestral mare finished her snack and got off the chair. "Oh, do you need to do anything that might be loud?" she asked, turning her head to look at him.
"I don't think so. A few papers to look at, and a report, but that can all be done without anything all that noisy."
"Okay. Thanks. Mind if I take a few back to Bright?"
"No, help yourself, so long as he doesn't eat half the box."
"Thanks again." Aurora walked back to the bedroom, went through it, and shut the door.
A delightful family, Luke thought. Now... work.
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...In conclusion, the Mexica defeat was not purely due to superior Spanish weaponry, Luke typed a few hours later. Nor can it be blamed on inferior tactics, as they adapted their methods of warfare several times during the conquest. While technology undeniably played a part, including the weapons as well as the ships Cortes brought with him to the lake, the Mexica lost in large part due to other native nations, including the Tlaxcala, allying with the Spaniards against them.
He took a short look at the document he was writing. It looked okay, but the entire thing could be polished off more.
My grammar is suffering as of late. I keep using the same words over and over again. It gets boring.
He made the chances that he deemed necessary, saved it, then put the laptop to sleep. It was now lunch time, and his stomach growled, as if in agreement.
Luke walked back downstairs, remembering his guests about halfway down and then making an effort to be more quiet.
Since Aurora's snack earlier, there hadn't been a peep from the guest bedroom. The thestrals were still sound asleep; he hadn't heard any snoring, which had been odd, but then again, maybe it wasn't something that bat ponies did. In any case, he was content to leave things as they were.
Fortunately, his microwave wasn't all that loud, but it would have been rude to awake his guests, so he went downtown to buy a couple burgers at the new local Five Guys, along with some fries, and came back.
Smells good, he thought to himself as he entered the house, shut the door, and turned the alarm back on.
He set the food down on the table, grabbed a paper plate, took a bottle of ketchup out of the fridge, and sat down to eat.
As he was about the take the first bite of the first burger, the guest bedroom door opened. Surprised, Luke lowered the burger and turned toward it.
Shadow had emerged, nose in the air and sniffing eagerly. Upon seeing Luke, though, he recoiled.
Should have known they would smell the food. Both of them stared at one another for a few seconds.
Shadow looked back into the room, then back at Luke. He did this several times.
Luke heard a grumbling sound coming from Shadow. He realized, after a few seconds, that Shadow wasn't moving his lips, and it was not a growl of aggression, but of the stomach.
The thestral sighed after a few seconds, then slowly made his way to the pantry, his steel-shod hooves making the only discernible noise as he walked. He opened the door and began looking; he was trying to maintain a sort of dignity, but his eyes and movement betrayed how hungry he was.
Luke continued to watch him for a moment. "Want one?"
Shadow stopped. "One of what?"
"One of these." Luke held up the second burger.
"I'm not an invalid. I can get my own," the dark blue pony said indignantly.
"I'm just-"
"I don't need your help."
Luke suppressed a sigh and turned back to his lunch.
After a few minutes, he heard a rattle of a Pringles can and the sound of the door closing. A moment later, Shadow got a plate and sat down on a chair on the other side of the little kitchen table that Luke was sitting at. However, as the can was not opened, he struggled for about thirty second with the can, damaging it badly between his hooves while doing so, and indeed, even biting it (though not, thankfully, penetrating the sides) before realizing that there was a piece of the paper covering that could be pulled up, which he used his teeth to do. Finally, and with very brief look of embarrassment, he dumped about half the can onto the plate before placing the container on the table.
"Those go good with ketchup," Luke advised.
Shadow acted like he hadn't heard. "Too small," he muttered, but nonetheless began to shovel them into his mouth. It didn't take long before all this chips were gone.
"Can I get you-"
"No. I'm going back to bed."
Raising the second, -still wrapped burger, Luke started again; "You sure you don't want-"
"Are you deaf? I said no!"
Frustration arose in Luke as the stallion put the chip can away, and he again forced it down. He contented himself by releasing a sigh as the bedroom door shut.
What does it take to be friends with that guy?
Luke squelched that thought as well. Give it time. He might come around.
He finally began to eat, trying not to remain vexed.
---------------------------------------------------
...Napoleon's 1814 campaign was thus closer run than commonly accepted. If he had fortified Paris and kept a garrison there to hold of the Coalition troops, perhaps the Emperor of the French would have kept his throne. However, it must be noted that his refusal to accept the frontiers of 1789 was another factor in the Coalition victory.
Luke paused, made several corrections, and then hit the print button. As the printer began it's work, he got up off his chair and stretched, before taking a look around his room.
A cross stood just above his bed, and a bible sat on his nightstand. A Union flag and a Confederate flag (the "Stars and Bars") hung from either side of his window. On a small table, there was a miniature battle of Monmouth, plastic figures of American Continentals and British regulars frozen in their lines or on the ground. A number of models of WWI dreadnoughts stood on stands in the windows. A model of a Tiger tank - how he wished American designs in WWII had been as good - sat atop a shelf full of DVDs. On the walls, paintings of the Civil War, including one of the Battle of Franklin, 1864, and one of the Assault on Fort Sanders, 1863, hung. as did archaic weapons, most replicas, but some fully functional.
Okay, maybe I overdid it on the military theme, he thought a little sheepishly.
There was a knock on the door. It entirely unexpected, and Luke turned toward it in momentary alarm, eyes on a loaded Civil War revolver as he turned. When the knock came again, he recognized the metallic sound of a horseshoe accompanying the noise on the wood, and he calmed down. "Come in," he called.
The door opened. Aurora walked through, with Bright Night following her. "Sorry for intruding," the mare said.
"No, no, not at all."
"Wow!" Bright said, running into the room and trying to take in everything.
"Don't touch any of the weapons in here," Luke warned, more than a hint of firmness in his voice. "Some of those really are fully loaded and ready to fire."
Bright backed away from the long blunderbuss he had been admiring - Thank God he did so, it's one of the loaded ones - but turned toward a model of the Bismarck. "Cool!"
"You... keep loaded guns in your bedroom?" Aurora asked, eyebrow rising. "Old relic guns, for that matter?"
"In case you didn't notice, I have a bit of antiquarian bent," Luke answered, his hand gesturing toward a flintlock rifle - a Kentucky Long Rifle - that was up on the wall. Underneath it was a Civil War sword.
"It's kind of obvious."
"I like to keep them in working order," Luke continued. "A gun's no good if it just sits up on the shelf. I want them to be fully functional, in case of a break-in. And I occasionally take one or two of them with me to a shooting range outside of town." He patted the blunderbuss - actually a donderbuss, with a longer barrel than normal. "This baby is so loud, the place sometimes gets called by the police, only to find out it's that crazy kid with the loud gun again."
"Wow, sounds like you annoy them a lot."
"Not really. The sheriff's actually kinda lenient on that score, he just asks me to be careful with it. And I am, or at least I think so. I take a minute to actually aim, and when people see this thing, they skedaddle out of its firing arc pretty fast." Luke walked over to the Kentucky rifle. "I use this more often at the range, though. More to my liking. More in touch with our revolution."
"I apologize, but I don't know enough about the revolution to offer an opinion on it," Aurora replied.
Luke checked where Bright was; the young pony was checking out the bookcase. "Maybe that will change soon," he said, turning back to the colt's mother. "If you're going to be here long-term, I can help you on that."
"I'd be very grateful for that when the time comes," Aurora answered, bowing her head briefly as a means of thanks. "I'd probably be willing to read some tonight; we'd probably be bored out of our minds otherwise. Despite what I said earlier, I doubt we'll be able to get used to sleeping at night very easily or quickly."
"Feel free to take some now. Most of them are related to military history in some way, and feature a lot of bad language that is typical of the military."
"You're talking to the wife of an ex-Lunar Guard."
"Fair point. Just saying that they're probably not appropriate for Junior."
"Okay, I'll buy that. Is there anything that he might be able to enjoy?"
"Let me check for a moment." Luke walked over to the bookcase; Bright was currently playing with a small metal cannon that he had taken from it.
"Boom, boom, boom!" Bright made as if to shoot the cannon at an imaginary enemy.
Luke was careful not to laugh as he looked over the selection of books. "Hmm, Fields of Fury by James M. McPherson seems to be alright for the little guy."
"I'm not little!" Bright protested, looking up defiantly.
Technically, he has a point, Luke thought; the ten year old pony was bigger than most miniature horses. "Well, you're not an adult, and some books have stuff that's bad for people your age." He went back to studying the shelf. "The Chronicles of Narnia series by C. S. Lewis, Ship Models and how to build them by Harvey Weiss - an old book, to be sure - and-"
"What about this?" Bright asked, taking out War of the Worlds with one hoof.
"No, no, no, no, no," Luke said, taking the novel out of the pony's grasp, which, despite being invisible, was still formidable. "Quite a few nasty scenes in that one, and an unprepared reader can become stunned and depressed pretty quickly." Ignoring Bright's frustrated face, Luke pulled another book off the shelf.
"What about this one?" Bright pulled a Civil war book off the shelf; it was The Killing Ground; Wilderness to Cold Harbor, with a painting of the Battle of Spotsylvania;
"Probably not," Luke retorted, "though I'll leave it up to your mother, once she's had a look through it."
"What about all these Warriors books?" Aurora asked, pointing to them with her hoof.
Luke frowned as he thought. "Those are more early adult type reading; teenagers, maybe. They don't have bad words - or rather, they do, just cat-ified, if that makes any sense - but they doe have some measure of gore and blood."
"Ah."
"What about this one?" Bright asked again, pulling out Peter Pan.
"That one's better than your last pick," Luke replied, "but I'd say that the Disney movie is much better."
"Oh, is that what all those little boxes down by the TV are?" Aurora inquired, interested. "I thought that's what they looked like."
"Yes, but they're DVDs. Disks. Very fragile." Luke scratched his head. "I guess I could show you how the TV and the DVD player work, though I'm not sure your hooves, being hard as they are-"
"We'll be careful," Aurora promised.
"Okay, well, I'll show you how it all works." Luke looked outside; there were still a few hours of daylight left. "Up a bit early, aren't you?"
"We got enough rest," Aurora assured him. "Shadow's still knocked out, but I don't fault him for that."
"Neither would I." Luke noticed how both ponies were trying not to look at the windows; he walked over and shut the blinds.
"Thank you," Aurora said gratefully. "We're going to have to have some sunglasses fitted for the daytime."
"Wait, haven't you been here for a while already?"
"Yes, but we've tried to stick to our... usual schedule. Shadow tried to get a job as a night guard for a corporation somewhere in Pennsylvania, but they turned him down. He tried to get a nighttime job just about everywhere between Washington and here, but nopo- no one was willing to hire him."
"Did they give a reason?"
"They mostly said things like that they had enough employees at the time, but that was a load of... baloney. Personally I think they believed he was an Equestrian spy."
"They have evidence?"
"Bat wings, fangs, the fact that thestrals are almost never seen anywhere... I don't think I have to paint you a picture, especially on that last point."
"I see. I suppose they didn't bother trying to gather anything further?"
"Not really," Aurora replied, shaking her head sadly. "One company did, and found nothing other than that he had served in the Lunar Guard; that only made them more suspicious, even though Shadow's record was entirely clean."
"Not like they could go to Princess Luna and ask for all his personal info."
"Well, no, but an experienced ex-military pony, willing to work for money, telling the truth whenever they asked him a question..." The mare shook her head. "There was no reason for their suspicions, and they didn't change their minds even when we showed them that we had a foal to take care of. Everything we threw at each potential employer failed."
"For what it's worth, I'm sorry."
"Don't be. It's not your fault," Aurora told him. "But other than scavenging and hunting in the forests of this place, I don't know what we would have done if..."
"Let's try not to dwell on that," Luke said quickly. "Let's go downstairs and I'll show you how the DVD player works, so you guys can use while I'm asleep or out."
"Do you have a baseball bat somewhere?" Bright asked eagerly.
"I do, but-"
"Don't let him get to you," the foal's mother interrupted, in a voice that sounded both amused and wary. "He's broken a few windows from playing baseball in the house."
"I only broke windows twice!"
"That's twice too many," Aurora said in a no-nonsense tone. "Now, let's go back downstairs and watch a movie."
--------------------------------------------------------------------
"-so this button will make the movie play, and this controls the volume," Luke finished explaining.
"Got it," Aurora said, eyes shining intelligently. "My one concern is that I'll accidentally smash the disc; hooves aren't soft, and even less so with horseshoes."
"It's a valid fear." Luke thought for a minute. "I guess we could use an unused, unsharpened pencil to help out."
"Probably. That, or I could try holding it with my fangs, not that the disc would be much good if I got a ton of saliva on it, though I could probably avoid it if I really tried."
"It's better than nothing. If it doesn't work, we'll figure something else out. Plus, I have a few board games in the closet somewhere, so along with a few books, I think your entertainment needs are set."
"What about TV cable or satellite or whatever it is?"
Luke blinked, honestly not having thought of that yet. "I personally don't use it much, though I have it," he replied. "This remote," he said, picking up one different from the one he had been using, "is for cable. Again, you might have to use the pencil for the buttons."
"I can work with that."
"Just be careful; not every television show is... moral. Or clean."
"We'll be careful," Aurora promised. "Any good shows to recommend?"
"Well, Robot Wars and Battlebots are decent for those who are... more combat minded. They do cut out the bad language, and the violence is only against unknowing, unfeeling robots. And it generally plays during the evening, at 8 PM I think."
"I'll think about those. What about for Bright? Any of what you call cartoons?"
"Hmm. In my opinion, the quality of cartoons has gone down in the past few years. I think the Boomerang channel is the best if you're going for old, quality stuff. I'd suggest the old reruns of the Flintstones and the Jetsons, along with the Discovery Channel for GI Joe and Transformers, which are also old but fairly good. The latter two tend to play just before the dawn, though."
"Thanks. I'm sure we can manage."
Luke nodded. Just then, the guest bedroom door opened again. Shadow, rubbing his eyes, stepped out, yawning.
"Good evening, dear," Aurora said in a happy voice.
Shadow grunted, then hoisted himself up onto the couch and laid there, belly down.
"Wanna watch a movie, dad?" Bright asked, walking over and nuzzling his father.
"As long as it's good," Shadow answered, though in a slightly less hostile voice.
"Let's see... for old Disney movies, I've got 101 Dalmatians, Robin Hood, The Fox and the Hound, The Aristocats, and a whole bunch more... For newer ones, I've got Zootopia and Inside Out..."
Aurora began looking over the older movies that Luke had picked out. "I think this one will do," she said at last, picking out The Aristocats. "Do any of them depict... horses, in any way?"
Luke put a hand to his mouth. "Quite a few of them. I suppose..."
Aurora turned her eyes toward Shadow for an instant. Luke got the hint.
"Well, a lot of them do. The Aristocats doesn't focus on it, the one horse character they have is there for only a few minutes of screen-time, and she's on team Good Guy. Same with 101 Dalmatians."
Aurora turned her eyes toward Shadow again
"I suppose if you don't want the kind of film that will display horses as farm animals, then I guess Robin Hood or Inside Out are the best ones to go with."
"Thanks. I think Robin Hood will do."
"Okay. I'll put it in for you." He did so within a few seconds. "Right, and I think it's time for dinner."
"That would be very nice," Aurora said, settling down onto the couch as Bright sat on his haunches on the floor, eager for the movie to start. "Sorry to be a burden on you."
"No burden," Luke replied, his mind briefly trying to go into the finances of supporting three extra persons in the house before getting squelched. "It's fine. I make enough money from my job to support us for the time being."
As the disc menu came up, Luke watched to make sure that Aurora hit the right button, which she did, setting the movie to play.
Luke couldn't help but smile as the film started. I hope they enjoy it as much as I did as a kid.
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I'm glad to see this continue. good work, keep it up.
I find it odd he would have those older guns loaded, if he wanted something for protection I feel a modern shotgun or pistol would be more practical then an antique gun.
Well certainly much more kid friendly, though I jever understood why anyone thought it was for kids in the first place. As the Lost Boys get to old to be Lost Boys, the book says that Peter 'culled' them when they got to old. Culled meaning murdered.
That said, I liked this chapter and I would like to see more of this story.
God I hope this story is not dead.
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it is not dead. I'm just having trouble getting myself to NOT procrastinate. In addition, I'm currently taking a couple college classes. I apologize for the delay, I am working on the new chapter, it's just coming out slower than I'd like.
A lot of what?
A LOT OF WHAT??
I NEEED TO KNOOOOOOOKWWWWWW
-dramatically throws hooves into thr air-
REBECCA!!
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Might I ask what you're referring to? I can fix it, if it's a mistake or something i forgot.
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Your authors Note just ends on mobile atleast. Not important at all honestly! Im enjoying this despite the whole 4 chapter rn thing...
This story has a really interesting perspective and the way that you are fleshing out Equestria is very diferent from what I usually ready on other fics. It's also rare to find a fic that say stuff about religion without pointing finger. I hope that you find inspiration to keep writing.
God, Guns, History, and classic Disney films.
I like this authors taste.
do
I. Absolutely. LOVE THIS.
I read a lot of fics, but every now and then there's one I come across that I just can't put down, I love it so much. The family is so CUTE, I love the characters, and I love all the slice of life! It's been too long since I've read a slice of life fic........and I'm so glad it's this one.
The alarm isn't supposed to be "Reveille" is it?
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No, it's supposed to resemble a common iPhone alarm, one I've grown to dislike (and not for the reasons you may think).
Oh man, to bad Disney+ didn’t come